Grym

Grym is a powerful Construct 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.

Attacks and abilities

 Awaken

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

 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

 Quake ()

3d4 (3~12) Bludgeoning

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

STR Save

 Range: 12 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

Recharge: Per turn

Combat tactics

Grym is immune to all types of damage and can send melee attackers  Reeling. Its Adamantine Skin passive causes Grym to be unable to take 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.

New Resistances when superheated:

Grym's Vengeful Guardian passive causes it to gain the condition Threat Assessment when attacked which will then mark 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 The Adamantine Forge itself. Pulling the forge lever while Grym is standing on the central anvil, and is superheated, will hammer it for 2x

12d8 (12~96) Bludgeoning

and knock it  Prone. However, using the forge to damage Grym immediately removes Grym's Superheated condition and can even summon a group of Magma Mephits, though these will eventually appear anyway once Grym becomes sufficiently damaged. Hammering Grym while not superheated will knock it prone but will do no damage and might still summon the Magma Mephits. Regardless of your approach, keep at least one party member by the lava valve, since the lava will recede after two turns, making the golem invincible again. Alternatively the lava valve can also be activated by shooting an arrow at it, or some familiars, such as Mage Hand, can also interact with the lava valve in place of a party member. Note, however, that using a familiar for the initial activation of the lava valve will bug the encounter and prevent Grym from spawning.^{[See: Bugs]}

Before the fight it is wise to spread out your party, placing your 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 give a notable boost for your 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 of your melee characters Haste for the extra attack and added AC. Applying weapon oils such as the Oil of Accuracy helps boost your 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.

Ranged bombardment tactic

There is a rather different tactic possible against Grym using an all-Ranged setup using the terrain to your advantage. Grym has no ranged attacks of any kind, so if you can shoot it from positions it can't reach you can slowly but surely destroy Grym without even getting wounded. NOTE, to be able to use this tactic and then keep the ability to use the Forge for making equipment you will 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 will be needed 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 will not be able 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 will need to keep it lured to the Right position to keep it vulnerable to damage; there is no safe floor area for Grym at that spot.

A reminder, Grym will always follow the very 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 over to being underneath that character's position and just stay there, round after round taking shots, until it dies or gets lured by another character in 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 the floor section safe from Superheating.

At this point it's a turkey-shoot; just keep 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 little 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 central anvil. This will cause Grym to move onto the anvil to investigate. Grym seems to never pass the Investigation check (or does so extremely rarely).
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; their job is to the throw water at Grym. Because thrown water does Bludgeoning damage and will have 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 entirely possible to defeat Grym in a single hit. In order to do so, you will need:

• A level 6 Druid in Wild Shape: Owlbear
• A spellcaster who can Enlarge the Druid, or an Elixir of the Colossus drunk by the Druid

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.

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

Achievements

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

Gallery

• 

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

• 

  Concept art.

Notes

• There is a Steam achievement (A Grym Fate) for defeating Grym without using the forge hammer. Despite its large amount of HP and high AC, proper preparation with Bludgeoning weapons on a  Hastened Fighter and/or Barbarian can quickly wear it down -- or use the Ranged bombardment tactic or the Throwing water tactic described above.
• 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.