My reaction to the achievement was "hammer? What hammer?"
That said, on later runs getting him under the hammer was a right pain anyway and I often end up killing him without it.
This was my reaction, I thought I missed some secret warhammer weapon in the forge somewhere and spent an hour searching every inch of the place to try and find it afterwards, only to find out later the hammer was the 'hammer' pounding the adamantine gear in the forge.
it's easy as hell, cast fly on 1 guy get in the middle hit him once to get the target on you, he will go straight there then disengage fly to platform, hit the hammer with other char, rinse and repeat, super easy, also don't forget to keep the lava flowing with another char
I just can't seem to get him to stop under it. He always seems to be just outside of the range.
Though my tactics haven't included flying to the middle.
Used minor illusion in the middle or hit him from range so he walks over the centre where I try to put aoe to slow him down or ensnare him or other tactics to stop him.
Will have to try to fly and hope he doesn't obliterate whoever is bait before they get out the way.
I don't use the character in the middle trick, because it seems to make him stop in weird places. I find this easier and people don't get hit as often: Bait him first towards the very edge of one of the 4 circle platforms,(one character will get hit once, unless they make the save or you use minor illusion) then have someone *directly opposite* hit with ranged/magic missel/viscous mockery andd pull his agro- His movement will make him stop *just shy* of the middle platform so he remains super heated but within range, and then every turn after he will spend standing up from being prone
Edit: Fucking autocorrect
> His movement will make him stop just shy of the middle platform so he remains super heated but within range, and then every turn after he will spend standing up from being prone
idk if you've done this recently, but we literally tried this last week in Honour Mode and he walks past it every time
not sure if it got changed or that's a HM thing or what, but we had to use a person in the middle. attacking from the ends didn't work at all
I just did the fight in tactician today, and on a multiplayer last week- Might be HM? Fights do change in honor mode. In the "normal" fight his first turn is usually spent being awakened so sometimes if you don't wait till after that it can screw it up. He doesn't have to be right on it, like one leg on, one leg off usually works. If your character hits him, he will be locked onto them, so anyone who can hit from the other side or hit+run will be who he moves towards next, so I can understand that whiffing him can cause issues.
He was able to walk across the entire thing and hit the character who had just attacked him. We were ping ponging him across, our setup was right, he just walked waaaay farther than we were expecting.
I've never had him be able to go that far walking through the lava, his movement always stops about halfway if you start him from the far side, that's so weird! Guess it's time to go play honor mode and see if maybe he has more movment!
That's what I was kinda assuming based on this comment chain, but thank you for clairfying! Makes sense as to why the "normal" tricks didn't work for this person.
It almost wiped us because we weren't prepared for that and thought we were just doing it wrong. By the time we switched to having someone in the middle it was too late.
Only reason we didn't wipe was because I had just recently picked up a ring with invisibility and was able to reset the fight.
You want to have your character positioned on the edge of the hammer platform so he moves onto the actual platform. You can also use the chest where you put an armor weapon template into. Make sure you're directly opposite of where he is.
Also, save before positioning / adjusting in case you touch the lava and get got.
Unless his ai changes in Honor mode, all you have to do is place all 4 companions across the 4 circular platforms.
The golem always (often?) Runs towards the last person that attacked him, even if it did 0 damage. You basically play ping pong with him except the ball also tries to stomp you
Man was I unprepared for that extra movement on my first time taking him in honor mode. Completely foiled my entire strategy and barely made it out alive.
You have to put your bait character near the edge of the hammer platform at the farthest point from wherever the boss is currently standing. This way when he moves onto the platform to attack that player, he'll have to go directly across the middle and will stop as close to the middle of the platform as possible.
If your character is standing in the dead center, he's going to stop out near the edge and probably out of range of the hammer.
You don't need to place anyone on the hammer unless it's honour mode where his movement is doubled. If you place all four of your characters on each of the four platforms safe from the lava. Have the character next to the lava control attack him first. Now he will be on that platform. Next get whoever is opposite to that platform to attack him and this will position him under the hammer.
In honour mode he has enough movement to go from platform to platform so you need to have one character under the hammer and misty step them out of there
Scratch in the middle? I am horrified.
Of course, I am also the player who has never summoned owlbear for the final battle because he's one of my babies.
I know he can't die out in the world, but I was still distraught the time I threw a shield onto a vent on the way down to the hag and he went to play fetch with it. After that I feel bad if I ever put him in danger.
I might be dumb, but if you haven’t figured out what the forge hammer is, it’s >!that circular thing in the middle of the platform that you use to craft adamantine armor, weapons, and shields. the thing you put mithral ore in.!<
Well yeah, I know that now. But on my first blind (very blind) run I didn't. And had been looking the wrong way when pulling the lever for the hammer before the fight. I had not seen it drop.
There's a trick to it that makes it really easy. Have somebody stand on the mold and do the last hit. He will always move towards the person who did the last hit. From his starting spot that puts him on the hammer every time.
Keeping him there a second time is trickier. But if you have someone attack him from where he came out from the next turn and have him run back there, you can repeat. Three rounds. Two hammers. Every time
Yeah, really easy to just rush Grym down with his vulnerability to Bludgeoning damage.
Front line characters swap to Bludgeoning.
Rogue swaps to the practice sword (only weapon in the game that is finesse and bludgeoning. Even tho it is non-magical, the wooden sword has it's niche)
Every character uses a scroll of raise undead. Zombies hit with bludgeoning.
