Splinterlands: Grund The Aggressive Tortoise

For this weeks battle challenge, we got another awesome chaos epic monster, GRUND. GRUND is an epic earth splinter melee attack monster.

Here is NERISSA TRIDAWN's amazing lore:

Grund has spent his entire life in the lowlands of Praetoria and has grown to love the land and its people. First introduced to the lore of battle as a hatchling, he has studied it ever since with enthusiasm. When he became a juvenile his hands found steel, an old rusting sword abandoned and forgotten in the swamp by some intrepid explorer. Before long it became an extension of himself as he applied all he had learnt, quickly mastering blade work. From then on, he became obsessed with the art of armed combat and he practised with any weapons he could get his hands on.

When he first met Bera Dallin in New Everitt he couldn’t help but marvel at her martial prowess. After having spent some time with her he became proficient in the use of the warhammer. His great strength meant that he could hold one in a single hand and so it wasn’t long before he acquired another and began to dual wield them in combat.

Grund is well loved amongst the people of Praetoria and he is a staunch defender of them, his strong ideals of honour and justice infused within in from a young age. When he heard of the Chaos Legion invasion, Grund took up his hammers in anger and sought them out immediately.

Physical attributes of GRUND does justify its hefty mana cost of 10. It have nominal melee attack of 3 at level 1 which reaches 4 at maxed level. But that's not the end of the party, as real fun comes with Duble Strike ability starting right from level 1. It starts with 10 health, reaching 13 at maxed level. Speed remains constant at 3 throughout. It doesn't have no shield what's so ever. Trample ability comes at level 4 and Cripple at maxed level.

Needless to say abilities make GRUND a worthy epic monster.

Cost Analysis

Currently there are 30,393 normal foil and 2,002 gold foil GRUNDs in circulation, costing a minimum of 1.31$/BCX and 12$/BCX respectively.

It ranks among top 3 sought after chaos edition epics, as evident from cards market.

Favored/Unfavored Battle Rules

GRUND works well is almost all kind of battle rule sets. Speed of 3 means it can also be used be Reverse Speed ruleset. Still, it works best in Unprotected, Super Sneak, Melee Mayhem, Ferocity, Equal Opportunity, Target Practice, and Taking Sides rulesets, Briar Patch ruleset is most unfavored for GRUND.

Vulnerability and Disadvantage

GRUND is most vulnerable to if it is left alone as tank to take all the damage. Better to have a taunt monster in team draw away the attention for GRUND to do his job. Moreover, Thorns ability is GRUND's worst enemy.

Placement

GRUND placement depends on the ruleset in play. Normally it is used upfront for an aggressive start of the battle but it can be placed in back ranks if battle rules allow attacking from there.

Complementing Summoners and Abilities

GRUND can be complemented decently with melee and shield boosting summoners like ARCHMAGE ARIUS, DARIA DRAGONSCALE, DRAKE OF ARNAK and BYZANTINE KITTY.

As far as abilities are concerned, GRUND can be decently complemented by abilities from other monster like Inspire, Protect, Repair, Cleanse, Tank Heal, Resurrect, Swiftness, Slow, Strengthen and Triage etc.

Defense

Best defend against GRUND is blocking its repetitive attacks using shield. Having Healers and Repairers in back ranks can help you survive its onslaught. Also application Thorns is also recommended.

MY BATTLE USING GRUND

This was a 50 mana battle with three battle rules, Fire & Protect, Tis but Scratches, and Weak Magic. Fire, Earth and Death splinters were allowed only.

Battle Link

MY LINEUP

LYANNA NATURA

I decided to go with Earth splinter as Dragon splinter was not available. I chose to play with LYANNA NATURA as she often gets the job done .

GRUND

Up front I used our hero GRUND. The plan was to go guns blazing into the battle. And which tank other than GRUND comes to mind for jobs likes that!

ARKEMIS THE BEAR

On one down I used another tank, ARKEMIS THE BEAR. ARKEMIS THE BEAR was placed there to serve as a back tank just in case GRUNG dies.

MUSHROOM SEER

On third position, I placed MUSHROOM SEER to keep enemy magic attack in check. MUSHROOM SEER can also apply position. All of these make MUSHROOM SEER a real threat for the enemy.

QUEEN MYCELIA

Next comes yet another legendary, QUEEN MYCELIA. QUEEN MYCELIA is loaded with some awesome abilities and is of course one of the most sought after legendary.

SPIRIT OF THE FOREST

On second last position, I used yet another legendary, SPIRIT OF THE FOREST to serve as a healer. SPIRIT OF THE FOREST is indeed a classic tank heal tank. This guy doesn't die that easily.

MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN

So in the last I placed MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN. The goal of MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN was to draw enemy fire so that GRUND can do its job.

BATTLE ANALYSIS

The battle went as planned. I dominated the enemy with brute melee attack. MYCELIC SLIPSPAWN drew enemy fire and also held its ground decently.

It was fun watching enemy having no chance at all. I used triple Protect so the ```GRUND``` have all the protection it needs

That will be all for today.
What do you think about the battle?
Do let me know in comments below👇
👋Adios👋