| “ | The Wargs and the goblins often helped one another in wicked deeds. […] Then they often got the Wargs to help and shared the plunder with them. Sometimes they rode on wolves like men do on horses. | ” |
–The Hobbit, Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire | ||
Wargs are large, ferocious, evil creatures found throughout most of Middle Earth. They resemble wolves, but are larger, stronger, and more intelligent. They are often found being ridden by Orcs, though they also pose a significant danger on their own.
Killing a Warg earns the achievement "Warg Slayer". Killing an Utumno Warg earns an additional achievement "The Hounds of Hell".
Wargs were created, it seems, by Melkor, since they can be found in the ruins of Utumno, in addition to Middle Earth. They are also the result of Sauron attempting to perfect a mount for his armies. Wargs spawn in their respective evil biomes, but they also spawn at night in many wilderness biomes, Rohan, Gondor, and The Angle. They can also spawn as a part of Gundabad, Mordor, Angmar and Isengard invasions. Warg Bombardiers, a fearsome type of Warg equipped with a triple-strength Orc Bomb, also spawn in Mordor, Angmar and Isengard invasions.
Warg Races
As with Orcs, there are many different races of Wargs, corresponding to the different factions. All Orc races breed their own Warg race as mounts, save Dol Guldur, which use Spiders instead.
These Warg races are identical in most ways; however, the alignment bonuses and penalties for killing them are different, since they are aligned with different factions. The armour they may wear and the alignment you need to ride them is also different.
Gundabad Wargs
These Wargs ravage the wild lands to the North of Middle-earth, along with their Orcish allies. They do not use Warg armour, and can be any of the four colour types shown below. They can be hired from chieftains (with or without riders), who can be found in camps.
Gundabad Wargs move faster than other Warg types when attacking a target. They are not any faster than other Wargs when being ridden by a player.
Spawning
- Vales of Anduin
- Coldfells
- Eregion
- Ettenmoors
- Grey Mountains
- Lone-Lands
- Misty Mountains
- Northlands (both Northern Forests and Tundra)
- Wilderland
- Blue Mountains (Foothills only)
- Dale
- Angle
- Eriador
(during night-time only)
They can also spawn as part of a Gundabad invasion.
Angmar Wargs
These fierce northern Wargs are the allies and mounts of the Orcs of Angmar. They use Angmar Warg armour (
) and can be any of the four colour types for Middle-earth Wargs. They can be hired from chieftains, who dwell at the pinnacles of towers.
Spawning
- Angmar (day and night)
- Ettenmoors (night only)
They can also spawn as part of an Angmar invasion, along with the destructive Warg bombardiers.
Isengard Wargs
These ferocious creatures are the mounts of the Snaga of Isengard. They use Uruk Warg armour (
) and can be any of the four colour types for Middle-earth Wargs. They can be hired from chieftains in Isengard orc camps.
Spawning
(day and night)
They can also spawn as part of an Isengard invasion, along with the deadly Warg bombardiers.
Mordor Wargs
These terrifying beasts are mounts of the Orcs of Mordor. These Wargs use Mordor Warg armour (
) and are always black in colour. They can be hired from Mordor Orc chieftains.
Spawning
Counter to Mordor Orcs, the Mordor Wargs won't attack you if your Mordor Alignment is 0 to + 100. They will only target you if your alignment is less than zero.
They can also spawn as part of a Mordor (or Black Uruk) invasion, along with the deadly Warg bombardiers.
Utumno Wargs
These vicious beasts spawn in all the levels of Utumno. They have 40 (20 x 
), which is more than double any other Warg type. They share the fundamental behaviour of other Wargs, but they cannot be tamed, which means that they cannot be ridden or armoured by the player. This is due to the fact that it is impossible to get a positive Utumno alignment, meaning they will always attack the player on sight. Utumno Wargs will also attack any faction NPCs except those belonging to the Utumno faction. Utumno Wargs never spawn with Orc riders or armour. In addition to regular Utumno Wargs, three special Warg types spawn in the different levels, as mentioned below.
