Roadmap   Overview:
  • Estimated trophy difficulty: 3/10 (Personal Estimate, depends on captain traits RNG) (Platinum Difficulty Rating)
  • Offline trophies: 49 (37, 11, 1)
  • Online trophies: 3 (2, 1)
  • Approximate amount of time to platinum: 40-50 Hours (Personal Estimate) (Estimated Time to Platinum)
  • Minimum number of playthroughs: 1
  • Number of missable trophies: 3, Vandal , The Operative , It Came From Within 
  • Glitched trophies: 1, The Operative
  • Does difficulty affect trophies?: No, you can play the entire game on Easy difficulty
  • Do trophies stack?: No
  • Do cheat codes disable trophies?: No cheat codes
  • Additional peripherals required?: None

Introduction

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is the direct sequel to Monolith Software's critically acclaimed Shadow of Mordor. The game picks up right where the first left off, and those who enjoyed the previous game will be pleased to know that the sequel is more of the same but with a lot of improvements, with the main new feature of Fort Conquest.

In terms of trophies it's very similar to the previous game, with a mix of story, combat, Nemesis and collectible-related trophies. The entire game can be played on Easy difficulty and even the 3 online trophies only require an internet connection, there is no traditional multiplayer and you won't have to actually play the online conquest mode at all if you don't want to.

Walkthrough

Update: July 17th 2018 - This update has made some significant changes to the game, the requirements for most of the trophies remain the same but a few has been made easier such as the Shadow Wars, see the full list of changes HERE.

When playing through the game, you can find collectibles or just go through through the main story and clean up everything after but note this will be more tedious than collecting as you go along, which you should do.

Do not to progress to Act 4 (The Shadow Wars) until you have the 3 missable trophies and all combat/Nemesis related trophies, as the latter are considerably more tedious to obtain at this point in the game.

Step 1 - Play through the story until you reach Act 3, focus on Haedir, Artifacts, Shelob Memories as you play and the 3 missable trophies.

Focus on the main storyline until you reach Act 3 and stop here, the reason for this is because after the end of this act all enemy captains and fortress will be allied to you, making the next step much more tedious.

Make sure to purify all Haedir towers so you can highlight all Gondorian Artifacts and Shelob Memories on the map and collect them as you explore each new area, getting these collectibles now will make it much less tedious when you revisit areas.

With the removal of the marketplace as of the July 17th update, you can no longer acquire the Act 1 Starter bundle meaning you cannot obtain any XP boosts or gold chests. However you now earn significantly more XP from Nemesis missions and Captain kills, as well as being award XP for online conquests so you can earn plenty of XP from these avenues now.

By the end of this step you will have unlocked at least the following:

What Once Was Lost 
Hostile Takeover 
First Steps 
Lord of Horror 
Undeath Defeats Undeaths 
Fall and Rise 
Banished 
Brought to Heel 
Banish the Darkness 
For Gondor 
Purge 
Finished Tales 
The Web Revealed 

And the following missable trophies:

Vandal 
The Operative 
It Came From Within 

Step 2 - Combat, Nemesis, sidequests and Miscellaneous Trophies

Now that you have reached Act 3 focus on other characters quests, Bruz, Carnan, and Eltariel.

After this you will have access to most of the skills and every region in the game so you can freely explore and grab all trophies you didn't get naturally during the previous step. Perform any tasks relating to combat/Nemesis now as after Act 3 all captains and fortresses will be allied, making the process very tedious.

Also keep in mind that Wild Things is more easily obtained on 'The Scourge' quest, so use this opportunity to get the trophy.

By the end of this step you will have unlocked the following:

Forger 
Rule of Three 
Best Defense 
Fit for War 
Speak Friend and Enter 
Bound by Blood 
Avenged 
Master Forger 
Promise Keeper 
No Orc Left Behind 
Better Luck Next Time 
Everything is Permitted 
Power Couple 
Overkill 
Life of the Party 
If You Can't Beat Them 
Headhunter 
I Like to Watch 
Second Age Warrior 
Rough Rider 
Wild Things 
Trolling 
Vertical Mobility 
Blood on Blood 
Nemesis 
Feed the Beasts 
Bad Boss 
Follower Perks 

Step 3 - End game, Shadow Wars, Captain Rank, Cleanup

Now you need to complete Act 3 which will then make every skill in the game available. Focus on the few remaining trophies that are now possible here.

Next you need to complete the Shadow Wars and obtain Captain Rank in Online Conquest. The Shadow Wars consist of fortress defence missions previously you had to perform 25 defences with each one taking around 10-20 minutes, this has been reduced to only 5 defences as of the July 17th update. Make sure you are playing on Easy difficulty and are actively purchasing siege defences as well as recruiting any high level orcs that attack your fortresses, you will likely unlock Master Forger and Such Great Heights here.

By the end of this step you will have unlocked:

The Stuff of Legend 
Stalemate is Victory 
Such Great Heights 
Forged by War 
Death is not the End 
No Orc Lives Forever 
The Bright Lord 

Massive thanks to PowerPyx for the Videos and icon images in the guide!
[PST Would Like to Thank Sellers for this Roadmap]

Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War Trophy Guide

Printable Guide
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73 trophies ( 17  54  11  )

  • Middle-earth has been saved. For now...

    Earn all other trophies for a shiny new platinum!
  • Forge a higher-quality Gem by combining three Gems of the same quality.

