Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ – Augments Guide

by Falagar / Articles, Middle-earth: Shadow of War Guides / 18 May 2018

Augments can be found by killing captains or looting special dead orcs called loot bodies found throughout Lithlad. You only get eight augments per piece of equipment, so choose carefully which ones you want to apply and which ones you want to scrap for coin. Once you apply or scrap an augment, you cannot reverse that decision. Common augments, however, can be stacked indefinitely to increase their effects, so feel free to apply as many of those as you’d like.

Captains will drop augments according to their rank. Normal captains will drop common augments, epic captains will drop epic augments, and legendary captains will drop legendary augments. Additionally, treasure orcs can be found from time to time around Lithlad. Common treasure orcs will drop common augments, whereas treasure ologs will drop epic augments. Treasure orcs and ologs will appear as white triangles on your minimap, so seek them out and kill them whenever you can.

Loot bodies work a bit differently. Common loot bodies will give you a bit of coin and refill your health packs and ammo but won’t give any augments. You can also find common loot bodies on the minimap. If you’re in a fight and need to refill your health or ammo, just find one and run to it real quick. Epic and legendary loot bodies will not appear on the minimap; you have to find them yourself. Epic and legendary loot bodies will always spawn in set locations, though whether a particular loot body spawns is determined each run randomly. Some loot bodies will spawn every single run, whereas others will only spawn very rarely.

What follows is a list of each augment in the game and my opinions on whether or not they’re worth using.

Augments

Sword Augments

Dwarven Whetstone – Common

+7 Melee Damage (stackable)

More damage is always good. Grab as many of these as you can.

Coated Chain – Epic

Cyclone causes a Fire explosion

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Not incredibly useful since you can shoot a firebomb at your feet for the same effect, but it is a lot of fun.

Sympathetic Tuning – Epic

30% increased Critical Hit chance for Melee Attacks when your health is full

This is a fantastic option if you can keep your health full. Works very well with Blasting Powder and Poison Coating.

Last Blood – Epic

50% increased Critical Hit chance when your health is low

If you’re low on health, this can help you get out of trouble. Like Sympathetic Tuning, it works well with Blasting Powder and Poison Coating.

Quicksilver Core – Epic

3% increased Critical Hit chance per point of Hitstreak

This one depends on your ability to maintain high hit streaks. If you’ve got the skills, you can potentially land a crit on every hit, making this a formidable choice.

Blasting Powder – Epic

Critical hits light enemies on fire

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One of the best augments. Just be careful around captains who are enraged by burning.

Hot-Blooded Bleeder – Epic

100% increased Melee Damage to Enraged enemies

Getting close to an enraged captain is a dangerous game, but it can be a very viable tactic.

Fresh Start – Epic

+30% Might on hit while your health is full

Again, this is contingent on being able to keep your health full. This augment is very powerful if you can do that, as you can use cyclone and execution attacks much more often.

Drunken Master – Epic

Restore 50 Might when you use a Healing Elixir

I’ve never found this very useful. There are better ways to gain might.

Lord-Killer – Epic

Might is unlimited for 10.0 seconds after killing a Captain.

Fantastic for taking on multiple captains at once. Kill one captain and then spam execution attacks on all the others.

Poison Coating – Epic

Critical melee hits Poison enemies

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Just as good as, if not better, than Blasting Powder.

Screaming Sword – Epic

+2 Might recovered per second

This one doesn’t might fast enough to be of much use in fights, but it does mean you’ll go into each fight with full might, which is useful.

Strength in Numbers – Legendary

+100% Melee damage when no allies are nearby

This one depends on your play style. If you rely on your allies a lot, this is pretty much useless. However, if you roll solo, you’re effectively doubling your damage output.

Weighted Blade – Legendary

+100% Might on hit. It might fully reset after you take damage.

Very useful if you can avoid getting hit.

Heartsblood Rally – Legendary

+10 Might recovered per second while your health is low

I’m not a fan of this one. If your health is low, you should be running away to heal, not diving into the thick of the fight.

