Guild Wars 2

I was wondering how good Unsuspecting Foe really is, especially when compared to Merciless Hammer.

Unsuspecting Foe gives us 50% crit-chance against targets that are currently stunned. How does this apply to Earthshaker though? Is the stun applied before the damage or after?

Also the damage increase on Merciless Hammer also only counts against dazed or stunned opponents. And while I know Hammers stun a lot, do our enemies really spend much time stunned or dazed?

I’m thinking not.

The bigger benefit from Merciless Hammer is probably the cd reduction on hammer skills. UF does apply the 50% crit bonus to ES so that helps but they did reduce the damage on F1 a few patches ago keep in mind. I used to always run both of these skills, I’m sure a lot of hammer warriors did, when UF only cost 10pts instead of 20. Since then I’ve moved away from it personally.

Earthshaker apply the stun before damage, so it will add the 50% crit if hit.

Usually no, our enemy don’t spend much time in stun. But think about it you can use it for controlled burst. For example: Earthshaker then switch to 100b with GS or final strike with sword.

I run it on my roaming build 0-25-30-0-15. I like to follow ES by 2 hammer AA. If I manage to chain staggering blow, ES, I’ll follow up with a back breaker for a total of 10 to 15k damage.