Runes are items in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor that add powerful buffs to the three main weapons, Azkâr, Acharn, and Urfael. These runes can be obtained by vanquishing Nemeses. Exploiting the weaknesses of an enemy will influence the type of runes they drop, and combining different runes will increase the power of Talion's weapons in different ways.

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Obtaining Runes Edit

Whenever Talion slays an Uruk Nemesis, they drop a rune which Talion can use to upgrade his weapons. Every Nemesis has certain weaknesses, such as a vulnerability to attacks from mounts or stealth takedowns, that can be exploited to obtain specific runes. For instance, if the player kills a Captain that has a weakness to stealth using a stealth takedown, the player will receive a stealth related rune.

Rune levels are based on the level of the Nemesis, though can be a higher level if certain actions occur:

+2 for War Chief

+1 for Knowing Weakness/Strengths (Intel)

+1 for Death Threat (Issue a Death Threat - Tier 3) *EPIC rune is NOT guaranteed for Warchief (though is a high percentage), or this could be when one kills a Warchief and having his living/ present bodyguard promoted, then killed before he escapes!

+1 for Exploiting Fear / Hatred (fire, flies, beasts, pain, etc.)

+1 for Revenge (having been killed by them before)

Example of MAX Level 26 rune: Level 20 (+20) + Warchief (+2) + Threatened (+1) + Knowing Traits (+1) + Exploiting Traits (+1) + Revenge (+1)

It should be noted however that a level 26 rune is only very slightly different from a level 25 rune.

Epic Runes Edit

Epic runes are extremely powerful runes that can be obtained from Uruk Warchiefs or Captains. To obtain these epic runes from Captains, Talion must first dominate a Uruk, who must then be forced to deliver a death threat to a Captain. This Captain will learn that Talion is coming after him, and will prepare himself accordingly by surrounding himself with bodyguards. The Captain will drop an epic rune by chance upon death. This also applies for Warchiefs, the only difference is that to threaten them, you have to use a Captain. It is possible, but rare, to obtain epic runes without using death threats, the higher level a Captain or Warchief is, the better chance they have to drop an epic rune, however Warchiefs are more likely to drop an epic rune than a Captain. Vengeance on a Captain or Warchief that has previously killed Talion also increases the odds. The Story mode is also known to give Talion epic runes on certain occasions. There are also some exclusive epic runes which are only obtained through pre ordering the game, completing DLC Orc Warband missions, having a WBID account or buying the Steam Game of the Year edition which includes almost all exclusive runes listed (see below for exclusive runes).

Applying Runes Edit

The player is able to add runes to Talion's weapons through the weapon upgrade menu. Every weapon can be upgraded with several runes, and these runes can be combined to make Talion's weapons even more legendary.

List of Runes Edit

Acharn (Dagger runes) Edit

Azkâr (Bow runes) Edit

Urfael (Sword runes) Edit

Exclusive Runes Edit

Lord of the Hunt Runes Edit

Gallery Edit