LATEST CHANGES:

-UPDATED UPTILL CHAMPION MATCHUPS SECTION

About me:

I'm a paladins player since autumn 2016 and a Grohk support main almost ever since. I OTP:d support Grohk into masters in S1, didn't play as competitively for a while, and came back to Paladins as my main game since the start of summer 2021 after WoW TBC flopped for me. I decided to write a guide on how I play support Grohk in high elo games to maybe give some ideas and advice to people that wanna start playing Grohk as a support.

I generally prefer the healing playstyle of Grohk and this guide generally focuses on aspects of support Grohk.

I will try to keep this up to date the best I can and make changes when they become relevant.

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About Grohk: 

Strengths:

-Off supporting

-One of the highest effective HPS in game with Spirit's Domain

-Great at healing through anti-heal, especially with Spirit's Domain

-Great utility with Totemic Ward
-High utility in general with Spirit's Grace

-Great point pressure as damage

-Great ult that synergises well with a lot of champions

-High damage potential compared to other high healing output supports

-Ghost Walk is a top tier immunity tool when utilised properly

Weaknesses:

-Mediocre base range

-Lackluster mobility with a high cooldown

-Practically no verticality

-Weak to divers

-Practically no burst with dmg or heal

-Relatively easy to hit headshots on.

-Requires more game knowledge from your team than the average support

-Can struggle before Chronos 2 (round 1 cap)

Situations where you can pick Grohk:

SUPPORT:

-You have a passive team comp

-Your team has champions that don't rely on dashes for most of their movement

-Your carries are champions that like to commit to fights instead of skirmish

-You have a shield comp, especially Nando, Barik or Makoa

-Your comp doesn't have flyers*. Asterisk here because it depends on what champ and what map.
-You have an offlane that tag teams/dives together
-Enemy doesn't have multiple AoE spammers. Map can affect this one.

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Talents:

A healing calculator I made for Grohk. You shouldn't just try to max healing output for your loadout, but this sheet will make it easier to compare effects of cards, talents and items on healing. Feel free to copy it and mess around!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IZhHSUje1USJ-U5MVgAO8V3WoWlNfQUfu7IWC2819Xs/edit?usp=sharing

Totemic Ward
The main healing talent. Gives your team amazing utility with constant AoE heal and movement speed. Play this whenever you can. Instruct your team to buy rejuvenate.

Choose your healing talent based on the map and team comp. This requires a bit of game sense and knowledge of how team comps play.

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Spirit’s Domain

DISCLAIMER: My preliminary thoughts based on PTS are that this talent will still not be good as none of it's issues have been resolved (requirement for constant LoS and lack of range). Healing numbers won't really change either, but healing from staff gets shifted to totems. It's more AoE potential, but I doubt it's enough to boost the winrate of this talent by the 10% it needs to be actually viable vs Totemic Ward. The speed boost on staff is nice, but the lack of range will keep it's utility down. Preliminary thoughts were right, don't play this talent.

Play this if the map is open, your team has flyers and very mobile champions, although it is fairly hard talent to play well. Your lackluster range requires good positioning and staff healing requires good tracking and focus to not tunnel vision. Remember to keep your totems on CD when playing this talent.

I will keep recommending this for people to start with but I do think Totemic Ward is the better talent. Spirit's Domain will be less punishing for your team when you make a mistake with totems, which suits new players.

Choose your healing talent based on the map and team comp. This requires a bit of game sense and knowledge of how team comps play.

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Maelstrom

For dmg Grohk or aggressive double support comps with tanks that have high sustain or good mobility i.e barik, ruckus, ash, koa. I rarely play this talent because of big shields being in the meta a lot. I also just prefer the healing playstyle. If you don't have a free comp for bouncing, just play Totemic Ward with an offensive loadout.

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Maps

Maps to generally avoid (unless you know what you're doing):

Timber mill

If you plan on playing SD just avoid this map. You do not have the range or LoS to play that talent effectively. With totemic this map isn't all that bad, although it does require you to learn all the totem positioning. Not my most hated map anymore, which is solely reserved to fish market now!

Fish Market

Long range map. Requires exceptional positioning to be able to heal your team as a whole consistently. Has terrain that fucks up totem placement for some key parts of the map (dockside, hill before base etc.). Annoying to play. Avoid.

