Guild Wars 2

Anyone mind giving me a straight apples to apples comparison between the two weapons? I know greatsword is all about fast attacks and synergizes well with critical hits and that the hammer is more of a crowd control weapon. What I’m wondering is, despite the massive disparity in attack speed, how does the hammer stack up to the greatsword’s dps? Note that I’m mostly an open-world PvEer who spends a bit of time in dungeons and WvW (though it’s very little) and non at all in PvP.

For those of you who have run both, how big much of a difference in offense am I looking at in going from a greatsword to a hammer? I’d like “big picture” feedback, so please try to avoid specific builds when replying. Thanks in advance for any and all feedback you can offer.

I personally prefer hammer over greatsword mostly because the hammer trait increases your damage by 25% when someone is disabled (stun, knockdown, daze). 2 of those disables you have ready access to between 3 moves, the F1 stun is not only a giant AoE stun, but it hits like a freaking truck and has a good range on it (600m), and backbreaker (hammer #5) is a 2 second knockdown. Hammer #4 is an aoe knocback which is handy when being swarmed in pve and pvp alike, but its only drawback is that you’re rooted while channeling it. In addition the hammer #1 chain is essentially the same speed as your 1h sword attack chain, which is pretty fast given that it’s a hammer you’re flinging around. Lastly not only does the hammer have all those CC options, but you can keep mobs / people perma-weakened with hammer #2 which cuts their DPS in half (unless they crit), which puts you in an overall much more tanky disposition as any damage you suffer is cut in half for the duration of the debuff.

I think before even comparing the weapons directly it’s important to figure out if you’ll be reducing its cooldowns. Because that’s at least 20 points you therefore can’t put in an offensive line, and the massive 20% boost only applies (or so I’ve read anyway) to enemies under stun/daze and knockdown, which really don’t last long or apply often (relative to things like bleeding in the arms line or weakness for the mace trait, and the trait that just gives greatsword better damage). It also doesn’t get to stack might by itself, so there’s that.

Also note that if you’re farming lots of weaker enemies the horrendously slow attacks will make tagging things in a hurry somewhat troublesome, although the F1 is alright when it’s there.

Overall I don’t mind it, and it’s not like I time them or anything but I’ve never felt its damage output (against AI – everything else will dodge or block) was a problem. That said, I don’t try to speed-run anything because sprinting through content over and over is very boring for me. I wouldn’t recommend it for that at all, though I guess someone who already did that with a GS wouldn’t lose much by buying a hammer and trying that out.

In PvE I think almost hands down the great sword will win out in pure dps. It just fits into offensive traits well, has a lot of mobility to help compensate for less defensive stats. The main advantage of the hammer is control and allows you to obtain decent damage while mostly defensively traited. The big downside to PvE with the hammer is anything with defiance is going to greatly reduce your dps.

WvW is a different story and I’d suggest hammer as you can easily preform a stun lock combo on a player and down them very quickly. On the other hand the great sword takes some setting up as most people know how to dodge hundred blades unless you cc them first.

Hammer imo is the best WvW weapon for Warriors, and Can push some massive burst damage without it relying heavily on utilities to perform them (HB bull rush/bolas throw). Earthshaker is probably the best Burst skill out of all the weapon sets (Longbow burst is very close second). When traited Properly, Earthshaker + Staggering Blow, can easily proc over 13k Damage up to 5 target which can equal well over 50k+ damage in only two hits spread amongst 5 players. Thats alot of AOE damage, especially if you want to spec into some tankier stats., And Its Applying CC/knockbacks to enemies. Hammer is a great AOE Burst/CC weapon, that offers some amazing damage in a short manner of time. Once you use all your cooldowns on your hammer, its usually advantageous to use your second set for Defense/utility till you can switch back to Hammer Again for more burst. Hammer Shock + Leg specialist Is like a 5 man long range 1 sec stun (its immobilize, but it helps with landing skills and catching enemies who are trying to kite, not to mention Hammer shock can crit for almost 3-4k if you run heavy crit damage.)

