Hammer

General Information

Hammers are one of seven specialized nodes of the Hammer Family with a strong focus on crowd control abilities, and additional options for area damage, threat generation and sustainability.

Hammers

Item	Tier
Journeyman's Hammer	3
Adept's Hammer	4
Expert's Hammer	5
Master's Hammer	6
Grandmaster's Hammer	7
Elder's Hammer	8

First Slot Abilities

Q Slot
Image	Name	Description
		Energy Cost	Cast Time	Range	Cooldown
	Bash Knee	Instantly slows the target enemy by 30% for 5.56s, and deals 155 Physical Damage.
		8	Instant	Melee	3s
	Threatening Strike	An attack that increases your generated threat for 3s and deals 305 damage.
		15	Instant	Melee	3s
	Iron Breaker	Slams the hammer into the ground in front of the caster. Reduces resistances by 43 for 5s and deals 235 Physical Damage to all enemies in a 3m radius.
		15	Instant	Melee	5s

Second Slot Abilities

W Slot
Image	Name	Description
		Energy Cost	Cast Time	Range	Cooldown
	Heavy Cleave	Unleashes a heavy attack that deals 869 damage to all enemies in front of you.
		32	1s	Melee	15s
	Slowing Charge	Dash to a ground target destination. While you are dashing, you will slow all enemies in your way by 50% for 4.57s.
		33	Instant	12m	15s
	Power Geyser	After a short delay, a 3m radius Power Geyser will break through the ground at a desired location. The geyser knocks all enemies into the air and knocks group members 8m away. Deals 168 magical damage to enemies.
		30	Instant	11m	10s
	Knockout	Attacks a target's head, striking for 173 damage and putting the target to sleep. The sleep breaks on damage. Sleep duration vs Players: 6.64s. Sleep duration vs Mobs: 13.27s.
		37	Instant	Melee	15s
	Inertia Ring	Creates a slowing ring on the ground around the caster. The area has a 2.5m width, an 8m radius, and lasts for 4s. When enemies try to move through the ring, their movespeed is reduced by 90% (ignores crowd control resistance).
		11	0.5s	8m	20s

Third Slot Ability

E Slot
Image	Name	Description
		Energy Cost	Cast Time	Range	Cooldown
	Earth Shatter	Shatters the earth, dealing 155 damage to all enemies in a 5.5m radius around the caster and stunning them for 3.13s.
		42	Instant	Self	15s

Passive Abilities

Passive Slot
Image	Name	Description
	Stunning Strike	Every 5 normal attacks, your attack stuns the enemy for 0.6s.
	Energetic	Every normal attack, you restore 5 energy.
	Life Leech	Receive 15% of your normal attack damage as Life Steal.
	Dreadladen Fighting	Every 4 normal attacks, your Crowd Control effects are increased by 50% for 2s.