    Firstly you need to unlock at least one gem slot, see Rule of Three.

    Gems are dropped at random from Orcs highlighted in white on the mini-map and when using in wraith world. They can also be obtained as rewards for fulfilling all main and optional objects in Shadows of the Past quests where you play as Celembrimbor, and by destroying monuments.

    Gems are categorised as Warrior, Life or Wealth Gems; you need 3 of the same type to forge a higher tier one.

    Once you have 3 gems of the same type go in to Inventory > > . Highlight over the 3 gems and hold and this will forge them in a single gem of the next tier. Removing gems from your equipment will also add it back in to your inventory so you can use them forging as well.
  • Unlock 3 Gem slots.

    Gem slots can be unlocked in your Inventory, hover over any equipped item and press then hold to unlock the slot. It costs 1000 Mirian to unlock a slot and it is a permanent, one time purchase that remains even if you change your equipment.
  • Equip 3 Siege Upgrades on an Assault Team.

    This trophy can only be obtained from Act 2 onward after conquering the Fortress in Nurnen; you must also be at least Level 20 to unlock the 3rd slot for an assault team.

    Siege upgrades are available in the range of 700-1105 Mirian each, you unlock more slots as Talion levels up and by completing Champion Pit Fights. These can be accessed on the Army screen by pressing for siege upgrades, assigning someone from your recruited orcs to an available slot and then pressing to buy a siege upgrade. Do this on 3 separate slots to unlock the trophy.
  • Complete a challenge to upgrade a piece of gear.

    Whilst playing the game you will be killing many captains and completing missions that both reward you with gear, for this trophy you need gear of at least rare level (yellow), but epic (orange) and legendary (dark blue) work as well. These can be upgrade through challenges specific to that piece of gear.

    To view the challenge go in to your Inventory and hover over a piece of gear, it will show you the challenge for it. This is easier on lower tier gear such as rare (yellow), as the challenges are not as difficult, you may even complete one naturally as the gear is equipped.

    Once you have completed the challenge go in to your inventory and hold Square Button over the piece of gear to upgrade it, which costs a small amount of Mirian and improves the items level and adds additional bonuses.
  • Defeat a Warchief.

    Story related and cannot missed

    You will automatically kill a Warchief in Cirith Ungol during Act 1 as part of the story.
  • Destroy a Monument.

    Missable!

    Whilst this trophy is missable, it's extremely easy to obtain and can be done so once you arrive at Cirith Ungol during Act 1.

    Monuments are marked on the map by a icon automatically. Go up to any any monument, climb it and press at the top to destroy it. They only show up in outposts that are under enemy control, making this trophy missable once you finish Act 4.
  • Open one of the Ithildin Doors.

    Before you can open an Ithildin Door you first need to find all 6 Ithildin marked by an icon on the map. Purifying all of a region's Haedir will reveal the locations of all of them on map.

    You will visit a door automatically in Minas Ithil/Morgul early on in the game, if you have found all 6 Ithildin you can solve a poem puzzle and open the door. You only need to open a single door, not all 5 of them unless you want the Bright Lord legendary gear.

    I have added all poem solutions below.


    Minas IthilMorgul

    Shadows
    Drums
    Cadence
    Land
    Wrath
    Doom

    Cirith Ungol

    Rises
    Fires
    Night
    Beacons
    Shines
    Marching

    Núrnen

    Iron
    Serpents
    Avail
    Woe
    Hordes
    Claim

    Seregost

    Slumbers
    Nest
    Poisoned
    Trapped
    Comes
    Base

    Gorgoroth

    Lurk
    Bulwark
    Impervious
    Powers
    Vicious
    Fail
  • Complete an Online Vendetta.

    Once you reach Cirith Ungol in Act 1, Online Vendetta missions will start to appear on the map. Make sure you have online notifications switched on the game will notify you that it's available, you can set this in Options > Game Settings > Online Notifications and ticking the box.
    Those who have played the previous game will be familiar with this mechanic, they will show up when someone on your friends list or another random player is killed by an orc. A notification will show up in the middle of the screen once a mission is available, complete this mission by killing the captain, avenging the other players death.
    You don't need to have anyone on your friends list actively playing the game, they show up almost all of the time whilst playing as long as you are connected to PSN.
  • Complete a Vendetta Mission.

    Vendetta Missions are triggered by getting killed by an Orc, let one kill you and a Vendetta Mission will appear on the map indicated a icon. Play this mission and either defeat, recruit or shame the Orc who had previously killed you to unlock the trophy.
  • Forge a top tier Gem.

    For this trophy you need to forge the highest (5th) tier of gem, this will definitely take a while as you always need 3 gems of the previous tier in order to forge one of the next tier. Finding all Gondorian Artifacts unlocks the 'Prospector' skill, which makes all enemies/monuments drop higher quality gems which I highly recommended going out of your way for this.
    When playing you can actively kill white highlighted enemies, which are fairly common in the game world to get plenty of gems, sometimes they will drop Mirian instead. Ologs will very rarely carry higher quality gems so keep on the look out for these, they show as a white arrow outlined in red on the map. You can also destroy monuments for a gem and getting gold ratings on Shadow of the Past missions will reward you with a Polished (3rd tier) gem.
    If you don't get a gem of the highest tier before Act 4 you will be able to finish this off during the Shadow Wars, as plenty of gems will drop whilst you are defending your fortresses, especially if you are actively killing Graugs and Drakes in process.
  • Issue a Death Threat, and then successfully kill the target.

