___ / ___________________ / _________ __/ __ /___ /______ __ / _ __ \_ ___/ __ / _ __ \_ /_ _ __/_ __ \ _ \ _ /___/ /_/ / / / /_/ / / /_/ / __/ / /_ _ / / / __/ /_____/\____//_/ \__,_/ \____//_/ \__/ /_/ /_/\___/ _____________ ___ __ \__(_)_____________ ________ __ /_/ /_ /__ __ \_ __ `/_ ___/ _ _, _/_ / _ / / / /_/ /_(__ ) /_/ |_| /_/ /_/ /_/_\__, / /____/ /____/ _________ _____ __ ____/__________________ ____ _______________ /_ _ / _ __ \_ __ \ __ `/ / / / _ \_ ___/ __/ / /___ / /_/ / / / / /_/ // /_/ // __/(__ )/ /_ \____/ \____//_/ /_/\__, / \__,_/ \___//____/ \__/ ================================================== 1. Introduction...(I1T) ================================================== A. Table of Contents 1. Introduction...............(I1T) 2. Controls/Classes...........(C2S) A. Normal Classes........(NCS) B. Special Classes.......(SPC) C. Heroes................(HER) 3. Walk-Through...............(T3G) A. Good Campaign.........(GPM) B. Evil Campaign.........(ECM) 4. Closing/Legal/Contact......(C4L) ==================== B. Introduction ==================== This is now the third guide that I’ve written, my first two being for the Wii’s No More Heroes and Afro Samurai on the PS3 and 360. This guide is intended to be used as a walkthrough for the main two campaigns in the game. The Guide section details which strategies work for which levels in the campaign. These are not the only correct ways to get through the game, but they are the most effective strategies I’ve found. The Classes section details how each class should be played and how to effectively fight any of the other four classes. I hope this guide is useful and you have fun with the game. ================================================== 2. Classes...(C2S) ================================================== There are four main classes in the game. These classes each have different playing strategies and methods for how to play them. This section details what each class is good at, as well as when you should use each one and how they should be played. There are mostly only cosmetic differences between the two sides, the only real difference being spawn points and which heroes are available to you. ============================== A. Normal Classes...(NCS) ============================== These classes are selectable by default, and are the primary playable units in the game. ==================== I. Warrior ==================== Warrior’s are this game’s tank. Warriors focus on close range combat, forgoing range in place of brute strength. Warriors can use the flaming sword line of special moves, which gives each of a warrior’s basic moves extra damage and the ability to light things on fire to deal damage over time. As a Warrior, you can safely charge into a crowd of enemies and take them down using a mix of combo attacks and special moves that affect a wide area around you. Warriors might lack the specialization of other classes, but they more than make up for it with brute strength. The good: -Warriors are the most powerful class in close combat by far. -Warriors have the highest defense out of all the classes. This makes them great units to take control of enemy bases. -Warrior’s special moves are very balanced and useful. They have a charge attack, a short range shock wave, and a spinning area attack. The bad: -Warriors are useless at any range other than close. They have a throwing axe, but it’s only useful to knock enemies down and deals very little damage. -Warriors will be torn apart by any long range enemies, which basically requires the use of a Mage’s shield to approach concentrated areas. -Warriors are the only class that doesn’t recover energy over time, meaning that to use fighting moves you will have to continually attack enemies. II. Fighting other Classes Against Mages: --- At long range, mages will absolutely devastate you. When fighting a mage, get in close to them as quickly as possible. Even if you get hit with lighting while advancing on them, once you’re close enough to hit them you should easily be able to combo them until they’re dead. Against Scouts: --- Scouts present a unique challenge. You’re more powerful, but they’re fast and can combo you easier. You should be moving around enough to avoid their backstab attacks if you’re just playing like normal, but in straight up combat charge at them with a special move before they have a chance to hit you. This should allow you to kill them most of the time before they have a chance to counterattack. Against Archers: --- Don’t directly try to approach archers as you would a mage. Either use a throwing axe to try and knock them down or move towards them using cover. Archers have too many abilities that will knock you down to charge head on, so be careful about approaching them. At close range they should be easy. Against Warriors: --- The best way to defend against fellow warriors is to guard their attacks and hit them at the end of their combo. Most Warriors will usually try to start a combo with fast attacks and then move to the heavier shield breaking moves, so strike when you see them wind up for one of their big attacks. III. Controls --- L.Stick: Moves R. Stick: Aims A: Jump X: Light attack Y: Heavy attack B: Guard breaker attack L.Bumper: Combine with X/Y/B for special moves. R.Trigger: Block L.Trigger: Throwing Axe ==================== I. Archers ==================== Archers are the game’s primary ranged units. An Archer’s basic attack is an arrow shot in place of any sort of combo, and an archer’s four special moves are variations on a regular arrow shot: poison arrows that damage over time, fire arrows that explode and knock people down, and a multi-shot that fires targeted arrows at nearby enemies (think shotgun). Archers are less front line combatants than they are defenders. The best place for an archer is shortly outside the heat of battle, where they can pelt the enemy with arrows. Pros: -Arrows shoot very fast, and headshots deal a lot of damage. -Versatile special moves that suit a lot of combat situations. -Able to “run and gun” effectively. -Hard for Warriors and Scouts to effectively approach without taking damage. Cons: -The worst class in close range. Archers only have a single kick that functions only to knock enemies down and barely does any damage. Archers will be obliterated by any other class in close range -Regular arrows do relatively little damage. -Need other units around to help defend them to make them effective. II. Fighting other Classes Against Mages: --- The biggest problem for Archers is a Mages shield. Whenever you see and un-shielded mage in a group, focus on taking them out first by either knocking them down with an explosive arrow or poisoning them. Don’t try to approach Mages head on, weaken them and then let a Warrior or Scout finish the job. Against Scouts: --- Archers tend to spend a lot of time sitting still, so this can make them targets for assassination from scouts. In order to avoid this, watch out for the glimmer of invisible scouts and keep moving at all times. Scouts are easily taken out at long range, so the hard part about fighting them is just knowing where they are. Against Archers: --- This basically just comes down to who can aim better and shoot faster. It helps to have a mage on your side that can shield you, but this match-up is mostly just