Questions about Nemesis System

[buckwilde]

Hi there,
I'm about 66% of the way through the game and unlocked all ability tiers some time ago (before starting second half of the game). Has anyone who has gotten this far or further wondered:

1. What's the point of the Nemesis System after you've unlocked all ability tiers? It's pretty meaningless for Orcs to keep rising the ranks since the Power Points they generate become useless (all ability tiers unlocked). Does it just become a question of trying to get Epic Rune drops?

2. What to do the icons mean in the Nemesis System? I have some captains with white skulls over their heads, some with yellow, and some with blue. I know the blue ones are Branded captains or warchiefs but no idea what the white or yellow skulls mean.

3. What do the lines linking certain solidiers in Sauron's Army mean? Some have red links to each other - does that mean there's a beef between those soldiers? What about the white ones? Are the warchiefs that link to other captains with white lines indicating those captains are bodyguards of that warchief?

I love the game and have been playing it non-stop but I feel like the Nemesis System could have been explained a little better considering it's such a fun new twist and game play experience. I guess ultimately I'm trying to figure out what the point is once you've unlocked all ability tiers other than trying to get Epic Rune drops. And, of course, the righteous vindication of killing Orc bosses as brutally as possible.

Thanks!
buck

[Tiberius Lacedaemon]

1. Fun. Replayability value. Use your imagination. I RP with it and yes, you could keep farming them for the perfect Runes (Good luck, though lol. High lvl Rune drops are disgustingly low).

2. Um. Let me try this. Not sure if you're trolling but...okay. White Skull means you have targeted them, which means you'll be able to find their location on the map. Yellow skull? What? I don't even think that exists, other than the "Yellow" icon that appears when an Uruk is "Alert" and "Investigating". Blue would be branded, as you said.

3. That means this Uruk is doing something against that Uruk. Duel, Execution, Ambush or whatever. Whoever wins either by Killing or making the other flee gains power, while the other gains nothing. I believe White ones means that Captain is a Bodyguard to the Warchief its linking to, and if you hover over the Warchief, it will show multiple lines (if available) to multiple bodyguards.

But still. Nemesis System is all about replayability value. I love to RP, so I try to find the BEST of the BEST to make them as my Warchiefs, or I just go nuts and put Warchief vs Captain, or Captain vs Captain, or I get killed and witness the rise of my killer. Hell, it's fun. Don't count on Runes, though, honestly. You'll get some nice Epic Runes, but when it comes to getting the Runes that have levels on them, GOOD LUCK GETTING ANY HIGH LEVEL ONES. Getting anything over level 20 is disgustingly low. The only level 25 I've got is a Breath of Light rune for the Dagger, and that was back when I was at least 7 hours in. I'm now over 50, and haven't gotten anything over 23. Hopefully they'll fix that.

[SpawnCap]

How did you get 66% complete without knowing the answer to question #2 and #3? Only way I can think is you completely ignored the training videos that pop up on your screen. Those videos explained all of that in great detail, which you are able to even view later on anytime you want.

[Elrofrost]

How do you know what level you are? I can't find anything with stats, like; level, how many killed, etc.

Also the Nemesis is great for rp. I've been playing for days and I still haven't beaten the game. Only because I'm a lore-hound and must find every rune, artifact, and story. Right now, I'm just playing politics with the system. Deciding which CPT lives or dies.

But it is high time I actually finish the campaign.

I'm hoping any DLC will allow you to import your char. is there a level max?

[SpawnCap]

Originally posted by stephen:

How do you know what level you are? I can't find anything with stats, like; level, how many killed, etc.

Also the Nemesis is great for rp. I've been playing for days and I still haven't beaten the game. Only because I'm a lore-hound and must find every rune, artifact, and story. Right now, I'm just playing politics with the system. Deciding which CPT lives or dies.

But it is high time I actually finish the campaign.

I'm hoping any DLC will allow you to import your char. is there a level max?

You don't have things like levels (1 or 10) or stats like STR, DEX, INT. You have abilities you upgrade and weapon runes which make your weapons more powerful. Only thing close to levels are uruks to let you know their difficulty.

Also game doesn't keep stats like how many uruks killed, or headshots made etc. (sorry misunderstood your stats comment)

You can obtain all abilities and max out all rune slots in weapons. Remember however each gameplay you will have different runes with different abilities, because except for a few of them, they are somewhat random.

[SpawnCap]

When I say runes are random, the abilities on the runes are random, you will obtain the rune for the weapon you used to kill the captains with, so if you killed them with your bow, you will get a bow rune but its powers are random.

[Solvaring]

yeah, it seems the only point to the nemesis system after unlocking all ability tiers is for replayability value, RP, farming runes, setting up different scenarios and whatnot.

[Sauce]

Yellow skull = captain/warchief is tied to a quest.

