A paladin who uses blessed hammer (BH) as their main offensive skill, complemented with the concentration (CONC) aura. Don't be dismayed by the character screen damage, as the true damage of concentration is not shown. Hammers are counted as physical damage, hence not resistible, though damage is halved in PvP. The high damage, area effecting hammerdin is one of the fastest levellers in the game, all characters included. 8 player hell/act4 is no problem from around level 40 onwards, and you will always find partners to coop with, least of whom the Bowazon partnership, even post 1.04 bow bug fix.
Hammerdins are also naturally built for PvP too, without compromising any skills/stats in their build.
BH (increases +8 per level)
cLevel 1: 12-16 , 5 mana
cLevel 20: 164-168 , 9.7 mana
cLevel 32: 260-264 , 12.7 mana
CONC (+15% per level)
cLevel 1: +60%
cLevel 20: +345%
cLevel 32: +525%
BH/CONC (per hammer)
cLevel 1: 19.2-25.6
cLevel 20: 729.8-747.6
cLevel 32: 1625-1650
As you can see, this is a pretty powerful weapon considering you get a screenful of them, and they pass through enemies to hit multiple opponents. Note: the Level 32 can be achieved with +skill items, I will list that setup later on in the items section. NOTE: it IS possible to get level 32 skills - CS is wrong when it mentions a cap of 30 on skill levels, confirmed by Jarulf.
The hammerdin is essentially a spell-caster, even though its hammers are considered physical damage. Similar to the Tweaker Sorceress, it is essential for a hammerdin to equip fast/er/est cast items - the net effect of casting as many hammers in succession as possible - more hammers on screen at any time. Again, look to the items section for popular fast cast items, I go with a minimum of magefists+WoTe+scepter.
Pimpy has come up with this hammerdin fast cast table (1 = fast, 2 = faster/est):
| Cast Rate | Hammers in Flight at one time |
|---|---|
| 0 | 08 |
| 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 9.5 |
| 3 | 10 |
| 4 | 11 |
| 5 | 12 |
| 6 | 12 |
| 7 | 13 |
| 8 | 14.5 |
| 9 | 15 |
This indicates that the increase is fairly linear, with sweet spots at 5 and 8.
Both BH and CONC become available at cLevel 18 - it is recommended as with any character, not to invest in any skills before other than prerequisites. For BH this means holy bolt, and for CONC this means might and blessed aim. The recommendation is to save as many skill points as possible for when you reach level 18, and then pump BH/CONC concurrently on each level up you gain. But first of all you need to get to 18 quickly, and also you have the leisure and sometimes need for another offensive skill - the secondary skill. (note: PURE hammerdins don't have a secondary skill, prefering base dex, almost no str, and instead use auras like holy shield and freeze). Popular choices include (character level required in brackets):
SMITE (clvl 1)
Stun-locks (great for Lightning Enchanted monsters and coop), always hits (no AR or dex needed), low mana cost, improved damage with holy shield skill and barbed shield
CHARGE (clvl 12)
Very high damage, AR boost, knock-back, works with life/mana steal, popular PvP one hit killer
ZEAL (clvl 12)
Hits multiple adjacent targets, Works with life/mana steal
FIST OF THE HEAVENS, FOH (clvl 30)
Light damage, high mana cost (need to build specifically with high mana pool in mind), popular PvP skill, auto-targets
I will not cover these in great depth, but their main traits have been noted above. Try to raise one of these to 20, after you've maxed BH/CONC and your other support auras.
HOLY SHIELD, HS (prereqs: clvl 24, smite, charge):
The only real passive skill you get, definitely worth the point(s). Blocking and duration active increases with points, you can't get past 75% blocking, but great to make up for WoTe blocking. Check the difference if you've ever PvPed another hammerdin.
Recommended Points: 1 or more (no more than 16 with skills, giving you +21% block, WoTe is 50%)
Auras:
HOLY FREEZE, HF (clvl 18, prereq: holy fire):
Great for PvM crowd control and PvP slowdown chilling. It chills and slows opponents for a short period of time upon 'flashing' (switch to aura for 2/3 seconds and then switch back to another aura - opponents will remain chilled). More points slow opponents down further, but mainly increases radius affected. Cannot be resisted, and duration remains constant across all difficulties.
Recommended Points: 1 or more
Other offensive auras:
Not really, though potentially thorns for PvP (you're not thinking of getting hit as a hammerdin really) or conviction to complement FoH (currently bugged 1.04)
VIGOR (clvl 18, prereqs: defiance, cleansing, prayer):
Essential in PvP. Run away from speed babas, bone spirits, orbs. Chase down zons, necros. Run around collecting monsters. A single point will go a LONG way here. Put more if intending to PvP more. Ever seen a vigored PvP baba? Damned scary. Early days, use of Threads of Cthon (fastest, 50% stamina) will save you needing to get vigor until after level 30 (as prereq for redemption), saving you 4 prereq skill points to use in bh/conc.
Recommended Points: 1 or more (for PvP)
MEDIATION (clvl 24, prereqs: cleansing, prayer):
Increases mana regeneration, but needs to be active, so competes with conc. Poor man's redemption, becomes obsolete after. Sorc partying/PvP handy.
