Mirkwood

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### Playable Heroes

Mouth of Sauron, Khamûl, Krimpûl the Torturer, Queen Saenathra, Cargást, Gwanthaur

"But everywhere he looked he saw the signs of war. The Misty Mountains were crawling like anthills: orcs were issuing out of a thousand holes. Under the boughs of Mirkwood there was deadly strife of Elves and Men and fell beasts. The land of the Beornings was aflame; a cloud was over Moria; smoke rose on the borders of Lórien."
—The Breaking of the Fellowship, The Fellowship of the Ring

While the Goblins of the Misty Mountains continued to assault Eriador, Sauron continued his attack on the east. He sent the armies of Dol Guldur north to battle with the forces of the Woodland Realm. Employing many fell creatures, this army fought the elves under the cover of the Mirkwood.

Mirkwood is the fifth mission of the Dominion of Sauron campaign. It is recommended that this is played as Dol Guldur.

## Guide

**New Objective - Advance to the Old Forest Road in the North.**

The player begins the mission with the Mouth of Sauron, Khamûl, Krimpûl the Torturer, Queen Saenathra and Cargást, along with a battalion of Orc Hunters and Orc Gaolers, as well as a Dol Guldur Fortress, Fount of Corruption and Guldur Gaol. They also have a pair of Tethered Shades. Take the first part of the mission slowly. Build up your army and build more economy structures as having a large amount of resources will be vital later in the mission. You can send your forces further north to destroy the Spider Lairs to earn resources and have more space for building construction. It is recommended that Ruinous Towers are built as well to reduce the cost of Tethered Shades. Once your forces approach the bridge further north, enemy Ents will appear on the far end to destroy the bridge.

**New Objective - Find another way across the river**

Once the bridge is destroyed, the player will be able to follow the river's edge further east. They will have to fight off Scouts of Nimrodel, Silvan Rangers, Sindar Pathstalkers and Greenwood Warriors in the process, although use of your heroes will make this far easier. Once at the far east, your army can enter the river and progress west to find the crossing point. While here, they will be bombarded by Ents and so must move quickly.

**New Objective - Find and destroy the Ent base**

Once on the far side of the river, progress east to find the Ent Moots. There are two on the lower path and another further north. Use your heroes and archers with fire arrows to defeat the Ents. Use any summons you may have from the spellbook and Krimpûl to distract the ents further. The player will need to use their Shades to continually build structures along the paths to halt the Slow Decay on your basic units. Krimpûl's Dungeon can also help with this as well. Dol Guldur has many ways of dealing heavy damage to structures through their units. When assaulting the northern Ent Moot, a small force of Greenwood Warriors and Guards of the Palace will arrive. These can be dealt with easily, but beware of sending mounted heroes and Saenathra into the pikes.

**Bonus Objective - Bring Saenathra to tame the spiderlings**

North of the crossing point, there are a pair of Spider Lairs. Send Saenathra to them to tame them. The player can use these lairs to recruit Spiderlings.

Use this brief respite to rebuild your forces and construct a forward base on the north side of the river. advancing north-east will reveal another Spider Lair to be destroyed as well as Mirkwood Archers.

**New Objective - Build up and defend Sentry Towers in the designated spots before the Elves do.**

**Bonus Objective - Find and destroy the Elven base**

This final objective will require a large push forward with your Tethered Shades. There are 4 locations along the road, and each one must have a Ruinous Tower built upon it by the end of the given time. This must be done before the elves can build their own towers on the locations. Use your army to push forward to attack their armies and structures while the Shades build the towers. Additional defensive structures may also be helpful to counter Slow Decay. There is an elven base in the north-east that must be destroyed to gain control over one of the locations. Radagast will also appear with his own reinforcements after more towers have been built. This region must be held for approximately two minutes before the mission is won.

The player can also attack the north-western elvish base for the bonus objective. This is heavily defended with Woodland Realm units as well as Feren and Thranduil. Use your heroes to deal with the enemy heroes. AOE abilities can be useful in clearing out the enemy forces such as Saenathra's Web of Lies. Ravagers can be used to deal heavy damage to structures (including the walls protecting the base). If all four towers have been built at their locations when the base is attacked, the player will also gain control of the Gwanthaur.