Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
How to Get Perfects guide, v1.3 (1/05/2005)
by Dammit9x
dammit9x at hotmail dot com
Copyright 2003-2005
This document may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
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of copyright.
Contents
--------
Section
I) Introduction
II) The Skill Meter and Kill Ratings
III) Going Blue and Perfect Kills
IV) Perfect Ratings
V) Character Comparison
VI) Buying Guide
VII) General Combat Tips
i) Not Getting Your Ass Hit
ii) Breaking Shields
iii) Rounding up Gauge-fodder
iv) Avoiding Combat and Preventing Poor Kills
v) Banes vs. Combos
vi) Boot Them Off
vii) Killing Dead Enemies
viii) The Secret Codes
VIII) Enemy Guide
IX) A Perfectionist's Approach for Each Mission
X) Closing
I) Introduction
---------------
The purpose of this guide is to help you get Perfect ratings on each level
with all characters. Two levels (missions 1-2) with 1 character plus 11 levels
(missions 3-12 and the secret mission) with 4 characters comes out to a
maximum of 46 Perfects. You get no reward for all Perfects, other than your
personal satisfaction. It is possible; I have done it personally.
This guide assumes that you have some familiarity with the game "Lord of
the Rings: the Two Towers"; You know how to play and how to clear levels.
II) The Skill Meter and Kill Ratings
------------------------------------
Your skill meter is the circular gauge in the bottom left of the screen,
near the vertical experience meter. Your skill meter increases with every hit
you land; the amount of increase doesn't depend on the damage dealt, but on
what kind of blow you landed. However, your meter decreases gradually and is
practically emptied if you get hit.
Hit Meter increase
Fury/Rage/Wrath; rising attack nothing
successfuly parry slight
missile; swift; kick/shove small ~1/8
fierce moderate ~1/4
money shot; killing blow (R2) large ~1/3
Bane set to ~1/2 depending on length of animation
If an attack hits two enemies, you get a double bonus to your meter, and
so on. The "money shot" is the last swing of any 3- or 4-hit combo and is
easily recognizable by the flash of light and smashing noise.
You get a rating for every enemy killed (Fair, Good, Excellent or Perfect)
depending on how high your skill meter is when the enemy died. You don't get
credit for enemies killed by other enemies (i.e., trolls), but you do get
credit for those killed by archer firebombs.
Meter level Rating
<1/4 Fair
>1/4, <1/2 Good
>1/2, <full Excellent
full or blue Perfect
III) Going Blue and Perfect Kills
---------------------------------
If your gauge fills completely, you will "go blue": your weapon glows blue
and you do double damage with every attack. Any enemy killed while you are
blue is a Perfect kill. To get a lot of Perfects you need to be good at going
blue, which means landing blows, especially money shots, in rapid succession
and not getting hit. You also need to be good at killing enemies rapidly once
blue because the blue state wears off in about 10 seconds. An efficient way to
spend your precious blue time is to use your missile weapon, because a shot
from a fully upgraded missile will kill most enemies in one hit. Banes are
also good, but some of them take up a lot of time. Another effective method,
although time consuming, is to charge up fury/rage/wrath attacks once blue and
let them come to you.
It is important to not get hit once you are blue because getting up wastes
several seconds; the enemies will not just roll over and let you Perfect them.
See the section on defense below.
IV) Perfect Ratings
-------------------
At the end of every level you are shown a histogram of kills vs. kill
rating and you get a rating for your overall performance. My theory
(unverified) is that the rating is dependent on the relative numbers of kills;
if the number of Perfects is at least half that of the mode (the most abundant
kill rating, usually Good) then you get a Perfect for the level. For example,
if you got 10 Perfect and 20 Good, you should get a Perfect overall rating.
But if you got 10 Perfect and 50 Good, you will only get a Good overall
rating. Therefore you should try to maximize Perfect kills and minimize non-
Perfect kills. Sometimes this means avoiding combat.
V) Character Comparison
-----------------------
The following is a breakdown of each character's strengths and weaknesses,
assuming full upgrades.
