Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, developed by Monolith Productions, has proven to be one of the biggest games released this year. Though Shadow of War has come under intense criticism for including microtransactions in the game, fans still love it for its story, for the abundance of action, and adventure, and for the sheer number of things you can do in the game. The open world which is said to “truly capture the epic scale of Lord of the Rings” has received a lot of praise and so has the inclusion of online gameplay modꦺes.

In Shadow of War, the player plays as Talion, a ranger who sಞhares his body with the spirit of the elf lord Celebrimbor. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds but you deal with all that in the previous game. All you need to know is that Celebrimbor is the creator of the rings of power and he, along with Talion, are trying to forge a new ring of power to amass an army and f🐬ight Sauron.

During the game, predictably, you have to fight a lot of people. Having the perfect items will be the key factor in deciding how well you do in the game. Shadow of War contains so many things you can unlock and equip that it can be overwhelming at first to beginners. This is why we have created this list of the 8 best and 7 worst items in Shadow of War.

15 Best: ♓Vendetta Dagger 𒉰

Vendettas are great, but vendetta armour is even better. Achieve your sweet revenge with a Vendetta Dagger. This is preferable to the Vendetta Bow, which isn't ideal. The Vendetta sword is also a decent choice, but there’s something sinister (and wildlꦇy powerful) about wielding a dagger. Plus it just seems like the obvious weapon of choice when you’re completing a vend൲etta quest — or is that just me? To achieve this sick weapon, use a stealth attack against an Online Vendetta target. Has there ever been a better reward for meeting your target? If you get equipped with two pieces of Vendetta Armour, you can perform attacks —which require Might— by consuming 40% of your maximum health instead. Got four pieces? Then, if you have no elf-shot, you can achieve Ranged Attacks by using up only 25% of your max health. Who’s up for some sweet revenge?

14 Worst: Detonate (Ranged Skill) 𒊎

Believe me, I love blowing things up in video games as much as the next guy (or gal, for that matter)🐻. But there’s something about the Detonate Skill that doesn’t satisfy players. With the skill, you can cause chaos from far away, which sounds like a promising prospect. You’ll be able to unleash a fiery explosion, a small group of spiders, or even a bunch of ghouls on your enemies as they wait unprepared. While it’s cool to watch once or twice, this skill becomes boring since you’re not really there in the thick of the fight. And where’s the fun in that? However, this skill does get bonus points for its upgrades. With Poison Tendril, you can poison a grog barrel, which will hurt any orc that drinks out of it. You can also use Shadow Strike to attack enemies farther away with a single flash. But are these enough to redeem this skill? Not even close.

13 Best: 🔯Treasure Hunter ജ

Who wants to find some treasure? The answer to your questions should be a definite ‘yes’ because the Treasure Hunter skill is something you want on your side as soon as possible. This ability might only be achievable when you reach the end of the Wraith skill tree, but it’s something important to do when you’re beginning the game (trust me, you’ll thank us later). If you lack this skill, you’ll have to manually push a button in order to collect loot from your fallen victims. But, once you’ve got it, you’re a certified treasure hunter- aka. Yo🌞u can just walk over y🗹our enemies to collect their spoils. We kind of wish this was a feature of the game in general, but nothing good ever came from not working hard. Don’t go at the game without this skill!

12 Worst: ♓Mystic Bow 𓄧

I had high hopes that the mystic armor would be, well, mystical. But there’s something about it that falls short. Clearly, I’m no fan of any of the weapons that fall under this armor set. But the worst of the worst has to be the mystic bow. It promises to be mythical and deadly, but it doesn’t feel much different than a regular bow and arrow. And that’s a heck of a lot more boring than a sword or dagger. To get the bow, you must kill a Legendary Mystic Marksman or a Mystic Tracker. But perhaps the bonuses will make you feel this bow is worth its while. For two pieces, dominated grunts will take up 50🅷% less damage, whereas acquiring four pieces allows dominated grunts to gain Cursed weapons.

