Guild Wars 2

Hi folks (even you GS users)
i’m writing this because of multiple factors and reasons, first above all is the fact i simply can’t stand anymore warriors and other professions users who complain about the fact i main the Hammer instead of the Greatsword or/and Axe+Mace.
This is really annoying because it’s not just me but a lot of online friends and other people are sick about this bad feeling about our main weapon, so i want to discuss this thing with you all.

I’m not a “new” player, i sit above 8k achievement points,i have 4 toons out of 5 at level 80 and i main the warrior as a commander since mid 2013.
Since the last balance patch (maybe even before) i recognized a growing movement of people focused only about the DPS in both PVE (dungeon runs) and WVW. Now, i’m not here to state that Hammer>GS in terms of dps..i’m not that foolish.
But is GW2 all about dps?
The answer should and must be: NO
(otherwise please Anet remove all stats that are not Power,Precision and Ferocity please..)

Now let me argue a little more before giving you the word:

-Hammer has not the dps of the GS but it provides A LOT more cc and useful conditions in both PVE and WVW (especially here)
Weakness (godly for a warrior) + Fumble (Best defensive condition), Cripple (Always useful), Knockback+KnockDown+Stun (should i really explain these?)
Some of these may be situational in pve where mobs just stand there waiting to be hit, but 3 ready to go interrupts to counter some nasty mob actions or moves are undoubtedly useful.

-Hammer has not the movement range of the GS but do you need all that movement in a Dungeon? Mobs are there you do not need to run to them because THEY DO NOT RUN AWAY. Some of you may argue “ok but also cripple and weakness are useless in a dungeon run..” which is good! But this point demonstrates how a big GS pro is not always a valid excuse to use it.
In WVW (pvp in general) both weapons are equal good since the GS has 2 movement skills and a “crippler” and the Hammer has 4 out of 5 (plus the burst) skills able to stop the opponent. And let me say this, it’s much worse to recover and run away from a stun lock than running away from a gs user..

-DPS. GS>Hammer, no escape from this point. But this meta is becoming more and more “heavy” oriented, i see more than i third of the dungeon runs i do where the party is composed of AT LEAST 3 heavies (and 1-2 eles nowadays) so what’s the problem of having a warrior in a high-dps party using a hammer? the party by it’s composition is pretty much strong by itself even if one out of five members has a sub-optimal damage output. A good traited warrior with a hammer has still more dps than most of other professions builds and still won’t die from first two hits from a boss/elite. And this leads to..

-Survivability. All builds can be different but i can state that 99% of warrior hammer-users has 6 points in Defense Traitline while 99% of nowadays dps-gs users have not.
Phalanx users have ofc 6 points in Tactics but Defense>Tactics in pure survival.
Hammer users have always Cleansing Ire (best condition remover for warriors) + one of Dogged March (another condition counter+regen) or Sure-Footed (are there better defensive skills than Stances for a warr? i don’t think so..)
Why would you need all that dps if you cant survive 2-3 conditions or big hits?
Maybe gs have 15%+ dps but if you go down the entire party will suffer the drawback.

(just an example from the last dungeon run i did: SE p3 -> General Volkov. This is a pretty easy boss to kill but it spreads very fast a lot of bleeding stacks and some burning able to kill an average warrior in 2-3 seconds if they are not cleansed. Well..there is no run i do not see the average GS warrior downed because it has no condition remover or enough survivability to sustain them. Do we really always need a guardian or an ele to stay alive?)

OTHER: “have a gs”?
ME: “yes but i main hammer”
OTHER: “hammer sucks in pve, equip gs. at least do you have zerker gear?”
ME: “i do and hammer do not suck anywhere”
OTHER: “lol learn to play warr”

(this example of conversation occurs every day during my daily dungeon routine)
(sometimes i even got kicked out as soon as they see my hammer..)

When do people started to care more about the dps and the time you take to finish a dungeon run? if you take 6 minutes instead of 5 is that big loss? I hit like a truck, i’m full ascended with a set of Strenght Runes and i recently crafted my loving Juggernaut..
Should i confine myself in wvw where nobody cares about the weapon i use?

You seem confused.

But is GW2 all about dps?
The answer should and must be: NO

The answer to that question is actually yes. Use a GS please.

Hammer equipped on PvE= autokick

“You seem confused.
But is GW2 all about dps?
The answer should and must be: NO
The answer to that question is actually yes. Use a GS please.”