Aragorn Legolas Gimli
Weapon power B C A
Weapon speed A B B
Weapon range A B C
Missile power B A B
Missile ROF B A C
Health B C A
Here you can see that Aragorn is the best of the three for filling up the
gauge because of the range and speed of his sword. On the other hand, Legolas
can do more damage once he is blue because of his fast bow. Gimli's strengths,
however, are not very useful for getting perfects; enemies tend to die with
only one or two hits and when he does go blue he has difficulty getting kills
with his throwing axe. The extra health is pretty worthless. Gimli is the most
difficult character to get Perfects with.
VI) Buying Guide
----------------
The following is my recommendation for the basic order in which you should
buy upgrades.
Lvl Name of purchase Cost
More important:
2 Swift Terror combo 5000
4 Death Charge combo 5000
8 Judgement combo 5000
4-8 Banes 4000-8000
2-8 Missile upgrades 4000-10000
Save till end:
6 Master Swordsman 10000
8 Axe Mastery of Kings 10000
The Swift Terror, Death Charge and Judgement combos are important because
they allow you to do money shots on shielded enemies; without them you are
limited to attacks that are not as effective at raising the gauge. The Banes
are important because they allow you to fight back when surrounded. Although
they are not very useful for going blue, they are a reliable way to get
Perfects once you are blue.
The Master Swordsman (Aragorn) and Axe Mastery (Gimli) upgrades are
counterproductive for getting Perfect ratings because they cause enemies to
die in fewer hits, so it's harder to fill up the gauge. These should be
avoided until you have gotten satisfactory ratings on every level with the
character in question. In contrast, the analagous upgrade for Legolas, Bow
Mastery, is very helpful because it makes it easier to kill once you are blue.
VII) General Combat Tips
------------------------
i) Not Getting Your Ass Hit
The enemies aren't going to just let you kill them. In order to fill your
gauge, you need to avoid getting hit, and they will be trying to hit you.
Generally you should be ready to defend yourself any time you complete a combo
or a Bane. Running away doesn't work against melee enemies, because they can
and will leap all the way across the screen to hit you in the back.
The block, S or R1, is effective at avoiding most attacks. You defend
yourself for about half a second after you push the button. Or you can mash on
the button and be immune to melee and missile attacks, then just wait for an
opportunity to counterattack. Attackers will be stunned and open to
counterattack when you successfully block. It works even with your back turned,
and one press of the button can deflect more than one hit if they come at the
same time. It does not work against troll clubs/chains, warg charges, and the
"throws" that spear and axe orcs sometimes use.
The backdash, L2, is good if you want to use your missile weapon against
an oncoming enemy (shoot, backdash, repeat) and it is very useful when
fighting trolls. The backdash is also very useful when you knock down a group
of enemies with a money shot; you can back up and do another 3-hitter while
they're getting up without worrying about moving too far forward.
The neutral weapon hit occurs when you and a melee enemy attack at the
same time. There is a flash of light similar to the block, except both you and
the attacker will be stunned and your combo will be cut short. It is an
unreliable method of defense; if you can't get a combo out without this
happening it's time to use your Banes.
ii) Breaking shields
About half of the enemies you fight carry shields; your combat options are
limited when attacking them. Missiles are blocked, the kick/shove (O) doesn't
work, and whenever you strike a shield with an X attack you will be stunned
and your combo will abort. Avoid using combos with more than one X attack
against shields; instead concentrate on shield-breaking combos and make sure
any X attacks are out of range. (For example, if using the Death Charge combo,
start it at such a distance that your X will come up short but the second two
hits will connect.) However, you may hit shielded a opponent with X, O, or a
missile if his back is turned. Note that the Money Shot of any combo will
knock down opponents, even if it doesn't break their shield; a somewhat
effective way to kill shielded enemies is to knock them down then finish them
with R2. Also note that the Banes will kill an attacker without having to
break his shield.
