General Notes

• All attribute points should be put into Accuracy

  • This applies to all characters

• Buy whetstones at least up to +2 damage

• Buy at least one skill point if available (not as important for Gandalf/Eowyn, more important for Frodo)

• Items to prioritize (in order; e.g. Amulet over Warg Collar over Medallion):

  • Ent Water (not equippable, revives in place on death)
  • Sandals (movement speed)
  • Elven prefixed armor/capes (movement speed)
  • Stronger weapons (primary source of damage)
  • Amulet (5% shield block saves lives... and runs)
  • Items with bonus to all passive skills (useful but very rare in a run)
  • Moonstone or moonruned items for spirit regen (also very rare; especially useful for Frodo)
  • Items with Accuracy bonus (more important than damage bonuses)
  • Items that add damage (more important than armor)
  • Higher melee/missile/critical armor (can make a difference)
  • Items with bonuses to Strength/Defense (won't make much difference)
  • Items with bonuses to Health/Courage (least importance)

• Pick up gems in direct path but do not deviate to do so

• Deviate for item drops that are likely to be useful

• Pause only for level-up or if considerably better gear is acquired

  • Per the priority list, Amulet and above could be equipped immediately, otherwise wait for a level-up

• Do not pause for skill points acquired by story progress or slain enemies

• Skills that stun enemies prevent them from moving, attacking and defending, and they take more damage while stunned

  • These include Aragorn's Commanding Presence, Eowyn's Princess of Rohan, and Frodo's Escape
  • Gandalf and Legolas also have skills that stun enemies, but they are situational or otherwise not worth it for a speedrun
  • It is unknown to me exactly how your damage dealt to stunned enemies is increased, but the boost is significant

• Legolas should purchase Ent Water in the East Mountains: West Woods if available

  • The Ent Pool will only appear on one of the two possible maps for that area
  • Aragorn can encounter a similar map, but the Ent Pool will only appear for Legolas

• Eowyn should purchase Ent Water in Mountain Pass: Mountain Pass North (highly advised)

• Frodo should purchase Ent Water in Lothlorien and/or West Morder: Crags if necessary

• An Ent Pool also exists in the area just before Moria (obviously does not apply to Eowyn)

  • However, the likelihood of having enough gems to buy Ent Water at this point is extremely low

• If you have very low hit points at the start of a map area and you leveled-up recently, consider allowing an enemy to kill you

  • You will not lose much experience for dying as long as you have recently leveled-up
    • The further your progress to the next level-up, the more experience you will lose, so keep that in mind
  • This will save a much more significant time loss from potentially dying further into the area
  • Alternatively, if you know there is a red cauldron nearby in the area, you can try to go for that, or hope lembas bread drops
  • Finally, try to keep rough track of and consider your gem count before deciding to die, because you will lose gems

• Pay attention to Sauron's Eye and don't let crebain escape if it will spawn Ringwraiths

• Same goes for goblin drummers in Moria; either kill or move away from them quickly, especially if the Eye is getting large

• If Ringwraiths do spawn, get to the next map area as fast as possible and then immediately let one kill you to reset the Eye

  • Situationally, you may not want to die (loss of experience/gems), so in that case just avoid them until they stop spawning
    • Be aware that this strategy doesn't reset the Eye like dying does, so you'll still have to be careful

Character-Specific Notes

This section should not be used as a walkthrough. If you're reading these notes I am assuming that you've beaten the game at least once normally and are interested in speedrunning. If you can't figure out how to get through a certain area, please refer to an actual walkthrough guide, and consider playing through the game a few more times casually to get used to the map layouts before attempting runs. The skills listed under each character are recommendations and are listed in the order they should be taken (e.g. for Aragorn, first three skill points into Dual Wield, then 1 to 3 points into Commanding Presence, then the remaining points into Dual Wield).

Aragorn Any% Notes

3 points Dual Wield 1 to 3 point(s) Commanding Presence Remaining points Dual Wield

• At least 1 point Commanding Presence to stun cave troll/Lurtz for quick kills
• Commanding Presence does NOT work on Fangorn troll, safespot instead
  • Can be used to stun and sneak by dangerous enemies or large groups
  • Particularly useful for this purpose in the Gap of Rohan
  • Despite the tooltip, spirit cost does not increase with more points invested, only stun time
  • While up to 3 points is useful to make boss fights/evading enemies easier, only 1 is strictly necessary
• Remaining points in Dual Wield for consistent damage
• Arguably the easiest character in the game to run
  • Highly recommended as a first category for runners who are new to the game
• Dual Wield means marginally slower attack speed but greater attack range and far greater damage
  • Obviously, you'll want to equip a second weapon as soon as possible
  • Make sure to always have your two best weapons equipped; makes no difference which is in which hand
• Group enemies to kill them all more quickly, and try to take out archers first
• Use Commanding Presence to stun the cave troll and Lurtz periodically while attacking
• Fangorn troll can be easily safe-spotted from the area exit point thanks to the range of Dual Wield attacks
  • Try to kill the smaller troll first, Commanding Presence WILL work on the small troll
• In the Glittering Caves, you must kill all of the red hero uruk-hai for Eowyn to appear (6 of them)
  • They will all be in your path to Eowyn, don't wander off course looking for them
• Try to hit the siege weapons while simultaneously hitting nearby uruk-hai with Dual Wield's wide range
  • Make sure you don't let the red hero crossbowers shoot at you though, they can kill you with one hit

Legolas Any% Notes

1 point Overdraw 1 point Hawkeye 1 point Critical Shot Remaining points Hawkeye

• 1 point Overdraw is extremely useful for crowd control and in general
• 1 point Critical Shot is worth it for 12% boost to critical hit chance
• Remaining points in Hawkeye for consistent damage
• Not a very difficult run; some oddities about using the bow can make it tricky
  • Reasonable run for new runners, can take some time to really get the hang of though
• Unlike all other characters, Legolas has no active skill for healing, which instead costs time
• Legolas starts with the highest Accuracy of any character, making it relatively easy to kill enemies early on
• Arrows you shoot will auto-target enemies, and not always in a way that makes sense
  • Melee enemies who are farther away may be targeted before ranged enemies who are actively attacking you for example
  • Keep this in mind when using Overdraw as well, as you may not get the exact trajectory you wanted
• Also keep in mind that, unlike all other characters, Overdraw is Legolas' only option for hitting multiple enemies at once
• That said, if used well, Overdraw is the most broken active skill accessible to any character for a NG speedrun
• Tap A quickly to use Overdraw while moving in any direction (not while standing still) to avoid the slow animation
  • Allowing Overdraw to charge over time does not actually increase its damage more; at least not noticeably
• Overdraw will hit most enemies multiple times as it passes through them, if they don't die right away
• Individual enemies pose no threat but be wary of groups that are spread out
• Try to group enemies into lines to kill more efficiently with Overdraw (it pierces infinitely)
• If an enemy is being stubborn and not dying, move on and shoot an arrow or two back, don't linger
• Be careful when moving downwards toward enemies below you, and shoot arrows ahead as you go
  • Melee enemies seem to have more range attacking upwards on the screen, and the screen has less space on the bottom
• Cave troll can be safe-spotted from the top-right of the map, Fangorn troll can be safe-spotted the same as Aragorn
• Lurtz can be safe-spotted but he's a complete pushover so it really isn't worth the time to get into position
  • Open with a few Overdraws and you'll make quick work of him
• Carefully time white knife swings to destroy siege weapons at Helm's Deep
  • Mashing will not destroy them any faster and may result in missed swings

Gandalf Any% Notes

1 point Elusion 1 point Shield Remaining points Inspire

• 1 point Elusion mainly as pre-requisite to Inspire, but helps with Shield
• 1 point Shield for survivability, main active skill
  • More points in Shield increases corruption for use and can cause Ringwraiths to spawn
  • The amount of damage Shield can absorb does not increase significantly enough to make this worth it
• Remaining points in Inspire so Shield and Magical Healing can be used frequently
• Moderately difficult run; artificially increased difficulty if you try to use attack spells
  • Recommended for somewhat experienced runners, as there is more strategy to consider
• Do not invest in or rely on any attack spells (such as Zap), they're weak and a waste of your spirit points
• Instead, conserve spirit points for renewing your Shield when it dissipates and for healing
• Do not re-cast Shield if you are just moving and no enemies are around, wait until enemies engage you
  • However, if you are at full spirit and hit points, you might consider re-casting Shield immediately
  • This way your spirit will have time to recover somewhat by the time you do encounter enemies
  • Otherwise, focus on restoring lost hit points while not engaged with enemies
• Accuracy, while always more important than damage, is very much so for Gandalf
  • Gandalf relies more than Legolas and Aragorn on hitting enemies to stun-lock them for survival
  • This doesn't mean you should use a Long Knife over a Leaf Sword, but keep Accuracy bonuses in mind
• All bosses can be safe-spotted, though not easily
  • Cave troll: Stand above the door in the north-east corner, a little to the left of its archway
  • Balrog: Stand in the very far north-east corner and face left; may take several tries
  • Fangorn troll: Same as Aragorn, but a much smaller margin of error for the correct range
• Destroying the siege weapons is either slow or difficult, or both
  • Fastest strategy is to kite/avoid the enemies and just go for the siege weapons
  • Alternatively, kill the crossbowers first then the hero uruk-hai at each siege weapon
  • Do not swing as fast as possible while trying to destroy the siege weapons, find the correct rhythm
    • You will notice some swings miss (do not make a 'hit' sound) if you swing full speed

