Guild Wars 2

Dear ANet,
I do believe we(Guardians) need a better look at the hammer skills. There very inconsistent.

Skill Number:
1. Good Chain(No fix)
2. Best Skill (Good for Blast Combo)
3. sPvP skill (Worthless in PvE)
4. Knock Back (Hammer is Melee)
5. Worthless (Doesnt work in PvE or PVP)

I use hammer on my Guardian now. I like it. I just only use skills 1 and 2. I would really like to see more synergy.

If I’m wrong in this post please enlighten me. I really want to learn to play this class the best. It seems like GS(Greatsword) is just overall a better weapon.

3rd Skill, I use it for rnage and extra dmg lol
5th Skill, I use it a lot on WvW and Dungeons

If the 5 skill was an instant cast. That would make it better I do believe.

1. Agree
2. Agree
3. Agree for the most part, but I have used it in PvE to run away when I get in over my head
4. The blowout acts as another knockdown when the target is knocked against a wall or one of the wards. It’s a very useful interrupt in many situations in PvE. The blowout can be very useful in PvP. There’s nothing like sending someone flying off a cliff to their death in WvW.
5. Honestly, I find it more useful in PvE nowadays. You can gather a bunch of mobs and repeatedly have them knock themselves down while you blast away at them. It’s still useful in PvP if you catch people off guard, but I tend to use it as a counter to melee attackers as they tend to run into it while trying to attack you.

Eh, no.
3rd attack in chain for Attack number 1 is too delayed and awkard while fighting strafing/dodging/moving targets. Needs to be made faster.

Fix number 5. People should not be able to just dodge roll out of it. That is BS.

Zzod.5791:

Eh, no.
3rd attack in chain for Attack number 1 is too delayed and awkard while fighting strafing/dodging/moving targets. Needs to be made faster.

Fix number 5. People should not be able to just dodge roll out of it. That is BS.

Umm, you are aware that one of the current Meta Builds is built around that attack, aren’t you?

1 skill ok
2 skill yo could make max range 500-600 because of skill 4 knockback
3 skill is ok but useless sometimes
4 skill ~semi useless
5 skill totally useless (need revamp)

i think hammer should have some kind of dmg boost, ppl using gs because of high output dmg, hammer does not have that and its slow. buff needed.

Ragnarox.9601:

1 skill ok
2 skill yo could make max range 500-600 because of skill 4 knockback
3 skill is ok but useless sometimes
4 skill ~semi useless
5 skill totally useless (need revamp)

i think hammer should have some kind of dmg boost, ppl using gs because of high output dmg, hammer does not have that and its slow. buff needed.

Hammer really doesnt need a buff.. Ppl stating this should really play around more with weapon and traits.. Chain as an example, cant count only the 3 hits from it, you need to take the damage from the symbol into the calculation aswell, wich for me ticks for 1k+ / pulse.. MB: not much to say about it,One of the hardest hitting skills we have and with low cooldown, and its a blast finisher, cant get better than that.. And hammer doing low damage? Give me some of the stuff your smoking plz, cause atleast My MB hits Hard.

Cba typing more from phone..

TL;DR: Learn to use the hammer the right way and use the skills at the right Time.

Stop the crying about hammer allready, its l2p issues.. Hammer is the most complete weapon the guardian has ..

Hjulstad.6317:

Hammer really doesnt need a buff.. Ppl stating this should really play around more with weapon and traits.. Chain as an example, cant count only the 3 hits from it, you need to take the damage from the symbol into the calculation aswell, wich for me ticks for 1k+ / pulse.. MB: not much to say about it,One of the hardest hitting skills we have and with low cooldown, and its a blast finisher, cant get better than that.. And hammer doing low damage? Give me some of the stuff your smoking plz, cause atleast My MB hits Hard.

Cba typing more from phone..

TL;DR: Learn to use the hammer the right way and use the skills at the right Time.

Stop the crying about hammer allready, its l2p issues.. Hammer is the most complete weapon the guardian has ..

all the time trolling on the phone, pls sir if you play elementalist and you dont own 80 lv guardian you are just trolling on our subforum.
i told my honest opinion that skill 5 is useless ppl are dodging out of it. need revamp 5 skill.

Though I think some of the attack effects could be looked at, there is no doubt in my mind that hammer does as much if not more damage than GSword. I think the main difference is that you can get more upfront damage on GS so for low HP trash, it’s more evident.

Ragnarox.9601:

Hjulstad.6317:

Hammer really doesnt need a buff.. Ppl stating this should really play around more with weapon and traits.. Chain as an example, cant count only the 3 hits from it, you need to take the damage from the symbol into the calculation aswell, wich for me ticks for 1k+ / pulse.. MB: not much to say about it,One of the hardest hitting skills we have and with low cooldown, and its a blast finisher, cant get better than that.. And hammer doing low damage? Give me some of the stuff your smoking plz, cause atleast My MB hits Hard.

