Groot

Portrait
Featured

Base Attributes

Release Date

December 24th, 2015^[1]

Origin

Marvel Comics
First Appearance: Tales to Astonish #13 (1960)

Victory Animation

Groot looks at the screen affectionately.

Abilities

Pacifism
Cleanse
Regeneration
Bleed Immunity

Signature Ability

Gentle Giant

Availability

No

Yes

No

Template

Groot is a Cosmic Champion. Being a Cosmic Champion, he has a Class Bonus against Tech Champions, but is weak to Mystic Champions.

Bio[]

"I am...Groot. I am Groot! I am..."
"Yeah, thanks for that — listen, Rocket here. There's only four things you gotta know about Groot. Number one, he's a walking tree from some far away planet..."
"I am Groot!"
"Sorry, 'Flora colossus', not 'tree person'. Geez. Number two, he's real kind and passive until you make him mad. Three, he can only say three words; try and guess which ones? And four, me and him have been together forever. You mess with him, and you mess with me, and my really big gun."

Mechanics[]

Groot is a sturdy Champion with some utility and the potential to deal bursts of damage when your Buffs get activated at the right time. He focuses on building up Pacifism charges and letting go of them to get a boost to his attack. He also can get rid of Debuffs faster than most other Champions. Groot can last a while in the fight thanks to his healing and high health pool. Pairing the Fury and Cruelty buffs with his Special Attacks is key in getting the most out of Groot!

Stats[]

Max Rating	Max Health	Max Attack
513	2647	168
-	-	-
1366	7033	445
-	-	-
3427	17636	1114
-	-	-
6912	35361	2234
-	-	-
11790	60337	3811
-	-	-

Abilities[]

When Struck by Critical Hits

Groot's gentle nature is put to the test any time the opponent strikes with a Critical Hit or uses a Special Attack against him, with a 100% chance to gain a Pacifism charge. Each time a charge is gained, Groot has a 10% chance per charge to throw off his gentle nature.

Dev Notes: Build your opponent’s power and bait their Special Attacks to build Pacifism charges.

Passive

When Groot throws off his gentle nature, he gains one Fury and one Cruelty effect for each Pacifism charge, increasing Attack by X for 10 seconds.

Tier	Attack Rating
	35.28
	93.45
	233.94
	469.14
	800.31

Each Cruelty effect increases Groot’s Critical Damage Rating by X.

Tier	Critical Damage Rating
	89.47
	97.37
	105.26
	110.53
	118.42

Passive

Unique physiology allows Debuff effects to be shrugged off 55% faster than normal.
A lack of blood provides full immunity to Bleeding.

Dev Notes: Extending these Buffs with the use of Synergies or Masteries can help increase Groot’s potential output. Also, the Debuff duration reduction can help you almost completely negate Parry Stuns if you run the Limber mastery.

Signature Ability[]

Gentle Giant - Passive

Groot grows tired of watching his friends get hurt in combat and begins the fight with 2 Pacifism charges. Additionally, each Fury stack gained from throwing off his gentle nature has a X% chance to activate a charge of Resist Physical, increasing Physical Resistance by X each.

Tier	Cruelty Chance %	Physical Resistance
	20 - 65.03%	210.11
	20 - 65.03%	228.65
	20 - 65.03%	247.19
	20 - 69.98%	259.55
	20 - 69.98%	278.09

Dev Notes: The increased Physical Resistance can help Groot be more tanky on top of his already higher health and Regeneration.

Special Attacks[]

Special 1 - I am Groot
Groot shows off his unique plant physiology to grow his limbs into the earth and surprise his foe.

This attack pierces 85% of the target's Armor.

Dev Notes: A decent source of damage if your Buffs are active. Especially in shorter fights.

Special 2 - I AM GROOT!
Groot isn't a terrible monster. He stomps his foot, then shows off his passive side.

Advanced cellular regeneration allows up to X Health to be recovered over 6 seconds, based on lost health.

Tier	Health Recovered
	370.58
	984.62
	2469.04
	4950.54
	8447.18

This attack is Unblockable.

