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EnragedCamel
09-21-2009, 04:00 PM
HAMMERSTORM

Mighty and stoic, this famed warrior left behind the ruins of his home for a place in King Maliken's first Legion. From boyhood on, he has known nothing but battle, and his silent determination and deadly strength have earned him the epithet "Hammerstorm." Every blow of his hammer resounds like a death knell across the battlefield.

-

Re-read that last sentence. "Every blow of his hammer resounds like a death knell across the battlefield." Yes it will. I will show you how.

HERO OVERVIEW

I've seen a lot of people play Hammerstorm. I've also played him a lot myself. The conclusion I have reached is this:

Hammerstorm is NOT a tank, and therefore should not be played as one. If you play him that way, you will be missing out on most of his potential. He needs to be played like a carry so that you make best use of his ultimate to get as many kills as you can.

This being said, let's check out the basics.

STATS

Damage | 54-56
Armor | 1.24
Move Speed | 295
Attack | Melee
Attack rate | 0.59

ATTRIBUTES

Strength | 23 + 2.7
Agility | 16 + 2.0
Intelligence | 14 + 1.3

Notes:

- Slower than your average hero, but this is not such a big deal (explained in the next section).
- Has decent strength gain but very low intelligence gain, which may make mana an issue unless compensated for.


ABILITIES:

http://honwiki.net/w/images/3/3b/Hammerstormskill1.gif Hammer Throw

Hammerstorm throws his mighty hammer at a target enemy, damaging and stunning them.

Mana cost: 140
Range: 600
Radius: 300
Cooldown: 14 seconds

On activation: Deals 100/175/250/325 magic damage to all heroes in the radius and stuns them for 2 seconds.

Notes: Just like many other stun spells, this is useful for initiating, ganking, interrupting channels, and catching up to runners. You will use this skill very often - typically every cooldown in prolonged team fights. It is very mana intensive though, considering your small mana pool and low intelligence gain.


http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/ae/Hammerstormskill2.gif Mighty Swing

Hammerstorm attacks with great might, causing his attacks to damage nearby enemies in addition to his main target.

Passive: On attack, deals 12.5/25/37.5/50% damage to all enemies in a radius of 350.

Notes: A nice passive to have. Unlike others, I don't find it very useful in teamfights unless you have some nice AoE disables to keep enemies bunched up together. Tempest is one example. It is however very useful for farming, and it is what pushes you ahead of other heroes (even many agility carries) in this area.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/d/d3/Hammerstormskill3.gif Battle Command

Hammerstorm yells to his allies, increasing their armor and movement speed for a short time.

Mana cost: 25
Radius: 350 around self
Cooldown: 36/30/24/18

On activation: Hammerstorm and nearby allies gain 3/6/9/12 armor and 12% movement speed for 6 seconds.

Notes: A useful spell for a variety of occasions. Personally I always forget to use it, but I've used it successfully to catch runners. You may think "but isn't it also useful for running away" and that is when I call you a huge *****. Hammerstorm does not run away from ganks. He kills his would-be-gankers one by one.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/67/Hammerstormskill4.gif Brute Strength

Hammerstorm unleashes a savage fury within him, majorly increasing his attack damage temporarily.

Mana cost: 100/150/200
Cooldown: 80 seconds

On activation: Increases Hammerstorm's base damage by 100/125/150% for 25 seconds.

Notes: This is a tremendous skill that makes you feared during team battles. Later in the game, you can pop int heroes in four or five hits. And it lasts for 25 seconds which means it will be up rougly 30% of the time and you will have it ready in every team battle.

EnragedCamel
09-21-2009, 04:01 PM
Starting items

http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/05/Iron_Buckleritem.gif

http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/09/Runes_of_the_Blightitem.gif x 6

http://honwiki.net/w/images/2/2d/Crushing_Clawsitem.gif

The iron buckler will absorb a lot of damage when you go in to last hit creeps and harass other heroes.