“Hammer equipped on PvE= autokick”

since i gave my reasons could you argue a little more yours?
thank you

For CC and weakness – use Mace.

Riccardo.7254:

“You seem confused.
But is GW2 all about dps?
The answer should and must be: NO
The answer to that question is actually yes. Use a GS please.”

“Hammer equipped on PvE= autokick”

since i gave my reasons could you argue a little more yours?
thank you

If you are talking about PvE/dungeons then hammer is pretty much useless, why? DPS is significantly low compare to GS and mostly CC is not needed.

xbutcherx.3861:

Riccardo.7254:

“You seem confused.
But is GW2 all about dps?
The answer should and must be: NO
The answer to that question is actually yes. Use a GS please.”

“Hammer equipped on PvE= autokick”

since i gave my reasons could you argue a little more yours?
thank you

If you are talking about PvE/dungeons then hammer is pretty much useless, why? DPS is significantly low compare to GS and mostly CC is not needed.

well since i argued far better my points sorry but i feel no satisfied by your answer. if you can demonstrate what you say i’m here to read, that’s why i wrote this post, if you can’t i’ll tag you just as one of those gs-fanboys i was talking about

and i repeat, i’m not here to troll but to listen and maybe learn

xbutcherx.3861:

Riccardo.7254:

“You seem confused.
But is GW2 all about dps?
The answer should and must be: NO
The answer to that question is actually yes. Use a GS please.”

“Hammer equipped on PvE= autokick”

since i gave my reasons could you argue a little more yours?
thank you

If you are talking about PvE/dungeons then hammer is pretty much useless, why? DPS is significantly low compare to GS and mostly CC is not needed.

well since i argued far better my points sorry but i feel no satisfied by your answer. if you can demonstrate what you say i’m here to read, that’s why i wrote this post, if you can’t i’ll tag you just as one of those gs-fanboys i was talking about

and i repeat, i’m not here to troll but to listen and maybe learn

I’ll just start by saying. I never kick someone because of what is his build or how he play. I usually have a hard time of doing that, but when it happen and I kick or quit its usually not because of a weapon, but several difficulties that add up and make the run terrible.

That said, I’ll never use Hammer in PvE myself for different reason. Keep in mind, i’m not talking about PvP or WvW hear, only PvE. Hammer is really good in PvP and WvW, so I won’t talk about that.

1) You said Hammer is less DPS, but bring other stuff? Ya of course. But that other stuff is not really useful in PvE. Weakness is actually a good thing in PvE. Its a defensive condition ya, but like protection it allow you to melee and burst down some mobs that would otherwise kill you in zerker gear if you don’t have it or you are play it the right way (fractal high level especially). Fumble is an effect of weakness so its not a different reason, its the same. But then, you have cripple and hard cc. But it never really useful in PvE. You may want to pushback a mob in a corner or decrease the number of Defiant to move the boss, but that’s really situational. And in most of these case, you can equip Hammer with a GS, use the cc of the Hammer, then switch to GS for the rest of the fight. After that fight, you get back to GS + Axe or whatever you use.

2) I’m not sure about your point here. GS have more movement skill, but you usually don’t really care about that in dungeon. Ya in some situation like in arah, the GS is handy, but like for the hammer you could equip it only at that precise moment. This is not a good reason to use or not use any of those 2 weapons as your main weapon.

3) DPS, well that’s the main reason. The main focus of any build is the dps. Ya you will sacrifice some personnal dps for more offensive support, but only in the optic of having a better overall party dps. Even when you decide to go for defensive stuff like the Guardian with hammer protection, etc. It’s usually only to allow your team to stay in melee range against harder boss to do more overall DPS. But even more than DPS is time. You will sacrifice some dps to get a thief that will allow you to skip some stuff. So from this point of view, the Hammer is not the right choice.

- Surviability : I can survive on my Ele in full zerker gear, no defensive utilities, no condition removal, no defensive boons and even no healing skill since I use it to stack might before the fight. Its hard as hell and for the couple first weeks of doing that I used to die like 5-10 times during a dungeon path. But I got better and now rarely die in most normal dungeon. I do fractal high level with my Guardian and I use the full dps meta. You can survive just fine in those condition. So the argument of dead dps in no dps only work if someone don’t have the skill to survive so he personally need more defence. And don’t take it badly. Someone its because someone is new, or someone just don’t play enough to develop the skill to survive, or just don’t give a crap because he don’t have fun in that kind of stuff or simply he don’t think he can do it (which was my case for about a year btw on my guardian).