    For this you need to interrogate a worm, highlighted by a green icon, then command him with and issue a Death Threat to any captain by hovering over one and pressing . Play the mission that appears and kill the captain to unlock the trophy.
  • Resurrect a Follower Captain.

    Resurrecting a Follower requires the 'Raise Dead' skill and the upgrade 'Undying Loyalty', which is obtained after completing Act 3 and finishing all Fight Pit mission in Minas Morgul.

    Equip the skill in question and on the army screen hover over a dead captain and press to resurrect him. If you don't have a dead allied captain you can command one to fight another in a pit fight then resurrect the loser.
  • Disable an Outpost.

    Each region has a few outposts marked on the map by a icon. These act as large strongholds filled with many enemies. Play the relevant outpost mission and kill the captain to unlock the trophy.
  • Equip a full Legendary Gear set.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    You will automatically be given a full Legendary set before the boss fight at the end of Act 3 which will be automatically equipped.

    A full set can obviously be found prior to this point if you get lucky or play a lot of Vendetta missions. Note that it all pieces must be a part of the same actual set (Vengeance, Bright Lord etc), equipping random Legendary gear on all slots won't unlock the trophy.
  • Recover all Gondorian artifacts.

    You can mark Gondorian Artifacts on the map using Haedir Towers once you purify them.
    These can be tracked in the quest log which tells you what region they are in. The earliest you can unlock this trophy is during Act 3 when you have access to all regions. Do note that one artifact in Seregost is acquired from the main mission 'The Uninvited' as part of the Gondor quest line.
  • Uncover the final Shelob memory and reveal the Web of Fate.

    You can mark Shelob Memories on the map using Haedir Towers once you purify them. There are 15 in total, 3 in each region.
    The memories consist of solving a very basic puzzle where you just have to rotate shattered pieces of glass to form the scene in the memory. Make sure to have vibration switched on as your controller vibrations get more intense the closer you are to the solution.
    These can be tracked in the quest log which also tells you what region they are in. You can unlock this trophy once you reach Act 3 and complete the final memory which appears in Cirith Ingol once you have found all previous memories.
  • Win all Fight Pit missions.

    Fight Pit missions are unlocked in each region once you have conquered the respective fortresses, therefore you cannot complete them all until you have completed Act 3.
    There are a total of 15 Fight Pit missions, 3 in each region whereby you pit your recruited Orcs in a simulated battle with an enemy orc, you do not actually fight yourself. The missions have increasing difficulty categorised as Maggot, Warrior and Champion which each give a one time reward to the player. You can track these in the quest menu under Nemesis Missions to see which ones you have completed as they are repeatable.
    The best Orcs to use for these missions, preferably at a high level are Defenders, Berserkers and Destroyers as the AI generally perform poorly against these types of orcs. Using Training Orders to give your orc a gang or an elemental weapon also greatly increases the chance of winning. If you are about to lose a fight you can quickly close the application before the game registers the result.
  • Unlock all player skills.

    Note: As of the July 17th Update the level cap has been increased to 80 and you can earn many more skillpoints as a result than before

    For this trophy you need to purchase all of Talion's main skills, upgrades are not necessary. The final skill is unlocked after completing Act 3 so this is the earliest time you can unlock them all, there are 34 basic skills in total. You can earn skill-points from leveling up and completing various activities in the game world, they are available in abundance.

    See below screenshot of all skills unlocked.
  • Purify all the Haedir.

    Haedir act as viewpoints and are immediately marked on the map, there are 15 in total, 3 in each region. Simply climb to the top of the Haedir and hold on the alter to purify it and then use it to mark all objects on the map, which unlocks it as a fast travel point.
  • Turn all of a Warchief's bodyguards (minimum 2) into spies, then confront him.

    MissableGlitched!

    The earliest opportunity to earn this trophy is during Act 2, after learning the skill to dominate Captains. After completing Act 4 this becomes unobtainable as all Forts become allied and can't be retaken.

    In the army menu, below the Overlord you will see the Warchiefs that are assigned to the fort. Hover over one to see lines that are pointing to the bodyguards of said Warchief, if they have at least two proceed to dominate those Captains and command them to infiltrate the Warchief by pressing . Now play the mission to draw out the Warchief and the trophy will immediately unlock.

    If none of the Warchiefs have bodyguards or only 1, just command your own Captains to infiltrate the Warchief, complete the resulting mission and that orc will become it's bodyguard.

    There have been reports of this trophy not unlocking despite satisfying the requirements. If you are affected, kill off any current Warchief and allow random orcs to kill you a couple of times so that they get promoted to Warchief, now command two of your Captains to infiltrate that Warchief, play the infiltration missions and the trophy should unlock when you confront him.
  • Reach the rank of Captain in Online Conquest.

    Although the trophy mentions Online Conquest, you do not have to actually try and conquer other players forts, you only need to be connected to the internet.

    Your online conquest rank is determined by the overall Assault and Defence Ratings of your forces across all regions of the game. Captain is rank 5 out of 10, requiring a total combined rating of 2500 to unlock the trophy.

    As part of the story you will automatically be building your forces, if you are actively buying siege/defence upgrades and assigning the highest level orcs available, which you should be doing your rating will gradually grow over the course of the game. You can check your progress in Pause Menu > Online > to view your current online rating. The trophy will pop once you reach Captain rank by checking your online rating.

