To @Markoth and all other experienced IS players I am intrested in making a competitve troll bg this is what Ive come up with so far but Its not working as well as I hoped. Please feel free to make comments and adjustments to the bg and also do insert in game advisd on how to operate them no matter how basic Salute my bros
At work at the moment so I will get to it when I can. If you dont hear from me by tonight tag me again.
Ok so I would do 2x the barb, no medic(got nurf), no earth elemental(fatty no good and enough tanks as is in Grints), definitely 2x shaman, no minister, 2x terraformer(this is op as hell), 2x bane blast, 2x hammer, no earthquake, no disarm, no vial There are other runes I would reconcider but I dont recognize the pics cause I don't play IS. Also consider 2x Magnificent(Mirror counters every single bg in this meta), 2x Singers, 2x Rockforger(cause I like cheap meat), 2x Marsh Troll, also maybe Desperate Heal and Hymns,
Basics of Trolls is to prevent/reduce damage being taken, also unless running two Grintmaw Hymns consider it a Rock Defiance bg rather than a Troll bg since Hymn is the only Rune to interact specifically with Trolls in all of Pox. Trolls shine in splits and since there is no hero for Trolls and Rock Defiance can be splashed via Stonearm Sash splits can be somewhat easier to get a winning battlegroup with. Earth Elemental: Gimmic rune imo, was splashed with Rock Defiance because defiant Earth Golem: Shines in unexpected ways, put one in if also running with Forgers or can support with Constructs/Tinkerer Earthmover: Create Chasm. Running currently in a Bestow Clowkwork Swarm Construct/Troll deck (bestow; swarm from Clockwork Swarm) suicide bestowed split crab in chasm to grant swarm to nearest construct) Grintmaw Bouncer: Ran without improve range for the longest time and I cannot go back. Opportunistic Assault is appealing but +1 range to units who share a race and CLASS is better so no need to limit your bg to just Trolls, find a good warrior to boost what you're lacking Grintmaw Flamehurler: The rune is fine. Wizard is odd as a class but in splits that can open some doors. Good for nora gen which isn't entirely necessary since the tankiness of your units should be enough to contest and stall better than other themes to save for nora. Grintmaw Gravitone: Another fine rune. I do not run just because of size and the 2x2 slot would go to Magnificent should I decide to run 1 in a deck. Relocation abilities are always something to want in a bg as they are the opposite of AP gen. Grintmaw Magnificent: Don't take because it's mirrored, you won't atk an ethereal unit with a sonic atk, and neither will your opponent atk you without physical unless they must. Grintmaw Rockslinger: This unit shines. Blood Frenzy with Valor and a Manual your Rockslinger will be attacking for 25+ dmg no matter if it's at 5hp or 65 Grintmaw Shaman: Ruined without Dampen. Attack Acid is nice however remember it is acid and there are lots of immunities to acid mainly relics which is what your shaman should be great at destroying, just not with Grintmaws. Magic eater is a good UD/IS choice also KF/IS Grintmaw Singer: Voil. an entire theme taken out by a Singer. I have been debating running x2 but the theme now no longer needs x2 runes except for Hymn to make it a "Troll" bg You need alternative dmg, sonic is the least available dmg source in the game. Groble: UD Goblin King with Conscript Warrior Gimmic imo, cheap meat used with Rockforger as a consume unit. Marsh Troll: Better in a split. Another Rock Defance unit, vulnerability: fire puts him out of the top for rune choices, best used in a 1v1 contesting a font. would take one Marsh Troll before a second Bouncer. Rockforger: Not a troll so do not take if you are making a Troll bg, a Rock Defiance bg is