In the end my personal view is :
- Hammer is a not a good PvE weapon, pls don’t try to advocate that it is.
- Its a game, and in the end you can play how the hell you want.
- Internet is full of jerk for all side. Ya some ppl will call you off on your choice, if you can’t take it then quit on the internet because that won’t stop ever.
- In 99% of party, if you have good knowledge of the encounter, are a good player, but have a half good build you will do just fine. You won’t really hurt your team, the party will complete the run in an average amount of times, not record time, not speed clear time, just average time.
- Hammer is a visible way to tell that someone is not using a meta pve build. But A LARGE majority of the player don’t use it neither. They hide in with their gear and trait, but I can guarantee you that a lot of ppl use far more terrible build that an hammer zerker build in PvE.

Thaddeus.4891:

I’ll just start by saying. I never kick someone because of what is his build or how he play. I usually have a hard time of doing that, but when it happen and I kick or quit its usually not because of a weapon, but several difficulties that add up and make the run terrible.

That said, I’ll never use Hammer in PvE myself for different reason. Keep in mind, i’m not talking about PvP or WvW hear, only PvE. Hammer is really good in PvP and WvW, so I won’t talk about that.

1) You said Hammer is less DPS, but bring other stuff? Ya of course. But that other stuff is not really useful in PvE. Weakness is actually a good thing in PvE. Its a defensive condition ya, but like protection it allow you to melee and burst down some mobs that would otherwise kill you in zerker gear if you don’t have it or you are play it the right way (fractal high level especially). Fumble is an effect of weakness so its not a different reason, its the same. But then, you have cripple and hard cc. But it never really useful in PvE. You may want to pushback a mob in a corner or decrease the number of Defiant to move the boss, but that’s really situational. And in most of these case, you can equip Hammer with a GS, use the cc of the Hammer, then switch to GS for the rest of the fight. After that fight, you get back to GS + Axe or whatever you use.

2) I’m not sure about your point here. GS have more movement skill, but you usually don’t really care about that in dungeon. Ya in some situation like in arah, the GS is handy, but like for the hammer you could equip it only at that precise moment. This is not a good reason to use or not use any of those 2 weapons as your main weapon.

3) DPS, well that’s the main reason. The main focus of any build is the dps. Ya you will sacrifice some personnal dps for more offensive support, but only in the optic of having a better overall party dps. Even when you decide to go for defensive stuff like the Guardian with hammer protection, etc. It’s usually only to allow your team to stay in melee range against harder boss to do more overall DPS. But even more than DPS is time. You will sacrifice some dps to get a thief that will allow you to skip some stuff. So from this point of view, the Hammer is not the right choice.

- Surviability : I can survive on my Ele in full zerker gear, no defensive utilities, no condition removal, no defensive boons and even no healing skill since I use it to stack might before the fight. Its hard as hell and for the couple first weeks of doing that I used to die like 5-10 times during a dungeon path. But I got better and now rarely die in most normal dungeon. I do fractal high level with my Guardian and I use the full dps meta. You can survive just fine in those condition. So the argument of dead dps in no dps only work if someone don’t have the skill to survive so he personally need more defence. And don’t take it badly. Someone its because someone is new, or someone just don’t play enough to develop the skill to survive, or just don’t give a crap because he don’t have fun in that kind of stuff or simply he don’t think he can do it (which was my case for about a year btw on my guardian).

In the end my personal view is :
- Hammer is a not a good PvE weapon, pls don’t try to advocate that it is.
- Its a game, and in the end you can play how the hell you want.
- Internet is full of jerk for all side. Ya some ppl will call you off on your choice, if you can’t take it then quit on the internet because that won’t stop ever.
- In 99% of party, if you have good knowledge of the encounter, are a good player, but have a half good build you will do just fine. You won’t really hurt your team, the party will complete the run in an average amount of times, not record time, not speed clear time, just average time.
- Hammer is a visible way to tell that someone is not using a meta pve build. But A LARGE majority of the player don’t use it neither. They hide in with their gear and trait, but I can guarantee you that a lot of ppl use far more terrible build that an hammer zerker build in PvE.

Thank you Thaddeus.
This is the kind of answer i was looking for. I admit that i did myself much of these considerations but hearing them from someone else is comforting.

