Middle-earth Shadow of War: How To Get Better Weapons

How to Get Better Weapons in Middle-earth: Shadow of War

As you level up in Shadow of War, you’ll need to get better weapons regularly. If you don’t keep an eye on your gear, you’re likely to get outclassed by your ever stronger enemies. There are several ways to get more powerful weapons, and as long as you keep an eye out, there shouldn’t be any issue keeping a steady flow of new gear headed your way.

Kill Orc Captains for Better Weapons and Gear

The surest way to get new weapons, armor, bows, axes, and runes, is to kill enemy Orc Captains. Each time a captain goes down, they’ll drop a piece of gear that is the same level and rarity as they are. So a level 25 Legendary Orc Captain will drop a piece of equipment in that level range that will always be legendary quality.

Killing Orc Captains for weapons in Shadow of War has a colossal downfall though: you can’t recruit dead Orcs. If you want the best gear possible, that means you’re going to have to kill Epic and Legendary Orcs. Unfortunately, those same Orcs tend to make the best captains for your army. You only really want to kill captains if you have no interest in recruiting them, or if they have the Iron Will trait that prevents you from dominating them and you don’t want to go through the hassle of trying to remove it.

Buy Chests in the Market for Better Weapons and Gear

You can buy chests in the Shadow of War market. Some of them cost Mirian, and some can only be purchased with the premium Gold currency, but both types will drop gear that is roughly your level when you open them.

The downside to this, besides having to spend some of your currency to buy them, is that chests will only drop items that are around Talion’s current level. That means that if you’re buying them during the course of Shadow of War, then you’re throwing money away because when you level up, the gear you got from the chests will only be useful for destroying to get a little Mirian.

Get Conquest and Vendetta Chests for Better Weapons and Gear

In Shadow of War, you can attack other player’s fortresses in async multiplayer. If you take their stronghold, you can get a Conquest Chest which contains some rare and epic gear. If you take on an Online Vendetta Mission, you can get a Vendetta Chest for winning, which provides less equipment than Conquest Chests, but is usually at least rare quality or higher. These chests can be earned just by playing the game and don’t have the Mirian or Gold requirements the ones for sale in the market do.

That’s the basics of upgrading your character in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Check out our wiki for more on the game.