Sgt Hammer the Glass Cannon by timegnome

Sgt Hammer the Glass Cannon

By: timegnome
Last Updated: Aug 31, 2015
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Sgt. Hammer

Build: Glass Cannon

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Hello Readers,

My names TimeGnome, and I'm here to hopefully convince you to play Sgt. Hammer. Alternatively if you're already looking at playing her to give a decent breakdown of skills and ideology of this build.

Sgt. Hammer is one of the most punishing heroes on the list if played right. This requires more attention to be paid to the map and your direct surroundings. There is a stigma amongst the player base against Sgt. Hammer is a "weak and ineffective champion". I am here to say she is not.

As my first guide feel free to leave comments about layout and such. Now lets get to the meat of the guide.

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(Q) Spider Mines
By default there are three proximity mines that are places onto the location of your choice. Placing these in bushes to provide vision and a deterrent for enemies is great. They also provide a slow for the emergency times when you need to flee.
(W) Concussive Blast
This is the primary defensive for Sgt. Hammer. Concussive blast knocks enemies back when caught in the blast. While doing a fair amount of damage it is best to save it for either peeling in team fights, knocking characters our of stealth, escaping yourself or in the rare case blasting creep waves back.
(E) Siege Mode
Siege Mode is a difficult one to talk about. There are two camps for this #1 use it often and #2 use it sparingly. I fall in the first category within reason. The key to playing well in solo lane is to just encircle the mage minion in a creep wave this provides enough room for you to flee while putting an aggressive front in the lane. A few champions are more tricky to deal with regarding this style of play and will be talked about later in this guide.
(R1) Napalm Strike
Napalm Strike a long range high damage skill that leaves a residual puddle for continued damage. On top of all that this skill is spammable with a very low CD of 6 seconds. This is by far the most versatile of the two ults.
(R2) Blunt Force Gun
The BFG (doom reference anyone?) is a deadly shot that has a much higher damage output then napalm strike however its Cd of 70 seconds makes it the lesser used choice when combined with its level 20 talent you can whittle down towers and forts easy but the positives hardly outweighs its costly CD.
(Trait) Artillery
The artillery trait is a passive that deals bonus damage (30%) to targets that are far away. If you hover over the trait while in siege mode you will see the second ring this is the "dead done" where the trait does not apply. Alternatively this range is little less then concussive blasts.
(Z) Siege Thrusters
Instead of a mount Sgt. Hammer gets bonus movement speed via her thrusters which are on a CD of 30 seconds. This Removes you from siege mode quickly allowing for speedy retreats.

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Advanced Artillery - This talent increases the base damage of our auto attacks which this build is centered around.

ALTERNATIVES

Focused Attack - This talent give us a significant boost in damage at fairly regular intervals especially later in the game.

ALTERNATIVES
Hyper-Cooling Engines - Ah level 7 this is where it all starts to come together. On big maps this is such an amazing talent. This helps solve not only Sgt. Hammers slow movement but, more importantly solves give us a much better suitability rate. While in lane or team fights make sure siege thrusters are up at all times. If you are forced to return to base this gets you back into the fight as you can essentially use this twice to get back to lane or the fight.

ALTERNATIVES
Napalm Strike - This is downright the better choice in this tier. Not only can it harass easy froma save distance you can clear lanes with zero effort. with its short CD this move should be spammed as often as you can. With this you will top damage in siege easy.

ALTERNATIVES
First Strike - This provides excellent all around hero and siege damage. The only downside for this talent is if you have an enemy champion that just seem to have it out for you, they pretty much void this skill if they get the first shot off.

ALTERNATIVES
Graduating Range - With an initial 20% range bonus to start the range of our attacks increases letting us attack buildings and champions from insanely far away. This is one of the staple skills that make us have a "kill zone" that allows our team to dish out their own justice with impunity. At this point we become a walking deterrent.

ALTERNATIVES

Nexus Frenzy - You've made it to twenty now its time to bring the hurt. This ability makes your auto attacks rip enemies apart. It combos so well with the rest of the build that you will find enemies that may have been giving you trouble early game are nothing but a pile of bones in the ground.

ALTERNATIVES

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This build is meant to take on bottom lane on all maps. The exception being Haunted mines where you pair with the rest of the team. To play hammer well it requires a good balance of offense and defensive positioning and mentality. Since we chose not to take any of the survival talents we need to be aware of who we are laning against.

The one thing your going to get very good at playing hammer is seeing when the opponent attempts a gank. In general the person you will lane against get abnormally aggressive up to the point or they try to bait you closer to there towers. If you notice there play style change suddenly unsiege and get ready to flee.

In team fights take the rear and dispense indiscriminate justice to your foes. With the reduced CD on siege mode don't be afraid to re-position frequently.

An understanding team goes a long way. Communicate with them and try to maintain a positive attitude.

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Nova is one of the trickiest champions to deal with if she decides that she hates you that game. Normally a Triple Tap will bring you down to deathly low health or kill you. You can however interrupt it with concussive blast if she is close enough. It's very important to not over extend and to stay with at least one teammate after the ~10 minute mark.
Illidan is really only a threat if he takes The Hunt as his ultimate. Luckily this talent is very rarely chosen. If it is chosen make sure that you don't over extend and can be caught alone. If you stick with your team you should be fine.
Nazeebo is what I like to refer to as a early game menace. It is very important that you play defensively against him. Zombie Wall has a 14 second CD so he can use that twice on us within a single Siege Thruster CD. If you decide to siege up against Nazeebo 1st play back behind your minions 2nd make sure you have Concussive Blast saved for an emergency escape. When he runs up to you unsiege after you get a shot of on him and back out of the Zombie Wall. Once you hit mid-late game the tables turn and you become a menace during these team fights.
Kael'thas is often thought of as a natural counter in lane and there is some merit to there fears, but, If you exert your dominance in the lane he will be the one stuck on the defensive. place your mines near the bottom of the map in a bush if you can and play low to the wall. This forces Kael to walk either longer in your siege radius of take both the mines and a few auto shots to the face. usually an exchange will leave him at a much larger health deficit as well as a poorer push. All of these points are the same for Jaina.
The problem when facing Azmodan and Zagara is identical. They both add extra minions in the lane. This makes there early game push much stronger then yours. To lane against them you have to play much further back then normal to the point where sometimes you end up playing at your gate. A early game gank can go a long way in countering this if you can ask for one. They may not die but it will keep them back mentally.
Similar to Azmodan and Zagara, but less of a threat. Make sure you get him on the defensive early and control the bushes. If he gets the bushes your in for a hard battle. Again an early gank will make a huge difference here.
Zeratul is one of the easier assassins to deal with. If you can spot the shimmer of his stealth reliably then there is nothing to worry about. Concussive Blast him either into your cannons or away from you and he will think twice about attempting a gank on you.

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With this build you can fill a dual roll of specialist/assassin.If played right you should be near top siege and hero damage. I wish the best for you and your games. If you want more info regarding how to lane against a specific hero or more info on another feel free to PM me.
To be added:
Map Specific Strategies.

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