How do I hammer?

[Aelin Galathynius]

I haven't played it since high rank and I only had 6 hunts with it back then.

I checked the meta site for a build and the slugger secret one sounds fun
https://imgur.com/a/isPQLuu


I'm watching Arekkz tutorials right now but does anyone have any general advice, particularly about not getting hit since the head is the hammers weakpoint and the head is generally not a safe place to be standing.

[mewlynx]

Hammer is predictave, not reactive. You have to understand how the monster moves and where the head will be after an attack animation so you can be there and strike while it isn't able to react. Understanding your own personal animation times and what you can get away with on a monster to monster basis lets you be more aggressive in your attacks. It's really the same as any other slow melee weapon in this aspect.

That being said, if a slope is present you just unga bunga spin slide. If there's a convenient ledge, you abuse it for aerial memes.

[Tregrenos]

Originally posted by maelynx:

Hammer is predictave, not reactive. You have to understand how the monster moves and where the head will be after an attack animation so you can be there and strike while it isn't able to react. Understanding your own personal animation times and what you can get away with on a monster to monster basis lets you be more aggressive in your attacks. It's really the same as any other slow melee weapon in this aspect.

That being said, if a slope is present you just unga bunga spin slide. If there's a convenient ledge, you abuse it for aerial memes.

That's a fancy way of explaining how to beat the ugly into something. I like to think that while you were explaining this you were just repeatedly bonking a KOed monster on the head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcZzlPGnKdU

[ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣]

Originally posted by Aelin Galathynius:

How do I hammer?

airborne + affinity sliding

[Gorok Delvedeep]

Originally posted by Aelin Galathynius:

I haven't played it since high rank and I only had 6 hunts with it back then.

I checked the meta site for a build and the slugger secret one sounds fun
https://imgur.com/a/isPQLuu


I'm watching Arekkz tutorials right now but does anyone have any general advice, particularly about not getting hit since the head is the hammers weakpoint and the head is generally not a safe place to be standing.

clutch claw jumps to the head of monster, do attack combo with hammer to face.

Reapeat as necessary for free ko's and stuns.

when monsters is flailing on the ground, run to head and get off your big F U combo to the head.

(actually watch ever cut moron with no ability to stun run to the heqad and constantly get in the way and ruin your hammertime because they're numbskulls, all the while ignoring the uncut tails they're supposed to be cutting with their cut weapons. because blademasters are idiots)

[(ノ°□°)ノ]

Hold R2 until it blinks twice,
Eye your teammate,
With confidence and pinpoint accuracy release the R2 on your teammate

Some part of the monster would probably be there too but thats a bonus

[Gorok Delvedeep]

Originally posted by Soon™:

Hold R2 until it blinks twice,
Eye your teammate,
With confidence and pinpoint accuracy release the R2 on your teammate

Some part of the monster would probably be there too but thats a bonus

if my team mates didn't posses the mytical skill to ONLY exist inside the monsters head and NEVER be anywhere else doing something actually USEFUL,b they wouldn't get hit in their stupid faces as i'm hitting the giant ass monster in its.

[Fire and Glory]

Whack

[Molic One P.GR]

Bonk

[Greb]

Hammer has high mobility, getting hit is less of an issue unless you get greedy and constantly try to maintain power charge while running around holding RT. It's one of the reasons I have such a hard time changing to other weapons, especially too because it's also absolutely without any necessary "must have" skills too so you've got so much freedom to slot in basically anything you want.

Especially with Iceborne and the clutch claw combo you just run around holding RT, you can still bust out a roll whenever you want while doing that (though you'll lose your charge level, but keep your power charge active) so you can avoid a lot of stuff, and then punish monsters when they land right where you're big bang is about to be, etc. Full level 3 RT charge into a big bang followed by a lazy pull of LT to do a clutch claw attack, then your follow up softening attack...and rinse and repeat.

It's a particularly fun combo because you pull yourself through the air while spinning like a slide attack, if you happen to latch onto a monster that's charging across the arena you'll zoom after them while spinning at Mach 3 and it looks as ridiculous as it sounds, to witness or perform.

