In Middle-earth: Shadow of War’s second Story DLC Desolation of Mordor you will take control of Baranor and explore the new region or Lithlad. You wont be alone. This article will help you better understand the new Nemesis System and how the Human Mercenaries will fit into the new gameplay.
One of the biggest new attractions of the new story expansion to Middle-earth: Shadow of War – Desolation of Mordor, will be the new version of the Nemesis system you will encounter in Lithlad. Your character Baranor will be able to hire assistance in the form of up to three bodyguards. These NPCs will always remain loyal to you, but once you get killed, they are lost as well.
RELATED► Shadow of War: Desolation of Mordor DLC Release Date and New Info
Each Mercenary character will have new unique traits and skills that you can combine and experiment with. The traits will be split into categories, much like the orcs’ own traits. Here you will notice some new special innovations. The Mercenaries’ ranks are different from the orcs, but some of the traits these humans will have can be on par and even more powerful than what the Warchiefs and Overlords.
The Mercenaries have also unique abilities, split into two categories – Combat Command and Stealth Command. You can order the NPCs to use those at your command when you have them as bodyguards. Each mercenary will come with its own unique collection or traits and abilities.
At the moment I can give you the following examples for the New mercenaries traits:
- Advanced Class: Combat Master – extremely skilled warrior, who face their enemies head-on and deal massive damage. When possible, he will target Captains.
- Advanced Class: Quartermaster – provide crucial battlefield support for their fellow Mercenaries. They also deliver supplies and weapons to their allies and can act as decoy or medics.
- Combat Command: Balefire Cluster Bomber – Can be ordered to throw a Balefire Cluster Bomb
- Combat Command: Fire Bomb Supplier – can be ordered to drop Fire Bombs supplies for Baranor
- Combat Command: Poison Bold Suppplier – can be ordered to drop Poison Bolts supplies for Baranor
- Stealth Command: Terrify – Can be ordered to attack a nearby enemy. Terrifies nearby orcs and kills grunts.
- Stealth Command: Dazing Opener – dazes orc captains if ordered to attack from stealth, kills grunts with this attack.
- Epic Trait: Corpse Exploder – Enemies killed by this mercenary have a 30% chance to explode with no friendly fire to Baranor or his allies.
- Reviver – will revive allies who are bleeding out.
- Vault Launcher – Vault over this mercenary to be launched into the air and release your Kite.
The mercenaries are in general much more cooperative than the orcs in the core game. Their Combat Command abilities that you can order them to use do have their own cooldowns, so they cannot be used constantly and spammed. The Stealth Command skills, however, have no cooldown and can be used at any time on an enemy, who doesn’t expect you or has not seen you yet. When an ability with a cooldown has been used, a filling up orange bar will show up just above the specific bodyguyard’s avatar at the bottom of the screen.
The Mercenaries also come in the standard three tiers – Common, Epic and Legendary. If your bodyguards die, they may also drop Augments, based on their tier. They can cheat death and also save your life. An interesting new trait is that some of the Easterlings are skilled enough, so they can “convince” a Caragor to come to their side. This new trait is also added to the Beastmaster orcs with the release of the DLC. You will never have to fight the mercenaries. The ones you hire will never betray you and none of them will ever have a desire to stand against you for whatever reason.
To Hire a Mercenary, head to the Army Screen and click on the icon at the bottom middle of the screen. It will pop up a new screen with a number of available Mercenaries for you to choose and hire. Each one of them will have different traits and skills, based on their class and tier. The pricing for each one is also different. At the time of writing this article, the prices to hire a Mercenary are as follows:
- Common – 1500 Coins
- Epic – 3000 Coins
- Legendary – 6000 Coins
Some Mercenaries can act as medics too and revive a fallen ally or even provide you with additional ammunition through their Combat Commands.
To make a Mercenary a bodyguard, you simply click on the character in the Hiring Screen and choose which of the three available slots this one will fit. The base idea of having more support from not one, but three bodyguards in Lithlad is because it provides more options for you to combine unique and different mercenaries that support each other with their various skills and traits. And let’s not forget that if Baranor dies, all of your Mercenaries get reset too. Your bodyguard Mercenary can summon additional NPCs to help your cause.
LEARN MORE ► Desolation of Mordor: Mercenaries System Guide
Check out the full live stream hosted by Monolith devs that showcases the new Nemesis System and Mercenaries:
