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While the wolves and bears within Moria might not be too bad, they are not the only enemy you’ll have to deal with inThe Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria. Goblins and Orcs have made the ruins of Moria their home, and they don’t take kindly to dwarves running around.
You can’t just leave them be, either. They’ll come to you for a fight, and you’ll need to visit one of their many bases if you want to find all the fragments of Durin’s Axe and purify the Shadow infesting Moria. Your first stop is going to be Orc Town, and you’d best prepare for a battle before you step foot inside.
How To Get To Orc Town
Before you can find Orc Town, you’ll need to havereached the Elven Quarterandgotten yourself a Steel Pickaxeso you can start digging through any Compacted Dirt you find.
This applies to Campaign Mode only, as in the Sandbox Mode, the biomes have had their locations rearranged, and they can appear in any zone.
TheCompacted Dirt wallin the Elven Quarter willlead you into the Mines of Moriaarea of the Western Halls, and this iswhere you’ll want to start, specifically at thelarge Dwarven ruins structurebuilt into a wall thatgenerally spawns near the center of the area, with several pillars out front.
Once you’ve reached this spot,take the path to the rightof it if you’recoming at it from the front, go around the corner into the nearby chamber, andstart diggingthrough the dirt wallswhile heading west.
Theruined structure you’ll want to start at makes an excellent base, as it comes with several crafting stations you can repair, the first available Mapstone, aspecial Akhfur chest like Ori’sto unlock, and plenty of space for storing items.
Becareful of the steam ventsin the chambers you go through, as they’llwear down your armor in seconds, and continue heading west until youreach a massive staircasegoing up and with a path across from you at the bottom.Head up along either staircaseand at the top, take thetunnel closest to the three-pillar structure.
If you take the pathway at the bottom of the staircase instead of going up, you canreach the entrance to the Crystal Deeps and the Mine Hoist that you’ll need to repairto get to the Lower Deeps.
At theend of that tunnel, you’ll find the entrance to Orc Town, marked by agiant wooden gate, torches, and aton of Blightweedson the ground, a plantused for several recipes later, such as Orkish Medicine.
How To Get Through Orc Town
Before you go into Orc Town, you’ll want tobe prepared for a lot of enemies, and yourfirst boss fight against Bolgakh, a large armored Orc who candeal a lot of damage, has atraditional health bar, and likes toconstantly summon minions.
If you’vefound at least three Black Diamondsfrom Orcs or Orcish Chests, you canplace a Mapstone near the tunnel entrance for easy accessif you die or need to rest.
You want tohave a handful of itemsbefore you go in, andmake sure they’re on your hotbarfor easy access:
When you’re prepared, start byclearing out the 15 or so Orcs and Goblinsfrom the main entrance, thenbreak the banner standsso youcan get Orcish Keys hiding in them, andopen the Orcish Chestsin each camp for some loot.
Go through to the small chamber with a Steam Vent and cover the vents before you continue. Head through thetunnel marked by a bone and wood archway, and you’llfind another camp with an Orcish Chestand more Blightweeds at the end of the hall.
There will also betwo branching paths, one to theleft with a dirt wallleading to the same camp, and apath to the rightthatwill lead you to a largecircular chamber with the boss,Bolgakh.
You canfind several Precious Gem deposits in the walls throughout Orc Town, and they drop gems like Sapphires that can be used in Rune Engraving, but you’ll need a First Age Pickaxe to be able to mine them.
How To Beat Bolgakh
Bolgakh himself isn’t too difficult; thougharmored and having way more healththan the average Orc, he has asimilar attack patternto them, so you can handle him in the same way pretty much:block and get your hits in, anddodge if you needto.
Themost dangerous partof this fight isOrcs and Goblins constantly butting inthe fight to defend him, and they’re standard enemies, so they stilltake a few hits to killand like togroup up on you.
While you can block with two-handed and one-handed weapons,Bolgakh’s attacks do significant durability damageto them, so focus on dodging or using a shield to block instead.
Before the minions start spawning en masse,get some hits on Bolgakhafter he jumps downfrom the center camp, thenstart circling the area.
The standard enemies move faster, so you cansprint away and take some of them outbefore the boss catches up, thenattack him againwhile thecrowd is thinnedout.
If you’re getting swarmed,keep running and go up the stairs onto the platforms on the side of the room,then jump down. It can give you a few precious seconds to heal or use an Abakh.
Don’t focus on the minions too muchthough, justenough to keep them offyou, as they’llcontinuously respawnuntil the boss is dead.
Get hits on Bolgakh when you can,heal and buff as needed, and assoon as he’s dead, the Orcs and Goblins will flee, and you’ll be left alone.
With them gone, you cango to the center camp, and you’ll gettwo chestsfilled with thestandard Orcish Chest loot, but your most important find is going to be theSecond Fragment of Durin’s Axeon thesecond floor of the structure.
Grab it toprogress the Durin’s Axe Mystery, then you’ll befree to explore the rest of Orc Townand loot anything you left behind.
