Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, first post on here and really looking forward to HoT. I am a casual player (real casual, not like someone who thinks that 4 hours a day is casual.. its like 7 hours a week) and therefore pretty “new” to GW2, even if I own it since release. I actually managed to get my engineer to lvl 80 (first lvl 80, yeh yeh i know, inefficient) 2 weeks ago. So I started to explore the world (have tried everything except fractals and pvp) and really started to enjoy my engi. My preffered activities were: WvW (mists), SW, dungeons and world bosses

After they revealed the scrapper and hammer mechanics, I really fell in love with that hammer concept. I already read that sinister build will be preferred by many players after release, but I really want that hammer to work as well!

So is there any gleam of hope, that there will be a hammer META build?

I already took the zephyr hammer skin as reward and had the huge luck to drop a Tequatls hoarder (third kill Oo). Didn’t open it yet, because I’m still undecided.
I would prepare Zerker gear (can’t afford more than 1 set atm) with Strength Runes? Or Hoelbrak? Actually have no idea which will fit better for a Hammer power build.

So I’m really uncertainty of preparing for this, because my time is really limited. Investing in those items (armor + runes) cost me about 4 weeks of farming. That’s why I am really afraid of making a big mistake here.

The other option of course would be to go for sinister and take tequatls pistol…

Whats your opinion? Will there be a hammer power meta build? If not, how far behind will the hammer build be? Any predictions?

Thanks in advance!

Hammer will be surely used in some meta PvP build. In fact i’m already tweaking a marauder SD/HGH build.

Now in PvE, let’s see some numbers, assuming marauder amulet (1050Pow, 1050Pre, 560Vit, 560 Feroc, so numbers can even be higher, but fthe difference is not massive)
HAMMER:

• 766+766+957 in 1.5s
• 2106 in 1s, 6s CD
• 2871 in 1.75, 10s CD
• 2390 in 1.75, 20s CD
• 3450 in 0.75 (5s field), 24s CD

RIFLE:

• 651 in 0.75
• 0
• max 1600 in 0.5, 10s CD
• 999 instant, 15s CD
• 2700 in 1s, 20s CD

Now calculating DPS is not simple since you can’t only factor damage/CD but also cast time, and proper rotation (a skill is better then another when off CD). But just looking at numbers (without talking about uilities) I see the hammer in solid place for Power builds.

Now on condis: pistol #3 is not major chunk of damage, neither #2 (i guess togheter are way <5%) blowtorch insted is a nice chunk BUT with all the utility you bring with hammer, i do not see it as a bad choice in difficult encounters, depending of what you might need to do (like tanking or eating breakbars).

Back to your problem: you need to spend carefully. If you run condi, you are totally in sinister build, so nice power/prec anyway. I’d take a zerker hammer.
Even in condi build you’d loose 179 condi damage for 251 power which is almost acceptable if you are not a minimaxer, and it’s perfect in power builds.

That’s what i’m gonna do, anyway ^ _ ^

Gaaroth.2567:

Hammer will be surely used in some meta PvP build. In fact i’m already tweaking a marauder SD/HGH build.

Now in PvE, let’s see some numbers, assuming marauder amulet (1050Pow, 1050Pre, 560Vit, 560 Feroc, so numbers can even be higher, but fthe difference is not massive)
HAMMER:

• 766+766+957 in 1.5s
• 2106 in 1s, 6s CD
• 2871 in 1.75, 10s CD
• 2390 in 1.75, 20s CD
• 3450 in 0.75 (5s field), 24s CD

RIFLE:

• 651 in 0.75
• 0
• max 1600 in 0.5, 10s CD
• 999 instant, 15s CD
• 2700 in 1s, 20s CD

Now calculating DPS is not simple since you can’t only factor damage/CD but also cast time, and proper rotation (a skill is better then another when off CD). But just looking at numbers (without talking about uilities) I see the hammer in solid place for Power builds.

Now on condis: pistol #3 is not major chunk of damage, neither #2 (i guess togheter are way <5%) blowtorch insted is a nice chunk BUT with all the utility you bring with hammer, i do not see it as a bad choice in difficult encounters, depending of what you might need to do (like tanking or eating breakbars).

Back to your problem: you need to spend carefully. If you run condi, you are totally in sinister build, so nice power/prec anyway. I’d take a zerker hammer.
Even in condi build you’d loose 179 condi damage for 251 power which is almost acceptable if you are not a minimaxer, and it’s perfect in power builds.

That’s what i’m gonna do, anyway ^ _ ^

Don’t forget about the aftercast on hammer autoattack at the moment..

MrTJpwnz.4710:

Gaaroth.2567:

snip

Don’t forget about the aftercast on hammer autoattack at the moment..

yep, also those are tricky when calculating dps properly