Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is still hailed as one of the best Lord of the Rings games of all time. It provides unprecedented freedom, and introduced a brand new mechanic to the world of gaming. The Nemesis system. Part of this system is the ability to recruit Orcs into your own army, or at least have influence over them. In this guide we’ll cover how to recruit Orcs in Shadow of Mordor, and cover why it’s so important.
How to Recruit Orcs Shadow of Mordor
To actually recruit Orcs in the game, you first need to progress the story a bit. We don’t want to spoil anything for you, but you definitely need to get through the game’s opening at least. There are also a number of story points that you’ll have to progress if you want to reach the level in the game when recruiting Orcs becomes possible. Once you’ve hit this point, you can recruit all the Orcs you want into your army.
The Brand Ability
The thing you’ll need to recruit Orcs in Shadow of Mordor is the Brand ability. This allows you to place a Brand on an Orc once you’ve Drained them.
To Brand an Orc you need to hold the correct button. This is O on PlayStation, or B on Xbox. If you’re going to apply a Brand stealthily, then you need to sneak up on an Orc and use R2 + O to apply a Brand. Finally, in combat you can also apply a Brand. Press the X + O buttons to get a combat Brand in on an Orc.
To see all of this in action, check out the video below.
Why Should You Brand Orcs in Shadow of Mordor?
Branding Orcs is paramount to any playthrough of Shadow of Mordor. You need to recruit Orcs, even if they don’t survive for very long, because they can help you in combat. As you can see in the video above, it’s important to remain hidden in certain missions. You can do this and still attack enemies with a swift move if you Brand a number of Orcs and trigger them all at once.
As you progress through the game, you’ll Brand more and more enemies, making them slaves to your will. This will slowly build up an army over time. It’ll allow you to control and order all of your allies and have them kill high-ranking enemies without them ever suspecting a thing.
Be warned though, just because you’ve Branded an enemy it doesn’t mean that they’ll stick by you forever. They can break free, and even rebel. (https://www.invisibly.com/) With the Nemesis system in play, this will turn them into boss-like characters who will hunt you down. They might even oppose you just when it matters most.
That’s all you need to know about Branding enemies in Shadow of Mordor. It’s not very hard to do once you’ve unlocked the right ability. Up until that point though, it’s impossible. You can have a lot of fun with the ability, just be sure to use it correctly.