Yun's Guide To Granger (Part 1)

Yunozaki

Hello guys! This is Yun Yashuno (In-game name) introducing another guide for one of my favourite marksman, Granger. This guide will be intended to be used for both the guide tournament as well as useful and helpful tips for players to improve and to prosper when playing this hero.
The Bardic Demon Hunter
Introduction
Granger is a Marksman that specializes in burst based attacks that can potentially bring enemies off-guard with his barrage of bullets. Despite having a passive that grants him a severe lack of attack speed bonus in exchange for extra damage on both basic attacks and skills. He is by far the only Marksman that does not require any attack speed items in order to be effectively lethal. Second to Clint who doesn't have any attack speed penalty but is still be able to cope with the match even without attack speed items.


In most common cases, Granger is commonly seen as a jungler and also a lane pusher. However, in a fast-paced team fight, it's most difficult for him to cope properly and maybe in a risk of getting killed in battle. He is more prone to ganking and taking the upper-hand by defeating sidelane bosses (i.e. Turtle/Lord)


Synopsis of His Story (Non-Mastery Code)
Granger was an orphan that was adopted and grew in the Monastery of Light. He had a keen interest in music that soothes his traumatized past, specifically with the violin. When he grew up and was told to choose between a demon hunter or a servant. Granger decided to choose both by using guns and violin as his weapon of choice, but a hunter as a major instead of a full-time musician. He later gained a reputation for being able to handle higher ranking tasks relating to demons. Using his music as an advantage in fights.


Skills and Phases
Passive: Caprice
Granger can fill his gun with up to 6 bullets at a time. Every 6th bullet deals Critical Damage. Granger's Basic Attack will deal extra damage but gains 50% Attack Speed from Equipment and Emblems.


S1: Rhapsody [Burst] (Level 1 - CD:10.0s)
Granger reloads his gun and shoots them forward, with each bullet dealing 30(+80% Total Physical Attack) points of Physical Damage to Enemies


S2: Rondo [Blink] (Level 1 - CD:8.0s)
Gragner dashes towards the designated direction, his next 2 Basic Attack will deal an extra 10% of damage within 5s. When Rhapsody is cast, every bullet that hits any enemies will reduce the cooldown of this skill by 0.5s


S3: Death Sonata [Burst] [AoE] (Level 1 - CD: 50.0s)
Granger transforms his violin cases into a reloaded super cannon that shoots Super Bullets. He will shoot 2 Super Bullets forward, ignoring minions and jungle monsters along the way. Super Bullets hit and explode to enemy heroes upon impact, dealing 150(+100% Total Physical Attack) points of Physical Damage and slowing them by 80%. The last Super Bullet will deal Critical Damage. Granger can dash from one place to another for each Super Bullet shot. When Death Sonata ends, the CD of this skill will be reduced by 15% for every 2 remaining Super Bullets.


Phases
There are three phases at the beginning of the match. The Early game, Mid-game and Late-game (If extends any further then it's Super Late Game). Granger's golden phase begins during the mid and late game but will slowly deteriorate if the match extends further.


Early Game (Laning, Levelling, Early items)
Granger will be choosing the right lane and see which one fits him very well in terms of safe farming and free from ganks. Meaning he'll have to rotate when things aren't going very well with him. However, at the same time he'll also have the huge advantage in dealing severe damage to the enemies during this phase.


If Granger is in the Middle Lane, he'll be needing a partner, specifically a Tank, to cover up his vulnerability due to limitation in clearing minions fast and most of the time there is more than one enemy in this particular lane. The first thing you need to do in this situation is clearing minions, gain levels and pre-farmed jungle stacks. (Jungle Items.)


Side Lane has more limitations to jungles but has a farming advantage when it comes to minions. He doesn't really need a partner as he has a reasonable attack range and damage as well as safe territory. However, he needs to be extra vigilant and careful with possibilities of ganks around him. If the enemies are very prone to ganking, it's better to have someone, regardless of roles, to stay beside him.


Effectivity in The Early Phase
Ganks and short team fights are basically Granger's bread and butter as he deals a lot of damage greatly if aimed properly. Even getting kills during solo laning or laning, in general, is possible. In this phase, I have tips you guys can use.


1. Harass Your Enemies
This is important, you as a marksman and damage dealer needs to disable the enemies' advances as much as you can. Utilize the 6th bullet to make a guarantee harassment mechanism to your enemies as this will most likely to startle them and they will back off. This will greatly affects their gain since they will either stay to get farms or ignoring the minions and jungles in order to survive.


Keep in mind you can mix S2 with 5th and 6th bullet to harass even more because of the extra damage the dash provides. Try to limit your kill on minions with the last two bullets. Instead, once you've used your 6th Bullet immediately S1 any enemy units that are alive to reload your S2, then repeat the whole process again. Try to limit your dashes though, use it to either retreat, or to deal.


"But how about enemy tanks? Should you harass them too?"
They're mostly in the front lines (Except Franco), they may have a lot of defences, but they're not immortal during this phase. Reduce their HP as much as possible, forcing them to retreat and keep their allies vulnerable. In simpler terms, keep hitting them. Take Grock for example, he mostly charges his S1 into the lane for better lane clearing, don't approach him and just focus on damaging him as this is where he's most vulnerable.


If possible, don't solo kill your opponent. This may be controversial, but it's better to keep them as vulnerable as possible until ganking is possible. This is enough to delay their gains as they will mostl likely be staying in the lane under critical HP, leaving them constantly vulnerable. Push them back further by damaging the turrets, this will leave them in a dilemma whether or not they should defend it with that amount of HP.