dependent on your shooting skills than any real strategy. The best way I’ve found is aim for head shots when they’re standing still as it will often take a moment for them to realize they’re under attack. Against Warriors: --- Never let them get close to you. Warriors need to be close to deal any sort of damage to you, so knock them down with explosive arrows or multi-shot to stop them from advancing. You really shouldn’t have much of a problem with Warriors, even if you have no energy saved up you should be able to kill most warriors before they’re close enough to kill you III. Controls --- L.Stick: Move R. Stick: Aim X: Melee attack A: Jump R.Trigger: Shoot Bow L.Trigger: Zooms L.Bumper: Multi-arrow Y+R.Trigger: Poison arrow B+R.Trigger: Fire Arrow ==================== I. Scouts ==================== Scouts are the game’s second melee class, though they function quite a bit differently from Warriors. Scouts are focused around stealth and speed instead of brute strength, and their abilities focus more about getting quick kills than surviving drawn out struggles. The most notable ability of the scout is to turn invisible. When invisible, scouts can only be found by spotting the shimmer their invisibility gives off. While invisible, you can instantly kill ANY enemy by pressing the right bumper while behind them. This makes scouts prime choices to take out difficult to kill units. Pros -The instant kill ability can kill any units, including heroes. -Invisibility prevents AI from seeing you at all, and makes it hard for other players to notice you unless they’re looking for you. -Scouts can hit very quickly and have a lot of options for long combos -Firebombs deal a lot of damage and charge fast. Cons: -More useful than Warriors at long range, but not by much. -When knocked down, it’s almost always a death sentence. -Scouts lack the damage output of warriors, and need to rely on instant stealth kills to really make a dent in the enemy forces. -For the most part, lackluster special moves. -Relatively short range for Melee attacks means you need to be close to damage the enemy. II. Fighting other Classes Against Mages: --- Mages are the easiest class to fight as Scouts. Mages are usually too focused on supporting allies or fighting a group of enemies to notice invisible scouts. Due to their play style, Mages often end up standing around and not going much at all. As you might imagine, this makes them easy targets for instant kills. Against Scouts: --- Hit them before they hit you. Other scouts will be moving around just as much as you are, so trying to stealth kill them is quite difficult. Attack them with long combo chains or use your firebomb against them to run away and focus on easier to kill enemies. Against Archers: --- Similar to fighting Mages, Archers are easy targets for stealth kills. They’re not as easy to kill as Mages in this respect, but they’re still easy enough to sneak up on. If you manage to get within melee range, you can just attack them with normal moves if you can’t stealth kill them and they’ll probably still die anyway. Against Warriors: --- Warriors can be tough foes. They move around a lot, so stealth kills are fairly difficult to easily perform on them. They can kill you at close range with very little difficulty, so it’s honestly just best to avoid warriors unless you have to fight them. When you do, use your superior speed to get them in long combo chains to avoid them hitting you. III. Controls --- L.Stick: Moves R. Stick: Aims A: Jump X: Light attack Y: Heavy attack B: Guard breaker attack R.Bumper: Backstab, only while behind enemy and invisible L.Bumper: Stealth/Special moves when combined with X/Y/B R.Trigger: Block L.Trigger: Satchel Bomb ==================== I. Mages ==================== Mages are a sort of support class that has access to lots of different abilities that can useful in lots of different situations. Mages are primarily defensive due to a few of their abilities: a Mage’s shield is a large bubble that will prevent stop all ranged attacks from damaging anyone within the shield, and they also have the ability to heal themselves and allies. This doesn’t mean the Mage isn’t offensive, as the have a great area attack fireball and lightning move. Mages are also effective at even close range, as they have a simple three-hit combo and a shockwave attack that knocks all enemies down. Mages have a lot of options in battle, but it takes skill to truly know how to play one. Pros: -Can heal self and allies, which is immensely useful. -Can at fight at long range. -Can fight at close range. -Attack spells effect a wide area a deal a lot of damage. -Can stop all incoming ranged attacks with bubble shield. Cons: -Can be close ranged or long range, but other classes are individually better at both than the Mage. -Mages are designed to play with allies, and trying to fight alone as a Mage can be challenging. -Have to rely on spells for most functions, which take time to recharge and can’t be used in rapid succession. II. Fighting other Classes Against Mages: --- This battle is basically pointless. You both have the ability to block each other’s ranged attacks and the option to heal when you take damage. This makes this fight excruciatingly boring of you don’t have some allies to attack the opposing Mage. Avoid Mage vs. Mage situations at all cost unless you want to descend into whacking each other with your staffs. Against Scouts: --- Scouts are a big problem for the slower moving Mages. Typically, the best way to avoid them is stay around your own allies and hope they ward off the incoming scouts as you’ll be too busy trying to heal and defend everyone. Shockwaves are useful at close range, and a well placed fireball will make any Scouts around you visible so they can’t backstab you. Against Archers: --- Archer’s are a little tricky. You are invincible to all of their attacks if you have your shield up, but this prevents you from attacking them. If your shield is down, they can kill you faster than you can kill them. Archers who aren’t focused on you are easy to kill with spells at any range, so go nuts if they’re attacking someone other than you. Against Warriors: --- Warriors shouldn’t give you much trouble if you know what you’re doing. They have no defenses against any of your magical abilities, so if you see a warrior barreling towards you throw a fireball at him or charge a lightning attack. You should be able to damage him before he comes within range, and you can use your shockwave move to knock him down to further damage him and run away after doing so. III. Controls --- L.Stick: Moves R. Stick: Aims A: Jump X: Melee attack Y: Shockwave attack B: Fireball Attack R.Bumper: L.Bumper: Heal R.Trigger: Lightning L.Trigger: Bubble Shield ============================== B. Special Classes...