Grifball

The newest Grifball poster.

Description

Grifball is a new community created game-type made by Burnie Burns of Rooster Teeth. The game is played as an Assault variant, on a customized version of the Foundry map using Forge. (The New Sandbox Crypt is the exact size of the Grifball Court so it is perfect for Grifball) Players are given infinite usage of the Gravity Hammer and Energy Sword as a means to attack and defend the other players in the game as they help their ball carrier plant the Bomb in the opposing team's goal. While the arena lacks any obstacles, the game becomes extremely intense and strategic as the game relies heavily on teamwork and a bit of luck. The arena lacks any sort of cover or obstacles, and is played like a Rooster Teeth-inspired game of Rugby. The game often results in players getting several multi-kills up to Killionaires and occasionally an Extermination (usually due to exploding Bombs).

On March 6th, it has been included in a special unranked "Double EXP" hopper in Halo 3 matchmaking. There is no set rotation for Grifball, although it has appeared again afterwards. From 5/15/2008 to 5/19, Grifball was in the Double EXP weekend hopper.

Origin

The origin of Grifball can be traced back to an interview with its creator:

"In Season 4 of Red vs Blue, Sarge is taking pop-shots with a Sniper Rifle at his orange soldier Grif, whom he hates. He’s having a great time and blurts out 'This is the best game since Grifball!' That was written about three years ago and we always wondered what kind of game Grifball would have been. That’s why the ball carrier turns orange – everyone in the game is constantly trying to hammer-smash Grif and even if he scores, he explodes. Either way, Sarge wins."

There have been two documented occasions (Grifball Week 2 Highlights and British Summer League Highlights Week 3) when the ball-carrier (A.K.A. Grif) did NOT die after scoring. In the first case, he dropped the Bomb and rode a Hammer shock wave away from the explosion to safety. When the video ends, Sarge is heard crying in the background, "I'm so sad, I don't think I can go on. End it now, end it now." The second time this happened, someone managed to score then an opponent propelled him out of the way of the explosion in an attempt to kill Grif.

Rules

Grifball is a simple game, akin to modern-day rugby. Two teams of 3-4 players square off in a simple arena in which each team has a goal. The object is to take the ball in the middle of the court and put it in the other team’s goal.

1. Scoring a goal earns one point and ends the round.
2. Each match consists of at least five rounds. The team with at least three points at the end of five rounds wins the match.
3. Each player has a gravity hammer and an energy sword (secondary). The player has infinite ammo of both weapons.
4. Damage is set to 200% with player health set to 10%. One direct hit will kill a player.
5. Dead players respawn in three seconds at their own goal.
6. The ball carrier has a 2x Overshield, 150% speed, 150% damage resistance after a period of time in which these charge up, and turns orange, like Grif.
7. Friendly players can hurt each other. Making use of the radar encouraged.
8. In the unlikely event that a player finds themselves thrown outside of the arena (beyond the wall), teleporters situated beyond the playing field have been provided. These teleporters will drop you outside the map, killing you instantly. You will respawn back at your goal. Play is not suspended when a player goes out of bounds. It is the player's duty to return to play.
9. If a ball carrier goes out of bounds, they must return to play within 30 seconds (judged by time on Save Film) or they forfeit the entire match. If they leave the ball beyond the wall, it will reset within 15 seconds. Play is not suspended while the ball or ball carrier is out of bounds.

There have also been some variants of small rule changes for change of game play for the Double EXP Weekend, here are some examples:

1. The bomb carrier is only 125% more resistant, and 125% faster.
2. The bomb carrier was gold, not orange, resulting in the ball carrier becoming Dexter Grif's Sister, Kakaina, this would still be A Grif regardless of whether it was orange or yellow. (This was a mistake by Bungie in one of the Double EXP Weekends. This has now been corrected.)
3. The bomb carrier has a faster recharge.

Tips & Tactics

• Table on weapon tactics (The normal writing is what you are holding, the bold writing is what your opponent has).

	Bomb	Energy Sword	Gravity Hammer
Bomb	N/A	Try to punch the sword wielder as he lunges or before he lunges. Timing is key.	You should be able to punch them unless you have low shields.
Energy Sword	The Lunge nearly always works. You will be killed if you lunge as they punch, however.	You will both sword parry, but if you melee instead of slicing the second time it is faster. OR Melee first to parry the Lunge then Melee again to kill	Back out of range as they hit then rush and lunge at them.
Gravity Hammer	Try and hammer as he is about to punch you. This should cause him to stop mid ball lunge and/or propel him backwards.	Rush and attack at the right time.	Back up to avoid the splash damage, then move forward after he has made his Hammer strike.