    See a screenshot below of all 10 ranks and the required rating to reach them:

    Sometimes the stats don't always sync between your offline and online rating, I found that travelling to each region and viewing the online rating again would sometimes force it to update correctly, or just checking again after playing the game for a while.
    Once you reach Level 45 and complete the Pit Fights of each region you will have all Siege and Defense slots unlocked, allowing you to further increase your rating.
    You should achieve Captain Rank during Act 4, if you don't for whatever reason play the first online conquest available in each region and try to finish it in time to get a gold rating, this will increase your rating by 100 every time, as long you didn't lose any orcs in the process. I only recommend doing this once per region as subsequent online conquests pit you against harder fortresses with much higher defense ratings, making it considerably more difficult to conquer.
  • Rescue a Follower who's been captured.

    The best way to attempt this is by recruiting a few low level captains and repeatedly advancing time on a Haedir Tower using so that your orcs will keep partaking in missions fighting against enemy orcs. By having low level orcs there is a decent chance one of them will be captured which will then spawn a Rescue Mission.

    Rescue Missions appear on the map with a blue icon, play the mission and rescue your captured captain to unlock the trophy.
  • Meet an Enemy or a Follower who has cheated death.

    It's very likely that you will unlock this naturally as you will be killing many captains in the game. You need to kill a captain and then encounter the same one again after he has re-spawned in the world, this captain will have 'Cheated Death' when you encounter him again.
    If you somehow haven't unlocked this trophy by act 3, go around any region killing captains and hopefully one of them will cheat death and come after you again, unlocking the trophy.
  • Shame an Assassin until he becomes deranged.

    Shaming is something you can to do a dominated a captain to lower his level, this also has a chance to make a captain deranged.

    Before attempting this make sure you equip the skill upgrade 'Worse than Death' which is unlocked after finish the Bruz quest line, this increases the chance of deranging a captain considerably. Check the Army screen and find a captain with the 'Assassin' advanced class, go and find this captain and dominate him, press to shame him and he may become deranged, if not find and shame him again. Once he is deranged the trophy will unlock.

    See video below from PowerPyx.
     
  • Start a Conquest with all Warchiefs as spies.

    Missable!

    As part of the main quest you will be conquering fortresses; if you don't attempt this before finishing Act 4 your forts can't be retaken, making this missable.

    Every region's fortress has Warchiefs assigned to it, often multiple. For this trophy you need to play the missions that draw out each of the Warchiefs and dominate them, once you have done this that captain will no longer be a warchief.

    Go into the army screen and command any of your captains with and press over an open Warchief spot to infiltrate it. Complete the resulting infiltration mission and your orc will become a Warchief. You only need a single Warchief to occupy a spot as long as all of the others are empty. I recommend attempting this in Nurnen as that fortress only has 2 Warchiefs you need to dispose of, start the conquest having done this and the trophy will unlock straight away.
  • Send a Follower to support another Follower in a Nemesis Mission.

    This can be attempted as soon as you learn the skill to dominate captains in Act 2.

    Recruit some captains and advance time, at least one of your recruits should be engaging another captain in a blue Nemesis Mission on the map. Go to the Army screen and press to command an Orc, then hover over another one of your recruits with a Nemesis Mission icon above it and press to reinforce him, the trophy will unlock immediately without having to actually play the mission.
  • Send a Follower to kill another Follower in a pit fight.

    In order to attempt this trophy you must have conquered a fort which then unlocks Pit Fight missions for that region. Go to the army screen and press to command one of your captains to kill another, this creates a blue pit fight mission on the map, complete this to unlock the trophy.
  • Send a Destroyer on a Vendetta Mission.

    A Destroyer is a type of advanced class that some captains have, this can be checked in the army menu by pressing to see a captains traits, find and recruit one of these orcs.

    Once you have recruited a Destroyer allow any random Orc to kill you to create a Vendetta Mission. Go into the army menu and press on your Destroyer and command him to kill the Orc who just killed you, this will unlock the trophy immediately.
  • Dominate an Orc after he's killed you three or more times.

    Find any random orc and allow him to kill you. Now find this Orc again and allow him to kill you a further 2 times, at this point he may be promoted to Warchief if there are open slots.
    A few things to be mindful of when attempting this, remove any bodyguards assigned to you and consider killing off your followers, some of them may have traits that ambush the enemy orc which will complicate things when they are trying to kill you. Additionally when you are about to be killed a random Orc may appear and instantly kill your attacker, this orc cannot be killed but the chances of him appearing seem to be very low, I have only encountered him once during my entire playthrough.
    Nevertheless once the same orc has killed you 3 times, seek him out again and dominate him, which will unlock the trophy.
  • Recruit a Follower of every Advanced Class.

    Advanced Classes are a trait that captains have, for this trophy you must recruit at least 1 follower of each class. You can view a captain's advanced class in the army menu, press over a captain and check the 'Advanced Class' under 'Class Traits'.

    The best way to go about this is to interrogate worms for intel on captains, you can also see the advanced class on captains that you run into whilst playing by using then to view their class traits.

    There are 10 advanced classes in total listed below:
    • Assassin
    • Beastmaster
    • Berserker
    • Commander
    • Destroyer
    • Marksman
    • Slayer
    • Tank
    • Trickster
    • Tracker
    It's very likely you will unlock this naturally as I did, you will be recruiting many captains over the course of the game.
  • Watch a Follower murder another Captain without helping him.