Sadly, Hammer doesn’t quite bring anything important in PvE. It has CC, but CC doesn’t work on anything worth fighting against. It has weakness, but it’s not permanent. It lacks damage and has a slow autoattack.

If you want to make a build around Weakness, Mace is what you should be looking at. Mace easily provides permanent Weakness on an enemy, not to mention that it actually deals more damage against enemies who have the condition. But Mace also suffers from the same issues: it’s biggest advantage is CC, but that is mostly irrelevant in PvE. Mace is also a very slow weapon, both in terms of mobility and attack speed.

Even with Weakness, anything that is Champion or better can totally slay you in seconds.

Isn’t your argument basically “if there’s 4 other DPS in the party it’s okay if I don’t contribute since everything gets done fast enough anyway”? I’m pretty sure that’s the mindset of the majority of dungeon runners (myself included when I’m feeling lazy and just want some free gold, it’s why I have a Magi set on my warrior) so it’s not going to go as smoothly as you think.

Also there are better classes for CC than hammer warrior so why not roll one of those?

If weakness is the best thing you can bring to the party, they might as well just bring a necro along it has better weakness application and WAY better dps than hammer warrior…

Hammer dps is honestly just bad. I did a hambow lupicus solo and it was like 9:35 or something terrible like that.

since the only well-argumented answer was thaddeus one here is the build i’m using atm:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJASRjMdU3ZhHOewJaAlgCdofBlwxGIAUOFjOA-TVCBwA12f4sSQsK/k8AAwp+DgLBQedAp0Ek5IAQKAzUGB-w

now, you can say everything..but not that this build lacks of dps or that other professions commom pugs deals more damage (maybe a not-so-well-made fgs ele can still do better dps).
As you can see i main hammer but i have gs AND i’m full berserk AND i have a full set of rune of strenght, which puts me a way further the average warrior camping GS in dungeons with the equipement only half finished.
I admit that i lack ascended armor but isn’t this build enough? if it’s not why shouldn’t we kick every other player who’s not a phalanx gs warr or an fgs ele?

Thaddeus correctly explained all the point for not preferring the hammer as a main weapon in a dungeon, and i respect his arguments because i admitted them, the thing i can’t stand is this new breed of warrior players who are just too focused on maximising the dps and can’t see nothing more than the meta gs build.
But being kicked out just because someone presumes that my dps is low is just kinda absurd.

“Well-argumented” lol.

Riccardo.7254:

since the only well-argumented answer was thaddeus one here is the build i’m using atm:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJASRjMdU3ZhHOewJaAlgCdofBlwxGIAUOFjOA-TVCBwA12f4sSQsK/k8AAwp+DgLBQedAp0Ek5IAQKAzUGB-w

now, you can say everything..but not that this build lacks of dps or that other professions commom pugs deals more damage (maybe a not-so-well-made fgs ele can still do better dps).
As you can see i main hammer but i have gs AND i’m full berserk AND i have a full set of rune of strenght, which puts me a way further the average warrior camping GS in dungeons with the equipement only half finished.
I admit that i lack ascended armor but isn’t this build enough? if it’s not why shouldn’t we kick every other player who’s not a phalanx gs warr or an fgs ele?

Thaddeus correctly explained all the point for not preferring the hammer as a main weapon in a dungeon, and i respect his arguments because i admitted them, the thing i can’t stand is this new breed of warrior players who are just too focused on maximising the dps and can’t see nothing more than the meta gs build.
But being kicked out just because someone presumes that my dps is low is just kinda absurd.

Maximizing DPS is not a new thing, not in pve and definitely not in WvW or pvp, the only difference is it’s easier to do in pve since everything is scripted so once you learn the fights you can easily survive via active means. Where in WvW players are more dynamic in their movements and are actually susceptible to CC, while in pve you can basically manipulate mobs via LoS and stacking, watch the wind up for their big hits, and dodge. In that sense you can go full DPS and as been proven more than enough times.

Sitting on GS currently does the most damage for warriors, only reason to swap is for the utilities of other weapons, and sadly hammer is not an optimal swap 95% of the time. There is a time and build for everything, and hammer has no place in group pve. There are plenty of talks on this already, math included, all you had to do was google.

You’re not going to sway people’s mind here, those who will kick you will still kick you and those who tolerate you will continue to do so, just know that hammer brings very little to your party, it has been talked about forever and unless Anet makes drastic changes it’s going to remain as is.