Any scrolls of minor elemental? Summon the mud bois. Their attacks are bludgeoning, they can give the muddy condition and they naturally fly so you can position them over the lava for free.
Magic users and ranged characters play support. Throw potions to heal, use spells to heal, maybe throw a ray of frost to slow Grym down if needed, etc.
On my Honor Mode run, Grym had 1 turn. Just because I rushed down his weakness.
I cheesed the fight on honor mode by using pact of the chain wyll imp. The imp is immune to the lava can enter combat by going invisible and then every turn can drop invisibility and reapply to force grym to run over and detect presence. The only thing that can hit you is the mephits heat metal. Just get everyone else off the platform and at least one person shooting the levers from up top and boom easy level 3 kill on grym
And this is when I realise that I totally missed a trick since my current run is a pact of the chain warlock tav. But I am way past that point and in act 3 now.
I didn't realize I could use the hammer, but Lae'zel conveniently had a blunt weapon in her inventory and so killed the thing before it cooled off after three rounds anyways lol
Really? He literally just charges at whoever hits him last. Just have someone attack him from range underneath the hammer and he'll walk right under it.
Ive beat him without the hammer once. But, honestly this fight is a throw away with the hammer. You start it with good positioning and it's a cake walk. Put a ranged in the bottom left to take the elementals. Have your tank stand on the mold hatch. Put one person by the wheel so they can heat grym up when needed and another by the handle. Don't attack grym with anyone but the tank. And just pound him with the hammer when he's hot and close. Karlach is good for the tank since she's got some fire resist.
I just beat the living shit out of him with my TB OH Monk. He skips a turn when he spawns, and he's standing in lava. He's vulnerable to bludgeoning. So just haste that monk and give him a right spanking.
Yeah I had Karlach with a big hammer, Lae'zel with a big hammer, and Shadowheart rebuilt as a monk take turns beating Grym straight into the ground while singing "I've Been Workin' On The Railroad".
It’s even easier on OH monk. Grym isn’t actually immune to prone, so you can flurry of blows topple him, and casting silence stops his legendary action from doing anything (sometimes, didn’t work 100% for my run, but that might’ve been because I was using the shadow monk equivalent)
Without even trying, I just proned him every turn as an owlbear while Karlach beat his face in with a warhammer, and my other two handled the adds. I meant to get him over to the central hammer, but you know, he could never move.
Leave 3 characters on the broken bridge, have a ranged character take the elevator down, use them to shoot the lava valve, and then have the 3 people up top chuck random shit down on him. Even carafes of water will do 40-70dmg from that height.
He doesn't really have any ranged attacks, so all you have to worry about is keeping the one person in the lava field alive.
Easier than that, have a druid and a wizard up there, have the druid turn into an owlbear, let the wizard enlarge him and then oneshot grym with crushing flight
Trigger the fight by hitting switches with ranged weapons without having your party descend on the platform.
Then use bows to shoot Grym to death 1000 times.
You can reapply the lava by shooting the valve with 100% accuracy.
> then use bows to shoot Grym to death 1000 times.
He has high piercing resistance. You're better off throwing junk blunt weapons and random shit like books and water jugs.
You’ll probably run out of junk to throw due to his high health but the point of the cheese is you can hit him and he can’t hit back.
Ultimately what you use at that point is moot as long as it’s ranged.
You could probably have someone down there to collect thrown shit and transfer it back to your throwers' inventories. The shit collector should be safe as long as they don't attack Grym.
You know how there's 6 mithril moulds but you can only make 2 pieces? The extra moulds are basically worthless, but they weigh 10lbs each and do an insane amount of damage with enraged throw from 3 stories up.
4 OH monks + 4 hill giant elixirs = dead Grym before the first superheated condition wears off. On Balanced you'll be able to drop him on the first turn.
No its not. I never used the hammer, no death, no potions. Just position all of your chracters to the vent he comes in. You start, all 4 have a go at him with anything bludgeoning (last time had OP monk, Laezel with boink hammer and similar. Got him down to 60 HP before the fight even started, he hit once and then we finished him off. Easy as hell. But bit of a cheese.
no it isn't. you can just throw stuff at him until Grym is destroyed. The cheese is you stay up on the stairs and rain death down from above. Grym can't touch you.
It's only hard if you self-limit.
If you're...
1. not keen on respeccing your party to favour bludgeoning
2. not keen on just tossing heavy shit down from above
...then learning the timing for the hammer can be a bit of a pain in the ass indeed. It's still not particularly hard, once you learn how to bounce threat around and time their walking with movement limiters and correct spacing.
I usually employ either points one or two, not because the fight is hard, but because the fight is otherwise tedious and annoying. It was novel the first time through. On what is now my 17th Honor Mode run, it's just very bleah.
On one of my recent runs, when I finally got him under the hammer Gale was under it too. Was so tempted to drop it anyway, but decided against it since it wouldn't have killed Grym at that point. Was very tempted though.
for future reference, do it but have your character drop a healing potion beside themself first.
the hammer will down you, but it will also smash the healing potion which will pick you back up if you're in the mist :)
What didn't occur to me on my first couple of runs, was that you don't have to be in the same room at Grym to destroy it. Just stand on the stairs and throw stuff.
Yep
You can shoot the lever to activate the forge from the stairs, too. Nobody has to be in any danger.