(SPC) ============================== These classes aren’t selectable on the character select screen, but they can be controlled by finding them on the battlefield and certain other situations. I. Mounts Mounts are scattered around many maps in the game, the standard ones being Horses for the Good side and Wargs for the light side. For the most part, mounts are just a way to get from place to place and shouldn’t be used for combat unless you have to: a single hit and you’ll get knocked off. You can attack on a mount with any of the face buttons, each button will attack in the appropriate direction relative to your character. Only use mounts to travel from point A to point B and run away from any groups of enemies that approach you. II. Giants Each side of the war has one Giant class: Trolls for the Evil side and Ents for the Good side. Both lay very similarly, and really only have a few minor differences. Giants are spawn near your bases in the game, usually by the base you’ll have when you initially start the match. They can be controlled by pressing the right bumper when near one, just like mounts. Giants play similarly to Warriors. Their only attacks consist of swinging their arms back and forth across the battlefield, which will easily kill most enemies in two or three hits if not less. They also have the ability to pick up and throw opposing enemies. This all might seem to make Giants great, but they aren’t without flaw. Firstly, Giants are vulnerable to headshots from Archers just like any other unit. Considering how big Giants are and how easy they are to shoot, this can be a bit of a problem. Giants are also vulnerable in another way: Scouts and Warriors can initiate a quick-time button press from behind them. If it succeeds, it’s a one hit kill on the Giant. Finally, Giants can’t jump. This means that certain areas are either inaccessible or difficult to get to, which can make certain fights difficult. Giants are quite powerful, but their share of difficulties makes them difficult to effectively use against human opponents. ============================== C. Heroes…(HER) ============================== Heroes are a special class that’s only awarded when you reach certain milestones in gameplay, like getting so many points in a multiplayer match or at certain points during the Story mode. For the most part, Heroes play as upgraded versions of the basic classes. They have more health than regular units and deal more damage. Heroes also have special moves unique to each unit. There are also some heroes that don’t fit into any of the above classes. The units are highly specialized, and tend to be the best units in the games. It should also be obvious that each side has different heroes: you’re not going to get to play as Legolas if you’re fighting as the Orcs. --- I. Warrior Heroes: --- Warrior heroes tend to be the most common class of Heroes. They vary wildly in abilities, but for the most part they tend to have better or faster normal moves than regular Warriors. They each have special moves unique to their character, but they tend to be bigger and better versions of the regular warrior’s specials with longer range and higher damage. Good side: Aragorn Elrond Faramir Evil side: Nazgul Witch-King --- II. Archer Heroes: --- There are actually only two Archer heroes, and each plays fairly similarly. The archer heroes play exactly like normal Archers except that they do more damage and take a bigger beating before the go down. Their only other difference is that their melee attacks are now a little faster and deal more damage. Good Side: Legolas Evil Side: Lurtz --- III. Scout Heroes: --- Like Warriors, Scout heroes each have unique normal and special moves. They also have better long range attacks, and they seem to be able to stay stealthed for longer amounts of time than regular units. They still have access to the backstab move, which can be forgotten when their normal attacks are so good. Good Side: Eowyn of Rohan Frodo Evil Side: Wormtongue --- IV. Mage Heroes: --- Mage heroes are much like Archer heroes. They do get a few special moves, but most of them are only different in appearance and not actual function. Mage heroes have the added effect of greater range on all of their spells, lightning and fireballs travel much greater distances with hero mages. Good Side: Gandalf Evil Side: The Mouth of Sauron Saruman --- V. Special Heroes: --- These are heroes that don’t really fit in any of the other classes, or normal heroes that have weird abilities that make them notable from the other members of their class. Each one of these will be explained with a bit of detail. Good Side: --- Gimli: Gimli is completely unique in his playstyle, there’s no character that has any of his moves. He plays sort of like a weird marriage between a scout and a Warrior, taking the best parts of either and combining them into one. He has the speed and Combo ability of a scout, but the power Evil Side: --- Balrog: The Balrog is a pretty unique Hero. As you might guess, he’s absolutely huge when compared to the other characters in the game. He plays like a giant character, only more powerful and immune to instant kills. The Balrog isn’t playable on many maps, but he’s an absolutely brutal hero when you get the chance to play him and he can easily win a game single-handedly even against other heroes. Sauron: Sauron is another hero in the same vane as the Balrog. He’s at least twice as tall as any of the games other character, but nowhere near the size of the Balrog. Sauron is even better though- despite his size, he has the ability and the speed to perform some pretty fast combos. Add to that the fact that his specials are almost always instant kills, and Sauron is a probably the most powerful character in the game. His only weakness is that his height makes him a bigger target for long range attacks, but considering the advantages he gets it’s not that much of a problem ================================================== 3. Walk-Through...(W3T) ================================================== The main game is slit up into two campaigns: the story from the films which everyone who’s playing this game already knows, and an alternate version where Sauron recovers the One ring. The campaigns are split up into missions, each mission taking place on a single map. The missions themselves are made up of multiple objectives. Most of them consist of capturing various points on the map or attacking certain units, but there are a few unique ones. The guide is split up to deal with each objective in each level individually. The strategies in the guide are by no means the only correct way to do something, but they are in my experience the easiest and most effective ways of getting through the missions. As a general guideline, this is what each class is effective at during the campaign: Warrior: Defending a base Fighting lots of enemies at once Archer: Defending an Area Taking a base Scout: Killing powerful enemies Getting from one place to another Mage: Defending any area Destroying objects in certain mission objectives ============================== A. Good Side Campaign...