Gradual Grinder: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this."''|An out-of-context but wholly-appropriate quote from ''[[~~Three Hundred|~~300]]''.}}

{{quote|''"This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this."''|An out-of-context but wholly-appropriate quote from ''[[300]]''.}}

{{quote|''"My intricate style will confound and destroy you! [[Standard Status Effects|Confusion, sleep, poison]]... Prepare to be the victim of my sinister techniques!"''|'''Koga''', ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver ~~(Video Game)~~|Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''}}

{{quote|''"My intricate style will confound and destroy you! [[Standard Status Effects|Confusion, sleep, poison]]... Prepare to be the victim of my sinister techniques!"''|'''Koga''', ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver|Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''}}

The [[Glass Cannon]] uses powerful attacks to quickly blow his enemies to smithereens, but the Gradual Grinder sneers at such a lack of patience. Instead, the Gradual Grinder prefers to use [[Death By a Thousand Cuts|abilities that deal damage over time, steadily wearing his enemies down]], leaving them too crippled to be much of a threat to him - which is good, because typically he [[Squishy Wizard|isn't much tougher]] than the [[Glass Cannon]]. (though [[Stone Wall]]/[[Fragile Speedster]] Grinders are not unheard of)

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See also the Mezzer entry in [[An Adventurer Is You]]. Has nothing to do with [[Level Grinding]].

* In ''[[~~Borderlands (Video Game)|~~Borderlands]]'', the elemental weapons/special attacks aside from the explosive one allow you to do this. While they usually do less damage than a normal gun, they can usually slowly electrocute, corrode, or burn an enemy away, and can sometimes be more effective when dealing with a lot of enemies, particularly armored ones. However, enemies using elemental weapons can also do the same thing to you, and specialized elemental enemies such as chemical troopers are immune to their elemental type. Not that it'll help them once you switch to your regular gun...

* In ''[[Borderlands]]'', the elemental weapons/special attacks aside from the explosive one allow you to do this. While they usually do less damage than a normal gun, they can usually slowly electrocute, corrode, or burn an enemy away, and can sometimes be more effective when dealing with a lot of enemies, particularly armored ones. However, enemies using elemental weapons can also do the same thing to you, and specialized elemental enemies such as chemical troopers are immune to their elemental type. Not that it'll help them once you switch to your regular gun...

* Warlocks in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' are one of the best-known examples. While they are capable of [[Glass Cannon|nuking]] alongside the best of Mages with the right specialization, the class's spell list includes more Damage Over Time effects ("[[Memetic Mutation|More DoTs!]]"). Some playstyles of Rogue, Warrior, and Priest also qualify.

** Of course the "grinding" strategies that are actually viable in a [[Player Versus Environment]] environment have to do as much damage as the nukers, they just do so by hitting for smaller amounts but more frequently, so even over a fairly short period of time the damage is equal. When a giant dragon is beating down the tank, the healer does not want to hear "be patient, it'll fall over eventually."

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* ''[[Diablo]] II'' had a couple of these. A Paladin with a high-enough Defense aura could play Last Man Standing with large packs of monsters. The other option was a Necromancer equipped with the spell Poison Dagger. Typically the higher the poison damage, the longer it would take to kill something. On the downside, since the Necromancer was something of a [[Squishy Wizard]], it was entirely possible to get killed by a monster that didn't know it was dead yet. On the upside, it was also possible to run away just far enough that a poisoned monster would fall over just before it got the chance to hit you, in keeping with the [[Rule of Cool]].

** The Necromancer has a wide variety of options for keeping enemies crippled while gradually wearing them down, with no appreciable attrition. A summoning Druid could also let his minions do the heavy lifting while slowly poisoning all opponents.

* Several classes in ''[[Warhammer Online]]'', such as the [[Playing ~~With~~ Fire|Bright Wizard]] or [[Evil Sorcerer|Chaos Magus]], have DoT-specialized talent lines, and fit with the "hexer mage" archetype. A variant Gradual Grinder would be the Witch Hunter, a fairly standard rogue-ish class that can also be tooled up to do this especially well. They have a counter that fills up for every weak direct attack they do which allows their big DoT attacks to do significantly more damage. So you stealth in, whack the enemy with a few quick stuns, hit them with a big DoT and then stealth off again until the DoT wears off. Rinse and repeat to your pleasure.