Serpent Beach

Has a lot of both things Grohk likes and dislikes. You can heal a lot of verticality with Totemic Ward. SD healing generally is good, tho the point leaves you desiring more. The current totem AoE range without TW doesn’t allow you to heal high ground and objective simultaneously like it used to.

All in all this is a positioning puzzle that a lot of the time is a tad too hard to crack. The map also encourages flanks with a lot of verticality which is an issue for both healing talents. There are some trick spots to heal verticality, but utilising them properly requires knowledge. I often avoid Grohk on this map now unless the comp is really good for it.

Splitstone Quarry
DISCLAIMER: I like this map, but it is hard to play well.

I like this map now with SD. Staff has enough range to heal point and with a little outreach you can heal all common teammate positions from cave and high ground. For Totemic Ward this is a totem placement knowledge check.

Like the other unfavorable maps I like in this list Splitstone Quarry requires good positioning, which makes me put it in the unfavorable category for the average Grohk players. Definitely a no-go for a beginner.

Stone Keep

DISCLAIMER: I like this map, but it is hard to play well.

Feels alright with SD now, but this is again a hard map to position on effectively due to your range. TW doesn't really offer enough coverage for both HG and point, which is not a deal breaker, but requires some totem awareness from your point tank. It is fairly easy to support off lanes with extended totem range, but positioning for staff healing is tricky. Has the same problem as other tubular maps for SD that your teammates easily block your staff heals to other teammates.

Unlike in Ice Mines or Brightmarsh, though, verticality around the objective makes this map more difficult for Totemic Ward rather than easier. Capping is difficult, but pushing gets way easier due to good totem coverage at choke points.

Dawnforge

DISCLAIMER: I like this map, but it is hard to play well.

Im gonna be that guy who kind of likes this map. Annoyingly tho this map really railroads comps that use hyper mobile flanks and healers like Jenos, Grover, Corvus or Ying. For Grohk tho, this isn't a bad map at all but requires a bit of totem placement knowledge. Your totems with Totemic Ward can heal both levels of the map in terms of verticality almost everywhere, and open areas generally encourage ppl to bunch up behind cover, which is good for totem healing. You just have to position in a way that allows you to put down totems efficiently, which can be hard because of LoS or tight corridors, especially around the objective.

Someone uploaded a game of mine from this map to Paladins Competitive YT channel. It showcases all the totem placement pretty well. Feel free to check it out here: https://youtu.be/aCJToidirGg?si=-PogpzIr3YbEPkQ-

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Favourable maps:

Frog isle

This map is great for both dmg and support Grohk. It is a hard map for flankers and forces your team to play in your totems. A nice beginner friendly map that doesn't punish you badly for positioning or totem mistakes. Does get really annoying though if your enemy can draft snipers without counters or long range AA bullshit. My tip for this map is to play further back than you think is necessary.

Ice mines

A tight tunnel run with loads of cover. Basically the same as Frog Isle, but the ice cave section is annoying against long range poke comps.

Brightmarsh

More or less the same as Ice mines, but now you have to position a little better to be able to heal side lanes.  Requires you to be aware of flank routes. Probably the best map in game in terms of totem placement.

Ascension Peak

The point is Grohk heaven and high ground healing is easier than on most other healers. All of the payload push has great spots for totems and cover within staff reach. Requires you to be aware of flank routes.

Bazaar

New best map for Grohk after the totem area buff. This map is Rei levels of crazy good for Totemic Ward.

The point can be awkward for SD. People constantly LoS you if they are not aware of the support, enticing you to chase them out of cover. Play safe and around the walls of the point. Use HG when the enemy comp and pressure allows for it. With lackluster mobility you are very vulnerable on high ground and due to your range, you are unable to effectively use it yourself for anything but healing. Cart push is very good for totem placement.

Jaguar Falls

3nd best map for Grohk after Bazaar and Brightmarsh.

Warder’s Gate

DISCLAIMER: I like this map, but it is hard to play well.

Same deal as Fish Market but less. Easy map to get flanked and dived on. You need to know how to position in this map to avoid it turning into a death fest. Can be a fairly good map for Grohk since point allows a lot of freedom and cover for totem placement, but you need to move a lot based on how your team positions. Personally, I quite like this map as it is interesting and movement heavy to play. Seriously not a beginner friendly map, tho.