The * designates a blow that can break a shield. Note that the War Rush and
Judgement combos have more than one shield-breaking hit.
Lvl Attack Entry
1 Double Hack T T*
2 Rush Attack X O*
4 Charge Attack X O*
1 Powered-up missile L1+X* (hold, release)
2-8 Fury/Rage/Wrath attack T* (hold, release)
2-4 Rising Attack X*
2 Swift Terror combo X X T*
2 Death Charge combo X O* R2
4 War Rush combo X O* T*
4 Gambit combo X T* X X
6 Deliverance combo T X X T*
8 Judgement combo T T* O* T*
iii) Rounding up Gauge-fodder
A problem you will frequently encounter is that there aren't enough
enemies around to fill up the gauge. If everything goes smoothly you need at
least two, and typically things don't go smoothly. Somtimes you can make up
for this if you keep running through the level, getting enemies to follow you.
When you have enough, turn around and attack. An example of this is the Gates
of Moria. For the first half of the level you are attacked by groups of only 3
or so goblins at a time. If you avoid killing them you can round up groups of
6 or more, which makes it much easier to go blue. And when this happens, there
will be enemies readily available to get Perfects from.
iv) Avoiding Combat and Preventing Poor Kills
Sometimes there's no way to kill an enemy and get anything better than a
Fair or Good. For example, archers and suicide bombers die too easily to get
much out of them. If you want to avoid adulterating your Perfects, just run
away from the archers and bait the bombers into blowing themselves up.
Reducing the number of Good kills (without increasing Perfect kills) can make
the difference between a Good and Perfect rating.
Another way to approach this problem is if you can't get a Perfect, at
least try to get something other than Good. If you think you are getting too
many Good kills, change your tactics to get Excellents (use Banes) or Fairs
(use Fury/Rage/Wrath).
v) Banes vs. Combos
Banes instantly kill an attacking goblin, orc or uruk-hai. Block with S or
L1, then hit X+R2. You have to be facing your opponent, and it doesn't work on
archers of course. You usually get an Excellent kill, but Banes aren't a good
way to build up the gauge because while the animation is going on your meter
is going down. A Bane followed by a combo is sometimes enough to go blue. The
most important use for Banes is crowd control, reducing the attackers to a
more manageable number (less than 4) so that you can do your combos
effectively. You can also use Banes while blue to get an easy Perfect, but
again, the animation takes up valuable time.
Combos are your only practical method of going blue. The best combos for
this purpose are the 3-hitters, especially Swift Terror and Death Charge,
because the money shot ratio is 1:3 instead of 1:4. If there are one or two
enemies, use a 3-hit combo; with three or more use a 4-hitter. A money shot
that hits two enemies at once will almost certainly get you blue. However, if
you try to keep doing the Swift Terror over and over again you are going to
get hit; you need to keep an eye out for attacks between your combos. If there
are too many attackers, use your Banes. Note that you can change the direction
of your facing as you attack; sometimes it is necessary to turn around to
ensure that the money shot hits somebody.
vi) Boot Them Off
In some levels, notably the Gates of Moria, the Deeping Wall, and the
Tower of Orthanc, you can shove enemies off edges for an Excellent kill. This
is a good segueway into a combo to go blue quickly.
vii) Killing Dead Enemies
Another trick that you will exploit without usually realizing it is that
hitting a dead enemy raises your gauge. When you kill an enemy and its body is
fading away, hitting it with, for example, a Swift Terror money shot will give
you a partial gauge bonus even though he is already dead. While a single
corpse doesn't stay around long enough to let you go blue, hitting a corpse
while you're in the middle of a battle can help bring you up, which is why you
should try to get your enemies in a cluster or a single file line, rather than
letting them surround you.
viii) The Secret Codes
You may know that when you clear the last level with the secret character
you get access to the secret codes, which can be entered at any time by
pausing and holding L1+L2+R1+R2 and entering the appropriate 4-button
sequence. The secret codes cannot be used until you clear the last level,
though there are some actual cheat codes (which I will not list here) that can
be used at any time.
