Isengard

* Castle
* Camp

"Beneath the mountain's arm within the Wizard's Vale through years uncounted had stood that ancient place that Men called Isengard. Partly it was shaped in the making of the mountains, but mighty works the Men of Westernesse had wrought there of old; and Saruman had dwelt there long and had not been idle.
This was its fashion, while Saruman was at his height, accounted by many the chief of Wizards. A great ring-wall of stone, like towering cliffs, stood out from the shelter of the mountain-side, from which it ran and then returned again."
—The Two Towers, "The Road to Isengard"

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**Isengard** is an industrial powerhouse that draws most of its strength in the late game. At first, you'll have little aside from scouts, wargs, and some Dunlendings for an army, but as time passes and you expand your economy and army, you unlock useful upgrades that augment your power on the map. At the beginning of the game, your priority is to protect your territory as much as you can with what little you have. Expansion and conquest comes later when you have more options of attack and access to your formidable siege weapons and fully-upgraded Uruks.

Isengard's fortress provides nothing but fences for defense, with eight build plots and defense plots. Its focus is on defense and economy in the early game, expansion and development mid-game, and aggressive destruction in the late game. Isengard has the greatest number of siege weapons for devastating enemy defenses, and their fully-upgraded Uruk-hai are among the most powerful late-game soldiers in all of Arda. Essentially, the longer that Isengard holds out in a battle, the stronger it becomes.

## Strategic Points

### Castle

Isengard castles have small walls, barely visible, with multiple entrances, and 8 build plots and defense plots which can be mounted with small towers. The central fortress can be enhanced with various upgrades boosting buildings or Saruman.

### Camp

The camp has no walls and only 6 build plots and defense plots, but the fortress can still be upgraded normally.

### Outpost

On the outpost Isengard can build a Steelworks to purchase advanced boosts to unit upgrades, receive a high production of resources, and to defend the area with two small arrow towers which come included. Isengard can also go with a regular outpost which allows it to build the various buildings from the castle and camp selection.

### Settlement

On the settlements Isengard can choose to build a mineshaft to produce resources, a Clan Steading to produce units from Isengard's sub-faction, Dunland: Wildmen, Wildmen Axe Throwers, and Wulfgar, or a lumber mill, lowering building cost and gathering wood resources through orc laborers.

## Heroes

### Bill Ferny

"Not all of those Southerners mean well; and as for Ferny, he would sell anything to anybody; or make mischief for amusement."
—Aragorn, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Strider"

**Bill Ferny** was a man of Bree and an agent of Saruman. He would do anything to gain a profit from a situation and sold information on the Hobbits to Saruman and the Nazgul.

In the **Edain Mod**, he wields his club and will sell his services to the player if they pay for it.

**Recruitment location:**  Citadel

### Wulfgar

"We will die for Saruman."
—Wulfgar

**Wulfgar** was a chieftain of the Dunlendings. He swore allegiance to Saruman and led raids on Rohan's villages in order to reclaim their old land.

In the **Edain Mod**, Wulfgar is trained from the Clan Steading, and he excels in combat when teamed up with groups of wildmen of Dunland.

**Recruitment location:**  Clan Steading

### Grima Wormtongue

"See, Théoden, here is a snake! With safety you cannot take it with you, nor can you leave it behind. To slay it would be just. But it was not always as it now is. Once it was a man, and did you service in its fashion."
—Gandalf, The Two Towers, "The King of the Golden Hall"

**Grima Wormtongue** was an advisor of King Theoden of Rohan who was later revealed to be an agent of Saruman. He worked as a spy in Edoras and tried to weaken Theoden and his kingdom. Following the ruin of Isengard, Grima killed Saruman with a dagger after his ill-treatment went too far.

In the **Edain Mod**, he wields the knife that can be seen in the movies and uses his abilities to weaken his enemies before he can kill them.

**Recruitment location:**  Citadel

### Sharku

"Send out your warg riders."
—Saruman

**Sharku** was a veteran orc who was in command of Saruman's warg riders. He led the attack on the Rohirrim who were retreating to Helm's Deep. During the battle, he had a short skirmish with Aragorn in which he was stabbed in the chest. He died while taunting Legolas and Gimli over Aragorn's fall off the cliff.

In the **Edain Mod**, Sharku is a crazy warg rider who excels in combat when paired up with other warg riders.

**Recruitment location:**  Warg Pit

### Uglúk

"We came out of Isengard, and led you here, and we shall lead you back by the way we choose. I am Uglúk. I have spoken."
—Uglúk, The Two Towers, "The Uruk-hai"

**Uglúk** was one of the strongest Uruk-Hai and was a commander of the Uruk scouts who kidnapped Merry and Pippin. He was loyal to Saruman and made sure that they only took the Hobbits to Isengard, not Mordor as Grishnákh demanded (and made sure Merry and Pippin weren't eaten either!). He was later killed by Eomer when the Uruks were ambushed near Fangorn Forest.

In the **Edain Mod**, Uglúk wields a blade with deadly accuracy and his uruk endurance can take many hits.

**Recruitment location:**  Uruk Pit

### Lurtz

"One of the Halflings carries something of great value. Bring them to me alive, and unspoiled. Kill the others!"
—Saruman

**Lurtz** was the first of the Uruk-Hai to be bred successfully and was smarter and stronger than most of the others. He led the Uruk scouts to attack the Fellowship at Amon Hen, where he killed Boromir with his bow. Lurtz then fought and was killed by Aragorn soon after.