Cba typing more from phone..

TL;DR: Learn to use the hammer the right way and use the skills at the right Time.

Stop the crying about hammer allready, its l2p issues.. Hammer is the most complete weapon the guardian has ..

all the time trolling on the phone, pls sir if you play elementalist and you dont own 80 lv guardian you are just trolling on our subforum.
i told my honest opinion that skill 5 is useless ppl are dodging out of it. need revamp 5 skill.

No trolling.. Just stating opinion , ppl crying for a boost for a weapon that is allready allt greater then most others need to l2p.. Sure dodge out of ring of warding shouldnt be possible, but thats a minor thing..

This might come as a shock to you, but you can actually play more then One Class.. And allready have a 80 guardian with 3 full exotic sets and 6 weapons.. I just wanna prevent ppl who have l2p issues from giving a perfect weapon a boost so it gets overpowered and ending up ruining the Class by giving nerf after nerf..

I have yet to ever knock someone off a cliff or edge with 4. Every time I do it they just hit against an invisible wall and never fall off… In PvE anyways.

Got 0 complains about the hammer, really people what’s wrong with you?

PvE:

1. - Great skill, leave as is. Works best under heavy fire with the solid protection (and healing from altruistic if traited)
2. - Short cool down, a small gap closer, Blast finisher, nice damage. Perfect for all situations.
3. - Serves as opening strike, more useful for PvP though.
4. - Ever been in those annoying Statues affected areas? (Surrounded by dark green and black mist) Right smack in the middle there’s a veteran DE that won’t get out of it, that skill makes sure he does. I can think of more situations that I needed to relocate a mob, mostly ranged since they don’t tend to chase you very far in terms of distance from their original location.
   @ Tim.9850 – Doesn’t work in PvE, but it does in PvP, and tested.
5. - Try to think out of the circle, literally!! Why close mobs in? when you can keep them out? They only think in one way route and keep walking towards it, they don’t walk around the ring. This helps for a few moments of regen and having to deal with less mobs at a time.

PvP -

1. - 3rd chain makes it difficult to favor the skill (only an idiot will stay in the symbol for it’s full duration). I use it to land the extra hits I need until weapon swap.
2. - Same as PvE version, perfect.
3. - Combine with Signet of Wrath (or #3 of scepter if you got as secondary) to dominate any player in zerg or 1 v 1. Skill is good regardless if aimed and timed right at pvp.
4. - Two sweet examples:
   - Go behind enemy forces (leap or teleport), smack anyone into your own zerg, cast #5 for the lulz as he roll backs.
   - EB Jumping puzzle, so steep, so narrow, so demanding to use this skill. This works of course on any high ground and provides an instant kill.
5. - Either trap in, or trap out, works great on bridges and narrow places in general.
   Example: leap / tele into zerg on a bridge, cast #5, roll back, cast WoR = fun times.

I personally use all weapons depending on what I do, aside sword / shield / focus.

Can just agree with Hjulstad, its more or less a l2p issue.

The only bad thing with the hammer is that 2h mastery aint increasing dps. Which makes it a useless trait from a pve perspective. Up the damage from MB and lower it on the chain by decreasing the length of the animation (1s) and one tick from the symbol would “solve” it. But reducing animation length based on people that cant execute is just rubbish.

The weapon in it self is just fine, besides dodging out of RoW, and is probably our most versatile weapon.

Brutaly.6257:

Can just agree with Hjulstad, its more or less a l2p issue.

The only bad thing with the hammer is that 2h mastery aint increasing dps. Which makes it a useless trait from a pve perspective. Up the damage from MB and lower it on the chain by decreasing the length of the animation (1s) and one tick from the symbol would “solve” it. But reducing animation length based on people that cant execute is just rubbish.

The weapon in it self is just fine, besides dodging out of RoW, and is probably our most versatile weapon.

How is a second off the cooldown not increasing MB’s DPS? And I’m pretty sure MB is almost identical to WW in terms of damage output, due to having a cooldown half as long.

Geewoody.2017:

Brutaly.6257:

Can just agree with Hjulstad, its more or less a l2p issue.

The only bad thing with the hammer is that 2h mastery aint increasing dps. Which makes it a useless trait from a pve perspective. Up the damage from MB and lower it on the chain by decreasing the length of the animation (1s) and one tick from the symbol would “solve” it. But reducing animation length based on people that cant execute is just rubbish.

The weapon in it self is just fine, besides dodging out of RoW, and is probably our most versatile weapon.

How is a second off the cooldown not increasing MB’s DPS? And I’m pretty sure MB is almost identical to WW in terms of damage output, due to having a cooldown half as long.

