Grym

Grym is a powerful Adamantine Golem that eternally protects The Adamantine Forge. It cannot be damaged without becoming Superheated first.

Overview

Grym is the eternal golem guardian of The Adamantine Forge hidden away in Grymforge. It is made of adamantine and defends the forge against any who might try to use it.

If the Adamantine Forge is used, Grym will activate and attempt to destroy its users.

Combat

Attacks and abilities

 Awaken

Nearby activity rouses Grym, readying it to crush any who set their eyes on his forge.

 Quake ()

3d4 (3~12) Bludgeoning

Stomp the ground to cause a massive shockwave and knock nearby creatures  Prone.

STR Save

 Range: 12 m /  ft

 Seismic Wrath ()

Grym makes the earth quake and the ground roar - anything to eliminate intruders.

 Range: Self

 Slam ()

4d8 (4~32) + Strength modifier Bludgeoning

Hit a target and possibly knock it  Prone.

STR Save

 Range: 3 m /  ft

Honour mode

 Adamantine Reverberation

4d8 (4~32) Thunder

Grym's form vibrates after being struck, providing 10 temporary hit points and doubling its movement speed while the temporary hit points are present.

When the temporary hit points are removed, a shockwave pushing targets back  Range: 4 m / 13 ft and dealing 4d8Thunder will explode outward.

 Range: Self

Encounter details

Grym is immune to all types of damage and can send melee attackers  Reeling. Its  Adamantine Skin passive causes Grym to be immune to all damage until it has been  Superheated by standing in lava. This will also remove its  Intense Adamantine Backlash passive. Once superheated, Bludgeoning damage is most effective against Grym. Grym is immune to being  Stunned and  Dazed.

New Resistances when superheated:

Grym's  Vengeful Guardian passive causes it to gain the condition  Threat Assessment when attacked, which marks the attacker with  Prime Target. Grym will then chase and attack the creature, which can be utilised to lure the golem into lava - or even beneath the hammer of The Adamantine Forge itself. Pulling the forge lever while Grym is superheated and standing on the central anvil will hammer it for 2x

12d8 (12~96) Bludgeoning

and knock it  Prone. However, damaging Grym with the forge will immediately remove Grym's  Superheated condition and can summon a group of Magma Mephits, though these will eventually appear anyway once Grym is sufficiently damaged. Hammering Grym while not superheated will knock it prone but will do no damage and might still summon the Magma Mephits.

Tactics

Regardless of the party's approach, at least one party member should stay by the lava valve, since the lava will recede after two turns, making the golem invincible again. Alternatively the lava valve can be activated by shooting an arrow at it. Some familiars, such as  Mage Hand, can also interact with the lava valve in place of a party member. However, using a familiar for the initial activation of the lava valve may bug the encounter and prevent Grym from spawning.^{[See: Bugs]}

Before the fight, it is wise to spread out your party, placing casters in the back and melee up front near the gate where Grym will appear. Using elixirs such Elixir of Hill Giant Strength and Elixir of the Colossus will noticeably boost melee fighters. Before turning the valve, ensure all party members are standing on raised areas and enter Turn-Based Mode to prepare additional short duration buffs. It is almost a must to give one melee character  Haste for the extra attack and added AC. Applying weapon oils such as Oil of Accuracy helps boost the Attack Rolls high enough to more easily beat Grym's high AC. Lastly, ensure you use weapons that deal Bludgeoning damage to exploit Grym's vulnerability.

For Honor mode,  Command: Halt is especially useful when fighting Grym because it prevents him from using  Legendary Action: Adamantine Reverberation; incredibly useful for dishing out large amounts of melee damage, or providing a pause in the fight to heal your team. Needs more testing, but this can occasionally prevent the Magma Mephits from spawning. Also in Honor mode,  Silence will prevent  Legendary Action: Adamantine Reverberation from inflicting Thunder damage, although it might not prevent the shockwave's 4 m (13 ft) knockback.

Hammer Tactic

One of the easiest ways to defeat Grym is by using the Adamantine Forge's hammer. The hammer used to forge the adamantine weapons, armor, and equipment is active during each turn of the fight, and deals bludgeoning damage. Positioning your party on each lava free island will allow you to take advantage of  Prime Target to lure Grym under the hammer. Only one leg needs to be on the pedestal for a full hit, and as with other tactics it is vital to keep at least one party member near the valve, and one near the lever for the hammer itself. Magma mephits spawn on the bottom right island, so having a party member with some form of fire resistance is advised.

Ranged bombardment tactic

There is a possible tactic against Grym using an all-Ranged setup that takes advantage of the terrain. Grym has no ranged attacks of any kind, so if you can shoot it from positions it can't reach, you can slowly destroy Grym without getting wounded. NOTE, to use this tactic and continue using the Forge to craft equipment, you need at least one party member with access to  Grant Flight,  Misty Step, and/or  Dimension Door. The forge cannot be raised back up again after being lowered, so a flying/teleporting party member needs to load the mold, crucible and then activate the two levers to create Adamantine equipment after the fight.

On approach to the forge, note the stairway you are coming down on and the second pathway to the right of it. When the forge is lowered, ranged characters (both magic users and archers) can hit nearly the entire forge floor where Grym can move, and characters on the entry stairway can also hit the Lava Valve.

Grym sniping positions

See the image to the right for reference.

You will need characters on both positions. Characters on the right position are unable to reach the Lava Valve to Superheat Grym to make it vulnerable to damage. However, there is a section of raised floor just under the left position that Grym can stand on and it will not get Superheated, so you need to keep it lured to the Right position to keep it vulnerable to damage. From this position, there is no safe floor area for Grym.