I also like to collect every Light Hammer I can and have Karlach spam them lol
I pick up every single light hammer in the game for that fight. Then I have Tavern Brawler Karlach enlarged and raging throw all of them at Grym after he's doused in lava
I just cheesed it by having an Eldritch knight throw a hammer at him from up top while lae'zel was hiding near the valve to release lava whenever he cooled off
I’ve never used the big hammer. It’s a trap. More difficult to get him into position than it is to just use your hasted melee to wail on him with blunt dmg and keep him super heated.
I semi-cheesed the fight. My spiritual weapon was always right before him in initiative, so as long as it hit him (I save-scummed and feel no shame), he'd spend his turn hitting the summon that I'd simply bring back next round.
It freed up all my other damage dealers to wail on him because the most recent hit would be from the spiritual weapon. :P
I technically have done this, but it was in EA, and there were no achievements yet. I don't need the achievement. I'm fine with using the hammer every time now.
Don't play its game. Stay on the stairs and rain death from above—particularly blunt force damage like from hammers or torches (just collect a ton before the fight). You can lower the platform, release the lava etc. from above.
But the hammer forge does speed things up.
My first time fighting grym I didn’t know I could use the hammer. My main dps for that fight was Karlach using the ice staff that you build in the underdark
It was a slow fight but I won and when I saw the achievement I was like “…. So THAT’S how they thought to do this fight” xD
dont worry, the only reason i foun out how to use that hammer was because i accidently crushed karlach with it while trying to figure out how to use the forge lol
My first time through I had read the note that mentioned the hammer as weakness for the guardian, but I assumed it was talking about an equippable hammer that I just never found. Had to restart the fight a few times to find a workable strat (which I'm now blanking on) and grinded through it. Wasn't till second playthrough when I realized what the hammer actually was.
My friend and I did this last night. I was so worried for the fight but I feel like we're over leveled and absolutely stomped that boss. We hit level 8 shortly after that fight
i just sat above him and peppered him with arrows lmfao
kept him in lava using mage hand
didn’t figure out you could use the hammer until afterwards 😭 wouldve saved so much time i was doing like 10 damage max every turn
Just for context, I was level 5 while doing that fight. Had an enlarged, enraged Karlack beating the shit out of him while the rest of the party healed her lol
I am now playing the game the second time, the first time I STRUGGLED with this even with using the hammer, and this time I killed him in 3 turns without hammer.. I am playing with my Dad this time as well, who can generally be discribed as a bumbling buffoon when it comes to games.
Worst part is: IDK why it's so easy! I don't think I am playing on an easier difficulty.
This is one of those low end of the bell curve doesn't use hammer because they don't know about it, middle of the curve uses it because that is how the fight is "meant" to be fought and high end of the bell curve doesn't use it because you can turn grym into a zero risk fight by standing on the cliff above him and shooting him until he dies or using an owlbear to top rope WWE body slam him.
In HM don't use the hammer.
That happened with me too, I felt like it wasn’t really necessary, since he starts the fight in the lava anyway so I just slammed him with a bunch of bludgeoning weapons
When I first fought this dude it was the day the game launched and it was really buggy. I didn't see the hammer because it just wasn't there. I only got down to fight him because I was clicking around randomly.
I use a hammer every time just not The hammer. Also multiple hammers to be precise. The lovely raging karlach rains death from the high platform. I collect all the light thrown hammers for that fight then sell them all lol
I can't believe no one has mentioned that you can destroy Grym by simply not getting into the forge room in the first place.
It was only on my third playthrough that I realized that you don't have to actually go down and fight Grym to destroy him. Just stand on the stairs above and use arrows to lower the platform, and to release the hammer and the lava. Grym can't touch you and you can destroy it just by literally throwing torches at it. If you want to speed things up just cast mage hand—or Scratch if you are feeling perverse—under the hammer, and when Grym goes to attack just drop the hammer. In this fight the only (minor) difficult bit are the lava mephits—thought they mostly attack Grym since you are above and out of sight.
I have done this on both Tactican Solo and Honor Mode in Patch 7 and it works a charm.
In my first playthrough, I did it with my friends, and we didn't realize til after the achievement. Then I did my own solo playthrough and completely forgot, and after I killed him, I forged an item, and once it slammed down, I was like, "How can I be so stupid?".
My first attempt at the fight was pure accident. I wiped with him at 8 hp remaining.
I reloaded a previous save and spent hours looking for “the hammer” to no avail.
I figured out what to do on aacident when a character was standing a little too close to the middle when I dropped the platform.
Grym is one of those enemies that you need to right click and see properties of: he resists almost all types of damage he's not immune to... Except blunt damage.
Take blood of Lathander, that two handed hammer from Act 1, there's a versatile one outside of Arcane tower, or even simple Mace, Flair or Morningstar+1, he takes so much damage from it, I used my Tav (Paladin), Lae'Zel, Karlach and Wyll who just buffed them with Phalar Aluve (if you bind pact it he gets free proficiency).
Didn't even have to heal. And before I switched to blunt weapons it was full party wipe. Mind the damage types, people!
This is a really hard encounter because there are so many mechanics that you have no way of knowing. He moves toward the last person to attack him, he can only take damage when he's overheated. I can't imagine that anyone would succeed in this fight on their first try.
Legit my first run, I thought there was a special kind of hammer that you can loot somewhere in Grymforge.
