MUMG: Analysis Groot

Hello everybody.

What a better way to begin with Guardians on the Galaxy than with the last of its members to arrive, the one with the highest variety of words on his lexicon: Groot. With 9 Levels he is on the second step with his partner Gamora, and only one step behind the asgardian God Thor with his 12 Levels. Regarding Power he is also in the second step with value 8, on this case even behind Gamora, but while he remains on the top area of his Endurance bar it takes value 9, and considering he can endure up to 10 hits and his regrowing capability (to heal himself) it can be quite difficult to make him abandon it, if this happens his Power will be decreased in 1 point over the base value as it progress on this bar, until a value of 6.

Beginning with his Mobile aspect, it is surprising that despite being a trunk, literally, he has values over the average with 5/8 (12.5/20 cm), and in addition to this he can advance with no penalties while climbing thanks to his Wall Crawler, which will also let him to stop in the middle of an ascension or in places where a normal base won't fit.

Defensively talking is where he must be analysed with more detail. His values are not very remarkable all of them being 16, that means that character with Attack 5/6/7 have 23%/33%/44% (68%/77%/84% if they Overload) chances of impact him, making more difficult this chances if he improves his defenses, with the exception of the Supernatural which is not possible.

Regarding his capability of endure damage, he not only has a value of 20 wounds (the best known up today) being the half of them in the high area. As he progress among zones, his Power will decrease by 1 point changing from bonus to penalty on the first one (Power 8/6/5), having also a penalty on his Movement when he is on the read area, turning it into the most common values (4/7). To all this it must be added his capability of recovering 2 Endurance points once per round thanks to Regrow (2)(A), which means he has a virtual Endurance value of 32 points (in 6 rounds games). As novelty he has a Size 3 which protects him against Grabs of all those character with Strength 1-2, although what makes an utopia even try it, is his ability to anchor himself to the ground with his roots and offering a passive resistance against Grabs thanks to the +3 he obtains by his Scape Artist (0)(P), which except under special rules it means he has a Physical Defense of 19 (21) against this kind of attacks.

But not everything is pure endurance with him, as it can be expected his weakness are the burning attacks (Weakness to fire) which double their damage against him; that forces him to be careful against characters like Rocket Racoon and his RPG (3) with a range of 12' (30 cm) and an area of effect of 3' (7,5 cm), dealing him 6 wounds (8 if critical hit), and even more with Iron Man and his Micro Missiles (3) and not only for being impossible to hide from them within their 10' (25 cm), also because they are not limited to only once time, which means that Groot could be receiving 4 damages during all the rounds (6 if critical hit). One of the particularities of these attacks is their area of effect for being Explosive which, like the Spray and Expansive attacks, can be a serious problem for Groot due to with Agility 7 he only has 33% chances of decreasing that damage to the half, these are the same chances for avoiding to be impacted by a thrown item/character if he is on its trajectory. Regarding Stamina Rolls (9) his chances are a few higher with a 56%, although it can be difficult to make Groot to arrive to his middle area. In terms of Willpower (8) he only has 44% chances of succeeding on this kind of rolls, for example for avoiding the Trick (1) of Deadpool and Starlord.

In offensive terms, Groot has interesting options despite of not being focused for this task. His Attack will remain in 5+1 while he is on the top area of his Endurance bar, which once again will be difficult to see him without that bonus. But all his attacks including the Grab and Throw action are all of the same type: Physical, which can be a problem against enemies with some kind of resistance to it. Other of the positive points is that both attacks have some range, which is always remarkable, specially in the case of the close combat attacks as it is Branch out (2):

• Branch out (2): Groot's standard attack has the particularity of having 4' (10 cm) of range due to his innate skill of enlarge his branches. But this is not its unique advantage, if he is near a KO enemy (-4 to all his Defenses and with no option to improve them) it can suppose his/her death because with 8 POW he can realize this 2 damages attack up to 4 times (without Overload), and thanks to its reach it is not needed to be in touch with him/her. Other of the important readings of this attacks is that its 4' (10 cm) range force most of the enemies in touch with him to spend 2 POW if they want to runaway due to most of them has that same value on their first Movement tier (4').
• Wall of roots (3): It could be compared with Colossus' Titanic Smash (3) due to it is the other Expansive Wave attack known up today. It not only applies the annoying Ensnare/1 in an area of effect of 3' (7.5 cm) surrounding its target, it also deals 3 damages to all of them, 1 more than Colossus. If it is Overloaded, among so many rolls it is possible to obtain any critical hit so the damage will become 4 on this case, but it must not be forgotten that each Overload must be done for each one of the affected (if it is desired), which mean that the minimum cost for this attack is 3+1+1 POW, when it is possible to affect at least to two targets, preferably non Acrobat due to it is easier for them to reduce this damage to the half (1 wound).