Due to  Prime Target, Grym will always follow the last character that hit it. In your character turn order, always make sure that the last person to hit Grym was on the Right platform. It will walk to that character's position and stay there every round until it dies or is lured by another character to a different position. Make sure the character(s) on the Right side can fire multiple ranged attacks per turn to reduce the chance of them all missing and Grym moving to the left side and potentially onto a safe floor section from Superheating.

At this point, continue hitting Grym, having a character on the left side put a shot into the lava Valve whenever the lava clears, and always having the characters on the Right side move last. It may take a while, but you will be able to drop Grym without getting wounded and without needing to use the forge hammer, which is needed for obtaining an Achievement (listed below).

Minor illusion tactic

This strategy improves on the ranged bombardment tactic by using the  Minor Illusion cantrip to lure Grym onto the central anvil. Rather than using ranged attacks and spells to damage Grym, which can take a long time, we use the hammer to deal large amounts of damage at a time, reducing the combat to about five rounds. As in the ranged bombardment tactic, we abuse the height advantage by placing characters on the elevated positions to maintain a safe distance, using ranged attacks and spells to manipulate the lava valve and hammer.

1. Make sure that Grym is  Superheated by activating the lava valve. If it is not Superheated, damage it with a character or use  Minor Illusion on a lower surface to lure it to an area where it will be affected by the lava before using the lava valve.
2. Once Grym is Superheated, use Minor Illusion on the opposite edge of the central anvil. This will cause Grym to move onto the anvil to investigate. Grym's extremely low Intelligence score means that it will almost always fail the Investigation check.
3. Use the hammer lever using a ranged attack or spell to activate the lever. Note that the first time this happens, the Magma Mephits will spawn below.
4. Grym will lose the Superheated condition and be knocked  Prone. It will remain invulnerable until its next turn, at which point the Superheated condition will need to be reapplied.
5. Repeat the above steps until Grym is defeated.

Throwing water tactic

Similar to ranged bombardment, but exploiting Grym's weakness to Bludgeoning damage, the extra damage applied for "gravity" when throwing from a great height, and the easy availability of water jugs. In this version leave three party members up on the entrance steps, supplied with lots of Water bottles. Because thrown water does Bludgeoning damage and has a gravity bonus when thrown from up high, Grym will take 20+ damage on most hits, and even most "misses" because of the gravity applied to the water spread.

The fourth party member will remain on the platform to operate it and keep Grym standing in the lava, and should have access to rapid movement spells like  Misty Step. When only one party member is on the platform, Grym will ignore any threat assessment and pursue the single accessible character. It is probably most efficient to keep Grym lured toward always standing in the lava, rather than attempting to use the forge hammer, as regaining Superheated status can sometimes prove a challenging maneuver. Obviously this throwing technique can also be used while keeping all four party members "up top" as in the above method, gaining more safety but making maneuvering Grym into the lava a little more challenging.

Owlbear from the top ropes! tactic

A potential spot to use Crushing Flight from and where to target Grym - right where it spawns.

It is possible to defeat Grym in a single hit. In order to do so, you need:

• A level 6 Druid in  Wild Shape: Owlbear.
• A spellcaster who can  Enlarge the Druid and an Elixir of the Colossus drunk by the Druid.
• If your druid is lower than level 6, you can do this with  Wild Shape: Bear or  Wild Shape: Deep Rothé (for some reason, if the druid drinks an Elixir of the Colossus and transforms, both will jump to the Gargantuan size and weight 10 000lb.)

By having the Druid remain at the bottom of the stairs, rather than jumping down onto the platform, they will have a large vertical distance from the lowered platform when Grym spawns. You can then use  Crushing Flight on Grym, negating any fall damage you take while dealing massive damage, due to your large weight and falling distance. If using any of the Large forms, use  Feather Fall or similar effects and just regular jump. Make sure to land as close to the boss as possible and avoid landing near an ally; otherwise, you will kill them as well.

Paired with Grym's vulnerability to bludgeoning damage while Superheated, the crushing damage should defeat him instantly, even on Tactician difficulty.

Notable loot

• Grymskull Helm

Related Quests

•  The Adamantine Forge

Achievements

A Grym Fate
Kill the Adamantine Golem without using the Forge Hammer.

Gallery

• 

  Model

• 

  Concept art.

• 

  Official Concept Render by Gino Luka Kölling, concept art by Jane Katsubo for Larian Studios.

Notes

• Grants 875 experience when killed.
• Although  Shocking Grasp cannot damage Grym, it will still prevent it from taking opportunity attacks (thus allowing the party to move around near it more freely) and the attack roll will always have advantage as Grym's body counts as metal armour.
• As of Hotfix 6 there is no cooldown for the application of  Superheated. Thus, it is possible to reapply the effect by activating the lava valve (has a slight delay, check Grym for status effects) and consequently hitting Grym with the hammer multiple times per turn. This can be easily achieved by placing a character within shooting distance of; both the lava valve and hammer lever and then shooting them both with arrows. For example a  Hasted lvl 3 Thief / lvl 2 Fighter has essentially 5 actions when dual wielding hand crossbows, and can kill Grym in a single turn of combat at tactician difficulty. (Grym has to be first lured under the hammer with a second character, and Grym has to stand one leg in lava one under hammer)

Quotes

“

Unstoppable juggernauts that exist only to follow their creator's orders, even if that creator has long since passed.

„

Bugs

• Using a familiar for the initial activation of the lava valve will bug the encounter and prevent Grym from spawning.
• Leaving the fight with a character on the ledge and reentering the forge stops the ability to turn the lava back on, making Grym unkillable and the forge unusable.