Drakes are one of the best ways to get around in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. They’re the only creature that can fly in the game, and are the best mode of transportation beyond fast travel. You’ll run into them throughout your time in the campaign, but you’ll have to unlock certain skills to be able to utilize them as reliable allies.
To ride on a drake’s back, you must first have the skill Dragon Rider. You’ll unlock it by proceeding through the Mounted Skill Tree until you’ve unlocked he skill. Hold B/Circle to Dominate and ride a Broken drake. You must attack the drake until it finally becomes Broken, and then you can Dominate the creature to climb aboard.
When you break the drake, you can Dominate it while it’s on the ground, but the easiest way to mount one is to use the Shadow Mount skill while they’re in the air, which will automatically transport you to their back. It’s also a part of the Mounted Skill Tree and you’ll unlock it ahead of the Dragon Rider skill.
It’s possible to set a drake as a follower that you can summon using the Dragon Song upgrade to the Call Mount skill (also found in the Mounted Skill Tree). However, you first have to complete all of Carnan’s quests after you finish the Frozen Flame mission. You can then use a skill point to unlock the Dragon Song upgrade.
Once on a drake’s back, you have the ability to breathe devastating fire onto the area below and completely decimate your enemies. You can spray fire on the ground, aim with precision for a stream of fire, or charge its Might to shoot fireballs. It also has a Dive attack, which you can use to pick up enemies and consume them to restore your drake’s health.
For more on Shadow of War, be sure to check out our wiki.
About the author
Brittany Vincent
Brittany Vincent is the former News Editor at Twinfinite who covered all the video games industry's goings on between June 2017 and August 2018. She's been covering video games, anime and tech for over a decade for publications like Otaku USA, G4, Maxim, Engadget, Playboy and more. Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, she’s a freelancer who survives on surrealism and ultraviolence. When she’s not writing, watching anime or gaming, she’s searching for the perfect successor to visual novel Saya no Uta.
