Climbing the Ranks¶

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Ratbag, who was in over his head as a Captain, is now at risk of losing said head (left). Before you rush in and save him, sneakily dispatch the archers around the execution site (right) to satisfy a bonus objective.

“Ratbag’s hunger for power is growing, and so is his usefulness to your cause. Keep him alive, and he’ll bring you one step closer to the Black Hand of Sauron.”

Head to Udun Crossing to start this mission. In our absence, Ratbag’s plans have gone somewhat awry, and he faces imminent decapitation. It’s fitting, since he planned to do the same to his “old friend”, but Ratbag is our pet Uruk, so we should probably try to keep him alive. You’ll have four minutes to save Ratbag, with the bonus objective being to kill four nearby archers without being detected. Scale a cliff to the east and kill an archer, who will either be near a ladder (in which case climb up and kill him) or he’ll be further south (in which case, perform a Ledge Kill). Head north and shoot a campfire to kill the nearby Uruks, then cross some ropes over the disrupted campfire to reach some ruins where another archer lurks. The third is to the south-west, in a tower. He easy enough to kill, but you have to watch out for the fourth archer, which is on some ruins further to the south-west, as he can spot if you if he’s positioned to the south. Wait for the fourth archer to head north, then kill the tower archer, then kill the last one when he heads back south.

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Challenge Brogg, Ratbag’s tormentor (left) and whittle his life down until he can be grabbed (right). Doing so will score us valuable information on one of the Warchiefs.

Once that’s done, drop down to where Ratbag is and start a fight with Brogg and his minions. Your goal here isn’t to kill Brogg, and fortunately he doesn’t have any weaknesses. This is probably the most complicated story fight so far, as there are likely going to be Uruk Defenders, Hunters, and Warriors (hopefully the archers are all dead) as well as Brogg. Do yourself a favor and shoot nearby campfires to cause explosions (you need the “Detonate” Ability to pull this off), as the explosions will thin the ranks and damage Brogg. Some key headshots on more annoying foes come in handy, too. Whittle Brogg down until his white skull Captain symbol turns green (around >25% Health). Once this is done you can grapple him in combat (hold R1) and interrogate him, which will start a tutorial on Warchiefs and Bodyguards.

Warchiefs are like other elite Uruks, except typically stronger, and they have Bodyguards, which are simply Captains. Sounds simple enough, but as you may already know, fighting one Captain-rank Uruk is one thing. Fighting several is another. Warchiefs must be drawn out by completing “Showdown Missions”, and they will of course be accompanied by their Bodguards… unless something happens to them, first. The Warchief revealed to us by Brogg is “Mogg the Other Twin.”

Talion will free Ratbag, and tell him that their coalition is over. Ratbag hesitantly starts to flee before realizing how he can earn his way back into our confidence. He takes another trophy and promises with this he can pretend to be the victor, which will earn him promotion into Brogg’s position as Bodyguard. Grudgingly admiting that this could be useful, Talion relents, and offers Ratbag some anatomical advice.

You’ll notice now that we’re tasked with killing four of the Warchiefs, which is a somewhat more involved task than it seems. It’ll require us to complete four “Showdown Missions”, one for each Warchief. First, however, we’ll need to find Intel on each one, and elimiinate any pesky Bodyguards who might complicate things. Both of these tasks can be complete on your own-get Intel as it becomes available and use it to reveal information about the Warchiefs and their Bodyguards, then hunt down the Bodyguards.