Dev Notes: This attack doesn’t deal as much damage, but the healing from it can help keep you topped off. Increasing the duration of this Regeneration buff with synergies can help enhance its effects. Also this attack being Unblockable can pose a threat on defence.

Special 3 - WE ARE GROOT!
When a gentle giant has had enough, he calls in a familiar furry face to lend a hand. Oh yeah!

100% chance to inflict a Bleed Debuff, dealing X Direct Damage over 3 seconds.

Tier	Bleed Damage
	159.6
	422.75
	1058.3
	2122.3
	3620.45

Dev Notes: You can get the most out of Groot’s burst damage by landing this attack when you have a few Fury and Cruelty Buffs stacked.

Synergy Bonuses[]

Synergy	Partner(s)	Effect(s)
We Are Groot!		#Guardian Champions: +7% Attack Rating.
Friends - Level 3		All Champions: +130 Armor Rating.
Inseparable - Level 3		All Champions: +9% Special 3 Damage.
Teammates - Level 3		All Champions: +5% Perfect Block Chance.
Teammates - Level 3		All Champions: +5% Perfect Block Chance.
Incoming Synergy	Partner(s)	Effect(s)
Goldie		Synergy Champions: +115 Critical Rating. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Teammates - Level 3		All Champions: +5% Perfect Block Chance.
Friends - Level 3		All Champions: +130 Armor Rating.
Grow Big or Go Home		Synergy Champions: +6% Block Proficiency and Block Penetration for each synergy member present.
Yes! We Shall Guard the Galaxy Together!		#Guardian Champions: +7% Attack Rating.
The Deadliest Force in the Galaxy Just Got Deadlier		#Guardian Champions: +7% Attack Rating.
Teammates - Level 3		All Champions: +5% Perfect Block Chance.
Nemesis - Level 3		All Champions: +6% Attack.
Shared Knowledge - Astronomy		Cosmic and Skill Champions: Basic Hits pause one of each Buff on them for 0.2 second(s). Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Nemesis - Level 3		All Champions: +6% Attack.
Me and These Idiots are Gonna Obliterate You!		#Guardian Champions: +7% Attack Rating.
Friends - Level 3		All Champions: +130 Armor Rating.
We're the Flarking Guardians of the Galaxy!		#Guardian Champions: +7% Attack Rating.
Friends - Level 3		All Champions: +130 Armor Rating.
Genetic Recode – Regenesis		Venom the Duck: +15% Regen Symbiote Buff duration. Solo: Only affects this Champion and does not stack.

Strengths and Weaknesses[]

Strengths[]

Debuff duration reduction
- Groot shrugs off all Debuffs 55% faster than their original duration. This ability can help mitigate the impact of damaging Debuffs and keep you safe against Stun.
Buff stacking
- Once Groot lets go of his gentle nature, he can stack up quite a few Buffs. These Buffs enhance your damage, your survivability, and can be used as a counter to nodes like Buffed Up.

Weaknesses[]

Nullify
- Without his buffs, Groot doesn’t have much left to offer. Matchups that can remove or prevent his Buffs shut him down.
Randomness
- Groot has no way to plan when his Buffs are activated. The Buffs activating at the less optimal points in the fight can significantly hurt his output.
Long Ramp Up
- When playing as Groot ramping up his Pacifism charges can take a while. Opponents that are less inclined to throw their Special Attacks can make this ramp up even longer.

Recommended Masteries[]

Liquid Courage and Double Edge
- Groot’s Immunity to Bleed prevents the damage from Double Edge. And going only for your Special Attack 3 can help keep you safe from Recoil damage.
Deep Wounds
- The short duration Bleed on Groot’s Special Attack 3 can be potent, especially if you land the attack when Buffed up. You can further increase the damage dealt by this bleed by running the Deep Wounds mastery.
Precision
- Groot’s base Critical Rating is low, so he benefits more from increases in the value. Running the Precision mastery can help increase the frequency of your Critical Hits.

Trivia[]

Before his addition, Groot was one of the most requested characters for addition into the game, despite being confirmed months before.^[2]
- In fact, when Groot finally was added, he got a special video announcing his addition.^[3]
According to Art Director Gabriel Frizzera, Groot's model was created by Lee Romao.^[4]