    This trophy is nigh unmissable. During conquests your followers will actively combat enemy captains and it's extremely likely they will kill one over the course of the game.
    If you want to get it out of the way simply go in to the army screen and command one of your captains to kill an enemy captain.
  • Complete all Shadow of the Past missions in one region.

    Shadow of the Past missions are marked on the map with a icon. You can first access these as part of the prologue, one of them you play as part of the story.

    There are 5 in each region, but you only have to complete all of them within a single region, not all of them. When you complete the first 4 a 5th will then show up. They are fairly easy and mainly require you to kill enemies in numerous ways, or a certain amount of enemies and so on. Your rating at the end of each mission also doesn't matter, so you can ignore any optional objectives.
  • Ride every type of beast and rare beast.

    Update: July 17th 2018 - This update rewards you with the legendary Mask of the Fell Rider for completing stage 2 of the shadow wars, with this you can summon each elemental Graug in their respective regions and ride them for the trophy.

    There are a total of 7 beasts you need to ride for this trophy. 4 of the 7 can be summoned when you have the appropriate 'Call Mount' skills, the 3 you probably won't encounter naturally are the rare elemental Graugs, though 2 of them can be easily found in side quests.

    List of beats:
    • Caragor - Found commonly in the game, can be summoned with 'Call Mount'.
    • Dire Caragor - Rarely found, can be summoned with Call Mount upgrade 'Dire Caragor'.
    • Graug - Found fairly commonly, sometimes caged in outposts, can be summoned with Call Mount upgrade 'Graug Call'.
    • Drake - Rarely found, can be summoned with Call Mount upgrade 'Dragon Song' (after finishing all Carnan quests).
    • Poison Graug - These are green coloured and are rarely found in Nurnen. If you fast travel between the 3 Haedir Towers until you see 2 Graugs fighting each other below, there is a chance one of them will be a green poison graug. They can also appear in the forest area.
    • Fire Graug - These are red/orange coloured and are rarely found in Gorgoroth. The Shadows of the Past quest 'Bellas' has you riding on one at the start. See video below for the specific location in the game world (5:02) as it's difficult to describe in text.
    • Ice Graug - These are blue coloured and are rarely found in Seregost. 'The Scourge' quest also has Ice Graugs once Helm breaches your fort so you can just dominate one of these. See video below for the specific location in the game world (6:56) as it's difficult to describe in text.

    See below video from PowerPyx for the specific locations of each beast:
     
  • Kill a drake while riding a graug.

    There is a perfect opportunity in the main quest 'The Scourge'. Helm Hammerhead will summon Drakes and Ice Graugs in this battle, simply dominate an one of the latter and shoot a Drake with the graugs ice breath attack, once it lands on the ground attack it with your Graug to kill it and unlock the trophy.

    If you missed this opportunity there is another easy method that involves using the 'Call Drake' skill which you get after completing the Carnan Quest line. Find a regular Graug and dominate it, then summon a Drake and dismount it, and attack the drake by any means you desire, since it's dominated it won't fly away and will always stay close to you, try not to do this with too many enemies around as there is the risk an orc may land the final blow.

    There is another location you can also attempt this trophy which is the middle Haedir Tower in Nurnen, make sure you have the Call Mount upgrade 'Graug Call' equipped first.

    Keep advancing time at this location until a Drake spawns, then summon a Graug for you to mount. Chase down the Drake and shoot it in the head when it hovers and breaths fire and only at that point otherwise the Drake may flee if you damage it too much whilst it's in the air, this will knock it down to the ground. Rush up to it and repeatedly attack with your graug until the drake dies. It's best to try and attempt this in a wide open area so you have move room to maneuver.

    See video below from PowerPyx showing this method.
     
  • Kill a Captain while riding an Olog.

    This is the trickiest trophy in the game. First of all start by finding an Olog captain that has the 'Gang of Olog's' trait. You'll likely have to interrogate some worms in order to find one and once you do I recommend backing up your save so you can try again.

    Track down this captain and reduce his health until it is almost non existent, mount a nearby Olog either by shooting it in the head to stun it, or waiting to counter with to freeze it if you have the Ice Storm skill which I found much more reliable, mount the Olog using and then press to attack in the captains direction to kill it. Ologs do very little damage so this may take a few tries to pull of.

    There is another method courtesy of swotam which you may find more reliable.

    Quote by swotam:
    1. Make sure you are using the skill that allows you to freeze enemies when you hit .
    2. Assign an Olog as your bodyguard.
    3. Find a Captain in a relatively isolated area, or attract him to a relatively isolated area (the bottom of the fast travel towers is usually a good spot).
    4. Kill any adds that might have come with the Captain.
    5. Beat on the Captain until his health is almost gone. Hopefully you get a Captain who doesn't chase you around much.
    6. Move a reasonable distance away from the Captain and summon your bodyguard. Don't let the bodyguard attack the Captain.
    7. Attack your bodyguard until he gets pissed off and turns on you.
    8. Allow him to attack you until you are prompted to press . Stun them and then mount with .
    9. Shank the Olog with while running into the almost dead Captain with your Olog.
    10. Cross your fingers that you kill the Captain.
    11. If not, repeat until you succeed. Since you aren't attacking your Olog much you can stun them several times before you need to worry about them dying.

