Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor's First Full DLC Revealed: Lord of the Hunt

Following the release of the free Power of Shadow downloadable content pack, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith revealed the first full expansion for its game: called Lord of the Hunt.

Due out later this year, and part of the game's $25 season pass, Lord of the Hunt introduces the new Beastmaster Warchief into the game. From a press release, "Talion will join Torvin the Dwarven Hunter and use his powers of Domination to turn these menacing new beasts against the Warchiefs, proving that Mordor cannot be tamed."

According to the press release, the expansion will bring "hours of new gameplay" and will introduce:

• New Story & Lore -- Discover more tales from Torvin, the Dwarven Hunter, as you work together to tame the beasts of Mordor and fight Sauron’s minions.
• New Missions & Challenges -- New Beast Hunting challenges and collectibles open up new trophies and achievements.
• New Nemeses -- Face off against the Beastmaster Warchiefs, powerful new Uruks who have the ability to ride monsters and engage in perilous mounted combat.
• New Monsters -- Ride into battle on the Wretched Graug to vomit toxin at your foes, stalk your enemies on the predatory Caragath and attack from the shadows or raise an all-consuming Ghul Horde.
• New Epic Runes -- Make your Mount unstoppable with five new epic Runes that make you the ultimate hunter.
• Test of the Wild -- Test your skills against the Beastmasters and mount your trophies on the leaderboard.
• New Character Skin -- Lord of the Hunt skin transform Talion into the ultimate Beastmaster.

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While that gives us an overview, representatives from Monolith also answered a few of our questions about the DLC below.

GameSpot: How much freedom do you have to add content within the Nemesis system? If we've already dominated all the Warchiefs in Mordor, how are the new Beastmaster Warchiefs seeded into the hierarchy?

Monolith: The Lord of the Hunt has an entirely new and separate Hierarchy, and the Warchiefs have new abilities including riding the Caragaths and Wretched Graugs, that make them a fresh challenge.

How do mounted Warchiefs have their weakness, fear, and strength statistics allocated? Are entirely new stats created for them?

When you are mounted, you need to dismount them at the first stage of the fight. They are not all focused on mounted combat, some of them specialize in killing your mounts.

Does Talion's entire move set find some form of effectiveness against mounted Warchiefs? (It would probably be really awkward to Shadow Strike a Warchief on top of a moving Graug.)

You’re right, you can’t Shadow Strike him while he’s mounted. What’s fun is not only facing the mounted Warchiefs, but using the new beast abilities against them, whether it’s stalking them like a panther on the Caragath, projectile vomiting on them from the back of the Wretched Graug, or turning their Ghul army against them.

How different are these new monsters, functionally? Are they more than just re-skins with new abilities?

They are certainly more than reskins, they are new models with new skins and new abilities and they offer new gameplay. The Wretched Graug with the ability to projectile vomit is basically a tank, and the Caragath gives you mounted stealth allowing you to stalk and hunt your prey while riding.

Do you see the game's environment and the Nemesis system existing as something of a standalone platform to allow for future content to slot into it?

Currently we’re focusing on two main standalone DLCs: the Lord of the Hunt which adds the Beasts into the mix and The Bright Lord which lets you battle Sauron at the height of his military power in the Second Age.

What do you think? Is this enough content to bring you into the game if you've already finished exploring Mordor? Let us know in the comments below.