In the **Edain Mod**, he is recruited on foot from the citadel and can switch between his bow to attack from far away and his sword if the enemy gets too close. He can use his abilities to slow and slay enemy heroes.

**Recruitment location:**  Uruk Pit

### Saruman

"I think that I now understand what he is up to. He is plotting to become a Power. He has a mind of metal and wheels; and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment. And now it is clear that he is a black traitor."
—Treebeard, The Two Towers, "Treebeard"

**Saruman** was the greatest of the Istari in Middle Earth and the chief of the White Council. His studies of the Rings of Power led to him desiring the One Ring for himself. He believed that he could work with Sauron and then betray him with the power of the Ring, causing him to ally Isengard with Mordor.

In the **Edain Mod**, Saruman is your main hero as well as Isengard's Ring Hero. He is a powerful wizard with an arsenal of magical abilities to support your main troops in the thick of battle. He wields his staff and knocks back enemy units.

**Recruitment location:**  Citadel

## External Buildplots

### Buildings

* 2 Mineshafts: -10%
* 3 Mineshafts: -15%
* 4 Mineshafts: -20%
* 5 Mineshafts: -25%
 Clan Steading  (C)
 Lumber Mill (Y)
 Steelworks  (Y)

## Spellbook

Isengard's spellbook is comprised of spells that are balanced between supporting your soldiers and strengthening your economy. Early on, you'll have few options except for spying and empowering your soldiers, but as the game progresses, your powers will cause your economic gains to skyrocket, building up your momentum in research and development. The two endgame spells are some of the most devastating--one against enemy armies, and the other against enemy structures.

**Due to recent changes by Fandom, the hover mechanics of the spellbooks no longer works. Below you can see how the spells are arranged in the game. To find more about each power scroll down to the tabber.**

**Tabber**

* Vision of the Palantir
* Tainted Land
* Industry
* Devastation
* Wizard Tower
* Fuel the Fires
* Saruman of Many Colors
* Freezing Rain
* Minions of the White Hand
* Isengard Unleashed
* Fires of Isengard

## Strategy

Isengard deviates from the other evil factions in that it values quality over quantity, with expertise in siege machines, unit upgrades, economics, and technology. Although Isengard's army isn't particularly flashy or diverse, it's already beefy Uruk-hai troopers can receive numerous upgrades to dominate the battlefield while the siege weapons handle foreign defenses. This all, of course, depends on Isengard's ability to bide its time, so as to generate resources, research improvements, and upgrade its units enough to overcome any challenge awaiting it.

At the beginning of the game, Isengard's soldiers are reasonably priced for their strength, with the Uruk Hunters and Dunlendings making ample troops for harassing enemies, capturing territory, and guarding from invasions. There's also the warg riders and some basic siege machines available to double down on harassing opponents and demolishing their early holdings. At this stage, the goal of Isengard is to explore and exploit resources—the lumber mills are a fantastic settlement building to jumpstart a strong economy, and the wildmen can pay for themselves by pillaging enemy structures.

Mid-game Isengard starts to flex its metal muscles after unlocking the Tier-2 units. With the introduction of the mighty fighting heavy Uruk-hai, Isengard's troops now can be produced in greater numbers than their hunters, and they boast strength enough to match or even overpower most soldiers. The ballista becomes available, a long-ranged siege machine with a fast rate of fire. Warg Riders can receive upgrades as well as the unique Blood Wargs upgrade to aid their survival. In fact, unit upgrades start to feature prominently across the board for Isengard, and with a little investment, the few but diverse and powerful hero units of Isengard can be recruited.

The late game is when Isengard shines the brightest, for after unlocking every upgrade and maximizing its industry, the Uruks can be produced quickly, upgraded cheaply, and given amazing attributes such as the Captain that'll instantly maximize their level, and the Shield Uruks that add even more protection to the soldiers behind them. Not to be outdone however, Isengard also has special technologies that even further improve the stat boosts of unit upgrades, while also having the mighty berserkers for mass slaughtering the enemy as infantry support, and the land mines which can spell doom to any fortification given a successful laying spree.

Like most evil factions, Isengard's defenses are weak and minimal, which demands an early focus on protecting the citadel with whatever is available. Isengard's ability to swarm enemies with wildmen is respectable but still pales in comparison to that of Mordor, Rohan, and Misty Mountains. In sharp contrast to their mighty warg riders, their foot soldiers are heavy and slow, requiring Lurtz or Ugluk's support to hasten their stride. Being more oriented towards technology and industry, Isengard lacks supernatural methods to warfare such as monsters and sorcerers, with Saruman being the only wizard in the entire military corps. While Isengard's siege machines are diverse, they're still rather ordinary, save for their explosive mines and mine berserkers who are either very slow or very fragile respectively, and expensive on both accounts.

Isengard's ring hero, Saruman, is a fantastic addition to their standing army. As the sole mass-slayer of their line of heroes, he has a variety of abilities to aid on the field so long as he's surrounded by his uruks. He is, however, appallingly weak to cavalry, archers, cavalry archers, and hero-killers. If garrisoned in the citadel, he has some better protection and can still use some of his powers, but he'll be rooted in place, unable to lend more support outside the citadel picket fences. When it comes to hunting the ring, Isengard has some advantages in their warg riders, uruk hunters, Lurtz, power summons, and the occasional palantir spell or crebain ability. But all of these things come with time, and expenses can add up rapidly, especially if the warg riders get intercepted on their way to squish Gollum.