Great Goblin

* Portrait
* Ingame

"Abominations, disfigurations, mutilations, and repulsions... That's all you're going to find down here. "
—Great Goblin

The Great Goblin was an orc-chieftain of the Misty Mountains and leader of the orcs living beneath the High Pass in Goblin-Town.

His subjects captured Thorin Oakenshield's Company and accused them of being spies of the Woodmen and friends to Elves. Upon recognizing the ancient Gondolin sword of Thorin, Orcrist, the Great Goblin was infuriated and prepared to kill him. However, before he was able to do so, the lights of the cave were blown out and Gandalf the Grey was able to stab the Great Goblin with Glamdring.

In Age of the Ring, the Great Goblin is a recruitable hero in Misty Mountains.

## Abilities

**Level 1: Swarm (W)** - Summons Goblin-Towners. The number of summoned hordes is analogous to the Great Goblin's rank. Modifier Type: Buff. When activated, nearby Moria-orcs and Goblin-towers gain +15% speed and damage. Stacks with leaderships, spells and other buffs. Left click to activate.

**Level 1: The Goblin King (R)** - Modifier Type: Leadership. Nearby Moria-orcs and Goblin-towners gain +33% damage and +33% armour and resistance to fear and terror. Stacks with buffs and spells. Passive ability.

At level 7, gives targeted units excellent experience. Left click then left click on target units.

**Level 5: Goblin King's Demand (T)** - Summons a Totem of the Swarm at the target location. Totem can recruit Goblin-town Warriors and reveal stealthed units. Nearby enemy movement speed is decreased by -25%. Maximum of 3 Totems allowed. Left click then left click target location.

**Level 7: Antiquarian (C)** - The Great Goblin makes a deal on some fine antiques. Be careful though, his eyesight is going and he might get burned. Beware of dragon sickness. Left click icon then left click on target area.

**Level 9: Abominable Song (V)** - Modifier Type: Buff and Active Debuff. Nearby friendly units gain +33% damage and +33% armour. Nearby enemy units suffer -25% damage and -20% armour. Nullifies enemy leaderships. Stacks with leaderships, spells and other buffs. Does not stack with other debuffs. Left click icon to activate.

## Strategy

The Great Goblin is designed to support the spam aspects of the faction (i.e. the Moria-orcs and the Goblin-towners): he immediately has access to powerful leadership affecting these units and is one of the few sources of fear and terror resistance in Misty Mountains, the other being Bolg of the North. Additionally, **Goblin King** gains an additional effect as the Great Goblin levels up, allowing him to grant experience to any units, including elite units such as Mountain-orcs and Gundabad Berserkers - immediately unlocking their abilities and saving money from banner carriers. **Swarm** illustrates Great Goblin's role as a spam engine very well: it scales in strength with the Great Goblin so that when he can instantly summon large numbers of Goblin-towners to replenish Misty Mountains' hordes mid-combat whilst also increasing the speed and damage of the summoned and already existing spam units nearby him. Whilst the Goblin-towners summoned by **Swarm** are temporary, the Great Goblin is also a source of permanent Goblin-towners, via **Goblin King's Demand**; the Goblin-towners recruited from the summoned Totem are free and so can be continually produced with no concern for the player's economy. **Antiquarian** is a gamble: it can spawn either a chest of 1000 resources or a chest that inflicts significant damage to the Great Goblin - the sudden boost in resources granted from this power can fund the recruitment of another hero or powerful monster or heroic unit. Finally, **Abominable Song** acts as temporary stackable buff to all of Misty Mountains' units as well as debuffing the enemy's units which provides an enormous advantage mid-combat.