INTRODUCTION Top
Hi all, it's TornadoXIII. I consider myself to be a skilled and experienced Sgt Hammer player, and I'm posting this guide after discovering that my favorite build isn't on any of the popular builds here.
The first thing you need to know is that positioning is super-critical for any Sgt Hammer, and very much so for this build. You may be in a tank, but you want to be in the back. Sometimes you need to fall back the second the warrior pulls back, sometimes you can stand your ground and punish your opponents for chasing your allies. The goal of this build is to be zone-control for your team, and you'll need a great mix of damage, and survival to do so. Careful positioning, again, is critical for either, and this became much easier with the reduced CD on your deploy ability, along with other sub-recent buffs.
LEVEL 1 Top
I like to take
Advanced Artillery above all else. With this talent, you'll be dealing a whopping 40% more damage to "distant" targets. In case you didn't know already, you can hover your mouse over your trait in-game to see the exact radius that defines "distant," which appears to be anything outside of 4-5 range. Getting the extra bonus damage on your trait will help you zone out enemy heroes, crush minions and forts, and defeat map objectives whether it be grave golems or immortal demons.
BUT you need to pay attention to your opponents and what they're capable of. Picking
Resistant level one has saved my skin more times than I can count. I feel like it's one of the most underrated talents in the game, but it does well and stopping combos and preventing you from getting stun-locked. Versus Kael'thas, you can blow off the gravity lapse and boost away before the flame-strike goes off, versus Jaina it drops her trait's duration down to one second, meaning you wont suffer the slow as you try to retreat and making it very hard for her to proc her crits on you. If Muradin hits you with storm-bolt, you wont even miss one attack since the stun will last less than your weapon's period. Even Murky's Octo-grab, one of the longest-duration stuns in the game, will be shortened to less than a second. It doesn't matter if Arthas hits you with howling blast, the Butcher charges you, or Malfurion tries to root you down; take resistant and you'll be practically immune to stuns (you can mitigate a TON of damage from the grave golem's damage-over-time-and-root ability). With good timing, it will be almost impossible for your enemies to keep you from simply boosting out of almost any situation.
However, if there is no need for the extra layer of safety, take
Advanced Artillery to help your damage output.
LEVEL 4 Top
Vampiric Assault is a vital talent for sustainability for any right-click hero, and Hammer's not excluded. Many heroes will try to whittle you down with ranged burst damage, and VA will allow you to shrug it off easy. The healing effect does trigger from any splash damage you deal while sieged, so if you just need a pick-me-up before or after a teamfight, you can gain a significant amount of life by taking a moment to clear a minion wave. It's alot faster than your hearthstone, grants the XP for your team, and will likely end up burning some ammo from your opponent's towers. It will also allow you to trade better with melee heroes in a straight-up fight, and you'll overall be less dependent on having your allies soak/heal damage for you.
If your team is very sturdy (two warriors or two supports) and you can be pretty sure you wont need the healing, take
Maelstrom Shells. A buff to your already-considerable range will keep you even further away from the action, and enable you to lock down a larger area. Whether you're kiting people like Raynor, or deployed in Siege mode, this talent will help mitigate damage. It's the talent I want to take every game, but the need for self-healing is far less situational than the alternate choice for level 1.
Vampiric Assault is much safer but if you're careful and the teams are right, then Maelstrom Shells can become very abusive.
LEVEL 7 Top
Take
First Aid. Like every game. I shouldn't need to say why. Just make sure that you always lane in middle, so that you're never late to team-fights due to not having a proper mount (if you're laning bottom and a tribute spawns near top, it will be a 4v5 no matter how quickly you start driving north). You should be using your boost carefully enough to where you don't feel like you need
Hyper-cooling-Thrusters to ensure you have it ready whenever you need it.
LEVEL 10 Top
NAPALM! MMM!
Lite up my life!
♥
LEVEL 13 Top
Giant Killer is a must, the extra damage is highly noticeable and allows you to punish any hero for entering your kill-zone, whether it be Valla or Muradin. I'm still unsure if the bonus damage trigger
Vampiric Assault, but without
Giant Killer it'll be easier for your foes to simply ignore your presence. Your goal is to dominate them out of that section of the map, and this talent will help you punish them for trying to pick a fight while you're nearby. I take it every match.
LEVEL 16 Top
Hover-Siege is usually the winner for the other Sgt Hammer players I see, but we're not like them are we?
Graduating Range is my favorite pick by far after trying them both extensively. It doesn't change your playstyle at all, but is incredible towards the goals of area-control. It doesn't matter whether you're pushing into a fort or defending one, trying to fight over a tribute, or brawling underneath the shadow of the immortals; this talent will is amazing if you can stand your ground for a few seconds. Due to the nature of the talent, the first few seconds are the most crucial; the longer you can sit happy the better the chances are that you're going to stay there. If you dont have time to sit around, just pack up like normal and try again later. You'll find your chance and the effect will be devastating.
This is the epitome of area-control, and when you have the maxed radius you'll have anywhere from 16 to 18.1 range depending on your other talents, and the power to click on any hero you wish. You want to abuse this talent hard, you can zone out their casters from the entire fight, help focus any wounded hero at any time, or start blasting away defensively and pseudo-peel for your team by forcing a retreat on the enemy in question.
Let me say this again, you'll need
Giant Killer if you want this effect to work right. Without the bonus damage your shots wont be shooty enough to have the impact you need to punish them for entering your ever-expanding kill-zone.
LEVEL 20 Top
BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!!!!!!
Nexus Frenzy is the perfect talent for this build; the icing on the cake. Not only does it buff your range and keep you that much farther from harm (and that much longer your opponents have to sustain your fire before they can retaliate) but it also gives you a significant damage boost, meaning that you'll also gain more health from
Vampiric Assault, but also proccing
Giant Killer more often too. With Nexus Frenzy and everything else, you'll be able to rip enemy up at an alarming pace, and they'll learn to fear you quickly if you're doing it right.
With this mix of talents, forts go down in every push or your money back. If you ever get a boss in their core it's game over; as the boss will give you all the time you need to fully deploy. The heart of their base and it's meager defenders will become a turkey-shoot, as you can keep forcing them back into the hall of storms again and again and again. With range that high, they have to all-in on you or lose their core to your barrage, and you should be in a good position to repel anyone who tries to uproot you from their base.
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