How does one fight Crushers?

[ShivaX]

For whatever reason Crushers have barely ever shown up for me, but lately they have and I'm tired of dying to them while trying to learn how to fight them.

Obviously the "best" method is just to kill them before they get anywhere near you, but once you're in melee with them everything I try seems to not matter.

My issues (and I know these are MY issues, which is why I'm asking for ideas):

Crusher comes around a corner, raises up his big hammer.

1) Backpedal and then dodge back = get one shotted
2) His attack is stolen from Elden Ring and feels like he just holds it forever while walking at me. Maybe it's just a matter of more familiarity and I'll know the timing.
3) Block = pain

Also they seem to always show up in groups of at least 3 and proceed to one shot half the team, but that's a whole other issue. My personal issue is that I don't know how to fight them and they're completely unforgiving so every time I do it's basically "throw away this run to try to learn" which is unfair to my team and why I'm asking for help.

I'm sure it's just something I'm unaware of or missing due to lack of seeing the things for the first 20 levels of the game and suddenly they're everywhere. The internet responses are mostly memes or "look at how OP this build/thing is I can one shot Crushers" which... doesn't help.

[Grr. [SG CMD] Majah Lazah]

Dodge when he's done winding, this is a statically timed attack that doesn't care about proximity ->ONCE<- the proximity trigger has occurred. It has a sound cue which you probably can't hear because G$ sound generation is trash. You have until the sound of the hammer hitting the ground to move*



*all of this is depends entirely on FS server timing which you have ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ control over.

[Chimkin Nuggie, Hero of Liberty]

As a Vet, yell at them real loud. That stuns them, making them lower their shields.

[TH3V01D]

The big ogryns with hammers? Once they raise the hammer dodge twice, or wait a second and dodge before the attack drops. Always dodge to the side. Dodging stops their attack tracking. If you dodge too early they will still track you.

[Dragon]

They are pretty rare in heresy and below.

Some strats -
1) Many, many melee weapons have a secondary action that has an incredibly high amount of stagger. Axe secondaries come to mind, but a ton of weapons have them. With these and some timing you can stun the crusher out of the overhead swing.
2) Learn the timing. It is more forgiving than you think, wait until it is actually coming down and dodge in any direction. The actual hit doesn't occur until the hammer basically touches the ground, not your character.
3) Many, many, many builds now revolve around armor damage. Onslaught/rending for veteran, ogryn bleed stacks, zealot backstabs, psyker - well psyker normally ignores armor anyway - but find something like this that will help you.

If nothing else, you can play krak grenade veteran and the patrols with those.

[crypticmetaphor]

you cant block them, and as you've already seen from the backpedal dodge they simple keep running at you with the swing

time a side dodge and you're in the clear :) they do have a faster swipe attack but if the hammer isnt raised just be ready to dodge a swipe back

as to actually killing them, its a matter of the right tool for the job. check your weapon stats, many of them only do 5% damage to carapace and wont get you a kill before you get dead.

every class has tools to deal with every problem, some better than others. Veteran can stick them with a Krak genade, ogryn can onetap them with the new shovel special attack, zealot has tons of armor shredding options etc. Lets say you're running a knife on stealth zealot, that means you wont mulch hordes as well so its a good time to bring the flamer along.

complimentary > supplementary, no point doubling down on horde mulching/special popping when you can cover your own weaknesses through good melee/ranged/grenade combos

[Papa Runebeard]

Originally posted by ShivaX:

For whatever reason Crushers have barely ever shown up for me, but lately they have and I'm tired of dying to them while trying to learn how to fight them.

Obviously the "best" method is just to kill them before they get anywhere near you, but once you're in melee with them everything I try seems to not matter.

My issues (and I know these are MY issues, which is why I'm asking for ideas):

Crusher comes around a corner, raises up his big hammer.

1) Backpedal and then dodge back = get one shotted
2) His attack is stolen from Elden Ring and feels like he just holds it forever while walking at me. Maybe it's just a matter of more familiarity and I'll know the timing.
3) Block = pain

Also they seem to always show up in groups of at least 3 and proceed to one shot half the team, but that's a whole other issue. My personal issue is that I don't know how to fight them and they're completely unforgiving so every time I do it's basically "throw away this run to try to learn" which is unfair to my team and why I'm asking for help.

I'm sure it's just something I'm unaware of or missing due to lack of seeing the things for the first 20 levels of the game and suddenly they're everywhere. The internet responses are mostly memes or "look at how OP this build/thing is I can one shot Crushers" which... doesn't help.

-----------
oh look at that a genuine new player that want to learn
warms my heart
1 = dont move unles you are in a corner or you just pull the the attack on someone, dodge sideways
2 = time it, practice
3 = you cant block overheads, dodge the light attacks to the right
4 = if you have a penetrating weapon go for the head ( i mean you always should ) with heavies, preferably a vertical attack, block cancel depending on attack pattern
if you dont have, im assuming your ranged is, try to use that, there is literally no reason to go into melee
5 = tag, always tag, everything, but dont spam
6 = wait for your team but dont pull them around the corner, if they dont have time to respond to you ( preferably they are doing something of value ) and you are not on vc that just a disaster waiting to happen
dont pull forward either, always backwards, not to aggro ambients or proc triggers

[nakoda]

box.

