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Master of the Wilds achievement in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Game of the Year Edition

Master of the Wilds

Complete all Hunting Challenges.

Master of the Wilds0
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How to unlock the Master of the Wilds achievement

  • MattricusMattricus
    06 Jul 2015 06 Jul 2015 30 Dec 2020
    In this solution, I will describe where you can locate the creatures needed for the challenge. I will give you my method to killing the creature, but how you kill the creature is completely up to you.

    A general tip for finding any creature is to enter the wraith world (press cn_LB) as all living beings then show up bright blue against the dark background; this will make picking them out easier.

    If you have forgotten what any of the creatures look like, take a look in your pause menu where you will find a section of unlocked creature/people/lore references.

    Note: may contain minor spoilers as I reference missions and locations.

    Hunting Challenge 1: Kill 3 Ungol Spiders
    Spiders can be seen commonly roaming around Mordor. Unlike other games, the spiders in this game are tiny (no giant spiders thankfully!) so make sure you are looking on the ground. Simply take your sword and kill 3 of them. I found three literally below the forge tower in the Udun Foothills (the one where you started the game).

    Hunting Challenge 2: Kill 5 Flying Creatures
    You will have to use your bow for this one. I achieved this by going to the forge tower in the Udun Foothills and trying to shoot the birds flying around the tower. If you run out of arrows, you can fast travel to the tower you are on again to find yourself completely restocked and the birds re-spawned - simples!

    Hunting Challenge 3: Kill 3 Caragors
    Caragors are a bit harder to kill as they may kill you first. The easiest way I find to kill Caragors is to fully charge an arrow from a distance right to the head. Another simple solution is to mount + tame them (when you have unlocked this ability) as you can then kill them instantly with cn_RT + cn_B. You can find Caragors either roaming the wilds OR caged around strongholds. Caragors appear on your map as a small claw icon. Be wary as they often travel in packs.

    Hunting Challenge 4: Kill 4 Mordor Rats
    Mordor rats are small, making them tricky to spot, which is the only issue with this challenge. There is an abundance of them in The Black Gate zone to the north of the first map.

    Hunting Challenge 5: Kill 8 Ghuls
    Ghuls are not difficult to beat and normally die after 1 slash of the sword. Ghuls are only found in caves or roaming the wilderness at NIGHTTIME. Advance time at a forge tower and then look inside any of the caves that are off the sides of the map; you will more than likely find some there. They are scripted to appear in the following missions:
    - Shattered Memories (main mission)
    - Nameless Things (bow legend mission)

    Hunting Challenge 6: Kill 3 Morgul bats
    Bats can only be found hanging at cave entrances on either map. Simply find a cave and use your wraith ability to see them hanging at the entrance.

    Hunting Challenge 7: Kill a Graug
    Graugs are slightly tougher. You will need to sneak attack their ankle to hurt them to the point where you can try to kill them; they are incredibly tough enemies. I found it easiest to wait until Torvin's second mission called "Hunting Partners" as there is a scripted tutorial here on how to kill a Graug - killing the one on this mission will count! If you have already completed this mission, you will need to find one roaming the wilderness or squatting in a cave. They appear on your map as a large claw icon (the same as Caragors but the icon is much larger).

    Hunting Challenge 8: Kill a Dire Caragor
    Dire Caragors are larger than standard Caragors. They appear visibly whiter and seem to have more spikes. They can be mounted + tamed and killed in the same way a standard Caragor. They seem to commonly appear in packs in the Celon Poros marshland (which is north of the tower in Tirith Mesas, on the west side of The Sea of Nurn map). I suggest that you try looking for packs during the day so that they are easier to pick out. Below is a screenshot of a tamed one so you can see how they appear visibly.
    External image


    Hunting Challenge 9: Kill a Ghul Matron
    Ghul Matrons can be very tough enemies because they are very quick. They can also be a right pain to find. The best way I have found to kill them is to make use of the Lethal Shadow Strike upgrade (cn_LT + cn_X) as this kills them instantly. If you do not have that, remember that they are very easily damaged by fire and explosions.