If you need to charge your Hammer into a B B B B B combo, you charge your Hammer quickly and then press Y and Y to do two quick swings, and then transition into the rest of your B B B combo like that. I think? It's all reflex to me at this point so I don't actually remember the combos.

You like ledges, and can easily spam aerials by rolling off a ledge, pulling RT to turn around in any direction you need, release RT and you'll do a big smack and land right next to the ledge again. Then you roll off the ledge, pulling RT to turn around in any direction you need, release RT and you'll do a big smack and land right next to the ledge again. Then you roll off the ledge, pulling RT to...

You can also press Y after an aerial to follow up with your upswing combo, depending on your Hammers charge level you'll go straight into the golfswing for bonus damage or you'll start kind of midway and quickly pull off an upswing. It's better than just sitting there for a second while your character recovers, but you can also just roll out of it too.

Slopes are fun, but they're your typical "I can be your angle or your Damon" since if you're trying to pull off your basic standing still RT and there's a slope the game will pull you into a slide attack which will catapult you over the monster and make your attack land on your friend, tripping them for no reason. They'll also conveniently end right as you release RT to do your jumping spin attack, leaving you spinning in the middle of nowhere with your standard moving level 3 RT...which while fun, kinda sucks lol. It's also easy to overshoot a monster while performing your slide attack spam, or fly completely over the top of them - there's huge damage potential but you need to know how and when to use it, you can't just spam it or you'll end up hitting grey numbers, trip your team mates, get smacked out of the air, or fly straight over the monster.

If you get really good you can set up some really beautiful KOs where you catch monsters in the face / jaw with your big bang or upswing and that feels really really really good - there is NOTHING better than doing a charged upswing to a monsters jaw while they're running at you and causing a KO, it just works!

Now, I am ruined and can't use Focus skill because it throws off my timing, BUT if you're not too used to a Hammer then you could gem in Focus and it will speed up your charge levels if you wanted. There's also Airborne to consider and maybe even Affinity Sliding too if you plan on doing a lot of sliding but I tend not to bother with that skill because it's easy enough to reach 100% Affinity anyway, but it's basically made for the Hammer, that skill.

I personally don't like Slugger, or Slugger Secret, not going to lie it's nice to pull off those really quick KOs but again I find that you're more like a "two pump chump" when you use that skill, burning through your KOs quickly (you don't really get more, they just come faster) and often causing them to trigger during other knock downs which kind of wastes them a little bit rather than spreading them out through the hunt, but that's just me. I'll never look down on anyone running Slugger or Slugger Secret myself, but I'd personally rather slot in something like Partbreaker or something instead.

I also don't use Evade Window / Evade Extender like ever (I personally feel like I'd get too used to the timing / distance that I'd be forced to always use it with every weapon and I don't like that) but it's great to pair up with the Hammers already decent mobility. In fact I bet an Evade Extender + Focus Hammer would feel really nimble indeed.

Oh and a little tip, pick a Hammer with an obvious visual or audio cue when you've reached your level 3 charge, such as the Bristly Crake one (which has both an interesting noise and gets Nargacuga eyes) because it can really help know when you've reached maximum charge, especially if you rely on vibration from your controller but some other vibration in the area I.E magma geysers is taking priority and making your controller not rumble etc. It's not wholly necessary but...it's what I do. Sometimes.

Damn every time I enter these threads I TRY to make a short synopsis but I always end up typing up a load of bullsh*t anyway...uh sorry lol.

[Velkhana's Summer]

Originally posted by ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣:

Originally posted by Aelin Galathynius:

How do I hammer?

airborne + affinity sliding

Find Slope, AND SPIN

[Aelin Galathynius]

Originally posted by Greb:

Hammer has high mobility, getting hit is less of an issue unless you get greedy and constantly try to maintain power charge while running around holding RT. It's one of the reasons I have such a hard time changing to other weapons, especially too because it's also absolutely without any necessary "must have" skills too so you've got so much freedom to slot in basically anything you want.