Venomous Gleam – Legendary

Melee attacks have a 100% chance to inflict Poison while your health is low.

Same as Heartsblood Rally, run away when you’re hurt instead of fighting.

Silver Gear Augment

Gain Might each time you are damaged in combat

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If you get hit a lot, this is great, otherwise not so much.

Gold Gear Augment

Melee Damage increases by 1% for each 2% decreased health.

This one is useful if you don’t feel like healing much, but keep in mind that it doesn’t work super well with the augments that occur when your health is full.

Dagger Augments

Barbed Blade – Common

+50 Stealth Damage (stackable)

The extra damage is always good. Grab as many of these as you can, and you’ll be one-shotting captains in no time.

Heavy Blade – Epic

+50% damage for Stealth attacks performed while Gliding

I like this one. I make most stealth attacks from the air anyway, so this one comes in handy a lot.

Cutpurse – Epic

Stealth kills are guaranteed to drop the coin.

If you find yourself short on the coin or going through mercenaries a lot, check this one out. Otherwise, save your augment slots.

Unleashed – Epic

Stealth Attacks on Captains cause nearby grunts to Flee.

If you want to fight captains without any grunts getting in the way, this one is for you. I’ve never found it useful, though.

Firestarter – Epic

Stealth Attacks light enemies on fire.

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This one isn’t tremendously effective, but it is tremendously fun.

Trollblood Unguent – Epic

Restore 1 Healing Elixir on a Stealth Attack

Excellent augment. You can bug out of combat if you’re out of healing, and stealth kills some random orc for an elixir.

Blood-soaked Bandages – Epic

Refill all Health on Stealth Attack

A bit redundant with Trollblood Unguent, but it still has its uses.

Bileblood Coating – Epic

Restore 1 Poison Bolts on a Stealth Attack

Useful if you use poison bolts a lot.

Explosive Brew – Epic

Enemies killed with a Brutalize attack create a Poison explosion.

This one isn’t good. If you brutalize an enemy, all the other orcs in the area will run away before the explosion triggers.

Kingslayer – Epic

Recover all health and gain full Might after Stealth Killing a Captain

Excellent choice for fighting multiple captains at once.

Silent Wrappings – Epic

Increase Stealth rating by 60, decreasing the range at which you are spotted

This is only really useful for greater difficulties. On normal, the enemies are so oblivious that this won’t make much of a difference.

Thorned Hilt – Legendary

+300% Stealth Attack damage, -50% max Health

This one is a lot of fun. You’ll be one-shotting captains left and right with this on. Just make sure to run away after each kill to avoid retaliation from their friends. Vigilant against Stealth captains will give you a very hard time with this one, though. It may be worth checking the hierarchy and killing those guys before applying this augment.

Tricky Escape – Legendary

When your health gets low, an explosion triggers, stunning all nearby enemies

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This is very useful for greater difficulties where it allows you to escape and heal up when you’re in trouble.

Carrion Reek – Legendary

Friendly ghûls are summoned after performing a Stealth Kill.

This one is super fun. It triggers on-chain kills, too, so you can easily amass an army of ghûls very quickly.

Shelob’s Blessing – Legendary

Friendly spiders are summoned after performing a Stealth Kill.

This one is even more fun than Carrion Reek. If you’re lucky enough to find both in the same run, you’ll have a huge crowd of critters fighting for you everywhere you go.

Adrenaline – Legendary

Time slows for 10 seconds after performing a Brutal Stealth Kill.

Great for clearing out outposts. The time slow lasts long enough for you to go from orc to orc, brutalizing each one in turn.

Crossbow Augments

Tighter Gearing – Common

+15 Ranged Damage on Steel, Fire, and Poison Bolts (stackable)

The extra damage is good. If you get enough of these, you can one-shot grunts with the quick shot button.

Blood-formed Bolts – Epic

+1 Steel Bolts restored on headshot kill

Excellent augment. Chain-kills are headshot kills, so having this equipped instantly refills your steel bolts when you use chain kills.

Countering Shot – Epic

100% increased Ranged Damage to Enraged enemies

This one is very good. You always want to keep your distance from enraged captains, which will ensure you can still dish out the damage while you do.

