Since we still have new players coming in looking for tips, and because we love sharing what our veteran players put together, we thought another Community spotlight was in order. This one is all about the siegecraft.

Community Fortresses

Better yet, all three are from Steam players. So you can try them in Friendly mode whenever you want!

1. All-Assassins by Which King?
2. All-Bards-and-Poets by William2652001
3. All-Enraged by EternallyHers

Happy Hunting!

As 2018 ends, we salute you - our community - and all the great things you’ve brought to Shadow of War!

Here are some of our favorite character builds from the past year. Give them a try and let us know your favorite!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLESurDy_0M

Or better yet, share one of your creations with us. We love seeing the ingenuity of our players!

• Slaughter Tribe
  
• Outlaw Tribe
  
• The Blade of Galadriel Story DLC
  
• The Desolation of Mordor Story DLC
  
• All updates and game improvements to date

• Updated backend support, no player facing impact.

Nemesis System:
• Fixed an issue with Empty Spots in the Hierarchy that couldn’t be replaced.
• Fixed an issue where Undead Followers could betray Talion if he attacked their Blood Brother.

User Interface:
• Fixed an issue where descriptions of Training Orders would not appear when playing offline.
• Fixed an issue with the Dagger/Sword character pose when viewing Legendary Gear Sets.

Progression/Balance:
• Fixed an issue where Nazgûl Masks were not being properly awarded for completing various years during Shadow Wars.
• Fixed an issue where the Rune Affix for Draining or Dominating to Gain Health wasn’t working correctly.
• Fixed an issue where swords broken by Sword Breakers would not level above 70 when reclaimed.
• Fixed an issue with Showdown Missions disappearing from the map under certain circumstances.
• Fixed Dagger Affix “Gain Might on Quick Throw.”
• Fixed an issue where “Bright Lord’s Wrath” Skill was not restoring health properly.
• Fixed issue with “Focus on Hit” Ranged Prestige Skill. It will now work against all enemy types.
• Fixed an issue where the player could exploit the Mask of the Undying to gain Might during infinite teleport-dash attacks.
• Fixed issue where Spiders could instantly kill Captains.

Achievement Fixes:
• Fixed an issue where the “Elven Conquest” Achievement was not unlocking when the Dark Eltariel skin was equipped.
• Fixed an issue where the “Eastern Front” Achievement was not being properly awarded for completing the mission "Unfinished Business" in Lithlad.

Miscellaneous:
• Fixed an issue with gear not being properly awarded in Friendly Online Conquests.
• Fixed issue where the Dark Eltariel skin could revert to regular Eltariel skin when Curse effects expired.
• Fixed an issue where incorrect Overlord dialogue could play during the penultimate fortress assault.
• Fixed various Localization text issues.

The Definitive Edition includes:

✔️All Story DLC
✔️ Slaughter Tribe
✔️Outlaw Tribe

It also includes all updates and game improvements made to date. If you already own the Gold or Platinum Editions, you have this content.

If you were waiting for the complete package, this is it. There has never been a better time to raise your army and begin an epic campaign against the Dark Lord!

The free demo is available from the store page:

If you or a friend have yet to play this epic adventure based on the award-winning Nemesis System, there's never been a better - or easier - time to begin.
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About the Demo

Go deep into the heart of Mordor to conquer the forested region of Nurn. Build an army of unique Orc Followers and then lead them in a massive fortress assault to take down its Overlord and replace him with a loyal Follower of your own. Your new Overlord will follow you into the full game once you purchase.

The entire region of Nurn and its quests are unlocked in this demo.

Free content updates available today for Middle-earth: Shadow of War owners, including:
 
