Battle for Middle Earth 2 - Evil Campaign - Mission 8 - Rivendell

Battle for Middle Earth II - Evil Campaign Mission 8 - Rivendell
This is a hint/walkthrough post for Battle for Middle Earth II. You can find an index of all our Battle for Middle Earth II posts here.

Rivendell has a lot of upgraded archers, several reinforcements-arrive-suddenly events, and powers used against you regularly (usually Arrow Volley). Despite all this, it is actually an easy mission that is most easily played out using powers against the enemy base -- much like the final mission in the Good Campaign, Dol Guldur.
The main difference in this strategy between Dol Guldur and Rivendell is that three out of four Evil Faction One Ring powers involve an actual creature (dragon or Balrog) that can be shot down by archers with remarkable speed if you haven't cleared the area first. Focus on just one primary goal (e.g., taking down a barracks or archer tower), and have a secondary goal ready for your summonned creature. Dangerous clumps of archers are more reliably and easily taken down with the Arrow Volley power.

All powers become available in this mission, but the Rain of Fire is not initially available -- Listen for the announcement, and get it as soon as you can because it is the only Tier-4 power that does not involve a creature.

Early in the mission, get the Bat Swarm upgrade for your fortress. This will reveal an astonishing amount of the map. Not too long after, increase the fortress Health with another upgrade.
For troops, concentrate on Spider Riders to mow down enemy archers until you can block off both bridges with fortresses. Then get Giants to take down fortifications, but retreat them immediately after a building goes down because the archers inside a defensive building typically move to attack the Giants once they are forced to evacuate because the building is destroyed.
Once you have a lot of Resources, you may wish to call Shelob or Drogoth from your fortresses. They cost Command Points, so if you don't do it early, when Mordor reinforcements arrive, your Command Point limit might end up being over the 1000 cap and you will no longer be able to summon them.

Put down more fortresses to guard positions on the map that could potentially be entrance points for enemy reinforcements. Once Sauron arrives, Mordor builders will come with him. Start laying down Mordor fortresses as far north as you can, and get the Gorgoroth Spire upgrade to further increase your pool of powers with which to barrage Rivendell. The Gorgoroth Spire fireball has less range, but you can get lots of them by building multiple towers.

Enemy heroes are most safely taken down by letting them run at you across the bridge and getting distracted trying to take down your Fortress on the bridge. Bring up archers to support your fortress.