Calm in the Storm – Epic

+35 Focus on Ranged Hit

Excellent augment. Combine it with Blood-formed bolts, and you can chain-kill to your heart’s content for free.

Black Ice – Epic

Concussion bombs emit a freezing blast

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Excellent crowd control augment. If you’re in the middle of a big mob of enemies, shoot one of these at your feet to freeze them all.

Terminal Velocity – Epic

Chained kills explode heads, inciting terror.

This one isn’t super useful, but it is super fun.

-fire Trigger – Epic

Chained kills require 50% less focus.

This one is great if you’re low on Focus upgrades.

Piercing Bolts – Epic

Steel Bolts pierce through enemies

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Hitting multiple enemies gives you more damage for each bolt. If you like shooting dudes, this one is for you.

Leaded Bolts – Epic

Pin affects Olog-hai and Beasts

This one is especially useful when used against olog captains who have a fear of pinning. Otherwise, it’s kind of mediocre.

Oiled Bolts – Epic

100% increased Ranged Damage to enemies that are on fire

Fire in this game tends to spread, so you’ll get lots of opportunities to take advantage of this one.

Leeching Bolts – Epic

100% increased Ranged Damage to Poisoned enemies

There are fewer opportunities to poison dudes than setting them on fire, so this one isn’t quite as useful as Oiled Bolts.

Ballast – Epic

Focus is consumed 250% slower while in the air

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This one depends on your playstyle. If you like raining death from above, this is a fantastic augment.

Graug Hormones – Legendary

Concussion bombs confuse and enrage enemies, causing them to fight each other

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Once again, not very useful, but very, very fun.

Secondary Payload – Legendary

Bombs also create a mine.

Kind of mediocre.

Timed Explosives – Legendary

Steel Bolts do no damage but explode shortly after impact.

This augment sucks. Don’t use it.

Bright Lord’s Bolts – Legendary

Headshots Freeze nearby enemies

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This one is very good. Baranor doesn’t have a lot of ways to freeze enemies, but this is one of the better ones.

Combustible Seeds – Legendary

Enemies killed with headshots explode after a few seconds.

Very fun. If you combine it with Terminal Velocity, your chain-kill victims will explode twice.

Shield Augments

Reinforced Plating – Common

Take 5% less damage (stackable)

This only protects against melee damage, but it’s still worth grabbing as many as you can find.

Bear Spray – Epic

Reduce damage from Beasts by 60%

Caragors can be a real pain, but this one makes them more bearable.

Fierce Defense – Epic

60% less damage from Enraged enemies

Enraged enemies can mess you up badly if they can catch you in a stunlock. This augments a good way of surviving those attacks.

Baleful Shaming – Epic

40 Health Recovery per second while Cursed

There aren’t many things that can curse Baranor, so check the hierarchy for cursed captains before applying this.

Bloodthief – Epic

+7 health recovered when you will find an enemy

Health recovery is always welcome, but the health from this augment kind of small.

Vim and Vigor – Epic

3.0% Health Recovery per second while your Command meter is Full

One of my favorites. I never bother with the rally command, so this one is perpetual health regen. Remember that getting cursed will drain your Command, so be careful.

Breath of Manwë – Epic

Recover health while gliding

This one recovers your health very quickly. If you get into trouble, you can catapult into a glide, recover your health, and then stealth attack from the air back into the fight.

Antivenom Edge – Epic

Take no damage from Poison

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This doesn’t prevent the loss or lack of combat prompts, but it’s still very useful.

Bolt Protection – Epic

50% less damage from Ranged Attacks

Archers and javelins are a real nuisance, and Reinforced Plating does nothing against them. You want this augment.

Freezing Capsules – Epic

Shield bash freezes enemies for a long duration

This one’s utility depends on how much you rely on shield bash.

Venom Edge – Legendary

30% chance enemies are Poisoned when they hit you with Melee Attacks

This one is pretty good since it also triggers attacks that are blocked by your shield. You can just hide behind your shield and let your enemies poison themselves to death.