The runes are for healing. By the time you use the 6th, you should have your lifetube.

You will build a fortified bracelet with the claw.

Core items:

http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/67/Fortified_Braceletitem.gif x 2

http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/10/Enhanced_Marchersitem.gif

http://honwiki.net/w/images/e/ea/Abyssal_Skullitem.gif

http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/74/Sustaineritem.gif

Fortified bracelet x 2 is in my opinion pretty standard on any strength hero. They are especialy useful for Hammerstorm though because they also boost mana and mana regen.

Enhanced Marchers are the choice boots for Hammerstorm. Like I said you are not a tank, you're a carry. Because of the way your ultimate works, you need high attack speed - you need to get in as many hits as you can during those 25 seconds, and during the 2 seconds for which your target is stunned.

Abyssal Skull is preferred to Whispering Helm due to its mana regen. And since you will be present in all team battles you should carry this item.

sustainer is essential for you to keep spammming your hammer throw.

Mid-game items:

http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a8/Shield_Breakeritem.gif

http://honwiki.net/w/images/8/8d/Runed_Axeitem.gif

http://honwiki.net/w/images/5/53/Shaman%27s_Headdressitem.gif

Shield breaker is essential for this build. Best damage for money. Makes you hit even harder. Can't ask for much else.

Runed Axe is the natural progression from Sustainer. You will be popping entire creep waves in one or two hits after you get it, which means you'll have more gold than you know what do to with.

shaman's Headdress is also good. If you are playing against a magic heavy team, use your lifetube that you get from the outpost early on to build a headdress, instead of a sustainer. Otherwise you can wait until later. In my experience people don't really focus on you anyway because they expect to be the tank. But if you go against a smart team you'll need this item.


Late-game item:

http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/15/Daemonic_Breast_Plateitem.gif

By the time you get this item you will have over 30 armor, 2500hp, and you will be hitting for over 500 damage with your ult on. I've killed people in 3 hits with this - before the stun even runs out. Once you do it to their carry they will concede.


Alternatives:

Instead of runed axe you can go for a Flayer. You won't have nearly as much mana regen but your damage potential will be even greater. If you have Glacius and/or Nymphora on your team, or someone with Ring of Sorcery, I recommend this instead of Runed Axe.

In one game I built Assassin's Shroud. Do you know what happens when you hit someone in the head from behind with a gigantic hammer? They die. Basically, activate your ult, go invis, then go behind them and pop them. If they don't die by the time they realize you're there, you can stun and finish.

EnragedCamel
09-21-2009, 04:01 PM
SKILL BUILD:

1. Hammer Throw
2. Stats
3. Hammer Throw
4. Stats
5. Hammer Throw
6. Brute Strength
7. Hammer Throw
8. Battle Command
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Brute Strength
12. Mighty Swing
13. Mighty Swing
14. Mighty Swing
15. Mighty Swing
16. Brute Strength
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Battle Command
24. Battle Command
25. Battle Command


Maximize hammer throw first. At level 7 it does 325 magic damage which is significant.

Get one rank of battle command at level 8 so you can catch runners. In my opinion you shouldn't get it until you get boots because the speed increase is percentage based.

You will rely on Stats early on to increase your mana and strength (hp & dmg). After level 11, max out mighty swing so you can start farming creeps like crazy. In my opinion there is no need to max out Battle Command until you reach 25 - its main benefit is the movement speed bonus, not the armor (unless you're going against a pure physical damage team).


PLAYSTYLE:

The playstyle is fairly straight-forward. You activate your ult and start popping enemy heroes one by one. It's actually really funny because most people don't understand just how much it boosts your damage until you hit them a few times. Sometimes two people come out of the forest and try to gank me when I'm solo farming and I kill one or both. Unless they are many disables this is a scenario you will become familiar with. This one time Moon Queen and TB tried to gank me. MQ used her ult and TB nuked the hell out of me. I had 20% life left. I proceeded to kill MQ in 4 hits, then TB tried to port out so I stunned and killed him in 3 hits.