(GCM) ============================== The Good side campaign is the first one available. It follows the storyline of the films fairly closely, making a few diversions to play in areas the films didn’t have fights in. The mission objectives tend to focus on defending your own areas and taking out specific targets in battle. The campaign begins at Helm’s Deep, at the end of the second film. ==================== I. Helm’s Deep ==================== Defend the Wall --- Either of the starting classes will work well here. This section is simple: all you have to do is defend the wall from a bunch of Orc grunts that will come up the ladders. If you chose the archer, just stay in the middle and fire at the enemies as they come towards you. As a warrior, just kill as many as you can. Kill the Torch Bearers --- Orcs will now approach the wall with torches in order to try and set it on fire. Your goal is to keep them away from the bottom of the wall. As an archer, it’s easy to hit it the orcs from on top of the wall but as a warrior you’re going to have to jump down to ground level. Prevent any from reaching the wall by just attacking them when they get close enough. Fall Back --- Just run up the wall and into the gate to avoid the catapult fire. Defend the Main Gate --- The orcs will now smash down the main gate and you have to protect the gate from being overrun. As an archer, use multi-shot and rapid fire to clear out all the orcs immediately in front of the door and then snipe the enemies coming up the path from the gate. As a Warrior, jump right into the fray and use the spin attack to kill as many foes as you can at once. Put on your best “you will not pass” face, and kill and orcs that try to get by you. Rally to Theodin --- Orcs will now have invaded the throne room where Theodin is. You have to rally to him to save him. There are four warrior orcs here, which can do a lot of damage to your squishy Archer so it might be best to take them down as a Warrior. Retake the Wall --- The game should now offer you the chance to play as Aragorn, who fights like a buffed up Warrior. Take it, and then head back towards the wall to retake the parts you lost. There are a lot of orcs here, so be cautious about recklessly charging in to the fray. Wait for some reinforcements, and then take the first command post. After that, repeat it for the second command post. If you’re having trouble here, try using an Archer to clear out the clouds of enemies before you attempt to take the command post. Defend the Breach --- You will now have to defend the breach in the wall from massive numbers of orcs. If you still have Aragorn, this should be pretty easy. Otherwise, play and archer and try to take out enemies before they come to you instead of a Warrior. A Warrior can easily get overwhelmed here and die. After defending the breach, Helm’s Deep is over. ==================== II. Isengard ==================== Take the Command post --- This level is lot easier of you play as either a scout or a mage. The first objective is to take the command post a little ways off. If you’re a scout, just stealth and kill the enemies. A Mage will have to take out the archers on the towers so they aren’t killed. Defend the command post with either your bombs or magic until it’s captured. Kill the Captain --- You will now have to kill an orc captain, a special unit much stronger than a regular warrior. As a scout you should just stealth and try to back stab him, but that can be difficult due to the small space. You can jump down to the area below and then take the stairs back up if you’re having trouble with this. As a mage, star far back and take him down with Lighting/fireballs for an easy kill. Destroy the Fire Machine --- Creative title, huh? What exactly does a fire machine DO anyway? In any case, there’s a fairly easy way to take this thing down. Stand near your newly captured command post and stand near the ladder leading to the cliff below. The fire machine is that wooden contraption across the chasm. You can damage the machine here as a Scout or Mage with a fireball or bomb respectively, which prevents you from having to go down and fight the tons of enemies. Archers also work well. Kill Wormtongue --- Wormtongue will now appear, and he has the key you need to get inside Isengard. The easiest way to kill him is use a scout and stealth kill him from behind, that’s really the easiest way to take out any of the heroes- and besides, who doesn’t want to see this guy get taken down with a stab to the back? Take the Key to Treebeard --- You must now deliver the key to treebeard, who’s up on top of the level opposite from where you started. Follow the path along the bottom of the chasm to reach the other side. There are some enemies here, but you can just run past them or go invisible if you’re a scout. Take down the Archers --- Take control of one of the nearby Ents. Your goal is to destroy the archer towers near where you are. Ents are really powerful, but beware: small units can take you down pretty fast when they all focus on you. Avoid mages too, as fire hurts the Ents quite a bit. After you take down the towers, you’ll have to take the command post in front of Isengard. You can do this as an Ent quite easily. Kill Saruman --- You will now have the option to play as Gandalf for the showdown against Saruman. Gandalf is one of the best of the Good side’s heroes, if not the best. He has all the moves of a mage, but his basic combo is more like a warriors and does pretty good damage. ==================== III. The Mines of Moria ==================== Reach Balin’s Tomb --- It doesn’t matter which class you pick, as you will very soon be offered the chance to play as Gimli. Just make your way to Balin’s Tomb. Defend the Tomd --- You will have to defend Balin’s Tomb from a few waves of orcs. You will be asked if you want to play as a hero here, accept to play as Gimli. Gimli plays a little like a cross between a scout and a warrior, but much more of a warrior. The orcs will bring cave trolls in with them, which can be very deadly. However, cave trolls can be instantly killed by pressing the left bumper when you’re behind them and then inputting the correct button. This will stab the Troll in the neck and kill it. Stop the Trolls --- After you defend the tomb, you will have to make your way down some stairs to the area that the cave trolls are coming from. Once there, flip the lever to stop to flow of trolls from coming out of the cave. Before you move on, kill the trolls to make the next part easier on yourself as this is where you’ll spawn of you die. Take the bridge of Khaza-dun --- You’ll now need to take over a command post on the bridge. If you still have Gimli, keep playing as him. Otherwise you should switch to an archer: the after you kill all the enemies guarding the command post, new enemies will appear down the bridge away from you. An archer can easily take these enemies down before they reach the command post, which makes this situation quite a bit easier. Defeat the Balrog --- Rally to Gandalf by heading up the stairs across the bridge and through the next room. Upon arrival, you’ll see that the Balrog is back. You will now be offered the chance to play as Gandalf, which you should take even if you still have Gimli. Use a combination of Lighting and fireball spells to take down the Balrog at long rang; do not get close to him. The Balrog can kill even Gandalf in just a few hits at close range, so keep your distance and finish him off. After that, the level ends. ==================== IV. Osgiliath ==================== Defend the Wall --- Pick either a scout or Mage for this mission. The level is really open, so you need to either have the shields of a mage of the ability to turn invisible to help with the fight. The first objective is to defend the wall near your starting point. Lots of orc grunts will pour out of the wall, but they’re easy to kill. After them, a wave of mostly warriors and mages will com that’s a bit harder to take down. After defeating them, an air strike