2 Hand Mastery on it’s own for the Hammer isn’t as much of a straight dps increase compared to the GS. Its got to do with how the Hammer chain works with the symbol being implanted on the third strike and it’s relationship with the lowered cooldown of MB when used for comboing.. You should however be able to combo with less problems with longer lasting symbols.

As the OP said skills 1 and 2 are good to go.

Skills 3 and 4 are about control and fit imo with hammer wielding archatype.

5 is just a broken skill because you can dodge roll out it alone. But the stationary cast time makes it very difficult to pull off in all but the most confined areas. The dodging needs to be fixed at least. And also I’d like to see the stationary mechanic of the cast removed as well, that or make it instant.

Edit: Also I’ve always liked the thought of 5 being a combo field, but that seems a bit hamstring/OP.

Maybe this can be a suggestion:

Make 4 just a regular KnockDown
Make 5 a High AoE damage skill. Same CD of 40.

Think people would mind that? Not to OP? As far as that might give a reason to do 2h mastery(Trait.)

The Human Stick.9310:

Maybe this can be a suggestion:

Make 4 just a regular KnockDown
Make 5 a High AoE damage skill. Same CD of 40.

Think people would mind that? Not to OP? As far as that might give a reason to do 2h mastery(Trait.)

I’d mind that. I’ve won so many fights by 354 comboing people, it’s insane. Immobilize into Ring of Warding, I smack them into the Ward, and then beat on them a bit. Usually they’ll panic and run into the wall a couple more times just letting me beat the tar out of them.

4 also works for smacking people into an Elementalist Static Field.

The only thing that needs to be changed about Hammer is that Ring of Warding needs to work 100% vs people who don’t have some form of Stability up. The fact that people can dodge or jump through it is buggy.

Also, I don’t know if anyone noticed, cause it’s not mentioned on the tooltip, but people bumping into Ring of Warding take damage. Or at least it seems they do on my screen.

Geewoody.2017:

Brutaly.6257:

Can just agree with Hjulstad, its more or less a l2p issue.

The only bad thing with the hammer is that 2h mastery aint increasing dps. Which makes it a useless trait from a pve perspective. Up the damage from MB and lower it on the chain by decreasing the length of the animation (1s) and one tick from the symbol would “solve” it. But reducing animation length based on people that cant execute is just rubbish.

The weapon in it self is just fine, besides dodging out of RoW, and is probably our most versatile weapon.

How is a second off the cooldown not increasing MB’s DPS? And I’m pretty sure MB is almost identical to WW in terms of damage output, due to having a cooldown half as long.

Polle.6908:

2 Hand Mastery on it’s own for the Hammer isn’t as much of a straight dps increase compared to the GS. Its got to do with how the Hammer chain works with the symbol being implanted on the third strike and it’s relationship with the lowered cooldown of MB when used for comboing.. You should however be able to combo with less problems with longer lasting symbols.

This..

And..

Without 2h mastery dps on a static/pve target is 2*chain+mb. If you trait 2h mastery its still 2*chain+mb. I have done some testing and it might even be so that max dps is achieved by just spamming 1 but i cant tell for sure but if so then the difference is minor.

Versus mobile targets and in pvp 2h mastery adds dps since you just dont spam the chain and you have periods of time when your not hitting, effectively filling up the gap making the combination of mb+chain+mb being a more likely scenario.

zacger.5937:

Edit: Also I’ve always liked the thought of 5 being a combo field, but that seems a bit hamstring/OP.

It actually is a combo field light, even if it doesn’t say so in the tooltip.

I have read Brutaly’s great guide stickied at the top. My present build is pretty much taken in whole from that thread and thank you so much. But I use GS not Hammer.

Why? A glance at my forum handle, which is also my main, and you might suspect I like hammers. I own perhaps 200+ in my real world collection. Hammer as is just does not get it done for me.

I read and reread the guide and threads on the animation skip for the #1 chain, and have watched the vidoes. I simply cannot learn to do the animation skip. Without that edge I just don’t feel that I can perform nearly as well with Hammer as with GS.

I contend that those defending the as is Hammer so strongly almost certainly have mastered the skip.

I think that giving a weapon a passing score because it has the hidden benifit of a dextreity exploit, and suggesting l2p as a fix for the rest of us, is not best practice for the weapon, the class or the game.

I understand you all say the weapon is versatile & I think it’s mostly true, but it just doesn’t make enough difference in PvE to justify using the hammer over other things.

In GW1 I loved it because I could stun lock mobs in place & tank/CC/support by keeping the mobs off my teammates. But here I have to struggle to keep them off my teammates for 3 seconds. It’s actually more useful to just be bait & kite in a circle.

The ring & chain are too slow to activate & too short to actually keep mobs off group members. Causing slight hiccup to mob every 40sec is almost never preferable to killing them sooner. & the GW chain pull is pretty much more effective than both the hammer CCs combined. They sound cool on paper but the effectiveness is meh.

