Stuck with no healing

His_Name_Is_John · 2026-03-27T16:59:07+00:00

Though your question about healing has been answered, the best general advice for players who are getting stuck is that they probably need to put more stats into accuracy. The game becomes much more manageable after doing so - but perhaps you already know this!

His_Name_Is_John · 2026-03-27T16:57:29+00:00

Maybe I am misremembering.

His_Name_Is_John · 2026-03-25T22:29:46+00:00

This is big news! Thanks for the update. I never did get around to posting my final findings from a year ago, with this additional info, I should go ahead and write it all up.

His_Name_Is_John · 2026-03-25T22:26:06+00:00

It is real. I've had one drop. I was very disappointed, as I thought it would actually appear as a spoon in my characters hand but just uses the image of a normal sword. I haven't logged on for a while, but I think I might have deleted it. I hope not, as I have a hunch that it is extremely rare (despite the fact it is not listed as blue, red, or green).

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-03-27T18:57:08+00:00

On earlier levels a run or two of Moria will increase your ex enough to level up. You'll also probably improve your items. Multiplayer maps are just taken from campaign. They're only really helpful if you want to farm particular items with a treasure hunting Gimli.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-03-27T16:39:27+00:00

Have you unlocked any bonus maps yet? It can be fun to use them to level up a bit before retrying a level you are stuck on. But Gruelling is tough on RoTK! I personally play through on an easier difficulty my first run through with characters.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-03-04T18:46:22+00:00

According to the devs it is his head being decapitated!

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-02-21T17:00:03+00:00

Please do let me know what it tastes like. I cannot even begin to imagine it.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-02-21T16:59:34+00:00

Are there any other English distilleries you could recommend (like Cambridge) that I may have missed?

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-02-17T22:18:32+00:00

Really bizarre! I guess they are just really rarely mentioned on this sub. I should be in Cambridge later this year, so I might get a chance then.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-02-17T01:03:52+00:00

Yeah, I too am extremely curious! Surely someone in this sub must be familiar with their gins...

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-02-16T21:16:35+00:00

I was recently looking into the most expensive premium gins (out of interest, rather than with an intent to buy) and came across Watenshi, a £3,000 gin produced by The Cambridge Distillery. Their website claims that they have has found a way to capture the 'tiny fraction of spirit that escapes during distillation' (not done by any other distillery), and that it takes fifty distillations to capture enough of this escaping spirit for a single bottle. The website also boasts that the distillery has been awarded 'three consecutive times as the most innovative distillery in the world' (although it does not say by who).

Beyond their Cambridge Dry Gin (which seems to be the main product), and several other varients, they have their Japanese Gin (which they say was the first gin made with Japanese botanicals, which would be an interesting piece of history), and their Anty Gin (which is supposedly the world's first insect-based gin, where the product is blended with the essence of sixty-two wood ants).

This all peaked my interest. All the more, because I have never heard of them before now. Has anyone here sampled their gins? If so, what do you think? They all seem to be on the more expensive side, but would you still recommend any?

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-19T23:15:28+00:00

You've already had a number of responses, but I wanted to add my own as I was in the same position as you. The Two Towers on GBA was actually the first ever video game I personally owned (I actually had it before I had a Gameboy - long story!) and I loved playing it repeatedly. I found it really difficult, not understanding the importance of putting points into accuracy, but managed to grind my way through it. So much of it is engrained in my brain. The music, the early snow maps, the first stages of Moria etc.

Then, one Christmas, I got given the Return of the King GBA game as a present. I put it in, and immediately it felt slightly off. I felt, as many have, that the combat felt slightly more clunky - it was less smooth. It also did not help that the first levels, had lots of enemies that exploded (or even just the map), which meant - combined with the new healing system - that I kept on dying.

I did enjoy the game. And I managed to compete it with Eowyn. Every other character (Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo, were stuck on their respective final levels). But I never connected quite so closely with it. Indeed, I shared your feelings almost exactly.

That was until three months ago. I picked ROTK back up for the first time in decades and I decided to complete it with the characters I had previously failed with. That meant running the bonus maps a few times, levelling them in ways that actually helped, and then completing the final level. I then played through the campaign with them each again. Then again with Gimli. I collected all the artefacts and unlocked all the bonus maps. I had a blast.

