Hammer wars are at a disadvantage

Hammers seem to be lacking in defensive capabilities. I feel that if there was an inherent +30 health on hammers more would use them. That would cover the usual +30 health mods on shields and would atleast be an incentive to use them more. Or maybe an inherent +1 second knockdown time.

I realize that hammers have alot of kd's and can cause more dmg then swords and axes. But just comparing how mods are on staves vs. wands/foci, hammers seem to be lacking a mod or an inherent mod.

Staff = 3 mods + inherent 20% HSR = 4 mods.
Wand + Foci = 4 mods.

Sword/Axe + Shield = 4 mods.
Hammer = 3 mods.

I'd like some input on this so I can see what you all think and maybe can be shown how hammers are already balanced.

Thanks all for ur input.

OMG, are you serious? Since when have hammer warriors been at a disadvantage?!

This is blasphemy! This is Sparta! This is like the eight billionth time I've read a similar thread!

Sadly, hammers work better on rangers than warriors (imo)

Why dont you explore some stuff a hammer warrior used, like KOCKDOWN?
Knockdown is a pain in the ass!

Hammers have unconditional KD.

Yeah, hammers suck at PvE. And since 99% of GW is PvE, I guess hammers suck?

Ok, but a sin has knock down, a shock war has knockdown...so just because hammer has kd's doesnt mean its balanced. I wasnt talking about the skills involved with the weapon used. I was tlaking about the weapon itself, and its disadvantages it holds.

Tiger Stance, theres your slow attack speed delt with. Took a hammer war into AB and was hitting eles and necros for 115, what they lack in armor and speed they make up for in sheer power. As for increase knockdown, if you pick the right set of skills and use them at the right time you can pretty much keep your target kded permently.

No doubt hammers can do alot of damage, but so can scythes and they have AoE, which i guess is why ppl still theink they are over powered. But once again, u are getting into the skill aspect that involve the hammer. If i put tiger stance on a sword or dagger, hammer is still gonna be at disadvantage. And once again if you going to talk about skills, any char can have kd's, not just hammers. I still think there's something missing, if there wasnt, there would be a more equal mix of hammer wars within the dominant sword and axe wars. but i still love my hammer war, plus i just got a tetsubo

Its just a game mechanic that they decided Hammers where 2 handed and axes and swords one handed.

Otherwise there would have been 1h and 2h versions of all 3 with an increase in weapon skills needed.

Anyone who has used a 2h weapon knows that while it cannot stop arrows as a shield does its perfectly capable of blocking weapon blows.
They also have a longer reach, the game system chose to simplify weapons and its no great loss.
Hammers in the right situation are as good as the other weapons, the knockdown really is a pain as it interupts.
Get a nice ranger to set up brambles and your knockdowns cause bleeding.

I prefer the axe to sword or Hammer but thats just my personal pref and I don't play my warrior a whole lot.

Well my hammer war uses a shield.

but seriously have you even played hammer in pvp? if not please dont post such stupid topics.

Unless it's broken in PvP Anet isn't going to do anything. That fact that it is considered less effective in PvE isn't a big deal. [skill=text]Counter Blow[/skill] gives you a free knockdown for 4 adrenaline (dumb AI attacks everything), you can deal 100+ damage to squishies, etc. Run hammer in PvP, or watch good teams use it in observer mode, then come back and say it's crap.

Oh, and about your 'don't discuss skills here', that makes this thread pointless. No one runs a weapon without skills, it's pointless.

1. The scythe does 9-41 damage. The hammer does 19-35. This gives the hammer a smaller range, which in turns creates a more constant amount of damage. While the scythe has a natural AoE ability, the hammer has many skills to it that can create a knockdown.

2. The dagger does not have a ridiculous attack speed. It's exactly the same speed as a sword or axe will swing for. The only difference is the assassin's ability to occasionally double strike.

3. I think hammers are just fine as they are. They provide a high, yet steady amount of damage, they're the only weapons that have access to a wide variety of knockdown attacks, and combined with warrior stances, can be quite deadly.

Bunny Thumper 4 t3h w1n !!
Hammer Warrior in PvE = Fail
Love both my wa and ra hammer guys.
Although i would like to see a Dual weilding Hammer Warrior, two smaller hammers one for each hand.

i lol'd

hammers have the highest dps of all the warrior weaponry lines. (base damage, not including skill bonuses) that's why you use a hammer...sacrifice some health/armor for extra damage and a kickass line of skills.

idk, even in pve...i bring goren with a dev hammer or earth shaker bar. he lays waste to stuff.

Go into PvP, watch as that Hammer warrior jumps on you, knocks you down, smacks you, inflicts deep wound, and then smacks you again.

Then come back and tell me hammers suck.

Can a scythe KD? Can a sword? Can an axe? No.

Can hammers inflict deep wound and KD? YES

Hammers are one of the nastier weapon classes to encounter in game.

What the hell with those saying hammers sucks in PvE, it's great. You can shutdown tough bosses that could wipe your entire party in HM with continual knockdowns, make every enemy you target useless.

<- Legendary Vanquisher, Legendary Guardian with a warrior hammer.

If you want to talk about balance between weapons, then you absolutely have to talk about skills. Daggers have a pathetic 7-17 damage, so therefore daggers are worse than wands? Of course not, you have to take Dagger skills into account when you're comparing the strength of those two weapons.

Taking that into consideration, the Hammer line has the strongest, unconditional melee KDs. Assassin KDs are part of a chain, or you need to meet some condition (Horns, Iron Palm, Entangling Asp, etc.). Shock, while unconditional, has a heavy drawback of causing exhaustion. Dev Hammer/ES/BB, on the other hand, KDs as long as you hit. And hammers hit pretty hard.

Like others have said, do see how hammers work in PvP. They're definitely in line with other weapons.

THANK YOU
WE HAVE A WINNER

Werd

Hammers are like super godly in HM against groups with multiple monks (or in the 4-man areas against the Grawl healers). Nothing stops a monk from healing by keeping them on thier arse