Especially with Iceborne and the clutch claw combo you just run around holding RT, you can still bust out a roll whenever you want while doing that (though you'll lose your charge level, but keep your power charge active) so you can avoid a lot of stuff, and then punish monsters when they land right where you're big bang is about to be, etc. Full level 3 RT charge into a big bang followed by a lazy pull of LT to do a clutch claw attack, then your follow up softening attack...and rinse and repeat.

It's a particularly fun combo because you pull yourself through the air while spinning like a slide attack, if you happen to latch onto a monster that's charging across the arena you'll zoom after them while spinning at Mach 3 and it looks as ridiculous as it sounds, to witness or perform.

If you need to charge your Hammer into a B B B B B combo, you charge your Hammer quickly and then press Y and Y to do two quick swings, and then transition into the rest of your B B B combo like that. I think? It's all reflex to me at this point so I don't actually remember the combos.

You like ledges, and can easily spam aerials by rolling off a ledge, pulling RT to turn around in any direction you need, release RT and you'll do a big smack and land right next to the ledge again. Then you roll off the ledge, pulling RT to turn around in any direction you need, release RT and you'll do a big smack and land right next to the ledge again. Then you roll off the ledge, pulling RT to...

You can also press Y after an aerial to follow up with your upswing combo, depending on your Hammers charge level you'll go straight into the golfswing for bonus damage or you'll start kind of midway and quickly pull off an upswing. It's better than just sitting there for a second while your character recovers, but you can also just roll out of it too.

Slopes are fun, but they're your typical "I can be your angle or your Damon" since if you're trying to pull off your basic standing still RT and there's a slope the game will pull you into a slide attack which will catapult you over the monster and make your attack land on your friend, tripping them for no reason. They'll also conveniently end right as you release RT to do your jumping spin attack, leaving you spinning in the middle of nowhere with your standard moving level 3 RT...which while fun, kinda sucks lol. It's also easy to overshoot a monster while performing your slide attack spam, or fly completely over the top of them - there's huge damage potential but you need to know how and when to use it, you can't just spam it or you'll end up hitting grey numbers, trip your team mates, get smacked out of the air, or fly straight over the monster.

If you get really good you can set up some really beautiful KOs where you catch monsters in the face / jaw with your big bang or upswing and that feels really really really good - there is NOTHING better than doing a charged upswing to a monsters jaw while they're running at you and causing a KO, it just works!

Now, I am ruined and can't use Focus skill because it throws off my timing, BUT if you're not too used to a Hammer then you could gem in Focus and it will speed up your charge levels if you wanted. There's also Airborne to consider and maybe even Affinity Sliding too if you plan on doing a lot of sliding but I tend not to bother with that skill because it's easy enough to reach 100% Affinity anyway, but it's basically made for the Hammer, that skill.

I personally don't like Slugger, or Slugger Secret, not going to lie it's nice to pull off those really quick KOs but again I find that you're more like a "two pump chump" when you use that skill, burning through your KOs quickly (you don't really get more, they just come faster) and often causing them to trigger during other knock downs which kind of wastes them a little bit rather than spreading them out through the hunt, but that's just me. I'll never look down on anyone running Slugger or Slugger Secret myself, but I'd personally rather slot in something like Partbreaker or something instead.

I also don't use Evade Window / Evade Extender like ever (I personally feel like I'd get too used to the timing / distance that I'd be forced to always use it with every weapon and I don't like that) but it's great to pair up with the Hammers already decent mobility. In fact I bet an Evade Extender + Focus Hammer would feel really nimble indeed.

Oh and a little tip, pick a Hammer with an obvious visual or audio cue when you've reached your level 3 charge, such as the Bristly Crake one (which has both an interesting noise and gets Nargacuga eyes) because it can really help know when you've reached maximum charge, especially if you rely on vibration from your controller but some other vibration in the area I.E magma geysers is taking priority and making your controller not rumble etc. It's not wholly necessary but...it's what I do. Sometimes.

Damn every time I enter these threads I TRY to make a short synopsis but I always end up typing up a load of bullsh*t anyway...uh sorry lol.

I remember watching the mh math guys video on Slugger in base game and they said that you get the same amount of KOs just faster with Slugger 3. Is this still true with Slugger Secret and Icebornes extra health?

