Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
75 Achievements
1,680
37-46h
Beyond Epic
Get a Level 30 Rune in Test of the Ring.
30
0.18%
How to unlock the Beyond Epic achievement in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Definitive Guide
BiggDope
TrueAchievements
TrueAchievements
Apparently, issuing Death Threats only SLIGHTLY increases (by 40%) the chance of a targeted Uruk to drop an Epic Rune. The other solution mentions to ignore Death Threats and work on exploiting a Warchief's fear, but none of the starting Warchiefs in this DLC have weakness to exploit for that +1 Rune point, and why are we going to waste time grooming a Captain? Fret not, gamers.
When the Trial starts, head to one of the several Power Struggle missions and fight the Captain there. Dominate him at the end and reveal the identity of a Warchief (it doesn't matter which one, but I like Tumhorn, the poison arrow, bow wielding, ugly faced Uruk). Once that Warchief's mission appears in the world, head there, start it, complete the prerequisite to lure him out…then allow him to kill you. Make sure the Warchief gets the finishing blow on you!
When you spawn at the Forge Tower, go ahead and find another Captain (be it through Power Struggle missions or free roaming the region with Wraith Vision enabled) and dominate him however you see fit. While holding this Captain, do not worry about gaining intel, ISSUE A DEATH THREAT to the Warchief that just killed you.
Now go to Sauron's Army screen and you'll notice that because the Warchief killed you earlier, he'll have at least one bodyguard (or two maybe,). It's worth noting that initially, these five Warchiefs do not have any bodyguards. Upon killing you however, they will sometimes obtain one or two (and in some cases, none at all!). If they do have a bodyguard, find one of their identities through worms, intel or other Captains around the region. When you go to track down the bodyguard(s), do what it takes to DOMINATE them, then DISMISS them. DO NOT KILL THEM.
Once that's through, go back to the "Unfinished Business" mission from the Warchief who is savoring in your defeat. Start the mission up and he'll show with his bodyguards (whom you have branded) and a small gang of Uruk grunts.
Initiate the fight against your foe and do what you must to get as many Uruk Grunts dominated under your control. Obviously, Wraith Flash Domination (X+A) works best to dominate several Uruk at once.
The Warchief's bodyguards and now all the Grunts will be attacking him like crazy. Get some executions and stuns on the Warchief if you want to speed things up, but DO NOT deliver the finishing blow!!! Jesus, DON'T DO IT!!!
When his health is really low, allow one of your several dominated Uruk allies to deliver the finishing blow and the Warchief will drop a Level 30 Rune - NOT an Epic.
I tried this out just now
This method is super easy because you don't have to go through the trouble of finding that ONE single Captain who has an easy fear to exploit and waste time leveling him up and getting him to become a Warchief. No offense to the other solutions (which are great), but it's more time consuming to find an exploitable Captain and level him up and all that jazz. This method detailed above works within the first 10-15 minutes of the Trial.
For those unfamiliar with how this Warchief is dropping a Level 30 Rune, let me break it down: A Greater Uruk (Captain or Warchief), when killed, will drop a Rune of HIS current Level. There are 5-6 additional points that can be added to his Rune. If you haven't already guessed it, Level 25 enemies are the highest enemies in this DLC Trial.
The Warchief, already being a Level 25, will net +2 points to the Rune since the status of being a Warchief grants +2 points.
Since he killed you and is now a revenge target, that's +1 point as well.
Issuing the Death Threat yields another +1 point.
And of course, since you know his identity and his strengths/weakness from interrogating that Captain in the beginning, that's another +1 point.
It's worth reinstating that issuing the Death Threat DOES WORK - please do not let people's comments that state otherwise confuse you or deter you from thinking what's correct - but you CANNOT be the one to deliver the final blow. Your allies MUST.
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For a visual representation of how all this plays out, go ahead and check out the video below, courtesy of Chaotic Fiasco.
....very helpful.
& it kept them interested.+1 from me 
Ethigy
TrueAchievements
TrueAchievements
Dominate a captain via a Power Struggle to gain intel on a Warchief.
Mark the Warchief. Start his mission, draw him out and let him kill you.
Mark and go to his bodyguard. Dominate the bodyguard and put a death threat on the Warchief. Do not kill the bodyguard.
Return to the Warchief. Brand as many Uruks as you can and let them land the killing blow on the Warchief.