Secret Code Entry
All Upgrades T O T O
Always Devastating S S O O
Invulnerability T S X O
Small Enemies T T X X
Slow Motion T O X S
Unlimited Missiles S O X T
As it turns out, none of them are useful for going blue or getting
Perfects. There is no code that increases the gauge bonus for each hit, or
extends the blue period, or even prevents you from getting knocked down. The
Always Devastating code makes your weapon glow blue and do double damage, but
the kills don't actually count as Perfect.
VIII) Enemy Guide
-----------------
The ordinary enemies are covered here, while the bosses are covered in the
walkthrough.
Goblins: small, squat, squeaky, easily killed, and not very aggressive. They
die so easily that they are hard to go blue with. Therefore, you should try to
round several of them up before taking them down (e.g., Gates of Moria).
Armored Goblins: same as goblins but they have helmets and shields. You must
use shield breaking attacks; they are difficult to deal with until you get the
Death Charge combo. The Goblin Banes are actually harder to use than the other
Banes because goblins don't attack much.
Spear & Shield Orcs: not as aggressive as the axe-wielders, but more dangerous
than goblins. By the time you fight orcs you should have some decent shield-
killing combos. Occasionally these orcs will do a throw that can't be blocked.
Double-axe Orcs: more dangerous than they look. Once they start spinning with
their axes they keep going, even if you hit them first. You have to block (or
land a killing blow) to get them to stop. In general you should block-
counterattack rather than attacking first. These orcs also do an unblockable
throw sometimes.
Orc Archers: they stand still and shoot flaming arrows. The arrows may hit
other enemies. You can avoid the arrows if you keep running around, but if you
want to do combos you need to get rid of them first. Sometimes they stand in
places you can only reach with your missile (Mines of Moria, Amon Hen).
Shooting back is a problem if there are several of them around; just keep
blocking and moving and look for an opening. Archers are easy Perfects if you
manage to go blue right before encountering them; otherwise the best you
usually get is Good.
Uruk-hai Grunts: tall, aggressive, and carry huge swords and make huge
baseball swings. Defend then counterattack with a 3-combo, or use Banes if
crowded. Uruks are great for going blue because they can take a lot of damage;
however, they sometimes need more than one hit from a blue weapon to die.
There are two varieties, brown- and black-skinned, and they are practically
the same.
Uruk-hai archers: they stand still and shoot crossbows. Deal with them the
same as orc archers. Sometimes they toss out a little gray firebomb. Don't
stick around for the fire to come out.
Uruk-hai Berserkers: extremely aggressive, carry swords, wear white masks and
have a simian stance. These guys need your full attention to kill. They make
two big swings and, like the orc axemen, they will keep going even if you hit
them in mid-swing. Between their attacks they block any attack you throw at
them unless you are counterattacking after a block. If you manage to knock
them down with a money shot you can finish them with R2; otherwise they will
get up with a swing so watch out. Just use the Bane of Saruman if you have it.
Uruk-hai Suicide Bombers: they carry barrels of explosives on their backs and
blow up if they take any damage. Use your missile. Usually any kill you get on
them will be Fair. You can bait them into killing themselves (and avoid the
Fair kill) by running close, then backing off. You may take a little damage
from this because the blast radius is large. If they blow up right next to you
it does tremendous damage, so don't let it happen. Any enemies within the
blast radius will just fall over dead, with no kill credit, so try to pick off
bombers while they are still far away if you don't want this to happen.
Trolls: swing huge clubs up close, throw logs from long distance. You cannot
block the club. Dodge it, then hit with a fierce attack and backdash. They
also do a throw, which not only hurts but leaves you at their feet for more
punishment. They can only be hurt by missiles and fierce attacks. When you hit
with a fierce attack they back up a little bit so the second hit of a double
hack will miss. Fury/Rage/Wrath attacks can make these battles shorter: start
charging up when you are just outside of club range; if you're too far they
will throw logs. If you are very skilled you can get behind them while they
are recovering from a swing, so that you can get in the full Judgement combo.
