Melee combat | Combat Middle-earth: SoM Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Melee fight, in Middle Earth: The Shadow of Mordor melee is the most obvious and the most frequently used way to attack opponents. The system is very similar to the Batman games, because it combines landing attacks and the necessity to dodge from attacks of the opponents. After you start a typical fight, start tapping the attack key/button which lands blows at the select opponent, or "jump" from one opponent to another after each successful attack. If possible, try to maintain the continuity of your attacks, i.e. raise the multiplier shown on the screen. This will allow you to gain more experience points and, as a result, develop your character faster. The good news is that the Shadow of Mordor is more forgiving than the Batman games and the chain is not broken immediately after a blow is not followed by another one. With a bit of training, you can obtain multipliers amounting to 50x and higher.
During each fight, you need to watch out for the moments, at which characteristic icons appear above the heads of the opponents. They symbolize the intent to attack your character, and you need to react quickly to this type of situations. What you do is press the counter attack key or button. If you time it well, you will avoid taking damage and you retain the current multiplier, which allows you to continue your combo.
Note - Later into the game, you can unlock abilities that improve on the counterattack, e.g. ones that allow you to stun the opponent whose attack you have just blocked.
Attacking an countering is, unfortunately, more difficult in some situations, or even blocked by the opponent. This is what you need to remember about and modify your style, depending on the situation at hand. Countering does not work against the opponents that use ranged weapons (e.g. Orc archers) to attack you. The same goes for the more elitist opponents, whose attacks cannot be, sometimes, countered. In such situations, you need to dodge, at the appropriate moment, i.e. either to roll to the side or jump over the opponent that is attempting to land a strong blow (unfortunately, also this is not always possible to do). While dealing with such opponents, it is a good idea to remain in constant movement and not let the opponent land their unique attacks.
Countering may be more difficult when the game does not display the icon that informs you of the possible attack of the opponent. This happens, among others, when Talion is poisoned, or a captain with a unique ability crosses his path. In such situations, you simply need to rely on what you can see on the screen and counter blindly, whenever you see that a given monster is attempting an attack.
Another interesting aspect of melee combat is the option to nudge and grab opponents. Depending on the situation, this may be aimed at eliminating the opponent, temporarily, from the fight, use him as a shield or interrogate him (this gas been described in the chapter entitled Sauron's Army). After you knock down an opponent, it is a good thing to finish him off, by taking advantage that he is weakened from the recent combo. There only are advantages to executing opponents - allows you to eliminate the opponent quickly and to retain the current multiplier.
With time, Talion may gain access to new abilities and you can learn more about this in the chapter entitled Character Development. Here, I would like to bring it to your attention that there are special attacks available to be unlocked, which are very helpful while fighting in melee. They are very similar to the unique attacks in the Batman series. They become available after you have attained the appropriate multiplier (e.g. 5x or 8x) and you launch them, usually, by pressing two keys/buttons simultaneously. It is a good idea to use this type of attacks on a regular basis. In the majority of cases, they make battles easier, which allows you to perform an immediate execution on an opponent or, e.g. to stun the group of enemies that surround Talion.