Grond Supervillian device, how to use it effectively?

tilarta

I'm trying to get 10,000 Villain tokens to unlock the Lance Rain power, but I haven't worked out fully how to use the Ground transform device's powers yet.

Since I only have a limited time with the Grond device, can anyone advise me how to use it properly?

Also, do you think players would mind if I did not stand on the ramp to fight them?
Yesterday's battle was atypically suspicious, it didn't seem normal.
I'll recount what I saw from my perspective so that the topic readers can give me their opinion:

There was a single player standing on the ramp and they kept moving backwards towards the turrets near Defender.
I knew from a previous defeat with Grond, he really doesn't have a lot of room to move around on the ramp, if he shifts position even slightly, it's game over.
There weren't many other players around, maybe 2 others, so eventually it just ended up being this solitary player who kept trying to get me to move towards the turrets, which I was not going to do.
When I was at something like 60% health, I was instantly defeated. My theory is when this player realised they couldn't goad me into defeating myself, they used something to end the battle fast.

That's why I am going to avoid the ramp and the turrets in future, because of this occurrence.
Also, all the powers I was trying to use required Grond to actually be standing on the player I was fighting and since I knew what was happening, I wasn't going to follow them where they wanted me to go.


As an aside, I don't want to use the other transform devices available because they were not interesting to me.
If I'm going to be doing this for the next few months, I at least want to use a device that I enjoy using.

deadman20

Onslaught Grond's "5" ability is single target, but applies on the closest thing directly in front of you. It's actually a good heavy-hitter. His "4" is similar, but affects a Cylinder in front of him, damaging many targets instead of just one if they're caught in a line. Generally, you don't use his "3", "6", or "7" because it'll most likely aggro the turrets while you're in the area. That'll be what kills you. I only ever use "2" on people who are obviously trying to get me to tag a turret because it's single-target and ranged, but I'd rather not bother with them in the first place. It's also pretty handy for slapping a vehicle out of the sky.

On a side note, OSV stuff has kinda grown into a "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" mentality. If you really need tokens, let others know you're in need of heroes to slap and in return, after the mission requirement is complete, you go into a passive state. Once you do, you pretty much wait to die. Also, don't let your timer run out before you do die. With as many turrets as there are in RenCen, if your timer runs low you can just jump into them and let the heroes get the tokens from defeating you. Some get disappointed if you "escape" on them. It's boring, and not the way OSVs were meant to be, but for the sake of efficient farming, that's really the most common way to do it.​​

tilarta

I've done that a few times now apparently, triggered the turrets by accident.
Today I stood as far away from the turrets as possible and still got shot by them when I attempted to use power 3.
For the most part, I was using 1 and 2.
1 only works when I am standing directly over the target though.
It looks like I'll have to work on finding a different place to stand.

I may have to think about making that announcement that I need defeats then.
I had been assuming it was self-evident though, because I don't declare myself as "Passive OV" and I definitely am trying to defeat the players who attack me.

I've never actually tried to escape, I make sure to stay around and get defeated.
So far, I've only seen one player who retreated when they were about to be defeated.

Edit: Actually got a screenshot of someone trying to goad me into self-defeating:

They would never approach and kept running around near the turrets.
When they realised I wasn't going over there, they just ran away and gave up.