The Misunderstood King Groot - when and how to actually use him
Tropical_Chris
Member Posts: 137 ★
Short Story: King Groot has high survivability with decent damage. (Read the rest to know how he deals decent damage and why he’s a survivor)
Longer Story:
King Groot is one of those champs that get a lot of **** from many people. And IMHO, it’s mainly because of misunderstanding when and how to use King Groot. So this is my attempt in sheding light to King Groot.
Expectation Setting
First of all, let’s set the expectations for King Groot. He is not god tier and he is not trash tier either. He’s more of path clearer and for special scenarios. If you want higher damage, go for other champs like x23 or wolverine. If you want decent damage and ability to regen and handle debuffs, King Groot is your guy.
King Groot’s mechanics:
King Groot gains (at least) 2 fury buffs for 12 seconds making his non-crits hit as hard as rocket racoon. And then 8 second cooldown. In the cooldown cycle, he probably has the worst damage in the game. In this cooldown cycle though, every hit he does or take can potentially have him gain more fury buffs on his next fury cycle. If he has 6 fury buffs, his non-crit will be twice as much as rocket racoon’s.
Survivability:
King Groot has 3 things going for him in this aspect. But his main points here would be regen and shruging off debuffs
1.) Bleed Immune
2.) Regen - King Groot needs to be awaken to fully maximise his survivability. When he’s cooling down from his furys, he regens about 10% of his life. On top of that, you can use his SP3 to regain up 10% of his HP (or 20% hp for the cost of 1 fury buff).
3.) Shrug of debuffs - he can shrug of debuffs for the cost of one fury buff. This includes parry stuns.
Decent Damage:
King Groot looks bad because of his pathetic base attack rating. But his non-crits actually hits as hard as rocket racoon’s everytime he has 2 fury buffs on.
1.) King Groot has the only character that can apply permanent armor break for the cost of 1 fury buff. And he can stack up to 8 armor breaks.
2.) His SP2 can deal poison damage. He can deal up to 2 posion stack (at the cost of 1 fury buff). 1 poison stack is comparable to dr voodoo’s posion with 2 loas (note: on practice, dr voodoo will still be able to deal more poison damage because he can spam more SP1 than KG spamming SP2)
3.) without fury buffs, he’s the worst damage dealer. With 2 fury buffs, his non-crit is as hard as rocket racoon’s (note RR has the highest base attack rating in the game). And with 6 fury buffs, his non-crit is 2x as hard as rocket racoon’s.
Use in the Game:
All in all, King Groot is a survivor with regen and debuff management. He’s excellent for clearing paths if your x23 or wolverine are busy elsewhere, or if you need a champ to handle debuffs.
Sample Special Usages in the Game:
* He’s excellent against the recent void uncollected event. He can shrug off half of the debuffs void applies.
* He’s also great against underdog magneto because he has such a high health pool and his ability to regen allows you to deal more bane damage.
* He’s also probably the anti-killmonger. His permanent armor break shuts down many of killmonger’s ability. And his regen and bleed immunity makes him forgiving of mistakes you make in the game.
Longer Story:
King Groot is one of those champs that get a lot of **** from many people. And IMHO, it’s mainly because of misunderstanding when and how to use King Groot. So this is my attempt in sheding light to King Groot.
Expectation Setting
First of all, let’s set the expectations for King Groot. He is not god tier and he is not trash tier either. He’s more of path clearer and for special scenarios. If you want higher damage, go for other champs like x23 or wolverine. If you want decent damage and ability to regen and handle debuffs, King Groot is your guy.
King Groot’s mechanics:
King Groot gains (at least) 2 fury buffs for 12 seconds making his non-crits hit as hard as rocket racoon. And then 8 second cooldown. In the cooldown cycle, he probably has the worst damage in the game. In this cooldown cycle though, every hit he does or take can potentially have him gain more fury buffs on his next fury cycle. If he has 6 fury buffs, his non-crit will be twice as much as rocket racoon’s.
Survivability:
King Groot has 3 things going for him in this aspect. But his main points here would be regen and shruging off debuffs
1.) Bleed Immune
2.) Regen - King Groot needs to be awaken to fully maximise his survivability. When he’s cooling down from his furys, he regens about 10% of his life. On top of that, you can use his SP3 to regain up 10% of his HP (or 20% hp for the cost of 1 fury buff).
3.) Shrug of debuffs - he can shrug of debuffs for the cost of one fury buff. This includes parry stuns.
Decent Damage:
King Groot looks bad because of his pathetic base attack rating. But his non-crits actually hits as hard as rocket racoon’s everytime he has 2 fury buffs on.
1.) King Groot has the only character that can apply permanent armor break for the cost of 1 fury buff. And he can stack up to 8 armor breaks.
2.) His SP2 can deal poison damage. He can deal up to 2 posion stack (at the cost of 1 fury buff). 1 poison stack is comparable to dr voodoo’s posion with 2 loas (note: on practice, dr voodoo will still be able to deal more poison damage because he can spam more SP1 than KG spamming SP2)
3.) without fury buffs, he’s the worst damage dealer. With 2 fury buffs, his non-crit is as hard as rocket racoon’s (note RR has the highest base attack rating in the game). And with 6 fury buffs, his non-crit is 2x as hard as rocket racoon’s.
Use in the Game:
All in all, King Groot is a survivor with regen and debuff management. He’s excellent for clearing paths if your x23 or wolverine are busy elsewhere, or if you need a champ to handle debuffs.
Sample Special Usages in the Game:
* He’s excellent against the recent void uncollected event. He can shrug off half of the debuffs void applies.
* He’s also great against underdog magneto because he has such a high health pool and his ability to regen allows you to deal more bane damage.
* He’s also probably the anti-killmonger. His permanent armor break shuts down many of killmonger’s ability. And his regen and bleed immunity makes him forgiving of mistakes you make in the game.
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Comments
So here's a question for you. I recently opened a 5* King Groot. I already have an awakened 5* r4 hyperion. I have a cosmic awakening gem ready to go. Is he worth it? or should I save for Medusa or others?
His damage is decent. Especially if you stack up on the fury stacks. Just dont expect high damage like Hyperion or Medusa. Or expect high damage on his regen period.
I mean when you put a armor break on your opponent, it takes away a fury and does the same damage basic.
Yes, but it’ll be permanent and you’ll hit harder on your next fury cycle. He’s not good with short fights that way :-)
True and good point
Forgot to mention, I dont recommend him in AW defense though. His permanent armor break gives anyone with willpower permanent regen as well.
That’s interesting. Which nodes do you put him in?
I was thinking node 24 for enhanced regen. 200% regen would be hell on KG.
Nice post, perhaps you could do something similar with other underrated champs, like Karnak.
He’s more of a specialised champ. It’s still better to reserve your T2As for god or demi-god tiers since T2As are rare. But if you have catalysts to spare you can take a duped KG to r3
Wow nice! Would love to have one!
You just need to set your expectations with him. Honestly, it took awhile till I used mine. I only started really using him when my Ghost Rider and X23 kept getting tied up in alliance events
I definitely agree that Medusa is better
Thanks. But I dont have a 4* Karnak and up. But I might do one for Kingpin