This will turn you blue and score you a Perfect from the troll if you follow
it up with a fierce. This is not always possible if quarters are tight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Scott" writes the following:
"I tried Judgement but couldn't get it off even in the back, but before I got
Judgement, I did figure out a way to get a perfect on Trolls every time. Just
keep using Death Charge and Back Dash as quickly as you can. The "charging"
part of Death Charge seems to block the Troll's missile attack, and I was able
to get a double-perfect on the final two Trolls of Fangorn Forest for a
massive exp boost."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Warg Riders: goblins riding ugly wolves. They attack by running your down if
you are at close-medium distance, or shoot arrows from long distance. They
always start their charge from the top of the screen and move toward the
bottom; it's not hard to dodge as long as you're not too close. Get behind
them and quickly use a 3-hit combo while they are turning around. They should
already moving when the money shot comes down; if you are Legolas or Gimli you
need to track them with the money shot to make sure it hits.
IX) A Perfectionist's Approach for Each Mission
-----------------------------------------------
This is not really a walkthrough. You can figure out yourself how to clear
each level. These are tips to help you get Perfect ratings. The difficulties I
have assigned are based on my own evaluation and are on a relative scale; even
if you think that every level is easy you should agree that some are harder
than others. My "Difficulty for Perfect" ratings are assuming you have all the
upgrades; you can try without them but it's not always possible.
Remember that once you clear a level and accept the rating you got, you
can't replay it until you finish the last level (Orthanc with the secret
character). Once you do this you can replay any level with any character.
Therefore it's unnecessary to try to get Perfects on your first play through;
do well enough to garner a decent amount of experience, then move on.
I recommend playing all the way through with just one character (Aragorn
or Legolas), then work on the others. Once all the levels have been made
available by your primary character, you need not play them in order with your
secondary characters; play the easier levels first.
For the locations of the valuable experience boosts, see Jason Britton's
FAQ on gamefaqs.
Mission 1: Prologue
Difficulty to clear: Easy Difficulty for Perfect: Easy
This would be better for first-time players if they let you see the combo
list from the pause menu, like they do for every other level. First you fight
unshielded enemies, then shielded. It's actually harder to go blue against the
unshielded enemies (defend, then use Swift Terror or Death Charge), but there
are enough shielded guys to make up for it. When they come out, just go crazy
with the Judgement combo (TTCT) and you should easily go blue. From that point
it's pretty easy. Be sure to buy Swift Terror after the level.
Mission 2: Weathertop
Difficulty to clear: Easy Difficulty for Perfect: Easy
You can only hit the Ringwraiths with a fierce attack, and your torch must
be lit. If it goes out, swing at the fire. Block, Double hack, repeat. For an
easy Perfect, come back when you've finished the game and have Judgement.
Mission 3: Gates Of Moria
Difficulty to clear: Easy Difficulty for Perfect: Medium
It's a little harder to get Perfects here, and whats worse is you have to
sit through all the dumb cutscenes again if you want to retry. The trick is to
get a line of goblins following you before you attack them. Run past the first
group until the second group comes out, then turn around and attack to go
blue. When the first cutscene comes up (Gimli and the goblin) keep right on
going until the next cutscene, then take out the archers and turn your
attention to the goblins. You should get a decent number of Perfects from
these encounters. Try to keep combat to a minimum for the rest of the level
and you should have it.
As for the Watcher, walk up close, block his tentacles, chop one off, then
shoot him in the head. Repeat.
Mission 4: Balin's Tomb
Difficulty to clear: Medium Difficulty for Perfect: Easy
You are going to get rushed by a lot of goblins. It's actually really hard
to get Perfect on the first play through because you don't even have Death
Charge to deal with all the shielded goblins. Once you have Death Charge or
Judgement though, you'll see why these combos are so important.