    To find them is a completely different story. If you want to find them in the wild outside of a mission, the easiest way is to look AT NIGHT for regular Ghuls (they appear often in caves, but see the tips below for locations found by players). When you start slashing regular Ghuls you will notice they occasionally retreat back into the ground - let them run - after about 3 retreats the matron(s) will appear. There is also a scripted appearance in the following missions:
    - Nameless Things (sword legend mission - Thanks to BlackBrian7 for correcting this)
    - The Messenger (main mission)

    sm4k - "I had a hell of a time finding a Ghul Matron, but the caves worked once I learned they only come out at night (so advance time at a tower if it's day)."

    gazhibs - "Ghul matron, i didnt get it in a cave. Had some ghuls spawned in Celon Poros, near the cave, but by the ruins, and then made them retreat and eventually a matron popped up."

    JackTheCreeper - "I found some Ghuls spawn directly outside of a cave near the Northwest Tower located in Barrows of Udun to help with the Ghul Matron on Challenge 9, it was nighttime too."

    Hunting Challenge 10: Kill a Horned Graug
    The easiest way to complete this challenge is to complete Torvin's mission "The Great White Graug". This is a scripted appearance for this very powerful enemy. If you have already completed this mission, they occasionally appear roaming the wilderness around The Sea of Nurn map.

    Tucker42006 - "If you are having trouble finding a horned graug after the scripted fight try looking in the small cave just north of the south-western most tower in the Sea of Nurn. I found one there at night."

    HolyHalfDead - "To add, that after you find a Horned Graug, you need to kill them. By far the easiest way of doing this is Shadow Mount (hold cn_LT and press cn_A) then Dispatch (press cn_down)."

    Many other players have contributed useful tips to the comments. If you are struggling to find any particular enemy why not take a look at some alternative locations suggested below.
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    HolyHalfDeadTo add, that after you find a Horned Graug, you need to kill them. By far the easiest way of doing this is Shadow Mount (hold cn_LT and press cn_A) then Dispatch (press cn_down).
    Posted by HolyHalfDead on 23 Aug 17 at 08:04
    DropDeadArtemusI can confirm what Barrwg posted about hard resetting if your progress in the achievement tracker hangs. Mine stuck at 90% after killing the horned graug. Hard reset my console and the achievement popped as soon as I relaunched the game.
    Posted by DropDeadArtemus on 02 Oct 17 at 07:53
    SweetArkhaneI just had the achievement by shadow mounting then killing an ordinary Graug^^
    Posted by SweetArkhane on 18 Nov 17 at 16:16
    Warboy925I noticed my comment wasn't added.......if you look at the comment from someone else, obviously, it helped someone....
    Posted by Warboy925 on 19 Nov 17 at 02:07
    Mattricus@Warboy925. You posted something that you got from TrueTrophies. As far as I'm aware TrueAchievements policy is that solutions must be unique and not use other people's work. Therefore based on my interpretation of the policy, I cannot add it to this solution. But of course, anyone reading the comments may find it useful, so many thanks for sharing.
    Posted by Mattricus on 19 Nov 17 at 12:36
    Sazaq213hi for the challenge 7 & 8 it's really easy, you just need to have the skill "spectral overlap"

    (my game isn't in english so i guess its the name of this skill, it's the skill where when you use the bow and when you aim a caragor , when you do LT + A you jump on the back of the caragor and you control the caragor)

    after that hold down the RT key and press B.

    It work with the dire caragor and the graug smile
    Posted by Sazaq213 on 03 Nov 20 at 22:50
    CRT JEDIMARKAll these useless comments. Just use shadow mount on the horned graug located in the small cave north of Celon Poros. Then press RT + kill mount button.
    Posted by CRT JEDIMARK on 29 Nov 20 at 12:32
    Bastian ReaderThe bow challenge, there is no escape, spawns a Graug (for hunting challenge 7).
    Posted by Bastian Reader on 15 Dec 20 at 04:52
    Bastian ReaderBetween Barrow Of Udun and Udun Foothills I found a Dire Cargor, Ghul Matron, and Horned Graug all at the same time.
    Posted by Bastian Reader on 14 May 21 at 02:50
    dazza61Just crediting gazhibs Celon Poros location: After a few ghuls showed up, then some orcs - a huge battle took place where 3 matrons showed up - then I used the other comments on here to find horned Graug in the cave (north of Celon Poros) to complete this achievement. Thanks to Mattricus for posting (albeit I'm 5yrs late lol).
    Posted by dazza61 on 04 Oct 22 at 03:57
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