[Cybertheurgist Holmes]

Well the most obvious point is to take them out from distance, but for a crusher group or sudden agro charge my tactic is: Keep healthy distance between you two by double dashing backwards and then shoot/strike and again (adjust to the initial distance from it, but don't forget that you don't want to consume all your dashes/stamina so you can dash again when needed).
If not posslibe because of the surroundings, when he does quick sweep from left to right just doge back. If he's holding the stone hammer above his head listen carefully for it's screams and time the doge to the pure left or right, but keep in mind that while it's charnging the attack it will aim at your location so pre doge or gaing around will likey get you smacked. Be aware that the range of it's weapon is quite significant, so rather doge left or right rather than back when it does the strike down attack + also ther's a twist, that if it is out of range it can hold the attack and run at you.
Huge + are weapons that can stun big enemies like Zaelot's Heavy Eviscerator with it's reved attack or charged Psyker's Obscurus sword as for melee or Bolter gun Veteran/Zaelot or Heavy Stubber for mighty Ogryns (weakspots - head shots has significantly greater chance to stagger)
Hope i managed to describe my tought process well enough to be helpfull ;)
Try to practise in easier difficulties as from heresy and up failure to doge the Crusher's overhead smack is fatal and listen and memorize it's sounds. It will give you the exact clues what is about to happen.

Aim true, strike deep

The Emperor Protects

[Colonel Tyborc]

Originally posted by ShivaX:

For whatever reason Crushers have barely ever shown up for me, but lately they have and I'm tired of dying to them while trying to learn how to fight them.

Obviously the "best" method is just to kill them before they get anywhere near you, but once you're in melee with them everything I try seems to not matter.

My issues (and I know these are MY issues, which is why I'm asking for ideas):

Crusher comes around a corner, raises up his big hammer.

1) Backpedal and then dodge back = get one shotted
2) His attack is stolen from Elden Ring and feels like he just holds it forever while walking at me. Maybe it's just a matter of more familiarity and I'll know the timing.
3) Block = pain

Also they seem to always show up in groups of at least 3 and proceed to one shot half the team, but that's a whole other issue. My personal issue is that I don't know how to fight them and they're completely unforgiving so every time I do it's basically "throw away this run to try to learn" which is unfair to my team and why I'm asking for help.

I'm sure it's just something I'm unaware of or missing due to lack of seeing the things for the first 20 levels of the game and suddenly they're everywhere. The internet responses are mostly memes or "look at how OP this build/thing is I can one shot Crushers" which... doesn't help.

Chain weapons with carapace dmg would work best in my experience with veteran unless your a zealot then thunder hammers seem to work well psykers can mince them with the deimos force sword or issils if you stick and move then ogryns can stagger them with almost all there weapons so just keep smacking them out of there heavies with punch's or heavies of your own

[Pride Lizard Pride Lizard]

My advice for meleeing crushers: You don't want to dodge *away* 9/10, you want to dodge to the sides if its by itself. DOn't attempt to block crusher attacks, like the overhead. They ignore block. Aim for the head, use heavies. If your weapon has a special, like a charge, consider using that when the moment presents itself (this gets increasingly dangerous when crushers are in groups.)

Ogryns can push them to stagger, in fact a few ogryn melees can easily and effortlessly go toe to toe with crushers.

Psyker has a few weapons, Axe, Force Swords, Duelling Swords, that handle those relatively fine. Duelling sword even has the special poke with insane stagger on headshots. Also, Deimos Blaze Force has absurdly high stagger on its second heavy attack on a headshot - capable of knocking crushers on their arse.

For Vet and Zealot, again, it's just the Axes as generic, chainswords CAN kill them (takes a bit of effort.). Though, Zealot can use the Indignatus Crusher to stagger lock 'em, Hammer does ok damage on power up. THe new heavy eviscerator can straight up two shot with heavy attack sawwing (but it is risky.)

Knives can probably work, but I don't like meleeing armoured enemies with a knife.

If you happen to play Psyker; funnily enough the Trauma staff is capable of knocking Crushers down. It is absolutely *invaluable* for buying time.

[Taiji]

The overhead is easy to dodge but it's tempting to dodge too early.

Dodge to the side so you can hit him in the head easily.

If your melee weapon is ♥♥♥♥ vs crusher heads (e.g. heavy sword) then consider taking a firearm that can handle it.

edit:

Forgot to add. Bind jump to left alt. So you don't look like a panicking monkey while you are learning to dodge.

[luZk]

Wait for them to swing, dodge around them attack.

[Lawn Chair Enthusiast]

You can block some crusher attacks, but "big" attacks like the infamous overheads will go directly through your weapons. Instead of blocking, dodge- more specifically dodge to the sides and almost right before they hit you.

[Gray_Paladin]

Good advice in this chain. The words on dodge to the side are especially helpful for me.
My first anti-crusher choices are:
1. Veteran krak grenade. If they're clumped up, as I see them lately, sometimes you can get a couple at a time.
2. Psyker brain burst--on Heresy hit them twice. Yeah, you have to have some distance.
3. Unloading on them with a bolter--Vet and Zealot
4. Delays as mentioned: Agrippina Mk VII shotgun slug to the head will stagger, Trauma staff too, zealot crusher.

[EpicNoMore]

If you stand still he will just swing down and its harder to time the animation. once hes done charging the swing he'll typically do a few steps before bringing the hammer down. Its then, after the few steps, is when you dodge. typically once he starts the stepping you can dodge to the side and be fine. When hes standing still its gloves off. I've seen em immediately attack when standing still with little to no charge time, its FS logic.