Hunting Challenges Middle-earth: SoM Guide

In Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, you can complete ten different Hunting Challenges. They are optional but, they grant you with a quick and quite easy way to earn gold (Mirian), thanks to which you will be able to unlock new attributes faster. The challenges need to be completed one after another in the predetermined order (they have been listed below). This means that, up until the moment, at which you meet all of the requirements of a challenge, the next one does not become available. Hunting challenges assume that you hunt down various animals, both hostile and non-hostile. These challenges are discernibly more difficult than Survival challenges, because locating the beasts Ti be hunter May Take some time.

Note - The game may also notify you of the plant, with a clue on the screen, after you come close to the beast that you are searching for.

You can review your progress, in the hunting challenges, at any moment, after you bring up the world map - they then display on the left. The important piece of news is that you can complete challenges at any point in the game - while exploring the game world, or while completing the main and the side missions. Personally, I recommend that you take interest in them as soon as possible, thanks to which you will not have to return to them, after you have completed all of the missions in the game.

Note - there are situations, in which you will not have access to the successive survival challenges. In such situations, you need to make a sufficient progress into the storyline.

Challenge 1/10

An example spider

To complete this challenge, you need to find, and kill, three small spiders. The spiders are not hostile towards you and stay near the3 forge tower that you activated, after you have completed the prologue. To locate the spiders, use the Wraith mode and eliminate them with, e.g. the bow.

The reward: 100 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 2/10

An example bird

To complete this challenge, you need to locate and kill five Flying Creatures. This means different species of birds, i.e. creatures that are not hostile towards you. The best time of the day, to search for the fowl, is the daylight and use the Wraith mode to locate the targets. Attack the birds with the bow, necessarily with time-slowing on (focus).

The reward: 105 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 3/10

The most caragors are in the enemy strongholds

To complete this challenge, you need to find and kill three caragors. The beasts appear in some of the game's missions, but you can also find them during the free exploration of the game world. In this case, it is better to visit the orc strongholds and look around for the cages with caragors in. I recommend that you use the bow, for the elimination of caragors, although you can, just as well, defeat them in melee (perform flawless dodges then), or eliminate a monster after you have harnessed it (the caragor will not put up any fight, then).

The reward: 115 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 4/10

An example rat

To complete this challenge, you need to find and kill four rats. The rodents are not hostile towards you and it is most likely that you find them, while staying at an orc stronghold. To locate the animals, use the Wraith mode and eliminate them with the bow.

The reward: 130 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 5/10

You get to defeat the most ghuls, while completing missions

To complete this challenge, you need to find and kill eight ghuls. You are the most likely to encounter them, while completing the main missions of the game, but you can run into them, while exploring the game world freely (visit caves at night). Definitely, the fastest way to kill ghuls is in melee, and by using the Wraith Flash.

The reward: 150 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 6/10

An example swarm of bats

To complete this challenge, you need to find and kill three Bats. I recommend that you look around for them in the caves 0 there is a high probability that they appear while you are entering, or leaving the cave (use the Wraith mode to locate them). Since bats can rise to flight as soon as you approach them, be prepared to whip out your bow and make sure that you have lots of focus (slowing down of time).

The reward: 180 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 7/10

You can either wait for the appropriate mission, or find a graug yourself

To complete this challenge, you need to find and kill a Graug. These monsters sometimes appear on the map, in the free exploration, but my opinion is that it is better to wait until main mission fifteen, (Hunting Partners). What speaks for that is that this mission revolves entirely around hunting down the graug and it shows you the steps that you need to take, in order to defeat the monster: surprise attack that induces bleeding, harnessing a caragor, stunning the graug with an arrow to the head, dominating the graug performing an execution on it.

The reward: 220 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 8/10

You can find a stronger caragor out in the wild

To complete this challenge, you need to find and kill a Dire Caragor. this is a stronger variety of the regular ones. You cannot find these captive in the stronghold cages. You can try to find the dire caragor on your own and, to do that, explore vast open areas. Use the Wraith mode to your advantage, thanks to which you can easily spot the caragors marked in red (instead of blue). Optionally, you can wait until you progress to The Great White Graug main mission, because killing the dire caragor is one of its parts. In theory, you can defeat the beast in direct fight (I recommend that you use the bow and dodge), but it is much easier to complete this challenge by harnessing the beast. After you mount the dire caragor, you simply need to confirm that you want to execute it and the monster will be incapable of fighting back.

The reward: 270 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 9/10

You can encounter the matron, while exploring the world, or during one of the missions

To complete this challenge, you need to find and kill a Ghul Matron. You confront the matrons, among others, during the Nameless Things side mission (Weapon Legends missions), and in the twelfth main mission (The Messenger). If you have missed the opportunity, try to visit the big cave in the Eastern part of Nurn (the second main area of the storyline), at night. After you defeat several groups of the regular ghuls, there will appear one, or several matrons in the cave. While fighting a matron, remember to dodge from its strong attacks, because the regular countering is ineffective. Also, use special attacks that the monster is vulnerable to.

The reward: 330 gold pieces (Mirian)

Challenge 10/10

You can encounter the Horned Graug during free exploration, or during one of the main missions

To complete the last challenge, you need to find and kill a Horned Graug. It is a stronger version of the regular graug that you had to hunt down in the seventh hunting challenge. You can either set out to find the graug on your own, or wait for The Great White Graug main mission, because it is towards its end that you fight the Horned Graug. To learn details on how to defeat the monster, see the walkthrough for the abovementioned mission.

The reward: 400 gold pieces (Mirian)