[Keshire]

Originally posted by Tyberius Lacedaemon:

GOOD LUCK GETTING ANY HIGH LEVEL ONES. Getting anything over level 20 is disgustingly low. The only level 25 I've got is a Breath of Light rune for the Dagger, and that was back when I was at least 7 hours in. I'm now over 50, and haven't gotten anything over 23. Hopefully they'll fix that.

Runes follow pretty specific rules. Rule one is that epics that you have already won't dupe. After that are modifiers to the rune that are added to the orc's level.

+2 warchief
+1 death threat
+1 Intel
+1 exploit
+1 revenge
+level

[eR×ze]

I recommend not to do Death Threats though, it adds 40% of dropping and epic rune instead of a lvl 25/26 rune.

The Warchief must be level 20, if not, let him kill you until he reaches level 20
you get an chance to get a lvl 25/26 rune if you do this

2+ warchief
1+ get intel
1+ Warchief must be revenge target (get killed by him)
1+ Exploit your Warchiefs weakness or hatred. If he has fear of Caragors(get caragors) and so on

Thats 5. You CAN give him a death threat. If you have luck you will get a lvl 26 rune. If not you get an epic rune.
So any of you who wants to get a lvl 25 rune (for achievement or whatever) i recommend those steps up there. I made a mistake for doing death threats to boost low orcs up to lvl 20 (once)
everytime a epic rune. Maybe someone had luck with a death threat and got a lvl 26 rune.
But deaththreats highens the chance to drop an epic rune (which you dont want)

Hope any of this helps for Achievement hunters

[Solemn Shadow]

Hey, I've been playing for a while, but I suddenly was ambushed by a captain with a black skull? The skull wasn't completely black, more like shadowed at the top and a gradient down, like a stealthy captain. He appeared after about ten seconds of me ambushing another captain, and I and checked out the area with wraith vision, and I'm sure he wasn't anywhere near when I began the fight. After I got into open combat with him (otherwise, a second later) his skull became white.

Anyone know why?

[FreezingFlame]

Originally posted by Solemn Shadow:

Hey, I've been playing for a while, but I suddenly was ambushed by a captain with a black skull? The skull wasn't completely black, more like shadowed at the top and a gradient down, like a stealthy captain. He appeared after about ten seconds of me ambushing another captain, and I and checked out the area with wraith vision, and I'm sure he wasn't anywhere near when I began the fight. After I got into open combat with him (otherwise, a second later) his skull became white.

Anyone know why?

I think it means that either he has the Sneaky trait, or it could mean that you had no intel on him before the attack. I could be wrong though

[stcaFylnO]

Originally posted by Keshire:

Runes follow pretty specific rules. Rule one is that epics that you have already won't dupe. After that are modifiers to the rune that are added to the orc's level.

+2 warchief
+1 death threat
+1 Intel
+1 exploit [Fear/Hate]
+1 revenge [ or Vendetta?]
+level

There may be a bug, or there may be exceptions to the rule. I had two of the One With Nature runes, just in main game (one equipped, one new). Also, on gamefaqs.com, I've seen postings where other people had multiple copies. Perhaps mine was a freebie at game start and so the rule allowed another to drop? Or maybe it was because my original was bugged and not functioning?

Does the prefix mean anything, like an Elite or Legendary enemy? I was hoping in contributed to these drops.

Awesome info, thx Keshire and eR×ze.

-edits in quote: "[ ]" and "_".

[Solemn Shadow]

Your first One With Nature rune is indeed a free rune, thus, you can have two of it in total. The prefixes don't 'technically' contribute anything, they just tend to signify higher level/ difficulty.

[Solemn Shadow]

Originally posted by FreezingFlame:

Originally posted by Solemn Shadow:

Hey, I've been playing for a while, but I suddenly was ambushed by a captain with a black skull? The skull wasn't completely black, more like shadowed at the top and a gradient down, like a stealthy captain. He appeared after about ten seconds of me ambushing another captain, and I and checked out the area with wraith vision, and I'm sure he wasn't anywhere near when I began the fight. After I got into open combat with him (otherwise, a second later) his skull became white.

Anyone know why?

I think it means that either he has the Sneaky trait, or it could mean that you had no intel on him before the attack. I could be wrong though

It does indeed refer to the "Sneaky" trait. Technically, the game doesn't actually have them sneak up on you from afar, given your ability to fast travel, ride creatures, and generally outpace them. Rather, they just teleport nearby at random times, then quickly make their way to you. It does tend to happen most often while or just after attacking another captain, though he can ambush you randomly as well.

[stcaFylnO]

Originally posted by Solemn Shadow:

Your first One With Nature rune is indeed a free rune, thus, you can have two of it in total. The prefixes don't 'technically' contribute anything, they just tend to signify higher level/ difficulty.

Awesome, thx SS!