This is far from original, I know, but it is just some suggestions on how we could make the hammer line less overpowered in lockdown. Recently another knight called for banning them altogether, and I can understand why he would want that - after all, the hammers ARE a tad overpowered, killing most tier-appropriate players in 3 hits at most and with a dash attack that is almost impossible for even a striker to avoid. Nevertheless, it would not be kind to completely deprive hammer spammers and/or lovers of their admittably awesome weapon, so instead how about we nerf it a bit so as to level the playing field? Some ways we could do so could include:
Attack speed decrease - The hammer's swing speed could be reduced to a speed similar to (or lower than) that of a troika, with a short delay before the attack sends them charging forward with the overpowered dash (which is largely why the hammer is overpowered in the first place).
Backfiring - A chance could be added for the dash to backfire, blowing up in the player's face,interrupting them, inflicting stun, and halting the combo with no dash performed. The chance could be as high as 30% for the prototype (which is in theory very overpowered since very few tier 1 players would have elemental defense), falling to 15% and 5% respectively for its 'upgrades' (tier 3 people two-shot each other with fausts and avengers anyway, so there's no point in badly nerfing the tier 3 version). Naturally, it also stuns other players caught in the explosion.
Weight increase - The hammer could be made to be quite heavy. Having it equipped could cause players to suffer a "movement speed decrease: medium".
Change damage dealt - The hammer could deal a mix of normal and elemental damage instead of pure elemental. Suprisingly few lockdown players have elemental defense, so this could prevent the hammer from dealing a ridiculous amount of damage to players. It would also solve the problem of the hammer dealing almost no damage to gremlins and beasts, one of its few undisputed flaws.
Other suggestions could be given. Happily fire away with them and/or give feedback on whether this is a good idea on how to fix the 'hammer spammers'.
Hammer and flourish are almsot identical. Both are pure, cover a wide area and have forward movement.
Hammer pulls a bit more damage, flourish has speed.
Nerf both or neither.
If fewer people have elemental defense compared to pierce that's not the weapon's fault.
I'd only change the T1 prototype to normal damage.