Domination is an ability within Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War.
It allows Talion to control the minds of Uruks, Ologs, and various other creatures, such as Caragors, Graugs, and Drakes, through Celebrimbor, forcing them to obey his commands.
Description
Talion can dominate any Uruk by grabbing them, and pressing Action ( X; A). He can then either gather intel from their minds, or kill them instantly.
For Caragors and Graug, Talion must endure a single or multiple-stage quick-time event to bend their minds to his will, effectively becoming his obedient servant. In Shadow of War there is no quick-time event for any of the beasts.
Options
In Shadow of Mordor, when an Uruk or Olog is dominated by Talion, the player is given four choices:
- Command: Do missions from within the Nemesis hierarchy with the dominated captain, examples include killing off other Nemeses in duels, hunting beasts to increase standing in Uruk society, etc.
- Kill: Kill the dominated Nemesis.
- Death Threat: Used to threaten the Captains into bolstering their defences. While the fight against the Captains will be considerably more difficult, the reward will include an epic rune.
- Dismiss: Dismissing an Uruk can provide a strong tactical advantage. A branded Uruk will stay under Talion's control, and remain in the general area he's currently defending. A dismissed Uruks in an area can be called in as reinforcements. There's a chance that, as Uruk Captains kill each other and die, a marked Uruk will make their way up the ranks.
In Shadow of War these options differ slightly:
- When a Captain is initially dominated, the player is presented with three choices:
- Shame - Reduce Level: This reduces the Captain's level and removes them from the area, allowing them to be encountered later. Important notes: When shaming a captain, there is a chance that the captain will become either deranged(high chance) or a maniac(low chance). While both of them will have their mind destroyed by the shame, a Maniac will become stronger from it, where as a deranged uruk will become even weaker. If the uruk or olog is shoved backwards rather than to the side, they have gone insane. Once they've gone insane, their personality will change permamently and the blood brother to them(if they have one) will betray you if you have the certain individual recruited. The shame option will have the option to be upgraded by the "Worse Than Death" perk after Brûz has been shamed. "Worse Than Death" essentially upgrades all the qualities of shaming a Captain. Levels reduced are increased from 5 to 12, more weaknesses are added and more strengths are removed, and there is more chance that the affected Captain will become deranged or a maniac.
- Fight to the Death: The enemy is released and continues to fight Talion.
- Recruit: Only Captains with an equal or lower level than Talion can be recruited, and some Captains have an Iron Will and will resist regardless, but shaming them will have a chance of removing it.
- After a Captain has been recruited, four different options are presented:
- Retreat: Remove the Captain from the area.
- Shun - Banish from Army: The Captain will become an enemy again.
- Stay and Fight for Me: The Uruk will stay in the area as an ally.
- Command: Similar to the previous game. You can command the Captain to attack other Captains, spy on Warchiefs, fight in the pits, become your bodyguard, or assist/hinder other active Nemesis missions.
Other abilities
- Dominating a Caragor will allow Talion to ride upon its back and command it to attack.
- Talion also has the option to dominate large Graugs. Under his control, he can command them to attack enemies.
- In Shadow of War Talion can also dominate and ride Drakes.