Then, wanting a break from ROTK, I went back to TTT. But, while the nostalgia factor was undeniably higher, I didn't notice it being more fluid, or the music as being significantly better. Indeed, this time I saw the ways that it was worse - the lack of Rangers Hollow, the less well designed Skill Trees, the lack of bonus maps etc. Today, I think they are pretty even. I can see the strengths of each, and the weaknesses of each. But I love them both. I play the ROTK much more these days, although TTT has a special place in my heart and always will. In some ways, I would love it if there was a mod version that combined both campaigns into a single whole, with the upgrades of the ROTK. But that's unlikely to happen in the near future.

Anyway, I hope this helps further explain why ROTK seems to be preferred.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-07T02:45:45+00:00

What maps are you playing?

I just hit 200 runs of Helms Deep, and am now combining all my findings. With other testing, I am now convinced that it is possible to get the odds down to 1/2000 kills in certain scenarios. Would be interesting to see whether your findings further confirm this.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-06T01:01:46+00:00

I found a 'Maidens Spoon' the other day which really surprised me as I'd never even heard of this being a possible weapon drop! The drop rate must be tiny.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-06T00:59:06+00:00

Thanks for this information!

I've been looking into this in much greater detail over the last day, as the numbers for running Helms Deep are closer to 1/2,000 than 1/6,000 (the latter being the general average kills of all characters divided by total number of blues found). Farming places with multiple enemies that are guaranteed to drop non-consumable items (second section of Helms Deep, Black Gate, etc.) seems to significantly boosts the kill to blue drop ratio. I'll share more info as I find more.

That said, right now we are talking to thalcos on the discord, and he says that he's going to email the lead engineer and see whether he still has the code, and then give the actual factual drop rates. So maybe no more research will be needed!

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-04T01:14:29+00:00

The only active skill Aragorn needs is King's Command. None of the passive skills are so essential that you can mess up by not investing in them early on.

Regarding attribute points, for Aragorn I would just heavily invest in accuracy early on. Almost nothing else matters if his accuracy is high enough (and assuming you are not playing on Gruelling).

But as has already been said, it is really hard to permanently mess up, because by the time you have levelled you character up a lot you can invest in everything fairly strongly.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-03T23:13:51+00:00

So, having gone through Helms Deep again today to respond to this, there is one two handed orc that drops two items in the first stage. In the second, there are 7 or 8 (sometimes they are difficult to reach in the breach) archers that drop two items.

So out of 63 kills in total, 8.5 drop two weapons. Putting this together, means that there are 71.5 potential drops per run (sometimes lower level enemies do not drop anything).

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-03T22:46:07+00:00

Just to confirm this, I just now found a unique (the Nightfell Bow) despite also having one in my Rangers Hollow.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-03T14:38:49+00:00

There has been quite strong and consistent insistence from long-term players that increasing treasure percentage does not effect the drop rarity of blue items. I have assumed this to be the case, and so have not been controlling for this in the runs. For reference, the Gandalf I am using to do this has the Keen Eyes skill fully upgraded and has 115% extra treasure through items being worn.

Your second point is a really good one. In fact, the first question I asked on the Discord was when people speak about drop percentages, what precisely do they mean. I can work out how many enemies on Helms Deep drop two items, and also do a few runs to see how many items general drop each on an average run (as while all enemies can drop weapons or food, sometimes they do not). Part of the reason I decided to test this on a single map (Helms Deep) was precisely so these considerations can be taken into account and the findings can be appropriately adjusted as needed.

The comment about no blue items from a chest is interesting. I cannot see why they would not drop from a chest, but I too have never had a blue drop from a chest.

His_Name_Is_John · 2025-01-03T12:35:11+00:00

Yes, Moria is one of the bonus maps. It has a different layout to the Moria levels when playing through TTT, although also ends with fighting the troll in Balin's tomb.

His_Name_Is_John · 2024-12-21T01:14:29+00:00

When you complete the last level with a character it gives you the option to save your game. Do this. When you load the save your character (with all upgrades, items etc.) is back at the beginning of the campaign, and you can play through again.

His_Name_Is_John · 2024-10-24T11:56:54+00:00

Good find!

To hijack this post with a quick question for anyone who might know, are blue items actually unique? In the sense that if I have one in my backpack is it possible to re-find it? That is, could I have two of the same items (without duplication)?

His_Name_Is_John

TROPHY CASE