Mawk's Heroes and Villains Guides: General Grievous

General Grievous: Force Guide

Overview: Grievous is a very powerful character. His health is higher than normal. His sabers I would characterize as normal, but there are four of them, so together they are strong. He has some limitations though, compared to the Jedi and Sith. His only power is rage, which is a group damage increase. His dash is powerful but isn't as easy to aim as others. He does not have force powers.

Grievous' movement speed is below normal. He is not a Jedi and therefore does not get Jedi sprint. He does however have a semi-decent sprint speed, but still nowhere near as fast as the Jedi. This makes it so he can only catch up well to gunners. You will find as Grievous that more people will come to you, so catching up is not that big of a deal.

Before I begin about his dash, I must first stress the importance of block.

Recently an incident occurred that has made me wonder how long block lasts when at full energy. It is a full ten seconds. This is actually longer than you think it is. Take a moment to count out a full ten seconds (Yes use Mississippi's) ok good. Think of how long that would give you in a fast paced fight. My Point? Pretty long.

When moving in open areas, which you will do often as Grievous, be sure to have block up. Once you get to the next place of cover, put block down. You don't have to worry much about running out of energy, but don't just leave it on until your energy is gone. You want to make sure you have it up at the opportune moments. Also with the group damage increase, it takes all of your power. Don't use this when you are planning to block or sprint somewhere right away, because your energy will need to refresh.

Grievous has four sabers. This gives him a wide bubble range to hit. I use the term bubble because most of the characters do not affect behind, to the side, above, and in front of themselves all at once. Grievous tends to be able to hit the enemy in all of these places once his saber combo starts. His dash creates more of a frontal shield though. Like Obi-Wan, Grievous' dash has the ability to block once it gets into fan mode. In Grievous' case, it is more of a double cyclone mode (like in episode III). As you are sprinting you can begin the dash attack by clicking your mouse. His sabers will start their cyclone and at this point if anyone tries to push or pull you, your sabers will spark and it will be blocked. That is, if you are facing them. Be careful of distance though, if you get too close with sprint without beginning the cyclone, you could be forced.

When Grievous dashes, he tends to lawn-mow anything in his path (including his own team). I would say it has an 80% chance of knockdown. If they are not facing you directly you may find that you can knockdown nearly every time. His dash is the type that makes him continue on past the enemy, so you may need to slow down just as you hit them. Many inexperienced players will just stand there with block on. You will probably collide with them and win. Other players will jump, usually too late. When a player jumps and you are dashing, you can possibly hit their legs. This sends them backwards in a buggy looking mid-air stun. Buggy as in, they are half jumping but are stunned and cannot jump again until they land. All you have to do is sprint a bit further and be there to kill them when they land.

The smart players roll out of your way. This can be a pain for Grievous since his dash doesn't slow down as easy. Once you see them start the roll, hold your back key down until you slow down and your sabers stop their whirlwind. PUT BLOCK UP as soon as you possibly can and turn around as quickly as you can. I have been told that higher mouse sensitivity helps with this turn. If you get the timing down properly, you can usually have block up and have turned in time to block any force they throw at you.

The saber combo is longer than normal and not only does it puncture block, it also can knockdown. His combo will start with two sabers. There will be a moment when his arms swing down his sides then over his head and his arms will split into 4 sabers. Once he has four sabers swinging the knockdown happens. This is also when you can possibly be hit if they blocked the beginning of the combo. There is that moment when his arms swing down and over, before it splits to four sabers, that the enemy could roll away. You can always button mash to hopefully make the combo go quicker. But the best thing I have noticed is to turn towards the way they are rolling. It sometimes stops their roll with a stun. Then you can finish them with the end of the combo.

Another good thing about his saber combo is that you can take out a lot of people at once. If you have three heroes in one place and you begin the combo, you pretty much have a ball of death at your feet. One of the best places to do this is on a roof and a couple heroes jump up at you at the same time. Begin the combo when they land for an easy kill.

