A Knife in the Dark¶

Location: Nurn, Thang Talath

Reward: 400 XP, 550 Mirian (+50 Mirian)

Objective: Kill all Uruks without being detected

Bonus Objecive: Stealth Brand 3 Defenders

“He descended upon the enemy camp late at night. He was careful and deliberate. He sowed such terror and confusion that the Dark Lord’s soldiers would kill each other if he didn’t take their lives for himself.”

A wondeful playground of Stealth Kills, this mission is the epitome of order of operations. A host of Uruks lurk in some ruins to the south, and must all be killed without you being detected, and the bonus objective is to Stealth Brand three defenders. Don’t limit yourself, though, you should attempt to Stealth Brand any Uruk you can safely reach, as you can then drop back and set them against the unbranded, more difficult to reach Uruks. Attract will come in very hand here, as you can well imagine.

Start out by heading north into some bushes, from which you should be able to easily Stealth Brand a patrolling Hunter. After that’s done, climb east along the southern face of the ruins, using the walls as sheilding as you climb over an arch and above a Defender. Stealth Brand him from above, then climb a wall further east and Attract-and-Brand two Uruks lurking on these south-eastern walls.

Further north, along the eastern end of the ruins are a stationary Defender and a pair of patrolling Hunters. While standing on the corner of the ruins where an Archer was standing (which should have been the last Uruk we Branded) target the Defender through the floor and he should march to investigate the corner of the room below you, and remain there. With him out of the way, wait for the Hunters to patrol up north, then Brand From Above them both before heading into the ruins and Branding the Defender.

Now you can safely head into the heart of the ruins, where a Warrior will be standing north of a campfire, facing west. Sneak up behind him and Brand him, then head north and Brand another Defender, who is facing north. If you head north along the western end of the ruins you can hide in some bushes and brand another patrolling Hunter, then another Uruk facing east in the ruins to the east. This is overkill, however, as it leaves only two Defenders left. Feel free to unleash your pets after completing the bonus objective, and they should kill the remaining Uruks, whom they outnumber. As long as they take care of the two Defenders to the east, guarding a bridge, you should easily be able to eliminate the stragglers with arrows.

Fatal Secrets¶

Location: Nurn, Celon Poros

Reward: 400 XP, 550 Mirian (+50 Mirian)

Objective: Follow the Messenger and eliminate the 4 Worms without being detected

Bonus Objecive: Kill 2 Uruks with Lethal Shadow Strike

“He had tracked the messenger to his network of spies. He stalked them all, ensuring any with valuable information would never live to share it.”

A Messenger (marked with a quest market, but does not glow yellow in Wraith Vision) will run around, meet up with other Uruks, and spawn a Worm in its wake. Your job is to follow the Messenger and kill the Worms it leaves behind when it departs… without being detected. When the mission starts, climb down to some ruins to the east, staying out of sight while the Messenger chats with some other Uruks. When the Messenger moves on, shoot the staggler Uruk to the east, then use Shadow Strike Kill on the Worm (if you want to attempt to satisfy the bonus objective.

The Messenger will move on to the west and climb up to high ground. Circle around the elevated ground he climbed up onto and scale the southern side, Ledge Kill an Uruk Warrior then climb some ruins and kill two archers. Wait for the Messenger to pass on his info, then kill the Worm, either with Shadow Strike, an arrow, Attrack and Strike From Above… whatever you feel like doing. He’s pretty vulnerable after his archer pals are dead.

Climb down to the west and hide in some bushes as the Messenger passes on his information to two Uruk Defenders. One will become a Worm, while the other will run off with the Messenger. Wait for some other Uruks to run past, then shoot the Uruk Defender, or Shadow Strike Kill him, if you’re feeling frisky. Continue following the Messenger when you’re done. He’ll head into some ruins to the north-west. You should give them a wideberth and approach from the south. Scale a tower and kill a patrolling Uruk, then shoot another Uruk to the east. Along the western side of the ruins the Messenger will pass on his intel to a Worm before walking off with a large retinue to the north. Wait for them to leave, then kill the Worm, who will remain behind. You’ll now have to kill the Worm, the easiest way to do so is climb the northern walls of the ruins, and from there, onto some high ground to the north (if the Messenger walked behind it) and shoot him from afar.

Shadow and Steel¶

Location: Nurn, Nurnen Peninsula

Reward: 400 XP, 500 Mirian (+50 Mirian)

Objective: Stealth Kill 5 Defenders without raising the Alarm

Bonus Objecive: Kill 3 Uruks with Strike From Above

“The servants of the Dark Lord knew he was coming. They planned and prepared. They encased themselves in armor. They bore heavy shields. They believed they were ready for him. They were not.”

