The Lord of the Rings™: The Third Age™ is not an easy game. Some may be lulled by its turn-based fighting system into thinking that they'll come up against a lot of fodder—like in most turn-based roleplaying games (RPGs)—gaining buckets of experience along the way. Instead though, the "fodder" battles are intense bits of combat that will test your strategic mettle far beyond what you might have originally envisioned. The difficulty of these smaller skirmishes does not bode well for the few times you come up against a legitimate boss battle, however. With this in mind, we've fought our way (desperately, at times) through the first two substantial boss encounters, and now that I've settled down with a hot buttered beverage to steady my nerves, I can relay a bit of wisdom from those encounters.
So … Many … Tentacles As you may recall from The Fellowship of the Ring movie, Frodo and companions find themselves in a bit of a scuffle with an ancient water beast sporting mass-tentacles and a poor disposition. You may also recall that they fled into Moria rather than tangle with it head on. A smart decision, no doubt. Unfortunately, you do not have the same luxury in The Third Age. The entrance to Moria has been blocked off, and The Watcher (that's what our man Gandalf calls it) is already in a great state of agitation when you arrive.
This could be troublesome.
At the time you encounter The Watcher, you should have Berethor the Gondorian warrior, Idrial the elf, Elegost the Ranger, and Hadhod the dwarf in your party. Chances are you're going to need all of them to defeat this thing, and you'll to do it in a very specific way. Here are a few notes:
1.Elegost is the only one in the party that can certainly do damage to The Watcher, as he's the only one with a ranged attack, and the cowardly beast hangs out in the water. 2.If you have been using Idrial's special abilities enough, you should have access to the Loudwater Fury spell. This can also damage The Watcher. 3.With Elegost (and possibly Idrial) as the only characters that can harm The Watcher, you'll need to use both Hadhod and Berethor as "meat shields," meaning you'll need them to take the bulk of the damage. Luckily, both characters have the ability to Taunt the enemy, causing The Watcher to only attack them. 4.Use Elegost as your primary attacker and use Idrial to heal either Hadhod or Berethor as they need it. You should be able to sneak in a Loudwater Fury attack now and then, too. 5.Don't forget about Perfect Mode either. This battle is a long one, and you should be able to rack up a Perfect Mode attack with each character. (I recommend the Helms Deep Volley attack.)
Meet your marksman.
Shadow and Flame and Holy Crap That Hurt! If you thought The Watcher was trying, wait until you get to the bridge of Kazad Dum. There you'll find Gandalf and the ancient evil of demon-kind that is the Balrog. After a few bouts with cave trolls, you'll find yourself a part of a slightly tweaked version of the story, where you will actually help Gandalf do battle with the fiery monstrosity. The Grey Pilgrim even joins your party, where you'll have full control over his actions. Like The Watcher, there are a few things to bear in mind while doing battle with the Balrog:
1.Only spells will do damage against the Balrog. Weapons are useless, so chances are only Idrial and Gandalf will be able to effectively deal damage. Even Perfect Mode attacks won't work. 2.Use Idrial and her Loudwater Fury spell as the primary attack against the Balrog. 3.Alternate between Gandalf's Wizard Drain and Bolt of the Valar spells. Wizard Drain will steal a big chunk of the Balrog's action points, causing him to use more of his basic attacks. The Bolt of Valar will deal a bit of damage. 4.Note that Gandalf is not Gandalf the White here, and as such, he is not super-powerful. You must protect him at all times. Hopefully, you'll have saved a couple Form Elf Medicines to revive him if he gets knocked out of commission. Also, he has very limited Action points, so you'll need to have someone (probably Berethor or Hadhod) burn a potion on Gandalf to restore his Action points from time to time. 5.Besides Gandalf and Idrial, you'll have two slots available for fighting, which means one of the party is left out. I recommend leaving out Elegost, so you can Taunt with Berethor and Hadhod. That way, when you're Taunting with Hadhod, you can use Berethor's Leadership abilities to pump up your party's stats. 6.You may want to bring in Elegost for at least one round of action, though, so he'll get full experience for the fight.
That about covers the first two boss fights in The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Keep in mind that these are just the first two big battles. I can't wait to see what is in store later …
