Good hammer secondary?

Keero89

Keero89

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2007

Fairbanks, Alaska

Me/Mo

I recently hopped back on GW and made me a Warrior and Mesmer. I always wanted a Hammer Warrior for the pure damage/KD style, but I'm not sure if going W/R was a good choice or not. I'm just like level 5, so I can always reset, but I want to know what would be a better choice for a Hammer Warrior. I tried W/N, but I wasn't really liking it. Thanks in advance.

Edit: Only got Prophecies at the moment, but will be getting NF in maybe a month or two.

iridescentfyre

iridescentfyre

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

W/

W/E used to be very popular for Aftershock, or W/Mo with Holy Strike or Stonesoul Strike for extra while-KD'd damage, but for whatever reason you don't really see those builds much anymore. W/A is used sometimes for a Shadow Step skill.

Personally I just play full Warrior when I use a hammer. Everything you really need is available without using a secondary class.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keero89
Edit: Only got Prophecies at the moment, but will be getting NF in maybe a month or two. Prophecies is fine.

This is where you want to be, if PvP is the concern:
[skill]Backbreaker[/skill][skill]Crushing Blow[/skill][skill]"For Great Justice!"[/skill][skill]Frenzy[/skill]

Keero89

Keero89

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2007

Fairbanks, Alaska

Me/Mo

I'm mainly a PvE kind of guy. What could I switch out BackBreaker and Crushing Blow for since it's gonna be awhile until I get those skills? Oh, and would Healing Signet be better then Troll Unguent or what would you suggest for a Hammer Warrior Heal skill?

Government Flu

Government Flu

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2007

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Paradoxa Zoloft Asylum [PXZ]

W/R

[skill]Earth Shaker[/skill][skill]Counter Blow[/skill][skill]Aftershock[/skill][skill]Belly Smash[/skill][skill]Dolyak Signet[/skill][skill]"For Great Justice!"[/skill][skill]Healing Signet[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Hammer Mastery: 11+1+1 (or greater rune)

Tactics: 9+1

Strength: 8+1

Earth Magic : 8

There used to be a popular build similar to this, but I've long since forgotten the exact set up...I believe it used endure pain and no healing, as well as at least one Factions skill, so this is a Prophecies only variant. If energy management becomes an issue, +5 energy on your armor should make up for any issues. If you have plenty of energy to spare, use Crushing Blow somewhere in your skill bar.

Basically you knock enemies down using Earth Shaker and then use Aftershock and Belly Smash for some nice AoE damage. Use Dolyak Signet if you're taking too much spike damage, or switch it for another skill of your choice. (Like crushing blow, Armor of Earth, so on.) This is a late game build unless you get an elite warrior tome and unlock the skills using Balthazar faction.

Let me know how it works out for you if you decide to use it. Oh, and don't worry. You'll be given an option to change your secondary profession later in the game if you don't feel like restarting.

Draginvry

Draginvry

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2007

The Underground PvP Society (PVPS)

N/Mo

The Aftershock build is probably your best bet if you don't have Factions.

As far as the W/N, just remake. /N is not so great for hammers, but is good for axes. W/R can be fun, but W/E would be a lot more usefull. Or even W/Mo, in some cases, but I'd prefer Aftershock over Smiting if you are using hammers. The exception is if you're making a pure smashing build, in which case you'd take [skill]judge's insight[/skill] and fill the rest of your bar with attacks and a bit of defense. But you'd be missing out on a couple of key Factions skills for such a build. I'm not sure about Proph only, my hammer warrior was Canthan.

Marty Silverblade

Marty Silverblade

Administrator

Join Date: Jun 2006

I'm not saying this is the best, but I find it fun and Prophecies is a joke difficulty-wise.

I think it's fun to beat stuff up with a hammer, then have my pet beat them up even more. The build would be the same as the W/E one above, just without Aftershock, Dolyak Signet, and perhaps Resurrection Signet. Swap them for Charm and Comfort Animal, and find a decent pet skill you like.