OP, I think you misunderstand. In this game, the best support is a dead enemy. Maximizing dps is important

Anet nerf the hammar by including things such as defiance.

Hello OP. So, in answer to your question, and adding on Thaddeus’ point, you have to look at the skills of the hammer, and the traits needed to put them to most effective use:
Earthshaker: Good skill, but I’ll elaborate on this in a bit.
AA: Hammer Swing, Bash, and Smash. From what shoddy testing I did when I got Twilight last year, it’s the strongest AA available to warriors (2 handed weapons), but like I said, it was very shoddy testing, so if Guang’s here, I’m sure he’ll be able to tell you more concrete numbers than I.
Fierce Blow: 8 second weakness that cleaves. While weakness is indeed useful in high-end fractals, it can better be performed by warhorn 5, which also doubles as a blast finisher
Hammer Shock: Cone AoE and cripple. As previously stated, cripple isn’t exactly… the best skill desired in PvE. Worthless in Arah and most other dungeons as well.
Staggering Blow: This is the skill that makes hammer completely unwanted in higher end dungeons and fractals. Most of the players who are very good at PvE content want enemies close so melee attacks can have their highest value and boons can be upkept and yadda yadda yadda. (Look at one of Colsey, aka maha, explanations of stacking strategy. He explains it better than I) This knockback completely disrupts the flow of a good group. If you’re an anti-stacker, that’s a conversation to be had for another day.
Backbreaker: Knockdown. 30 sec cooldown. Mace 5 better by far. Sorry.

The kicker here is that you’d have to sacrifice 4 trait points to make a hammer build even remotely feasible. If you’re taking them out of the power line, you’re loosing 15% damage period. If you’re taking them out of arms, you’re loosing a great deal of crit chance and 15% damage every time you activate your very useful Earthshaker ability. Not worth it.

Those 4 points in defense aren’t needed at all once you learn the encounters better, so survivability isn’t something that you should be concerned about if you know what you’re doing.

All in all, other weapons do what hammer does, just better. I’m sorry you don’t like Greatsword so much. Have you looked at the pure axe build?

loseridoit.2756:

OP, I think you misunderstand. In this game, the best support is a dead enemy. Maximizing dps is important

Anet nerf the hammar by including things such as defiance.

And the nerfs continue by ANet dropping the damage on the hammer skills without giving anything back to it. The one hammer trait, nerfed and it wasn’t good to begin with. Huge damage drop on the heavy-CC skills.

I love hammer, it was what brought me to the class, but it’s pretty clear the devs hate it and won’t design encounters or balancing with hammer in mind.

@OP, you know that when you are discriminated against for any reason, you can’t just explain it away as ‘racism’.

Unless you are being kicked from parties because of your being a sentient hammer-being.

If that is the case, then carry on.

A couple things about your build.
1) You’re running 5 signets for the Deep Strike bonus, and while that might benefit your own personal offense, the warrior has much more useful utilities in a group setting, especially considering that hammer isn’t as high DPS as a greatsword, that extra precision isn’t going to be as effective.
2) Unsuspecting Foe only works on stunned foes, not knocked down or knocked back ones. This means that the only skill that benefits from this is Earthshaker. It was strong in PvP before they moved it because you could chunk someone for most or all of their health in one go, but in PvE, where sustained DPS (as in boss fights) wins out, it’s not overly useful, especially with Defiant.
3) Your damage isn’t even comparable to a greatsword warriors. Let’s compare it to the 6-6-0-0-2 pure greatsword build. From the get-go you’re giving up 300 power and the 15% damage from Berserker’s Power. 300 Power is 11% of your 2623 power. Then you’re also missing 100 more precision, or about 3% crit chance. You also have 100 more ferocity. That’s about 25-30% less DPS before you even factor in the fact that greatsword does more damage.

Now let’s look at what hammer brings:
CC – Near useless due to the ease of trash mobs and the defiant stacks on bosses. Let’s also mention that Staggering blow will knock the trash mobs away from your group, which is generally a bad thing.
Weakness – Somewhat useful, but you don’t even get close to dying if you know how to dodge.
Cripple – Greatsword has this too, not that it’s all that useful in PvE.

