Claw hammer is the best harvesting tool in the game

[Ozzy OzBorn]

As it says....try it. Chops trees down and mines faster than any axe or pickaxe with the added bonus of being able to upgrade with it. Winner lol.

[MyProfile]

Cool, wish I'd noticed that 2 miles of tunnel at bedrock earlier.

[CatPerson]

Better than a purple steel pickaxe (for mining I mean)?

I've tried it for upgrading and the wrench is faster so I prefer the wrench still.

[Ozzy OzBorn]

Not sure. I can only make yellow claw hammers atm, about 220 quality and it chops trees faster than a blue fireaxe. Will do more testing as my level goes up.

[Ozzy OzBorn]

I am level 100 with construction tools also. That might have a bearing on it.

[CatPerson]

I haven't tried it on trees, but I can believe in the earlier stages it could feel faster than the fireaxe. The yellow fireaxe for example feels slow because it swings slow. More dmg per chop, but I'm not convinced it's time-faster than all the quick little chops of even a yellow stone axe (along with a middling Construction tools skill). Haven't actually timed it, tho, lol. Maybe it's just psychological.

[CatPerson]

Tested it. All purple/575ish tools, combined with 70 Construction Tool skill and (only) 31 Mining Tool skill. 100% block durability. My chr. only had 110 stamina. :)

White stone:
---Hammer: approx. 23 seconds and 27 swings to destroy 1 block. Took all 110 stamina (and sometimes a bit more than).
---Iron pickaxe: approx. 16 seconds and 16 swings. Didn't use much stamina (maybe 1/3 of my 110).
---Steel pickaxe: approx. 7 seconds and 5 swings. Made almost no dent in stamina (for 1 block anyway).

Most hitpoints tree:
---Hammer: approx. 9 seconds and 13 swings, but again, sucked up most of my 110 stamina.
---Fireaxe: approx. 18-19 seconds and 17 swings, but maybe only about 1/4 of my stamina bar.


So basically...if you have a lot of stamina/coffee/beer to spare, it beats out the fireaxe by a lot, but lags far far behind the steel pickaxe even without 100 in Mining Tools skills. :) Iron pickaxe might be a little better than the hammer (especially stamina use) but not tons.

Edit: I do not know about potential skill harvest bonuses re: picks vs. hammer etc.

[Spacepiggio]

Originally posted by Ozzy:

Not sure. I can only make yellow claw hammers atm, about 220 quality and it chops trees faster than a blue fireaxe. Will do more testing as my level goes up.

If you are only making yellow how can you claim it is the best, I found a purple ax & it was killing trees.

[magnetmannen WW3]

also axe is bladed weapon skill, hammer is repair skill.

[Learner]

I did notice it could dig up stone with some efficiency. So I guess it's like Stone Axe + then?

[Yawn YS]

Not anymore. I made a new server, made a new character, and maxed out construction tools and miner 69er, and made a fresh 500 quality Claw Hammer and Iron Fireaxe then hit a tree to see how much damage they each did to the tree and how much wood they harvested.

The Claw Hammer dealt 47 damage and harvested 3 wood.
The Iron Fireaxe dealt 59 damage and harvested 6 wood.

And they did so consistently.

EDIT: And their damage to a placed wood block was proportionately accurate as well.

This was done as of Alpha 16.4, Build 8.

[APoCaLyPSE666NoW]

We can't compare perfectly because we don't know your skills level, tools level and exact amount of harvested ressources.

Harvesting faster but getting less ressouces don't interrest me.

[Aragon]

Apart from this, the hammer is perfect to smash zombie heads, just give it a try. Like a spiked club, just ways faster.

[DthBlayde]

also old information and old thread, back before harvesting was tied to "the right tool for the job"

[Atomblonde]

Originally posted by magnetmannen:

also axe is bladed weapon skill, hammer is repair skill.

I thought the ax also counted towards mining skill?

[Stormmaster]

Fireaxe uses Mining Tools skill and levels it, even if you hit zombies with it (I got a skill increase once while fighting off a zombie).

Claw Hammer is better if you have high Construction Tools and low Mining Tools. But with proper mining skills (including Miner 69er) specialized tools will be much better than Claw Hammer. I don't yet have a maxed out fireaxe, and still some points away from Mining Tools 100, but I chop down a 900 points dry pine tree in 4 fast swings already.