Shadow of War Nemesis Forge - how to import your Nemesis and Follower from Shadow of Mordor to Shadow of War
The Nemesis Forge, importing Followers and your Nemesis explained.
How to import your Nemesis into Shadow of War is probably one of the first questions you'll have when starting up a new game of Shadow of War, especially, of course, if you played much of its predecessor Shadow of Mordor.
Here in this guide we'll explain exactly how to do that, as well as how to import your Follower into Shadow of War, and explain the Nemesis Forge and how choosing your Nemesis and Follower works, so you can prepare to import them when you get the chance.
For more on Shadow of War, meanwhile, our comprehensive Shadow of Mordor guide and walkthrough has just about everything you need to know.
Nemesis Forge explained - how the Nemesis Forge works in Shadow of Mordor and how to use it for Shadow of War
The Nemesis Forge is a mode that was added to Shadow of Morder just a few months before the launch of Shadow of War.
In brief, it's a mode that's completely distinct from your main Shadow of Mordor playthrough that takes a snapshot of your save, and imports a full roster of the orcs you've interacted with the most (if you haven't interacted with enough to fill out a complete roster on the Nemesis screen, it randomly generates more to pad it out).
In Nemesis Forge, you basically have a free run of the Nurnen area, with all skills unlocked, and just the orcs that were imported into it making up the area's captains and warchiefs.
Most importantly, it's here that you'll be able to manipulate which Nemesis and Follower is imported into Shadow of War.
How to choose which Nemesis and Follower is imported into Shadow of War:
The Nemesis Forge lines up orcs in order of the strength of your relationship, from top left to bottom right. That means the top left will probably be your Nemesis, and somewhere else in the stack of orcs will be your Follower.
Your Nemesis is the orc you've built up the strongest, hidden 'Nemesis score' up with, whilst your Follower is the orc you've built up the strongest, hidden 'Follower score' with.
These are affected by a number of things. For your Nemesis, that could be the number of battles they've had with you, the amount of times they've seen you die or killed you, the number of times they've 'cheated death' (when you kill them without beheading or exploding their head, so they can return), and so on.
For a quick exploit, you can add a small amount to an orc's Nemesis score by targeting them in that army screen. Do this over and over again - switching target to a different orc with a lower rating, and back again - will gradually boost their score, until they become your Nemesis.
Note that it takes longer to do the further down the order they are, but it's just about always the fastest way to do it when compared to methods like finding them, engaging them, and running away from battle several times.
For your Follower things work similarly. Any orc that you've dominated - shown by them glowing blueish-white from the eyes - can be your Follower, and to choose a new one you'll need to increase the strength of your relationship together. To do that, send them on special Follower missions and help them to make sure they succeed, and likewise help in any Power Struggles they may have, and they'll quickly become your Follower.
Once you've chosen them, simply hop into Shadow of War, get cracking on your playthrough, and as long as you're on the same platform as your Shadow of Mordor save, they'll eventually arrive in-game!
How to import your Nemesis and Follower into Shadow of War
The system for importing your Nemesis or Follower into Shadow of War from Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis Forge is surprisingly simple.
How to import your Nemesis to Shadow of War:
Some minor spoilers here, but your Nemesis will show up as the third and final champion you face in the Arena mission early on in the game.
Some people have claimed to have encountered theirs earlier, but this could either be a mistake on their part (there are an awful lot of similar looking Orcs, after all...) or the game may throw them in earlier at a random or very low probability of encouring them.
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.
For your Nemesis to be imported, you need to have played Shadow of Mordor on the same platform as you're playing Shadow of War. From there, whichever orc is your Nemesis, marked within the Nemesis Forge (which we explain below in more detail), will be the one to be imported automatically. You can only import your nemesis once, so be sure to lay down the prep in Shadow of Mordor first if you want something specific!
How to import your Follower to Shadow of War:
Similarly to your Nemesis, your Follower is also imported automatically in Shadow of War. This Orc will be one of those you rescue during the Damaged mission, early on in Act 2.
So with that in mind, make sure you have everything straightened out how you like it in Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis Forge before diving into Shadow of War, because once you do it's all automatically handled from then on!