• When holding the Gravity Hammer, if you wish to head towards the enemies spawn area, face the wall behind where you spawn and repeatedly slam the hammer down and jump whilst facing the floor while moving backwards. This is an excellent way to speed toward the bomb, or enemies bomb drop; however, it leaves you exposed to an enemies attack.
• When using the sword against the Gravity Hammer (though not recommended if you are unskilled with the sword) wait for them to swing and while their hammer is still down, get close and lunge. This takes some practice, but it is an effective way of racking up kills with the sword.
• Don't stick together; the enemies will just get a multi kills with one hit or two, or you may betray each other due to the splash damage. Instead, spread out and take every direction so it's one on one.
• Protect your bomb drop area, don't let the enemy rush and drop the bomb, keep them at a long distance.
• You do not need the full nine (five in matchmaking), just attempt to get five (three in matchmaking) scores. If you have the ball and full over shields, you can "wave ride" as it is commonly called by jumping over a player, on the other team or yours, and at the cost of your shield you can be flung across the map. Sometimes you will just be propelled upwards but, using this tactic you can go from your side of the field to the goal. It is possible to wave ride multiple times if you are in the air long enough to let your shields recharge. Using the Sword against the ball carrier can be more useful than the Hammer because of having no possible way of wave riding
• You don't need to wait for the reticule to turn red to swing in Grifball. Swinging just before it turns red will still get you a kill because of the lack of shields when not holding the ball.
• At the beginning of a round, don't rush the bomb with everyone else on your team. Instead, stay off to the side of the bomb. That way, you can grab the bomb almost unchallenged after most people are dead after the opening rush, or run to their spawn area as they spawn.
• If you’re feeling lucky, try a couple of twists or sharp turns to trick the other team.
• A recent technique that appeared in the Grifball Tournament was known as "wall jumping". In which the ball carrier (also known as Grif) would jump on the small ledge behind the goal before scoring in order to evade pursuers.
• Because the ball carrier has shields, a single Hammer strike from an ally would not kill it, thus it possible for one to swing his/her Hammer behind the teammate holding the bomb without killing(Unless the 2 players are very close) and the carrier jumps in the air, it will jump farther because the shock wave from the Hammer propels it farther in the map.
• If you have the ball and full shields, you can jump over an enemy as he swings a Hammer and not only survive, but propel yourself right into the enemy goal. This does not work if you enemy is wielding a sword, however, which will just kill you.
• Another way to score is to wait about 3 steps behind your team at the very beginning they all usually die but so do most of the team, grab the bomb and punch the 1 or 2 people left over on the opposite team (if an opposing team members lunges towards you with a energy sword and you punch them usually you will lose your shield and the opponent will die) and before the other team even have a chance to respawn you have scored. (note: this does not work as well with experienced players on the other team as they also usually wait a bit back)

Halo 2

You can play a version of Grifball on Halo 2 by creating a game variant. You create one under Assault, but unfortunately the ball carrier doesn't turn into Grif and there is a minimum 5-second arming time.

The wall graphic on the current Grifball court.

Trivia

• Grifball is the easiest game-type to earn the Killionaire medal in a matchmaking playlist.
• The Original name Grifball was going to be Rugby but was later changed when Gus Sarola thought the original title was weak.
• Sarge once made a reference to Grifball (Although this was prior to Grifball's inclusion as a Halo 3 gametype) in the popular Machinima series Red vs Blue (from which the game draws its origins).
• Every couple of seasons, the map variant for Grifball changes. The current one is the "Grifball Spring League 2009" variant.
• It is not possible to veto on this gametype, since there is just one map and game mode.
• The multiplayer map Sandbox has a semi-secret area specifically made for Griffball. However, Sandbox has not been used as the map used for Griffball when it is the special Double Exp. Weekend event. So far, that map remains to be Foundry.

Downloads

Grifball Downloads

External Links

• Grifball announcements on Rooster Teeth's homepage
• Rooster Teeth's Grifball thread
• Grifball Official Site
• Grifball Wikipedia

Related Pages

• Double EXP Weekend