I don't understand HAMMERS

[Tictactucrac]

So I'm a fairly "new" player (200+ hours but it's my first MH), when I started the game I tried every weapon for 5 minutes but I decided to go with the light bowgun even though I found the Glaive and the Charge blade incredibly fun, because that was like the ideal Hunter fantasy in my mind, like why would you hunt giant monsters with a knife when you have actual guns in your universe, so I did all of vanilla World with a light bowgun and all of Iceborne with a charge blade once I realized that bowgun was incredibly boring to play (for me) and my hunts were comically slow and I just hate the ammo management in this game. And I love the Kinsect glaive moves but I hate the Kinsect management so Charge blade we go.

I keep hearing on the internet that charged blade is one of the hardest weapons to learn, I see memes about guides 100 pages long, to be fair I never needed any of that, I just learned how to charge the shield, the sword and the axe and everything else came naturally over time. Of course I'm sure I'm not the best player in the world, but it brought me to Shara Ishvalda with little to no difficulty (F Tigrex and blue Rathalos though), It's honestly a very fair and forgiving weapon, because it has a lot of options, it can block attacks, it has I-frames in the middle of axe combos, it has short range moves, long range moves, it's good with elemental and status damage, it has impressive vertical range with axe mode, it has slow hard hitting attacks and fast but still hard hitting attacks, It has sharp damage and blunt damage... It can pretty much adapt to any situation and any type of monster.

So a couple days ago I killed shara ishvalda and I decided ok let switch things up a little bit, let's play the hammer and train in high rank cause there's no way I go in master rank immediately with that thing, but it can't be that hard, internet says it's easy.

I. Don't. Get it. There's like 3 combos in total. It's slow. It's repetitive. It has no range. Doesn't do anything with elemental damage or status damage (I spent 30 minutes hitting a high rank Anjanath with a pukei pukei hammer and I didn't poison it a SINGLE time). Then I fought a Bazelgeuse which to me is one of the most fun, fair and quite easy monsters to fight, I love this fight with both charge blade and bowgun. Well, this was HELL with the hammer, one of my worst fights in the entire game.

I try to go for the head of monsters but hammer has such short range that I spend 90% of the time missing my hits. Recovery frames (I think that's what they're called? When you're stuck in animation after an attack) are even slower than my actual attacks so I can't even dodge properly. Ok going for the head is too hard so I just bonk the body, but I realise I do piss poor damage, I have 0 DPS it's laughable. But if I don't do damage I can't stagger the monster and actually go for the head.

What the actual f*ck am I missing. I WANT to love hammers but I can't. Internet says CB is comically hard and Hammer jokingly easy. Yeah... NUH HUH. No way. This gotta be the hardest and most frustrating weapon to learn in the game.

Honestly I this point I'm not even looking for tips or solutions, I just want validation that the internet has trolled me hard with weapon difficulty.

Hammer mains, you are literal gods.

[Mr. September]

Bonk

[Bobucles]

apply directly to forehead

[Zeoplez]

Head bonking is the way to go most of the time. Hammer does get easier the more weapon and monster knowledge you learn. Seems to be a easy weapon to get into, but harder to master.

[robruckus65]

You charge while running around and bonk on head. Honestly one of my least favorite weapons to play. Side note there really isnt much management with insect glaive. Grab a red essence do a dive attack let the kinsect attack on its own call it back dive attack and you usually get the other two essences while doing big damage. Then once you can fit power prolonger on your armor you don't have to deal with grabbing essence very often anymore.

[Tictactucrac]

Guys I know I'm supposed to hit the head but it's not like it's a static object, the head moves faster than my weapon. And 50% of monsters have a head too high up for me to hit anyway.

Just tell me the weapon difficulty tier lists on the internet are garbage. I refuse to believe hammer is easier to learn than charge blade. It doesn't make any sense. Everything the hammer does I can do better with only axe mode.

Please validate my frustration.

[robruckus65]

Originally posted by Tictactucrac:

Guys I know I'm supposed to hit the head but it's not like it's a static object, the head moves faster than my weapon. And 50% of monsters have a head too high up for me to hit anyway.

Just tell me the weapon difficulty tier lists on the internet are garbage. I refuse to believe hammer is easier to learn than charge blade. It doesn't make any sense. Everything the hammer does I can do better with only axe mode.

Please validate my frustration.

It's definitely one of the easiest weapons to learn and use. It's playstyle probably just doesn't mesh well with you. I know Im horrifically bad with hammer I always have been the only weapon Im worse with is lance.

[kingjames488]

I can't help but think of some youtube I was watching that called it an "onga bonga weapon" lol...

hammer does a couple things really well:
- stun
- break things
(-also has good air combos so cheesy speedrunners kinda like it)

there's a hidden modifier on weapons that determines how much damage they do to monster parts and I'm pertty sure hammer is one of the highest. great sword and switch axes axe form are also pretty good... and possibly charge blades axe form not sure.

hunting horn does the same things with more to is tho, so idk why people use axe... I find it so boring.

[WanSumPho]

Smash their toes to trip them so you can hit them in the head.

[DaBa]

Originally posted by Tictactucrac:

Please validate my frustration.

Oh so you're here just for people to validate your frustrations? I'm afraid you won't get any of that then because your frustrations are caused by nothing else but your lack of ability.

Let me directly address what you're saying:

Originally posted by Tictactucrac:

I know I'm supposed to hit the head but it's not like it's a static object, the head moves faster than my weapon

Yes, you are supposed to be able to predict where the monster's head will be after it finishes it's current attack and prepare your own one accordingly. Depending on the window of opportunity it can be anything from a quick level 2 upswing, to a full level 3 big charged smack or a full combo ending with a golf swing. Maybe even a clutch claw follow up if you feel like you have the time.