[Greb]

Originally posted by Aelin Galathynius:

I remember watching the mh math guys video on Slugger in base game and they said that you get the same amount of KOs just faster with Slugger 3. Is this still true with Slugger Secret and Icebornes extra health?

To be honest I'm the wrong person to ask really. I learned that Slugger was generally bad back in High Rank and I haven't used it much since, I did use it for a bit in early Iceborne days but that was long ago now and my memory is fuzzy. All I remember was triggering KOs earlier, and then the rest of the hunt feeling uninteresting (to me, lol)

And plenty of triggering KOs in inopportune moments like when a monster was already tripped or mounted, it threw me off a bit so I dropped it.

I've always considered Slugger Secret to be more for Sticky ammo users than Hammer users, really.

[Aelin Galathynius]

Ok I gave it a try in the arena against a Diablos and noticed 2 things.

One is that I'm not really liking the Slugger secret, given the hp it had I feel like I got an ok number of KO's where I was kinda hoping for "monster spends most of hunt on floor" amount of stun time.

The second thing is this, how the ♥♥♥♥ do you dodge something as big as a Diablos? I've fought over 300 Diablos/Black Diablos but always taken a shield.

Any advice on not getting hit?

Also looking at the other build on the meta site what should I swap out coalescence for?
Everyone seems to recommending that in all the meta albums but it's useless against monsters than don't have blights and I never know what to put in instead.

[Greb]

Well, I've never really played meta sets, the closest I've come to being part of the meta is finally slotting in Agitator now that I have Fatalis armour and infinite slots, so I can't really help you there. I've never even used Coalescence lol.

Diablos is an obnoxious monster in general without a shield, you pretty much have to rely on your Rocksteady to stop being knocked flying by the charges while healing from the damage you inflict, get off your stuns and break the horns as quick as you can hopefully before the mantle wears off. Annoying monster to clutch claw (not as bad as Rajang, though) especially Black Diablos. I don't make it a habit of fighting it but usually you just roll out of the way of charges and run around with your power charge going, step aside any easy openings (like running backwards towards the screen when it does the double head sweep) and then quickly do a charged big bang and your clutch claw attack if you think you have time, etc.

Always a lot of running around with that damn thing, anyway. When in doubt, bring it up top and slide attack it to death, it has such a big head just perfect for it.

[F9]

I play on console and have been a Hammer main for a while now so I feel like I can provide you what I know

Before we start, always make sure you Power Charge. It makes the weapon deal more stun and alters the moveset.

Alright to start, I consider the level 2 uppercut to be your bread and butter move. It's fast, reaches far, and has a great amount of stun. When playing Hammer, the monster's head is your number one priority. I recommend spamming this move repeatedly when the monster hasn't been knocked out as your other combos are simply too lengthy to execute without getting hit. Also, you can simply roll to reset the charge, that way you can constantly keep the hammer charged until lv 2 without overcharging it.

When the monster is down, immediately go for the head. Here you have several a few options:

- Go for the Big Bang attack. This is perhaps the highest damaging move in Hammer's arsenal but also the slowest. It doesn't do much stun damage but it makes up for pure damage. I recommend doing this only when you knock down the monster and you're confident that it won't recover before you finish the attack.

- Golf swing combo. The standard stationary three-hit combo that has been around since Hammer was first released. Very powerful and does a lot of stun. I recommend doing this also when the monster is down but since its a shorter combo, you can do it if you feel like the monster would recover soon.

- Level 3 charge. A very hard-hitting attack that deals a tremendous amount of stun too. It has fast recovery as well. With Iceborne, it can lead straight to a clutch claw attack with deals good damage and tenderizes the part instantly. If you're skilled enough, this can be your "Gotcha ♥♥♥♥♥!" move as you can attempt to predict where the monster's head will be.

An extra note, make sure to KEEP MOVING as you charge your attacks. Despite being a heavy weapon, Hammer is quite mobile so don't hesitate to roll out of the way.

I also recommend bringing dash juice so your stamina won't drain as much.

If you still have more questions, don't hesitate to ask!