Greystone is undeniably strong in Monolith. Capable of high damage, good AOE clear thanks to Make Way and a second life through Reforged, he’s a huge threat to just about every Hero. Despite his lack of “stickiness” (he has no crowd control of any form until he dies) he’s challenging to deal with, especially if you happen to be playing a Hero with few escapes. I thought it might be a good idea to provide some tips on how to deal with Greystone in the hopes it improves your play.


1. Draft against him. I regularly see players select Heroes that are particularly weak against Greystone, even after he has been chosen. It may sound obvious but you have to ensure your team can deal directly with him and while it’s not always possible to draft against him (especially if he’s last pick) it’s worth thinking about his potential arrival into a roster from the start. Any Hero that has a strong escape, multiple forms of crowd control or a means to mitigate damage is strong against Greystone. Fundamentally, if he cannot reach you - or your high value team mates - he’ll be unable to utilise his damage potential. Any of the following Heroes work well against Greystone:

  • Dekker (stun and slow)
  • Feng Mao (slow)
  • Gideon (slow and pull)
  • Grim.exe (slow and knockback)
  • Grux (pull and stun)
  • Howitzer (slow and knockback)
  • Kwang (tether)
  • Lt. Belica (knockup)
  • Murdock (knockback and root)
  • Muriel (slow, knockup, shielding)
  • Narbash (stun and slow)
  • Rampage (stun)
  • Riktor (pull and stun)
  • Sevarog (root and knockback)
  • Steel (knockup and knockback)
  • The Fey (slow and pull)

2. Work together. Once you’ve completed your draft, ideally with multiple Heroes who can use their crowd control against Greystone, it’s key that you coordinate against him. Early game he isn’t much of a threat and until mid and late when his Ultimate has a short cooldown, he can be comfortably be killed by most players. It’s once his Ultimate has a 60 second cooldown that things get challenging, especially if he has built critical damage. It’s imperative that you work together as a team to not only attack him, but to also defend your high value targets. If he’s running into your team, you need to not only alternative your abilities to lock him down, but also prevent him from reaching your back line. Multiple stuns, slows and knockbacks will ensure that he’ll take huge damage and either push on through (at which point his Ultimate will trigger on death) or he’ll back off.

3. Prepare for his Ultimate. When Greystone dies he’ll automatically use Reforged and plummet back down to earth. All those around him on his death will be heavily slowed, giving Greystone and his team ample opportunity to deal damage or for him to escape with Assault the Gates. Ideally you want to be in a position that when you see his health get low, you back off (if you’re melee) and allow your ranged Heroes to finish him off. If you can, it’s also worth saving any escape abilities you have in preparation for his descent so that you can quickly avoid the slow. As long as you fan out away from him immediately prior to his death, you can mitigate his slow entirely.

4. Learn his rotation. Greystone will always run into a fight first and expect to have crowd control thrown at him. It’s at this point that, typically, he’ll use Assault the Gates to leap onto your carry (such as Twinblast or Murdock) if he’s struggling to reach a target. You need to be prepared for this as a team and ideally, one (or more) should save some form of crowd control or evasive skill for his landing. Once he has used his leap, he cannot escape again for some time and it’s at this point that you need to capitalize on his lack of mobility. Stun him when he lands, allow your carries to back away and be prepared for his Ultimate (3).

5. Don’t overextend. Greystone can happily punish a solo Hero in lane or one that’s drifted away from the group because Assault the Gates has a short cooldown and if Reforged is available, he knows that he has two lives to bring you down. He can relentlessly leap at you while slicing away and there’s very little you can do about it. Staying near a tower, warding effectively and regularly watching your map for his location significantly reduces his ability to kill stray Heroes.

6. Keep eyes on him. I’ve briefly mentioned this on point (3) but I’m often amazed at how many “squishy” Heroes I see during a team fight run out of position to secure a kill, only to have over-extended. It’s at that point they’re often unable to escape from Greystone once he makes a bee-line for them, especially if cooldowns have already been used. If you can’t see Greystone in a teamfight, assume he’s on his way. If you can see him, revert to (2) and have your crowd control at the ready. The most important thing however is to keep your maximum distance from him.

7. Don’t be afraid to run. If you stay maximum distance from Greystone, he cannot possibly catch you even if he uses his leap. The default run speed is simply too quick and he has no means of keeping you in place. Problems arise when Greystone engages you and you aren’t at maximum distance, at this point he can simply leap onto you (repeatedly) until you’re dead. Key here is ensuring you’ve drafted a Hero that can slow, stun or knock him back and if you haven’t, remaining near a Hero that has. Any crowd control used against Greystone followed immediately by a swift exit in the opposite direction can often be more than enough to evade him.

8. Punish him early. Greystone will often hold offlane and this places your team at a huge advantage in terms of restricting his farm. Not only can the opposing duo lane bully him hard, but your jungler should ensure he’s constantly attacked. If you can kill him several times his farm will be disrupted and while it won’t hamper him forever, it will ensure he’s slow to gain his Ultimate and get his damage online.

9. Don’t let him push lanes. Greystone is famed for Tower diving because he knows that if Reforged is available, he can withstand the Tower shots and if he does die, he can simply reappear with half health before leaping away. Greystone will often split push because if he does reach a Tower, he can bring it down fairly quickly and ignore a single player who chooses to come and defend it. If you see him attempting to do this, punish him with the majority of your team by descending on his lane.

10. Strike when his Ultimate is on cooldown. There’s a narrow window here and we all know that Greystone’s Ultimate ability has a too shorter cooldown. However, until it’s cooldown is significantly increased it’s best to play aggressively versus Greystone teams. If you’ve managed to remove his Ultimate and he has escaped, now is the time - especially post 20 minutes - to engage. Group up as a team and push a lane. Greystone will have to defend with his team and it’s at this point that you focus him down. 


Have a tip for fighting against Greystone? Let me know!


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Last Updated: Dec 13, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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