Keero89

Keero89

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2007

Fairbanks, Alaska

Me/Mo

Alright, I'll switch out my W/R I got now for a W/E. Only takes like 2 hours to reach ascalon again. :P I was kinda feeling a few days ago to go W/E, but I rushed through Pre and tried to just get to Ascalon with a secondary. I guess I will make a R/* since I seem to like to use bows with [skill]Frenzy[/skill]. :P

Oh, and what's a good Healing skill for Warrior since [skill]Healing Signet[/skill] isn't so hot in my opinion in the thick of battle when I'm hexed or something. Any good Ele or No Attribute skills for emergency healing? (Or just go [skill]Endure Pain[/skill]?)

iridescentfyre

iridescentfyre

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keero89
I'm mainly a PvE kind of guy. What could I switch out BackBreaker and Crushing Blow for since it's gonna be awhile until I get those skills? Oh, and would Healing Signet be better then Troll Unguent or what would you suggest for a Hammer Warrior Heal skill? If you only have Prophecies, the first Hammer elite is [skill=text]Earth Shaker[/skill], but it kinda sucks. [skill=text]Devastating Hammer[/skill] and [skill=text]Backbreaker[/skill] aren't seen til the Ring of Fire islands.

Personally, as a Warrior, I'd take Healing Signet over Troll Unguent. It casts faster, it offers an instantaneous heal as opposed to heal-over-time, and it doesn't require you to spread attributes to Wilderness Survival. If you're smart about using it, the downsides of Healing Signet are rarely that much of an issue. You need around 8-10 Wilderness for Troll to actually be worth it, and that's just way too much for a Warrior's secondary class. Definitely don't use Endure Pain, its a terrible skill.

Keero89

Keero89

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2007

Fairbanks, Alaska

Me/Mo

Cool, thanks guys. Um, and since I will now be going HM/Str/Tactics, I was looking over some skills, and I'm wondering if Adrenaline-gain skills like [skill]"To The Limit!"[/skill] with [skill]"For Great Justice!"[/skill] would be good for getting my Hammer skills ready and for utility ones like [skill]"Watch Yourself!"[/skill][skill]Wary Stance[/skill] since I'm not using a shield? (Untill I get further into the game for the Earth knockdown stuff.)

ヽ(??ー`)ノ

ヽ(??ー`)ノ

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2007

Wary Stance sucks, just stick with either your monk backing you up or use "Watch Yourself!"

Lourens

Lourens

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2006

@ ?('?')? agreed you cant even maintain wary stance on a warrior + not many will aim at you first unless you are the only one left

iridescentfyre

iridescentfyre

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keero89
Cool, thanks guys. Um, and since I will now be going HM/Str/Tactics, I was looking over some skills, and I'm wondering if Adrenaline-gain skills like [skill]"To The Limit!"[/skill] with [skill]"For Great Justice!"[/skill] would be good for getting my Hammer skills ready and for utility ones like [skill]"Watch Yourself!"[/skill][skill]Wary Stance[/skill] since I'm not using a shield? (Untill I get further into the game for the Earth knockdown stuff.) I would go as far as to say that "For Great Justice!" is almost required for a Warrior, and that's doubly true with a slow Hammer using 8-10 adrenaline skills.

"Watch Yourself!" is awesome and you should definitely have it as well. "To The Limit!" is alright probably, but in my opinion not really worth the skill slot. Wary Stance kinda blows, though it sees some use against the hordes of Assassins in Alliance Battles.

Don't worry too much about not having a shield. If you sat down with tons of numerical data and calculated how much damage you've been taking, you'd be able to prove mathematically that you take roughly 10% more damage without the shield. Actually in the heat of the game however, its highly unlikely you're going to take notice of it. You still have 100 AL. Its really not such a huge concern. In practice its very rarely Physical or Elemental damage hits that kill a Warrior... hexes and degen are much larger concerns.