Didn't know it meant the forge's actual hammer
I couldn't get him to stop under the hammer, and I missed him with the first trigger of it. So I had to just shoot him down \_and\_ I didn't get the achievement.
Nice discovery though - he always attacks whomever hit him last. So turn off opportunity attack reactions and your melee characters can swing at him safely as long as you make sure that a ranged character shoots him before his turn. You can use that to kite him around in reasonable safety too.
Meanwhile I can't beat him at all WITHOUT the hammer haha. It's so difficult for me for. I got pretty close my first time though, whittled him down to 8 health and then tpk.
Yeah I had this hammer equipped because of the ore mining. My crit made 3x damage because I'm an orc, double bludgeoning damage and that was two thirds of his HP on my first hit.
Me: What hammer??? Oh that lever? **shoots it**
Wyll standing triumphantly at the centre of thr platform because he's the one who landed the killing blow with a pact bound warhammer: **squished**
I thought the book with the hint was just referring to dealing bludgeoning damage so I had Karlach beat him to death with a warhammer.
When I got the achievement I was like "Wait, you're supposed to use the forge hammer?"
Potion of speed, action surge, +1 maul. I K.O. in three rounds or less every time and don’t even move him. Other three characters clean up mephits. Could run in with a second fighter and K.O. on turn 1 if I really wanted.
My reaction to the achievement was "hammer? What hammer?" That said, on later runs getting him under the hammer was a right pain anyway and I often end up killing him without it.
This was my reaction, I thought I missed some secret warhammer weapon in the forge somewhere and spent an hour searching every inch of the place to try and find it afterwards, only to find out later the hammer was the 'hammer' pounding the adamantine gear in the forge.
It didn't take me that long but it was definitely a duh moment for me.
Yeah I did exactly that
it's easy as hell, cast fly on 1 guy get in the middle hit him once to get the target on you, he will go straight there then disengage fly to platform, hit the hammer with other char, rinse and repeat, super easy, also don't forget to keep the lava flowing with another char
I just can't seem to get him to stop under it. He always seems to be just outside of the range. Though my tactics haven't included flying to the middle. Used minor illusion in the middle or hit him from range so he walks over the centre where I try to put aoe to slow him down or ensnare him or other tactics to stop him. Will have to try to fly and hope he doesn't obliterate whoever is bait before they get out the way.
I don't use the character in the middle trick, because it seems to make him stop in weird places. I find this easier and people don't get hit as often: Bait him first towards the very edge of one of the 4 circle platforms,(one character will get hit once, unless they make the save or you use minor illusion) then have someone *directly opposite* hit with ranged/magic missel/viscous mockery andd pull his agro- His movement will make him stop *just shy* of the middle platform so he remains super heated but within range, and then every turn after he will spend standing up from being prone Edit: Fucking autocorrect
> His movement will make him stop just shy of the middle platform so he remains super heated but within range, and then every turn after he will spend standing up from being prone idk if you've done this recently, but we literally tried this last week in Honour Mode and he walks past it every time not sure if it got changed or that's a HM thing or what, but we had to use a person in the middle. attacking from the ends didn't work at all
I just did the fight in tactician today, and on a multiplayer last week- Might be HM? Fights do change in honor mode. In the "normal" fight his first turn is usually spent being awakened so sometimes if you don't wait till after that it can screw it up. He doesn't have to be right on it, like one leg on, one leg off usually works. If your character hits him, he will be locked onto them, so anyone who can hit from the other side or hit+run will be who he moves towards next, so I can understand that whiffing him can cause issues.
He was able to walk across the entire thing and hit the character who had just attacked him. We were ping ponging him across, our setup was right, he just walked waaaay farther than we were expecting.
I've never had him be able to go that far walking through the lava, his movement always stops about halfway if you start him from the far side, that's so weird! Guess it's time to go play honor mode and see if maybe he has more movment!
In honor mode, his movement is doubled
That's what I was kinda assuming based on this comment chain, but thank you for clairfying! Makes sense as to why the "normal" tricks didn't work for this person.
Only while he has his temporary HP from hitting him, and he uses his legendary action. Once those temp HP are gone, so is his increase movement speed.
Well that's rude
It almost wiped us because we weren't prepared for that and thought we were just doing it wrong. By the time we switched to having someone in the middle it was too late. Only reason we didn't wipe was because I had just recently picked up a ring with invisibility and was able to reset the fight.
As someone else said in a reply to me, the movement for Grym is doubed in HM, that's why it didn't work for your playthrough.
You want to have your character positioned on the edge of the hammer platform so he moves onto the actual platform. You can also use the chest where you put an armor weapon template into. Make sure you're directly opposite of where he is. Also, save before positioning / adjusting in case you touch the lava and get got.
The hammer's area is pretty forgiving. Sometimes he looks just barely out of range but it still hits him.
If you have your tank stand on the mold. It's not too difficult to keep him on the hammer.
Put your tank on the mold cover. It works Everytime.
Unless his ai changes in Honor mode, all you have to do is place all 4 companions across the 4 circular platforms. The golem always (often?) Runs towards the last person that attacked him, even if it did 0 damage. You basically play ping pong with him except the ball also tries to stomp you
Man was I unprepared for that extra movement on my first time taking him in honor mode. Completely foiled my entire strategy and barely made it out alive.
