Grakk: The Unkillable Executioner

Build and Guide Grakk: The Unkillable Executioner

Cheat Sheet
General Skill Order:3>2>1

Talents: Flicker, Sprint

Items: Orb of Magic>Sonic Boots>Frost Cape>Gaia’s Standard>Shield of the Lost>Amulet of Longevity

Arcana :9 AS/HP/ARM Reds, 9 HP/MS Purples, 9 Arm/MD/CDS

Introduction
Grakk is a tank with the ability to catch out opponents with his strong Devil’s Chain ability. His stacking health passive on his chain allows him to become one of the tankiest heroes in the game while still providing very strong crowd control abilities. Devil’s Chain makes the enemy team play in a constant fear of being hooked and killed before the fight even starts. It forces the enemy team to play a more defensive type of game, otherwise they will be punished by a long CC chain, no pun intended.

Skill Build
Passive: Blood Ritual

Whenever Grakk is hit for 10% or more of his current HP he explodes for damage scaling off of AP and 2% of Max HP. Also when he dies, after 3 seconds he will explode for damage scaling with AP and 8% of Max HP.

Ability 1: Earthquake

Grakk stomps the ground dealing damage and slowing enemies for 30% for 2 seconds. Enemies that are closer take double damage and are slowed even more.

Ability 2: Devil’s Chain

Grakk throws his chain pulling in the first enemy hit dealing massive magic damage. Also when this skill has been leveled Grakk starts to gain 125 HP for every kill or assist he obtains, stacking up to 20 times.

Ability 3: World Devourer

After a short delay Grakk stuns enemies in a cone in target direction and slowly pulls them closer to them dealing constant damage. If World Devourer hits at least one enemy he gains a shield.

Take a point in Devil’s Chain as soon as the game starts so you can begin stacking the health passive as fast as you can. Grakk works very well in a duo lane with somebody that can capitalize on his cc. It is best to pair him with somebody else who has a large amount of cc or consistent damage. Don’t try to get in an Earthquake after Devil’s Chain if you plan to World Devourer after. Because of the delay, enemies can Flicker or Stun you before you are able to cast it if you choose to use Earthquake. If World Devourer is not up then after you use Devil’s Chain walk forward and use Earthquake to double its damage and slow effectiveness.

Talents
Flicker works well on Grakk because he does not have any way to catch up to a fleeing enemy. Flicker into any of his abilities can surprise enemies with a sudden stun or hard slow.

Sprint works well with Earthquake as it allows you to better stick to slippery targets. The ability to constantly walk on top of an enemy to get double damage and max slow is very strong for this CC tank.

Items
Orb of Magi: Is the strong early item as it helps with early sustain as well as giving a scaling AP and HP boost over time. Combining this item with Devil’s Chain passive allows for a very early tankiness as well as a surprising amount of damage.

Sonic Boots: Very simple boots that gives you 15% damage resistance from normal attacks. This will help him against marksmen and a majority of the melee damage dealers. Also it grants a good amount of movement speed.

Frost Cape: This item adds even more disruption to Grakk as it grants him a 30% slow after using an ability. This works well with both Devil’s Chain and Earthquake. You can use it to get in closer after Devil’s Chain or continue to slow someone after an Earthquake. It also grants a large amount of armor, health and 10% cooldown speed.

Gaia’s Standard: Another very tanky item that allows you to stay in the fight longer and get in range easier. This item grants a good amount of Magic Defense, large amount of health, as well as 5% movement speed. It also grants a passive that restores 8% of Max HP over 2 seconds after taking damage.

Shield of the Lost: Simple item that grants a large amount of armor and HP as well as providing a 30% attack speed slow to enemies around you. This item makes you a nightmare for all marksmen or bruisers who get too close or are pulled in!

Amulet of Longevity: This is a great end game item that gives Grakk his last bit of tankiness. It grants a Massive amount of HP as well as a major amount of HP/Per 5. The item also comes with two passives, One that increases all incoming healing by 20%, the other increasing Max HP by 12%. This item is what makes Grakk the tankiest hero as his Devil’s Chain Passive synergizes very well with this item.

Arcana
9x [Indomitable 3] grants 1% Attack Speed, 33.7 Max HP and 2.3 Armor each
The reason you take attack speed over ability power is that a majority of Grakk’s moves have a high base damage. The attack speed helps with getting in addition damage in between ability cooldowns. The HP and Armor also helps Grakk be tankier.

9x [Benevolence 3] gives 45 HP, 5.2HP regen per 5 and .4% Movement speed each
Another tanky Arcana that helps with sustain as well as giving a good amount of movement speed. This is just a great overall Arcana for any hero.

9x [Crusader 3] grants 2.7 Armor, 2.7 Magic Defense and .6% Cooldown Speed
While Mithril is also a good choice for this slot, Cooldown Speed is very strong for Grakk as it allows him to get off more Devil’s Chains and Earthquake making for a larger impact more often.



Early Game
Grakk works very well in a duo lane early on as he enables a lot of melees to lane with him against a range heavy lane. Try to be apart of as many fights as possible to stack up the Devil’s Chain passive. He is very strong in a roaming position as his Devil’s Chain has a very long range and can catch people unaware from a brush.

Mid Game
After you take your lane’s tower continue to roam around the map and assist other lanes with your jungler to snowball other lanes. Use Devil’s Chain to get surprise pulls on the enemy team to get a man advantage when taking towers or neutral objectives like the abyssal dragon.