* Several classes in ''[[Warhammer Online]]'', such as the [[Playing with Fire|Bright Wizard]] or [[Evil Sorcerer|Chaos Magus]], have DoT-specialized talent lines, and fit with the "hexer mage" archetype. A variant Gradual Grinder would be the Witch Hunter, a fairly standard rogue-ish class that can also be tooled up to do this especially well. They have a counter that fills up for every weak direct attack they do which allows their big DoT attacks to do significantly more damage. So you stealth in, whack the enemy with a few quick stuns, hit them with a big DoT and then stealth off again until the DoT wears off. Rinse and repeat to your pleasure.

* Quite a few [[Pokémon]] use this kind of strategy ("Annoyer" in metagame parlance). Poison types are almost nothing but this - they all have moves to inflict various status effects, stat debuffs, anti-escape moves, accuracy decreasing moves, evasion increasing moves, and so on. Ghost types use abilities like Hypnosis, Confuse Ray, Perish Song, and Destiny Bond to inflict slower but painful KOs.

** Stall in the metagame is pretty much this. The point is to use defensive Mons with every possible residual damage such as weather, Toxic (gradually increasing residual damage), and the combination of entry hazards (Spikes, Stealth Rock) + moves that force the opponent to switch out (Roar, Whirlwind, Dragon Tail, Circle Throw).

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** Also good for grinding levels and skills, since she gains xp every time it goes off.

*** This works best with the Ninja Reaction Skill "Sunken State"- it turns you invisible when you get attacked. Invisible units can't be targeted, but the status goes away if you so much as enter the "act" menu. Which you never have to do after a dancer (or a bard, which is the simmetrical opposite of the dancer) start her schtick.

* The ''[[Harry Potter (~~Video~~ ~~Game~~)|Harry Potter]]'' [[Game Boy]] Colour games have a spell called Mucus Ad Naseum. This spell inflicts...poison. It is a very powerful spell and even works on the final boss.

* The ''[[Harry Potter (video game)|Harry Potter]]'' [[Game Boy]] Colour games have a spell called Mucus Ad Naseum. This spell inflicts...poison. It is a very powerful spell and even works on the final boss.

* A strategy in ''[[Magic ~~the~~ Gathering]]'' is to use spells or artifacts, such as the trusty [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129643 Millstone], to defeat your opponent not by direct damage or summoning monsters, but by forcing him or her to discard cards each turn, slowly but surely depleting their deck - if a player has to draw a card but their deck is empty, they lose.

* A strategy in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' is to use spells or artifacts, such as the trusty [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129643 Millstone], to defeat your opponent not by direct damage or summoning monsters, but by forcing him or her to discard cards each turn, slowly but surely depleting their deck - if a player has to draw a card but their deck is empty, they lose.

** There are also many cards that do direct damage to players, cards that get stronger over time, and various ways to avoid attacks until then. A black/green deck and Lava Golem/Gravity Bind come to mind.

** This is also one reason Trinisphere is restricted in Vintage; turn 1 Mishra's Workshop, Trinisphere is practically a turn 1 kill, but it may take over a dozen turns to actually die.

** A specific deck known as Spellbomb Control, which can endlessly recycle its inexpensive little artifacts, may sometimes be forced to grind their opponent down slowly through numerous attacks by 2-power creatures and 2-damage Pyrite Spellbombs, if the player is somehow unable to use the deck's inbuilt tricks to retrieve the big finishing creatures; games have been witnessed where the Spellbomb Control player just manages to kill an opponent using a Millstone-type deck at the last possible moment, during the last upkeep phase ''before they had to draw from an empty library''.

** Another specific deck which draws a lot of ire from casual players when it is dusted off for action is the Blue/Red Isochron Scepter deck, which can imprint and use its suite of counterspells and the split card Fire/Ice endlessly from its signature artifact. It is one of the definitive "[[Fan Speak|Draw-Go]]" decks that rely upon the miniscule 2-damage-per-casting from Fire/Ice to kill an opponent in ten hits, often spread out over more than ten turns as the Sceptor player has to establish a stranglehold over their opponent's ability to cast spells before they can start the slow burning.

** Another specific deck which draws a lot of ire from casual players when it is dusted off for action is the Blue/Red Isochron Scepter deck, which can imprint and use its suite of counterspells and the split card Fire/Ice endlessly from its signature artifact. It is one of the definitive "[[Fan-Speak|Draw-Go]]" decks that rely upon the miniscule 2-damage-per-casting from Fire/Ice to kill an opponent in ten hits, often spread out over more than ten turns as the Sceptor player has to establish a stranglehold over their opponent's ability to cast spells before they can start the slow burning.