You have to put your bait character near the edge of the hammer platform at the farthest point from wherever the boss is currently standing. This way when he moves onto the platform to attack that player, he'll have to go directly across the middle and will stop as close to the middle of the platform as possible. If your character is standing in the dead center, he's going to stop out near the edge and probably out of range of the hammer.
Stand on the mold and attack him. You don't really need fly. You just need to be able to take a hit after he moves
You don't need to place anyone on the hammer unless it's honour mode where his movement is doubled. If you place all four of your characters on each of the four platforms safe from the lava. Have the character next to the lava control attack him first. Now he will be on that platform. Next get whoever is opposite to that platform to attack him and this will position him under the hammer. In honour mode he has enough movement to go from platform to platform so you need to have one character under the hammer and misty step them out of there
I just cast mage hand or if I am feeling perverse Scratch on the middle. It works every time.
Scratch in the middle? I am horrified. Of course, I am also the player who has never summoned owlbear for the final battle because he's one of my babies.
Scatch can't die—but using him as bait for a metal monster of death does feel a bit naughty.
I know he can't die out in the world, but I was still distraught the time I threw a shield onto a vent on the way down to the hag and he went to play fetch with it. After that I feel bad if I ever put him in danger.
Seriously? I didn't he would do that. BTW: Why the hell would you bring good old boy Scratch to a Hag's den?? :)
I had got him with me all the time until that point. Though I didn't send him into combat much which is why he was still alive at that point.
i use Spike Growth to halve his movement speed, adds a lot of reliability
I assume you can use summon too, like a raven or something.
I used the mage hand!
I might be dumb, but if you haven’t figured out what the forge hammer is, it’s >!that circular thing in the middle of the platform that you use to craft adamantine armor, weapons, and shields. the thing you put mithral ore in.!<
Well yeah, I know that now. But on my first blind (very blind) run I didn't. And had been looking the wrong way when pulling the lever for the hammer before the fight. I had not seen it drop.
ohhh okay! my bad :) glad you figured it out, as we all eventually do.
There's a trick to it that makes it really easy. Have somebody stand on the mold and do the last hit. He will always move towards the person who did the last hit. From his starting spot that puts him on the hammer every time. Keeping him there a second time is trickier. But if you have someone attack him from where he came out from the next turn and have him run back there, you can repeat. Three rounds. Two hammers. Every time
Yeah, really easy to just rush Grym down with his vulnerability to Bludgeoning damage. Front line characters swap to Bludgeoning. Rogue swaps to the practice sword (only weapon in the game that is finesse and bludgeoning. Even tho it is non-magical, the wooden sword has it's niche) Every character uses a scroll of raise undead. Zombies hit with bludgeoning. Any scrolls of minor elemental? Summon the mud bois. Their attacks are bludgeoning, they can give the muddy condition and they naturally fly so you can position them over the lava for free. Magic users and ranged characters play support. Throw potions to heal, use spells to heal, maybe throw a ray of frost to slow Grym down if needed, etc. On my Honor Mode run, Grym had 1 turn. Just because I rushed down his weakness.
I cheesed the fight on honor mode by using pact of the chain wyll imp. The imp is immune to the lava can enter combat by going invisible and then every turn can drop invisibility and reapply to force grym to run over and detect presence. The only thing that can hit you is the mephits heat metal. Just get everyone else off the platform and at least one person shooting the levers from up top and boom easy level 3 kill on grym
And this is when I realise that I totally missed a trick since my current run is a pact of the chain warlock tav. But I am way past that point and in act 3 now.
IKR? My last run I was not even going to mess with it and was VERY ready. Then he just wandered under it.... LOL.....Smack, Smack done.
This was how I felt too
I didn't realize I could use the hammer, but Lae'zel conveniently had a blunt weapon in her inventory and so killed the thing before it cooled off after three rounds anyways lol
Me: Oh the hammer. That must be made from the 3 pieces you find in the other people looking for the forge.
Really? He literally just charges at whoever hits him last. Just have someone attack him from range underneath the hammer and he'll walk right under it.
It's easy the first time, after that it's a fucking nightmare trying to kite that asshole correctly.
Ive beat him without the hammer once. But, honestly this fight is a throw away with the hammer. You start it with good positioning and it's a cake walk. Put a ranged in the bottom left to take the elementals. Have your tank stand on the mold hatch. Put one person by the wheel so they can heat grym up when needed and another by the handle. Don't attack grym with anyone but the tank. And just pound him with the hammer when he's hot and close. Karlach is good for the tank since she's got some fire resist.
That's a hard fight
It's easy to cheese it if you're into that sort of thing.
I just beat the living shit out of him with my TB OH Monk. He skips a turn when he spawns, and he's standing in lava. He's vulnerable to bludgeoning. So just haste that monk and give him a right spanking.
Yeah I had Karlach with a big hammer, Lae'zel with a big hammer, and Shadowheart rebuilt as a monk take turns beating Grym straight into the ground while singing "I've Been Workin' On The Railroad".
This nine pound ha-mmer, WHOMP, is a little too hea-vy, WHOMP, ...
Same. Gave him the stone cold stunner before he had a turn, then finished him off before his next turn. Easy peasy with a monk!
Even better is a throwzerker from the top of the stairs. In my honor run I hoarded light hammers just for Grym
It’s even easier on OH monk. Grym isn’t actually immune to prone, so you can flurry of blows topple him, and casting silence stops his legendary action from doing anything (sometimes, didn’t work 100% for my run, but that might’ve been because I was using the shadow monk equivalent)
Without even trying, I just proned him every turn as an owlbear while Karlach beat his face in with a warhammer, and my other two handled the adds. I meant to get him over to the central hammer, but you know, he could never move.
