Gruul

Gruul is a legendary neutral minion card, inducted into the Legacy set, formerly from the Classic set.

Previous availability

 * Regular Gruul could also be obtained as a first-time reward for first time reaching Legend in Ranked mode from April 1, 2020 to March 25, 2021 (or as a reward of Climbing the Ranks (10/10) achievement).

Known bugs

 * In all patches prior to Patch 4.1.0.10956 (2015-12-04), If Gruul at 8/8 is reduced to 0 Health by a shot from Ragnaros, Gruul will still buff himself and survive as a 9/1, regardless of who triggers first. However, in Patch 4.1.0.10956, Gruul will not buff himself and will die, again regardless of who triggers first. This is a bug, as it is inconsistent with other ways a minion can gain Health in the same Phase it is damaged to 0 Health.
 * Priestess of Fury can also activate this bug if it manages to reduce Gruul to 0 Health.

Strategy
Gruul can be a game-ending card if not immediately dealt with. Gruul gains +1/+1 at the end of each turn, both the controlling player's and their opponent's. This can allow Gruul to quickly grow to a staggering size. By the time the opponent is able to attempt to remove him, Gruul will already be an 8/8. If he is not removed, damaged, or silenced, he will be a 9/9 by the time he is no longer exhausted.

Gruul is best included in decks that can protect him. Opponents should make the removal of Gruul an extremely high priority.

With the Grimy Goons' hand-buffing effects, Gruul can become a very big minion very quickly, and it will still increase its stats after each turn.

Lore

 *  is the father of the seven lords of the ogres, and the most powerful of them. Although he seems to be nothing but a cruel brute, he possesses intelligence. In the events unfolded in the novel  — shortly after Deathwing invaded his home — Gruul was met by the lost heroes of the : Khadgar, Turalyon, and Alleria Windrunner. They were after the Skull of Gul'dan which Deathwing possessed. After that, Gruul and his ogre minions, along with the heroes, challenged Deathwing from his perch in  — killing his eggs and impaling his lesser black drakes on the mountain spikes. Infuriated by this act, Deathwing landed on top of them and attacked Gruul. Although clearly no match for the mad 's power, Gruul was saved by Khadgar's miraculuous spell when he disassembled some of the adamantium plates that were holding Deathwing's unstable body together resulting in Deathwing's retreat. This led to a clear devastation for the  in Outland. The results can still be seen as impaled black dragon corpses all over Blade's Edge Mountains.

In Warlords of Draenor
In the alternate timeline of , Gruul was instead enslaved by Garrosh Hellscream's, and is used to haul fuel to the furnaces of.

From the Dungeon Journal:
 * Garrosh knew that the surest path to breaking the gronn lay in subjugating their great father, Gruul. Known in another time as the Dragonkiller, here Gruul has been reduced to the role of menial laborer. In a cruel mockery of the 's warrior tradition, his hand has been replaced with a hook to enable him to more easily haul pallets of fuel to the furnace.

Trivia

 * At the end of each turn, Gruul gains +1/+1. This mirrors a mechanic he has as a raid boss in World of Warcraft, where he gains 15% damage every 30 seconds, making him tougher to defeat as time goes on.
 * The current flavor text references the classic novel  by, in which the character Lennie, a large half-wit, accidentally kills a puppy by petting it too roughly.
 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Crown of the Heavens" series, for the card Gronn Skullcracker.
 * Players who do not have Gruul in their collection are called "fuuls" by other players.
 * Gruul reappears in the Trial by Felfire Challenges as the boss Gruul the Dragonkiller.
 * If you play the collectible Gruul against Gruul the Dragonkiller, since the boss now has his own artwork, he will acknowledge the Gruul card having placeholder artwork by rejecting "Purple Gruul" as the real Gruul.

Patch changes

 * Moved from Classic to Legacy set.
 * Flavor text changed from "Gruul the Dragonkiller deserves his name. The bones of dragons litter his lair in the Blade's Edge Mountains." to "He's Gruul "the Dragonkiller". He just wanted to cuddle them... he never meant to..."