** The card Stasis prevents both players from reusing their renewable resources each turn, but gradually depletes the resources of the player who owns it. Chronatog allows a player to skip his own turn (normally a bad thing). Kismet prevents an opponent from using most cards in the turn that they're played. The three together allow a player to sit back and watch his opponent draw every card in his deck, one turn at a time, without being able to play any of them.

* [[Truth in Television]], at least in a strategic sense. [[Zerg Rush|Human Wave Attacks]] can be used to wear down an enemy that you cannot overcome in a one-to-one engagement, but heavily outnumber. This is also the linchpin of Asymmetric Warfare, an attempt to nullify an enemy's strengths while wearing away at their resolve and ability to wage war. And in Russia's case, General Winter does his part to defeat [[Those Wacky Nazis|any foe stupid enough]] to be campaigning during the cold months of the year.

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** However, for Ultimecia's part, her main selling point is her absurdly humongous range. Out of all the characters in the game, Ultimecia is the only one that can reach the other side of an absurdly large map with certainty. Also, her vertical HP range is infinite so if your game is in the air, Ultimecia WILL kill you. Really, the entire point of her battle is that you can't touch her so no matter how much damage she deals, as long as she can consistently hit you, you won't win.

** [[It Makes Sense in Context]], because she is the #1 Time Mage of [[Final Fantasy]].

* The [[Kill It ~~With~~ Fire|Pyro]] from ''[[~~Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|~~Team Fortress 2]]'' is a clear example of this, setting his enemies on fire and either keep burning them or leaving them for dead. The Scout is probably ''designed'' this way, ideally hitting enemies when they aren't looking, then dodging while bleeding them to death with the pistol or a second close attack shortly afterwards when they've forgotten about him. <ref>However, on a full server, ''[[~~Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|~~Team Fortress 2]]'' is full of classes able to deal big chunks of damage immediately and able to stop or slow attackers. Neither class gets away with Gradual Grinding in the typical encounter. In small-numbers scrim the tatic tends to be more useful.</ref>

* The [[Kill It with Fire|Pyro]] from ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' is a clear example of this, setting his enemies on fire and either keep burning them or leaving them for dead. The Scout is probably ''designed'' this way, ideally hitting enemies when they aren't looking, then dodging while bleeding them to death with the pistol or a second close attack shortly afterwards when they've forgotten about him. <ref>However, on a full server, ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' is full of classes able to deal big chunks of damage immediately and able to stop or slow attackers. Neither class gets away with Gradual Grinding in the typical encounter. In small-numbers scrim the tatic tends to be more useful.</ref>

* In ''[[Sailor Moon Another Story]]'', each senshi's chapter ends with a boss fight against their [[Evil Twin]]. In most cases this is a fairly standard fight. The first such chapter, though, is [[Scrappy Level|Sailor Mercury's]] ... the boss has no real attacks but Poison and you have no real attacks period. Optimum equipment and a LOT of [[Level Grinding]] are required, and even then it [[That One Boss|takes forever]].

* This is the way that Controllers defeat enemies in ''[[City of Heroes]]''. Unlike their Dominator counterparts, Controllers have no actual attacks but do have access to a large number of debuffing powers that can be combined with status effects that cause damage over time. A Gravity Controller crushes you to death, an Ice Controller freezes you to death, etc...

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* Signum from the ''[[Lyrical Nanoha]]'' series uses a variant; being the most powerful [[Stone Wall]] in the series, she simply turtles and soaks up the enemy's attacks while they tire themselves out, then goes on the offensive with extremely heavy attacks when the enemy's energy is exhausted. {{spoiler|She's had to change tactics when faced with enemies who can pierce her defenses.}}

* Any ship in ''[[Star Control]]'' or ''[[Star Control 2]]'' that has only low-damage attacks, such as the Spathi Discriminator or the Arilou Skiff, has no choice but to be this.

* A common strategy in [[Magic ~~the~~ Gathering]] decks, especially with discard and/or deck burner strategies. Your opponent can't fight if he can't keep a card in his hand long enough to play it, and once a deck burner mechanic kicks in, your opponent can lose even with 20 (or higher) life and a field full of powerful creatures.

* A common strategy in [[Magic: The Gathering]] decks, especially with discard and/or deck burner strategies. Your opponent can't fight if he can't keep a card in his hand long enough to play it, and once a deck burner mechanic kicks in, your opponent can lose even with 20 (or higher) life and a field full of powerful creatures.