Cheat Mode:
Note: This procedure involves editing a game file; create a backup copy of the file before proceeding. To edit stats of your skirmish player, use a text editor to edit the “
More powerful creatures:
To make a Troll more powerful, have it pick up a tree as a club. It is slower, but much more powerful.
To make an Ent more powerful, have it to pull boulders out of buildings or rock piles to throw at enemies. This is a very powerful long-range attack.
Easy experience:
Choose the “Wold” map in Skirmish mode. Close the gate and build three farms at the rear of the castle. when you get 200 gold, buy Pippin. When you get 4,000 gold, buy Legolas. Put both heroes on the wall of the castle. Select pippin and enable the Elven Cloak. Open the gate and have Legolas to kill all enemies within range. Pippin should level up very quickly. Legolas will also gain levels, but not as fast as Pippin.
-When fighting as Gondor, buy Merry and two to four battalions of Gondor Soldiers. Click Merry and chose “Throw Rocks” mode. Send Merry out along with the Gondor soldiers as a strike force. This works better and faster than you think. By the time Merry gets to level 8 or so, he will be able to do one hit kills on any basic infantry unit.
Good army spying in skirmish mode:
The Evil factions of the game both have a Spying power they can use. However, Good factions have no spying power. Early in Skirmish mode, recruit the Hobbit available to you. Have him run over to an enemy castle, camp, etc. He should be able to make it to the citadel, unless the enemy is playing a Good faction and has closed the castle gate. Once inside (or outside the gate if it has been closed), activate his Elven Cloak. He will remain there, untouchable by the enemy. By doing this, you will have a permanent spy. Note: If he moves, he will be exposed until he can use his cloak again. When selecting all your units by pressing Q, hold [Shift] and deselect your spy before ordering everybody to move or attack.
Bypassing the command point limit:
If you have reached your command point limit during a mission, send out a battalion or two (with the Banner Carrier upgrade) of soldiers. Have them fight until there is only one or two men remaining in the battalions/hordes. Then, send them back to your base, near a Healing Well for the Good side. You have just freed up several command points. Your damaged battalions can regenerate. Use this strategy to make up to three battalions of cavalry to raid your opponent with.
Max out your command points with an army, then send them out to the edge of the map. You will be asked if you want them to leave. Answer “Yes”. Then, build another army. Click on the reinforcements flag and you will have a double army.
Ents strategy:
Train a horde of Archers and give them the Fire Arrows upgrade, then send them and shoot the Ent until he is on fire, then run away. He will die in a short time.
Isengard strategy:
When facing Isengard, either use Summon Rohan Allies or start out as Rohan. Build a stable and a lot of farms. Close the main gate and build a Postern Gate instead. Build an army of Riders Of Rohan and walk over the Uruk-Hai’s. To counter battering rams, use Yeoman or Elven Archers. To counter Warg Riders and Siege Ladders, use Heroes or Sentry Towers. Note: With the riders, just ride over the Uruks. It will either kill or stun them for you to finish. With the riders, try summoning Eomer to the field and give them a bonus or two.
Rohirrim strategies:
-As Isengard, Pikeman can easily defeat Cavalry if their numbers are similar. However, by combining a Pikeman horde with a Crossbow horde you can have one of the most powerful anti-Cavalry groups there are.
-As Mordor, there really is no cheap way to take out Cavalry. Trolls and Mumaks are your best bet, considering they have heavy damage with little harm done to them. Try getting creative and putting Orc Archers with fire arrows inside the Mumakil. This can make for a devastating blow to even a castle, and not just enemy soldiers.
Trolls strategy:
Make a horde/battalion of archers and give them the Fire upgrade. Shoot the troll until it catches on fire (like Ents), then run away. The troll will die very quickly.
Gondor strategies:
-An effective siege strategy for Gondor is to build a decent sized unit of Tower Guards (four or five battalions recommended) and as many Archers as possible. Put the Archers into one group and the Tower Guards into another. Make sure both groups are fully upgraded if possible, but choose Heavy Armor if you can only have one. Then, put the Tower Guards in front, with the Archers trailing close behind. Once you find an enemy encampment, have your Tower Guards move toward it and put them into Shield Wall formation once they get very close. Your Tower Guards can absorb an incredible amount of damage while in Shield Wall and will take the brunt of enemy attack, leaving your Archers free to wreak havoc.
