Shadow of War: Carnán Quests - Violent Nature, Carnán's Bane, Frozen Flame and how to defeat Carnán and Tar Goroth
How to tackle the sprawling Middle-earth adventure.
Carnán Quests Violent Nature, Carnán's Bane, and Frozen Flame are three missions as part of the Carnán storyline in Middle-earth: Shadow of War.
These unlock one after another, and come after completing Traitor's Gate and The Fall quests earlier on in the story, once you've opened up Act 2.
If you are interested in completing other missions in the game, our Shadow of War guide and walkthrough can help.
This set of quests is entirely optional but highly recommended as it earns you a useful Skill upgrade that allows you to summon a friendly Drake to provide covering fire, a distraction, or a handy mount to get from A to B or to use to rain down fiery death from above, and is also required to collect one of the Gondorian Artifacts from completionists.
Violent Nature - Defeat the Spirit of Carnán
Prerequisite: Complete Ring of Power.
Reward: 6620 XP, 880 Mirian
Bonus objective: Headshot the beasts five times. (During Defeat the Spirit of Carnán.)
Bonus reward: Life gem.
Follow the Trail into the Forest of Carnán: Follow the yellow cloud of leaves that's wending its way through the forest; it can be a little hard to spot, but will also show up on your minimap as a thin blue line if you get lost.
You will pass some Orcs trapped in tree roots along the way that can optionally be interrogated for some nightmarish visuals.
Investigate the Great Tree: Defeat the Spirit of Carnán: Carnán will take the form of a Caragor and attack you, then when vanquished will reappear as a Graug, and finally a Drake, and you nead to defeat each one in turn. The Graug is the slowest and largest of the Beasts, so is the easiest to use to fulfil the optional objective of five headshots.
Carnán's Bane - Defeat Tar Goroth
Prerequisite: Complete Violent Nature.
Reward: 10625 XP, 960 Mirian
Bonus objective: Avoid being hit by falling debris. (During the first Defeat Tar Goroth.)
Bonus reward: Warrior gem.
Defeat Acolytes / Defeat the Acolyte Captain: To simplify matters we'd suggest taking out as many of the acolytes as you can using stealth before engaging with Zog the Eternal - he can raise the dead, so starting a fight with him and bringing the acolytes to his aid gives him an almost unlimited supply of support troops.
He can Curse you slowing your health regeneration, and he has a Vault Breaker that stops you from leaping over him, but beyond that he's a fairly straightforward opponent. He's vulnerable to fire, so if you see him standing too close to a Grog Barrel a quick ranged attack to blow it up can work wonders.
Leap into the Pit / Defeat Tar Goroth: Get behind him and hit the glowing patches with a ranged weapon a dozen times to take him down. He won't directly attack you as he's distracted by Carnán, but the debris falling from the ceiling can ruin your day so dodge out of the danger areas.
Mount Carnán / Reach Tar Goroth: Climb on Carnán's back and follow the Balrog.
Defeat Tar Goroth: Whilst mounted on Carnán's back, lay into your foe. When his health gets down to around a third you'll be prompted to shoot him in the chest, so deliver a Charged Shot at the glowing area.
Mount Carnán / Reach Tar Goroth: Hop back on Carnán again.
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.
Frozen Flame - Follow and defeat Tar Goroth
Prerequisite: Complete Carnán's Bane.
Reward: 25610 XP, 1100 Mirian
Bonus objective: Use Ice Blast on Tar Goroth. (During Defeat Tar Goroth.)
Bonus reward: Warrior gem.
Follow Tar Goroth's Trail: Follow the burning footprints down the hill and into a cave.
Shoot Stalactites to Slow Tar Goroth: Use ranged attacks to drop as many of the stalactites from the ceiling as you can as Carnán carries you through the cave - missing the odd one is OK, but miss too many in a row and you'll be restarting!
Defeat Tar Goroth: Dodge away from Tar Goroth immediately - two hits and you're dead. Once you're relatively safe Carnán will appear in Drake form and sweep you into the air.
Circle strafe around Tar Goroth and hit him with Frost Breath to charge your Might, then fire an Ice Blast at him - this is the quickest way to break the ice beneath him him, and also completes the optional objective.
When the prompt appears above his head drop in for an attack, and be ready for a QTE after the third strike.