Intel +1
Revenge +1
Death Threat +1
Warchief +2
Power Level +25
L4DANathan
TrueSteamAchievements
TrueSteamAchievements
The rune you get from killing a Warchief or a Captain is tied to their level + several modifiers. You kill a level 17 Captain with no modifiers, you'll get a level 17 rune, etc. The modifiers are as follow:
+2 for being a Warchief
+1 for having a Death Threat against them
+1 for knowing their weaknesses
+1 for killing them with their weakness (must be an insta-kill weakness, very difficult to get a level 25 Warchief or Captain who still has one)
+1 for exploiting a fear/rage
+1 for being a revenge target (they've previously killed you)
The fastest way that I've found is to get a Warchief to level 25, have him kill you, know his weaknesses, and have a death threat on him. Now, the important thing to note is that if you kill the Warchief, it's likely that you'll get an Epic Rune rather than a level-based one. The way around this is if you have the Warchief die by means other than yourself, such as a wild caragor/graug, or a branded Uruk (I used the Warchief's bodyguards to accomplish this), he will be guaranteed to drop a level-based rune. You can still get a level-based rune by killing him yourself, but why take the chance? Hope this helps anyone who had issues like myself.
F8L, Fool, scharn73
While there is another trophy in this DLC that can only be learned via Test of the Ring, you will want to achieve this trophy in its own partial playthrough of the test. You will "waste" precious time going for this trophy, and the other Test of the Ring trophy is timed. You will not need to finish the test for this trophy to pop.
A rune drops whenever a Captain or Warchief is killed. In this Test, the level cap has been raised so that now Uruks can achieve Level 25. In order to achieve a Level 30 Rune, you must acquire 5 bonuses prior to defeating a Level 25 Uruk. The trophy will pop after collecting the dropped Level 30 Rune.
A specific walk-through follows:
As far as I've gleaned, these are the only possible ways to improve the level of a dropped rune:
- +1 for Vengeance (the target previously killed you)
- +2 for Warchief
- +1 for Fear/Hate Exploited
- +1 for Knowing Weaknesses (gain Intel)
- +1 for Death Threat
It should be noted that more bonuses means a higher chance of getting an Epic rune versus a Level 30 rune. You do not want that to happen as this won't pop the trophy. Death Threat seems to make it almost certain you will get an Epic rune.
A possible "workaround" for this would be to have branded Uruks land the killing blow on the Warchief as an Epic should only drop if you personally land the killing blow.
Personally, I used and recommend the following strategy:
- Start the trial via the Main Menu by selecting Play followed by Trials of War and then Test of the Ring.
- Find Intel on one of the Warchiefs.
- You are looking for a Warchief that has a Hate or Fear. Of the initial 5 Warchiefs (they are not random), only 2 have a Hate:
- Shak Raid Leader - Hate of Caragors (I chose this one because I can control where the Caragor runs via Shadow Mount)
- Rûg the Crafty - Hate of Morgai Flies
- Once you have Intel on either of these two, draw the target Warchief out by starting his mission.
- After you satisfy the conditions for the Warchief to show up, let him kill you.
- You will respawn at a Forge tower.
- At this point, I recommend "saving" your game state by exiting the game (Use PS4's Close Application; do not Quit via the game menu or you will quit the test), backing up your game data to USB/Cloud, restarting the game, and choose Continue to pick up where you left off. There is always a chance you could get an Epic rune instead of a Level 30 rune.
- Run back to the Warchief's mission, now named Unfinished Business, and start it again.
- Before the Warchief engages you, find some Morgai Flies or Caragors to engage the Hate of that Warchief. Once found, engage the Warchief.
- As soon as the Warchief sees the object of their Hate, the screen will visibly flash their "Hate of XXXXX" message across the screen (if done correctly).
- Attack the Warchief with the intent of killing him.
- When he gets down to 25% life, summon the 5 branded Uruks that you start the test with.
- Once they've engaged the Warchief, back off and let them land the killing blow.
- A blue Level 30 rune should drop after he dies.
- Trophy will pop as soon as you pick up the rune.
- If he drops an Epic (yellowish gold) rune, then reload your game save from USB/Cloud and try again.
BiggD
Over the course of your playthrough in the Test of the Ring Trial, you will come to notice that when you kill Uruk Captains and Warchiefs, they will always drop a Rune. These Runes are essentially weapon modifiers for your Bow, Dagger, and Sword that will buff the weapon with minor beneficial stats. Additionally, the level of a dropped Rune is based off certain point criteria, such as:
- 25 points for the Uruk enemy being a Level 25 (1 point equivalent to Uruk's Power Level).