Related Patch Notes

Patch Link	Date	Patch Name	Patch Notes
Version 21.030.1	9 January 2023	Beyond the Veil Patch 3	Iron Breaker (all Hammers) Now also removes enemy shields
Version 20.000.1	8 June 2022	Into the Fray Update	Forge Hammers have been underrepresented recently. Their low cooldown and moderate damage on each hit in giant form meant it was too easy for enemies to evade the effect area. Therefore, Giant Smash now also knocks enemies into the air and deals more damage, making the ability more threatening and making it easier to stick to targets. To offset this buff, the cooldown between each Smash has been increased. The cooldown of Threatening Strike has been reduced further to provide a better Q-slot option for a bruiser tank, which synergizes with Giant Steps. Threatening Strike (all Hammers): Hit Delay 0.4s → 0.1s Standtime: 0.4s → 0.1s Cooldown: 3s → 2s Giant Steps (Forge Hammers): Giant Smash: Cooldown: 1.2s → 3s Now knocks players airborne for 0.6s Damage: 75 →  110
Version 18.110.1	13 October 2021	Call to Arms Patch 11	Hammers have been the main tank in 5v5 Crystal League play for a while. To make them somewhat less powerful, the damage and armor reduction of Iron Breaker, which could generate heavy pressure over the course of a fight, has been reduced. The cooldown of Power Geyser has been increased by 2 seconds to reduce the up-time of this ranged displacement. The stun duration of Tackle, meanwhile, has been reduced slightly as that, along with its mobility on a relatively low cooldown, made it more valuable than other Hammer E-abilities. Iron Breaker (all Hammers): Resistance Reduction: 0.14 → 0.12 Damage vs Players: 120 → 90 (Damage vs Mobs stays unchanged) Power Geyser (all Hammers): Cooldown: 8s → 10s Tackle (Great Hammer): Stun Duration: 2.35s → 2.10s
Version 18.060.1	31 May 2021	Call to Arms Patch 5/6 & Hotfix 6.1	Hammers The jump time of the Grovekeeper has been reverted based on feedback that it felt too slow. As the impact radius had already been slightly reduced and an indication area was added, it should still be more reactable than it was before Patch 4. Ground Pound (Grovekeeper): Jump Time: 0.66s → 0.5s
Version 18.040.1	6 May 2021	Call to Arms Patch 4 (Balance Patch)	Hammers Ground Pound made it fairly easy to hit enemy clumps in large fights. It has been toned down in various ways to make it more reactable for enemies, especially in smaller group sizes, while staying incredibly strong in large fights. Iron Breaker offered too much armor shred for its low cooldown, and has been reduced slightly. Heavy Cleave is now called Heavy Smash. The area was improved to make it easier to land, and a sweet spot was added in the center that deals extra damage. This makes interactions with this ability a bit more interesting and increases the potential maximum damage slightly. Additionally, the entire cast time now also reflects until the weapon hits the ground, making this interaction more consistent. Finally, as a small quality-of-life improvement, normal attacks of One-handed Hammers have received a minor buff. One-handed Hammer Normal Attacks: Attacks per Second: 0.8 → 1 Damage per Attack: 49 → 39 Iron Breaker (all Hammers): Resistance Reduction: 0.17 → 0.14 Heavy Cleave (all Hammers) - ability is now called "Heavy Smash": Area increased slightly; it now extends further, but the cone is also slightly slimmer Cast Time: 1s → 1.4s Hit Delay: 0.5s → 0s Standtime: 1s → 0.5s Now deals more damage directly at the Hammer impact spot: Damage at the center of the impact: 271.95 → 290 Damage in the rest of the cone: 271.95 → 266 Ground Pound (Grovekeeper): Jump time: 0.5s → 0.66s Radius: 6m → 5.5m Now indicates impact area during the jump
Version 1.17.410.184451	2 February 2021	Rise of Avalon Patch 13 (Balance Patch)	Hammers Iron Breaker (all Hammers): Resistance Reduction: 0.2 → 0.17 Groundbreaker (Polehammer): Stun Duration: 2.85s → 2.5s Grasp of the Undead (Tombhammer): Cast Range: 16m → 12m Stun Duration: 2.9s → 2.48s
Version 1.17.406.180488	2 December 2020	Rise of Avalon Patch 10 and Hotfix 10.1	Hammers Auto-attack (Forge Hammers): Attacks per second: 0.8→ 1.4 Damage: 49→ 28
