Shadow of War - The Bright Lord: How to complete the final mission and defeat Sauron
How to complete the game's final mission.
The Bright Lord is the final mission in Middle-earth: Shadow of War, and contains a final boss encounter with Sauron.
To unlock it, make sure you complete all other Eltariel quests - including Gravewalkers, The Ritual, Reversal of Fortune.
If you are interested in completing other missions in the game, our Shadow of War guide and walkthrough can help.
The Bright Lord
Important: This is the final story mission, and once you've started it there's no turning back - you can't even abandon it if you die, and your only option is to restart.
Once it's over you will be able to wander the world but it's changed forever so we'd suggest finishing all the main quest groups first - depending on the events that follow some of them may no longer be completable.
(Fortress Sieges, Nemesis Missions, and all the Collectibles remain unaffected, so you can safely leave those for now.)
Prerequisite: Complete all previous Eltariel quests, capture all fortresses. Reward: 29320 XP, 1130 Mirian
Defeat Sauron's Army: Fight your way across the bridge. You'll encounter hundreds of Orcs of all shapes and sizes, a wide range of Captains (including a few of your nemeses), and it'll be mayhem.
Try and keep your own squad alive if you can as they can be a huge help, particularly in the next phase.
Defeat Isildur: The onslaught continues, but you've now got a Nazgûl to deal with. On his own he's not too tough an opponent, so the more of your companions that remain the easier it is as it reduces the number of other enemies you need to worry about.
Focus on your main target, and only attack the accompanying Orcs if they pose a direct threat to you.
Capture Minas Morgol: Standard Siege procedure. You haven't got an Army to help you this time, but by the same token the fortress is less well defended.
Defeat the Witch-king: This consists of two phases.
A fairly standard Nazgûl fight - dodge the attacks, Stun when prompted. We'd suggest not trying to get in any additional hits here though - only attack after a successful Stun.
Same as above, but additional Nazgûl will surround the area. As soon as you see multiple Dodge prompts appear, Dodge! It doesn't matter in which direction, as long as you're rolling you're safe.
Need more help? Our Shadow of War guide and walkthrough gives you an overview of everything you need, but if you need something in particular, we have pages on Shadow of War Fortress Sieges, how to earn Mirian in Shadow of War, a guide for how to import your Nemesis and Follower to Shadow of War, collectibles guides like how to get all Shadow of War Legendary Armour and Weapons sets, a list of Lost Artifacts and Web of Fate locations, and Ithildin Door poem solutions and Shadows of the Past, along with how to grind XP in Shadow of War to power through the tricky Shadow Wars endgame and get the true ending. Finally, there's Shadow of War's army building explained and the best skills and how to earn Skill Points.
Defeat Sauron: This fight also has two phases. (You're now playing as Celebrimbor but you have the same moves available so the change is largely cosmetic.)
The first phase is broadly similar to a Nazgûl battle, the main change being that Sauron has a fire attack that sends rings of flame spreading across the ground.
Timing your dodge to avoid being scorched is tricky - it's only the outside of it that's dangerous, and you need to leap a lot earlier than you think.
The second phase changes things up. He's abandoned the flaming rings and now drops fireballs from above that you'll need to dodge - if you find yourself standing in a big orange circle, move - and your main window of attack is immediately after he does his two-handed overhead attack.
When the dodge prompt appears roll towards him to one side, then turn and get in a few slashes with your sword before dodging away.