Shadow of War: Branding enemies Middle-earth: Shadow of War Guide

One of the most important features and mechanics in Middle-earth: Shadow of War is the ability to brand your enemies. Almost each creature in the game can be dominated and forced to be your ally that can help you in battles. This mechanic is unlocked in the second act where you will be able to create your own armies. On this page of our guide, you can find the most important information about dominating your enemies:

Dominated captains can be ordered to perform various actions.

1. Regenerating health. Drain skill and domination regenerates your health. When there is a situation in which you need to regenerate health you can escape from a battle, find a lone orc and heal yourself by using him.
2. Stealth Brand. Remember, that you can brand your enemies from hiding which can be used to your advantage. If, e.g. you want to face a strong captain, you can brand nearby archers while you are in stealth mode and then start attacking the enemy. This allows you to add element of surprise and make a fight easier.
3. Passiveness of branded. Remember, that enemies branded outside of battles won't attack their ex-allies unless you press the right button. However, if you start fighting, the dominated orcs will automatically attack your enemies.

There is nothing stopping you from dominating a Graug and wreaking real havoc.

1. Branding beasts. Talion can dominate beasts who can, besides attacking nearby enemies, serve as a mount. This creates numerous ways in which you can fight with your enemies - by mounting, e.g. a Graug you can kill a lot of orcs and defeat many captains with ease.
2. Quick domination in fights. When you learn Drain skill, you will be able to dominate orcs instantly during fights when your Might is fully charged. This is a very useful ability which can help you in fights or allows you to heal in a blink of an eye.
3. Branding captains. Over time, you will get access to an ability that allows you to brand captains. More details about this topic can be found in the dedicated chapter of this guide.