Appearance
Wargs are found in four different fur colours:
- Brown - the most common colour. Around 63% of all Wargs are brown.
- Grey - around 32% of all Wargs.
- Black - quite rare. Around 5% of Wargs are black, with the exception of Mordor Wargs, which are all black.
- White - extremely rare. Only 0.2% (1 in 500) Wargs are white Wargs.
The colour of a Warg has no effect on its health, speed, strength, or any other property.
There are also three special Warg types that are only found in Utumno:
- Utumno Ice Wargs - found on the first level of Utumno. These Wargs inflict a chilling effect when they attack.
- Utumno Obsidian Wargs - found on the second level of Utumno. They do not have a special attack.
- Utumno Fire Wargs - the most powerful Wargs in the game; found on the third level of Utumno. These Wargs are immune to fire, and set the victim on fire when they attack.
All Wargs, like Orcs, have eyes that glow in the dark.
Behaviour
Wargs are capable of running at great speeds, executing powerful attacks, and they are known to swim. However, Wargs cannot jump, which makes for a severe weakness in mountainous biomes. They have 18-40 (
to 20 x ) of health and can move faster than a sprinting player. Don't get too complacent, however, because Wargs, as fast as they are, can not run faster than the mounted Riders of Rohan, except for the swiftest Gundabad Wargs; if you are on a Warg and the Rohirrim are chasing you down, you can only stand and fight – or get shot down by their mounted archers.
If you have a negative alignment with a Warg's faction, the Warg will sniff you out from 32 blocks away, and will attack. However, if your alignment is positive or neutral towards the type of Warg that you are near (i.e. if you have positive or neutral Angmar alignment and are near an Angmar Warg), it will ignore you unless provoked. They will also attack any nearby good NPCs. Wargs do not run from the player if they have -500 or lower alignment with their factions, unlike some Orcs. When a Warg spots an enemy, it makes a distinctive snarling sound and begins the chase, which it continues until the enemy is dead or has fled out of their sight range.
Unoccupied Wargs wander around aimlessly, often growling and snarling. They will hunt down and kill rabbits and deer occasionally. They don't eat the meat, but leave it lying around on the ground for the player to collect.
As stated before, Wargs have a longer tracking range than is normal for mobs; instead of the typical 16 blocks, a Warg will be able to hunt you down within a 32-block range. Wargs spawned as part of an invasion (see below) have an even greater tracking range.
Invasions
If a faction uses Wargs, then that faction's Wargs are capable of spawning during an invasion. As with naturally-spawned Wargs, they have a much greater sight range than normal NPCs, but because they were spawned as part of an invasion, their sight range is further increased. In addition, invasions may spawn a type of Warg which doesn't spawn naturally.
Warg Invasions
All the factions that use Wargs are capable of sending Warg invasions, as well. A Warg invasion is the same as any other invasion, except that it is mostly made up of Wargs, both ridden by Orcs and un-ridden. A Warg Invasion lacks Orc foot soldiers entirely. Wargs spawned in a Warg Invasion can also be armoured, provided they belong to Angmar, Mordor or Isengard and have a rider, similar to regular spawning mechanics.
Warg types
Aside from the standard Warg, there are three other types of Warg that may appear in the mod:
Warg riders
Black Warg (left) and Uruk Crossbow Warg riders (right)
Sometimes, Orcs spawn riding atop Wargs. When Orcs ride the Wargs, the Warg controls how both mobs move. For this reason, Orcs do not require saddles in order to successfully use Wargs in combat.
When close enough to a foe, the Warg and its rider will both start attacking, unless the mounted unit is a ranged unit, in which case attacks start from a distance of 10 meters (from the mounted unit only). If the Warg is slain, then the rider will jump around for a bit before proceeding to attack using its regular AI. The Orc may glitch in and out of the ground after his mount is killed, even while attacking the player.