2. Take Last Hits
You may not be the fastest jungler or laner, but you war one of the best heroes to get last hits. Granger has the speciality of getting through CS easier due to his damage bonus. It benefits you throughout the game and with proper rotation and team fights you'll be able to farm more effectively during the early phase.


Efficiency comes from the usage of S1 and S2. use S1 after dashing as the extra damage will be constantly reloaded thanks to Rhapsody. This ensures your CS to be 100% accurate. Don't use S1 first hand as this will leave your S2 on a constant cooldown, leaving you vulnerable and lose jungling speed.


My jungling pattern are as follows, it's simple:
1. Basic Attack until the 5th Bullet.
2. Dash, then finish 5th and 6th Bullet
3. Rhapsody (S1) to reset cooldown
4. Repeat.


I will keep using this until I'm in the mid-game, where it's easier to kill the jungle monsters and lanes.


Mid-Game (Farming and building)
On the 10 minute mark you should already have your core items and consistent amount of farms (Average Net worth, 3k -> 4k Gold). This is where Granger's growth exponentially rise because of minion frequencies, ajugnle availability and team fights. However, this is also where you're most likely to trip and fall because of common mistakes such as overconfidence and bad decision making.

Effectivity
1. Take any chances
Granger has the best potential to grow stronger in this phase at a much faster rate. One of the reason is that Turtles, jungles and minions are much easier to kill and they are somewhat free due to team fights. You will have to decide whether or not you should join in team fights or get some gold. One simple question determines your decision.

"Do I have the items I need?"
I'll clarify this, you should have your primary core items
Boots
Jungle Knife (Upgraded and stacked)
One completed item

If any one of them are not available, you should avoid as much team fights as possible. One obvious factor is you obviously lack damage and most likely to die in team fights because of the vulnerability. Take as much jungle stacks as you can (Except buff, if you have one, don't take the other.), stack up some gold and damages . Again, taking CS is still crucial, if there's an army of minions heading your way. Use Ult, because it's fun, satisfying and it clears lanes faster than bad players improve.

2. Build Wisely
Mr personal first three items are as follows
CDR Boots > Jungle Knife > Lifesteal (Bloodlust Axe).

This gives me good sustainability and average damage. While the other three empty slots are based on my interpretation of the current match. Under a few circumstances, I will share my building decision

Original Build: Berserker's Fury, Blade of Despair, Athena Shield/Malefic Roar
This is when farming is going very well and you've stacked up enough damage to at least severely damage a Tank. Keep in mind that his Ult will be deemed lethal with this build if aimed properly. It can even instant kill any squishy heroes from a far range.


Penetrator Build: Malefic Roar, Endless Battle, Athena's Shield/Blade of Despair
I'll choose this build when the enemy tanks (2 Tanks in enemies' lineup) are well built in terms of durability. I'll have to deal as much true damage as I can to them to ensure they aren't able to tank properly. This build requires patience, as Granger will have to hit a lot more than casting skills. The ultimate here is limited, meaning it's used based mostly on ganks and last hits, but definitely less on team fights.

Movement Speed Build: Endless Battle, Hunter Strike, Blade of Despair/Athena's Shield
This is used when enemies are mostly the speedy type, including the heroes that use spells such as Purify, Arrival and Sprint. Though I personally rarely used this build because I'm already fast enough thanks to my emblem builds and developed reaction time. Nonetheless, I'll put this into account as there may be other players that can use it gracefully.



Note: These item combos are not compulsory, these are my personal builds and you guys can mix them based on preference. I have a build of my own that will be available on Part 2.

Late Game (Survive)
Granger is not immortal in this phase and he is extremely vulnerable to almost anything, that includes stuns, damage, burst and supports with stupid damage builds. If you were to die the chances of losing will be ridiculously great.

The tips here are pretty cimple and cliche.
1. If there's a chance, take the Lord/Push lanes/End the damn game
2. Aim for the damage dealer, stay away from CCs
3. Survive.

But how to do that will be the main point of this guide. I'll share my experience when entering the late and ultra late game.

First and Foremost, my last three items will constantly receive changes during this time. This is because my enemies will try to counteract any item builds as much as possible. So, in this case, I will try to re-counter every single one of them by storing up gold and avoid potions. There's no growth in this phase, only alternations between builds.

Dashes will e extremely limited, I will use the 5th and 6th extra damage bullet less frequently for the sake of dealing damage as they (Enemy) already have strong builds to endure huge damages, except the squishies. In this case, I'll only perform basic attacks while walking around. Using only S2 to dash to safety or kill advantage and if there's EB in my slot. The Ult will be used for long-ranged attacks, retreats and severely damaging enemies in team fights.

Aiming in this phase is much difficult as you will no doubt, be in a constant panic. Why? Because you want to win the match. I've missed a lot of bullets in this phase due to the mental state of intense focus and clumsiness. My advice here is to try to stay calm as much as possible and focus on how to win the match. You will most likely be able to aim better and target your enemies better.

Super Note Here: Use Auto Aim LESS.

This is the end of the first part, stay tuned for the second one!Edit: The second one is here (https://forum.mobilelegends.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=74444&extra=)

BD007

I really like your approach on this guide. Granger is very unique mm and not easy to play. Your guide and the way you explained part by part will help granger players a lot. thanks for sharing.