    Here is another excellent method from F8L Fool that is almost sure to work, but does require a bit of setup and some luck.

    Quote by F8L Fool:
    Trolling- An extremely easy way to assure this works with the minimum number of attempts is to get an Olog bodyguard that has a poison, flame, or curse weapon. If you are having bad luck with finding one you can use a training order to do just that. Next locate a bodyguard or enemy captain that is mortally weak to that element.

    From there perform the same steps that Swotam lists but I suggest shooting your Olog target in the head rather than waiting for the circle prompt. That way you can be very near the weakened captain and instantly mount it, allowing for the maximum number of swings before being forcibly dismounted.

    Since it is a Captain you don't need to worry about it dying from repeated arrow shots, but if you're attempting this on regular Olog's then circle is safest, otherwise you run the risk of killing the regular Olog outright.
  • Help a grunt become an Overlord.

    For this trophy you first need to have conquered a fortress in the region that you are attempting this in.

    Let a random Orc kill you, who will then get promoted to Captain. Find this orc again in the resulting vendetta mission and dominate him. From the army screen press on the captain you just recruited and re-position him by pressing again whilst hovering on the Overlord, the captain will replace him and the trophy will unlock.

    See video below from PowerPyx.
     
  • Make a Captain kill his bloodbrother.

    First of all you need to reveal most, if not all captains and warchiefs in any region by interrogating worms.

    Check each orc in the army screen and see which ones have the 'Blood Brother' trait by pressing and checking the 'hates' tab, it will also reveal who their bloodbrother is. Dominate one of the two bloodbrothers (the lower level one) and command him to kill his bloodbrother in the army screen. Play the resulting blue nemesis mission and make sure your dominated captain kills the other, you can join in and help out but your captain must land the final blow.

    You can also make them fight each other in a pit fight if you are having trouble with the normal method.

    See video below from PowerPyx.
     
  • Encounter the same Orc 3 times in nemesis missions without killing him.

    You should combine this trophy with If You Can't Beat Them, since you will dominating an orc for that after encountering him 3 times this trophy will unlock at the same time.
  • Attract every kind of beast using bait.

    There are a total of 5 types of beats you need to attract by shooting bait, Caragors, Graugs, Drakes, Ghuls and Spiders. You can find all of these types of bait in all regions with the exception of Minas Ithil/Morgul as there is no Drake bait there.
    The earliest location you can find each type of bait is Cirith Ungol, in and around enemy outposts for the most part. You don't have to shoot them all in the same region, for example Drake bait is more common in Nurnen than Cirith Ungol if you are struggling to find some. Just shoot each type of bait once and the trophy will unlock.
  • Strike a Follower until he's had enough.

    This trophy can be attempted once you unlock the ability to dominate captains in Nurnen during Act 2.

    Dominate and recruit a captain, press so that they stay and fight or summon one as a bodyguard once you have that skill. Simply attack your captain until he turns hostile and the trophy will unlock.

    See video below from PowerPyx.
     
  • Use a Training Order to give a Follower a gang.

    Note: As of July 17th 2018 the marketplace has been removed from the game and you no longer need to be online to earn this trophy.

    As of the July update and removal of the marketplace, you can now purchase training orders directly from the garrison menu with Mirian. When you have such an order, in the army screen command one of your followers and press for training orders, select the one that gives a gang and apply it, the trophy will then unlock.
 

Secret trophies

  • Defeat Suladân.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the quest 'The Tower of Sorcery' as part of the Eltariel Quest Line.
  • Defeat Helm Hammerhand.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the quest 'Fire and Fury' as part of the Eltariel Quest Line.
  • Defeat the Balrog.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the quest 'Frozen Flame' as part of the Carnan Quest Line.
  • Complete Act I.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This trophy will unlock at the end of Act 1, after acquiring the ring back from Shelob.
  • Conquer the Fortress of Núrnen.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This trophy will unlock upon conquering the fortress in Nurnen, concluding Act 2.
  • Complete the Shadow Wars.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    Note: As of the July 17th update, the amount of siege missions required to be completed has been reduced

    This will unlock upon completing Act 4. This is where you will be defending your fortress again and again until 100% completion.

    General tips and advice:
     
    • Defences - By using Reinforced Stone/Metal Walls, Iron Gates, Hellfire and Spike Walls you reduce the risk of a perimeter breach dramatically.
    • Dominate Captains/Warchiefs - Always dominate high level enemy warchiefs, they can stay in the siege and help out and you can use them to replace your lower level orcs.
    • Siege Beasts, Drakes - Often attacking forces will have Siege Beasts and Drakes, get rid of them ASAP, dominating a Drake is also an excellent way of killing enemy captains and warchiefs quickly.
    • Bodyguards - Always assign bodyguards to your warchiefs, this dramatically improves survivability of your warchiefs, assign one to yourself as well.
    • Useful Skills - Shadow Dominate (finish Eltariel quests), Ice Storm, Chain of Souls, Call Graug, Enrage Followers. These all have general uses to make dominating warchiefs and combat a bit easier to manage in these hectic battles.
    • Undying Loyalty - Finish all Minas Morgul Pit Fights to unlock this skill. You can resurrect any warchiefs/captains killed in a Siege, but they will be 5 levels lower than they were before.
    You can also make use of the war chest exploit to get a constant supply of high level orcs, see Follower Perks.
  • Complete all Carnán quests.