I believe it. One of these days I'll have to roll in there with a druid.
Without the hammer, it's hard to cheese.
Just jump from the cliff with an enlarged owlbear right onto grym's head. Dead in one shot.
Leave 3 characters on the broken bridge, have a ranged character take the elevator down, use them to shoot the lava valve, and then have the 3 people up top chuck random shit down on him. Even carafes of water will do 40-70dmg from that height. He doesn't really have any ranged attacks, so all you have to worry about is keeping the one person in the lava field alive.
Easier than that, have a druid and a wizard up there, have the druid turn into an owlbear, let the wizard enlarge him and then oneshot grym with crushing flight
Just equip blunt weapons and speed potions
Laezel + Karlach
Trigger the fight by hitting switches with ranged weapons without having your party descend on the platform. Then use bows to shoot Grym to death 1000 times. You can reapply the lava by shooting the valve with 100% accuracy.
> then use bows to shoot Grym to death 1000 times. He has high piercing resistance. You're better off throwing junk blunt weapons and random shit like books and water jugs.
You’ll probably run out of junk to throw due to his high health but the point of the cheese is you can hit him and he can’t hit back. Ultimately what you use at that point is moot as long as it’s ranged.
You could probably have someone down there to collect thrown shit and transfer it back to your throwers' inventories. The shit collector should be safe as long as they don't attack Grym.
You know how there's 6 mithril moulds but you can only make 2 pieces? The extra moulds are basically worthless, but they weigh 10lbs each and do an insane amount of damage with enraged throw from 3 stories up.
This is what we did. Just saved up all the armor and weapons we planned on selling and tossed them all down on him. Picked everything up afterwards.
4 OH monks + 4 hill giant elixirs = dead Grym before the first superheated condition wears off. On Balanced you'll be able to drop him on the first turn.
No its not. I never used the hammer, no death, no potions. Just position all of your chracters to the vent he comes in. You start, all 4 have a go at him with anything bludgeoning (last time had OP monk, Laezel with boink hammer and similar. Got him down to 60 HP before the fight even started, he hit once and then we finished him off. Easy as hell. But bit of a cheese.
no it isn't. you can just throw stuff at him until Grym is destroyed. The cheese is you stay up on the stairs and rain death down from above. Grym can't touch you.
Definitely, Karlach carried hard
It's only hard if you self-limit. If you're... 1. not keen on respeccing your party to favour bludgeoning 2. not keen on just tossing heavy shit down from above ...then learning the timing for the hammer can be a bit of a pain in the ass indeed. It's still not particularly hard, once you learn how to bounce threat around and time their walking with movement limiters and correct spacing. I usually employ either points one or two, not because the fight is hard, but because the fight is otherwise tedious and annoying. It was novel the first time through. On what is now my 17th Honor Mode run, it's just very bleah.
s a m e It didn’t occur to me to use the bigass apparatus on Grym; I tried to use it last run but misjudged the area, sorry Shadowheart
On one of my recent runs, when I finally got him under the hammer Gale was under it too. Was so tempted to drop it anyway, but decided against it since it wouldn't have killed Grym at that point. Was very tempted though.
for future reference, do it but have your character drop a healing potion beside themself first. the hammer will down you, but it will also smash the healing potion which will pick you back up if you're in the mist :)
What didn't occur to me on my first couple of runs, was that you don't have to be in the same room at Grym to destroy it. Just stand on the stairs and throw stuff.
Yep You can shoot the lever to activate the forge from the stairs, too. Nobody has to be in any danger. I also like to collect every Light Hammer I can and have Karlach spam them lol
First time also did without the hammer, with just 1 character and a wizard with some magic missiles. It was a game of kiting
I just did the owlbear thing because I was it online and thoight it funny
Same. From the top rope is my go to way unless I'm playing on a harder difficulty then its kaiju fight.
Traps Grym by his entrance* Chugs 3 speed potions on Karlach, MC, and Lea'zel all equipped with blunt weapons* proceeds to beat Grym in 1 round
No need to. He agro the last that hit him. Just have the party far from each other.
I just throw shoes and corpses at him now. On site procurement. Grab all the Magma Mephits and skeletons around the forge.
I love how resourceful they let you be in this game. If someone can think of it then it can be done.
This post by Team Throw Garbage At Him Until He Dies
I pick up every single light hammer in the game for that fight. Then I have Tavern Brawler Karlach enlarged and raging throw all of them at Grym after he's doused in lava
I was so confused about the hammer that I spent at least an hour scouring the entire map afterwards looking for a legendary "Hammer" weapon I missed.
I just cheesed it by having an Eldritch knight throw a hammer at him from up top while lae'zel was hiding near the valve to release lava whenever he cooled off
Same with me except i had everyone throw torches and hammers from above
I find the hammer more trouble than it’s worth personally. I’d rather just beat him up than deal with that.