will hit the area so get moving to the next location. Take the Sanctuary --- Hop on one of the horses so graciously provided and make your way trough the Horde of weaker orcs. You’ll need to take the command post at the base of the bridge here. There are a lot of enemies, so either use long range with a mage or sneak attacks with the scout. Defend Frodo --- You will now be offered the chance to play as Faramir. He plays almost identically to Aragorn save for a few different special moves. Frodo will now show up in the level, and he needs to be escorted through Osgiliath. Don’t take a horse for this, it’s easier to defend him on foot. Stay as close to Frodo as possible: if an enemy shows up, just knock it down and continue to follow Frodo. You will eventually get to the other end of Osgiliath where there is a large horde of weaker orcs, run ahead of Frodo and take them out. Kill the Trolls --- After escorting Frodo across the city, you will have to kill two trolls so he can continue his quest. Just use the instant kill option like in the Mines of Moria to take them down easily. After you’ve killed the Trolls, the level will be over. ==================== V. Gondor ==================== Defend the Main gate --- This can be a pretty tough level. Stay a mage for the entire level: this level has some huge crowds that a mage is absolutely perfect for taking them down. The first objective is to defend the main game from attacks. The best way to this is to constantly toss fireballs out in the entrance to the gate so that when enemies enter they’ll take some damage, if not die in the process. Eventually a couple of Trolls will come so you might want to switch to a scout to insta-kill them instead of trying to use magic. Destroy the Siege towers --- You will now need to head up to the walls of the city to destroy a couple of wooded siege towers. These will constantly spawn enemies as long as they’re around, so focus on destroying the towers as quickly as possible. The best attack is to use the Mage’s Fireball to set them on fire; two fireballs to each tower should destroy them. Before launching your fireballs, check to make sure an enemy mage isn’t going to just block them with their shield. Rally to the third Ring --- After destroying the siege towers you will have to defend a command post on the third ring of the city from waves of enemies. The mage is again amazing here for the fireball ability: you can prevent most enemies from making up to where you are by constantly laying fireballs in the path leading up to where you are. Continually pelt the enemies coming up with Lightning and fireballs to clear this area. Defend the Final Gate --- At the start of this portion you will get the chance to play as Gandalf again. When playing as Gandalf, focus on taking out the powerful captains before anyone else. If you die, you’ll be grateful that you killed them as Gandalf instead of having to do it as a regular class. Repeat the strategy of using fireballs to prevent enemies from advancing, but focus on the few trolls when they start to come up the ramp. After you’ve defended the gate for long enough, the level is over. ==================== VI. Pellenor Fields ==================== Stop the siege towers --- It doesn’t really matter what class you play in this level, as you’ll have the ability to play as a hero for most of the match. The focus of this level is on defending the red area near your starting point: if any of the Oliphants or siege towers in the level reach this point than you’ll lose. You will first have to kill the advancing siege towers. Find a catapult, and using the left stick to aim and control range, fire at the towers until they’re destroyed. Stop the Oliphants --- Now you will have to take down two advancing Oliphants. The game should offer you the chance to play as Legolas, an Archer-type hero. You can fire the catapult at the Oliphants to kill them, but the easiest way is to run up to their front right leg (avoiding the spikes and the trunk) and initiate a sabotage event. You’ll have to perform three separate button pressing sequences, but you have a lot of time to input the buttons. Kill the Oliphants and Siege Towers --- You’ll now have to take on both of them at once. Eliminate the Oliphant first, it’s faster than the tower. Just take them out like you did the last time. Kill the Witch King --- The Witch King will now show up and start killing all of your allies. You will be given the chance to play as Eowyn here. If you still have Legolas, this choice should be made based on your play style: Eowyn is a scout and kill the Witch King in a single backstab, but the Witch King always knows where you are even if you’re invisible. With some creative footwork it’s possible to take him down with her, but if you’re not good with scouts stick with Legolas. ==================== VII. Minas Morgul ==================== Take the Bridge --- This is a pretty fun level, and you can be whoever you want as every class plays just fine in this level. The first objective is to take a command post just a bit ahead of where you start. Mages or Warriors work best here, as there’s a lot of enemies to get through to get to the command post. Escort the Battering Ram --- You’ll now have to take the battering Ram across the bridge. To do this, you will have to destroy the barriers that block the way with either physical attacks or fire, though fire is much faster. At the end of the bridge, kill all the enemies and to move the battering ram safely to the door. Take the Keep --- You should be offered the chance to play as Aragorn here, take it and kill the two trolls before you do anything else. There will be a lot of enemies here, but you want to go to the left to get to the command post you need. Cut down any enemies you see to make it easier on yourself, but be wary of Scouts: for some reason this level has quite a bit more than usual. Take the post in the usual manner, though you’ll probably have quite a few AI allies for once to help you. Open the gate --- For this you have to go up the steps next to the post you just captured and flip a switch to open to inner gate. If you still have Aragorn continue to play as him, but otherwise switch to a scout. A Scout can avoid all the enemies near the lever by invisibility, one of which is a powerful captain, so use this strategy if you have a normal unit. Free the Captives --- Another section with tons of enemies, this time it’s easier just to sneak into the prison area with a scout and use firebombs on the doors to slowly break them down. The enemies don’t stop coming here, so just throw a bomb and stealth until you toss another. Destroy the Power Sources --- Probably my favorite battle in the light side campaign, this will have you fighting to destroy three crystals that power the keep. Despite this being the last objective, it will probably take you as long to complete it as the rest of the level due to the sheer number of enemies in the area. Not only will you have to deal with trolls and loads of regular enemies, but the remaining Nazgul will show up in this fight. All eight of them. The only class I’d recommend not using here is the Scout, as they just don’t have enough power to destroy the crystals and the Nazgul move way too fast to be stealth killed. If you have a lot of lives here, the best strategy