If you're up against a Warg mounted by an evil NPC, the best strategy is to attack the Warg if the unit on it is a regular Orc or an Orc Archer. Pikes or other reach weapons are a good strategy, to keep the Warg from damaging the player.
Only regular Orcs or Orc Archers can ride Wargs; Uruks cannot due to their size. Prior to Public Beta 26, Uruks were capable of riding Wargs.
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Warg Bombardiers
Main article: Warg Bombardier
Warg Bombardiers are fearsome Wargs equipped with Orc Bombs that perform a devastating suicide attack. Each faction that uses Orc Bombs has a Warg Bombardier (Angmar, Isengard, Mordor). Utumno and Gundabad do not have Bombardier Wargs.
Armoured Wargs
Armoured Wargs are simply Wargs equipped with Warg Armour. Their behaviour is the same as that of normal Wargs, but their armour makes them much tougher to kill. Wargs of Angmar, Mordor and Isengard that spawn with an Orc rider have a 10% chance of spawning with armour. Wargs without a rider never spawn with armour; they must have a rider for the armour to have a chance of spawning with them. Gundabad and Utumno Wargs do not spawn with armor at all.
Taming
At an alignment level of +50 with the respective faction, you become able to ride their Wargs. In order to ride a Warg you must first tame it. To do this, you're going to have to do what you would do to tame a horse; get on the Warg over and over until it likes you (feeding it meat can make it like you faster). Tamed Wargs do not despawn.
To ride the Warg, the player needs to put a saddle (
) on it. Riding a Warg is similar to riding a horse; by default, the player right-clicks to mount, uses the WASD keys to move, and the left shift button to dismount. Note that if a NPC attacked the Warg the player is riding, the Warg will bite the NPC and do 3 (
) to an unarmored NPC when the player is still riding the Warg.
You can heal a tamed Warg by feeding it meat - this includes raw meat, cooked meat, and even rotten flesh (
). Just like the wolves in vanilla Minecraft, the angle of the Warg's tail shows how much health it has. A horizontal tail angle means it is at full health; as this health decreases, the tail points downward.
You can also equip a tamed Warg with Warg armour to give it a formidable boost in protection.
Hiring
Wargs can also be hired from the Gundabad, Uruk, Angmar, and Mordor factions at an alignment of +150 for a price of twenty silver coins (
).
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| A very fast unit | Somewhat weak if unarmoured; cannot jump |
| Can be ridden by another unit; a Warg ridden by an archer/crossbower can be a formidable opponent indeed, combining a ranged attack from the rider and a melee attack from the Warg | No ranged attack unless mounted by a ranged unit |
| Can be hired from most evil factions; Gundabad Wargs especially are easy to replace if lost | Warg-riders can become somewhat expensive |
| Quite inexpensive | Can't fit through single-width doors |
| Not weakened by sunlight (unlike most Orcs) | Doesn't deal especially much damage compared to most units |
Drops
When slain, Wargs drop their Fur (
), which can be used in crafting Fur Armour (
), as well as Warg Bones (
) which can either be crafted into four pieces of bone meal or sold to Galadhrim Traders.
They may also rarely drop a Wargskin rug (
) of their fur colour. These can be used for decoration. A Warg has a 1 in 50 chance of dropping its skin when killed.
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North:
Elk •
Horse (Shire Pony) •
Wild Boar
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 The Hordes of Gundabad 
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Orc (Archer, Banner Bearer) •
Uruk (Archer) •
Warg
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 The Raiders of Angmar 
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Orc (Archer, Banner Bearer, Bombardier) •
Troll (Chieftain, Hill) •
Warg (Bombardier)
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 The Battalions of Isengard 
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Uruk (Banner Bearer, Berserker, Crossbower, Sapper) |
 The Hosts of Mordor 
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Black Uruk (Archer) •
Olog-hai •
Orc (Archer, Banner Bearer, Bombardier) |
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Animals of Middle-Earth
Farm Animals •
Squid •
Bat
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