While you may see him as a harmless, friendly tree, Groot stands as the definition of an immovable object in Marvel Rivals. His kit makes him a solid frontliner Vanguard that encourages his teammates to push toward the objective, and his team-up ability with Jeff The Land Shark and Rocket Raccoon reinforces his defense to the point where he seemingly has an unlimited supply of HP.
Groot’s attacks and abilities are fairly simple and self-serving; aside from his explosive Spore Bomb, he relies on his walls to deal damage and gain bonus health. However, a good Groot player can utilize these walls beyond their general purpose, like traversal, caging, and block-offs. As such, knowing the right counters can definitely help you stop this damage-absorbing brute.
How To Counter Groot
With 800 HP, Groot is certainly among the upper echelon of Vanguards in terms of raw defense stats. Although he can’t generate bonus health with his Ironwood Wall as easily as someone like Thor or Venom, it’s a vital ability for one strategy: sealing. Groot specializes in blocking chokepoints with his walls, often separating healers from their teammates, after which he can eliminate them individually.
This is a core technique to showcase Groot’s offensive power, and it’s further heightened by the Thornlash walls, specifically, which is arguably his most lethal ability. Once the wall is placed, it’ll strike nearby enemies hit by Groot and his allies, and the more walls he places, the more damage they deal.
This is where things become terrifying — these walls have absurd damage output, and if Groot manages to box you in with them, it’ll only take a hit or two to finish off full-health Strategists and Duelists.
Groot’s walls and Spore Bombs have incredible splash damage, so if he chains them together with his immobilizing Ultimate Ability, Strangling Prison, it can be a devastating blow.
When considering that Groot’s strengths lie within his two main abilities, it becomes easy to pinpoint an effective counterplay: shoot the walls. Instead of dodging or trying to escape them, it’s better to deplete the Ironwood and Thornlash walls entirely so they don’t remain a lingering threat.
As you cut off the walls, you’re essentially nullifying Groot’s passive effects, including the attack and defense buffs he gives himself and his allies. More importantly, however, you’re denying him any barricading opportunities he’d otherwise use to target your isolated Strategists.
How To Counter Groot As A Vanguard
Groot is an offensive and defensive powerhouse when his walls are stationed and thriving, but the moment you knock them down, he becomes vulnerable to most melee-oriented Vanguards. Venom, Captain America, and Hulk, for instance, can hold their own against Groot fairly well in a one-on-one battle, chipping away his HP while he struggles to escape.
While shields and low-damage ranged attacks aren’t quite as impactful, Magneto is another great counter-pick because of his Metal and Iron Bulwark abilities. They can negate all of Groot’s incoming damage, which comes in handy when you prioritize taking down the walls over the actual hero.
Ideally, you want to have an ally destroying the walls, while you, as a Vanguard, maintain pressure and force Groot to focus solely on you. It can get extremely tacky trying to handle both things at once, and while Groot lacks good movement options, he will often use the walls as a barricade to escape, and that’s the last thing you want.
How To Counter Groot As A Strategist
As a frontliner, there’s a good chance Groot might target Strategists by either attacking them directly or cutting them off from their team. Fortunately, almost every Strategist possesses what he is short on — mobility — and you can use that fact to your advantage.
Your main goal is to stay alive and close to your team, preventing Groot from boxing and isolating you. Destroy any wall you come across, and use your abilities to apply debuffs that hinder him from placing more. Luna Snow’s Absolute Zero and Mantis’ Slumbering Spore are excellent tools against Groot, while Invisible Woman’s Force Physics can push him away from his walls.
Although Groot doesn’t have direct counterpicks among Strategists, Mantis and Jeff The Land Shark are probably your best choices to withstand him. Not only are these heroes tough to catch and cage, but they also have the damage output to consistently tear down the Ironwood and Thornlash walls.
How To Counter Groot As A Duelist
When it comes to Duelists, a common tactic Groot will try is placing his walls either to block shots from ranged heroes or behind melee characters to double his damage output. If you’re in the latter archetype, you’ll want to study his animations to know when he summons a wall so you can escape just in time.
Onto specifics, it’s no surprise that Wolverine is the strongest counterpick Duelist to annihilate Groot’s health. Because of his percentage-based damage, even 800 HP isn’t strong enough to keep the sentient tree alive for long. As Wolverine, you should find an opening where Groot isn’t barricaded, then do an instantaneous Feral Leap to segregate him and release a barrage of strikes afterward.
Ranged Duelists with a low fire rate like Namor and Hela aren’t as productive against this Vanguard, but the ones with a high fire rate are experts at taking down Groot’s walls. Moon Knight, in particular, is a prime example, placing his ankhs near one of the walls and completely lacerating them en masse.
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