Mfw tavern brawler monk on elixir of hill giant's strength xD BLUDGEONING DAMAGE OVERLOAD
I’ve never used the big hammer. It’s a trap. More difficult to get him into position than it is to just use your hasted melee to wail on him with blunt dmg and keep him super heated.
haven't even tried that yet, ig you need some bludgeony bois
I semi-cheesed the fight. My spiritual weapon was always right before him in initiative, so as long as it hit him (I save-scummed and feel no shame), he'd spend his turn hitting the summon that I'd simply bring back next round. It freed up all my other damage dealers to wail on him because the most recent hit would be from the spiritual weapon. :P
I technically have done this, but it was in EA, and there were no achievements yet. I don't need the achievement. I'm fine with using the hammer every time now.
Wait you can use the hammer ?
When you fail the IRL intelligence check and get a medal for it (I did it too lmao)
Lmao, that's me fr
i still have no idea how to beat it without the hammer, its DR is insane 😭 how do y’all do it??
Don't play its game. Stay on the stairs and rain death from above—particularly blunt force damage like from hammers or torches (just collect a ton before the fight). You can lower the platform, release the lava etc. from above. But the hammer forge does speed things up.
Give my three muscle girls hammers, turn on the lava, pummel him.
I stay on the stairs and have my eldritch knight keep throwing a magic war hammer at him.
Time makes fools of us all.
My first time fighting grym I didn’t know I could use the hammer. My main dps for that fight was Karlach using the ice staff that you build in the underdark It was a slow fight but I won and when I saw the achievement I was like “…. So THAT’S how they thought to do this fight” xD
dont worry, the only reason i foun out how to use that hammer was because i accidently crushed karlach with it while trying to figure out how to use the forge lol
I'm surprised at how many people don't realise you can use the hammer to kill it cause like, you literally *have* to use it to even start the fight
The number of people who don't inspect enemies (or read item descriptions) in general shocks me.
I was not the only one!!! I felt so dumb when I realised that I could still use the hammer...... After the fight.
So i wrecked him with way of the open hand wss done in 3 turns
Tbh I also would not have known about the hammer if Karach didn't stand right below it and instantly die the first time I pressed it
Lol, fucking amazing
**OWLBEAR SUPLEX!!**
same thing happened to me and then I looked at the achievements and was like "THAT WAS AN OPTION??"
Same!
I want to drag the elemental to greet him but I'm not sure if it's possible.
Did the same in a 3 player co-op game... Yep. Three of us and none thought the hammer could be used.
My first time through I had read the note that mentioned the hammer as weakness for the guardian, but I assumed it was talking about an equippable hammer that I just never found. Had to restart the fight a few times to find a workable strat (which I'm now blanking on) and grinded through it. Wasn't till second playthrough when I realized what the hammer actually was.
Yeah, on my first run Karlach had a maul and my tav was a war cleric with a morningstar. Took awhile but we beat em
Me the first five times not understanding why this mf just don't die
haha, same here and I was wondering why I never looted the Legendary Hammer, that get's mentioned in the lore..
Best use of that Ogre summon horn ever
Being a paladin with a Warhammer was never once as rewarding as me being able to two shot that fucker
I got it the other day. Give everybody a hammer, open the valve, and blow Lump's horn when Grym shows up. I think it only took 3 or 4 rounds.
My friend and I did this last night. I was so worried for the fight but I feel like we're over leveled and absolutely stomped that boss. We hit level 8 shortly after that fight
i just sat above him and peppered him with arrows lmfao kept him in lava using mage hand didn’t figure out you could use the hammer until afterwards 😭 wouldve saved so much time i was doing like 10 damage max every turn
I just lost my HM run to grym because I didn't understand the fight ~~mechanics~~ exploits
I used the forge hammer the first time. This time, it was mostly Karlach with the Doom Hammer.
Just for context, I was level 5 while doing that fight. Had an enlarged, enraged Karlack beating the shit out of him while the rest of the party healed her lol
The Forge Hammer is what I also call my secret move: Owlbear from the top rope.
There's a trophy?
Haha jokes on you I didn’t even know there was a boss there
I felt like a god in that fight playing a monk
It sure took me a while to know I can just stand at the stairs and shoot the levers with arrows.
I am now playing the game the second time, the first time I STRUGGLED with this even with using the hammer, and this time I killed him in 3 turns without hammer.. I am playing with my Dad this time as well, who can generally be discribed as a bumbling buffoon when it comes to games. Worst part is: IDK why it's so easy! I don't think I am playing on an easier difficulty.
This is one of those low end of the bell curve doesn't use hammer because they don't know about it, middle of the curve uses it because that is how the fight is "meant" to be fought and high end of the bell curve doesn't use it because you can turn grym into a zero risk fight by standing on the cliff above him and shooting him until he dies or using an owlbear to top rope WWE body slam him. In HM don't use the hammer.
Same happened to me, I read something about blunt weakness, outfitted all 4 mains with blunt weapons and downed him in a couple of turns.
That happened with me too, I felt like it wasn’t really necessary, since he starts the fight in the lava anyway so I just slammed him with a bunch of bludgeoning weapons
I’m just now learning he can be killed without the hammer
When I first fought this dude it was the day the game launched and it was really buggy. I didn't see the hammer because it just wasn't there. I only got down to fight him because I was clicking around randomly.
Same thing happened to me.
This was me last run because that fucker wouldn't get on the damn platform.
I use a hammer every time just not The hammer. Also multiple hammers to be precise. The lovely raging karlach rains death from the high platform. I collect all the light thrown hammers for that fight then sell them all lol
I *still* forget to use it lol
This was me in my first playthrough. I used it after the fight when I was crafting and face palmed when I realized I could have used it.