is to use a warrior and just rush the crystals with special moves to try and destroy them as fast as possible. The safer option is to use a Mage or Archer. Mages don’t destroy the crystals fast, but they’re excellent against the Nazgul and good on defense. Archers have the bonus of being able to hit the crystals from the ground floor with arrows, but finding a spot on the ground floor not covered in enemies can be difficult. After you destroy all three crystals-it doesn’t matter how many Nazgul are left- the level will end. ==================== VIII. The Black Gate ==================== The final level in the light side campaign, the Black Gate has a cool feature: all the classes are replaced by heroes. You have the option to play as Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli and you can choose which whenever you spawn and change classes at command posts. Defend your Position --- The first few minutes of the fight have you simply defending your position against ever harder waves of enemies. Any of the heroes work well here, so pick whichever one you want. Just defeat the hordes of enemies until you kill the last of the trolls, which will trigger the next objective. Take the Gate --- I would recommend Gandalf here for his Shield. There are a lot of ranged units in the area, and they’ll all target you as soon as you attempt to take the base. Capture the base, and then change the Legolas for the next portion of the fight. Kill the Four Captains --- There are four captains stationed on towers firing at your units, and you have to kill them. If you did what I said and chose Legolas, you can just sit where you are and snipe the captains with headshots to kill them from a safe distance and with little trouble. If you really want you can destroy the towers too, but it really wont have any effect on the level. Kill the Mouth of Sauron --- Now trudge back to command post and switch out Legolas for either Gimli or Aragorn. The Mouth of Sauron is a Mage, making him difficult to take out unless you have a melee type character. Still, he can be pretty deadly in close combat thanks to a lengthy combo attack that he likes to use a lot to stun you and then heal himself. Keep the pressure up to kill him. Take the Final Base/Defend the final Base --- This last stretch will throw absolutely crazy amounts of enemies at you. I’d recommend either Gandalf or Aragorn here, as the other two characters just don’t have enough crowd control. To avoid being overrun, focus on taking out large groups of easy to take down enemies as opposed to trolls or harder combatants. ============================== B. Evil campaign...(ECM) ============================== The Evil campaign is not unlocked from the start, it is required that you first beat the good campaign. In the evil campaign, the story of the films takes an alternate route: Frodo becomes enthralled by the ring, and refuses to destroy it at Mount Doom. This lands it back in the hands of Sauron, who attempts to conquer Middle Earth. The Evil campaign is similar to the Good campaign, but there are some key differences. For one, you won’t get nearly as many lives as you did in the good campaign. The objectives in the Evil campaign are also a lot more open-ended, and are based off of offense more than defense. Each level usually features a Hero from the good side of the war that will need to kill, usually acting as a boss of sorts. ==================== I. Mount Doom ==================== This level is pretty unique. You will only be able to play as the Nazgul during this level, much like the final level in the Light side campaign. In addition, and much stranger, you won’t have an army in this fight: you will have a few other AI controlled Nazgul, but other than that you’re on your own here. Get the Witch King’s Mask --- The Orcs have revolted, and they’re your enemies in this level even though you’re playing as the Nazgul. There is actually a pretty difficult objective after this one, so we’re going to play this one a little odd. First, kill everything you see outside the gate before you open it to go inside. After opening the gate, run forward to the intersection and turn left to find the Witch King’s Mask, get it as fast as you can without killing any of the enemies in this room, and then run the opposite direction and down the path to open the door to the forge. Revive the Witch King --- Here’s the hard part. As soon as you approach the throne, a timer will start and you’ll have to kill 20 orcs in under two minutes. DO NOT approach the throne yet. If you didn’t kill any of the enemies in the previous area like I told you to, they should be following you. You want them in here because they’re weak grunt type enemies and really easy to kill in order to get the amount you need in under two minutes. The normal orcs that you have to kill here are mostly Warriors and Mages, but if you lead the weaker orcs down here you can kill them instead. When enough are in the room, approach the throne to activate the challenge and kill the weak ones as fast as you can before focusing on Mages. Time can get really tight here, so if it looks like you’re going to die just respawn to avoid being trapped in a combo and lose time. Use mostly special moves here too, especially the LB+X special move to deal a lot of damage to one orc at a time. Kill the two Captains --- With the Witch King revived, you should be offered the chance to play as him. The Witch King is one of the best Heroes in the game. He has the normal moves of a warrior and his special moves have huge areas of damage they can hit in. It’s time to put down the Orc rebellion. Advance to the marker, making sure to avoid the cliffs along the way. You will have to kill two orc captains here, a Mage and an Archer. I recommend going after the Mage and letting the other Nazgul weaken the Warrior captain, he can be a bit of a beast. Kill Frodo --- Yep, it’s now time to end the life of Frodo Baggins. He’s up on the path near the entrance to the Volcano, and between you and him are a massive horde of foes. Kill as many as you want, but focus on getting to Frodo. When you find him he’ll be cloaked, but he’s easy enough to coax out with a sword to the head. Follow him as he makes his way up the mountain and eventually inside the volcano. The best (as well as the funniest) way to finish him off is to toss an axe at him when he’s near the edge. He’ll fly off and die at the bottom, and you can recover the ring from near the edge. Doing so completes the mission. ==================== II. Osgiliath ==================== Escort the Flare --- Your first objective is to take the torch at this end of the level to a base located at the opposite end. Picking a Scout makes this incredibly easy, as turning invisible will prevent any of the enemies from seeing you, allowing you to walk to the other end without having to fight anyone. Defend the Base --- You’ll now have to hold this position until your captains arrive. It’s probably a good idea to switch to something with crowd control here since you’ll be facing a lot of enemies. Just hold out, most of the enemies are grunts so it should be pretty easy. Bash the Gates Down --- You’ll be offered the chance to play as the Mouth of Sauron, a Mage hero. Despite his odd appearance, he’s actually really good and can hold his own very well in close