- 2 points for the enemy being an Uruk Warchief.
- 1 point for performing a revenge kill on a Warchief who has killed you.
- 1 point for knowing the weaknesses of the Warchief.
- 1 point for issuing a Death Threat to a Warchief.
Some players who have played the core game may realize that this solution differs from the main guide in that you do not need to exploit a Warchief’s fear for an alternative additional point. Similarly, in the core guide, it was suggested to avoid using Death Threats since they increase (by 40%) the chance of the targeted Uruk to drop an Epic Rune. Despite this confusion, issuing Death Threats in this Trial is perfectly okay. This is because none of the starting Warchiefs in the trial have fears to exploit, so it would take more time to kill a Warchief, find an exploitable Captain, and groom him to become a Warchief. With that foundation established, be sure to follow the method detailed below to get this done with ease.
When the Trial starts, head to one of the several Power Struggle missions around the region and fight the Uruk Captain there. Once his health is low (indicated by a green skull over his health bar), dominate his mind however you see fit and reveal the identity of a Warchief (it doesn't matter which one). Once that Warchief's mission appears in the world, head there, start it, complete the prerequisite to lure him out…then allow him to kill you. Make sure the Warchief gets the finishing blow on you!
When you respawn at the Forge Tower, go ahead and find another Captain (be it through Power Struggle missions or free roaming the region with Wraith Vision enabled) and dominate him however you see fit once again. While holding this Captain, do not worry about gaining intel. Instead, issue a DEATH THREAT to the Warchief that just killed you. Now go to Sauron's Army screen and you'll notice that because the Warchief killed you earlier, he'll have at least one or two bodyguards (this doesn’t always happen, though). It's worth noting that initially, these five Warchiefs do not have any bodyguards. Upon killing you however, there is a chance they obtain one or two. If the Warchief does have bodyguards, you’ll need to reveal their identities through Uurk worms, intel documentations or by interrogating other Captains around the region. When you go to track down the bodyguards, do what it takes to DOMINATE them, then DISMISS them. DO NOT KILL THEM.
Once that's through, go back to the "Unfinished Business" mission from where the Warchief from before is “savoring in your defeat.” Start the mission up and he'll show with his bodyguards (whom you have branded) and a small gang of Uruk grunts – no need to complete the prerequisite to lure him out again. Initiate the fight against your foe and do what you must to get as many Uruk Grunts dominated under your control. Obviously, Wraith Flash Domination (
+
) works best to dominate several Uruk at once.
The Warchief's bodyguards (if he had any) and now all the branded grunts will be attacking him. Get some executions and stuns on the Warchief if you want to speed things up, but DO NOT deliver the finishing blow!!! When his health is really low, allow one of your several dominated Uruk allies to deliver the finishing blow and the Warchief will drop a Level 30 Rune - NOT an Epic.
This method is super easy because you don't have to go through the trouble of finding that ONE single Captain who has an easy fear to exploit and waste time leveling him up and getting him to become a Warchief. This method detailed above works within the first 10-15 minutes of the trial. It's worth reinstating that issuing the Death Threat DOES WORK - please do not let people's comments that state otherwise confuse you or deter you from thinking what's correct - but you CANNOT be the one to deliver the final blow; your allies MUST.
4ereda
stratege.ru
stratege.ru
Here is a normal hint that does not last as long as DLC
I got it like this:
Found the Leader (they all seem to be level 25 here)
He had a hatred of flies and no bodyguards (which made him easier to kill)
I came to him, he killed me.
The second time I threw flies at him and killed him without using the ring.
a level 30 rune fell out. Took about 10 minutes.
Total: orc lvl 25 + know weaknesses 1 + revenge 1 + leader 2 + orc’s anger at caragor 1 = lvl 30.
agent_13_blg
stratege.ru
stratege.ru
In the end I did this:
1. Found the Skak Raid leader.
2. He killed me.
3. Found some captain and declared Skak Raid a death mark.
4. Challenged Skak Raid to a duel, branded his guards, helped beat the leader, waited until the bodyguards did their dirty work
Total required:
Leader 25+2
Knowledge of Weaknesses +1
Revenge +1
Threat of death +1