Market Removed:
• The Market is removed from the game, replaced with an updated Garrison menu that allows access to your Garrison Orcs, Chests, Training Orders and Boosts.
• The Spoils of War Rewards and Community Challenge Reward Chests no longer contain Orcs. Instead, they now focus on Training Orders.
• You can now purchase Training Orders directly with Mirian.
• Captains recruited during Online Vendettas and Ranked Conquests can now be found in your Garrison when you return to your world.
• Captains killed during Online Vendettas and Ranked Conquests now drop gear, the same as Captains killed in your world. You still receive a Gear Chest at the end of the mission, in addition to any gear dropped by Orcs.
• With the removal of the Market, any unspent Gold currency has been converted into Gold Loot Chests.
Improvements to Epilogue (Shadow Wars):
• Reduced the number of stages and missions required for 100% completion of the Shadow Wars.
• Completing the Shadow Wars now earns you the pieces of gear listed below. Players who have already completed Shadow Wars will receive this gear when they begin playing.
o Servant’s Blackened Armor: Allied grunt Orcs have a chance to resurrect when they die. This includes allied Undead grunts.
o Mask of the General: Consume and Drain kills create a Curse explosion.
o Mask of the Undying: Waters of Lórien and Spectral Dash cost no Focus. Melee and Stealth damage increase for five seconds after use.
o Mask of the Fell Rider: Graug Call summons an Elemental Graug.
o Mask of the High King: Raise Dead summons Gondorian Wights.
o Mask of an Empress: Wraith Execution, Wraith Chain, and Chain of Shadows each deal more damage with each successive Wraith.
• Additional narrative elements:
o Additional dialogue from Orcs, Shelob, Dark Talion, and the Witch-king.
Progression Improvements:
• You can now reach level 80. Continuing to earn XP after reaching level 80 earns you additional skill points.
• Enemy Orcs can now reach level 85.
• New Prestige Skills, accessible after Act III, allow you to customize your character build. Each Prestige Skill can be purchased multiple times.
• You can now spend Mirian to raise the level of a piece of gear to match Talion’s current level. You must complete any upgrade challenges on the gear before you can raise its level.
• You can now spend perfect gems to re-roll secondary traits on gear. You must complete any upgrade challenges on the gear before you can re-roll.
New Player Skins:
• You can now choose to appear as Celebrimbor and Dark Eltariel.
 
Additional Fixes
 
General Stability:
• Fixed an issue where defeated Captains could leave an empty slot in the Army menu which could fail to refill with new enemies.
• Fixed an issue where deploying a Captain from the Garrison into any empty slot could result in lost Orcs.
• Fixed an issue where the Wages of War mission could become blocked if the player is killed while fighting the two Captains.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Dominating in the Damaged mission could sometimes block progression.
• Fixed an issue where the The Conquest of Shindrâm mission could become blocked if the player entered the throne room after triggering the Adrenaline augment.
• Fixed an issue where unplugging the controller during Captain deployment could block progress until the game is rebooted.
• Fixed an issue where an Overlord’s Unfinished Business mission could disappear when trying to infiltrate him with a spy.
• Fixed an issue where deploying a Captain could replace an enemy who is holding a Follower as a hostage, which would result in the hostage disappearing from the Army menu.
• Fixed an issue where a Follower could sometimes appear dead in the Army menu after being rescued.
• Fixed an issue where new unknown Captains could take Warchief slots in Minas Morgul.
• Fixed an issue where the Rune of Vengeance challenge would sometimes fail to unlock.
• Fixed an issue where using the fire breath attack on a mounted drake would sometimes not inflict damage against opposing drakes.
• Fixed an issue where using Waters of Lorien or Spectral Dash would recover Focus instead of consuming it.
• Fixed an issue where the Cloak of Beasts would not be visible when equipped with the Baranor skin.
• Armor affixes Might Gain Per Kill and Wrath Gain Per Kill now accept any enemy kill.
• Fixed an issue where using Raise Dead could result in having infinite Might.
• Fixed an issue where Ologs without the Seismic Strike trait could still perform the attack.
• Fixed an issue where the Battle Weary trait would sometimes fail to trigger when it’s supposed to.
• Fixed an issue where Decoys who become Captains could sometimes render invisible.
• Fixed an issue where striking an enraged Olog Captain could cause the Olog’s elemental weapon effect to apply to the player.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Mounting an enemy beast would fail to restore health.
• Fixed an issue where resurrecting dead War Banner carriers could result in them planting hostile banners.
• Fixed an issue where replaying the Best Defense mission could sometimes spawn the player at the incorrect location.
• Fixed an issue where the player’s Bodyguard could end up trapped and bleeding outside the throne room while the player went inside to confront the Overlord. Bodyguards will now exit bleed-out if left outside.
• Fixed an issue where Bodyguards of Assault Leaders could get duplicated when summoned inside the throne room.
• Fixed an issue where Captains could stop fighting appropriately and get stuck in a loop of taunting instead.
• Various movement and out-of-environment fixes.
• Fixed various memory crashes.
• Blade of Galadriel
o Fixed an issue where the first affix of the Fire Chaser’s Bow would not work against Talion.
o Fixed an issue where the first set bonus for the Light Bringer armor did not take effect against Talion.
o Fixed an issue where the game could become blocked during the Last Chance mini-game versus a mounted enemy.
o Fixed an issue where triggering the Beast Hunter’s Cloak second affix could instantly kill the targeted enemy, regardless of how much health was remaining.
o Fixed an issue where traps could disappear when Eltariel jumps near one.
o Fixed an issue where damage-over-time effects were not applying correctly to blinded enemies.
 
