Marvel RivalsMarvel Rivals Groot Character Guide

Groot, the Vanguard representative of the Guardians of the Galaxy, offers one of the most unique playstyles among the heroes of Marvel Rivals.

With access to two types of walls, Groot can shape the map to constantly control the flow of battle. He also provides a surprising amount of damage output, offering a threatening presence that can't be ignored.

He does have downsides, such as lacking mobility and methods to directly protect his allies, but he's a welcome inclusion in almost any team comp.

Find out where Groot ranks in our Marvel Rivals tier list.

TLDR

As

• Groot has one of the best engage ultimates, coordinate with your allies to pull off fight-winning wombo combos.
• Disrupt the enemy team by cutting off points of entry and lines of sight for their healers.
• Always place Thornlash Walls behind your target so they can’t run away, and are in range of its attacks.

Against

• Groot operates at short to mid-range, making him susceptible to flyers and long-range snipers.
• He’s immobile and lacks escapes, making him a sitting duck against CC abilities like Wolverine’s Feral Leap.
• Don’t ignore his walls, the short ones deal damage while the large ones heal Groot. Teams with high amounts of ranged damage from heroes like The Punisher and Loki can quickly destroy Groot’s walls and greatly diminish his value.

Strengths

Controls the flow of battle

No other hero can manipulate the map like Groot, he forces everyone to have to adapt their positioning to his wall placement.

Divide and conquer

Groot can separate Vanguards from their backline and vice versa, allowing his team to focus down isolated targets.

Potent kill pressure

Even on his own, Groot’s kit represents a ton of damage and kill pressure, making him a great hero for climbing solo queue.

Weaknesses

Low mobility

Groot doesn’t have the ability to fly, dash, or sprint, so he isn’t able to evade attacks and has difficulty escaping.

No way to counter crowd control.

Groot is the weakest Vanguard against crowd control as he has no dodge, no escape, and no shield. Heroes like Wolverine with kits centered around CC can easily bully him.

Relies on walls for defense

Compared to other Vanguards who have shields, Groot has to rely on the positioning of his walls to protect himself and his allies. This often forces him to choose between offensive and defensive use of his walls.

Primary Fire: Vine Strike

Tips for Vine Strike

• Aim for the body
• • Groot’s Primary doesn’t headshot, so focus on hitting enemy bodies instead to increase your chances of landing it.
• It’s a projectile, not hitscan
• • Although it looks like a melee attack, it’s actually a projectile so make sure to lead your aim appropriately against moving targets.

Secondary Fire: Spore Bomb

Tips for Spore Bomb

• Spam on CD for constant AoE damage
• • At just a 6s cooldown, your Spore Bomb racks up a ton of damage over long fights.
• Use your Thornlash Wall as a “backboard”
• • Just like a basketball, you can use a Thornlash Wall as a backboard to trap your enemies and then throw the bomb off to maximize its explosion.
  • Spore Bomb also Awakens Thornlash Wall’s attacks so always try to place the wall before throwing the bomb.

[SHIFT]: Thornlash Wall

Tips for Thornlash Wall

• This is your offensive wall, use it liberally
• • With the ability to strike enemies damaged by Groot’s team, additional charges, and a lower cooldown than Ironwood Wall, Thornlash Wall is the one you want to spam and respawn often.
• Focus enemies that are close to it
• • Maximize your DPS by focusing enemies that are close to Thornlash Walls and by placing Thornlash Walls near your priority targets.
• Cut off healing sightlines
• • Whether it's an enemy Vanguard or flanker, use Thornlash Walls to prevent enemy Strategists from healing your isolated target.
• Placing two walls
• • Hold down Primary fire and move your cursor to either above or to the side of the initial selected placement to instantly spawn two Thornlash Walls.
  • • Requires and uses two charges.