Eowyn Any% Notes

1 point Defending Fury 1 point Stand Fast 1 to 3 point(s) Eyes of Rohan Remaining points Princess of Rohan

• 1 point Defending Fury purely as pre-requisite to Princess of Rohan
• 1 point Stand Fast as pre-requisite to Eyes of Rohan, but also useful
• At least 1 point Eyes of Rohan for better item find
  • Eowyn relies heavily on quality items for damage and survival
  • You could invest as many as 3 points here and not lose too much stun time for Princess of Rohan
  • Not sure how much 2 extra points will affect item find quality though, so it's a gamble
• Remaining points Princess of Rohan for making the final boss fight remotely possible
  • Seriously, without this skill (ideally at least 3 points) the final boss fight would be an almost guaranteed run-ender
  • This stuns nearby enemies to reduce damage taken and allows you to deal more damage to the boss more quickly
  • Despite the tooltip, Princess of Rohan only costs 4 spirit regardless of how many skill points you invest
• Difficult run; Eowyn encounters powerful enemies early and often
  • Not recommended for inexperienced runners; you will get frustrated quickly if you are not prepared
• As a general note for this run, two-handed swords should be prioritized
  • This includes the Soldier Sword or Hand-and-a-Half Sword wielded without a shield
  • Damage is the key here, so a one-handed sword with increased damage could still be better, but that would be rare
• Group enemies carefully and try to hit as many as possible with each swing
• Do not over-commit to a fight, have an exit strategy and don't let yourself get surrounded
  • The cost in time of retreating for a moment is nothing compared to the cost of a death
• Try to isolate archers and take them out first in groups
  • Failing this, lure non-archer enemies away from the archers and kill the non-archers first
• Should be level 5 at least by the time you get to the Village Town Hall
  • This means agonizingly fighting groups of enemies that seem to be taking forever; it's worth it
• When fighting the red hero uruk-hai in the Village Town Hall, use this strategy: 1 Move in close and then immediately retreat to trigger his attack animation and dodge it 2 Once the animation is nearing its end, move in again and begin attacking - Moving in too soon will allow the tail end of his attack to hit you 3 Attack until you miss (clank on his armor) twice in a row, even if this happens right away 4 After the second miss, immediately retreat and repeat starting from step 2
• Be aware that the orc archers in the Mountain Pass shoot fire arrows, which deal far more damage than normal
  • Thus, do NOT engage other enemies while archers are in range of you; lure other enemies away or kill the archers first
• Run past enemies in the Mountain Pass North to find the children, not worth engaging
  • Find the children in the order: south-east, north-east, west
  • Buy an Ent Water on the way to the west child or on the way out of the area
• Run past all enemies in the Gap of Rohan and Helm's Deep (before reaching Glittering Caves), not worth engaging
  • The Ent Water may prove useful here, but try to keep it if you can for the final boss
• Make sure you reach at least level 8 (to acquire Princess of Rohan) in Glittering Caves
• Run through the final screen, avoiding the uruk-hai and breaking all of the eggs
  • You have to break 7 eggs to spawn the final boss; how you go about this is up to you
  • Avoid spending any spirit until the boss has spawned; there are 3 life wells in the area if you need healing
  • When the boss spawns, run back to the beginning of the area to fight him
  • Use Princess of Rohan liberally to stun the boss and any nearby enemies
  • Try to avoid hitting anything other than the boss with your attacks, as this will end their stun time
• Finally, use Princess of Rohan to stun any enemies in your path and safely exit the area

Frodo Any% Notes

1 point Rummage 1 point Resist One Ring 1 point Escape 1 point Sneak Attack 6 points Strength of the Shire 2 points Escape (total of 3) Remaining points Sneak Attack

