Grunty

CONTRACT

HIRING COST : $6,400
EQUIPMENT COSTS : $5,430
TOTAL COSTS : $11,830

STARTING GEAR

GEAR	IMAGE
MP5K SMG
9mm Parabellum x15
9mm Parabellum x15
Light Flak Jacket
Trousers: Black
Jacket
The Academic

ATTRIBUTES

SKILLS

TRAITS

Team player: Morale rises when working with a full team

Machine guns: Skilled at using machine guns

Strengths/Weaknesses

Grunty is one of the most combat-capable, low-priced mercs that you can hire at the start of the game. His MP5K SMG is a powerful default weapon to start out with, especially because its 9mm Parabellum ammo is easily obtained from downed enemies in the early going.

His machine guns trait won’t do much at the start, until you can swap out the SMG for a proper machine gun.

The Team Player trait won't be much use at first either, but Grunty can easily fill out one of your later squads in both offensive and defensive roles once he’s properly equipped and leveled. In addition, Grunty has relatively high mechanical ability for a starting merc, and he can manage some of the lower-level repair tasks and lock picking early on.

However, his somewhat lower dexterity prevents him from being a very effective and cheap mechanical-oriented merc like Steroid. Upgrade his dexterity as soon as you can to take care of his only real deficiency.

Tactics

Grunty's high starting marksmanship makes him a good choice to take point in most situations, especially early in the game. In his skilled hands, any machine gun is an effective killing tool. Put him on the front lines to take advantage of his weapon's high firing rate, burst capacity, and large clip size.

Replace his SMG as soon as you can with a full-blown machine gun; not only do you get a longer range, you also get a small boost from Grunty’s proficiency with machine guns.

He’s still a great addition to any early squad that needs focused firepower with the MP5K, especially because its 9mm Parabellum is so commonly found on downed enemies. Note that hiring Grunty first also allows you to hire Igor Dolvich at the start of the game.

The two make solid front-line squadmates, as they're both built for shooting. Just make sure you make your number three hire is a medic if you go for the Grunty/Igor combo, since neither man can work any magic with a MedKit.

Grunty's mechanical skill is also high enough that you'll generally have him doing weapon repairs and lockpicking in the early game, at least until you can hire a more mechanical-focused merc.

While his dexterity needs the most attention, consider putting his first 6 skill points from leveling up into mechanical to bump Grunty's rating up to 50. Not only does this make his repair skills more effective, it also opens up access to a wider range of tools.

Long-Term Play

The key skills and attributes you'll want to focus on improving with Grunty are dexterity (first) and marksmanship.

His starting dexterity is on the low side for a merc that you'll frequently want to use as a first line of defense, so make sure you boost that stat early, too. Later on in the game, boosting Grunty's strength might be a good idea because the added health will definitely be a boon when he's drawing enemy fire.

Mechanical is probably your best bet as a secondary consideration for later on in the game if you’re looking to turn Grunty into a more multipurpose soldier. Since you’ll already be boosting his dexterity alongside marksmanship, he’ll be well-equipped to pass any mechanical checks once you really start to focus on that stat.

However, if you plan to use him as your go-to merc for mechanical checks early on, you'll want to prioritize putting at least 6 points into that stat first because getting that number to 50 unlocks access to the tool kit. After that, you can effectively leave it alone and concentrate on making Grunty a more effective fighter until the latter portion of the game.