LOTR Rise To War Sauron Guide and Build

With no doubt one of the most iconic characters from the LotR movie series as well as Commander in the game, as well as being THE main antagonist in the world of LotR. Sauron is Tier 3 Commander and the first thing that you need to notice and acknowledge is his base trait which is “Strategist”. “Strategist” trait will give Sauron +25 (Commander) Focus, +2 Skill points and 10% bonus Burn and Poison damage.

In LOTR Rise To War He usually fits the best with units with high damage and decent sustain on their own since Sauron is overall based on giving bonus damage and burst rather than sustain and heal procs. Sauron’s strategic skills and traits will provide your units with powerful damage and strategic buffs which creates a powerful combo with corresponding units. Sauron’s highest stat is “Focus” and he has one of the highest base Focus points as well as points per level in the game.

Focus reduces the damage that his designated army receives during battle. Every time when your Commander levels up you will have a skill point to spend in their skill tree. There are three main skills and thus three different focus points in Sauron’s skill tree which we will talk about here.

Note that each of these three main skills have two additional skills connected to them which you will unlock upon leveling main skill to level 2. On Commander Respect level 1 you will have two starting main skills.

You can check Sauron ratings on Our LOTR Rise To War Commander tier list to see who is raking compare to other commanders.

Respect level 0 Build

Main skill The Deceiver

First and more important of starting two main skills is “The Deceiver” and this is the primary skill that ideally you want to max out as soon as possible. “The Deceiver” skill when active (skill level 1) gives Sauron a bonus of 0.8% damage dealt to all enemy units when in combat (effect modified by Focus stat).

Each time you level up this skill the total % of bonus damage dealt will rise. At max level of “The Deceiver” skill, Sauron will also receive additional +20 Focus. Since Sauron is a Strategic Commander this skill is his primary skill and you want to level it up whenever it’s available to do so. This skill, if fully upgraded, will give you a massive early game advantage.

As mentioned above upon leveling “The Deceiver” skill to level 2 you will unlock it’s two additional skills which you will be able to level up. These two skills being :

Ring of Terror: +10% chance of afflicting Madness against enemy Commander and their units in first 2 rounds [on skill lvl 1], Note that this skill applies on first 2 rounds thus giving you starting advantage and makes it an extremely useful skill.

Enfeeble : Bonus +5.7% damage dealt to all enemy units and Commander afflicted by Madness [on skill lvl 1]. This skill synergizes with “Ring of Terror ” so it’s important to have both skills leveled if you are going for this build which we highly recommend for early game.

Naturally effective stats % rise as you level up addressed skills.

Main skill is Lord of Gifts

Second main skill is “Lord of Gifts” which will boost base stats of equipment by +2% (skill level
1). Now this skill is mostly ignored especially in early game since actually good gear will be obtainable in mid and late game, you might bounce back and forth when it comes to this skill and its build if you have spare points to spend and if you manage to acquire some good pieces of equipment.

Overall it’s half decent skill but it heavily depends on your situation and how well geared your Commander is. Note that “Lord of Gifts” skill is referenced as a “title” rather than “skill” which essentially means once it’s unlocked and you have a skill point in it, it will act as passive skill. Additionally on max level of “Lord of Gifts” skill, Sauron will get +20 Focus points. Two additional skills that you will unlock upon leveling “Lord of Gifts” to level 2 are:

• Trembling Strike : Deals +13.4 % Focus damage against 2 enemy targets (effect modified by Focus stat) [on skill lvl 1]. It deals decent damage but except that it is not a very useful skill.
• Black Arts : Deals +22.2 % Focus damage against 2 enemy targets (effect modified by Focus stat) and enemy targets afflicted by it cannot recover HP for 1 round [on skill lvl 1]. Now this is basically an upgraded version of Trembling Strike and just because of this skill you might put 2 points in “Lord of Gifts” to unlock and upgrade this skill. It deals very good damage and targeted units cannot heal which might be a huge advantage if you strike some high tier enemy units.

Naturally effective stats % rise as you level up addressed skills.

Respect level 3 Build

Upon reaching Respect level 3 with Sauron you will be able to unlock and level up his third main skill called “Gorthaur ” which when active (skill level 1) increases Focus damage received to all enemies by 1.6% (including enemy Commander).

Like every other main skill, these stats rise as you level up the skill. At max level of “Gorthaur ” skill Sauron will also receive additional +20 focus. This is a very good skill that you might max depending on your situation when transitioning from early to mid game, since you will deal up to bonus 20% Focus damage at max skill level which is very powerful buff, this skill will be great for additional burst damage.

Two additional skills that you will unlock upon leveling “Gorthaur” to level 2 are:

Soul Siphon : Deals 8.5% Focus damage (effect modified by Focus stat) against 2 enemy units and 2 allied units heal for 8.5% of their HP [on skill lvl 1]. Note that this skill is available every 2 rounds. This skill isn’t that important since its mixture of damage + heal, both damage and heal being only to 2 enemy/allied units.

Overload : inflicts 3 enemy units with buffs that will boost their damage by +5%, but at the same time those 3 enemy units will continuously receive 4.8% Focus damage every round (effect modified by Focus stat), [on skill lvl 1].

Naturally effective stats % rise as you level up addressed skills.

Respect level 5 Build

And finally upon reaching Respect level 5 with Sauron you will be able to unlock and level up his fourth main skill called “The Enemy” and it’s bonus (on skill level 1) being that enemy Commander will get afflicted by debuff which lowers their Might, Speed and Focus for 2%. This is an extremely powerful skill and you should go for max level with no doubt. Like every other main skill, these stats rise as you level up the skill.

At max level of “The Enemy ” skill Sauron will become Stun immune. Note that “The Enemy ” skill is referenced as a “title” rather than “skill” which essentially means once it’s unlocked and you have a skill point in it, it will act as passive skill.

This should be your focus point for late game and upon unlocking this skill you should reset your skill points and max this skill first. Two additional skills that you will unlock upon leveling “The Enemy” to level 2 are:

Dazzle: Bonus 14.3% chance to Stun enemy Commander for 2 rounds when activated [on skill lvl 1] At max level chances will be 100% bassically giving you guaranteed Stun for first 2 rounds when activated, Note that this skill is available from round 3 and against Commanders that have burst damage skills available on round 3 and 4 for example, this is incredibly strong and useful skill.

Confusion: Inflicts enemy Commander with a debuff that lowers their Focus by 4.0 every round and has a 4.3% chance to Silence them [on skill lvl 1].

Naturally effective stats % rise as you level up addressed skills.

Conclusion

Sauron is Tier 3 Commander and one of the best among them and in the game overall. You should always keep in mind that Sauron is mainly Strategically oriented Commander and you should not expect huge heals and similar types of benefits altho some of his skills do provide bonus heal and Damage mitigation.

Sauron is one of the best Commanders in the game, very difficult to get as well, having one of the highest Focus stats in the game, Sauron will deal massive amounts of Focus damage and he has some skills to additionally boost that damage.

Because he is armed with a variety of different useful bursting skills, from Damage buffs to Stuns immunities and + Focus points on max skill levels, with proper build and proper units Sauron can almost become unstoppable in hands of an capable player because of his huge potential when it comes to damage buffs and self immunities.

Let’s not forget that he is also able to put debuffs on enemy Commanders and stun them which is also an amazing strategic advantage since to some degree, it makes them almost useless, inactive and unable to cast, thus giving Sauron and his units massive advantages in battle. If you manage to get Sauron we highly recommend to level him up and immediately make him your active Commander.

Finally, don’t forget to look into the PC version of LOTR Rise To War.