Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ – Anti-Betrayal Guide

It’s incredibly frustrating in Middle-earth: Shadow of War when a captain betrays you, especially if it’s a Legendary or Epic Orc you love, or even just a regular captain you’ve become attached to.

But don’t despair! There’s a way to effectively prevent the betrayal from finalizing and get your Orc back by interrupting the game’s save process. Follow these precise steps:

Stop Orc Betrayals in Shadow of War and Get Your Captain Back!

1. The absolute moment you see the “BETRAYAL” notification appear under the Orc’s name on screen, immediately press Alt + Tab to minimize the game. CRITICAL: Do NOT advance time, dismiss any prompts, or interact further in-game after the betrayal message appears!

2. Open Task Manager. (You can usually do this quickly by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc, or by right-clicking your taskbar and selecting Task Manager).

3. In Task Manager, go to the Processes tab (it might be called Details in some Windows versions). Find the Shadow of War application (often listed as ShadowOfWar.exe or similar). Select it.

4. Click the End Task button to force-close the game.

5. Relaunch Middle-earth: Shadow of War and load your save game. The game state will revert to just before the betrayal was finalized.

6. Find the captain who attempted to betray you (he should now be back in your army as normal). To help solidify his loyalty after the “reset”, assign him as the Overlord of the current region temporarily.

7. Go to the map screen and use the Advance Time function approximately four (4) times. This helps cycle the game state.

8. Now, remove him from the Overlord position. You can place him back as a Warchief (assigning him at least one Bodyguard is recommended) or place him back in the main army pool.

9. Done! The betrayal attempt should now be fully averted, and your captain remains loyal.

This method essentially uses a controlled game crash to prevent the auto-save that locks in the betrayal event. By reloading and then reinforcing the captain’s position (Overlord/Warchief with Bodyguards) and advancing time, you help overwrite the conditions that led to the betrayal flag. Enjoy keeping your favourite Uruks and Ologs fighting for the Bright Lord!

Note: While this method is widely used and generally safe, force-closing applications always carries a very minor risk. However, Shadow of War’s save system is usually robust enough to handle this.

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