So, while I agree that you can play how you want, don’t try to pass it off as something it isn’t. You’re playing an inferior build because you like the playstyle, and that’s OKAY. Just acknowledge it. Sure, it’s stupid that you can run no survivability and clear everything easily. It sucks that the Damage/Support/Control trinity doesn’t exist, but you need to accept that.

Also, lol @ five gauge <3

Article by blood red archinad:

Death is the greatest debuff. Therefore quick death is the ultimate goal. The longer a fight endures, the more times you are exposed to one hit kill mechanics. All Boss types foes will one shot kill or extremely decimate you if you stand in their attack. No amount of toughness or protection will prevent this. This being the case toughness and defensive boons are useless. Not to mention all of these attacks can be dodged apart from one of Mai trin that has to be blocked. (good luck with that attack necro’s)

All bosses carry defiant. This makes CC a near worthless tactic to use against them. The amount of time removing defiant so you can land one knock down, and then have all defiant stacks reset= this could have been high dps meaning the boss is dead sooner and we all go to the pub for a beer.

Trash mobs matter not. You can defeat those even if you reset all your traits to zero. I have proven this by running TA up+forward with zero in all stats. No one even noticed i was doing it.

So, there we have it. Condition stacking is limited to 25 stacks and easily rewritten by others who are running lesser condition scores.

Cc is pointless and time wasting and only exposes you to more one hit kills over time.

Any further questions? You’re kinda only hating smart players who have figured and accepted that DPS is the best and most effective way to approach content. Anything outside of his is less effective, only runs a greater risk of getting you downed and prolongs the fight. You can’t blame players for wising up. You can’t blame them for booting you when you haven’t wised up.

Hammer is fine for Pvp/WvW..anything else, you’re just slowing all the rest of us down now.

Rauderi.8706:

loseridoit.2756:

OP, I think you misunderstand. In this game, the best support is a dead enemy. Maximizing dps is important

Anet nerf the hammar by including things such as defiance.

And the nerfs continue by ANet dropping the damage on the hammer skills without giving anything back to it. The one hammer trait, nerfed and it wasn’t good to begin with. Huge damage drop on the heavy-CC skills.

I love hammer, it was what brought me to the class, but it’s pretty clear the devs hate it and won’t design encounters or balancing with hammer in mind.

^another smart player who has wised to the reality of hammer.

loseridoit.2756:

OP, I think you misunderstand. In this game, the best support is a dead enemy. Maximizing dps is important

Anet nerf the hammar by including things such as defiance.

^another player who wised up to the reality of hammer.

Olba.5376:

Sadly, Hammer doesn’t quite bring anything important in PvE. It has CC, but CC doesn’t work on anything worth fighting against. It has weakness, but it’s not permanent. It lacks damage and has a slow autoattack.

If you want to make a build around Weakness, Mace is what you should be looking at. Mace easily provides permanent Weakness on an enemy, not to mention that it actually deals more damage against enemies who have the condition. But Mace also suffers from the same issues: it’s biggest advantage is CC, but that is mostly irrelevant in PvE. Mace is also a very slow weapon, both in terms of mobility and attack speed.

Even with Weakness, anything that is Champion or better can totally slay you in seconds.

^another player who has wised to the reality of hammer.

I main hammer myself also, but even for pve I prefer to switch to a gs, pretty much because I’m not worried about the dps, but the hammers utility isn’t really needed so I might as well boost my dps. The only time I bring out my hammer is for those moments in pug groups when we’re running to skip trash mobs and someone can’t make it like ac and ta… It makes me feel like captain America leading helpless civilians to safety lol?

WHY NOT BOTH? I use Hammer/GS for almost everything.

Don’t matter if you got 8k ap or 500, leave the hammer out of PVE, if you don’t want to get kicked or called a noob. Gs axe/mace rules dungeons, you can go switch one of those on certain parts of dungeons but using a hammer because you want to is not good enough reason to not get kicked. Hammer is meant for CC not really dps, if you want to use it so bad stay in WvWvW and pvp or do dungeons with friends but don’t complain if u pug groups and get called noob or kicked, adapt or die off, plain n simple.

@ OP → this is how the weapons work
Hammer = very slow, but hard hitting
GS = fast and hard hitting
Axe = very fast and hard hitting

Can you understand why they do not want the hammer? It is not about its usages, it’s the fact that the hammer will do everything the others does, just way way way slower. Hell the axe and gs AA even cleaves, so even the cleave damage on the hammer helps. It just cannot measure up to the DPS of the other weapons.

