Guardian Hammer is useless

[Fipmip.7219]

> @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > @"Buran.3796" said:

> > > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> >

> > > Me and my guild love hammer guard so much its not uncommon for us to run 3 or 4 at a time when roaming.

> > >

> >

> >

> > I can see how 3-4 of you fighting at the same time with hammers in WvW can make you feel that the weapon is powerful. But that's a hollow feeling, like armwrestling a 7 year old and bragging about winning. There's a reason you don't see hammers in neither PvE nor PvP (aside from Scrappers). They are outdated. They didn't endure the power creep of PoF.

>

> Don't misunderstand, I solo roam with hammer very effectively. We all do. The weapon IS powerful when used properly in WvW. I know it isn't good in PvE and it's PvP application is debatable as well, but that's why I specifically said it was niche. It is very good at what it does where it's applicable. Which is fine imo.

 

how far do you get with it in ranked spvp? h5 -> judgement was also my favourite strat but it only worked up to a point, basically relying on people to not understand what was happening and hit the wall a few times. or be overwhelmed in a teamfight. eventually you get to the level where most people teleport or break out, and at that point i saw it as the one trick pony it was.

 

I still think hammer can be buffed while keeping it's current theme, as guild wars is a game where a small change to some function can have a big effect. like having another symbol on hammer 2 for instance.

[Black Bandit.9425]

Fact of the matter is that hammer underperforms in all areas of the game and needs a buff as well as core guard =P but that's another discussion.

[Yasai.3549]

> @"Fipmip.7219" said:

 

> how far do you get with it in ranked spvp? h5 -> judgement was also my favourite strat but it only worked up to a point, basically relying on people to not understand what was happening and hit the wall a few times. or be overwhelmed in a teamfight. eventually you get to the level where most people teleport or break out, and at that point i saw it as the one trick pony it was.

>

> I still think hammer can be buffed while keeping it's current theme, as guild wars is a game where a small change to some function can have a big effect. like having another symbol on hammer 2 for instance.

 

When I did play Hammer DH back before the nerfs, I actually played Hammer DH as a +1.

The idea was to duel offnoders and when yu +1 a team fight, yur H5 > Judgement followed by Maw, Procession and Faith will easily disrupt and shutdown at least 1 or 2 of the enemy's team.

 

Have not tried it in recent times though, I need to try it again.

 

[Curennos.9307]

> @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > @"Buran.3796" said:

> > > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> >

> > > Me and my guild love hammer guard so much its not uncommon for us to run 3 or 4 at a time when roaming.

> > >

> >

> >

> > I can see how 3-4 of you fighting at the same time with hammers in WvW can make you feel that the weapon is powerful. But that's a hollow feeling, like armwrestling a 7 year old and bragging about winning. There's a reason you don't see hammers in neither PvE nor PvP (aside from Scrappers). They are outdated. They didn't endure the power creep of PoF.

>

> Don't misunderstand, I solo roam with hammer very effectively. We all do. The weapon IS powerful when used properly in WvW. I know it isn't good in PvE and it's PvP application is debatable as well, but that's why I specifically said it was niche. It is very good at what it does where it's applicable. Which is fine imo.

 

Could you please go into what 'used properly' and 'effectively' are?

 

I use it in spvp and have found it rather lackluster - albeit funny when I can bonk someone with a 7k mighty blow while they're stuck in a trap or something. I'm dubious as to how it can be so bad in spvp but somehow manage to be as you describe in WvW, even with the stat/skill split differences and so forth. It is certainly very effective fighting against people who've never seen a hammer guardian before, but I've found it fails to measure up once I find someone who has any sort of idea of what they're doing and knows how to abuse the weapon's flaws.

 

Anywho. I think the weapon could definitely benefit from trimming some cast times, at the very least. It feels like it was given the speed of a heavy ranged weapon when it is not that.

[Yasai.3549]

> @"Curennos.9307" said:

 

> I use it in spvp and have found it rather lackluster - albeit funny when I can bonk someone with a 7k mighty blow while they're stuck in a trap or something. I'm dubious as to how it can be so bad in spvp but somehow manage to be as you describe in WvW, even with the stat/skill split differences and so forth. It is certainly very effective fighting against people who've never seen a hammer guardian before, but I've found it fails to measure up once I find someone who has any sort of idea of what they're doing and knows how to abuse the weapon's flaws.

 

I can see Hammer being a useful ganking tool for H5 + Judgement followed by trap + Spirit Blades on a Burn build.

This combo is usually a GGNORE Combo if landed.

But the chances yur enemy is so unaware to let this happen is just unlikely, unless yu are some sort of master baiter which uses this to demolish camps and the moment someone leaps on yu with Warclaw yu lock them in and kill them.

