hammer or not?

khanites

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2007

KHANITEZ

W/Mo

i am lvl 20 W/Rit and have tried sword and axe build. i enjoyed playing PvE in particular the axe with the triple chop elite.

Is it worth trying out the hammer build for multiple attacks and fun animation of creatures toppling over?

Does it add any new strategy and is it as effect PvE as the axe build?

Not many people seem to be talking about the hammer build, i wonder why?

what are the best first elites for the hammer?

txs

Crom The Pale

Crom The Pale

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

Ageis Ascending

W/

Personally I find the hammer is not that good in PvE, its way to slow and the knockdowns are not as effective on monsters as they are on people.

That being said if your going for a Hammer build then [skill]Backbreaker[/skill] and [skill]Earth Shaker[/skill] are good elites to cap.

As for skills [skill]Crushing Blow[/skill] is a great follow up for Backbreaker and so is Pulverizing Smash.
[skill]Yeti Smash[/skill] and [skill]Crude Swing[/skill] work well with Earth shaker and if you have Whirlwind Attack it works well for some easy AoE damage.

While hammers can be fun to play they don't really hold a candle to Axe or Sword in my oppinion.

Stormlord Alex

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

Hammers don't see all too much play in PvE because...
Well, there's people who are stupid fools; mending Wammos that use swords because they cost 300k and look cool therefore must be good.

Then there's people who have a clue, and see all hammers can truly do is KD.
Which is done ever so much better having Brawling Headbutt nearly always available on a DSlash.

Tbh, you play Hammers for fun or for a change of pace.

Squishy ftw

Squishy ftw

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

Your backline

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex
Tbh, you play Hammers for fun or for a change of pace. And for the lovely sound they make when you critical.

Racthoh

Racthoh

Did I hear 7 heroes?

Join Date: May 2005

Scars Meadows [SMS], Guild Leader (Not Recruiting)

Earth Shaker is pretty fun (Urgoz for sure), I've used it on my heroes from time to time. Aside from that, Brawling Headbutt with Dragon Slash and Steelfang Slash is basically better in every way.

Age

Age

Hall Hero

Join Date: Jul 2005

California Canada/BC

STG Administrator

Mo/

I would switch to /E for grasping earth or if earthshaker use aftershock.I would use grasping earth with devastating hammer.

Pyro maniac

Pyro maniac

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

play sword or axe
buy a cheap hammer such as victo's maul and just use it in particular area's
Linebacker works well in PvE when fighting monk bosses ...

Marverick

Marverick

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2006

R/

[skill=text]Dragon Slash[/skill]
[wiki]Brawling Headbutt[/wiki]
[skill=text]Steelfang Slash[/skill]

pretty much does everything a Hammer can do, and then it does more damage and can spam [wiki]"Save Yourselves!"[/wiki]

so yea... Hammer = pointless in PvE

fainty

fainty

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2007

Nice Joke [NICE]

Mo/

for warriors own weaps

if you are inside a mob, axe with tripple chop and cyclone axe is better...
if you want to spike, axe with eviscerate and executioner is better...
if you want to dish out conditions, go sword...
if you want to deal the highest dps as a warrior on one single target, hammer will be your best friend...

i used hammers and axes inside pve. shields aren't needed and hammers are kinda nice to play around. no real need to change your prof for being a hammer warrior, the /rit is nice for res ability. or for some other things at times...

Stormlord Alex

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by fainty
if you want to deal the highest dps as a warrior on one single target, hammer will be your best friend
Dragon Slash says hello.

You also forgot to say...
Quote:
if you want to deal silly high dps, keep a foe in its ass permanently and make your team nearly invincible use sword

RotteN

RotteN

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2005

W/

hammers shine against opponents that know how to heal themselves properly, and therefor need to be put on their ass in order to get them down.

in other words : not in PvE

however, it's a nice change, so i do lash out hammers once and a while in PvE

kaldak

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2006

A DSlash build can keep one foe on the ground... with the right build earth shaker can keep multiple foes always on the ground... so maybe not entirely overshadowed?

blue.rellik

blue.rellik

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2007

Melbourne, Australia

None

W/

I use hammers because I love the Destroyer Hammer skin

And breaking backs is also fun.

But that's the main reason, for fun.

Arkantos

Arkantos

The Greatest

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

I only run hammer when I'm bored. Other then that, I stick to dslash.

fainty

fainty

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2007

Nice Joke [NICE]

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex
Dragon Slash says hello.

You also forgot to say... yeah.. forgot about thus "endurance harmony + for great justice + dragon slash" perma dslashers...
what about thus ursan blessing warriors... i see them around also quite much inside pve...

need 3 ursan warriors for hardmode ...


and what RotteN said. no real need for hammers inside pve.

Squishy ftw

Squishy ftw

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

Your backline

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by fainty
what about thus ursan blessing warriors... i see them around also quite much inside pve...

need 3 ursan warriors for hardmode ... Normal dslash build >>>>>> UB

People use UB warriors for hardmode because they're either too dumb or too bad at the game to come up with real builds. (real builds that are better than UB even..).

Or the occasional person that's just too lazy to think and just wants to hit 1+2+3 on recharge..

But whatever, as long as you have fun, I guess.

Burst Cancel

Burst Cancel

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2006

Domain of Broken Game Mechanics

Racthoh said it in the 4th post: Earthshaker. That's about the only thing hammer can do that sword can't. If you aren't taking Earthshaker, you probably shouldn't be using a hammer.

I'd say Dslash is only '>>' UB, not '>>>>>>'. The fact that UB is simply unaffected by anything counts for a whole lot. The DPS of Strike is actually pretty good comparatively when we're talking about lvl28+ enemies, and further benefits from t3h itamz, whereas DS largely doesn't. Granted, it's still primarily a tool for people who can't get an optimal invincigon team together (for one reason or another), but it's an excellent tool in that capacity.

zwei2stein

zwei2stein

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Europe

The German Order [GER]

N/

I'd use (= i actually use) Eshaker warrior hero. Heroes suck at abusing FGJ+Dslash, but they do quite well with earthshaker build, and having oposition spend first 10 seconds on their ass is priceless.

A Leprechaun

A Leprechaun

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

Hammers are not favoured in PvE as generally they are not not as powerful as axes or swords. But then again in PvE you can run whatever you want, nobody will call you a noob for running a good hammer bar.
In my opinion hammers are more fun then axes and swords anyway.

Try this:

[skill]Backbreaker[/skill]
**Whirlwind Attack**
[skill]Crude Swing[/skill]
[skill]Flail[/skill]
[skill]"For Great Justice!"[/skill]
[skill]Enduring Harmony[/skill]
[skill]Lion's Comfort[/skill]
[skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

With the lengthened "FGJ!", Flail and your AoE attacks you can knock someone down for 4secs every few seconds, great fun.
Just, EH -> FGJ -> Flail -> Crude -> Backbreaker -> Whirlwind -> (switch foe) -> Backbreaker -> Crude -> (switch foe) -> Backbreaker...........and so on.

Can do some nice AoE damage and keep a lot of foes on the ground, could do the same sort of thing, with a little less damage, by replacing Backbreaker with Earthshaker, but Backbreaker is so fun. ^^

If you want to go with hammer then go for it.

~A Leprechaun~

RyXXed

RyXXed

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2007

W/

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Club_of_a_Thousand_Bears

Knockdown is conditional, but works with swords. I find it pretty resourceful sometimes.