Available Heroes: Samwise Gamgee
As you enter this level, Frodo will be captured, and it's now Sam's job to find him. This level is a bit of a maze, so follow along closely. Follow the spider along to the left until you reach a dead end. Kill the spiders here. Your killing move will come in very handy in this level, as the spiders tend to get knocked on their back quite easily. After these spiders are dead, head back out, and this time head to the right. Follow this path around to the left, until you see a mass of tiny spiders. Walk past them to the right, and continue on until the path splits again. Make a left u-turn toward the next mass of spiders. Quickly run around the spiders for a full health potion.
Head back out and around to the left, and you'll see yet another bunch of arachnids. You'll be assaulted once again, and the path will come to a T. Head left to find an Orc fighting off two spiders. Kill all three and turn around, following the path to the right this time. Another dead end, causing Sam to complain. Backtrack to the mass of spiders, and this time head toward the light, to the left. You'll come to two torches, one on either side of a black mass of spiders completely covering the ground. Pull an Indiana Jones and make them disperse by throwing a torch at them. Run through them, and you'll come to a seeming dead-end. Put the attacking spiders out of their misery, and then toss the torch at the web blocking your way.
Pass through, and you'll come upon several Orcs commiserating. Use the fire all around this area to quickly dispatch them, then continue on through the only other tunnel. You'll come upon mixtures of Orcs and spiders. Continue to use fire to your advantage, and keep moving forward. When your perspective changes, you'll see that you have two choices--continuing onward toward the bottom of the screen, or taking a turn to the left past the torch. Take the way of the torch, and you'll see archers across a chasm--eliminate them to save yourself some trouble later on, then continue down the other path. It's another Orc party, and again you're provided with implements of fire to aid you. Instead, however, head up the small path to the right. After taking out a couple of evildoers, you'll see a nice stash of boulders that you can drop on the Orcs below. Do so, and continue on.
You'll come to a bridge, get your first glimpse of Shelob, and be rewarded with a checkpoint. Keep moving, and after eliminating some more arachnids, you'll come to the scene shown in the picture--an incredibly large mass of tiny spiders. Use the torches to create a path, and run through them. This next area is a bit tricky; you'll need to toss a torch into the web at the far end of the room, then skirt around the spiders to the left to make it through.
Ahead are--you guessed it: more spiders. You'll have a choice between going left or right and up, either way through spiders. Begin by going to the right. Toss the torch at the far end toward the web, and head back down. Make your way past the first mass of spiders, and be prepared to parry a lot of incoming arrows. Once you've killed the archers, step through the second and third masses of spiders. Follow the tunnel to another checkpoint. Prepare yourself before stepping out into the open, as you're about to get up close and personal with Shelob.
As is the case with most boss characters in Return of the King, be ready to do a lot of parrying. You won't have much success with your fierce attack against Shelob, so parry until you get an opening while she's close, then open up with speed attacks. Once you've hit her a few times, Shelob will run away and send in a few of her minions. Dispatch them, and as soon as the last one is down, run away from where Shelob is waiting--she'll jump down and try to crush you under her considerable weight. Her children will come at you in increasing numbers each time, so you'll want to take them out quickly--one fierce attack to knock them over, then a killing move to finish them.
After you repeat this cycle several times, you'll deal Shelob a particularly nasty wound, and she'll head for the hills. Some Orcs will come take Frodo away, and the mission will end.
