Curse

kuramaroze · Jun 26, 2005, 02:21 AM // 02:21

I've been brainstorming ways to PVP in the tombs and do GvG on a different character than my healing monk, because you can get bored of healing really quickly, without having to unlock too many skills. I checked it out, and I have about every hammer skill there is, even though I've never touched a hammer! Well, it got me thinking and I've decided to make a PVP Hammer warrior. My focus will be Tombs, but I will do some arena on the side for the heck of it. My usual tombs group involves more than enough healing, so I figured I would open up the skill slot for something else, since hammer builds seem to be tight on skill slots as it is. Anyways, here is my idea:

Attributes/Runes:
Hammer Mastery - 12+2 (Working on a superior rune unlock for 12+4)
Strength - 8+1
Earth Magic - 10
Tactics - 2 (leftover points)
+Major Vigor
+Major Absortion

Armor:
Dwarven Helm, Gladiators Chest, Gladiators Legs, Stoneskin Gauntlets, Knights boots (I'll roll with the superstition on the damage reduction. Besides, they look cool with the gauntlets =P)

Skills:
Devastating Hammer - If Devastating Hammer hits, your target is knocked down and suffers from weakness for 5-17 seconds. (7a, 0)
Heavy Blow - Lose all adrenaline. If this attack hits a foe suffering from weakness, that foe is knocked down and you strike for 1-24 more damage. (6a, 0)
Crushing Blow - If this attack hits, you strike for 1-16 more damage. If you hit a knocked-down enemy, you inflict a deep wound, lowering your target's maximum health by 20% for 5-17 seconds. (5, 0, 10)
Belly Smash - If this attack strikes a foe who is on the ground, the resulting dust cloud will Blind nearby foes for 3-9 seconds. (5, 0, 30)
Aftershock - Nearby enemies are struck for 26-85 damage. Knocked down characters are struck for 10-56 additional damage. (10, 3/4, 10)
Berserker Stance - For 5-10 seconds, you attack 33% faster than normal and gain 20% more Adrenaline each time you hit in melee. Berserker Stance ends if you use a skill. (5, 0, 30)
Ward Against Melee - You create a Ward Against Melee at this location. For 8-18 seconds, allies in this area have a 50% chance to evade melee attacks. (10, 1, 20)
Res Singet - We all know what this is. I'm thinking of something to put here for tombs, since I never really use res there. I'm thinking of bringing Stoning, but it costs quite a bit of mana. Please post something I can use here!

Alright, the plan is to knock them down with crushing blow, and then use either of the condition skills on them the first time depending on their class. Next, I use heavy blow and then aftershock them for great damage. I then use berserker stance and attack to charge up adrenaline a bit, and repeat. I will use ward against melee if I am in a situation where casting it on the squishies is more important than knocking a caster down. My main problem is that Belly Smash has a pretty big cooldown, but I realized I'll only need to use it against warriors or rangers.

By the way, I see people recommend For Great Justice and Flurry over Berserker Stance, but I will keep Berserker because the fact that it ends when I use a skill doesn't bother me as it will only be in effect between knockdown chains to charge up for the next anyways.

Anyways, please comment on any potential flaws in my build, and any situations that I would be weak in and should watch out for. For now, I'll be farming in hopes of finding a superior hammer rune... Also, make any comments on skills I should switch.

Thank you for your time =)

Desperado1G · Jun 26, 2005, 02:53 AM // 02:53

I think it's a solid build, but I personally would take a W/Mo and bring condition and/or hex removal and judges insight.

Stoning would be a third knockdown, considering you would have them weakened. Just throwin out ideas ;p

kuramaroze · Jun 26, 2005, 04:59 AM // 04:59

I've done W/Mo, but I don't feel that it holds as much ground in the tombs. I played it for a few hours today, and I also realized that stoning won't work, as every bit of mana I have is being used. Any ideas on how to recover mana as a W/E? I can take out crushing blow to open up another slot. I also realized how deadly a group of W/E's with earth eles to knock everything down is.

I noticed the W/E is also probably the best squishie (mesmer necro and ele) killer I've tried, and great at keeping a monk down when coupled with a ranger or mesmer with some interrupts or energy burns. Any ideas on how I can augment this with my leftover skills?

Tuna · Jun 26, 2005, 05:58 AM // 05:58

I've ran something almost identical to that in GvG. You'll have problems with runners and getting belly smash in. Energy will be an issue very quickly also. Give it a run in arena to see what I mean.

edit: you want sprint in almost any warrior build.

Zeru · Jun 26, 2005, 06:23 AM // 06:23

Definitely put sprint and warriors cunning in there. It's a very strong build but you will have many issues with ward of foes/melee.

Beserkers recharge is annoying but you will be sprinting a lot and couldn't hold up the others for long anyway as they're all stances.

Draken · Jun 26, 2005, 07:11 PM // 19:11

get rid of belly smash and ward against melee and use sprint and bulls strike. some other character who sits back near the healers should use wards. i used a very similar build for quite a while it is a good build especialy in combination with an ele using earthquake.