The boss troll is unusual in that you can easily get off both hits of the
double hack without missing. After a few of these you will unfortunately have
to finish him with your missile. You cannot block his chain attack. Try
standing at the edge of one of the pillars as you shoot. If you are positioned
right he will hit the pillar but you will hit him. After three hits the pillar
will fall, so move on to the next. Once in awhile a goblin will come out and
try to punk you while you are busy with the troll.
Mission 5: Amon Hen
Difficulty to clear: Medium Difficulty for Perfect: Medium
If this is your first play through you won't have the Bane of Saruman yet,
which makes the first battle a little difficult. Remember that uruks are
fairly aggressive so don't try to hit them outside of a counterattack (even if
you're blue). When surrounded, guard and try to back off with the backdash,
but don't run away or you'll just get hit in the back.
As for the boss, guard and wait for an opening to hit him with your
missile. After three or so, he will rush you. Get him to hit a statue and he
will be stunned long enough to unload a 3- or 4-hit combo. He'll die after
only two of these, so there are more than enough statues. Whenever an ordinary
uruk pops out, deal with him first before turning to the boss (it's worth
spending a statue for this).
Mission 6: Fangorn Forest
Difficulty to clear: Easy Difficulty for Perfect: Medium
This is a long level but not hard if you seize the three obvious
opportunities to go blue: The first ambush at the beginning, the group of orcs
after the cutscene at the camp (hope you brought Death Charge), and the group
of goblins before the last two trolls. You may be able to go blue on the
smaller groups as well.
This level is nice because you have two checkpoints to go back to if you
screw up: before the first troll and before the last two trolls.
Mission 7: Plains Of Rohan
Difficulty to clear: Easy Difficulty for Perfect: Medium
If you get game over on this level it's probably because you let too many
villagers die, rather than getting killed yourself. Fortunately the villagers
are a good distraction for the uruks, so you can land your combos more easily.
(Really, who cares about the villagers? The important thing is your rating!)
There is a big battle at the beginning and at the end of the level; make sure
you get enough Perfects from these two opportunities.
Mission 8: The Westfold
Difficulty to clear: Easy Difficulty for Perfect: Hard
There are two factors in this level that, taken individually, would make
this a practically impossible Perfect: your idiot companion who's always
getting in the way, and the suicide bombers. However, you can use them both to
your advantage by getting your Perfect kills at the beginning and then just
letting the Rohan captian and the bombers do all the killing for the rest of
the level. The captain can't be killed.
At the start, shoot an arrow at the barrels in front of you, then point
slightly to the left and shoot those as well. It's important to go blue with
the uruk-hai who then come running out; try to go blue again with the next
group. If you got a reasonable number of Perfects from these two encounters,
you should be able to keep out of most of the combat for the rest of the level
and get a Perfect overall. Shoot barrels to kill all the enemies around them,
and bait suicide bombers into killing themselves.
Mission 9: Gap of Rohan
Difficulty to clear: Medium Difficulty for Perfect: Hard
The key to this level is going blue on the first two wargs; this is your
only opportunity to do so. At the start, one or both of the wargs will charge.
Dodge and you shouldn't get hit; hopefully they both converged to the same
point so you can hit them simulataneously. Run behind them, do a Death Charge
and make sure the money shot hits. Repeat they both aren't dead yet. If you're
unlucky your companions will kill the wargs first. If you managed to go blue,
immediately smash the rubble and proceed to the boss (forget about the two
experience boosts). After the lame scene, dodge the two wargs and shoot them
dead. You must have upgraded missiles for this. Another warg should come down
for a quick third Perfect kill.
The boss alternates between charging two or three times then rearing up,
and charging two or three times then calling another warg. The charges can be
avoided by staying at the bottom of the screen (or you can just get hit by
them if you want to stay near the top). When he rears up, make sure you're
very close, then shoot with your missile and move in quickly for a fury/rage/
wrath attack (you only get to land one hit). Don't miss any opportunity to
damage him or you'll have to fight another warg, which hurts your chances of
getting Perfect.
