Shadow of War: Higher rank Orcs Middle-earth: Shadow of War Guide

Thanks to their strength and persistence, some of the orcs from Middle-earth: Shadow of War managed to get promoted in Sauron's army and gained control over a part of it. On this page of our guide, you can find a list and descriptions of the most powerful orcs:

• Captains
• Warchiefs
• Overlords
• Heroic and legendary orcs

Captains

Every orc captain has weak and strong sides.

Captains are the most common type of a "stronger" orc. These enemies have their own character and abilities that makes them more dangerous in fights:

1. Unique strong sides. Each captain has a unique class (e.g. a Commander that can summon Olog-hai) which makes each fight feel completely different. You must pay attention to their strong sides and counter them in a right way.
2. Weak sides. Besides their strong sides, your enemies also have weaknesses that can be used to your advantage. When you examine an enemy (sometimes you have to get information from a Worm), you will learn more information about them. If, e.g. an enemy is afraid of Caragors, he can run away when he sees you riding on one.
3. Domination. Remember that from the second act on you will be able to dominate and recruit captains to your army. Try to update your forces with strong captains and hunt those that are especially tough and those that are Commanders.

Warchiefs

Warchiefs are almost always stronger than captains. Try to recruit them to your army.

Warchiefs are much stronger than regular captains and they usually come in epic versions:

1. Camp. Usually, these enemies command a fortress/camp and defend their region. You can be sure that a fight with a Warchief will be interrupted by many regular enemies.
2. Luring enemies out. Luckily for you, there are many chances for you to lure them out by completing special confrontation missions. Usually, these missions have a particular goal (e.g. kill 15 archers). Completing them forces a Warchief to appear.
3. Captains' assist. Warchiefs are usually accompanied by captains that guard them. In the Army menu, the guards are marked by a white line that connects them to a Warchief. This means that before you have a fight with a Warchief, you can hunt his captains first and make your fight easier.

Warchiefs also have strong/weak sides although they usually have additional abilities that make them stronger in battles.

Overlords

Overlords wait in their fortresses.

The most distinguished orcs receive an Overlord status:

1. Fortress. Overlords are the most powerful orcs who command a huge fortress that controls a given region.
2. Assault. If you want to face an Overlord, you must first gather an army and then assault their fortress. After that you must capture all control points and, finally, face an Overlord.
3. Duel. Entering a throne room initiates a fight with an Overlord. Sadly, each one of them is guarded by a lot of orcs which makes these fights very difficult. Because of that you should come with your own bodyguard to make these fights a little bit easier.

Usually, Overlords have a legendary rank and have the best fighting abilities.

Heroic and legendary orcs

Each of the orc types can also have one of the two versions:

1. Heroic orcs. These orcs are more powerful than the regular ones. They have a special heroic feature and they can, e.g. heal themselves. You should hunt them because defeating these orcs gives you a heroic item.
2. Legendary orcs. The most powerful types of orcs that have two heroic features. They are the elite which means that fighting with them is very difficult. However, defeating legendary orcs allows you to receive legendary items which are usually very powerful.

Heroic orcs can be identified by a red ring around their legs and the legendary ones by a purple ring.