-Close your front gate and build all Farms and one Marketplace (the Grand Harvest can multiply your food production) inside your walls. Rely on your Towers and/or Trebuchets to defend until you have a considerable amount of resources. As soon as you have enough resources, demolish two of the Farms and build an Archery Range and a Barracks. Create Archers and Swordsmen. When you have about four or five battalions of Archers and Swords, send them out to raid Warg and Goblin camps to gain levels. Also look for settlements and camps. When your resources reach about 20,000 (which they will very quickly), delete two more Farms and start creating Horsemen and Trebuchets. By now the enemy has probably attacked you more than once. Start trying to destroy the enemy castle or camp piece by piece. Eventually you will win by force. Note: this an excellent strategy in multi-player, especially if you are on teams with someone and are placed on the edge of the map.
-As Gondor, always have six Blacksmiths. This reduces the price of upgrades. Then, build Farms on outposts. Always get Heal. Then get your two sets of Footmen and Pippin to attack lairs. This gets you power points to get Gandalf the White.
When playing as Gondor in a castle, build up your army to full strength (i.e. upgrades, heroes, etc.) and have great defensive forces around your castles (i.e. Trebuchets and Keeps). Then. get both a Marketplace and a Stoneworker. Get everything that both of the buildings have. Kill enough opponents to get all the Powers Of Good. Once you have all of this, send your Rohirrim allies to the enemy base. Then, send the Eagles. Once all of those units are inside the enemy base, send your original units there. By now all of the enemy’s forces should be completely focused on stopping the Eagles and Rohirrim. This gives your Gondor soldiers a chance to sneak in unnoticed. You can also put the Elves out there if desired. Once all of your men are inside, summon the Army Of The Dead. By using this strategy, you should easily vanquish your enemy. Note: This requires a long time to complete.
-When playing in Skirmish or Campaign mode as Gondor, close the gate, then build five farms, three wells, and an archery range. Do not build a barracks. Build four battalions of Gondor Archers and do not upgrade them. By the time they have all been made, you can send them out one by one until they are all killed. Build eight battalions of Rangers and give them fire arrows. Put two battalions of them on each side of the gate (on the wall). Wait for them all to reach level 3. Afterward, change them around with the other battalions until they are all level 3, then send them all out to fight.
-As Gondor or Rohan, close your gate. Build a postern gate at the back of your camp. Then, build battle towers on every other wall post. Send out a hero just outside the postern gate. The enemy will try to run around your castle to reach him, but will be shot down by the battle towers. If enemies get too close, send the hero back inside the castle.
-As Gondor or Rohan, build a couple farms then an archery range. Build about three battalions of archers. Line them against the wall. Also you should get trebuchets when Gondor. Taunt your enemies by opening your gate. They will come at you and your archers will shoot. As soon as you can, close the gate. When they stop sending soldiers you have enough powers in the “Power” menu to get the Elven or Rohirimm allies (except when playing as Rohan).
Isengard strategies:
-Just like Mordor, Isengard relies mostly upon a brute force with some variety. Always have at least six Siege Ladders and three Battering Rams. Make sure to have several combo battalions. Since you haven no castle walls like the forces of good, you will need a few Keeps and Guard Towers. Once you have all of this completed and about 100 to 150 Uruks, begin with the upgrades; they are essential to a swift victory.
-Get any Ents you have except Treebeard to destroy all the Uruk Pits. Get the treasures to train more Ents. You must take out the Uruk crossbowmen with fire arrows, except the hordes that are on the dam. Do not approach the dam. Take out all of their walls and gates but do not attack the great tower in the center. After you destroy their buildings, use the power to summon Rohrimms and kill the crossbowmen near the dam. Take all of your Ents, including Treebeard, and the Ents that you have built to destroy the dam. It will be easy because the enemy will not have any defenders. You can also build more Ents by taking out the lairs and collect the treasures.
Mordor strategies:
-Mordor depends heavily on massive armies and blind destruction. However, you are limited to only so many command points you have. You must create variety in your troops when needed. On most levels, you will have to siege some kind of castle. Always have a few Catapults and Battering Rams (a Siege Tower or two would not hurt). Always devote about 50 to 100 command points to siege weapons, as this makes most online players easy prey. For the rest of your command points, make a lot of Orc Warrior-Orc Archer hordes and several Trolls. Once you have this completed, spend your resources entirely on upgrading your troops and base.