Only way I could see Hammer being used is to have it equipped, pull foes, press 2 to apply weakness, switch to Greatsword, and camp Greatsword.

I only see this useful in something like high level fractals where you take far more damage and even then, you could have Sword/Warhorn equipped instead, hit more foes with weakness, get a blast finisher, and provide Vigor

I read this thread yesterday while in class and I almost got in trouble for laughing too loudly :P

Hundred blades do 30k dmg
Hammer #4 push away mobs and you need to hunt them one by one and a lit of the mobs are immune

Oh and you can’t be racist on a tool; a hammer is a tool, it’s not human, hell it’s definitely not a race. But just for educations sake; racism is defined as belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

So maybe you meant being why is hammer hated in PVE, hated would definitely be a better term than racism.

Why you gotta play the race card brah?

Oh you are talking about weapons…

The unfortunate meta goal for gw2 is to be efficient in producing the maximum ammount of damage in the least amount of time. Especially in PvE.

Well..replace the greatsword with longbow, remove 4 in arms, put 2 in tactics and 2 more in discipline and you’ve got a proper pvp build.
I have like 12k achievement points, all 8 classes to level 80 so I’m like way more pro. I also have just one legendary so we’re even on that part. No commander tag though so if you want to chip in with some gold to make me an even better player I gladly accept donations.
“.A good traited warrior with a hammer has still more dps than most of other professions builds”. Lol nope. While some people don’t really care, being a 5 signet hammer warrior that unstacks mobs while saying “kitten hammer is pro!” kinda gets you kicked.

Hammer is an awesome tool, but with very low DPS as primary weapon. But it is real gold as a 2nd weapon in my opinion!

I mainly do PvP, but I also have enough PvE experience doing dungeons dialy and high Lvl Fractals every week. In PvE I love to run a “Axe/Horn – Hammer warrior”. I use the Axe as primary weapon for the decent DPS (the Autoattack on its own is just strong), the Horn is the perfect 2nd weapon for Axe, weakness against mobs, groupwide Vigor and Blast Finisher is too good.

I make use of Fast Hands and Sharpened Axes , I gain adrenaline very fast that way and can CC mobs every 7 seconds being able to switch fast. I use the Hammer only to CC mobs and trigger combo fields, very good if there are Eles and Mesmers. Then I use weakness and maybe bring mobs closer together with 4, then I quickly switch to Axe/Horn again, doing my damage. This combo is repeatable very quickly thanks to Fast Hands.

I know this doesn’t reach the DPS of a GS setup, but in contrary this playstyle provides much more support, more control and also much more interaction with the group. If it is superior or not, not sure…but definitely something completely underrated or unknown yet.

I’m mainly with the OP here on the hammer being useful, however, if your group can work on full dps then it should work on full dps. Things should die fast enough in dungeons that nothing else matters. However, PUG groups are full of poor dps players who are flimsy and cannot defend themselves. If you’re in a group with them and keep on playing dps while everyone dies then you are as bad a player as they are. The best solution is usually the hammer.

Carlos.4371:

Hammer is an awesome tool, but with very low DPS as primary weapon. But it is real gold as a 2nd weapon in my opinion!

I mainly do PvP, but I also have enough PvE experience doing dungeons dialy and high Lvl Fractals every week. In PvE I love to run a “Axe/Horn – Hammer warrior”. I use the Axe as primary weapon for the decent DPS (the Autoattack on its own is just strong), the Horn is the perfect 2nd weapon for Axe, weakness against mobs, groupwide Vigor and Blast Finisher is too good.

I make use of Fast Hands and Sharpened Axes , I gain adrenaline very fast that way and can CC mobs every 7 seconds being able to switch fast. I use the Hammer only to CC mobs and trigger combo fields, very good if there are Eles and Mesmers. Then I use weakness and maybe bring mobs closer together with 4, then I quickly switch to Axe/Horn again, doing my damage. This combo is repeatable very quickly thanks to Fast Hands.

I know this doesn’t reach the DPS of a GS setup, but in contrary this playstyle provides much more support, more control and also much more interaction with the group. If it is superior or not, not sure…but definitely something completely underrated or unknown yet.

