Guild Wars 2

Hey all

well I’ve been playing a bit with the Hammer now (WvW Solo Roaming and from time to time PvP Ranked) and I gotta say, i always end up missing the control & range that rifle offered me.
Anyone else with me?

For me, Hammer got some nice dmg on #2 and the mobility, block and stun (followed by grenade barrage) are good as well, but the rifle simply allowed for so much better burst & combos, that I feel like I’m falling back for it for now.

Any thoughts on drawbacks/advantages when using a hammer or rifle? Any personal experiences & decisions?

Hammer tends to be better because it’s less dependent on other kits, allowing you to have more freedom with your utilities. With rifle, you get better lock down and decap potential, but then you have to take nades and explosives to have good enough leave and possible tool kit for the block. Rifle is also a much more button and combo active play style, so if that’s your thing then I’d go for it.

Nearlight covered it pretty well but I’d just like to say that I feel the same.

I’ve tried hammer with a few different builds and it doesn’t click with me. Honestly I think it’s better than rifle but I don’t enjoy it more. Rifle combo’s more nicely IMO and it’s easier to avoid damage with it.

I’d say another drawback to using rifle would be the odd time you get a player who’s really in your face and you’re missing a lot of shots. Of course you can remedy this with kits but you see what I’m saying.

Hammer is not a great weapon if people aren’t committed to sticking their neck out. It’s very mediocre against retreating/defensive enemies.

It is great in PVP for point pressure, and beating down whatever is on point. It’s great for counter pressuring for an ally being charged by melee attackers.

If there’s no objective that your targets need to commit to (meleeing you, ally, holding a point) hammer can be pretty inferior to rifle.

However, against enemies totally unsusceptible to overcharged shot (most of the pvp meta) that’s an even bigger thing against rifle than the hammer’s drawback of having no ability to do good pressure while pursuing. If you run grenades I would suggest rifle for sure

I like hammer on a point in PvP. for wvw, the rifle is still preferable.

both are good of course, and both work within the right build- but I feel for open field the rifle is better, especially for a speedy lil gank.

I agree with pretty much everything that’s been said. I used to prefer rifle for all game modes, as it is a much better offensive weapon than hammer. For PvP, I think that has changed with the bunker meta in play right now. When each team has at least two bunkers/bruisers in team fights (ele, scrapper, druid, chrono), rifle engi just cannot last long enough without being downed.

For WvW roaming and PvE, I still prefer rifle. And for quick n’ dirty 1v1’s or fighting off point in PvP, I think the rifle has it’s uses, but the more I use hammer, the more I appreciate it. Lately, when I switch back to rifle, I am shocked at how quickly I am downed in teamfights, even when using the scrapper elite spec.

It’s also tough to justify taking scrapper spec without using hammer, as I have to give up one of my more offensive specializations (which really make rifle shine): explosives/alchemy/firearms.