-As Mordor, build an Orc Pit. Create as many free Orcs as possible, then build a Slaughter House. Then, select all the Orcs and garrison them in the Slaughter House. You will not get them back, but you will get a money bonus.
-As Mordor or Isengard, make sure you always build Furnaces because it reduces the price of upgrades.
-As Mordor, only use Gollum to scout. He is useless in battle. Save your resources up to get both Nazgul or one Nazgul and the Witch King. Have them lead your army and use their screech power if you are losing.
-As Mordor, if you want an army that can handle almost anything build at least three Mumakil. If you have enough resources, put a horde of Haradrim Lancers on top. They are cheaper than Orc Archers. Have them guard in front of your citadel while you build more soldiers from the Haradrim Palace. The Mumakil should quickly level up while you get the Banner Carrier upgrade. Then, take the Haradrim Lancers off the Mumakil, upgrade them, then put them back on. By this time you should have a large force of lancers and soldiers of Rhun to attack the enemy. This force can usually take down any army. It is especially effective against cavalry. If you are up against one of the good armies use the Mumakil to take down the walls as your mounted lancers work on the enemies inside the walls. When the Mumakil dies will you lose the mounted battalion as well. You should dismount them just before this happens.
Rohan strategies:
-Build six Farms so that you can get resources quicker. Then, build an Archery Range and make four battalions of Yomman Archers. Put the archers on the wall and close your gate. This will take a while. Wait until you get 3,000 gold, then get Legolas. Put Legolas on the wall and get rid of the other archers. Destroy one Farm and build an Armory there. Save up and make Fire Arrows, Heavy Armor, Banner Carriers, and Forged Blades. After you do that, make six Elven Warrior Battalions. Give them all the upgrades you just made, then combine them so they are three big groups. Legolas should be at rank 10 by now. Bring him down and have him lead your Elven warriors to the enemy base and destroy it. This works best if your enemy is Isengard.
-As Rohan, build all Farms except two on your build squares. Then, build a Well and a Stable.
-With Rohan, always build Merry first, followed by King Theodon, Eomyer, then Eowyn. Next, also build Legolas, followed by Aragorn, then Gimi.
-As Rohan, try to get the enemy to attack your Entmoot because it finishes building immediately.
-When attempting defeat Isengard, Mordor, Gondor or Rohan as Rohan, do not bother spending all your well earned money on Towerguards and Farms. Note: This trick works best when the players use camps or are playing as Mordor or Isengard. It requires about five to ten minutes, even when fighting hard armies or online players with high ranks. This trick works very well when playing on a three to six player map because the castles are closer together. Build two Farms inside the Castle. Then, use the peasants that you start with and make them build one Farm each, outside your Castle. Next, build Merry if desired. He can take down Troll, Goblin or Worg lairs alone. By doing so he gains 2.5 levels, making him a good level 3. After you are done, put him back to the main gate just outside and use the cloak. He can take care of Battering Rams if they appear. Next, build three Fountains. You will most likely witness an attack on one of your Farms by now. Do not worry about your Farms; they are just decoys and you will get it back. Next, start making three Archers to upgrade your Archery Range. Use these to grass on Towers outside on the map. Defend your Farms by just kill them by walking by the enemy. In the meantime, make Elves. Make five battalions of Elves. If you are playing against a good side that has a castle, just use the Elves and walk around to slowly take over the map. Upgrade them with fire arrows and heavy armor. If the player is evil or you are playing on camps, send them out and walk straight up and down until you are standing almost outside the enemy base. The Elves can hide in the trees in the meantime. If you are attacked by the enemy. the Elves will make short work of them. Wait until you have enough money to upgrade the five battalions with fire arrows. When you are done use the now upgraded Elves take down the enemy structures with three battalions and use the last two battalions to attack enemy forces. Once you have taken down towers that may have been placed in front of you, take down the Furnaces or Slaughterhouses with the highest rank. Remember to work your way in by walking in front of the castle; never walk past the Citadel. If you have lost some Elves by this time, use Heal on them. If desired, you should have enough resources to make five more battalions of Elves and upgrade them if you took control of the outposts on your way down. You will then have an unstoppable force of Elves. Buy Legolas to help them out.
Build one stable and on the other places build six or seven farms. Your gold will rise quickly. Next, build Rohirrim, Rohirrim Archers, and Shield. When you are out of command limits, destroy the enemy forces.
