Guild Wars Build of the Month: Hammer Mastery

This build of the month is all about my favorite build, and that's a knockdown hammer build with a ranger pet as sidekick.

Knockdown Mastery

 

Skills 1-8:

• Club of a Thousand Bears
• Crude Swing
• Renewing Smash
• Earth Shaker
• Flail
• Enraging Charge
• Optional Skill Slot
• Comfort Animal

Hammer Mastery = 12+1+1
Strength = 10+1
Beast Mastery = 8

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This build is a variation on a classic knockdown build, and the most fun thing about it is that it's so easy to create a new variant of it without losing effectiveness. Because the build runs fine on it's core skills, I also added the pet to it, just because I really, really like my bear.

Using the build is very straightforward too. Use Enraging Charge to run towards your target, which should be a group close together, or a target that really needs to be interupted/knocked down. Then there are 2 ways it could go.

If you attack a group balled up to eachother, use Crude Swing to quickly gain more adrenaline. With a big enough group, chances are Earth Shaker is almost ready to use, or even ready. Which means, use it.
When your target is knocked down, hit Flail as fast as you can (or enable it before the knockdown) and hit him with Renewing Smash as much as possible. Using a Stonefist insigna, you can get 3 hits with it without letting Renewing Smash ito cooldown, getting as much as 100 damage per hit on avarage. When the knockdown is over, your target should be almost dead in most cases. If not, you can use Club or a Thousand Bears next, and send it to the ground again if your target is non-human. But you mostly fight non-humans anyway, so chances are you get most out of the move. When it's on the ground, repeat the Renewing Smash frenzy again. By now, Earth Shaker is ready again, so you can start this cycle again.

If attacking a single target, or only a small group first, start by attacking until Flail is ready and use Club of a Thousand Bears. Again, it only knocks down non-humans, so this won't be a good start on humans.
hit Flail, and use Renewing Smash as much as possible again. You can now use Crude Swing for some extra damage, or just attack until Earth Shaker is ready. Use Earth Shaker and repeat the Renewing Smash frenzy again. Your enemy should be dead in most cases, so repeat until you beat them all.

The optional skill slot is there for whatever you need on your current mission. Favorites of mine are Light of Deldrimor, "You Move Like a Dwarf!", Ebon Vanguard Assassin / Sniper Support or any skill for your pet.
Swapping out skills is also easy. In areas with lot of humans, you can swap Club of a Thousand Bears with Crushing Blow or another attack skill. Renewing Smash can be swapped out with Whirlwind Attack, for extra AOE damage. And in areas with no or very small groups, swap Earth Shaker with Devestating Hammer.


Go out and have some fun with this build. This one should be in ever warrior's book by standard.
If you have any comments or improvements on this build, feel free to comment in the section below !
There is no registration required, and I don't bite :)

Until next time !

Guild Wars 2: Gamescom 2011 starts

Gamescom is already in full gear as I write, and all the GW2 info can't come fast enough.
Main things where I am going to look out for:

1. Moar Necromancer footage !
2. Warriors using the hammer. (which is easily my favorite weapon in GW)
3. All races in use, and hopefully some racial skills as well
4. PVP, customisation and everything else promised on the Anet blog in general

Also, I'm going to watch how the game is evolving overal. So far, it always seemed to me that they are on track with their plans, so I don't expect any suprises here.

Anyway, I'm off searching for footage and info.
Have a fun Gamescom week!

Sylvari week: design and redesign

Sylvari week has begon yesterday, and the honor of the first article on the Arenanet blog was for character artist and fashion guru Kristen Perry.

My initial reaction was to watch the screenshots to see how the sylvari look like after the redesign.
Amazing and stunning were the words that came to mind. But the best description is Kristen's sylvari description: noble, beautiful, plant.
My fears also got wiped off the table. They are not wood elf like people, nor are they humans with a plant wig. Instead we get that sweet spot in between humanoids and plant creatures. They look human, yet don't. They have that creature like thing, yet familiar enough to relate. They are... sylvari!

Reading the article, I noticed how much care there was put in the biology of plants, and how it could en should relate to designing the sylvari. And lot of these things are unseen at glance, but the details are there.

Growth sockets, the stem etc, all used in a way it would make sense from a biology point of view, but also in terms of the looks and feel of the characters. To me, it's a great thing in the long run, especially when playing with a sylvari. When you stick a long time with a character, you're bound to look more and more at the details. When they are done with care, like in this case, you're going to rediscover your own character over and over. Which is, in my opinion, a great thing.

There are also skins, to customise your sylvari even more. Both winter- and summer type skins are available, and with some coloring magic you can make a autumn and spring look. Simplified, you're choosing to look like a plant or more tree like. Which is great. Diversity amongst a race always makes a game feel more alive, like a real living world. This is one of my favorite features for Charr too, being able to change fur, horns etc.

Next up on the Arenanet blog is everything on the dialogue and audio of the sylvari.
I am excited to see what they have in store for us, especially after a great start like this one.

So, what do you guys think of the new sylvari? I'm sold, but I'd love to hear from you.

Until next time!