Total War: Warhammer II guide – Grom the Paunch unique items and quest battle

Grom the Paunch eats his way through Total War: Warhammer II‘s campaign via The Warden & The Paunch DLC. Da Gobbo King will be able to complete quests for unique items such as the Lucky Banner. There’s also a quest battle for the Axe of Grom, and multiple quests such as Blacktoof’s Head in a Jar and Blacktoof’s Prophecies. Here’s our guide to help you out.

Note: This guide is based on a Vortex campaign playthrough on VH/VH difficulty. For more information, you can also check out our Total War: Warhammer II – The Warden & The Paunch guides and features hub.

Total War: Warhammer II – Grom the Paunch’s unique items

Lucky Banner

Step 1: Reach level 2 with Grom the Paunch.

Step 2: Obtain a “Call to Waaagh!” Trophy by starting a Waaagh! on the campaign map – Just fill up your Waaagh! meter by battling with other factions or razing settlements. Then, start a Waaagh! and target a settlement. Make sure to capture it within the duration and let the turns elapse to obtain the trophy.

Note: You can learn more about the Waaagh! mechanic and trophies in our Greenskins faction overhaul guide.

Blacktoof’s Head in a Jar

This is the disembodied head of Grom the Paunch’s trusted Shaman, Blacktoof, and you’ll obtain additional quests as you progress through Total War: Warhammer II‘s campaign. Completing this quest chain will reward you with the aforementioned unique item which can be equipped on a Shaman or Troll Hag hero. Blacktoof’s Head in a Jar grants the “Blacktoof’s Conjuration” ability, allowing them to summon a Rogue Idol in battle (summoned units degrade over time).

Note: Since this quest chain requires you to cook recipes, you can check our Grom’s Cauldron guide for more info.

Step 1: Have 50 scrap at the start of your turn – Can be easily completed if you’re beating down the Arachnos faction; rewards a random ingredient for Grom’s Cauldron and +100 scrap.

Step 2. Interact with the Food Merchant – The Food Merchant spawns near a settlement that you own (ie. Karag Orrud or Mount Arachnos if you’ve captured it), and any lord or character can interact with it. Rewards 150 scrap and 1,000 gold. The Food Merchant also presents a dilemma with a number of choices:

• Buy the Hag’s Carrion – Obtain a listed ingredient; costs 1,000 gold.
• Cook for the Hag – Challenge the Food Merchant to a cook-out; completing this challenge unlocks an ingredient slot and awards gold.
• Let the Hag Cook – The Food Merchant cooks a random recipe in Grom’s Cauldron, replacing the one you already have.
• Daylight Robbery – Gain +50 scrap and +500 gold, but you won’t obtain an ingredient.

3. Collect six ingredients for Grom’s Cauldron – Reveals a secret recipe in Grom’s Cauldron; +1,500 gold. Once you’ve completed step three, you’ll also get the Blacktoof’s Prophecy quests.

4. Discover 12 recipes for Grom’s Cauldron – Gives Grom the “Bloated & Unstoppable” trait (+10% weapon strength and +10 leadership for all armies when fighting against High Elves; -100% casualties suffered from Mists of Yvresse).

Note 1: The fourth step also changes the quest to “Blacktoof’s Revenge.” Completing this is one of the victory conditions for Grom the Paunch’s Vortex campaign.

Note 2: Once you’ve cooked 12 different recipes, you’ll be able to fight Eltharion the Grim in the Siege of Tor Yvresse final battle.

Blacktoof’s Prophecy quests

• Prophecy of Gluttony – Unlock all cooking slots in Grom’s Cauldron (you’ll need to complete a couple of cooking challenges vs. the Food Merchant); rewards +8,000 gold and a secret recipe.
• Prophecy of Ruination – Sack or raze 10 different settlements belonging to the High Elves; rewards +500 scrap and a secret recipe.
• Prophecy of Dominance – Own the entirety of six provinces; unlocks a random ingredient and a secret recipe.

Axe of Grom

• Step 1: Reach level 5 with Grom the Paunch.
• Step 2. Win three battles.
• Step 3. Embed a Giant River Troll Hag hero in Grom the Paunch’s army – Automatically completed if you have Da Fishy Tiddlemuncha with your army already.
• Step 4. Move any character to Zandri.
• Step 5. Win Da REAL Axe of Grom quest battle.

I must admit that it was fairly late in my Total War: Warhammer II playthrough when I decided to tackle this quest battle. I guess I just forgot about it and I was already a bit over-leveled. In any case, you’ll be up against a Night Goblin warboss called Git Guzzler.

Quest battle: It’s krumpin’ time!

A small force of Goblins, Trolls, and Spider Riders are arrayed against you. However, in the forests beyond, an Anachronok Spider also lurks:

I just smashed through their ranks since Grom’s bound to a chariot anyway:

A few minutes later, Skarsnik arrived to reinforce my Night Goblin enemy. Here’s where things got weird. There was an allied army reinforcing Grom. However, it had the same color scheme as the enemy troops. Worse, there were exploder Squigs hopping about, and it was hard to discern which ones were with me, and which ones would go boom right next to my troops:

In the end, superior numbers and high-tier units carried the day, and I ended up scorching poor Skarsnik and Gobbla to a crisp:

Here are the stats for the Axe of Grom:

Total War: Warhammer II – The Warden & The Paunch is available on Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.