Again, if yur enemy is so stupid to jump onto a DH, they are asking to eat traps.

 

 

> Anywho. I think the weapon could definitely benefit from trimming some cast times, at the very least. It feels like it was given the speed of a heavy ranged weapon when it is not that.

Yea I think one of the main problems of hammer is the auto chain and knockback skill taking forever to cast.

 

[Heizero.9183]

> @"Curennos.9307" said:

> > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > > @"Buran.3796" said:

> > > > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > >

> > > > Me and my guild love hammer guard so much its not uncommon for us to run 3 or 4 at a time when roaming.

> > > >

> > >

> > >

> > > I can see how 3-4 of you fighting at the same time with hammers in WvW can make you feel that the weapon is powerful. But that's a hollow feeling, like armwrestling a 7 year old and bragging about winning. There's a reason you don't see hammers in neither PvE nor PvP (aside from Scrappers). They are outdated. They didn't endure the power creep of PoF.

> >

> > Don't misunderstand, I solo roam with hammer very effectively. We all do. The weapon IS powerful when used properly in WvW. I know it isn't good in PvE and it's PvP application is debatable as well, but that's why I specifically said it was niche. It is very good at what it does where it's applicable. Which is fine imo.

>

> Could you please go into what 'used properly' and 'effectively' are?

>

> I use it in spvp and have found it rather lackluster - albeit funny when I can bonk someone with a 7k mighty blow while they're stuck in a trap or something. I'm dubious as to how it can be so bad in spvp but somehow manage to be as you describe in WvW, even with the stat/skill split differences and so forth. It is certainly very effective fighting against people who've never seen a hammer guardian before, but I've found it fails to measure up once I find someone who has any sort of idea of what they're doing and knows how to abuse the weapon's flaws.

>

> Anywho. I think the weapon could definitely benefit from trimming some cast times, at the very least. It feels like it was given the speed of a heavy ranged weapon when it is not that.

 

I generally run it as a DH but I dont run traps I run full meditations like an old school core medi guard. The stat split in wvw does make a big difference because your 7k bonk is a 10k bonk for me in wvw which with the sigil proc can almost 1 shot thieves and mesmers. I run vision sigils on my hammer and my greatsword and hydromancy on greatsword. I catch them with the JI+H5, H2, swap to greatsword for the hydromancy sigil ceit which is usually about 2k, and then full crit greatsword 2 which usually lands because they ate the KD from the ring of warding. In total its something like 20k+ damage in that burst.

 

If they survive, its fine because I can keep bursting like this since im running double vision sigils and DH virtues plus monks focus full meditations gives me tons of survivability. People also underestimate hammer 3 but it actually hits really hard, about 3 or 3.5k when it crits and is really strong when chained right after a banish and then into a DH F2, then you can follow with whichever burst you have available, either H2, Greatsword 2 or both.

[Oxstar.7643]

I can see it being useful in blob fights since you can give a bunch of people a bunch of protectio. I'm offhanding it in pvp in case I simply want to tank something particularly fast.

[Sonork.2916]

I use Hammer as a fun weapon on DH for roaming/ganking/picks. Use Bow/Hammer and yoink people over, hammer circle around them, then dump traps on them while going to town with the hammer. Really good spike damage if they can't escape the circle and honestly, just fun to play. It won't win many duels or get you out of dicey situations, but it is really fun.

[Bazsi.2734]

> @"Ogwom.7940" said:

> There is no game mode that I use hammer on my guardian because there seems to be no use for it.

> It doesn't feel rewarding to play.

> I would hope they could address it one day.

>

> What are your thoughts?

 

On game release the protection you got from the autoattack chain was uselful for dungeon speedruns and fractals. Even when raids came out, sometimes I was asked to roll hammerguard and prot the baddies in team who cannot dodge.

Since PoF came out, the powercreep indeed left the weapon behind in PvE. It's still good in PvP though. If you enjoy landing the one hit that decides duels/teamfights, go play hammer mediguard.

[FrownyClown.8402]

Ring of warding should be 24s and banish 12s. Hammer is good as long as its not your primary damage source. Symbols and traps for instance. The CDs are just too long right now. The entire concept is about trapping your enemy in damage and knocking them around so its pretty much useful every 30s.

[yLoon.5289]

Hammer skill 3 immobile,4 knockdown & 5 wardings are CC skills. I don't think any other combination of weapons offer that much of CC skills. (Correct me if I'm wrong xD). I guess that's the trade-off for its clunky movement and damage. I too hate that Arena increases the cooldown of skill 2...

 

It has its usage to player's preferential method of playing, but not everyone loves it. That is all to it I guess.

If Arena wants to balance it, one of the CC skill can revamp into a DPS skill then.