Getting on roofs can be easy or hard. The first way is of course using the buildings with stairways. You can use these as platform roofs to get to the ones you want via jump or sprint jump. The second way is by using the roofs with the purple colored tent awning. You can jump up to the awning, then onto the roof. The roofs with the dome blocks prove very beneficial to a hiding Grievous. The third way is the trickiest and only works on roofs with no overhanging edges. You must sprint at the wall and Grievous will partially climb up it, once you are up a bit, hit jump again and you will do a tall arch onto the roof. This takes timing and practice and doesn't work at all angles. While on roofs you will have to dodge saber throws. Heck, you'll have to deal with saber throws everywhere.

As everyone knows, saber throw tends to go through block half the time. If you have blocked their push or pull, they may try to saber throw and hope it goes past your block. This is the absolute best time to dash them. Be sure to do this only if you are full health. They have no chance of blocking you when they are throwing. The saber will probably hit you, but if you kill them it's not a bad trade. If you are not in a position to dash them (i.e.: if they are on a roof and you are not), do not just sit around. I don't know how many Grievous's I've killed with throw because they stand in the same spot hoping that their block will work. So when they throw at you from a roof or whatever, move, don't just block. If you are on an opposite roof you can always sprint over to their roof when they throw. You may be hit but you may also take them out with an aerial attack.

Grievous' air attack is unique. It seems like it is a mix between a Vader and Luke aerial attack. When you are in the air and first start swinging, his right hand saber does a cyclone. This lasts for a second and then it goes into a single swing, which looks like Vader's. The only difference is, this single swing does not make him go automatically to the ground like Vader's does. This can hit mid air. This can also make you completely miss your target if you swing too early, because the combo ends after the single swing. If you are going for someone on a different roof and are in midair, time it so you begin the cyclone right before you land. This makes it so the final single swing hits them. This is a powerful swing but it does not seem to stun very often. So immediately go into a combo and overwhelm them. I don't use the aerial attack very often. Sometimes it's better to jump onto their roof and just begin a combo.

Grievous vs. Gunners: It is pretty straightforward here. Get as close to them as you can without exposing your head and saber them to death. They have higher health so beware of the roll away. You can always act like you are going to dash them by sprinting just a little. They usually roll once they see you begin a sprint. So just fake it a bit and then dash where they roll. Don't sprint openly at them from a distance. A few well-placed headshots will have you dead.

Grievous vs. Pullers: This one is tough. You will be pulled a lot while sprinting at them because of the huge distance pull has. Try to keep your block up until you get into a range where you can sprint and quickly dash before they can pull you. Do not be a hero and jump from one roof to their roof when they are facing you, that just spells death. On ground level, use your ten second block to get in close and then saber fight them, you usually win. If Aayla begins her saber combo before you do, get out of the way. She has a half second recovery after her combo where you can take her out. Other than that, just evade as much as possible. You do not have an advantage if they are skilled with double pull. If an Aayla dashes at you begin your combo and move at an angle towards her. Hopefully you will knock her down and avoid her one hit kill.

Grievous vs. Pushers: You will find that most of the pushers will be on roofs above you. Make sure when you are blocking that you look up. If you just look at the wall of the building then can still push you at that angle. These are the guys who usually throw at you after they block, so try to save your energy enough for a dash. Push has a shorter range, and once you know it, you can decide when the last possible second to put block up is. Use wall pushes to your advantage. Try to stay near a wall if a pusher is close, because it is possible you will ?bounce? and recover quickly. In this case just back swing and finish them off.

General Grievous: Non-Force Guide

General Grievous is a pretty powerful non-force character to play. His sabers are strong, his dash is powerful, and his aerial is also very damaging. He has a good chance of stunning people without even trying. He has higher health than normal, but his movement is slower. He also doesn't have a backslash.

The first thing I always recommend with Grievous, is to turn up your mouse sensitivity. This will allow you a better range of movement with him. If you have trouble with a really high sensitivity, start lower and work yourself up. Personally I can't go past 85 without feeling out of control. Some people go 100 and it makes their turns and such quicker. With Grievous this is a necessity due to his slower movement.

Probably the most powerful tool in Grievous's arsenal is his single click. His single click (where you just click the saber once) deals a great amount of damage. Not only that but it can easily stun an enemy if they are moving, being tougher if they are just standing there. Using his single click attack is very beneficial in rushed fights, or fighting someone who has a quicker saber than you. Grievous's complete combo can be slow and it has a couple holes in it: one in the middle, and of course one at the end. Be wary of using the full combo on someone if they are not stunned. If your opponent is experienced against a Grievous, you won't last long if just randomly doing full combos around them.