Picking on Uruk Defenders is a theme in the Nurnen Peninsula, and so this mission’s objective focuses on Stealth Killing them. It’s a pretty easy mission, you have five Uruk Defenders you must Stealth Kill, and you can satisfy a bonus objective by killing any Uruks with Strike From Above. The only rub is that you ONLY get five Uruk Defenders, and you must Stealth Kill them all. If you’re sloppy, and one runs off to sound the alarm, you could be in trouble. Even in this scenario, however, you can use Shadow of Acharn as a last resort on a troublesome Defender. Just play smart, shoot troublesome Uruks, and Stealth Kill Defenders and you should be fine.

The Darkness Within¶

Location: Nurn, Cab-Gwanath Bluff

Reward: 400 XP, 500 Mirian (+50 Mirian)

Objective: Reach Executioner’s Watch without being detected/Stealth Brand 7 Archers without being detected/Kill the Uruk Patrol

Bonus Objecive: Kill no one until the ambush is set

“Suspicion and fear among the servants of the Dark Lord was growing. He had to become increasingly careful to orchestrate the devastating betrayals that would unravel his enemies.”

Your initial goal in this mission is to reach Executioner’s Watch (the northern-most area of the island Stronghold north of Cab-Gwanath Bluff) without being detected. When you get there (or get close, rather) the objective will change, now requiring you to Stealth Brand seven Archers. Stealth Brand may also help you make it around undetected, as well as with completing the bonus objective-you can’t kill any troublesome Uruks, but Branding them works just as well. Stick to high ground and climb your way across the (climbing along the exterior of the fortifications, in particular) fortress until you reach Executioner’s Watch. Branding the Archers isn’t too bad-there’s one stationary Defender to the east, and a patrolling Warrior. If you brand them both, you’ll just have to pay attention to the archers, who are rarely in a position to keep an eye on each other. Again, climbing along the exterior walls will suffice to get you into position to brand most of the Archers. Once they’re all Branded, an Uruk Patrol will show up, consisting of ten Uruks. Wait for them to get into the center of the area your Archers surround, then press the (Up) button to set your minions upon them.

The Scourging of the Shadow¶

Location: Nurn, Fort Morn

Reward: 400 XP, 550 Mirian (+50 Mirian)

Objective: Avoid detection and eliminate Uruk Torchbearers near each Ghul Nest

Bonus Objecive: Attract or Distract then kill 5 Uruks

“His enemies tried in vain to keep the terrors of the night at bay. He would extinguish both their efforts and their hope.”

The bonus objective for this mission-to Attract (or Distract) and kill five Uruks calls for Ledge Kills, but it should come as secondary to the main objective, which can be quite annoying. The main objective tasks you with killing three GROUPS of Uruk Torchbearers, each group consisting of four Uruks. They’re somewhat spread out, but there is a distinct order of operations to dealing with them. From the mission start, cross some ropes to reach a roof to the south-west. From here you should be able to snipe some-if not all-of the Uruk Torchbearers in the southernmost group. Arrows aren’t usually stealthy, but if you keep a distance from your targets, only kill Uruks that are alone, and score headshots, you should be fine. Uruks from elsewhere in the camp might run to the investigate the dead Torchbearers, but as we’re nowhere nearby, this should, if anything, make the rest of the mission a little easier.

Walk west onto a wooden beam, and from here jump west onto a wooden ledge. Follow this ledge around to the south, then climb onto a hide covering to the south, then onto a cluster of buildings to the south-west. Continue west, dealing with an archer as you go, until you find a hide-covered ramp to the west. At the foot of this ramp turn south and climb onto a slanted roof. Continue south off this roof onto some other, more flat, hide-covered roofs until you find an archer in a watch tower below you. Dispatch him, drop down into the watch tower, then drop off the watch tower onto a wooden walkway to the south. The Torchbearers that make up the second group are now below you. You can Attract the eastern-most one, lure him out from under you, then kill him with a Strike From Above. Then simply sneak west and dispatch the second one. The next Torchbearer to the west (around a corner) can simply be killed with an arrow, as can the last one, but in the latter case, you’re better off getting just close enough to Attract him, then running back east, and shooting him when he’s moved away from his buddies a bit.

Two down, one to go. Climb back up to the wooden walkway to the north, then up to the watch tower where we killed the last archer, then back to the cloth-covered ramp just north of the slanted roof we climbed. Go down this ramp to the south-west, then cross another one to the north and scale some wooden buildings to the north. Look off the northern edge of these buildings at the ground below and you should see… well, most of our next targets. The northern-most one is far enough away from the others than he can be safely picked off with an arrow. After that, do the same thing for the eastern-most one (now the northern-most survivor). Drop down to a wooden walkway to the north, then head to the western edge of the walkway, where you can Strike From Above the southern-most Torchbearer (after doing a quick Attract, if you must-just be careful not to accidentally Brutalize him). The final Torchbearer can be killed by backing up to the east and shooting him from a distance.

A complicated Dagger Mission, but once you know how to do it, it’s not so bad. Ironically, you use your bow a lot. It also helps to kill any Captains around before you start the mission-they don’t go away just because you’re on a side-mission, and they can appear in places that Uruks otherwise normally wouldn’t spawn, which can further complicate this endeavor.