Stealth | Combat Middle-earth: SoM Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Middle Earth: The Shadow of Mordor places quite a stress on acting from shadows. There are some missions that can be completed only if Talion remains unspotted and even if this limitation does not apply, silent elimination of the enemies allows you to clear the battlefield of the enemy creatures in an easy and enjoyable way. Below, you can learn about the most important information connected with sneaking and avoiding detection.
Note - After you start each new mission, spend some time on learning additional objectives. Often, they concern sneaking and, meeting such requirements is additionally rewarded.
The level of alertness of the enemies is represented, in the game, in a quite standard way, i.e. by means of color coding. Yellow means that the monster noted something that attracted his attention, but he does not yet suspect what this may be. Red means that the enemy is already aware of your presence and attempts to hunt you down. If the red icon fills up, the enemies will be alarmed to your presence and will try to approach you. You can then start fighting, or flee. In the case of the latter, just like in the case of, e.g. the Assassin's Creed franchise, you need to get out of the sight of the opponents and either lose them, or hide where you cannot be detected (more about this, below).
The Shadow of Mordor offers a quite wide array of options, when it comes to remaining in hiding. First of all, you need to remember that you should hold down the Sneaking key/button. What is even more, in the sneaking mode, you can run and this is helpful, if you want to dash by the enemies, or approach a given monster before he manages to turn back.
Before you enter each new area, it is a good idea to learn about the current situation and, using the Wraith mode, get to know about the positions of the individual enemies. Of course, you need to keep in mind that some of the enemies are constantly patrolling the area and that, e.g. the wild caragors can sniff Talion up. I recommend that you use all the available elements of the environment, to your advantage. What I mean here is, mainly, bushes that are an ideal hiding place, if the enemies are actively searching for you. Apart from that, I recommend that you search for the opportunities to climb onto buildings and rocks.
Note - what harmonizes with the bushes is the option to whistle to distract monsters. You can whistle towards the orc that you lock on to, wait for him to approach Talion and eliminate him silently, without alarming the others.
Of course, avoiding the monsters that you run into, is not the only function of acting from shadows because, you can just as well (or even, it is required, sometimes) plan surprise attacks this way. I recommend that you use silent executions on a regular basis. These can be executed after you get behind the back of the opponent. It is a good idea to make sure beforehand that the attacked monster is not within sight of another enemy. After you unlock one of the additional abilities, you will also be able to execute monsters from above, by jumping down onto them and this is a good ability if you do not mind climbing various structures.
I recommend that, apart from executions, you also use the bow on a regular basis. This weapon, even in its basic form, can be used to eliminate the inconvenient opponents (e.g. archers) After you unlock the Shadow Strike ability, it is also useful for shortening the distance between Talion and the enemy being targeted, or while escaping hot spots.