Shattered Desert

This can be a very nice map for Grohk, if you can handle the enemy flank/OT pushes. You have a lot of cover and good visibility pretty much everywhere if your team doesn't get pushed badly. Requires good positioning to be able to utilize all the healing sight lines. Obstacles provide nice places for totems for point capping and throughout the cart push. The difficult part in this map is staying alive. Otherwise, this map is more of a favorable game knowledge check.

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Tips & tricks

When doing damage, start with Shock Pulse. This will give you up to 300 more DPS based on the bounces and can burn people deceivingly fast if they are not paying full attention. If you start with LMB and then Shock Pulse, you give the enemy more time to react to what you are doing and fire back, since Shock Pulse will lock you out of LMB while casting.

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When playing Spirit's Domain, you can rack up your staff bonus damage by healing your teammates. This means that when you swap to an enemy, you will start doing (close to) max damage IMMEDIATELY.

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When playing Spirit's Domain with thunderlord 5, it is higher HPS to reload ammo than regenerate it. Although higher AVG HPs, you will wait longer to be able to heal again so don't reload if someone is about to die. See the healing items section for when to buy Deft Hands.

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When escaping, use a totem before Ghost Walking for increased movement speed and healing. The totem cast can be almost fully animation cancelled so the only slowing factor is how fast you can press the buttons in sequence + server response.

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When playing Maelstrom with the bounce heal card (Lightning Rod), you can start a bounce chain and ghost walk to drop anti-heal for insane heals mid combat.

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Never put down totems in the open unless you have to*. Instead place them behind cover or to the side of where the action is. This will not only make it harder for your enemies to kill the totem, but they will also have to choose between damaging your team or your totem. They can't do both at the same time even with most AoE.

asterisk: It is almost always better to place totems where they are most usable for the most of your teammates at a time even if it is out in the open. Apply this tip in the confines of that. There is a fine balance here which you have to learn by trial and error and game knowledge.

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Put totems down where they benefit multiple positions your team could take. Sometimes this means putting them in the open contrary to the advice above, but it is worth it if the totem can heal more people and give your team more options to maneuver while still getting healed

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Grohk's totems heal vertically. Unlike Lillith swarm, Grohk's totem heal area is a bubble that heals through floors and ceilings as well as walls. Use this to your advantage especially with Totemic Ward.

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When placing down totems, you have to consider the movement of battle. A lot of times you need to place totems where the battle is headed, instead of where it is to avoid wasting totems. This is especially important when you are supporting flankers and dives, as you need to be able to predict to some degree where they are gonna go and place your totems there beforehand. It takes a lot of game knowledge but separates an exceptional Grohk player from a good one.

A general rule of thumb for totem placement is to place totems as far up as you can considering the direction the battlefield is heading to if your team is the aggressor. If your team is playing defensive, place totems a bit behind them. There are so many asterisks to this, though, and making good decisions in totem placement moment to moment is the core of playing support Grohk well.

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Shock Pulse locks you out of casting abilities so make it a conscious decision when you use it. The amount of times I've died due to Shock Pulse locking me out of a totem or Ghost Walk is embarrassing.

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Use Shock Pulse on deployables whenever you can. It will guarantee an easy hit to start bounces! This includes VII and BK bombs! Deployable walls do not bounce. On shield targets, aim the Shock Pulse to something behind the shield so it doesn't block bouncing.

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Use up at least one totem chargebefore ulting for max ZOOM ZOOM and healing. Your totems will recharge while you are ulting so this is a great time for downtime.

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Your ultimate is very strong at retaking point and gives your team huge momentum for pushing in general. Be careful not to make yourself an easy target while flying as the ult heal will not keep you alive through caut late game. Don't rush ahead of your team while ulting and utilise cover. You are not a soaring eagle, but a squiggling squid.

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Positioning totems accurately, especially at range can be difficult due to how the targeting beacon works. Jump and put the totem down at peak jump height for more accurate totem placement. This places the totem closer to where you are actually aiming. Without doing this, it is extremely easy to under or overshoot the totem if you don't have a wall nearby to aim at.