another story. run x2 vitalize units to get your Forger to 6spd. There are enough units that you could run x2 of some and x1 of although my experience running Trolls is that x1 is more favorable to get outside units for damage mitigation/prevention Such as with Barbarian Guardian, his Nexus aura shares the dmg directed to a unit with all standing on Nexus Aura Terrain. Gravitone has Resilient as an upgrade and with Rock Defiance granting +1 max hp the two make for a better combo than having x2 Flamehurlers. TL;DR If running Trolls x2 Grintmaw Hymn and maximize dmg prevention/mitigation. If running Rock Defiance lose x2 of most units and get support from somewhere else in the faction. Constructs/Dwarves & Tinkerer/Warrior even the only other Bard in IS (Dwarven Beermaiden) will be better than doubling up on a unit if you are playing a Rock Defiance bg. PM for splits info A Constructive Troll bg
By far the best and most comprehensive answer in these forums that Ive seen great info and amazing ideas. Thank you very much buddy I am actually reading this 2x just to make sure I got it. I am mainly a UD player so if you have any enquiries in that area dont hesitate and Ill help with what I can. Thanks again
Always glad to see more players trying out Grintmaws. I left a lot out too so if there's more situational stuff I can help with that as well. UD I would say is my least played faction. I'm not sure if always running splits is more beneficial or not but Grintmaws have been what I split with. Minos and Grints work out pretty well from what I've theorycrafted on poxbase but I haven't played in a while to know how they fair, the pseudo range/lack of range trips me out sometimes.
Cant wait man Also touch on constructs alot because they are next on my to do list and they have incredible amount of champs Barbs and paladins are pretty straight forward to me
You can get all your Paladin, Priest, and Shaman info here: http://forums.poxnora.com/index.php...-guide-to-paladins-priests-and-shamans.11743/
Just as a note I havnt updated that thread yet but thats deliberate since I expect there might be some pally changes coming with the expansion.
Imo a Troll bg would need x2Hymns otherwise it would be a Rock Defiance bg with Trolls as your source of Rock Defiance. Using Grintmaws for what you use as units is different than a Troll bg and also a Rock Defiance bg. a Grintmaw bg would use the runes because they are named Grintmaw. A Troll bg would maximize the amount of Trolls it has for Hymn; Rock Defiance around +1 dmg/hp. A bg making use of Grintmaws(for the name) only makes it a Grintmaw(troll) bg because you are using Grintmaws, whereas Grintmaws are Trolls but Trolls are not necessarily a theme unless you use x2Hymn since Rock Defiance is on Constructs and may be added to what might be thought as a Troll bg, I know it's confusing...blame Marsh Troll and the addition of Rock Defiance to Constructs for making it confusing. Trolls do not have a Racial theme which is where the distinction should be made between a Troll x2Hymn bg a Rock Defiance bg and a Grintmaw bg(for the sake of using Grintmaws). Example Situation: If you have x1Hymn and x2 of some Grintmaws replacing a duplicate and adding Silverclan Hoplite would be more beneficial than having a Grintmaw just because it is a Troll. Going further from there, replacing an additional two duplicates to add in a Tinkerer and a Construct with Rock Defiance would be better for your battlegroup synergy. Quick Tip: If you are using Troll to define your theme and it is not worth it to run a Hymn over another spell you may have a Rock Defiance bg and that may help knowing the difference. And also; Using Jakei Soulpainter or Clay Form you can have just as many Trolls if not more Trolls in your bg so what defines a bg as Troll may also help.