combat thanks to a basic combo that seeks out enemies and a great RB+Y special. There are a lot of enemies, but as the Mouth of Sauron you shouldn’t have any trouble. The goal is to take the battering ram down to the other end of the bridge, defeating enemies and burning down barriers as you go. Bash the door down at the end to continue. Kill Faramir --- Your final goal is to kill Faramir. Enemies seem slow to spawn here, so taking them out can help a lot. If you can lure Faramir down to the ground level, he’ll get swarmed by your allies and killed in no time. Do this, and just focus on healing and supporting your men as they finish him off. Killing Faramir completes the level. ==================== III. Gondor ==================== Capture the Terrace --- A scout is the perfect choice for the first few objectives of this mission and can prevent a lot of unnecessary combat. Advance up to the first base with the rest of the troops, the troll should make capturing this base a snap. Steal the Crown of Gondor --- Now you’ll have to steal the crown of Gondor, which can be found straight down the path from the base leading into the mountain. Again, the best way to do this is as a Scout: sneak in and grab the crown and you won’t have to fight any enemies. If it’s easy, take out the captain on the bridge to help your allies (and you) further on in the level. Take the Crown to the Nazgul --- You will now need to transport the crown to the waiting Nazgul, who are fighting on the opposite side of the level from where you took the base. From the room where you got the crown, head right until you’re outside, and then turn right and burn the barricade. Go down the stairs, and then up the left staircase to find the Nazgul. Stealth makes this a lot easier. Just deliver the crown to the Nazgul and don’t bother fighting any of the soldiers here. Bash the Gates Down --- Like the last level, you will now have to escort a battering ram to break down a door. Go back to the first command post, which can be reached by heading through the middle of the level near the Nazgul. Switch to a mage, and then advance to the battering ram. There are a lot of enemies here, so focus on taking out the large groups first. Whenever you have a fireball charged up, destroy one of the barriers. If your allies aren’t getting the hint, feel free to move the ram yourself if the area’s clear for a moment. Burn the White Tree --- You will now be offered the chance to play as Saruman. His attacks are basically just really powerful mage spells with longer range, but he’s very good for this upcoming battle. On the top of the city, you will need to burn down the white tree of Gondor. You will be faced with a huge amount of enemies, but most of them are weak. Focus on burning the tree as fast as possible to move on to the last objective. Take the Throne Room --- The last objective in the level is to take a command post in the throne room. This is made more difficult, as a large number of captain level enemies will spawn in the throne room while you’re trying to take it. If you’re still Saruman this shouldn’t be difficult though, and orcs will come into the throne room to help you fight them. After you’ve taken the base, the level is complete. ==================== IV. The Mines of Moria ==================== Capture the Mines --- For this level, you should be an archer for pretty much the entire time. At certain points you have to kill long strings of enemies without dying, and Archers can safely accomplish that by sniping enemies instead of risking close combat. The first objective is to take a base in the mines area of the level. Follow the area to find a heavily defended base and take out the defenders from afar. Defend the base from the waves of enemies trying to take it back to reveal the next objective. Get the First Balrog Stone --- If you haven’t figured it out already, the goal of this level is to resurrect the Balrog. You’ll need two stones to do so, each held by a powerful enemy captain. Whenever a person holding a stone kills an enemy, a fire shockwave will be sent out and damage all foes in the surrounding area. To avoid this, use either an Archer to take them down from long range or a scout to sneak up behind them. Feed the Stone --- To get the stone to work, you’ll have to kill 20 enemies in a row without dying. Advance to the central area and kill enemies there until you reach 20, but be careful: dying resets the counter to zero, so don’t take any chances. After you have 20, take the stone to the altar in the middle of the level. Destroy Balin’s tomb --- Your target is now the tomb in the chamber off to the side of the level. All you need to destroy here is the tomb, so attack from long range or stealth with a scout and toss bombs at it to avoid the enemies. Get the Second Balrog Stone --- The second stone will be held by an enemy up the stairs from Balin’s tomb near a post with many other units. Like the first, take him out either at long range with a bow or using stealth as a scout. Feed the Second Stone --- Just like the first, except this stone requires 25 enemies instead of 20. The best place to get kills is in the main chamber, and you need to take the stone there anyway so head that way and kill any enemies you meet on the way. After you’ve gotten all 25, place the second stone in the altar. Kill Gimli --- After reviving to Balrog, you can play as him. The Balrog is sort of like a troll on Steroids: he doesn’t really do combos, but when you’re 50 feet tall why would you need to? Reviving the Balrog will cause Gimli to come out of hiding for what is one of the most one-sided fights in video game history. Seriously, a Dwarf against the Balrog? You shouldn’t need any help with this fight. Completing this objective ends the level. ==================== V. Weathertop ==================== Destroy the Encampments --- You can really be any class in this level; by I’d recommend a Warrior for the first few objectives. The first objective will have you destroying enemy camps. There are four camps total, but two of them can be destroyed by using the nearby Oliphant. Yes, you can control the Oliphant: just press the RB when close enough to hop on and take her for a ride. You’ll kill anything you step on in one hit, so try to watch out for your own allies if possible. After destroying the two camps on ground level, get out of the Oliphant as it can’t destroy the two other bases. You’ll have to take those out on foot, but they go down pretty easily so you shouldn’t have much difficulty. Take the Final Camp --- You will now have to take the camp at the far end of the map. There are a lot of enemy units around the camp, but you will have a lot of allies to take on the units in the base so it shouldn’t be that difficult. (As an aside, I have no idea why they make you take this base. It’s totally pointless concerning the next two objectives.) Kill the Captains --- A large group of soldiers will appear on the main hill now. It’s up to you to kill the Captains in this group. No one class works well here, and all are viable to take down the captains with so just choose whatever one you want. Try to lure the captains away from each other or knock them off the sides with explosives to make it easier on your self. Kill Aragorn --- Your final task for this mission is to kill Aragorn, leader