I have a hard time seeing a 5sec ring wall having a significant CC in PvE. It’s pretty much for running away. Yes, it’s nice that 1 time you saved your whole team, but I can make that argument for doing just a tad more damage that one time you saved your whole team. & even then a well timed dodge accomplishes the same. The CC doesn’t seem significant. being able to pull every mob in the area to me & tag them in a zerg has profited me more.The Hammer really doesn’t seem to be preferable over anything in PvE.

The Hammer is very PvP focused. (that’s great, I don’t really care about the PvP side) I think they need to split the skills.

The Hammer certainly isn’t broken, but I have a hard time justifying using it other than “I think hammers are cool”. Maybe i’m expecting too much from them, but I always feel like I’m running at a loss & switch to a diff set.

@Jakhammero play with the hammer isnt based on “ninjaskipping” the animation, i saw on that as an exploit, until arenanet sadi it wasnt in a pm to me, and didnt use it when the guide was put to gether.

The guide is primarily about AH and as such you can use a large variety of weapons and gs being one of them. I also use gs from time to time.

The thing is that the they fill two different purposes, hammer is an aoe melee weapon and gs is a burst aoe single target hybrid.

People should pick what they feel comfortable with and based on what role they want to play.

@DarksunG
80% uptime on protection by just using one single weaponskill and a supreme amount of AH proccs in combination with really nice aoe dps is pretty god kitten nice in pve and if its this is what you are looking for then the hammer has no real competition.

The above is what justifys the hammer for me, me being able to use a much more offensive setup and still being able to main tank in dungeons or taking on 10 mobs at the same time. The way i play the game survivability makes me able to do dps. Its not for everyone.

The downside is that the hammer gameplay from time to time tends to be very boring in pve.

All weapons shouldnt suit everyone, that just makes them bland and personally i cant stand the mace but me having a personal grudge versus the mace doesnt make a change neccessary or even wanted.

yeah, you won’t get much mileage out of abilites 3-5 in pve, but in my opinion #1 and #2 make up for it.
The symbol from #1 gives damage but also protection, with the right traits and/or runes (larger symbols, longer lasting symbols, prot duration) you can keep pretty much permanent protection on your melees.
This is -33% damage nearly constantly, that is huge !
Also with the right timing you will have very high uptime of retaliation, not so great against slow hitting bosses but it helps sometimes. (Your constant ligh fields might piss off eles trying to stack might but this can be timed so you don’t drop field when he stacks might, just a matter of communication/timing)

JakHammer.7094:

I have read Brutaly’s great guide stickied at the top. My present build is pretty much taken in whole from that thread and thank you so much. But I use GS not Hammer.

Why? A glance at my forum handle, which is also my main, and you might suspect I like hammers. I own perhaps 200+ in my real world collection. Hammer as is just does not get it done for me.

I read and reread the guide and threads on the animation skip for the #1 chain, and have watched the vidoes. I simply cannot learn to do the animation skip. Without that edge I just don’t feel that I can perform nearly as well with Hammer as with GS.

I contend that those defending the as is Hammer so strongly almost certainly have mastered the skip.

I think that giving a weapon a passing score because it has the hidden benifit of a dextreity exploit, and suggesting l2p as a fix for the rest of us, is not best practice for the weapon, the class or the game.

It really is a l2p issue.. The skip is good, but without it you still do great.. Its not something you need to use, its more of a small benefit if you learn to react on time.. Bit the skip does not make the weapon..

5 skill i useless and broken, thieves and mesmers teleport out of it (even eles can go out of it), other classes just dodge roll out or roll before you can use it because of long casting(because you must stay in place when casting). make something practical then(like using while moving and with no teleports or doging out of it), or change it to have shield for 3 sec like fractals hammer with cd 40 sec

The Human Stick.9310:

Dear ANet,
I do believe we(Guardians) need a better look at the hammer skills. There very inconsistent.

Skill Number:
1. Good Chain(No fix)
2. Best Skill (Good for Blast Combo)
3. sPvP skill (Worthless in PvE)
4. Knock Back (Hammer is Melee)
5. Worthless (Doesnt work in PvE or PVP)

I use hammer on my Guardian now. I like it. I just only use skills 1 and 2. I would really like to see more synergy.

If I’m wrong in this post please enlighten me. I really want to learn to play this class the best. It seems like GS(Greatsword) is just overall a better weapon.

Hammer is great in PvE and PvP, I don’t follow you here. I see you don’t have problems with skills 1 and 2, so I’ll address the others:

Skill 3: long immobilize. Not worthless in PvE, great control against vets and champs once you break their CC immunity. Also, great for controlling a pack of enemies, as it immobilizes all in a line. Also, it synergizes with 5, allowing you to lock the mob in or our of the ring.

