Hammer

How it plays

• Sit under the head, charge while walking, release when the monster drops its guard.
• Count head hits: the stun is a goal, not a bonus.
• Use the stun to land the slowest attack, the one you can never otherwise fit in.

Focus Mode and wounds

Focus Mode keeps the head in line during the combos that spin the character around. A Focus Strike on a head wound is the weapon's most profitable hit.

Defending

No guard. In exchange, four of its upswings can offset the monster's attack — the weapon defends by striking upward as the other comes down.

What it brings

• Blunt damage works on stun and part breaks at the same time as the health bar.
• Mobile charge: the hammer is the only heavy weapon that repositions while losing nothing.

What loses hunts

• Hitting the tail or legs: blunt returns little there, and stun only builds on the head.
• Charging with no exit. The release commits for a long time, and the hammer has nothing to cancel with.

What the data says ?

• The highest inflation in the game: 5.2. A hammer's displayed attack always flatters when set against another category's.

  profiles.hammer.bloat

• Four of its upswings can offset, where the five other offset-capable categories have one move each.

  counters.offsetAttack.moves.hammer

• Complete palette: the hammer can carry all four statuses, which its reputation as a purely raw weapon tends to hide.

  profiles.hammer.missingStatuses

Defence

• Guardno
• Power Clashno
• Offset attackyes
• Upswing, Spinning Strong Upswing, Charged Upswing, Mighty Charge Upswing