Hammers - Any reason?

xianio

New member
Is there any reason to take hammers over DAxes or BSwords? It seems like even if you decided to single weapon fighting it would still be better to go DAxe for 20% extra strike through vs nothing extra for hammers.

Am I missing something?
 

ACJ97F

Well-known member
Aside from the Dwarven Axe and BS being Exotic weapons, and the Feat required, the Warhammer fills a few other roles. Worshippers of Onatar
use it as a favored weapon, it's used specifically in a few Feats/Trees, including Pick/Hammer training for Dwarves if they're working a CON blunt
build, for Destiny attacks like Anvil and Pulverizer, and some things have more resistance to Edged. Just as some examples I can remember.

Good question, and the strikethrough is nice to have with the DA/BS, but there's some instances I wouldn't bother.
 
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Aggy

Member
Warhammer has a much better crit profile with Knights Training, making it potentially the better single target weapon. With the new combat style feats at lvl 31 where you can take the whole THF line in a feat, single weapon fighting with dwarven axe has gotten very strong. Played that as Paladin twice in the last couple of weeks and love it.
 

unbongwah

Well-known member
Since you posted in the Artificer forum, I'll presume we're talking about pure Battle Engineers.

Warhammers with Knight's Training, Improved Critical, and Battle Engineer bonuses have 16-20/x4 critical threat range; Mornh and drow warhammer are 14-20/x4. Bastard swords and dwarven axes are only 16-20/x3 and 18-20/x4, respectively (Spinal Tap is 16-20/x4), but gain Strikethrough: 20% base + 25% from BE bonuses plus whatever you grab in epics; dwarves can also take racial Axe Training.

If you run in Divine Crusader, you can make warhammers and bastard swords into Favored weapons via Axiom of Faith. However only dwarves can make dwarven axes into Favored weapons via their racial tree.

So basically it's better single-target DPS (warhammers) vs hitting multiple mobs per swing (bswords/daxes).
 

Zvdegor

Melee Artificer Freak
Is there any reason to take hammers over DAxes or BSwords? It seems like even if you decided to single weapon fighting it would still be better to go DAxe for 20% extra strike through vs nothing extra for hammers.

Am I missing something?
Use whatever weapon you like or gives you the best damage and put a cosmetic hammer in your main hand.

Mirror of Glamering is your friend :)
 

kmoustakas

Well-known member
A number of races can give bonuses to strikethrough such as dwarves, half-orcs or warforged. WIth that in mind, going bastad/daxe and grabbing single weapon feat at level 31 is really the way to go.

I really tried doing a heroic life with whelm and then anniversary hammer but in heroic aoe is king even if it's little aoe. Spinal tap and thirteen all the way (and dino crafted at endgame).
 

Marshal_Lannes

Well-known member
Strikethrough on DAxe/BSword is minimal. None of the trees you'll be taking support it. You'll likely never notice it. Fire Over Morgrave is a big reason to consider them though as both a DAxe and BSword are among the quest rewards, along with a rune arm that has Dripping with Magma on it. So using either of the weapons and rune arm gives you 2 pieces of a set bonus without even getting to your equipment. That's compelling. Of course, you could also use a Dino-crafted Warhammer and the Dino rune arm from Isle of Dread. Might ultimately come down to what series of set bonuses you plan on using.
 

vryxnr

Well-known member
For the memes!

275c69a7cf3db232c76d661eafb29593.gif
 

h46av8r

Active member
I'd quickly add/point out in order to use strikethrough you need to be THF with the Daxe or Bsword vs presumably taking the SWF line with a hammer. So different pre-reqs are implied as well.
 
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