Skill 4: Knockback: powerful skill with knockback/knockdown. Use it against a wall to keep mob in range, or use it on weapon swap (for example, switch to sword, skill two, mob is blind when it gets up and you get free hits). You can also pair it with Judge’s intervention. Also good for breathing room if close to death to pop off an unbothered heal while the mob is down.

Skill 5: Ring traps mobs in or out. Useful against a large group, trap in as many as you can, when they hit the wall they suffer knockdown. Also the ring acts as a light field to trigger combos (condition removal on ranged/bolts, retaliation on blast/mighty blow). This skill is more useful than you think, and the field/combo will synergize well, particularly with an Altruistic Healing build.

You pointed out greatsword as a better option than hammer, but I’m inclined to disagree. GS’s biggest attack requires multiple hits and control to be sure enemy is in place for all the hits. It does have a control option (blind on leap), but hammer has movement control, and Mighty Blow does equivalent damage to GS’s spin in one hit, and on a 5 second CD (4 sec if traited).

GS does have mobility over the hammer, but this can be mitigated simply by pairing the hammer with another weapon (personal preference is sword+focus on swap with a sigil of geomancy on the focus for bleed if I switch in melee range).

I’d recommend checking out this guide for a very detailed look at hammer skills and gameplay with a build oriented around it.

Brutaly.6257:

Can just agree with Hjulstad, its more or less a l2p issue.

The only bad thing with the hammer is that 2h mastery aint increasing dps. Which makes it a useless trait from a pve perspective.

Take the damage of Mighty Blow. Divide by 5. The value is your increased DPS from having MB on a 1 second shorter CD.

What’s wrong with Ring of Warding? Trapping people in WvW for your zerg to rain death uppon, creating a light field sorrounding you and other melee attackers for your ranged allies to cleanse conditions with their proyectiles or its usefulness on controlling a point in sPvP. Not useful enough in PvE? Put up Protection, run into a bunch of mobs grabbing aggro, trap them, run out and proceed to lay down AoE madness with your buddies.
Hammer doesn’t need a buff, far from it. It’s an utility loaded weapon that relies on two skills for most of its damage, a similar case like the Ranger’s Shorbow.

Khenzy.9348:

Hammer doesn’t need a buff, far from it. It’s an utility loaded weapon that relies on two skills for most of it’s damage, a similar case like the Ranger’s Shorbow.

Hammer is fine. In testing it’s been proven it actually out-DPS’s Greatsword unless you’ve got GS completely traited. You’re right about the skill loading. 2 skills for damage, 3 for control; it definitely just comes down to playstyle choice.

Tomkatt.1684:

Brutaly.6257:

Can just agree with Hjulstad, its more or less a l2p issue.

The only bad thing with the hammer is that 2h mastery aint increasing dps. Which makes it a useless trait from a pve perspective.

Take the damage of Mighty Blow. Divide by 5. The value is your increased DPS from having MB on a 1 second shorter CD.

Dps from one single skill is increased but overall dps isnt due to that you cant actually perform mb any more often in a pve/static environment.

Even if you trait 2h mastery the rotation is chain+chain+mb.

So no overall dps isnt increased by traiting 2h mastery, the availability of the skill is increased though and that MIGHT result in higher dps in certain situations.

And it might even be so that spamming the chain on hammer is infact the best choice when doing dps due to the design of the chain. The third step hitting harder then mb.

Dont get me wrong i use 2h mastery in both pve and pvp but not for the dps in pve. In pvp its meta and it do increase practical dps but its thru the gap closer and increased availability.

This relation is, imo ofc, also why the hammer is more skillbased in pvp then the other weapons. A skilled player can benefit more from the chain and that is infact a good thing. In pve its a paradox, the relation makes the weapon repetitive and rather dull and i often just activate autoattack and grab dinnner while doing dungeons.

2-Handed Mastery lowers the cool down of Mighty Blow. While it’s true that you do not get increased DPS from it, it does allow you to blast finishing more frequently. If you have like two staff elementalists (any field spammers), may as well interrupt your chain (once you have a decent protection duration, 5-8 seconds are plenty) blast finishing their fire fields.

I tend to ninja skip my very first chain to quick apply protection on myself. Once I get long enough duration, I would start to interrupt my chain to blast finish desirable combo fields. This is to allow me to actually blast finish any other field other than a light field. Finishers apply on the most recent field, so if you use chain into MB, you will likely blast finish a light field and get the old boring retaliation. To quickly build up the lost protection duration, I would do the ninja skip again.

