Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War - Every Legendary Set, Ranked

Legendary Sets are an interesting feature in Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War. These powerful artifacts grant a variety of perks, abilities, and special bonuses that are suited for a range of playstyles ensuring everyone can find something they like as Talion seeks vengeance for his family.

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But while each playstyle will determine what the best Legendary set is for that playthrough, some are inherently better than others on a general level. Whether it’s passive abilities that trigger without thought, massive damage bonuses, or the fact that some sets require pieces of others to even work, here are all of the Legendary Sets ranked in terms of usefulness.

Updated on November 26, 2024, by Jon Eakin: Shadow of War remains an excellent game even years after its release, calling fans back again and again thanks to the unique stories offered on each playthrough with the Nemesis system. To help you best battle your Uruk Nemesis, we've given this list an update, adding new features and information.

12 Feral

Go Wild

The Feral set is all about beast domination. A partial set will let you Shadow Mount unbroken Graugs and a full set allows Shadow Mounting of unbroken Drakes. For those who like to ride beasts this is very convenient, but that’s about it.

There are plenty of abilities that allow you to mount beasts already, many Captains have Beast-Slayer making them useless, and many boss fights don’t even give you access to beasts. The Feral set is fun, but not very useful.

Obtaining the Legendary Feral set requires you to go hunting for a number of Legendary Orcs in the Feral tribe:

Sword

Kill a Legendary Feral Slayer or Feral Destroyer.

Dagger

Kill a Legendary Feral Assassin or Feral Berserker.

Bow

Kill a Legendary Feral Marskman or Feral Tracker.

Armor

Kill a Legendary Feral Tank.

Cloak

Kill a Legendary Feral Beastmaster.

Rune

Kill a Legendary Feral Commander or Feral Trickster.

11 Outlaw

No Rules

The Outlaw set when partially worn grants a 25 percent chance to inflict Fire, Poison, Frost, or Curse on a hit. A full set will give the same ability to Followers but with a 20 percent chance.

This has some uses but causes as many problems as it solves. The Frost and Fire can cancel each other out, the elements don’t stack, and you risk enraging a Captain you’re trying to Dominate.

The Outlaw set can only be obtained by purchasing the Outlaw Tribe DLC. In addition to adding new content, it gives you the Legendary Outlaw set.

10 Machine

Feed The Machine

The Machine set allows you to summon Sappers and Iron Guards which will summon more Sappers. The full set will cause Elven Light to scatter explosives around Talion.

This is a very dangerous set for you to use, as the explosions can easily kill you if you aren’t careful. Having a few pieces of the Warmonger set will negate this, but by itself the Machine set is very risky.

The Machine set can only be obtained by killing certain members of the Machine clan of Orcs:

Sword

Kill a Legendary Machine Slayer or Machine Berserker.

Dagger

Kill a Legendary Machine Assassin or Machine Tracker.

Bow

Kill a Legendary Machine Marksman.

Armor

Kill a Legendary Machine Tank or Machine Destroyer.

Cloak

Kill a Legendary Machine Beastmaster or Machine Trickster.

Rune

Kill a Legendary Machine Commander.

9 Mystic

Channel Your Power

A partial Mystic set will cause Dominated Grunts to take 50 percent less damage. A full set will also give them Cursed weapons.

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This is very handy in battles like sieges with lots of Grunts running around and essentially lets you build a small army with damage reduction and strong weapons. This doesn’t offer any bonuses in 1v1 though which is why it doesn’t rank higher.

This Legendary set can be earned by killing various Mystic Orcs:

Sword

Kill a Legendary Mystic Slayer.

Dagger

Kill a Legendary Mystic Assassin or Mystic Berserker.

Bow

Kill a Legendary Mystic Marskman or Mystic Tracker.

Armor

Kill a Legendary Mystic Tank or Mystic Destroyer.

Cloak

Kill a Legendary Mystic Beastmaster.

Rune

Kill a Legendary Mystic Commander or Mystic Trickster.

8 Slaughter

It's In The Name

The Slaughter, when partially worn, will slowly drain the character’s health but increase your damage by 40 percent after a successful Drain or Dominate. A full set will give followers a 40 percent boost to damage and cause their health to steadily drop.

This set requires combat to end quickly or have a vampiric-type build to keep health topped off throughout the fight. This health loss also occurs outside of fights which can be annoying. Some of you will love this set, most will be annoyed by it.

The Slaughter Legendary set is obtained after purchasing the Slaughter Tribe Nemesis DLC.

7 Vendetta

Bear A Grudge

A partial Vendetta set causes you to consume 40 percent of your health in place of using Might. A full set will let you consume 25 percent of your health to perform ranged attacks if they’re out of arrows.