Late Game
In the later stages of the game you want to try and be the main tank for your team while still trying to get picks on the enemy. Depending on how the enemy plays is determines how you play. If the enemy tries to dive your back line, try to peel with your abilities to make sure your high damage carries live long enough to get their damage off. At this point in the game you won’t be getting very many kills unless you get a miracle hook onto a Marksman or Mage in a late game fight. Your objective should be to disrupt the enemy as much as you can. Even if you die your passive forces the enemy team to reposition from your body or take massive amounts of damage!

FAQ/Tips
Try to lead your Devil’s Chain ability ever so slightly ahead of your opponent to account for any movement that may be used to dodge.

Use the long range of Devil’s Chain to catch opponents off guard by abusing bushes.

Sometimes it's better to wait for your opponent to react to getting chained before using Devourer as they may try to walk into you to avoid it.

Matchups
Assassins: Because assassins excel at  doing burst damage and not sustained damage, they are mostly ineffective against such a big HP tank like Grakk. The more burst damage they do the more your passive explosions will go off and damage them and their team. Usually they will try to ignore you which will present you the opportunity to CC them with your abilities while they dive your team.

Kriknak: Although a lot of the assassins are not very effective against you because of your passive health and resistances, Kriknak is different as he is able to hit you for 10% of your Max HP every 3 seconds allowing for him to shred you despite your health and resistances.

Raz: Unless Raz is going to kill you using exclusively Power Surge then he will eventually have to get in close allowing you use devourer on him before comboing with Devil’s Chain and Earthquake.

Mages: There is not a lot of sustained damage mages, nor any that do a massive amount of true damage so they are very susceptible to getting killed by a Grakk that pulls them. Most mages have long cooldowns that are meant to either burst you down or disrupt you. If they are forced to use these abilities on you, then you are doing your job as the main tank.

Azzen’Ka: Because of his long range and Grakk’s lack of mobility he is very easily locked down by The forgotten one. Even if you do manage to pull him in he will have time to get off Sand Wraith which will eventually stun you and interrupt Devourer.

Ignis: No disengage, no reliable stun, no very consistent damage. This is a very easy pull and kill with little to no drawback.

Ilumia: Cataclysm makes it very hard for you to get off Devourer for more than a second as she will most likely use it when she or another ally is pulled in.

Jinnar: Hooking in an ulting Jinnar can be very disastrous for you team as he will be moving fast enough that he will be able to avoid devourer and tanky enough to survive any burst that he will now be hitting everyone. Make sure to hook him before he enters Nirvana.

Natalya: Although she does not have anyway to juke or dodge Devil’s Chain, she can use Lethal Rays to ignore the pull and devourer allowing her to continue to let out massive amounts of damage. It can be very hard for Grakk to disrupt her during teamfights.

Marksmen: While Marksmen have sustained damage to burn you down, none of them have true damage to have reliant damage if you get ahead of them. Very few of them have reliable escapes to get away from you after you land a Devil’s Chain. While you do not want the enemy marksman to hit you for free, they should still fear your ability to get them out of position.

Valhein: Due to his shorter range he is an easy target for Grakk. Even if he is able to stun you out of Devourer you can easily stick to him with Earthquake. His abilities don’t help him against a tank with as much health as Grakk.

Yorn: Lower range Marksman that does not deal true damage makes him an easy target for Grakk. Also he has no way to escape or reliable way to stop Grakk from chain stunning him.

Supports: Hooking a support should be instant death as they usually do not have the resistances to escape. However if they do not get chained in they can be a very big annoyance when trying to kill your target. Most of them have a way to either stun or silence you and your team from capitalizing on the chain.

Alice: Hissy Fit can cause a lot of problems for Grakk as it can both disrupt Devourer as well as giving an enemy the chance to escape with the speed boost from Friendship. The area slow of Hissy Fit makes it hard for Grakk to stick to enemies.

Chaugnar: This hero is hard to lock down due to his multiple ways to break out of Devourer or ignore the chain pull. However he doesn’t do very much damage to Grakk, in a long fight Grakk should come out on top as he is tankier.

Tanks: Chaining in a tank is probably the least desirable target as you may do more harm than good. A lot of the more disrupt tanks have a hard time getting into the middle of your team and hooking them can give them that way in. However early on in the game hooking one of them is fine.

Cresht: Chaining in Chrest can be a death sentence for your team if he has Metamorphosis up. He becomes unbelievably tanky and you’ve done the hard part for him which is getting him into the middle of your team. Be careful when using Devil’s Chain when he is nearby.

Thane: Another dangerous hero to pull in, as it essentially helps him do his job easier. He can get an easier Avalon’s Fury which may allow him to get a big Valiant Charge onto an ally which could put them out of position.

Warriors: A lot of warriors build on the tankier side so you may just be helping them get closer to their target. However some do go more glass cannon allowing for you to quickly burst them. Make sure you know what kind of warrior you’re pulling in before you throw out your ability. Hooking a Wukong is very different from pulling a Lu Bu.

Lu bu: Using Devourer on Lu Bu when he engages is a great way to stop him from getting value out of his ultimate. A lot of his survivability is reliant on him getting off normal attacks and abilities to benefit from the major lifesteal bonus he gets. Also it is easy to predict where he will go with his Red Stallion allowing for an easy chain.

Wukong: Not a great target to pull in as it allows him to get off Monkey Business without having to use his other abilities to engage. He will most likely Shadow Clone after making the chain useless.

Zanis: Dragon’s Wrath makes Zanis a very real threat to Grakk as it grants him true damage. While you can ignore most of the warriors, Zanis poses a very real potential to focus and kill you. He can get a lot of attacks in very fast and has a way to cleanse stuns.

Zuka: One of the few warriors that builds more like an assassin. A chain on this hero is most likely certain death for him. Make sure you cc chain him however as he may try to skyfall before he dies.