The way you're describing it it sounds like you're trying to play this weapon in a reactive way, which is a big mistake. Hammer is more about predicting than reacting. Doing the basic three hit combo when the monster is turned back just in time for the golf swing to smack it on the head as it turns towards you. Stopping just outside the monster's attack range and doing a charge attack on it's face right when it finishes. Standing right where you know the monster's head will be in the next 2 seconds and charging a level 3 charge attack. That sort of thing.

Originally posted by Tictactucrac:

50% of monsters have a head too high up for me to hit anyway

Now that is straight up false. you could could the amount of monsters that have heads that are too high up on the palms of one hand. And in those cases the strategy is also simple: go for the feet, score a topple and then go for the head, easy as that.

I played Hammer more than any other weapon in MHW and I can tell you for a fact that it is indeed one of the easier weapons to learn, might not be the easiest one to use though since it requires a higher degree of understanding of each monster's mechanics and patterns than something like a LBG or an Insect Glaive.

[DaBa]

But if you don't feel like you're good enough at the game to do any of that, you can play the hammer in an extremely easy and basic way. Just like you can simply spam uncharged draw attacks with Great Sword and play a hit and run game with the monster, a Hammer can do the exact same thing.

Simply focus on spamming level 2 charged upswings and going for the face. It's a very fast attack, it has a big hitbox, it's a gap closer, and it does a fair bit of damage and stun. It's the easiest attack to hit the monster's head with quickly, and then evade out of the way of whatever is coming next. And when you score a KO, you can just do a level 3 and tenderize with a clutch claw follow up. It's a purely reactive playstyle initially which will allow you to simply observe what the monster is doing and responding with a single, easy attack. As you do it you'll start getting accustomed to the monster's moveset, you should be able to naturally start preempting some of your attacks since you will be able to tell where the head will be ahead of time. And as you get better you will be able to start doing more than just that level 2 upswing attack.

[Mez Koo]

Are you not running around with a charged hammer to hit it? Range should be your least concern since you don't have to worry about positioning much with how quick and mobile the hammer is and a charge level 2 running attack should be able to hit most heads and you can attack during the level 3 running charge attack to break the spin if you either missed or don't have time to finish it before the monster moves.

You also may need to really change your playstyle if you don't make wall banging and slide/aerial/claw attacks a normal part of your routine. Slamming monster into a wall at the start is an easy way to get some great early head hits with a lot of monster letting you get a full mega bonk combo and hammer has great aerial/sliding/claw attacks and mounting is easy with glider mantle.

As for elemental you need to rely on its multi-hitting combos for that for example the slide/wall attacks get a lot of hits in with the spin attacks and can trigger effects.

Starting at 3:50 in this guide is the "key" to hammer: https://youtu.be/KlHzRHhDMzA?si=Hqe4YZUbPhsLIAYh

[DaBa]

Originally posted by Mez Koo:

Are you not running around with a charged hammer to hit it? Range should be your least concern since you don't have to worry about positioning much with how quick and mobile the hammer is and a charge level 2 running attack should be able to hit most heads and you can attack during the level 3 running charge attack to break the spin if you either missed or don't have time to finish it before the monster moves.

You also may need to really change your playstyle if you don't make wall banging and slide/aerial/claw attacks a normal part of your routine. Slamming monster into a wall at the start is an easy way to get some great early head hits with a lot of monster letting you get a full mega bonk combo and hammer has great aerial/sliding/claw attacks and mounting is easy with glider mantle.

As for elemental you need to rely on its multi-hitting combos for that for example the slide/wall attacks get a lot of hits in with the spin attacks and can trigger effects.

Starting at 3:50 in this guide is the "key" to hammer: https://youtu.be/KlHzRHhDMzA?si=Hqe4YZUbPhsLIAYh

If we're talking about optimal play, doing early wallbangs with a hammer is actually not optimal. The first stun on any monster is extremely easy, wasting a wallbang just to ensure it is exactly that, a waste. Instead what you should do is score the first stun which should take a minute tops, then do the level 3 charge into clutch claw follow up, tenderizing the monster's head, and directly from there you can wallbang and do a big bang combo on a tenderized head for a lot of damage and stun. Then when it gets up you go for a mount, followed by the second big bang combo, into a second stun after the monster gets up, into a third big bang combo.

If you play your cards right, you can do a ridiculous amount of damage before the monster even gets to play the game. That is half of the fun of playing Hammer, figuring out how to optimize the amount of time the monster spends it's time on the ground and can't do anything but eat big bangs to the face.

[Mez Koo]

Originally posted by DaBa:

If we're talking about optimal play, doing early wallbangs with a hammer is actually not optimal. The first stun on any monster is extremely easy, wasting a wallbang just to ensure it is exactly that, a waste.

If you play your cards right, you can do a ridiculous amount of damage before the monster even gets to play the game.

Valid points but, I like to piss off the monster right away. :)

[admos]

It's the same as a GS.. the main difference is you gotta move and then slam as opposed to GS's block and then chop.

[DaBa]

Originally posted by Mez Koo:

Originally posted by DaBa:

If we're talking about optimal play, doing early wallbangs with a hammer is actually not optimal. The first stun on any monster is extremely easy, wasting a wallbang just to ensure it is exactly that, a waste.

If you play your cards right, you can do a ridiculous amount of damage before the monster even gets to play the game.

Valid points but, I like to piss off the monster right away. :)

Fair enough, definitely helps with agitator. If you're confident with your ability to hit the monster hard without it lying on the ground helplessly, it might be even more optimal!