• 1 point Rummage to help with finding stronger items and as pre-requisite to Sneak Attack
• 1 point Resist One Ring purely as pre-requisite to Strength of the Shire
• 1 point Escape to use in emergencies or for quickly passing groups of enemies
• 1 point Sneak Attack for bonus damage attacking from behind; make use of this whenever possible
• 6 points Strength of the Shire for 6 spirit regen and reasonably fast hit point regen
  • Spirit regen increases by 1 for every 3 points invested; Escape is much easier to use frequently with 6 regen
  • Ideally if you find a moonstone or moonruned item you only have to invest 3 points here, this is unlikely though
• 2 points Escape to increase stun duration so you can consistently maneuver behind enemies while rolling
  • Obviously this is so that you can make better use of bonus damage from Sneak Attack
  • Despite the tooltip, Escape only costs 3 spirit regardless of how many skill points you invest
• Remaining points Sneak Attack for additional damage
  • The more points in this, the faster the final fight against the four hero orcs will go
• Moderately difficult but very long and grindy run
  • Absolutely not recommended for inexperienced runners, this one will take patience
• Frodo starts out very weak relative to the other characters; equip a better weapon as soon as you find one
  • Don't expect to find much better than a Sword Rapier or Leaf Sword for the whole run
• As with the other characters, pump points into Accuracy at every level up
  • Frodo has the lowest base Accuracy of all characters, so this is especially important
• Buy whetstone upgrades early and prioritize skill points at shrines, you'll want to buy at least 2 over the run
• You'll want to reach level 10 at least by the end of the run, so stop to fight groups of enemies wherever convenient
  • Ignore single enemies that are out of your way or hero enemies if you're not doing much damage yet
  • Otherwise, kill everything in sight, you'll need the experience, and it will save more time later than it takes at the time
  • Reaching level 11 would be safer but will cost a bit of time, same with 12; beyond 12 would not be worth the time loss
  • Once you reach your desired level you can just roll through the remaining areas with Escape, avoiding enemies
• After Moria and the East Mountains, buy some Ent Water in Lothlorien if you haven't already found some
• Use Escape to roll past all of the uruk-hai in Amon Hen, fighting them at that point is not worth the risk
  • One crossbower will block you on the bridge back to the boats, you can use The One Ring to get past or kill him carefully
• Be very wary of crebain in the Dead Marshes, they're sitting in entire flocks
• By this point you should have your 6 points in Strength of the Shire and be investing 2 more into Escape
  • Use Escape to get behind tougher enemies like the orcs with spears and warg riders, then deal that Sneak Attack damage
• Ignore the green hero orcs with the spears throughout North and West Morder, they take forever to kill and it's not worth it
  • The exception of course being the final four that you have to fight but that should be obvious
• There are several forges along the way through North Morder, so get your +3 whetstone if you haven't already
• Save as many gems as you can for a shrine in the lower-left corner of the West Morder: Hills map
  • Make sure you've bought at least 2 skill points during the run and buy a third if desired
  • Spend remaining gems on as many attribute points as you can afford for extra Accuracy
  • Note that you should save 500 gems for another Ent Water if desired, there is an ent pool in the lower-left of the next map
• Try not to fight more than two of the green hero orcs at a time during the final fight
  • If you can make fighting all four of them at once work, power to you, but it probably won't save that much time if any
  • Fight two at a time by using Escape to roll behind them and attack with Sneak Attack damage until you miss a few times
  • They turn around and attack quickly so be ready to interrupt with another Escape and repeat the cycle
  • If you've invested enough points in Sneak Attack (at least 3) this shouldn't take long to kill them
  • Strength of the Shire at level 6 ensures you don't have to worry about running out of spirit or stopping to heal manually

Frodo Alternate Skill Build

1 point Rummage 3 to 5 points Escape Remaining points Sneak Attack

• 1 point Rummage to help with finding stronger items and as pre-requisite to Sneak Attack
• At least 3 points Escape, though without Strength of the Shire more points here are recommended
  • The more points you invest, the longer enemies will be stunned, the easier to get Sneak Attacks
• Remaining points Sneak Attack for consistent damage
  • This build relies on killing things very quickly and with minimal uses of Escape
• Try to use Escape only on large groups of enemies and hit as many of them as possible at once
• This is a much less safe way to run with Frodo but can pay off and be much faster if you don't die a lot