GS is most likely the best Overall PvE weapon, and Offers much higher mobility vs Hammer, but since the frenzy burst of Hundred blades was nerfed, and a few other annoying things on GS, like a useless burst, unreliable ranged cripple, and rush missing alot, its not the best WvW weapon set. GS offers an evasion and higher mobility, but has no other beneficial CC or conditional effects besides vulnerability and stacking might. That is great against PvE, but not so easy to work with, in PvP/WvW. Gs also tends to keep wanting more and more Pow/Pre/Crit Damage vs Hammer, since Unsuspecting Foe works wonders with Hammer. The biggest pro for GS in terms of PvP/WvW is that it isn’t shut down easily by blind/blocks/aegis, where as Hammer is.

You can run Both though, which offers some really high AOE dps, and mobility, but i feel its preference as to which weapon you wish to use. I love Hammer/Sword-Shield because of its Overall Balance between Burst DPS/Defense/Utility.

I use both one gives you good control and one gives you good mobility both do good damage both have movement skills if run mobile strikes.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Please do keep it coming.

LameFox.6349:

I think before even comparing the weapons directly it’s important to figure out if you’ll be reducing its cooldowns. Because that’s at least 20 points you therefore can’t put in an offensive line, and the massive 20% boost only applies (or so I’ve read anyway) to enemies under stun/daze and knockdown, which really don’t last long or apply often

Currently I’m running a 30/20/0/0/20 build. I don’t spend adrenaline, but I’ve got traits giving me a 12% increase to damage and a 9% increase to critical hit chance. That, with 10% blanket increase to damage inflicted by the great sword, a 20% reduced cool down time on the already short timer of Hundred Blades, and Might on critical hits stacked with Runes Strength leads to some fantastic damage output.

If I made the switch it looks like I’d still want some points in the Arms trait line and I’d want to get some points in the Defense trait line. Doing so, as you said, means sacrificing some offense. And the damage I would output with a hammer would be conditionally nerfed (depending on enemy Stability and/or Defiance).

LameFox.6349:

Also note that if you’re farming lots of weaker enemies the horrendously slow attacks will make tagging things in a hurry somewhat troublesome, although the F1 is alright when it’s there.

I run a longbow for my event farming. It’s not great for tagging mobs, but neither is it bad. And I do have other level 80 characters with better options for tagging in DEs for those occasions when I specifically want to farm.

Dyroth.5063:

In PvE I think almost hands down the great sword will win out in pure dps. It just fits into offensive traits well, has a lot of mobility to help compensate for less defensive stats. The main advantage of the hammer is control and allows you to obtain decent damage while mostly defensively traited. The big downside to PvE with the hammer is anything with defiance is going to greatly reduce your dps.

Losing the mobility of GS’s 3 and 5 will certainly hurt. Like really hurt.

I’ve no doubt the GS is the better PvE weapon, but it’s boring. 5 > 2 is how most fights usually go, with a > 3 > 4 > 2 if anything is still standing. I appreciate (respect) the massive damage increase from the Berserker’s Power and Heightened Focus traits, but I’m not sure sitting on adrenaline (the profession’s defining mechanic) is the funnest way to play a warrior.

Worse than that, though, is the GS doesn’t fit the vision I had when I originally created my warrior. All of my characters were created with a specific playstyle (and aesthetic look) in mind. My norn warrior was to be a barbaric brute, smashing things apart with heavy hits.

Where I envisioned my thief to fight speed and finesse, I envisioned my warrior to fight with devastating power. I wanted to use a two-handed axe, but that’s obviously not an option. So I settled for the great sword. But what I wound up with was something that plays more like a samurai, utilizing speed and mobility more than sheer, brute strength to kill my foes. The great sword is great at what it does (PvE), but I’m one of those guys who puts as much stock in aesthetics and flavor as I do in efficiency.

Dyroth.5063:

The big downside to PvE with the hammer is anything with defiance is going to greatly reduce your dps.

That’s something I hadn’t even considered. Against Defiant mobs with a great sword the rotation/plan of attack pretty much stays the same. I’ve got to dodge a few times on the way to melting said Defiant mob, but that’s about it. But with a hammer I’d be losing out on a great deal of damage when fighting Defiant mobs. That’s going to make what used to be easy fights a great deal more difficult. I’ve never been in the situation with my warrior where attrition was the key to victory, so I’m not sure how that would play out.

Ever since I changed from tank to damage, I’ve been running Greatsword/Hammer.

20/25/0/0/25 is the spec I found to give the most damage output. V, IX/ VI, X/ V, VI. Using all berserker stuff with ruby orbs. Sigil of Force on the Greatsword, Major battle (because it’s cheap), on my Hammer.