Mission 10: Helm's Deep - The Deeping Wall
Difficulty to clear: Hard Difficulty for Perfect: Medium
The trick here is to focus on kicking the ladders and to avoid combat
entirely until the end of the level. Find a pattern that deals with each
ladder systematically. (I do right wall - left wall - center wall - repeat.)
Refrain from fighting because while you are occupied more enemies will climb
up the ladders and it will only make matters worse. Keep going with your
ladder rounds until you see groups of three or more uruk-hai. This is your
cue to get Perfects (you shouldn't need many). The level ends if you manage
to survive long enough.
Mission 11: Helm's Deep - Breached Wall
Difficulty to clear: Medium Difficulty for Perfect: Hard
You will need to protect the gate from attackers for this level; some of
them go for the gate, and some go for you. First you need to shoot down a lot
of suicide bombers throughout the whole level. You will get a lot of Fairs
from this, but it shouldn't matter because there are a lot of opportunites for
Perfects. When orcs start rushing the gate, try to time a Death Charge so that
the money shot hits some as they run by, then run back and finish the rest off
as they are occupied with the gate. Between _every_ combo stop and shoot any
bombers that are getting close, otherwise they will blow up in front of the
gate, which not only hurts the gate and you, but kills the nearby enemies so
that you miss out on the credit. Eventually some of the enemies will be
gunning for you; deal with them quickly with Banes so that they don't
interrupt your combos. You will also need to take down a line of archers and a
troll; make sure not to let bombers slip by during this time.
The catapult boss is defenseless if you take down all the enemies that
come out with it. From that point just smash the three panels (front, left and
right).
Mission 12: Helm's Deep - Hornburg Courtyard
Difficulty to clear: Medium Difficulty for Perfect: Easy
This is the money shot of the whole game. Just use Judgement; that and the
Banes are all you need. It's difficult to clear the level and not get a
Perfect rating.
After awhile your companion calls for help, run up and across the wall to
help him, then go down and kill some more uruks. After some more time you will
need to shoot the archers on the wall; there are 9 of them but you're not told
when you got all of them. Make sure you got them, then go down and survive
until the trolls come down. Since they ignore you and go for the barricade,
you can kill them quickly with Judgement combos as long as you keep the other
enemies off.
Secret mission: Tower of Orthanc
Difficulty to clear: Hard Difficulty for Perfect: Hard
Twenty groups of enemies on twenty floors, with no dropped powerups. You
get a small health powerup and 5 missiles between floors. In order to make
this mission available you need to clear Hornburg Courtyard and be at level 10
with the character you want to play it with. You should have all the upgrades
by now (except for the two I advised you to hold off on).
You are pretty good if you can manage to go blue at the 15th floor or
above. Fortunately there are plenty of opportunities on the lower floors for
Perfects. The problem is that you're going to be surrounded often; when this
happens it's hard to even use the Banes. Try drawing out the enemies into a
more manageable arrangement with the backdash. If you can't do this it's still
better to be cornered than surrounded.
On floors that set you against unshielded enemies, you should start off by
firing two missiles (three with Legolas) to get two easy kills, though you
can't just run around and shoot if you want Perfect. You need to be good at
crowd control with Banes, and parry-counterattack with combos. If you manage
to go blue right at the end of one floor you should still be blue at the start
of the next, which means that you can get a couple Perfects from arrows and
another from a Bane. Remember that you can say hello to a shielded orc with a
powered-up arrow to break the shield.
When fighting more than one troll try to get one stuck behind the pillar;
if you get surrounded by trolls you're pretty much dead. You can try baiting
them into swinging so that they hit the other enemies or eachother. There is
enough room to run around so that you can shoot them or get behind them for
some rough Judgement lovin'.
If you manage to finish all 20 floors, you are rewarded with a retarded
cutscene and you get to do it all over again with the secret character.
X) Closing
----------
Credit goes to Scott for the Death Charge trick against trolls.
That's it. The rest of this document is entirely my own work. Any
questions, comments, corrections or complaints should be addressed to
the address below, with clear indication in the subject line that the
email is concerning this FAQ.