When you do need to use full combos, which is actually pretty often, be sure to watch for those two holes in his combo. The biggest hole is at the end just after he flips his top two sabers all the way over his head. It takes a short bit of time to start the next combo after this, so be aware of an enemy sneaking in and taking you out between combos. The one you really have to watch out for is Mace, due to his combo being quick. As a small tool you can use, try shifting left and right as you are doing the combo, this way you open up the range of the sabers. Do not overextend, it should just be a slight movement with your mouse as you're clicking. Always watch for an enemy coming up behind you as you're comboing too, because Grievous' back can be an easy target.

Grievous' dash is another tool that when used properly can be deadly. Depending on the server you are playing on you may try to avoid using it. Certain servers out there actually bug out his dash and make it twice as slow, but if you do happen to be playing on a -)G(- clan server, the dash can actually be very quick. Be sure to just click once when using his dash, this will avoid any additional swings that may slow you down. You'll want to time the dash so the middle of the consecutive saber swings hits your target. If you hit them with the beginning it may not do anything, if you hit them with the end you may blow right by them.

While all these saber moves are his primary tools, to be a good Grievous you really have to learn some other skills. The first is his movements. You will always want to be looking behind you and in front of you. Use your mini map at all times and be aware when there are more than one red dot out there. You'll want to get the hang of getting onto the roofs. Most unexpected attacks will come from above you, so if you get on them you will be more aware. Use stairs or awnings to get onto the single story buildings. The smooth walled buildings you can usually sprint up and get on top.

While leaping from roof to roof using sprint, you'll need to use his aerial attack against enemies. His aerial is short and to the point so you have to time his final hit as you land. If you do it too early you'll miss. Be careful of a decent hero player, they'll probably backhand you as you land, either stunning you or sending you off the roof. People are becoming more aware of this, it is probably my favorite move in the game, so you have to become aware of it happening to you.

You'll find that being on smaller roofs you'll get a lot of attention due to the lack of space to dash. Yes you can still dash but sometimes you will fall right off. The idea of this makes the heroes more brave and they'll come after you on small roofs. Dig into them just as they are landing to avoid them getting you, but be careful if they are doing their own aerial attack. If you see the saber swinging wait half a second for them to land, they have a recovery time from their aerial in which you can get them. Click fast if you're doing the combo, always being aware of the hole in the middle of his combo where the enemy can escape.

While on roofs you will also want to be wary of looking over the edge of them, because you'll end up with a hero's saber in your face. Be patient when they are below you, eventually they'll start going away (in which case you can follow them and dash from behind) or they will come up to you. You will always be at an advantage if someone must come up to you.

Many players do play Grievous on the ground only. I personally try to avoid this as much as possible. On the ground you are always open for dashes coming from all directions, even with your block up you can be vulnerable. Grievous can easily be stunned by dashes and he can also be backhanded when dashing. Most people feel that if they play Grievous they need to go all out and be aggressive. Because of this, many heroes have the mindset of taking you out quickly and moving on. They will fall over eachother to kill you. You can use this to your advantage by keeping your eyes open for the right moments to dash and combo. Don't forget with Grievous, you can connect your dashes fairly close together. You'll get 3-4 before your stamina runs out, but again, watch out for those backhands. You may damage them but they can stun you and win.

Use Obi and Yoda's weaker saber to your advantage. If you get stunned by them at full health, you'll most likely be able to survive a combo. You have two choices once recovered: Get out of there, or fight back. If you are in a spot where you can roll off a roof, or get behind something quickly, then you'll want to do an escape. If you stand and fight, sometimes all you will want to do is aim your single click in the right direction. Many times where I have stunned a Greivous as Obi but he survives the following combo, I wait him out because most Greivous' go straight to their combo on recovering. So as Greivous when surviving that combo click once to interrupt or stun them. I do believe that running works the best in those cases, just watch out for a quick finishing dash by them. Get out of there quickly and stop to put your block up, you'll most likely be followed. From there, keep running or face them again.

Use roll as little as possible. His roll is quick, but the distance covered is pretty short. Plus many people excpect rolls after missed dashes, for example.

Grievous IS a power character when used properly, just remember that most of the fights will come to you.