Utilities are. Healing Surge, For Great Justice, Shake it Off (might change to Sigil of Stamina because it’s only 7 longer on cooldown and removes all conditions + endurance regen), Banner of Discipline, Signet of Rage.

My usual strategy is build up might with my Greatsword, switch to Hammer (which gives 3 might), 5>2>4>3, switch back to Greatsword (with 5 extra might now) and repeat.

Plate of Truffle Steak and Asparagus Dinner (cheaper than the max, only lose 40 power and 2 crit damage) and Quality Maintenance Oil.

I spend almost all my time in PvE. Highest numbers so far is a 28K Hundred Blades and 5700 each on Backbreaker/Fierce Blow/Staggering Blow

U

Have fun with low damage, no protection and blinds :<

wvw dps hammer is actually pretty kitten with the burst you can get along with the CC it has. , Fb and BB both have the ability to hit for over 10k.

Sanny.1270:

wvw dps hammer is actually pretty kitten with the burst you can get along with the CC it has. , Fb and BB both have the ability to hit for over 10k.

Watch Sanny’s Video of his Hammer/GS spec to get a picture of how beast Hammer can be. I personally like running a slightly less glass cannon spec but still put out the same bursts during stun period of Earthshaker, and I prefer Sword-shield for its defense and utility, but GS/Hammer is an AOE melee Massacre if you want it to be, and boasts some good mobility. I have 2 shot many classes with a Clean Earthshaker —> BackBreaker, or even downed 4 at once with a Earthshaker —> Staggering Blow in a group. Hammer has Crazy burst at the cost of it being applied through less attacks(affected by blinds/block/aegis alot) and slightly long delay/animation of attacks.

Daecollo.9578:

Have fun with low damage, no protection and blinds :<

Forgot to mention blinds… in PVE I mostly only come across this in Orr (risen wizards like to use it constantly) but it does get irritating. Usually my backup set is axe/warhorn for extra swiftness, and dealing with times when slow attacks just infuriate me.

It’s rarely used on me in WvW though, and I usually have a lot of condition clearing (either 3 shouts & WH, or two shouts & signet) so idk how much of an issue that would be on other builds.

darkace.8925:

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Please do keep it coming.

Currently I’m running a 30/20/0/0/20 build. I don’t spend adrenaline, but I’ve got traits giving me a 12% increase to damage and a 9% increase to critical hit chance. That, with 10% blanket increase to damage inflicted by the great sword, a 20% reduced cool down time on the already short timer of Hundred Blades, and Might on critical hits stacked with Runes Strength leads to some fantastic damage output

Rune of strength is currently bugged. The 5% increase damage while under the effect of might doesn’t work

For PvE Greatsword is the undisputed king. As much as I like running around with the hammer sometimes, and it’s not a terrible weapon by itself, it is the weakest choice. Enemies in PvE rarely dodge, making Hundred Blades the highest DPS skill in the game, and WW is a high damage, high mobility, back up dodge on a 6 second cooldown or something if traited. It’s not that other weapons are bad, but that Greatsword is simply the hands down boss of PvE.

In PvP on the other hand, Greatsword is only really useful for its mobility. Hammer provides better burst and way better CC, and so, is my weapon of choice out of the two. But do remember that if you bring it you’ll need either a ranged option, or a mobility option on backup.

OP: Interesting tidbit: the hammer has the highest damage out of all our melee weapons, so if our hammer skills (or just the tree it’s in: despite it’s CC capabilities, the hammer should benefit more from the Arms tree) got a bit polished, it’d probably be on par with GS in dungeons.

Personally, I think hammer is great fun but you have to remember that its strength isn’t raw damage like the GS or Axe: it’s good control and good damage, but not great in either.

With Unsuspecting Foe you have guaranteed ~10K+ burst from Earthshaker + autos. I run 20/15/20/0/15 for WvW.

Nothing says you have to put the 20 into Defense to get the hammer trait. When I PvE, I’m all about consistency. Allocating those 20 points to offensive trees is going to get you more sustained damage than a situational 25% increase and CD reduction on your hammer’s utility skills.

Personal opinions aside, since i use GS always, honestly, to call any warrior build “Low DPS” You have to be either a idiot, or have never used warrior before. Naked warriors could out DPS some other classes. Just becaues a warrior isnt critting 100b for 25k etc, doesnt mean their 10k burst is “bad dps”. Sure its not “Warrior potential highest” but compared to other classes, 10K IS GG.