As all the characters with Strength 4, Groot can be considered a good Thrower both for scenery items or characters, being able to throw them up to 8' (10 cm) and dealing 2 damages if the thrown is an enemy, in addition to the damage he/she can deal against an impacted enemy which will be up to 4 wounds deppending of the size of the thrown item/character, which/who can be as big as Hulk.

Lastly, in terms of Support/Control his main tasks is protecting his mates thanks to his Advanced Bodyguard (1)(R), whose only difference with the already known Bodyguard (1) is its higher range with 4' (10 cm) instead of 2' (5 cm). Most of his defensive power comes with the combination of this 4' (10 cm) and his Scape Artist (0)(P) which allows him to redirect to him Grabs against mates, with the increase of difficulty it supposes for the rival.

But all his supporting tools are not only defensive, his I am Groot! (2)(A) is even more restrictive than his Ensnare due to it forbids his enemy to move unless he/she succeeds on an Agility Roll, which again and as his Wall of roots (3) is not a good idea to use it against Acrobat characters.

Summarizing, despite not flying he has a good mobility with possibilities of arriving to any place thanks to his Wall-Crawler. But where he really stands out is enduring damage, his 20 wounds should be seen as a virtual value of 32 thanks to his Regrow (2)(A), being half of them in the high area of his Endurance bar (again with a virtual value of 22 wounds). In one side he is weak against burning attacks (Weakness fire), but on the other side he has huge protection against Grabs due to his Scape Artist (0)(P), which can be used also with allies within 4' (10 cm) thanks to his Advanced Bodyguard (1)(R).

Regarding the use of POW, Groot is other of these characters with variety of options, being maybe the most interesting:

• In his most aggressive variant, he could strike up to 4 times with his Branch Out (2), without Overload, for dealing up to 8 wounds. It is perfect to off KO enemies due to the -4 the have on all their defenses and without the need for being in contact with him/her thanks to its 4' (10 cm) of range. Also, if the enemies in contact with him want to runaway from this attack they must pay, normally, 2 POW because 4' are not enough to get out of range. He could also sacrifice one of this attacks for Grabbing an enemy in contact with him and Throw him to a distance still in range for his attacks, in that case he will have a potential damage of 9 wounds, with the advantage he could also damage another enemy if he declares him/her as target of the impact.
• His other attack, Wall of roots(3), is interesting to use it when it can affect at least 2 enemies, which means 3+1+1 POW, and with the remaining 3 he could Overload if there are more targets, or Grabbing and Throwing an enemy. This last point can be done in two different ways, in both supposing Groot begins his activation in touch with an enemy:
• Throw him/her so he/she is still in range of his Wall of roots(3).
• Strike first with his Wall of roots(3) and then Throw that enemy far, to the ground (dealing him/her 3 wounds) or against another enemy for damaging both of them.
• Once viewed his two most offensive variants, maybe the most clever use is to explode his defensive potential, it means, keeping at least 4 POW to use Advanced Bodyguard (1)(R), Defensive Improvement (1 POW) and Regrow (2)(A). The 4 remaining POW could be saved for moving, use Advanced Bodyguard (1)(R) and Defensive Improvements more times, dealing some attacking action or supporting with his I am Groot! (2)(A).

So, it is interesting to activating him the later as possible, so the POW he didn't used can be used now to attack.

As it can be expected, Groot releases all his potential while he is on the top area of his Endurance bar, having his Power and Attack increased in 1 point up to 6 and 8 respectively. At the moment he abandons this area, his Power begins to decrease 1 point per round, going from 8 (7+1) to 6 (7-1) and 5 (7-2) respectively, having his Movement also reduced in 1 point when he is on the critical zone.

Greetings and we keep reading in La Biblioteca de Alfred and Reino de Juegos.