Hammer builds

[Sono]

got the game on sale a week ago and been grinding away through high rank, almost through it, just elders next, i only played with hammer a bit on PS4, and learning it now on PC and enjoying it. But im not in the know of the best hammers and skills to shoot for. Any suggestions? Just been using kulu beak so far and want to use diablos whenever i get a decent amount of gems and armor to build for it. MR i have no clue what i should invest into for hammers.

[DaBa]

There are no specific skills Hammer needs, so you go for your typical offensive package (wex, crit eye, crit boost, agitator and/or attack boost), with health boost on top. Master's touch is not necessary since Hammer doesn't eat through sharpness fast enough to make that a problem.

But I wouldn't worry about minmaxing in high rank yet, master rank armor and decorations will give you significantly more options. Same goes for weapons, don't over-invest in anything in high rank, you will be switching to better things in MR anyway. Mainly the kulu weapon tree since it's MR Hammer is stupidly powerful compared to everything else and will easily last you until the end of the story, and after that it will be other, brand new stuff that doesn't even upgrade from any existing gear.

[DaBa]

If you're wondering if focus or slugger is worth it, it's not. You don't need faster charges to play the hammer exactly how it should be played, and using it will throw of your timings for level 2 upswing so I would not use focus even if it was a free slot.

As for slugger, it's not useless, but it's also not useful enough to dedicate skill slots to it. Slugger will make you stun the monster faster than you normally do, but it will never give you more than 1 additional stun per hunt due to how status threshold scaling works, and sometimes if the numbers do not align you won't even get that one extra. So, if it's a free skill on a level 4 decoration or an armor piece, sure why not. Otherwise not worth it if it can be replaced by something more useful.

[Sono]

Originally posted by DaBa:

Gotcha friendo, thanks! So I will keep on trucking with Kulu then. Yeah I considered focus but ive been doing just fine without it, been practicing timing for that charge 2 upswing past couple of days actually, its very useful.

Good point on slugger, wont worry too much about it then. And im not investing too much into HR gear, just getting a couple different hammers for variety to upgrade in MR later and decent all rounder skills for armor. I guess my main question is should I grind for gems now or wait?

[DaBa]

Originally posted by Sono:

Originally posted by DaBa:

Gotcha friendo, thanks! So I will keep on trucking with Kulu then. Yeah I considered focus but ive been doing just fine without it, been practicing timing for that charge 2 upswing past couple of days actually, its very useful.

Good point on slugger, wont worry too much about it then. And im not investing too much into HR gear, just getting a couple different hammers for variety to upgrade in MR later and decent all rounder skills for armor. I guess my main question is should I grind for gems now or wait?

You can get all your 1-3 slot decorations in the expansion content. There is a new minigame called Steamworks and playing it during event periods will give you items that can be exchanged for melding decorations. To put it into perspective: Once you clear the story missions and unlock the last location, you can farm for about an hour (with a dedicated gathering set) to gather fuel for Steamworks, which will be enough to net you just about every single 1-3 slot decoration in the game, in multiple quantities. Getting the same amount and variety of those decorations in High Rank would take you literally more than a hundred hours of grinding.

So no, don't waste any time farming for decorations right now, there is no point. The game will shower you with them eventually.

[Sono]

Originally posted by DaBa:

Originally posted by Sono:

Gotcha friendo, thanks! So I will keep on trucking with Kulu then. Yeah I considered focus but ive been doing just fine without it, been practicing timing for that charge 2 upswing past couple of days actually, its very useful.

Good point on slugger, wont worry too much about it then. And im not investing too much into HR gear, just getting a couple different hammers for variety to upgrade in MR later and decent all rounder skills for armor. I guess my main question is should I grind for gems now or wait?

You can get all your 1-3 slot decorations in the expansion content. There is a new minigame called Steamworks and playing it during event periods will give you items that can be exchanged for melding decorations. To put it into perspective: Once you clear the story missions and unlock the last location, you can farm for about an hour (with a dedicated gathering set) to gather fuel for Steamworks, which will be enough to net you just about every single 1-3 slot decoration in the game, in multiple quantities. Getting the same amount and variety of those decorations in High Rank would take you literally more than a hundred hours of grinding.

So no, don't waste any time farming for decorations right now, there is no point. The game will shower you with them eventually.

Thanks for help!

[TuskSpin]

If you plan on playing multiplayer, use flinch free. Whatever 1% hit your damage takes will be compensated for by allowing everyone else access to the head, not that anyone was going to respect your role anyway lol. Other than that, extra stun can be nice if you have spae slots, otherwise just focus on damage. Hammer is the easiest weapon to build for along with SnS and Long Sword