The Bunny Thumper (a Ranger/Warrior hammer beastmaster) was an interesting pressure build that became quite popular in Guild Wars 1.
Merits:
Hammers are currently only used by 2 professions – Guardians and Warriors, making them the least-available weapon type in the game (tied with Mace).
Rangers are rather lacking in terms of direct crowd control – they have some short dazes (Shortbow, Greatsword), a knockdown (situational – GS counter), and a knockback (Longbow), but that’s about it. Sure, pets put out CC, but it isn’t responsive or particularly reliable.
A crowd control weapon would allow Rangers to lock down targets for a short time, making pets and traps more useful.
Concept:
For Warriors, the Hammer is a simple cc weapon with a weakness move, a knockback, a knockdown, and a leap + aoe stun burst skill. Without adrenaline, it lacks a gap closer.
For Guardians, the Hammer is a more combo-oriented weapon. Trap a foe and hit them with your symbol. Snare them and do it again. Set off combo fields with your 5/4 second cooldown blast finisher. It’s more elegant and complex than the Warrior hammer, IMO. Still lacking in terms of mobility.
For Rangers, the Hammer would be a high mobility crowd-control set. The auto-attack chain would be faster and weaker than other hammers, mainly just there to fill in the gaps between skills and inflict weakness and/or vulnerability. It’s 2-5 would provide valuable utility. Most damage would be inflicted via coordinating 2-5 skills with your pet.
For Example
Chain-
Fast hit, gain swiftness (1s)
Fast hit, gain swiftness (1s)
Slower hit, inflict multiple stacks of low-duration vulnerability.
(Synergizes with Nature Magic to help both you and your pet stay on target.)
2 – FOUR!
Swing your hammer at your pet, sending them towards the target foe dealing good damage and knocking them down for 1 second. Don’t worry – no pets were harmed in the making of this skill.
Subskill – Leap to the foe you threw your pet at, crippling them with your hammer briefly.
3 – Smash as One
You and your pet both smash the area around yourselves, dealing aoe damage. Foes can be struck by both hits.
4 – Return
Throw your hammer at the target foe, dealing damage. The hammer will briefly trip the foe and pull them about 100 distance in your direction (the hammer throw would probably be about 450-600).
5 – Shard Storm
Smash the ground with your hammer, breaking the earth and sending out rocks that fall on the target location, dealing multiple pulses of damage with mini-stuns (like 0.1s-0.25s). (Think Cave Troll but not nearly as potent).
(Works especially well with traps.)
). so I would have nothing against it, if they return