Warboss Grimskull

Boss Grimskull
Faction	Orks
Health	15000
Armor	0
Damage

Warboss Grimskull is the Ork Warboss leading the Waaagh! invading Graia and the secondary antagonist of "Warhammer 40000: Space marine". He has been quite successful, and has conquered several planets before the invasion of Graia. Grimskull is extremely cunning, making his horde unusually well-organized and very dangerous.

Background

The Warboss is the biggest, strongest and most cunning Ork in a Waaagh! , getting the best armor, weapons and wargear available in his horde. The longer any Ork lives and the more it fights, the larger it gets. Upon brutally establishing itself as leader, a Warboss grows even larger with each success.

Grimskull is huge, around 3 meters (10 ft) tall even when hunched, and weighing over 2 long tonnes (4,400 lb). His armament matches his formidable bulk, including a deadly power klaw, a rapid-firing twin-linked kustom shoota with combi-rokkits, and a stikkbomb launcher containing both explosive and stun warheads.

Involvement

WARNING! The following text contains plot spoilers.

Grimskull introduced

Grimskull has invaded Graia to steal and salvage the Forge World's vast war supplies, among which are the Imperial Warlord-class Titans manufactured there. The Waaagh! quickly crushes planetary defenses and decimates the only Imperial Guard regiment (the 203rd Cadian, which counts 2nd Lieutenant Mira among its ranks) that lands before the Orks capture Graia's planetary defense guns, which cuts the regiment off from reinforcements and supplies. In response, an Ultramarines force lead by Captain Titus is sent to delay the Waaagh! while a full liberation fleet makes its way to Graia.

Grimskull is first seen in Chapter 1, when Titus lands on his Kill Krooza by himself. Grimskull makes an appearance and tells Titus to get off his ship, but doesn't get directly involved (beyond taking some shots at Titus from an upper deck) while Titus turns the ship's main cannon to fire upon the bridge, crashing the Kill Krooza to the ground. Grimskull has disappeared.

Grimskull being a nuisance

Grimskull's second appearance comes in Chapter 6, after the Ultramarines have found Drogan. The Warboss appears on a catwalk and acts quite angry because of the Space Marines attempting to "steal his Titans". Grimskull sics a fair amount of boyz on the humans and leaves the scene. Later in the same chapter, when Titus is attempting to retrieve the Power Source from its place in the generator room, Grimskull appears again, demanding the device for himself. He sends Orks at Titus and shoots rokkits from an unreachable position. Grimskull destroys a robotic servitor trying to collect the device, forcing Titus to pick up the device manually. This causes an explosion and the room collapses through the ground, separating Titus and Grimskull again.

Swarmed by daemons

The Warboss is next seen in Chapter 11, right as the Ultramarines activate the Psychic Scourge. Grimskull arrives on a dropship with some of his Boyz, but the psychic wave hits after only moments of fighting. In the aftermath, Grimskull gets up and laughs off the blast, but a Warp rift opens and Bloodletter Daemons swarm the Orks with Nemeroth on their heels. Grimskull accepts these new foes with his usual laughing bravado, but gets mobbed and disappears over a railing with several Bloodletters clinging to him.

Fighting Nemeroth

The Space Marines are rendered helpless by Nemeroth's psychic powers and seem to be done after a brief discussion with him, but Grimskull reappears and attacks the Chaos Lord. After a short grappling scene, both fall over another railing and disappear, leaving the Ultramarines free to dispose of the daemons and leave.

Grimskull's next (and final) appearance is during Chapter 12, when Titus is trying to reach the Invictus and runs into the Warboss on the way. Waiting for a door to open, he is surprised by Grimskull's power klaw grabbing his leg, pulling him under the door and tossing him across the room. A two-stage fight ensues, starting with Grimskull fighting Titus at close range, while punching openings into the walls that allow Slugga Boyz to swarm through and assist him. After taking sufficient damage, the Warboss jumps up on a ledge and shoots at Titus, sending waves of Boyz and Bomb Squigs down at the Space Marine.

The end

Eventually Titus shoots Grimskull down from his perch and approaches him. The battered Ork hasn't lost his spirit and boasts, "I ain't finished with you yet, Space Marine!". Titus simply replies, "But I am finished with you, Ork," and executes Grimskull by shooting the Warboss in the head point-blank.

Captain Titus' actions in bringing about the demise of the Warboss causes the millions-strong Waaaagh to scatter in disarray long enough to allow the newly arrived Imperial Guard regiments in the liberation fleet to rout the disorganized Ork forces, cutting short a potentially protracted and costly extended planet-wide engagement. 

Tactics

Choose your weapon load out carefully before entering the arena. This fight consists of two phases: the "ground phase" (arguably the most difficult phase to survive), and the "ranged phase". During the ground phase Boss Grimskull charges at you, sweeps at you with his power claw, shoots with his attached twin-linked shoota and lobs grenades. He will be reinforced twice by a horde of Orks to help harass you. Then, once he's sustained enough damage, he will jump to a ledge from which he will continue to lob grenades and shoot rockets while Orks and Squigs intermittently drops down to attack you.

Depending on your fighting stance of choice (melee or ranged), there are certain tactics to follow for when you finally take on the Warboss. While you can take him on with a Thunder Hammer during the ground phase, timing is everything, especially since the Thunder Hammer's rate of attack is slow and the Warboss can kill you with two or three direct melee attacks. The Hammer does deliver a devastating blow, especially with the attack-attack-attack-stun chain, and it helps to clear the massing Ork Boyz at the same time, quite effectively. However, this means you'll have to come up close to him and chain your attacks just after you dodged a charge or attack from him. For a player focusing on melee attacks, regardless of weapon choice, the Ork Boyz he brings into the fight can be killed to build up the Fury bar, and once it is full, unleash your Fury to quickly batter the Warboss down. Alternatively the Meltagun works very well since you can run around the Warboss and shoot him, dealing massive damage without coming too close. Regardless of your chosen weapons, the biggest openings are when you successfully dodge out of the way of his charge and he runs past, and when you manage to avoid his fire when he  uses his ranged weaponry; use these openings to deal out as much punishment as you can.

Once he jumped to the ledge, entering the ranged phase, the best weapon to use is probably the Vengeance Launcher since the explosive damage of the Vengeance mines can also take out any Orks and Squigs around the Warboss. Rapid fire weapons such as the standard Bolter are completely viable, though you will need to be attentive and quick; try and shoot the Bomb Squigs just before they drop down, so that their explosions also damage the Warboss. Between Squig waves, shoot directly at Grimskull, going for the head if possible. If you went in with the Thunder Hammer, you will indeed be limited to the Bolter at this stage. Just move or roll to dodge his ranged attacks as needed, clear the few Orks that drop down, performing Executions if necessary, and shoot the Squigs while they're still around the Boss' legs. Stay on your toes, rinse and repeat, and he will eventually stagger and fall off the ledge. Walk up to the battered Warboss and press Execute to finish the fight.

Video

Gallery

Introduction

Grimskull being a nuisance

Swarmed by daemons

Grimskull and Nemeroth grappling

The fight with Titus

Final words

Titus executes Grimskull