11 ൩ Best: Bright Lord Cloak

Treat yo’self to a cloak! Seriously though, the bright Lord Cloak is a good piece to have. If you’re going to get yourself any cloak, we suggest this one, though we’re not just saying that because it looks stylish. This weapon is also pretty practical in battle and to avoid your enemies, which sounds pretty appealing. To be honest, all of the items in the Bright Lord Armor set are pret🐲ty impressive. Honourable mentions include the ringcraft and sword. You might as well pick up a few of these items if you can, especially because they offer cool bonus presents for collecting more. If you get equipped with two pieces, you’ll gain Wrath 50% faster, though Elven Rage will only last half as long. But if you get four pieces then it will replenish all of your Elf-shot, while🐎 still killing your enemy during Elven Rage. Pretty sick, right?

10 ✱ Worst: Feral Armor

Feral, sounds good right? We all know that feral animals can be pretty vicious if you cross paths with them, so it makes sense that this would be an epic name for an Armor. But the Feral Armor seriously missed the mark, which is why we declare this is a ‘pass’ if we ever did see one. You can earn Feral Armor when you kill a legendary Feral Tank. The whole idea seems pretty bad ass, but it won’t be as special when you complete the task during the mission. And, to be honest, even achieving multiple Feral items isn’t worth your time. If you acquire two pieces, it will allow you to Shadow 𒊎Mount unbroken Graugs. If you get four pieces, then you can Shadow Mount four pieces. But, when you think about it, will this really help you succeed in the game?

9 ⛄ Best: Machine Sword ♔

Rage against the machine… or, should we say rage with the machine if you take a Machine Sword into battle! There are a lot of greatswords in the game, so we h🐭ad a hard time choosing just one to say is our number one. But there’s something about the machine sword that combines efficiency with bloodshed without losing its chicness. Seriously, every player will experience some sort of new thrill when using this weapon in the game for the first time. And if you say you didn’t, then w🔯e know you’re lying! The Machine Armor itself isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but they’re not completely worthless weapons to have in your stash. They actually come with some pretty cool bonuses. If you’re holding two of the pieces, then Call Followers will summon Sappers, while Iron Guard will summon even more Sappers. That’s a lot of Sappers! But if you have four pieces, then Elven light will scatter explosives around you. It’s as cool as it sounds.

8 Worst: Dragon 🍎Rider

There’s a part of everyone that wishes we could ride a dragon, but unfortunately we weren’t all born to be Daenerys Targaryen. The Dragon Rider skill sounds sickℱ on paper, yet it’s not the best skill to achieve in the game. Honestly, you could spend your time better in my opinion (unless you’re a hard-core dragon fan, then all the power to you). In some ways, achieving Dragon Rider is necessary because Drakes are almost fatal during battle. When you get one of these guys on yꦍour side, it will make for a pretty strong team. Seriously, their fatal breath is a killer for even larger enemies. But it’s important to invest your time wisely, so only chase this skill if you think you’ll be riding dragons a lot. It might be a valuable source of transportation, but is it a valuable source of your time?

7 Best: Hammer Of Eregion ⛦

We know that you need to get to level 17 to get this skill, but it is well, well worth it. This upgrade skill (for the story chain’s Shadow Strider) is definitely one of the most helpful skills in the game, so it’s a total must. Many players complain that most of the abilities are linked to something consumable, mostly your health, which is a big price to pay. But the same can’t be said for the Hammer of Eregion. It will allow you t💟o freeze your enemies as often as you want. Beware that some Captains might try to knock you back in return if you try to vault over them. But with this ability, you can freeze them and then show them who’s boss with a jaw-dropping combo attack. Look aไt you go!

6 Worst: Marauder Dagger 🎃

To be fair, there’s nothing explicitly wrong with the Marauder Dagger. But, then again, there’s nothing extra special about it, as well. There are some items and weapons in this game that ar๊e a complete A-plus. When you achieve them, you feel a sense of accomplishment (even if you looked up cheat codes). But the prize really has to be worth the fight, and in this case, it isn’t. Think about it: a person who marauds is a raider, but there’s nothing particularly jaw-dropping about that, is there? And the same can be applied to the dagger. You must kill a Legendary Marauder Assassin or Marauder Tracker to achieve the dagger, but unfortunately, that’s more thrilling than the actual weapon itself. If you geไt two Marauder weapons, your bonus will be that picking up Mirian can increase your damage by 2% per Mirian gained for 20 seconds. Big whoop.