A much larger and more expanded version of its predecessor, Middle-earth: Shadow Of War will have you juggling multiple armies of orcs as you defend territory and siege enemy fortresses.
Our reluctant ring wraith Talion learns an uncomfortable truth during the Bruz story missions: orcs and ologs you have dominated can later turn against you! It turns out Celebrimbor’s ring of power isn’t quite as unstoppable and overpowering as he thought.
Shadow Of War betrayals are somewhat of a controversial system, since they give you things to do and keep the game interesting after conquering forts, but they can also mean you may lose an orc captain you spent a lot of time grooming and improving through pit fights and training orders.
It’s best to think of orcs as a disposable resource and not as a buddy to get invested in as you conquer Mordor. Even if you’ve assigned an orc a mount and gang of defenders, and given them a special weapon, they may still decide it would be better if they were in charge instead of you!
While betrayal segments already occurred in the standard base game, Shadow Of War patch 1.06 added in the revamped rebellion system (in addition to the much-requested endless siege mode that takes place after Act IV). Below, we cover everything you need to know about how rebellions take place.
Skoth leads a three-orc rebellion against Talion in Gorgoroth
Shadow Of War Rebellion System
Rebellion now makes a little more sense and has some more rhyme and reason than in the original launch version of the game. Previously, the betrayal mechanics were highly randomized just like everything else in the Nemesis system, to the point of absolutely baffling some players.
For instance, you could remove an orc from the Overlord position running a fort and demote him, force him to kill a blood brother, and all around treat him like garbage, but he might never betray you.
On the flip side, an orc captain you made into your bodyguard and frequently sent out on missions might betray you out of the blue and scream about feeling undervalued and unused.
While some of the randomization is still present in this system, now there’s a specific triggering circumstance to multiple betrayals at once. Rebellions are now most likely to occur if most or all of the Army board in a specific region is dominated.
Rebellions due to total board control will usually see two to four orcs or ologs betraying you at the same time to tip the scales of the region and bring in new blood.
If you want to avoid large-scale rebellions as much as possible, only dominate a handful of orcs at a time, and leave the rest of the board under Sauron’s control so you can grab them as needed at a later time. Keep in mind there’s still the random element, however — there’s a small chance of a rebellion even with only a handful of orcs on your roster.
These rebellions are also now capped, so you won’t see five or more betraying orc captains ganging up on you all at once as has happened for some unfortunate players.
Seregost is ripe for rebellion as most of the board has been dominated by Talion
Have you lost your favorite orc or olog-hai to rebellion, and how many betrayals did you get hit with at once? Tell us your Shadow Of War tale of woe in the comments section! Special thanks to the Shadow Of War development team’s live stream for the rebellion screenshot.
—
Having trouble with any other aspect of this huge exploration across Mordor as a conquering Nazgul? Be sure to check out our other Shadow Of War guides below:
- Dominating orcs with Iron Will
- Completing all Bruz quests
- Picking the best Talion skills
- Obtaining all Legendary gear sets
- Ithilidin door poem solutions