User Interface (UI):
• Enraged By banners will now display in the HUD when watching Pit Fights.
• Added mission start points in Minas Morgul (The Blade of Galadriel) and Lithlad (The Desolation of Mordor) that facilitate switching between Shadow of War campaigns.
• Dynamic Resolution Scaling is now turned off by default.
• Fixed an issue where Photo Mode would not properly pause the game animation if you were decapitating a drake.
• Fixed an issue where rewards were displayed as earned when failing a Pit Fight.
• Photo Mode: Fixed an issue where the Flat backdrop option would change the color of Orc blood to the selected hue.
• Fixed an issue where Ithildin Door Puzzle words would sometimes not change correctly when moving in the poem.
• Fixed an issue where quitting an Online Pit Fight could result in Online Vendetta information being inappropriately present in other mission resolution messaging.
• Fixed an edge case where the player would not be warned if deploying a Captain would result in a duel with another Follower.
• Desolation of Mordor: Fixed an issue where the number of turns remaining on an unprotected Outpost’s timer could be incorrect.
 
Nemesis System:
• You can now apply a Training Order to a Follower, even if they are currently on a mission. Prisoners are still ineligible.
• Necromancers may now occasionally raise themselves from the dead before your eyes.
• Added a toggle in the Options menu to disable Saviors.
• The Slaughter and Outlaw Invasion missions will now unlock sequentially, instead of all at once.
• Your Followers can now surprise you and deliver a gift Worm to interrogate.
 
Balance:
• Increased the overall spawn rates for Legendary Orcs.
• Rebalanced XP rewards and costs above level 30.
o Nemesis Missions and Captain kills now give much more XP.
o Online Fort Assault missions now award XP.
o Reduced XP reward on missions much higher level than the player, reducing the likelihood that a high-level fortress siege/defense will grant more than three levels of experience.
• Shortened the duration of rage if the Enrage Allies ability is used without Wrath.
• Slightly increased chance for Orcs to cheat death in late game.
• Improved gang-fighting behavior in Fight Pits. Gangs should now be more useful to their masters.
• Updated a variety of Orc attacks to charge through Defender shields. This helps balance Defenders better against Warriors, Savages, and Ologs.
• Added a tighter cooldown to the Berserker’s whirlwind attack.
• Added a brief delay at the beginning of an Orc’s Quick Shot attack, so the player has more time to react.
• Reduced the frequency of the Beast Slayer trait in late game.
• Slightly reduced the frequency of the Highly Adaptable trait.
• Greatly increased attack and defense values of Beasts (Caragors, Graugs, Drakes) against high-level Captains.
• Added Caragor stealth attacks as an acceptable unlock criteria for the Dagger of Vengeance.
• Increased attack and defense power of Caragors when mounted by Orc Captains.
• Reduced weakness of Orc traits Vulnerable to Fire and Vulnerable to Poison on Normal and Nemesis difficulties.
• Shaming an Orc once will not immediately reduce their traits. However, multiple shamings will still cause this to occur.
• Resurrecting dead Followers as Revenants will no longer cause them to lose any levels. They are still barred from ever leveling up again.
• Increased the chance that an Orc will ambush when his Blood Brother is under attack.
• Decreased the chance of a Blood Brother betrayal if the player accidentally hits their own Follower.
• Increased the time between an Orc’s death and his Blood Brother’s vengeful ambush.
• When playing siege/defense missions after completing Shadow Wars:
o Assault waves should now include bodyguards (two per Assault Leader).
o Legendary Orcs are now guaranteed to appear.
• Blade of Galadriel: Enraged Captains are Blinded for a shorter period.