    This will unlock upon completing the Carnan Quest Line.
    • Violent Nature, Carnán's Bane
    • Frozen Flame
    • Carnán and Tar Goroth
    • A Stench on the Wind
    • Of Ghúls and Graugs
    • The Archers of Morgoth
    • The Burning Forest
    • Fire from Ice
    • Army of the Dead
  • Complete all Brûz quests.

    This will unlock upon completing 'Worse Than Death', as part of the Bruz Quest Line.
    • Ring of Power
    • Damaged and Missing
    • The Poisoned Road
    • A Sighting
    • Worse Than Death
  • Defeat the Witch-king and reclaim Minas Morgul.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon competing the final main quest, 'The Bright Lord', concluding Act 3.
  • Complete all Eltariel quests.

    This will unlock upon completing the 'The Bright Lord' at the end of Act 3 providing you have completed the below as part if the Eltariel quest line, otherwise it will unlock after completing 'Reversal of Fortune'.
    • The Witch-king's Vision
    • The Three Towers
    • The Tower of Sorcery
    • The Chosen
    • The Scourge
    • Fire and Fury
    • Gravewalkers
    • The Ritual
    • Reversal of Fortune
  • Complete all Gondor quests.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the 'To Gorgoroth' as part of the Gondor Quest Line.
    • Gondor Prologue
    • Fellowship
    • The Eyes of Sauron
    • Shadows of the Past
    • The Seeing Stone
    • No Man's Land
    • The Arena
    • Before Dawn
    • Allies
    • Blood Sport
    • The Uninvited
    • The Wages of War
    • To Gorgoroth

DLC: The Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion

10 trophies

  • Blind 100 Orcs.

    There is a new ability for Eltariel that involves the use of Light abilities to Blind orcs; this is introduced to you straight away.

    There are various skills and combo finishers that can blind enemies but the primary method is to hold and aim a cone of light at enemies after a few seconds they will be blinded. You will easily blind 100 orcs whilst naturally playing through the story, if you somehow don't you can just look around for more groups of orcs to blind.
  • Defeat the Rogue Nazgûl.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the quest 'The Battle for Mordor', where you have to defeat the Nazgul sisters.
  • Deny Sauron’s control of Seregost forever.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the quest 'Poisoned Ground'.
  • Defend Cirith Ungol from a new threat.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the quest 'The Siege of Cirith Ungol'.
  • Settle the Fixer’s score with the overlord of Núrn.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the quest 'Like a Thief'.
  • Witness the end of Eltariel’s path.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing the quest 'The Fall of Talion', completing the main story of the expansion.

    As the quest name implies, you have to fight Talion. He isn't particularly hard to defeat, I recommend using regular strikes and executions when your Might builds up enough, you can roll away and heal if needed. Eventually nazgul will join the fight; ignore them and focus on Talion, once you have dealt around 2/3 of damage to his health the battle will end.
  • Complete an Online Conquest with an Eltariel skin.

    This needs to be completed in the main game as Talion. Go in to your Inventory and then press and you will be able to select an Eltariel skin. Once you have changed your skin, play any online conquest (ranked or friendly) and the trophy will pop once you completed it.
  • Use Light Trap against 20 Orcs.

    Light Trap can be unlocked using a skill point under the 'Ranged' section. To plant a Light Trap, you need to press :r2:+:circle:, it causes a light explosion when an enemy orc is close to it. You can use this stealthily and easily enough in the middle of combat. Once used on 20 orcs in total the trophy will pop.
  • Defeat the Lawless.

    To unlock this trophy, you need to complete the quest 'Ratak the Lawless'. This is the final quest as part of the 'Fallen Blades' quest line.

    In each of these quests you need to defeat a Legendary captain that will spawn directly in front of you. I don't recommend attempting these until you have reached the part in the story where you get a bodyguard, the reason for this is because some of the captains have a lot of annoying immunities, having a bodyguard helps immensely as they deal a lot of damage and act as a distraction.

    Once you complete all of these quests, 'Ratak the Lawless' will be available. He is a higher level and tougher than the previous captains but the approach to defeating him is the same: use your bodyguard and check his weaknesses by pressing when he appears.
  • Recruit your first follower as Eltariel.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    This will unlock upon completing your first main quest when you arrive in Cirith Ungol, any of the available main quests will result in the recruitment of a follower.

DLC: The Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion

10 trophies

  • Change the landscape of Lithlad.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    You will unlock this trophy upon completing the 'The Raid' story quest.
  • Leave your mark on the Overlord of Lithlad.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    You will unlock this trophy upon completing the 'Infiltration' story quest.
  • Save Serka.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    You will unlock this trophy upon completing the 'The Circus story quest.
  • Defend the Oasis.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    You will unlock this trophy upon completing the 'A Warm Welcome' story quest.
  • Conquer the Fortress of Shindrâm as Baranor.

    Story related and cannot be missed

    For this trophy you must conquer the fortress in Lithlad as part of the story as Baranor, this works in the exact same way as the sieges in the main game except you don't not have an assault force and are supported by mercenaries instead, this isn't difficult and you can make it easier by eliminating some warchiefs before attempting the siege if you want.
  • Complete the Desolation of Mordor with a Gold Rating.

    This is by far the hardest trophy in the whole game, make sure to complete the DLC first and try to get a bronze rating for the augment that increases the drop chance for rare drops, though it's not essential. Don't spend all of your cash either as some of it carries over. Make sure to grab all artifacts and complete the story, these carry over however your skills and augments do not.