About hammer i use it’s especially in wvw and i can say:

1: usually i use first and second hit after skip the third skill and restart, because third skill is so much slow for open, but for as decent damage until the finish of example cd of swap weapon.
2: Skill for nice good especialy for to many combo field fire that i can see in wvw

3: Skill nice if want finish the third chain attack of first skill..but usally work enough good for immobilize someone.
4: Skill i find it good especially when i jump on enemy ..strafe around him and knockback and down it near my zerg ..is nice see how many second it stay life in the zerg.
5: Skill is good and op only if can use it with judge intervation..usualy preload it when the animation start..i use JI for jump on target and take him..is really nice especially if must kill some arrow cat and enemy around it…the problem that with double tab to many time enemy can run out the ring

The Human Stick.9310:

Dear ANet,
I do believe we(Guardians) need a better look at the hammer skills. There very inconsistent.

Skill Number:
1. Good Chain(No fix)
2. Best Skill (Good for Blast Combo)
3. sPvP skill (Worthless in PvE)
4. Knock Back (Hammer is Melee)
5. Worthless (Doesnt work in PvE or PVP)

I use hammer on my Guardian now. I like it. I just only use skills 1 and 2. I would really like to see more synergy.

If I’m wrong in this post please enlighten me. I really want to learn to play this class the best. It seems like GS(Greatsword) is just overall a better weapon.

/facepalm

1. This is great combo AoE protection + Combo opener stack this with skills like AH and EM.

2. Amazing skill. Slight Range on it. Mad AoE damage. Finishes Combo. Use this after your 3 hits from 1 finish you get Retaltion + Protection. If you have EM and AH its even that much better.

3. Range Damage. Use for CC in PvE. Great in sPvP. But it does have many uses in PvE. Learn em.

4. Love this, good damage. Great in many many instances.

5. Could be instant cast and lower cast. But is extermely valuable. Imagine pulling a group then locking them into a circle big enough to so that your 1 and 2 can still hit them and they dont run away. Use it more youll find its true power.

Greatsword is great do not get me wrong. But a well played Hammer will out play any other weapon you can equip.

Did you guys know that the 5 skill is a light combo field? That makes hammer the only guardian weapon with two combo fields, and one of only two sets with the same.

This is actually pretty good as any guardian knows that the recipe for meleeing mobs is protection + condition removal, and a guardian working with projectile finisher companions can do both of those without even digging into the utility skills.

It’s a fine alternative to mace/shield, the only caveat being that you have to be careful about the first few seconds of engagement, especially against large mobs. Consider putting on retreat or pre-applying shield of wrath if you’re not going to use the boon shouts.

Zaiel.6375:

Greatsword is great do not get me wrong. But a well played Hammer will out play any other weapon you can equip.

Even though i play mostly hammer i would like to disagree with this, different weapons have different purposes and they are really nice but in different situations.

For me the its all about playing the right weapon at the right time.

What i can agree on is that hammer has a higher skillcap which makes the difference between a “good” hammer and a “poor” hammer greater cmpared to GS, or any other weapon.

This is also why some people actually think the hammer is broken when its not, they just havent figured out how to play without twitching and how to “play ahead” and anticipate what to do in 2-5 seconds. Playing a hammer and twitching/spamming just wont work.

I think the problem is you are mixing pvp, with pve. Any weapon can do great in pve. In pvp it’s a different story.

In wvw hammer guardians are free kills. They end up rooting themselves most of the time. That’s perfect. With a high burst setup if they trap you in, pop stability and kill them. They’ve effectively given you a free kill.

Hammer doesn’t need a buff though. I think maybe the problem is you are trying hammer solo. It seems to be much more effective with a group. You can CC well for your group, and they can deal the damage.

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

I think the problem is you are mixing pvp, with pve. Any weapon can do great in pve. In pvp it’s a different story.

In wvw hammer guardians are free kills. They end up rooting themselves most of the time. That’s perfect. With a high burst setup if they trap you in, pop stability and kill them. They’ve effectively given you a free kill.

Hammer doesn’t need a buff though. I think maybe the problem is you are trying hammer solo. It seems to be much more effective with a group. You can CC well for your group, and they can deal the damage.

Its as you say, a hammer guardian playing solo in pvp/wvw isnt powerful, even though the free kill are just the bad ones, compared to gs or 1h sword, its when you group up where this weapon starts to be really nasty and powerful, the more teammates and the more opponents you get the more powerful it becomes. Its primarily an aoe weapon and should be used as one.

As i said, every weapon has its optimal use in different situations.

I wouldn’t hammer without meditation anyway. With a teleport, all the hammer skills are great because you can skip the windup time, and hammer makes the most of it as every single skill is a spike skill – if you teleport/whirling blades, people can just dodge out of it.

Brutaly.6257:

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

I think the problem is you are mixing pvp, with pve. Any weapon can do great in pve. In pvp it’s a different story.

In wvw hammer guardians are free kills. They end up rooting themselves most of the time. That’s perfect. With a high burst setup if they trap you in, pop stability and kill them. They’ve effectively given you a free kill.