-If you are Rohan in Skirmish or Online mode, build two or three farms in your castle. Then, find other sites that you can build farms and do so. Next, build three wells. This will drastically reduce the cost of you infantry. Then, build an archery range. Build four battalions of Yeoman Archers to get your building to level 2. Use them for recon or just to guard your base. Next, build as many Elven Archers as possible. They are only 490 gold with the three wells instead of 700 gold. Afterwards, get the fire arrow upgrade and upgrade your elves first. You archer army will be unstoppable against Nazgul, Trolls, Ents, horseman, infantry, all Uruk-Hai, siege weapons, etc.
The Black Gate strategy:
After playing through almost the entire game, Gandalf (in the living world map) will tell you that you can attack the Black Gate when ready. Instead of immediately selecting the Black Gate level, use this opportunity to play all of the other levels you may have missed, switching between Rohan and Gondor each time. Build armories, barracks, archery ranges, and siege weapons so you can upgrade your army. After each level, make sure your Rohan and Gondor armies are both large and are fully upgraded. By doing this, when you play the Black Gate level your starting army will be large and upgraded, you will have trebuchets, and your reinforcement army will be the same. Level up your heroes in the other levels to get one hit kills. One of the bonuses at the Black Gate level is to keep all of your heroes alive.
Fangron strategy:
On the way to the Elven camp, look closely to see a cave with smoke coming out of it. Go up to it with at least one troop and three Cave Trolls will come out. These trolls are stronger than usual. Focus your trolls on the elves and your Uruk Crossbowmen on the Ents.
Helm’s Deep strategy:
Use the following strategy when playing on the Good campaign. Behind the Deeping Wall, demolish every structure except for the farms. Directly behind the gate, build a farm and an archery range. Inside the keep, build a stable and a fountain. On the rest of the foundations, build all farms. First, build five Rohirrim Battalions. This should upgrade the stable to level 2. Buy the shield upgrade, but do not give it to your Rohirrim yet. At the same time, build as many archers as possible (at least until you can purchase fire arrows). Make sure you rescue the refugees. Position all of your peasants on the Deeping Wall. This is to let them die, as they do not take away any of your command points when you rescue them, but when they die they will give you command points. Position all of your archers on the keep’s wall, with no archers on the Deeping Wall. Position all of your Rohirrim behind the keep’s walls, near the fountain. If desired, after you finish building your Rohirrim and the shields, demolish the stables and build a farm in its place. Make sure all of the archers have fire arrows before the attack. Keep both gates closed, and when the enemy arrives, let them climb the walls and kill the peasants. Use the command points the peasants gave off for archers. Let them kill your farms and the citadel. Also let them destroy your gate. When the enemy tries to come up the ramp into the keep, your archers will kill them before they can get in. If they do get close on the ramp, use your Rohirrim with their purchased shields to run over them (unless they are pikemen). Do not worry when they breech the Deeping Wall. After your archers pick off the last Uruk wave, call in Eomer’s army and send them into the keep to purchase fire arrows and shields for your horsemen. Then, have everyone attack one Uruk camp at a time.
Moria: Balrog strategy:
When battling the Balrog at Moria you will only be allowed to use Gandof. This actually helps you defeat it. When you first get there, keep attacking it. Do not worry about its attacks. When your health bar gets half way down, start to run away from it. Try not to get hit by it. While you are running away from him, your health should start going back up. Wait until your health is full again. Note: This may take some time. Repeat this tactic until it has been defeated.
Western Emnet strategy:
The key to winning this level is to capture a base early. When the mission starts, build two Farms in your main base. Send Eomer and his horsemen either to the mid-west edge of the map to take out a main base (harder, more men die, but less trouble in the long run); or to the south-east edge of the map to take out a large outpost (easier, less men die, but more trouble in the long run). When one of the two has been destroyed, send two full groups (or the two largest groups) of men into the castle and close the gate. When you have 1,600 resources, build two Defense Towers in the front of the castle. When everything within the whole of enemy attacks and resources is concerned, built a Rohan Archer Range and a Stable anywhere within your castle. Any leftover resources should go to the production of Farms in your captured base. When you have enough resources, build a Healing Well to replenish your troops’ life. When construction of the well is done, move all the horsemen into the castle to heal. Fend off the next enemy attack (enemies will now have to wait for units to rebuild while you go out and attack them). Slowly make your way up to the mid-northern edge of the map where one of the two remaining large bases is located. When you finally take that base over (you should have plenty of resources if you built enough Farms), build a new castle there when available. Upgrade it with defensive towers. Build up another army and attack the remaining base with everything you have. If you fail when attacking that base, do not worry; you can do it again. Note: This map is difficult, especially under the medium and hard difficulty settings. It will require much skill, patience, and thought. This map will take some time to win.