Veritas.6071:

Nothing says you have to put the 20 into Defense to get the hammer trait. When I PvE, I’m all about consistency. Allocating those 20 points to offensive trees is going to get you more sustained damage than a situational 25% increase and CD reduction on your hammer’s utility skills.

I find Merciless Hammer provides for excellent burst, 25% increase in damage is considerable and since a good hammer burst involves knocklocking your enemies it’s not wasted. Coupled with unsuspecting foe you can easily have a number of guaranteed, extra damage hits. Think of it as a sort of conditional, passive arcane power with the added bonus of a CD reduction on your weapon sets. Longbow is excellent for building adrenaline from far back, then popping into a group with a huge burst WITH CC denying some players a chance to react and forcing others to use their stun breaks on one of the many available CC options you have. For WvW, it’s an effective and fun build to play.

Hammer is insane with the Hammer trait. It has a stun, aoe knockback, knock down, 7 second aoe cripple and 8 second weakness.

Tetra Bug.7134:

Veritas.6071:

Nothing says you have to put the 20 into Defense to get the hammer trait. When I PvE, I’m all about consistency. Allocating those 20 points to offensive trees is going to get you more sustained damage than a situational 25% increase and CD reduction on your hammer’s utility skills.

I find Merciless Hammer provides for excellent burst, 25% increase in damage is considerable and since a good hammer burst involves knocklocking your enemies it’s not wasted. Coupled with unsuspecting foe you can easily have a number of guaranteed, extra damage hits. Think of it as a sort of conditional, passive arcane power with the added bonus of a CD reduction on your weapon sets. Longbow is excellent for building adrenaline from far back, then popping into a group with a huge burst WITH CC denying some players a chance to react and forcing others to use their stun breaks on one of the many available CC options you have. For WvW, it’s an effective and fun build to play.

Don’t forget I gave the condition, “When I PvE.” I’m on-board that burst is king in PvP, but in PvE, the monstrous mob HP pools do a lot to reduce the effectiveness of our burst because you can’t burn through non-trash mobs.

I only made the suggestion because it sounds like the OP wants to play hammer for flavor but also wants to dps, you don’t lose so much competitiveness in PvE without Merciless Hammer because the mobs generally aren’t going anywhere so you can build for higher steady dps at the cost of burst.

PvP is obviously a different story because of the asinine disparity between class mobility, plethora of escapes, and lack of warrior gap-closers not neutered by snares. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching Dragon BaII Z… everyone is screaming around at mach 5 with power level 5000 and I’m stuck sitting on the couch with my fingers crossed that someone comes close enough to taste my power level 9000… but hey… the trinity is gone… and it will be back again… RPG mechanics will persist… GW2 wont. sigh of relief

Tetra Bug.7134:

With Unsuspecting Foe you have guaranteed ~10K+ burst from Earthshaker + autos. I run 20/15/20/0/15 for WvW.

Not just that.

Try Earthshaker, Staggering Blow, Fierce Blow combo. Insta kill.

Calae.1738:

Tetra Bug.7134:

With Unsuspecting Foe you have guaranteed ~10K+ burst from Earthshaker + autos. I run 20/15/20/0/15 for WvW.

Not just that.

Try Earthshaker, Staggering Blow, Fierce Blow combo. Insta kill.

Nope, way too slow. Sorry.

Daecollo.9578:

Calae.1738:

Tetra Bug.7134:

With Unsuspecting Foe you have guaranteed ~10K+ burst from Earthshaker + autos. I run 20/15/20/0/15 for WvW.

Not just that.

Try Earthshaker, Staggering Blow, Fierce Blow combo. Insta kill.

Nope, way too slow. Sorry.

clueless

Daecollo.9578:

Calae.1738:

Tetra Bug.7134:

With Unsuspecting Foe you have guaranteed ~10K+ burst from Earthshaker + autos. I run 20/15/20/0/15 for WvW.

Not just that.

Try Earthshaker, Staggering Blow, Fierce Blow combo. Insta kill.

Nope, way too slow. Sorry.

No one does spvp dude. There’s like 12 people who play that.

In WvW you have an abundance of noobs with glass cannon builds and no stun breakers.

I guess I’m not in it for the damage?