Hammer doesn’t need a buff though. I think maybe the problem is you are trying hammer solo. It seems to be much more effective with a group. You can CC well for your group, and they can deal the damage.

Its as you say, a hammer guardian playing solo in pvp/wvw isnt powerful, even though the free kill are just the bad ones, compared to gs or 1h sword, its when you group up where this weapon starts to be really nasty and powerful, the more teammates and the more opponents you get the more powerful it becomes. Its primarily an aoe weapon and should be used as one.

As i said, every weapon has its optimal use in different situations.

I meant free kills for me specifically. Not everyone, and that’s only because I’ve spent a good amount of time playing hammer. That lets you know the strengths and weaknesses of the weapon. Usually I try to just perma blind them until I can get a good burst going.

If I’m running sword/focus that gives me 3 blinds to work with. GS only has 2 blinds going for it, and if you don’t count justice is blind it’s 2/1. The ones that are good it’s at best a draw. I can’t kill them, but they can’t kill me because I’m rolling around like a monkey on crack. Usually ends up with one or the other of us having a zerg appear out of nowhere. Followed by a repair bill for them or me.

I think hammer is great for what it does, and used properly it’s an amazing weapon. I prefer sword/focus or greatsword. I feel more mobile with it, but that’s just my play style and it isn’t saying anything about hammer players.

blind block blind blind switch blind aegis blind. Typically what I use against thieves.

Hammer as it stands is extremely powerful in pve but almost the opposite in pvp. You will almost never get anyone to stay in your symbol from the #1 to do any significant damage. Skills 2, 3, 4 and 5 have noticeable telegraphs which if you’re fighting any half-way decent player, will be missed.

Edit: I’ll explain further why it’s so awesome in pve. I run an altruistic build in both pvp/pve and when i’m in any dungeon, I only need to spam the #1 because the symbol keeps me and my allies alive. There’s absolutely no need to use any other ability.

Any weapon with CC is good in WvW at least because it’s hard to dodge while running away. Of course, you can amplify that with judge’s intervention, but you can do the same with any setup.

I find greatsword to be the least defensive of all the weapons and only pull it out when I’m sure I’m not in danger. All other weapons have readily spammable boon symbols, blocks, or ranged abilities that keep you out of spikes. Ever since the greatsword nerf, it has become the poorest weapon to combat conditions and discourage damage solely because the symbol has no uptime. You have to leap off the symbol if you want decent retaliation, which means less opportunities to use leap of faith for blinds / distance closing.

Brutaly.6257:

@DarksunG
80% uptime on protection by just using one single weaponskill and a supreme amount of AH proccs in combination with really nice aoe dps is pretty god kitten nice in pve and if its this is what you are looking for then the hammer has no real competition.

That’s nice & all. & it sounds great on paper.. but on a boss Wand & Focus while kiting = better survivability & much more reliable CC. Hammer CC just kinda stinks. being able to instantly chain a guy with the focus just works better. Im a little at a loss for what I’m supposed to use protection for.. I can’t just tank a boss, & if I keep dodging in and out I 1) lose my consistent protection level 2)drop my DPS to wand levels making it pointless. As for “keeping everyone alive” unless your whole team is melee, then… no.

Maybe I’m basing all of this on boss fights, but I hate the fact that Hammer is a “don’t use this on bosses” weapon. If they made the root move prevent mobs from turning, & last longer I could use it to attack from behind. But again, the reasons you listed don’t actually make it worth picking. & as for a boss.. it’s basically a “don’t use this”

I know allowing CC on a Boss is really iffy in certain situations, but the way it is now, the ring is basically pointless. it might be nice if each touch of the ring wall knocked off a stack of defiant so players could more reliably work toward meaningful CC better. but right now it’s like “wait x seconds” the chain would be better but it’s slow as balls.

Zaiel.6375:

Greatsword is great do not get me wrong. But a well played Hammer will out play any other weapon you can equip.

Don’t think I can agree. I still can’t find a reason in PvE to use it other than to interrupt a boss/vet when the chance arises. The survivability is much lower than ranged. especially against a boss. & if I dodge enough to avoid 1 or 2-shots my dps drops & my prot is gone. I do like the condition removal for teammates, but I have so much of that it doesn’t really matter that much.

if you guys can explain to me in detail (how you can survive with just protection right up next to a boss & keep your dps higher than just ranging) why Hammer is good against bosses I’d love to know because I want to use it. but geez.. it just doesn’t seem worth it.

The Human Stick.9310:

Skill Number:
1. Good Chain(No fix)
2. Best Skill (Good for Blast Combo)
3. sPvP skill (Worthless in PvE)
4. Knock Back (Hammer is Melee)
5. Worthless (Doesnt work in PvE or PVP)

I use hammer on my Guardian now. I like it. I just only use skills 1 and 2. I would really like to see more synergy.