Skins:

Grohk does actually have a p2w skin for healing, Neon Demon. Using it will make your totems' radius indicator much easier to see. You need to use the body of the skin, weapon you can choose as you like but I use Brimstone Brand since the red laser makes it pop really well on the screen.

How to play with a Grohk main heal:TL;DR:

Grohk as a support excels at healing through anti-healing, extended fighting and opportunistic team aggression. You want to:
1. Force extended fighting
2. Force the enemy to push into Totems
3. Push the enemy with the team or a teammate
4. Buy rejuvenate, even as the carry player. Some exceptions apply, but unless you are a high elo carry main and know what you're talking about, just buy the rejuvenate.

What you DO NOT want to do is:
1. Spread out as a team
2. Skirmish, especially alone. Some wiggle room here obviously depending on the situation.

More in-depth look:

Grohk does not offer burst and mainly heals during active combat. To lean into this BUY REJUVENATE. If you don't you will be stuck at low HP constantly late game waiting and waiting to get healing. You don't need to rush rejuv, but when caut ramps up, BUY REJUVENATE. I usually instruct people to start picking it up during round 2-3. I don't care if you are playing flank or dmg, BUY REJUVENATE. The WHOLE TEAM buys it. It's not for the Grohk, it's for you.

Rejuvenate is omega underappreciated anyway and it is almost twice as efficient mitigation per credits spent compared to haven. So even generally, if you are playing with a consistent high HPS healer, BUY REJUVENATE.

Now that the hardest part is over (I cannot for the life of me understand why people dont buy rejuv more. It's an amazing item late game on DMG/Flank unless you have a Furia) you just have to remember next few pointers. I will split them based on the Grohk's talent.

Totemic Ward (main heal):

-Do not spread out all around the map. One simple reason for this, TW is a team healing talent and if you constantly force Grohk to put down totems for singular people all around the map, you will lose the game. Instead, do something that I like to call pseudo-stacking. This means the following:

1. As a team, play 2 adjacent lanes on the map. Never all 3 or just the sides.
2. (And/or) Play as 2 groups meaning 2 players play together and 3 players play together.

This is to avoid the lose condition I stated earlier. Forcing totem Grohk to heal singular people around the map is poison to winning the game. Alternatively if the Grohk is intelligent, they will heal the team and you will die solo with no totems.

-Fight with the totems. Inside them. Like really, stand in the fucking totems. This shouldn't be hard but I constantly see people playing "totem is lava" even at high elo. If the team has rejuvenate and you are fighting with multiple people standing in totems, you will get a massive health advantage on a team scale. Grohk is the only support really being able to truly heal the whole team at the same time so make use of it. I mean there is Ying, but Ying has way less dmg and no utility compared to Grohk. This doesn't mean tank all damage btw. A lot of brainiacs will flame you that you can't heal them while they are standing in the open trying to bowl through betty bombs. Don't be stupid, do what you do normally, but do it while utilizing the constant totem heal to gain an advantage throughout combat while controlling the map and corners. Shoulder peek. If you are playing as a team you can outlive the enemy in a slogging match every time.

-When you realize that you need heals, HEAD TO THE NEAREST TEAMMATE. There will be totems there.

Spirit's Domain:

-If you are playing DMG/flank, take and force 1v1s while you are getting healed. (Staff) Grohk is the only support in the game (with lillith) that can actively heal through caut if you have rejuvenate. Especially if you have someone you are pushing with, just trust the heals and keep pushing (unless you are gonna eat a crap load of burst obviously). With a single totem and staff heals, you will be getting 492 hps through 90% anti-heal granted that you have max rejuvenate. With that kind of healing, you should be able to win ANY 1v1.

-What I said about pseudo-stacking under TW still applies here, but less. SD is way more flexible in terms of team positioning with the downside of losing dmg and lower range. It will still be a very useful if the Grohk can place totem's that are useful to multiple people at a time so don't go flying all around the map. SD's healing range is also generally worse than TW.

As a disclaimer I will still point that Grohk solo support is not the greatest there ever was, but you can absolutely make it work even in high elo play. Just stop being a whiny bitch teammate to Grohk and play to the character's strengths instead of actively playing against it.