The support is completely redundant. Why use a zero dps weapon like hammer when you can either use axe with off hand mace to CC mobs, or axe warhorn to apply the weakness and then burst with all of your gs skills? A lot of times I’ve pugged there’s some guy in some full PVT tank build who somehow just holds aggro which means you can just wail on mobs while they do nothing to you. If they do, then well you’re a warrior and can soak hits even in berserker, you have 3 evades and CC in your main dps set (gs + a/m). If you’re using sharpened axes that means you’re either giving up berserkers power, attack of opportunity or even worse slashing power or forceful Greatsword if you stuck points in tactics or defence.

Eh, just join groups who don’t care what you’re using. I sometimes use Hammer on my Warrior just for fun/variety. (I normally run Sword/Shield.) Unless you’re joining speedclear/farm groups, trust me when I say most PUGs do not give a skritt what you’re using as long as you’re familiar with the strategy and tactics for the dungeon.

thats because i stop use LFG system , i cant see anymore sword/hammer war, staff/scepter guard, staff/scepter necro, longbow ranger and gs/staff mesmer

hammer aside, why would you even carry cleansing ire and dogged march to pve? i can’t remember the last time on my warrior i NEEDED any condi removal in a dungeon, excluding, maybe, some fractals.

If you have a half decent guardian in your party that he’ll slot in cleansing flames (was that the condi removal consecration?) for those few encounters where it’s ever needed and that’s it. If you REALLY think you can’t trust your guardian on it just slot zerker stance for that one fight (like on that dredge boss that stacks a gazillion bleeds in a second when he feels like it).

It comes down to knowledge of the content really, but i can’t think of a single instance in the whole pve game where dogged march would be a good pick over… pretty much any other trait. If you really like your hammer and defense traitline slot cull the weak maybe.

Riccardo.7254:

well since i argued far better my points sorry but i feel no satisfied by your answer.

Dressed up bulls*** is still bulls***, no matter how sparkly it is.

Riccardo.7254:

Should i confine myself in wvw where nobody cares about the weapon i use?

Yes please

Riccardo.7254:

Should i confine myself in wvw where nobody cares about the weapon i use?

It’s for the best.

If you’re in a low-DPS pug that is STILL dying despite everyone being in tank specs, the occasional short stun/knockdown on a hammer isn’t going to save them. Conversely, if they’re all zerks but just bad and keep wiping, lowering your DPS and forcing them to dodge tells for longer isn’t super helpful either.

I feel for you, Riccardo. I have a build that I like and I will usually stick to that regardless of what the meta is and sometimes in spite of it. The attitude and audacity that players have when you don’t follow the “optimal build” these days is horrible. Unfortunately it’s been a part of MMOs for generations and it is only getting worse. I really hope it doesn’t steer you away from playing.

That said, hopefully the advice here will help you in understanding why hammers are not the best weapon for dungeons and fractals. If anything, it will encourage your to carry multiple weapons and switch out as needed. Don’t get rid of your hammer, just broaden your bag of tricks and have a few other builds ready. Since refunding traits is quick is painless, you can switch before a PUG and switch back afterwards in just a few seconds.

J Eberle.9312:

Riccardo.7254:

Should i confine myself in wvw where nobody cares about the weapon i use?

It’s for the best.

That is why there are several builds for every occasion.

Hammer “discrimination” in PvE. Please edit the title. Racism isn’t the correct usage of word here.
Hammer is not a Race. The word you are looking for is discrimination

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

If you’re in a low-DPS pug that is STILL dying despite everyone being in tank specs, the occasional short stun/knockdown on a hammer isn’t going to save them. Conversely, if they’re all zerks but just bad and keep wiping, lowering your DPS and forcing them to dodge tells for longer isn’t super helpful either.

Actually it does save them! Have you tried it? The PUGs who rely on a guardian to keep them alive, and have no plan B when there isn’t a guardian, can often be saved with a hammer (at least as swap weapon).

Stooperdale.3560:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

If you’re in a low-DPS pug that is STILL dying despite everyone being in tank specs, the occasional short stun/knockdown on a hammer isn’t going to save them. Conversely, if they’re all zerks but just bad and keep wiping, lowering your DPS and forcing them to dodge tells for longer isn’t super helpful either.

Actually it does save them! Have you tried it? The PUGs who rely on a guardian to keep them alive, and have no plan B when there isn’t a guardian, can often be saved with a hammer (at least as swap weapon).

If you actually expect PUGs to not reset defiant stacks with useless abilities at the worst time, You’re Gonna Have a Bad Time