Once you get the hang of this hero, you will almost wish that someone comes and tries to gank you.

In team battles I go for their carry first. If you can kill their carry or make them retreat then the rest of their team also break and start running. At that point it's a matter of whoever you can catch with hammer throw and devastate.

Russa
09-21-2009, 04:03 PM
u should change description of the aura. It has the AWESOMENESS back to it!

Bali1
09-21-2009, 04:17 PM
No mention of shrunken head?

Also its really a good idea to get one rank of battle command early, before level 6. Getting it later is just a bad idea, seeing it can make the difference between an early kill or an early escape.

Hammer
Command
Hammer
Stats
Hammer
Ult
Hammer
Stats

etc

Russa
09-21-2009, 04:20 PM
No mention of shrunken head?

Also its really a good idea to get one rank of battle command early, before level 6. Getting it later is just a bad idea, seeing it can make the difference between an early kill or an early escape.

Hammer
Command
Hammer
Stats
Hammer
Ult
Hammer
Stats

etc
agree but to be able to make 2 stuns in a row at lvl 3 i normally go stun/stats/stun/aura/stun/ult/stun and follow with stats + ult when possible.

shizmo
09-22-2009, 12:29 AM
No parasite for attack speed burst?

crayze
09-22-2009, 12:34 AM
Personally I wouldn't use Shieldbreaker for a simple reason: Hammerstorm doesn't generally get a lot of hits in on one target in quick succession. Generally you get your stun and perhaps another stun from someone else -- anything further and the spell damage is going to kill the enemy anyway, any less and the opponent will get away. So I'd maximize each hit rather than maximizing the n+1 hit. Sven is also one of the only heroes that I'd say Battle Fury isn't a terrible item for.

I'd go Buriza/Battlefury personally.

Clup
09-22-2009, 12:50 AM
you say, not a tank. then you put headress in core items and not Black King Bar.

wrong imo

and mana battery level 1 is essential. useing the stored charges for that extra hammer wins fights. also a early lumber jack axe thing (Quelling blade) helps for last hitting and speeds up your farm, since no good chuck norris takes cleave early game.

Nix0r
09-22-2009, 01:26 AM
I hope that you're aware of that Battle Command no longer exist, it's now called Galvanize.

Clyne
09-22-2009, 03:17 AM
No parasite for attack speed burst?


vote +1

thanks for the guide but whats up with old-lady big fonts and bold?

FrostHomer
09-22-2009, 04:16 AM
Why isn't there shrunken head (BKB) and elder parasite (MoM)
2 very important items for hammerstorm ><

noobstickah
09-22-2009, 09:59 AM
I like the warpcleft into demonic breastplate route.

Kalb
09-22-2009, 10:13 AM
abyssal skull is crap on every carry hero. see my general guide for more information.
get whispering helm and make a symbol of rage out of it. way better.

furthermore, you REALY need shrunken head. hammerstorm without it is so easy to disable.

Eldu
09-22-2009, 10:38 AM
portal key on him is also a shitload of fun , in combination with shurnken head and runed axe.
hammer, shrunken, ulti, blink and rape :D

ElementUser
09-22-2009, 11:23 AM
Galvanize also has lower cooldown at higher levels (half of level 1's cooldown at level 4). So I would still max it

MercuryEnvy
09-22-2009, 11:33 AM
No Elder Parasite or Insanitarius...

Although, I've been wondering if Elder Parasite is still good because of the boost in damage amplification.

Shieldbreaker is a definite no-no. As somebody said earlier, your attack speed is way too low to be able to take advantage of its effects. Flayer would be a better choice because 1 or 2 crits can pretty much kill anything with your ultimate activated. Savage Mace or even Charged Hammer (+70 attack speed) would be better choices than Shieldbreaker too.