[E]: Ironwood Wall

Tips for Ironwood Wall

• This is your defensive wall, try to keep it up
• • Since Ironwood Wall provides bonus health to your team, you want to avoid putting it in the direct line of fire.
  • You can still use it to block points and certain angles, but out of the enemy's direct line of sight will keep it alive and granting you overhealth for longer.
• Be ready for the enemies to focus it down
• • At higher levels of play, your enemies will try to destroy it ASAP, so make sure to adapt your positioning accordingly.
  • Manually destroying your wall by reactivating Ironwood Wall reduces the cooldown to five seconds. Move it if you know you are being pushed out of its range.

[PASSIVE]: Flora Colossus

Tips for Flora Colossus

• Understand your Awakenings
• • Basically what you need to know here is that being near your Thornwall activates its damage ability while being near your Ironwood activates its bonus health ability.
  • Both your and your teammate's attacks activate the damage and healing as long as Groot is in range to the wall.

[V]: Furious Flora

Tips for Furious Flora

• Weave auto-attacks in between
• • You can squeeze in primary and secondary fires without disrupting the melee attack combo that leads to the knockup. 
  • • For example: Primary->V→Primary->V→Secondary-V.

[Q] Ultimate: Strangling Prison

Tips for Strangling Prison

• Be sneaky with the stick
• • Groot’s ultimate is a projectile that can be stuck onto floors, walls, roofs, pillars and any other terrain. Use this to catch your enemies off guard.
  • • Trapping enemies elevated on a wall exposes them to more of your team and adds additional falling time to their escape if they survive your ult. 
• Identify your best wombo combo and coordinate
• • Although powerful on its own, the potential of Groot’s ultimate is really shown in combination with allied AoE ultimates from heroes such as Moon Knight, Iron Man and Storm.
• Save Thornlash Wall and Spore Bomb
• • Groot can quickly kill Duelists and Strategists all on his own if he has both Thornlash Walls and his Spore Bomb available to combo off his ultimate.

Team-up: Friendly Shoulder

Tips for Friendly Shoulder

• Rocket Raccoon/Jeff the Land Shark
• • If you see a Rocket or Jeff in trouble, try to run to their aid as jumping on to your shoulder can give them enough of a health boost to let them survive when they would’ve otherwise died.
  • Don’t extend too far into enemy territory if Rocket/Jeff is on your shoulders because even though you probably won’t die, they don’t have enough HP to survive the enemy's focused attention.

Team Comp Synergies

Groot benefits from having a shielding Vanguard like Dr. Strange or Magneto to offer his team more protection while providing additional playmaking potential. His ultimate and walls can corral enemy teams for Duelists with powerful AoE damage or Strategists with ultimates that are location-based, like Invisible Woman and Cloak and Dagger.

Team Comp Example

• Vanguards: Groot, Dr. Strange
• Duelists: Moon Knight, Storm
• Strategists: Invisible Woman, Cloak and Dagger

Hero Synergies

Vanguards: Dr. Strange

Pairing Groot with Dr. Strange gives your team a ton of protection with sightlines controlled by Groot’s walls and Strange’s shield. Strange can use Groot’s walls as cover while his shield regenerates, and the two of them offer their team a ton of engage/playmaking potential. Lastly, Groot can control the ground while Dr. Strange can Levitate up over the battlefield to contest high ground.

Duelists: Moon Knight

Womboing Groot’s ult with THE MOON is a nearly guaranteed team wipe, all at the cost of just two Q’s. Groot's walls force enemy teams to be more bunched together, allowing Moon Knight’s ank to flourish. It also causes enemies a headache having to focus down both your walls and Moon Knight’s Anks.

Strategists: Invisible Woman

Groot's ult can pull enemies into Invisible Woman’s ultimate, Invisible Boundary and keep them inside it with his walls. Her ult can also keep your ult concealed, making it a sneaky engage option. Force Physics is the perfect match for Groot. Sue can pull enemies in and Groot can wall them off, which gives her team the opportunity to burst them down. She can also push melee enemies off of Groot, which is often the only way to save him. Lastly, her right-click can help make up for Groot’s lack of defensive shields to protect himself and his allies.