of the free people. Aragorn waits at the top of the tower, and is a formidable foe. He is a warrior, but his specials have great range and do a lot of damage. He’ll also be surrounded by some weaker units as back-up. If you still have Saruman then use him, otherwise switch to a scout and try to stealth kill him. It’s not really that easier to kill him with a scout than it is with a Mage or a Archer (Warriors will have trouble), but there is something extremely satisfying about killing Aragorn, the great hero and King of Gondor, by stabbing him in the back with a nameless orc. ==================== VI. Rivendell ==================== Take the Courtyard --- This level can actually be fairly difficult, as you get relatively few lives and have to face very large numbers of enemies. I’d recommend picking either a mage or an archer, as these classes don’t need to risk close combat. Your first objective is to take a base right inside the main gate of Rivendell. Don’t just rush to the base as fast as you can, take out enemies and help your allies. Once the forces are weakened, your allies will help you take the base. Take the Terrace --- You will now need to take another base across the river from where you are now. The easiest way to this is to be a Troll, which will spawn along the path. Trolls are heavy and do tons of damage, but don’t expect them to win any marathons. Using the Troll, it should be a snap to take the command post as long as there aren’t any long range enemies harassing you. However, your allies will usually take care of those. Plant the Signal Flare --- You will now need to plant a signal flare at the base of a tower on the other side of a field of long enemies. The best way to this is just continue to us the troll and bash your way through the field to the other tower. You could also use a scout and stealth across the field too if that’s more of your thing. Once you plant the torch, the siege strike will kill anything in the surrounding area so it’s best to move away as fast as possible. Destroy the Elven Records --- Four targets will appear inside of the main house now that you need to destroy. Each bookcase has a small amount of health that can be damaged by burning or bashing them down. Again, the best way to take care of this part is to continue your use of the troll. The Troll can break the book cases in seconds, and the house is surprisingly accommodating for such a huge creature. Kill Elrond --- Elrond will appear to make a stand in his home, and it’s your job to take him down. I’d hate to sound like a broken record player, but the Troll makes this job easy too. Even if you die, more trolls will spawn for you to use near the original command post you took. Get the Ring of Wind --- Elrond will have dropped his ring of power, so grab it. You need to escort it back to the main gate of Rivendell so Sauron can pick it up. Just make your way there as fast as you can. Upon arriving, you’ll be offered the chance to play as Sauron the Dark Lord himself. Take it, Sauron is probably the single best unit in the game. He plays sort of like a troll, but only twice as powerful and three times as fast. His specials are amazing as well, almost always one hit kills against regular enemies. Capture the Boathouse --- Advance up to the walls and make your way towards the boathouse, slaughtering everyone you meet with the power of Sauron. The base should be ridiculously easy to capture playing as Sauron. The nest part, not so much. Kill Legolas and Elrond --- It’s time to finish off the Elves for good, but this portion requires some strategy. You need to try and lure the two heroes out of the area at the bottom of the ramps, otherwise you’ll be massacred before even getting to them. Use long range attacks to hit one of the heroes, which will cause them to focus their attention on you. Then run away from the center of battle back behind the post you just captured. The heroes will walk strait into your camp, where you and your allies can combo them until they die. Repeat for both heroes and the level’s over, though Elrond still isn’t dead- hey, someone has to narrate. ==================== VII. The Shire ==================== Burn the Shire --- This is the final mission of the Evil campaign, and boy is it a climactic one. Your first task is to burn down the houses in Hobbiton. Choose a scout for this: the scout’s bombs will destroy the houses faster than a mage’s fireball, and there are a lot of captain level enemies that can be avoided by using stealth here. Run in a circle around the map, and you should have a bomb charged time so you can hit every house. Hit all of them twice and they should be destroyed. Kill Treebeard --- Treebeard is making his final stand, and it’s time to turn him into kindling. You’ll be offered the chance to play as the Balrog again, and he’ll make short work of anything you come across. The only hard part is that you’ll be attacked from all sides. Just charge though the weaker foes and get to Treebeard as quickly as possible and take him down with your powerful specials. You probably won’t be able to face the huge wave of Ents here without dying, but kill as many as you can before the Balrog dies. Kill 50 Hobbits --- After killing Treebeard, it’s time to lure out Gandalf. Do this by killing 50 Hobbits, which will draw him out of hiding. First, kill all the remaining Ents in the area so your allies will help you instead of trying to kill them. After that, just go to town and use whatever class you want. There are a few captains mixed in with the Hobbits, but they shouldn’t be a problem. Kill Gandalf --- The final task in your brutal conquest is to kill Gandalf. He’ll get a boost in this fight from Ents, more captains, and Eagles. Eagles will kill any character they pick up instantly, so avoid the central area of the playing field where they fly over. You aren’t completely out of luck though, as you’ll get to play as Sauron for the final stretch. Before advancing across the bridge, wait for one of the Eagles to fly over the top of it. This will prevent them from doing so when you actually cross, and they’ll even kill Sauron in a single hit. Once across to the other side, ignore all of the opposing army other than Gandalf and try to kill him as quickly as possible. There are a large number of enemies in the area, and they’ll mostly attack whatever character you’re playing as. You should be able to kill Gandalf before you die, but if not than choose either a scout or a warrior to finish the job against Gandalf. They work decently against him at close range. After killing Gandalf, your quest to dominate Middle Earth comes to a close. ================================================== 4. Closing/Legal/Contact...(C4L) ================================================== I hope this guide has been helpful and has been enjoyable to read. Well, as enjoyable as a guide can be. All the standard Legal rhetoric goes here: this guide is my property, and it is only by the grace of my goodwill that you allowed to view it. As such, I must insist that you not profit from this guide in any way. If you wish to use this guide for your website, contact me first. If you have any questions, you can contact me at wcrobars@hotmail.com. This guide is dedicated to Cats, because cats are awesome. Copyright Woody Crobar, February 28, 2009