So you want to make a Grintmaw deck. So first things first. Every good deck needs a name. So click that Create Battlegroup button and stare at the empty box for about 15 to come up with something clever. Once you realize that rock puns are too hard just name it something simple like "Grintmaw" First thing about Grintmaw is that they are slow. I dont mean in a Speed or Mobility sense but in playstyle. Some decks can naturally be played aggressive but Grintmaw are very much a defensive and buildup theme. This mainly stems from Rock Defiance which is an incredible ability. The more grintmaw you have in an area the more it pays off. Rock Defiance is their biggest strength and your deck should be built in such a way that it pays off the most. Quickest way to maximize efficiency is to throw them ranged champs in there. While your big muscly tanks are having their way with your puny opponent Rock Defiance is secretly turning your ranged champs into the embodiment of "IS is OP". Flame Hurlers - 65 Nora - Enrage 2 / Channel: Damage - You want these guys as cheap as possible to maximize efficiency. Gravitone - 71 Nora - Slam / Impassioned - Some people prefer Resilient on U2 but Impassioned is very strong as long as you Scry. Rockslinger - 75 Nora - Bloodfrenzy 1 / Slam - Again with the efficiency. Some people prefer Domain but Slam has too much synergy to ignore. Is also good for knocking people into rocks or if someone gets to close you can slam them away and then again from range 4. Shaman - 77 Nora - Heal Mass 3 / Cleanse - You could run him at 70 with Heal Mass 1 if you feel Desperate Heal is too much redundant healing but if you get off at least 2 good heals then its worthwhile. Next you need to add your tanks. Bouncer can be run a few different ways. Improved Range is obviously a really good ability in Grints. Taking it however makes him really expensive and you lose out on Massive Leap. Losing Massive Leap also means you need to take up another deck spot for Earthshaker. You can balance his cost by taking Regen instead of Tough but then he loses a significant part of his ability to tank. Personally I run him with Leap and Tough but its important to find what works for you. Running one of each is always an option but that depends on taste. Magnificent - 77 - Stone Barrage / Rock Font Singer - 81 - Relocate: Relic / Farshot 2 After this its best to take a moment and add spells and relics to see how much space you have left before adding final champs. Every player has their "toolkit" of what spells and stuff are important to them. A good example of this is that most IS players would suggest Bane Blast. I personally do not like it because of the small AoE and its reliance on stun to be "worth it". This deck has no stun outside of Hammerstrike and I rarely find it efficient to cast two spells to kill one champ. For this deck specifically Grintmaw Hymn is super efficient. Once you have 4-5 Grints deployed the spell is crazy good. Rock Defiance still procs while the attacks are buffered so you can negate an opponents ability to kill any of your units and once they break through they are looking at a bunch of angry rocks. Divinity's Touch is another spell that I would consider auto in IS. If one of your champions is almost dead you can use it similar to Sacrifice and just reset your champion. It can also be handy to capture fonts in 1v1 situations or remove pesky champs you dont want to deal with. Be careful using it to capture fonts since its rarely efficient. Dont use it on opposing champions in their own font else you just wasted 50 nora. Might of Ironfist is too handy to pass up. 10 LoL is useful to have and spot +10 damage and Pummel can allow you to kill things otherwise outside your ability to do so. Impervious is one of the ones I would swap out in this deck maybe. Its a spell I am used to having on hand which is why I included it but in this deck Righteous Deflection may be a better choice. Hammer Strike is obvious. Macadamize is really handy for extra damage and defense. Grints have a lot of ways to create rock and rock is very common in general. I mainly run it for spot mobility if I need to just walk past stuff and kill a shrine. Now that you are down to the last 2 spots you want to shore up your strengths and fill any weaknesses you may still have. I chose to go with Barb Guardian because Swap, Shroud and Nexus Aura are OP. Then I finished the deck off with Rockforger. Remember the strength of Grint is in their numbers to maximize Rock Defiance and Forger just pops out baby defiant rocks. And there you have it, a full fledged deck. After this comes fine tuning to your preferences. My general rule of thumb is if I dont use a rune in a 10 game span I will pull it and add something that would have won me one of the games I lost and re-evaluate every 10 games.
Mark I really appreiate the effort and time it took to make this post. I was reading a post you wrote earlier on how to construct a bg from scratch and I cant tell you how much it helped. Grintmaw always looked like a fun race to play however as a UD player their low damage output threw me by surprise Now I can definitely see some potential Lastly I wanna thank you for shari g your reasoning behind the runes rather than post a photo of a bg . Salute
Also for any readers here Divinity's touch is excellent against FW players who casted doom om your champ Wait for 5 turns and use it at the end