    To get a gold rating you must capture all 5 outposts and conquer the fortress as quickly as possible and score at least 225,000 points. This may sound daunting and it does rely on a bit of luck, as well as skill to achieve.

    Recommended Skills:
    • Logistics x3 - Grants a 30% discount for hiring Mercs
    • Honor Guards x1/2 - Grants additional bodyguard assignment slots
    • Sabotage Inner Gate - Puts explosives at the front gate during the siege so you can breach it easily

    General tips and advice:
    • Play on Nemesis as the gold rating is virtually impossible below this difficulty because there isn't a x2 point multiplier, don't bother with Gravewalker either as it's very difficult and will cause a lot of frustration.
    • Get the Honor Guard skills ASAP, combat is hard at first as you will feel under-powered, once you have 2-3 bodyguards it becomes easier. Alternate between these skills and then increase health pack capacity.
    • Kill white arrow enemies for augments, but don't go massively out of your way for them though so you don't waste time, with the bronze augment you may get some very powerful drops early on.
    • Don't assign mercs to outposts until you have at least 2 bodyguards, get one with the 'balefire' trait as this is extremely powerful, get the discount skills if you are struggling to afford any.
    • You can prevent your outposts from being captured by rotating your mercs between them to reset the timer, saving a lot of time by not having to defend or re-take them.
    • Don't bother drawing out warchiefs as this takes up too much time, with 2 or 3 epic/legendary bodyguards you will have little trouble fighting them during the siege.
    • Make use of your bombs and elemental bolts, firing these in to a crowd with captains/warchiefs is quite effective, especially if you have a bodyguard with the 'balefire' trait.
    • Try and assign an epic merc with the trait that increases hired merc damage by 50%, with this they will decimate warchiefs during the siege.
    • Backup your save to a USB or the PS+ cloud regularly in case you make a mistake or die.

    Here is a screenshot of my final results.



    Try and aim for a time of an hour or less, there is some leeway but anything over 1 hour and 20 minutes will be pushing it, remember to utilise backups and try to arrive at the siege at around 40-50 minutes time. You can keep your distance and let your hired mercs do most of the work during the siege especially if they are legendary and epic. Don't worry about the Overlord; he's very easy to kill as he fears executions, so just use one on him and he will be dazed.

    If you are struggling, nekov4egop has created a thread with an excellent video and text guide, getting a very high score with a lot of room for error.

    Baranor the Conqueror Text/Video Guide
  • Collect all Númenórean artifacts and bring them to Torvin.

    There are a total of 9 Númenórean artifacts scattered throughout Lithlad, bringing them to Torvin will unlock upgrades for Baranor. You can check the general locations of the artifacts using the in game treasure maps, most of them are easy to find with the exception of a few trickier ones. You should grab all of them on your first playthrough as they are very helpful when attempting the Gold Rating.

    If you cannot find them all yourself then refer to this video from Trophy Germany.
  • Kill at least one enemy with each ammo type while gliding as Baranor.

    For this trophy you need to get a kill with all 6 different ammo types, 3 bolts and 3 bombs. First you need to complete missions the Torvin quests to unlock poison and fire elements for your bolts and bombs. Find an outpost or go to the fortress, jump from a high location and glide, fire upon Uruks below using the various ammo types and make sure to get a kill with each, try it a few times to make sure it registers and the trophy will unlock once you have done so.

    Ammo Types:
    • Steel Bolts
    • Poison Bolts
    • Fire Bolts
    • Concussion Bombs
    • Fire Bombs
    • Poison Bombs

    First you need to complete missions the Torvin quests to unlock poison and fire elements for your bolts and bombs. Find an outpost or go to the fortress, jump from a high location and glide, fire upon Uruks below using the various ammo types and make sure to get a kill with each, try it a few times to make sure it registers and the trophy will unlock once you have done so.
  • Conquer the Fortress of Shindrâm as Talion.

    Lithlad can be visited in the main game as Talion. Load up your game and travel to Lithlad and conquer the fortress here, it works in the exact same way as sieges from the main game.
  • Achieve a Gold Rating on all Shadow of the Past missions in Lithlad.

    For this trophy you must complete all Shadow of the Past missions in Lithlad and fulfill their additional objectives so that you are awarded a Gold Rating. Most of them are simple and very easy with the exception of one of them which is rather tricky. I have listed all of them below.

    Derth - 0/8 Hit Uruks with Headshots, Avoid getting Hit
    Torthad - 0/8 Shoot Bait, 0/20 Kill orcs while Mounted on Beasts (I recommend using skills Pounce and Shadow Mount)
    Breged - 0/5 Trigger Fewer than 5 Mines, Don't Get Hit
    Indreth - 0/3 Kill 4 Uruks with a single Wraith Chain, 0/3 Stealth Kill Caragors
    Tur - 0/7 Kill Orcs in Bird of Prey after using Eagle's Eye, 0/5 Hit 5 Orcs with a single Talon Strike
    Darthad - Freeze 4 Uruks with a single Shower of Ice, 0/9 Set frozen Uruks on fire (I recommend using skills Firestorm/Cleansing Blaze, Freeze Blast/Winter's Breath, Deadly Striker)

    The only one you might struggle with is Breged, as it requires good timing and taking the optimal path through the cave, refer to this video from Uruk's Hollow.

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