Version 1.17.406.177096	21 October 2020	Rise of Avalon Patch 7 / Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update and Hotfix 7.1	Hammers Iron Breaker (all Hammers): Resistance Reduction: 0.15 → 0.20 Debuff Duration: 5s → 4s Damage: 77.08 → 120.00 Cooldown: 5s → 6s Hit Delay: 0.35s → 0.4s Standtime: 0.45s → 0.5s Slowing Charge (all Hammers): Slow Duration: 3s → 4s Onslaught (Hand of Justice): Cooldown: 40s → 30s
Version 1.17.403.172369	12 August 2020	Rise of Avalon Update and Hotfix 1, 2	Iron Breaker (all Hammers): Hit delay: 0.4s → 0.35s Standtime: 0.5s → 0.45s Power Geyser (all Hammers): Cooldown: 9s → 8s Hit delay: 0.45s → 0.4s Standtime: 0.6s → 0.5s Grasp of the Undead (Tombhammer): Hit delay: 0.5s → 0.35s Standtime: 0.6s → 0.5s
Version 1.16.396.166567	19 May 2020	Queen Patch 12 (Season 9 Balance Patch) and Hotfix 12.1	Hammers Power Geyser (all Hammers): Cooldown: 10s → 9s Hit Delay: 0.5s → 0.45s Standtime: 0.8s → 0.6s Earth Shatter (One-handed Hammer): Standtime: 1.2s → 0.8s Groundbreaker (Polehammer): Hit Delay: 0.5s → 0.3s Standtime: 1s → 0.6s
Version 1.16.393.162877	25 March 2020	Queen Patch 8	Hammers Ground Pound (Grovekeeper): Stun Duration: 3.25 seconds → 2.5 seconds
Version 1.15.389.155349	29 November 2019	Percival Patch 11	Hammers Giant Steps (Forge Hammers): Physical Resistance: 0.59 → 0.35
Version 1.15.382.145855	10 July 2019	Percival Update	Hammers Added new W-Spell: Inertia Ring (formerly listed as "Ring of Tar") Creates a ring of tar in an 8m radius around the caster. This ring lasts for 4s and has a 2.5m width. When enemies pass through the ring, their move speed is reduced by 90% (ignores crowd control resistance). Cast Time: 0.5s Life Leech (Passive): Steals 15% of damage dealt Bash Knee (all Hammers): Slow Strength: 32% → 30% Slow Duration: 3s → 4s Giant Steps (Forge Hammers): Now also increases attack range by 50%
Version 1.15.382.145855	10 July 2019	Percival Update	Seven new skills have been added to a range of player weapons: Axes: Spinning Blades Frost Staffs: Ice Shard Hammers: Inertia Ring (formerly listed as "Ring of Tar") Nature Staffs: Rejuvenating Breeze Quarterstaffs: Rising Blow Spears: Impaler Swords: Parry
Version 1.14.381.141987	9 May 2019	Oberon Patch 5 (Midseason Patch)	Hammers Iron Breaker: (all Hammers): Hit Delay: 0.5s → 0.4s Standtime: 0.6s → 0.5s Resistance Reduction: 0.12 → 0.15 Ground Breaker (Polehammer): Stun Area Width: 1.5m → 2m Life Leech (Passive): Heal per Attack: 5.86 → 7.00
Version 1.13.369.136513	20 February 2019	Nimue Balance Patch (Patch #7)	Hammers Power Geyser (all Hammers) Hit Delay: 0.6s → 0.5s Grasp of the Undead (Tomb Hammer) Reworked the ability: A giant Undead Hand comes out of the ground, hitting enemies in a 2.5m radius. Dealing 110 physical damage and stunning for 2.9s. Cooldown: 15s → 14s Hit Delay: 0.4s → 0.5s
Version 1.13.369.130684	21 November 2018	Nimue Update	Hammers Giant Steps (Forge Hammers) Now ignores Crowd Control Resistance
Version 1.12.365.126590	26 September 2018	Merlyn Preseason Balance Patch	Hammers: Giant Steps (Forge Hammers) Slow Strength: 35% → 50%
Version 1.12.365.123101	31 July 2018	Merlyn Update	Hammers: Iron Breaker (New Q-slot spell) Slams the hammer into the ground in front of the caster. Reduces resistances for 6s and deals physical damage to all enemies in a 3m radius. Hit Delay: 0.5s Cooldown: 5s
Version 1.11.362.116876	2 May 2018	Lancelot Midseason Patch	Hammers Giant Steps: The spell can't be purged anymore Attack Damage Increase: 146% -> 135% Slow Radius: 7m -> 5m Slow Strength: 50% -> 35% Standtime: 0.6s -> 0s
Version 1.11.358.115635	11 April 2018	Lancelot Patch #4	Hammers: Threatening Strike: Damage: 66.69 -> 100.04
Version 1.0.351.106399	14 December 2017	Kay Patch #1	Grovekeeper Ground Pound: Cast Time: 0.7s -> 0.4s Jump Time: 0.7 -> 0.5s
Version 1.0.34.184.105727	6 December 2017	Kay Update	Hammers: Knockout: Doubled sleep duration vs mobs
Version 1.0.332.98217	27 September 2017	Joseph Update	Removed the Threat Generation Passive Added Energetic Passive Ground Breaker: Stun Area Width: 1m -> 1.5m Stun Duration: 3.14 -> 2.85