Here I will put all my knowledge of hammers, how to wield them, how to fight them and more in the following three posts.
This will take a while so please let me take my time.
Here I will put all my knowledge of hammers, how to wield them, how to fight them and more in the following three posts.
This will take a while so please let me take my time.
See above post for Combos and details in the weapon.
I only play as a striker so I wouldn't know other styles of play.
Strikers are a glass cannon. When they run out of boost they are finished. Avoid running out yourself if you are one, and use the hammer's dash frequently while trying to force them to use boost until they have none before heading for the kill.
Your dash attack (here into referred to as DashAtt) is easily interrupted so try to avoid DashAtting at someone when when close and instead use a tiny bit of boost to get away from them before DashAtting them.
And you want to mix it up.
Toss in some Secret combos seen above to mix it up a bit but don't use that third swing too often... it's almost guaranteed you will take damage if you use it so plan accordingly. Sometimes using it gets them close enough to hit at the cost of some damage so don't rule it out completely.
GTG back to my LD game so I'm finishing this one for now and will start on how to counter below.
Okay those last two were for the hammer users, this one is for everyone else. (and some hammer users)
Hammer Users fall under 4 Categories:
New to Weapon,
AA Users,
Intermediate Users,
and Pro Users.
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.
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New to Weapon will try and use the full combo, and will probably be bad enough that you don't really need advice to beat.
For AA users, move around and they will miss with the dash because they are aiming at where you are, not where you will be. Gunners know this frustration the most and if you keep some distance wait until they dash or use the third strike and hit them while they are locked in the animation.
For Intermediate or Pro Hammer users, they won't use AA, though you might think they are because they keep hitting you. They are over the hump of the hammer curve but there are still some vulnerabilities you can exploit. The dash is easily canceled out and due to the slow speed of the weapon, flourishes and other three hit combs will get in first and cancel the attacks. Shock is deadly to a hammer user, and any striker without boost is ground meat, ripe for poking full of holes.
Some holes: After the first swing there is a bit of time between that and the dash, hit them with a flourish and they will probably do the first swing again, if they try to dash you just made them perform the secret combo and will be locked into the third swing dealing damage.
Cutter lines are actually good at interrupting a hammer's attack and with their faster speed they usually get in first. use one to lay on some interrupt before adding in some extra attacks and hurt with another weapon.
I am on a tight schedule so I can't post more not, but I will add more later.
This is the most subtle sword in the game, so a detailed guide on it makes sense. Good luck.
Question: I always thought that the second stroke of the combo lands up to three times, not up to four times. Is four hits on a single monster really possible?
Aside: Instead of abbreviating "dash attack" to "DashAtt", consider abbreviating it to just "dash". For example, "dashing" looks better than "DashAtting".
I wanted something besides DA, and Dash because well, striker boost is also referred to as dashing.
I also used to think it was 3 attacks but I thought I hit four a few times but that could have been two enemies close together.
My bad, only 3 attacks, 4 if you count the first swing xD.
Don't forget the recon hammer user :O
Those are more deadly than strikers at times. Hooray for the 32k dmg I got from it one round xD
To not be a double post totally useless, I can confirm that the hammer only does 3 hits in the second part of the combo.
I Love the Guild Training hall xD
The vast majority of Cutter users get in 1 full combo, then get roflpwned. Also, against someone with specialized + normal 3* gear, they do about 1,5 - 2 pips of damage. Don't use Cutters: Arc Razor with the Striker's ASI Med will do much better.
Recon hammer users? I play as one in T2 (and T3 when I go there in a bid to waste all my CR) and it's much more fun than Striker, just you're doubly doomed if you run out of cloak.
Another thing:
When using a hammer in PvP, go for the first 2 hits. It's better to swing before the target is in range and dash than to swing in range but get hit.
~Raisinfits
PvE The hammer has amazing damage though without proper knowledge you'll be rolling off turrets and targets, dashing into traps and getting into lots of trouble.
Let's first take a look at the weapon.
It is an initial single swing that is slower than a Sealed Sword (and that line) that deals pure elemental damage, (you should know what that good against and bad against by now). This attack has knock-back and some nice range though don't relying on it as your primary damage even if it does roughly 400 damage against undead in T3. Although the hammer visibly moves clockwise, from swinging between the jelly and devilite sand bags in a guild training hall I find the slime takes damage before the devilite, meaning the actual attack is counter clockwise despite the animation and was confirmed on other sandbags. It is notable that without ASI the strikes could be as much as 1/3rd to a half a second apart (by my guessing.) after further testing, this was found to be partially true, as it changes based upon positioning, could have something to do with the game's code itself.
The second swing is actually a dash attack where you have up to three mini attacks that deal around 250 damage but the length over which is long but the time it takes is so fast is boosts DPS greatly. It is good to rely on but will send you into traps without AA on, but with AA on you charge right at enemies which can leave you vulnerable. I play without AA but left shift turns it on for when I need it. Let it be known that if you place the dash right, you won't have to charge directly into an enemy to hit them with all 3 hits.
The final swing deals the most damage to the biggest area but has a long cool down so unless you have really good asi I advise against using it. besides it brings down your DPS compared to when you just use the first two in the combo.
Now let's look at how to deal with enemies.
Normal: Utilize AA for taking on one at a time if you prefer that way, but make sure to isolate them with the first swing. If you don't utilize AA, then get a bunch together and stack the damage from the first swing among them and dash through them to get max damage to all but shield cancel the dash to stay safe.
Turrets: get in and use left shift or AA to tear them a new one.
Hardier: Hardier foes include Lumbers and Trojans. You don't want AA on for these because slipping around them with the dash is a great way to avoid taking damage and rack up damage. luring them into an attack is great because they can't move or attack you.
Secret combo: Now if you shield cancel the first attack, then swing twice, you will skip the dash and go right into the final swing. This has it's time and place (like when your trapped in a corner) but don't use it often as it isn't the most damaging unless you have a huge mob and need more AoE in your attacks.
I will go more in depth about it at a later time, this is just some small substance to tide you all over.