With a more defensive build, you’re looking at an aoe weakness, and a cone cripple that you can trait to turn into a cone immob. I run with a wvw guild, though. I can take the alphas, then knockdown, cripple, debuff, and rely on the rest of the teammate to cover the damage.

My perspective is different. Usually, I’m not caught alone in the open, and my targets are mashing buttons, not activating anti-warrior combo #463. Hammer on its own suffers a lack of mobility and an overall short range that will ensure you’re kited to death if you find yourself without a ranged option on which to fall back.

It depends on your situation. If you’re with an organized team on mumble, you’ll see a difference with the cc options and aoe control you bring to the table. If you’re in the EB zerg running with pugs, few melee options will seem viable, since the majority of those with you will watch you die while they kite the front lines for solo kills.

Aesthetically and historically, this would be more accurate as knights and thanes of medieval Europe saved easily-breakable, expensive swords for single and urban combat while using cheaper, easier-to-use haft and pole weapons like hammers, axes, and maces for the battlefield.

darkace.8925:

Anyone mind giving me a straight apples to apples comparison between the two weapons? I know greatsword is all about fast attacks and synergizes well with critical hits and that the hammer is more of a crowd control weapon. What I’m wondering is, despite the massive disparity in attack speed, how does the hammer stack up to the greatsword’s dps? Note that I’m mostly an open-world PvEer who spends a bit of time in dungeons and WvW (though it’s very little) and non at all in PvP.

For those of you who have run both, how big much of a difference in offense am I looking at in going from a greatsword to a hammer? I’d like “big picture” feedback, so please try to avoid specific builds when replying. Thanks in advance for any and all feedback you can offer.

Offensively hammer does not even come close to pure numbers as the GS does.

That being said a hammer can still deal tremendous amounts of damage while also CCing targets.

In WvW the hammer is a far better choice in my opinion, the AoE stuns, knockbacks, and cripples (immobilizes with the trait for it) make it invaluable for large fights, not too mention a far higher survival rate. The GS isn’t BAD or anything, it has amazing mobility and if you manage to sneak up on someone you can pretty quickly kill them, the issue is GS warriors usually get dropped simply from the AoE in large fights cause they’re so squishy (if they aren’t squishy then a hammer warrior can easily do as much damage as them).

For PvE GS allows for faster movement and quicker kills, making it the better choice if you’re looking for efficiency. The hammer is fine here as well but against large open-world bosses your CC won’t work and having a bit more survivability won’t help against most of their attacks, making the GS with it’s higher damage, mobility, and extra dodge a better choice.

In dungeons it depends on the role you want. Like if you want to be the very high damaging and bursty piece of paper then GS is definitely the weapon for you. If you want to be a balance, as in medium damage output and decent survivability then either option will work and it’l depend on your preferred playstyle. If you just want to live and get right up in the faces of the monsters in the dungeons then hammer is definitely the right choice, the massive CC it can deal out plus the higher toughness and still decent damage output make it an ideal choice for this role.

And I’m glad you aren’t interested in PvP cause there is actually no good option for warriors in that right now….. lol

GS is for dps/mobility, hammer is for CC’s – as simple as that. In zergs CC’s are generally more preferable than dps, if you’re planning on wandering solo – not so much.

Strait up damage the GS is better if you count 100bs against targets that can’t/wont move say PvE then the GS is king there. In WvW I would say the hammer is superior in terms of DPS because of what you are fighting. The auto can cleave for 3-4k and Earthshaker,Backbreaker,Fierce blow, Staggerring blow can all hit 5k easily and 1 is almost always guaranteed after the other and if the person has blown cd or not running a stun breaker or only has 1 stun breaker they are in for some pain.

In WvW I find that a enemy with stability is more of a problem than anything else but alot of classes have little access to it besides warriors and guardians. Stability basically nullifies the +25% damage you get on hammer but you still get good numbers damage wise its just that they wont be controlled by the CC

Since you’re PVE heavy, i shall discuss on the PVE aspect. Damage wise GS is far superior. Hammer is for control, but the type of control is very specific if you’re against a boss (you will need a well coordinated group and specific boss). On paper other weapons do better ; GS & Axe for damage, Mace for weakness, swords for bleeds. End of the day, whatever weapon you like matters. I love hammer but I see it’s flaws against bosses, hence I run Hammer & Axe/shield (with range weapons in the bag) for dungeons. It’s a very versatile set.