Khamûl (Adventure: Rhûn)

* Portrait
* In Game

"Once a great king of the Eastern Wastes, Khamûl was ensnared by Sauron through one of his Great Rings. For many long centuries Khamûl has served, performing acts of great cruelty and terror with solemn dedication to his master."
—Age of the Ring team

**Khamûl** was once a King of Rhûn, the land of the Easterlings. Receiving a Ring of Power from Sauron, he was twisted by its corruptive nature into becoming but another servant of the darkness.

Attracted by the presence of the Necromancer - one of Sauron's guises - in the Third Age, he rose at the Dark Lord's side as the second most powerful of the Nazgûl and the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur, maintaining command of the fortress after Sauron's escape from the White Council. During the War of the Ring, Khamûl went to the Shire in pursuit of the current Ring-bearer, Frodo Baggins, and came close to catching him in his clutches. In the aftermath of the Witch-king's demise, Khamûl assumed his position as Lord of the Nazgûl and participated in the Battle at the Morannon, which saw the destruction of the One Ring and with it the downfall of Sauron and the remaining wraiths.

While Khamûl is typically a hero for the Dol Guldur faction of the Age of the Ring mod in standard play, he is also a recruitable hero for the Adventure: Rhûn subfaction of Mordor. Unlike his Dol Guldur counterpart, he appears in full battle regalia complete with a horned helm and war mace. He is recruitable from the Rhûn Fortress.

*For his Dol Guldur variant in standard play, see the Khamûl page.*

## Abilities

**The Nine Are Abroad** - As more Nazgûl gather, their strength grows +10% damage and +10% armour per every Ringwraith nearby. Passive ability.

Requires Level 2. Modifier Type: Passive Debuff. Nearby enemy units suffer -25% damage and -20% armour. Passive ability.

**Spectre's Jaunt (R)** - Khamûl teleports to target area and causes enemy units to flee in terror. Left click icon then left click on target area.

**Level 3: The Shadow of the East (T)** - Modifier Type: Leadership. Nearby friendly units gain +33% damage. Passive ability.

When activated, Khamûl slams his war mace into the ground, damaging and knocking back all enemies in a line. Left click then left click on target.

**Level 5: Fell Ward (C)** - Enemy units nearby Khamûl suffer damage over time. Passive ability.

When activated, places a Rune Circle around Khamûl, Friendly units within the Rune Circle gain +75% armour to Ranged, Fire, Frost and Magic damage for 60 seconds. Left click icon then left click on pathable location.

**Level 8: The Black Easterling (V)** - Modifier Type: Spell. Khamûl and nearby friendly units gain +75% damage and +20% speed but lose -25% armour and gain no experience for 20 seconds. Also summons four Accursed Guards. Left click to activate.

## Strategy

While Rhûn's version of Khamûl has some similarities compared to his Dol Guldur counterpart, mainly with regards to his skills, he also functions differently in many ways. He no longer has a mount or an ability to trample. To make up for this, he is much more capable in direct combat, being more durable and also having a basic AOE attack to deal with spam hordes. Khamûl can simultaneously debuff enemies' damage and armour with **The Nine Are Abroad** and buff his allies' damage with **The Shadow of the East,** giving them the edge in combat just with his very presence. **Spectre's Jaunt** is an improved version of **Screech** that also gives Khamûl some additional mobility, allowing him to teleport to an area before sending enemies fleeing in terror. It can also be used to help Khamûl escape if he is at risk of being killed. The active component of **The Shadow of the East** helps Khamûl deal with enemy armies even more, allowing him to slam his mace down and disrupt enemies in front of him even further with the knockback. **Fell Ward** functions identically to his Dol Guldur counterpart's, causing damage over time to nearby enemies and creating a rune circle that can help Rhûn fight against certain foes. **The Black Easterling** also functions identically to his Dol Guldur counterpart's, allowing him to heavily increase the offensive potential of his army and summon four elite Accursed Guards at the cost of decreasing armour and negating experience gain. However, Rhûn has many tools to work around the downsides of this ability including multiple spellbook skills, Vâh-rús' **Rân's Authority** (for armour-boosting leadership)**,** and Khren-ták's **Strength's Reward** (which manually increases EXP)**,** which should be utilized alongside Khamûl to minimize the downsides of **The Black Easterling.**