Syringe Mount – Legendary

Healing Elixir is automatically used if you die from taking damage.

This one is an absolute must-have if you play on Gravewalker difficulty. Even on lower difficulties, it’s incredibly helpful.

Gunpowder Lining – Legendary

Creates a Fire explosion when you are set on fire

Fire spreads so that this one will get a lot of use.

Bottle Flies – Legendary

Perfect Counters Curse nearby enemies

Easily one of the best augments and the only way Baranor has of cursing enemies.

Saving Grace – Legendary

Gain one extra Last Chance

It lets you stay in the fight longer or just live through that BS one-hit kills on Gravewalker difficulty. Use this one.

Mithril Gear Augment

Survival Challenge: You lose the ability to use Healing Elixirs, but you restore 75 Health on each kill

If you’ve earned this augment, you’re good enough at the game that you need an additional challenge. Go for it, you masochist.

Armor Augments

Dwarven Joint work – Common

+25 Focus (stackable)

Focus is always good to have. It takes about twenty focus for each chain kill.

Tribute to the Fallen – Epic

+15 Command when a Follower dies

This one depends on how much you use your Rally command. Also, stop letting your followers die, you monster.

Opportunist – Epic

+3 Command when a Follower kills an enemy

If you’re letting your followers do the bulk of the fighting, this is very useful.

Insignia of Valor – Epic

+4 Command when you kill an enemy

This is good for refilling your Command meter for the Vim and Vigor augment but not good for much else.

Fevered Command – Epic

40% reduction in charge time for Follower abilities

Very useful if you like using your followers’ abilities a lot.

Invigorating Command – Epic

Followers heal 150 health when you kill an enemy

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Keeps your followers alive, which saves you from having to spend coin on replacements.

Field Provisions – Epic

Reduces Call Followers cooldown by 50%

This one is of limited use. If you summon your followers and just never dismiss them, they’ll never go on cooldown, to begin with.

Medical Training – Epic

Followers heal 2% per second

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Keeps your followers alive, which saves you from having to spend coin on replacements.

Triage Kit – Epic

Using a Healing Elixir heals all nearby allies

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If you need to heal a follower real quick, this is the way to do it. This can save your followers from getting killed at inopportune.

Protective Command – Epic

+4 Might when an ally takes damage

Fantastic augment. During outpost missions and the fort assault, you practically have unlimited might.

The momentum of Battle – Epic

Refresh allies’ Combat and Stealth Abilities when an enemy Captain is killed

Quite good. Kill one captain with your follower’s abilities, and then use the instant refresh to turn on the next.

Time and a Half – Legendary

Picking up Coin increases damage by 1% per coin gained for 20 seconds

This is my favorite armor augment. With the right outpost boosts, enemies will drop coins left and right. Also, killing captains gives a few hundred coins, which means a massive damage boost for killing all his friends.

Beloved Command – Legendary

If you take damage that would normally kill you, a nearby Mercenary Bodyguard sacrifices himself in your place

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It stinks to lose a follower, but it stinks worse to die and restart the game.

Lead from Behind – Legendary

All allies gain +50% Defense and Damage. Your max health is halved.

If you like to lead from behind, as the name implies, this augment for you. Hang back and let your followers do the work for you.

Fanatical Command – Legendary

Allies become Enraged when you take damage

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Another excellent augment. This applies to all mercenaries, not just the captains you specifically hire.

Grasping Tenacity – Legendary

Picking up coin recovers 2 Health per Coin gained.

Put this on, and you’ll never want for health again. Combine with Time and a Half, and you’ll be unstoppable.

Shared Strength – Legendary

+4 Might when an ally hits an enemy

Very similar to Protective Command. Apply both at once, and you can spam cyclone attacks during the fort assault all you want.

Bronze Gear Augment

Increase your chances of high-quality gear drops from Captains or higher ranking Orcs

Good augments are good. Not much to say about this one.

Falagar

He is the founder and editor of Magic Game World. He loved gaming from the moment he got a PlayStation 1 with Gran Turismo on his 7th birthday.

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