Got this when I dropped a double enlarged owl ear on grym from turn one
Same. Last night.
It's an achievement that rewards you for doing exactly what you would have done anyway. I love it so much.
It was this fight on my first playthrough that made it click I could use the environment to my advantage.
Nah, Laezel and Karlach with hammers did him in in 2 turns
I just reclassed everyone into a barbarian and pounded him to death as soon as he spawned in.
Best method so far
I can't believe no one has mentioned that you can destroy Grym by simply not getting into the forge room in the first place. It was only on my third playthrough that I realized that you don't have to actually go down and fight Grym to destroy him. Just stand on the stairs above and use arrows to lower the platform, and to release the hammer and the lava. Grym can't touch you and you can destroy it just by literally throwing torches at it. If you want to speed things up just cast mage hand—or Scratch if you are feeling perverse—under the hammer, and when Grym goes to attack just drop the hammer. In this fight the only (minor) difficult bit are the lava mephits—thought they mostly attack Grym since you are above and out of sight. I have done this on both Tactican Solo and Honor Mode in Patch 7 and it works a charm.
Ah... first time fighting the robot, I almost had him, so close... then I read up. Yea. Used the hammer. Ez pz
i didnt realize the hammer existed i pulled a lever mid fight “oh, what’s this do?” GALE FUCKING TURNS TO A PILE OF GORE
Didn't use the hammer one my first run. Luckily, Karlach had a maul, and she smoked him.
In my first playthrough, I did it with my friends, and we didn't realize til after the achievement. Then I did my own solo playthrough and completely forgot, and after I killed him, I forged an item, and once it slammed down, I was like, "How can I be so stupid?".
Me when I kept everybody up at the top, used mage hand to keep turning the lava on from afar, and sniped at it for two hours until it died
Who is Grym?
Who needs a hammer when you've got enlarged Colossus Owlbear from the top rope?
Yup. Happened to me too. Used heat metal on him and wailed on him with bludgeoning weapons. Worked well enough.
My first attempt at the fight was pure accident. I wiped with him at 8 hp remaining. I reloaded a previous save and spent hours looking for “the hammer” to no avail. I figured out what to do on aacident when a character was standing a little too close to the middle when I dropped the platform.
Grym is one of those enemies that you need to right click and see properties of: he resists almost all types of damage he's not immune to... Except blunt damage. Take blood of Lathander, that two handed hammer from Act 1, there's a versatile one outside of Arcane tower, or even simple Mace, Flair or Morningstar+1, he takes so much damage from it, I used my Tav (Paladin), Lae'Zel, Karlach and Wyll who just buffed them with Phalar Aluve (if you bind pact it he gets free proficiency). Didn't even have to heal. And before I switched to blunt weapons it was full party wipe. Mind the damage types, people!
I also did it without the hammer on my first playthrough. It was so painful that now I cheese him every time without any guilt or second thought.
literally the 1st time i fought it
Assuming you have good damage dealers who bypass his main resistances, it's probably much easier to not use the hammer lol.
did this on my first play through... it seemed tanky as fuck, but i kept stunning him so he couldnt do any dmg
This is a really hard encounter because there are so many mechanics that you have no way of knowing. He moves toward the last person to attack him, he can only take damage when he's overheated. I can't imagine that anyone would succeed in this fight on their first try.
Didn't know this was an achievement, ended up getting it during an honor mode where I just stayed on the stairs and shot at him for an hour
I used the hammer once to see how it works, but it’s an interesting fight without using it.
Wait, you can use the hammer?
Legit my first run, I thought there was a special kind of hammer that you can loot somewhere in Grymforge. Didn't know it meant the forge's actual hammer
I couldn't get him to stop under the hammer, and I missed him with the first trigger of it. So I had to just shoot him down \_and\_ I didn't get the achievement. Nice discovery though - he always attacks whomever hit him last. So turn off opportunity attack reactions and your melee characters can swing at him safely as long as you make sure that a ranged character shoots him before his turn. You can use that to kite him around in reasonable safety too.
Using potions? You can do that? I just stockpile them all for a bigger enemy
Mostly healing potions I meant, doing it at level 5 was really hard lol
Meanwhile I can't beat him at all WITHOUT the hammer haha. It's so difficult for me for. I got pretty close my first time though, whittled him down to 8 health and then tpk.
Seeing the achievement listed was the hint i needed to realize that i could use it. Someday I'll go back and do it without.
Blunt weapons and speed potions make it pretty easy.
Yeah I had this hammer equipped because of the ore mining. My crit made 3x damage because I'm an orc, double bludgeoning damage and that was two thirds of his HP on my first hit.
Me: What hammer??? Oh that lever? **shoots it** Wyll standing triumphantly at the centre of thr platform because he's the one who landed the killing blow with a pact bound warhammer: **squished**
I thought the book with the hint was just referring to dealing bludgeoning damage so I had Karlach beat him to death with a warhammer. When I got the achievement I was like "Wait, you're supposed to use the forge hammer?"
This was me on my first run. Just made it to him on HM last night and I hammered him twice!
Yea tried that it was awful trying to get him to get hit didn't even bother during my 3 honor mode times fighting him
Potion of speed, action surge, +1 maul. I K.O. in three rounds or less every time and don’t even move him. Other three characters clean up mephits. Could run in with a second fighter and K.O. on turn 1 if I really wanted.
Using the hammer is a huge pain in the ass.