This is like the Slaughter set in that health is a resource that must be managed. Some will find the tradeoff worth it for free Might attacks, but many won't. Having arrows recover health and performing Drain Skills mitigate the health loss, but it’s still flirting with death, especially on higher difficulties.

The Vendetta set can only be obtained by going after Vendetta targets online in various ways:

Sword

Complete your first online Vendetta.

Dagger

Use a Stealth Attack against an online Vendetta target.

Bow

Get a Headshot against an online Vendetta target.

Armor

Kill an online Vendetta target while having more than 80 percent health.

Cloak

Use a Mounted Attack against an online Vendetta target.

Rune

Dominate an online Vendetta target.

6 Terror

Incite Fear

The Terror set when worn partially will let you insta-kill fleeing Grunts with Quick Throw. A full set will cause those kills to recover 100 health each time.

This is a very strong set that’s great at crowd control. You can send Grunts running, pick off a few, and wade into battle against the next batch. If you're clever, you can clear out an entire squad leaving the Captain by himself and ensuring they never receive backup.

In order to get the Legendary Terror set you will need to kill members of the Terror tribe:

Sword

Kill a Legendary Terror Slayer or Terror Destroyer.

Dagger

Kill a Legendary Terror Assassin.

Bow

Kill a Legendary Terror Marksman or Terror Tracker.

Armor

Kill a Legendary Terror Tank.

Cloak

Kill a Legendary Terror Beastmaster or Terror Berserker.

Rune

Kill a Legendary Terror Commander or Terror Trickster.

5 Warmonger

Fires Of War

A partial set of Warmonger will recover 50 health when killing an enemy on fire and a full set causes you to deliver a blast of flames periodically while on fire. Another perk of this armor is the health recovery that occurs while ablaze.

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With specific runes and clever use of exploding barrels, campfires, and other fire sources this can ensure you and your enemies are continually ablaze and health is almost constantly regenerating. This does require catching on fire which can be tricky in many fights, but it’s a powerful set when the flames start rising. For the best effect, combine this with a few pieces of Machine as the explosions from sappers cause you to burn.

To get the Warmonger set you will need to take down various Warmonger Tribe Orcs:

Sword

Kill a Legendary Warmonger Slayer.

Dagger

Kill a Legendary Warmonger Assassin or Warmonger Tracker.

Bow

Kill a Legendary Warmonger Marksman.

Armor

Kill a Legendary Warmonger Tank or Warmonger Destroyer.

Cloak

Kill a Legendary Warmonger Beastmaster or Warmonger Berserker.

Rune

Kill a Legendary Warmonger Commander or Warmonger Trickster.

4 Marauder

It's A Rich Orcs World

Two items from the Marauder set will cause a two percent increase in damage per Mirian picked for 20 seconds. Four items will cause those same Mirian coins to regenerate two health per coin.

This is by far the most powerful set when you down a treasure Olog with 1,000 coins as this gives a 2,000 percent increase to damage for 20 seconds. Aside from these rare moments you will enjoy steady damage boosts and heals as the set will also grant increased Mirian drops, with the added coin being a nice perk by itself.

To get the Marauder set you will need to take down various Marauder Orcs:

Sword

Kill a Legendary Marauder Slayer or Marauder Berserker.

Dagger

Kill a Legendary Marauder Assassin or Marauder Trickster.

Bow

Kill a Legendary Marauder Marksman.

Armor

Kill a Legendary Marauder Tank or Marauder Destroyer.

Cloak

Kill a Legendary Marauder Beastmaster or Marauder Trickster.

Rune

Kill a Legendary Marauder Commander.

3 Dark

Poison Power

A partial Dark set gives you one point of Might when the enemy takes damage from their poison. A full set causes all attacks to have a 15 percent chance to inflict explosive poison on grunts for group poisoning.

Basically load up on poison runes, stealth attack whenever possible, and when the enemy is poisoned, kite them letting the poison do its damage and letting Might build. Trigger Might for a brutal attack or stun with Elven Light, poison more enemies, and start the whole process over again.

There are different tasks that must be completed to obtain each piece of the set:

Sword

Kill a Legendary Dark Slayer or Dark Destroyer.

Dagger

Complete the Knife in the Dark mission.

Bow

Kill a Legendary Dark Marskman or Dark Tracker.

Armor

Kill a Legendary Dark Tank.

Cloak

Kill a Legendary Dark Beastmaster or Dark Berserker.

Rune

Kill a Legendary Dark Commander or Dark Trickster.