Grendel: first impressions

[supernils]

So I've got him on lvl30 now, experimented with some builds. Read up on the wiki and did some testing in Simulacrum.

I like the concept and the theme of the frame.

But things bother me:

the constant energy drain is so punishing, it creates this constant stress. I run Zenurik, Energy Siphon and Hunter Adrenaline (and Fleeting Expertise lol) to manage this (build). Then it's ok. I can use abilities.

But the abilities just aren't worth using. The theory did read promising, enemy level damage multipliers on all abilities - great! But in practice? It's too little, not worth the casting times, I can do more damage with weapons in that time. For abilities that are for destroying enemies that is the benchmark, sorry. It's no great AoE, so it has to be more on its small AoE.

You can reduce armor on targets by using this stressfull mechanic, ok I can do this with corrosive projection already. Vauban or Saryn (lol) can do this much better and at larger scale.

Then what's left is pityful toxin damage that's awkward to apply. So useful against Corpus maybe. But they have no armor...

And let's not talk about the 4. Maybe double the speed and quadruple the damage.

The 3 is awkward too. Needs enemy in stomach, and I never liked the buff switching mechanic either.

Everything is awkward, and the reward is disappointing going through all this.

 

[BRZZAFK]

Grendel damage is ok unless go against high armor enemy. You can mod him for range and do ESO for 8 wave. His problem is more about he rely on Hunter Adrenaline make him unplayable in coop.

[DrivaMain]

He is limited by that annoying exponential energy drain and very slow roll speed of Pulverize unless you use the band aid augment. Other than that, he is great. You can speedrun exterminate missions with him.

[Kaiune]

His design is a bit conflicting to his play style you are not meant to hold enemies for a long period you. I use him all the time in long survival runs. Eat, energy stomp, puke, fire blast if you have helminth repeat. He works best in SP due to spawn frequency and is defiantly most efficient solo. Generally when he pukes everything dies and there is usually enough energy orbs to top me off. If you have arcane energize it helps a ton too.   

[Mu_Gera]

On 2021-01-03 at 8:05 AM, supernils said:

And let's not talk about the 4. Maybe double the speed and quadruple the damage.

handling and better inertia would be better instead, as for damage it has a cap where the damage stops increasing after 10 enemies eaten. long story short a base damage increase wouldn't be necessary and the energy drain would be justified if the cap was just removed.

[FlammingBunny]

On 2021-01-04 at 10:01 PM, BRZZAFK said:

Grendel damage is ok unless go against high armor enemy. You can mod him for range and do ESO for 8 wave. His problem is more about he rely on Hunter Adrenaline make him unplayable in coop.

i changed grendel's 3 to empower and i can kill level 145 heavy gunners with just his 1. they make a noise when their armor is fully gone and the damage from spitting them all back up kills them.

in the simulacrum i killed 20 corrupted heavy gunners level 145 with this and  had enough energy to do it 3 more times without getting back any energy. add hunter adrenaline and either the supra or rakta dark dagger with their augments for energy and he never has energy problems.

[PeridosPrime]

I know Grendel has energy problems combined with useless 3 and 4 due to their pitiful damage.

This will be some investment for you but try adding Gara’s Spectorage with her augment, Spectorage Siphon. This ability will not only save the energy problem but also synergises well with Grendel because he can gather enemies in a tiny area (inside the Spectorage). 

 

You can make this more ridiculous:

Take off vacuum from your sentinel. Slap on Energizing Shot mod on Quatz (or any other secondary of your preference) and boom, you’ve got a bloom of energy. 

Oh and also use Energy Generator on Dethcube with an AoE or punchthrough sentinel weapon.
 

As for the overall build, again this will be an expensive one but I would go for Health, Duration (efficiency) and Strength:

1. Umbral Vitality 2. Umbral Intensify, 3. Primed Continuity, 4. Streamline, 5. Hunter Adrenaline (or Rage), 6. Spectorage augment 7. Energy Conversion 8. Mod of your choice (maybe Adaptation, more duration or Augur Secrets for more strength.

- Aura mod can be swapped to Growing Power for extra strength. 
- I personally do not prefer Fleeting Expertise because it’s negative duration actually decreases the efficiency of his 1, and also makes his 2 last shorter. 
- Both Growing Power and Energy Conversion is “snap shotted” with your 1 and 2 hence I like them. 

 

Sorry for the long reply but anyways, I agree that Grendel’s kit need a bit more love. 

[(XBOX)GearsMatrix301]

I made a rework post a few months back that included dramatically reducing the energy drain, and giving buffs to Grendels abilities Thats dependent on how many enemies he’s currently consumed. Those basically involved increasing the strength of his 2 and adding armor strip to his 3.

 

[MonsterOfMyOwn]

Arcane energize with consume buff helps a lot. 

Grendel is a great damage dealer : eat, consume, bounce, vomit, repeat.

His 3rd doesn't deal enough damages, but his 1st and his 4th (when bouncing / crashing does)

Tbh his armor boost with engulfed ennemies is a bit meh, he should have had drop chance buff, this would have helped getting blue orbs