General strategies:
-Hordes/Battalions with a Banner unit should be retreated when only a few remain to allow the ranked unit to regenerate:
-Try grabbingb as many of the economy/outpost plots surrounding your base.
Always close your Castle Gate and build a Postern Gate instead.
-Build two economy structures per one unit production building.
-Less upgraded units are always better than many non-upgraded units.
-Build economy structures in the back of the Camp/Castle and build unit production structures in the front.
-In skirmishes, build a wide variety of hordes, but mainly use Archers and Monsters above Foot Soldiers. Always have all Heroes before an attack. Keep gates closed and heavily guarded. When all allies are defeated, use specials to summon units like Summon Ent Allies or Rohirum Allies. When raided, build as many Orc, Oruk, Gondor, and Rohan archers as possible. When you are outnumbered and other units that you control are far away, run away.
-Small cavalry is better than a large infantry, except against archers.
-Avoid blindly putting any group of soldiers against any enemy soldiers. If you have cavalry, make sure to have archers as back-up against pikemen and the like.
-When starting a campaign, build at least two or three Farms or Slaughter Houses. Also make sure that all your men are guarding the castle (put them all around the base), so that no enemies or trolls attack you.
-In a Good Mirror or good vs. good, never build Archers or Footmen. Horses can run over them easily and they are a waste of money.
-Never put Haradrim soldiers or Soldiers Of Khrum on a Murmakil. If the enemy kill the Murmakil, the men die as well.
-With basic Footmen on the good and evil sides, press X when they are all selected. They will flee in all different directions. Note: This only works online.
-The following is a very cheap trick to use whenever you are on the good side after you have your castle defenses built to as high as possible. The CPU eventually stops assaults if you just leave the gate closed and do not send people out of your walls. To take advantage of this, keep all your defenses up, with people defending the walls, and open the gates. The enemies will try to swarm in. The moment that they are all the way open, close them again and they will be stuck inside your defensive range and be unable to get inside. You can now be cruel to them for a few hours while you accumulate ranks for your battalions, heroes, and gathering resources. Also, Legolas and Faramir have extreme range and at higher levels you can just leave them on the walls alone, and they will do better than defensive towers (allowing you to build up resources easier instead of fighting and having your battalions injured).
-Do not build any Camps. Only build Outposts because they are cheaper, and Camps are larger and harder to protect.
-When first starting, instead of going out immediately and getting as many farms or whatever else you need, if playing as Gondor or Rohan shut your gate. If you are Isengard or Mordor, build some Archer Towers. Defend and save a lot of resources. Get a very good hero then go out and get all the farms. While getting all the farms, send archers to each of them for protection. If you get an outpost, put the archers in the citadel. While you are getting all the farms, your CP should be increasing, allowing you to get more soldiers. Knights are recommended, or if you are Isengard, Wargs. Then, go out and gather around your opponent’s camp or castle, but not too close if they have defensive structures. Use a catapult, ram, or fire arrows to destroy the gate, then charge and take out everything. Concentrate on the citadel so that they cannot make anything.
-When playing with a castle, shut your gate and build a postern gate. Then build some farms (Blacksmiths also if Gondor) to get money for an armory. Once you get it, get the best unit you can and upgrade it with armor until you have all the upgrades. This may take a while, but it is worth it if you have Cavalry and Archers. They make a great team because Archers scout the area. Find their castle and send out your cavalry.
-You should have a massive number of resource making structures, a high level blacksmith and a level 2 archery range. To defeat any army in almost any situation, build your army inside your castle with the gate shut until your command points have been reached. You should have a lot of infantry and cavalry, but you do not need too many archers. Combine your archers with your infantry. Buy all available upgrade for your entire army. Open your gates and take your entire army outside. Once they are all outside, close your gates. If you are worried about your city getting destroyed build guard towers and leave a few infantry units with no upgrades behind. Have your army take out all enemy camps. Always have your entire army attacking one target. Do not split up. You should decimate all enemy forces with few to no casualties.