1. Ok
2. Ok
3. Good for PvE. I use it to lock down a foe or multiple foes if I need to dodge away an heal.
4. Great as an interrupt. works on some bosses helps with damage mitigation as well. gives you those few precious seconds of regen that might save your kitten Plus used in conjunction with Judges Intervention is just plain awesome. Nothing like starting the knockback, teleporting to your target, setting them on fire and sending them flying like a boss.
5. I often use this in conjunction with 4 as an interrupt that doesn’t send them flying too far. Or paired with a scepter and smite. It has its uses, caging those centaur archers that like to run away when you close on them is handy.

I only do PvE at the moment, but I love the hammer. There is just something about it that seems so tough. Plus the free sign on the chain and the combo finisher is hard to go past. Hammer & Mace/Shield for PvE for most of the time.

Do folks know that you can Banish(#3 knock back) people into the Ring of Warding(#5 Wall)?

Dristig.9678:

Do folks know that you can Banish(#3 knock back) people into the Ring of Warding(#5 Wall)?

yeah, it’s the thing the ring does really really well. if you can get the slow activation right. But as far as keeping certain mobs out of the fight to take pressure off other members, it’s sooo meh.

I basically use it prevent easy mobs from making the fight take extra long by running.

it’s too slow & short to take up an entire skill slot. If you could trait or sigil it to last longer, it might be ok, but man.

DarksunG.9537:

Brutaly.6257:

@DarksunG
80% uptime on protection by just using one single weaponskill and a supreme amount of AH proccs in combination with really nice aoe dps is pretty god kitten nice in pve and if its this is what you are looking for then the hammer has no real competition.

That’s nice & all. & it sounds great on paper.. but on a boss Wand & Focus while kiting = better survivability & much more reliable CC. Hammer CC just kinda stinks. being able to instantly chain a guy with the focus just works better. Im a little at a loss for what I’m supposed to use protection for.. I can’t just tank a boss, & if I keep dodging in and out I 1) lose my consistent protection level 2)drop my DPS to wand levels making it pointless. As for “keeping everyone alive” unless your whole team is melee, then… no.

Maybe I’m basing all of this on boss fights, but I hate the fact that Hammer is a “don’t use this on bosses” weapon. If they made the root move prevent mobs from turning, & last longer I could use it to attack from behind. But again, the reasons you listed don’t actually make it worth picking. & as for a boss.. it’s basically a “don’t use this”

I know allowing CC on a Boss is really iffy in certain situations, but the way it is now, the ring is basically pointless. it might be nice if each touch of the ring wall knocked off a stack of defiant so players could more reliably work toward meaningful CC better. but right now it’s like “wait x seconds” the chain would be better but it’s slow as balls.

Zaiel.6375:

Greatsword is great do not get me wrong. But a well played Hammer will out play any other weapon you can equip.

Don’t think I can agree. I still can’t find a reason in PvE to use it other than to interrupt a boss/vet when the chance arises. The survivability is much lower than ranged. especially against a boss. & if I dodge enough to avoid 1 or 2-shots my dps drops & my prot is gone. I do like the condition removal for teammates, but I have so much of that it doesn’t really matter that much.

if you guys can explain to me in detail (how you can survive with just protection right up next to a boss & keep your dps higher than just ranging) why Hammer is good against bosses I’d love to know because I want to use it. but geez.. it just doesn’t seem worth it.

When using the hammer, you can basically tank just like in Guild Wars 1, and this is pretty useful against bosses when you can’t trust your team to not die. I actually don’t dodge a whole lot as a guardian because I’ve got a very block heavy utility build. You don’t have to dodge every shot, just survive until your next heal.

You’ll see the value when bosses suddenly break aggro and go on rampages to the 4 glass cannons you’re partying with. Having a bind and a CC on the same weapon (which is rare) allows you to get the pressure off downed teammates and keep the threat busy while they revive. The hammer is basically an insurance plan for your team.

My way to PvE with hammer :
Is there any fire field?
- Yes : Use 2.
- No : Use 1.

Symbol of Protection’s damage is great. It hits lot of times which is good for AoE Might. Oh and it also consistently applies vulnerabilities if traited.
Now by its nature it not very effective in PvP but there is nothing we can really do about it.

Something you don’t consider about Ring of Warding is that you can combo with instant teleportation 1200 range withouth breaking the cast. Still I would like to be able to cast it on-the-move.

Zealot’s Embrace (#3) does a bit of damage (the same as one swing of hammer) and apply immobilisation in a line. Multiple targets is very strong but binding two enemies this way is just once in a lifetime. The cast time is a bit too much for the 2 secs of immobilisation (scepter #3 cast time is great).
Overall, it is no argument to be used over Symbol of Protection in dungeons.

4 is useless…i’d prefer a kd

1 the third step is too slow

5 is great but buggy, people just dodge out of it