The Great White Graug¶
“Torvin is ready to face his past.”
Head to the mission start in the middle of Celon Poros, where you’ll find Torvin… or his campsite, rather. Just as Talion begins to wonder where Torvin went, the Dwarf will show up, mounted on a Caragor. He’s also brought another Caragor for you to ride-but you’ll have to earn it by Countering it with Graug Hunter… or you can use the Shadow Mount Ability, if you bought it. The latter is the easier option, as all you have to do is enter Ranged Mode (R2), target the Caragor or Graug, and hit (X).
Once mounted, follow Torvin around while he talks about his past, particularly his encounter with this “Mighty Graug” who killed Torvin’s last partner. Along the way you’ll munch some Uruks before finally making your way to the Graug’s lair. Talion will suggest ambushing the Graug, since it appears to be absent, and Torvin consents. The two will head inside a cave, and Torvin will find an axe, an axe which is “just as sharp as the day our father made it”. Without contemplating the meaning of that too much, Talion wanders off and finds the chisel that accompanies the hammer we found earlier, and witnesses another Celebrimbor flashback. It’s an ill-timed flashback, as the “Mighty Graug”, the “Great White Graug”, the “Legendary Graug”-whatever the game chooses to call it at the moment-returns home. Torvin is knocked senseless, leaving Talion alone to fight the beast.
You have no hope against the Graug in a conventional fight, but that’s to be expected. Instead, run away from the Graug, and once you’ve gained enough linear distance the Graug will charge. While it’s charging, shoot the Graug in the head to disorient it, then dodge out of the way. You know… just like the game will tell you. If you manage to shoot the Graug after its intent to charge is clear (it’ll roar, and the camera will focus on it) it’ll drop to its knees stunned without charging, allowing you to attack it (R1), but in this case, it’s often too far away to reach before it recovers, so… run, shoot, dodge, attack.
After you’re successful, the Graug will take a hefty bit of damage. Unfortunately for us, this blood-letting lures Ghuls to the scene, which will attack you for minor damage, but mostly they bother the Graug, whom they can’t really hurt. The Graug, however, will attempt to grab and eat the Ghuls, regaining some health. Shoot the Graug in the head or hand to stop this (do the latter three times to satisfy a bonus objective), and in general try to kill Ghuls so the Graug can’t eat them and recover his life. Once the Ghuls are dead, you’ll have to repeat the run/shoot/dodge/attack routine again, which prompts more Ghuls to show up. How long this fight takes depends on how many Ghuls you allow the Graug to devour. There’s plenty of Elf-Shot lying around, should you need more.
Once you land the final blow, Talion will be grabbed by the Graug at the end of his attack. Fortunately for us, Torvin chooses to wake up now, and he, and his chain, leave the Graug vulnerable long enough for Talion to finish the beast off. The two chatter after the battle, exchange well-wishes, and Talion departs.
| Reward | Bonus Objective |
|---|---|
| 600 XP | 150 Mirian |
While our days of hunting with Torvin might be over, we still have some hunting to do, in general. Hunting Challenges 8, 9 and 10 are now available to us. First up, Hunting Challenge 8 requires us to kill a Dire Caragor, which are larger Caragors that can be commonly found along the northern reaches of Celon Poros, as well as the plains of Thang Talath. Spot them by their larger size, larger “beast” icon, and health bar. They can take up to five headshots to kill, so come prepared.
Hunting Challenge 9 tasks us with killing a Ghul Matron, which we should have already fought by now. You know the routine, attack-dodge-attack-dodge until you can pull of an Execution. Shooting them also works, particularly with Fire Arrows. They will sometimes show up in Thang Talath, the Fern Outskirts, Celon Poros and Tirith Mesas with other Ghuls, but only at night. Kill Ghuls as they burrow from underground, and eventually a Matron should show up.
The final Hunting Challenge, Hunting Challenge 10 tasks you with killing a Horned Graug. These critters spawn regularly in the eastern areas (Thang Talath, Harad Basin, and Cab-Gwanath Bluff) but they can also be found in a cave along the northern edge of Celon Poros. This hunt is stupidly easy-just Shadow Mount the Graug (L2 + X) then kill the mount (R2 + Circle). This should earn you the Trophy/Achievement “Master of the Wilds”.
Now, if you’re extra eager for Trophies/Achievements (who isn’t) it’s a good time to try and tackle what is possibly the most difficult task in the game-obtaining the Trophy/Achievement “The White Rider”. To complete this successfully we need to liberate 30 Slaves in 180 seconds while riding a Caragor. The easiest way to do this is to fast travel to the Tirith Mesas Forge Tower during the day. From this tower head north and, with any luck, you’ll find a Caragor pouncing around in the flood plains here or in Celon Poros. Shadow Mount the best, and dominate it, then ride east through Celon Poros, freeing slave by killing their attendant Uruks. To do this quickly, use your bow, Drain your Caragor if you need more Elf-Shot, and stay out of melee combat. Head to the eastern edge of Celon Poros, then go north, either directly into the Cape of Nurn, or through the western edge of Watcher landing. Make your way up north through the Cape of Nurn, following the road, and free slaves up to the Nurnen Peninsula.
If you were lucky, enough slaves were around to unlock the Trophy/Achievement. If not, close the game, restart, and try again. It’s mostly a matter of luck if enough Slaves are in the area. If you aren’t successful, there’s a good chance the run will be sparsely populated with slaves immediately afterwards, hence quiting and retrying. This will obviously be easier with a fully upgraded Talion (especially if you have all the Focus and Elf-Shot upgrades). The Evenstar Epic Sword Rune (recover all focus when the Hit Streak is charged) and some River of Arrows Bow Runes (1% chance per level to recover one Elf-Shot after firing the bow) also come in handy.
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