Recommended Points: 1 or none
REDEMPTION (clvl 30, prereq: vigor):
Walking healing/mana shrine, you flash it for a second, it refills your life/mana from slain bodies. Great because it takes only a second or two to use without compromising CONC as your active aura. Usually used after each mini-battle rather than during. Don't have this at a high level, as you will 'pick up' too many bodies (more than you can use) and not save any for later when you may need them. More points do not increase recovery 'speed'.
Recommended Points: 1 (enough with +skills)
SALVATION (clvl 30):
Walking diamond shield/prismatic ring. Seldom used since it contends with CONC, but handy if you have low resistances and are going up against the summoner/Ob Knights or for partying. Returns are terrible after the inital point.
Recommended Points: 1 or none
Other defensive auras:
No. Defiance is a whole different paladin subclass, whereas the other auras are pretty useless.
Ideal items, and then I will mention variations:
|
Full skills setup (use only in PvP):
tarn, silks, priests amulet, sojx2, priests scepter of magus +3 BH/CONC, sigons, dual boots, lenymo sash, magefist
+12 all makes a mean 32/32 BH/CONC.
Replace with deaths sash and lots of cold res when duelling sorc.
I personally change setup when meeting different challenges, levelling or PvP. Find a comfortable balance between fast cast, resists and +skills. Here are some of the more common choices you may face:
Lenymo vs NightSmoke vs Rare Belt
Lenymo only has 2 rows, gives +25% mana regeneration - good for pvp and levelling. NightSmoke isn't bad, but you're not expecting to get hit much as a hammerdin so won't benefit so much from it's "damage goes to mana" (which is useful for melee chars).
Recommend: UBER
Sigons vs WoTe
Skills+blocking vs Fastcast+Mana. Sigons is heavier+more str req, slowing you down, the mana recovery isn't that great after you get a decent mana store. WoTe still gets max blocking with a few points in Holy Shield, low reqs, no speed red, and FASTER CAST.
Recommend: WoTe, (Sigons for HC)
Frostburn vs Magefist
EnhDefense+40%Mana+colddamage vs fastercast+25%ManaRegen. Fists hands down, since cold damage and defense isn't as important for a hammerin as the fast cast. Mana may be useful in early stages, but the high strength req for frosties is bad.
Recommend: MageFist
Silks vs Goldskin vs Rare armour
Silks and skins are heavy and require 103/80 str respectively which pure hammerdins shun. Armour class is meaningless to a hammerdin, since you will rarely be melee-ing. Skins gives you a nice 30% to all resists, which is hard to beat on a rare, but if you find an uber-armour, by all means use it. Use silks where resists are not needed e.g. outer steppes, duelling non-sorcs.
Recommend: UBER
Tarn vs Rare helm
The helm is a good place for life/resists/mana/hit recov, and tarn isn't that good just for the +1 skills. Again use tarn where resists are not needed, so you make use of the skills and especially the magic find.
Recommend: both, depending on dependence or resists
Soj vs Rare fast cast (prismatic)
Skills+25%Mana vs fast cast resists. Personal preference depending on your mana pool size and again whether the resists are needed. With fists and WoTe you are already doing a decent casting speed, so I go with 2 soj for levelling/PvP (non sorc), or 1 soj and a resists for chaos.
Recommend: soj/resists or soj/soj
Keep shopping at Ormus for your monk's/priest's apprentice/magus scepter (Level 40 item) - it's worth it. It took me until level 60 or so before getting mine. Trading for one is always difficult, since not many people would imbue a scepter, and those who trade them know their worth (approx 3+ soj). Otherwise, hang in there with a +BH/CONC magus scepter until you get lucky. Piercing would be nice too, since you aren't going to get a high AR with no dex, as well as high damage of course.
Equip rares with resists where needed e.g. chaos sancturary, but when levelling, make use of the +skills and +%magic find (which may put you in the negative resists in hell, but it doesn't matter).
This is your target points distribution:
Str: 45 (fists), 41 (garb) 55 (mageplate), 80 (skins), 100 (silks), 103 (divine scepter)
Dex: Base
Vit: all other points
nRg: low
Choose your target strength level, never put anything into dex (exception of possibly hammerdin/chargers), put points into nRg if you are struggling in early levels, all other points into life. If you want to hit things, find a piercing scepter. After a while (around 250+ mana) mana will never be a problem, so many hammerdins refuse to invest any points here at all.
Starting out:
Since you will not be allocating many skill points before level 18, then levelling is a bit slower - try to get a few 8-player games in with say goblin-toe which really helps on cutting monster hit-points down fast. Mana supply will be short, especially if you refuse to put any points into nRg - try using +mana items or just hold back on using hammers until you are able to support it. This is one of the arguments to level CONC before BH - to keep the mana cost low whilst still increasing the damage.
Growing up/Levelling:
Obviously the best places for a hammerdin to level are open spaces (sanctuary, act2 deserts, kurast). My personal favourite is outer steppes - no resists needed, open land, high exp points.
Typical methodology PvM levelling
Maturing:
Since hammerdins begin maturing from level 18, as opposed to 30 (ww, orb, revive etc) you will get a good head start with 'mass area damage' - capable of being a full killing machine before reaching level 40. From here on, you merely get an increasingly larger mana pool and a larger life buffer (note: you get 1.5 mana per level up). Your secondary skill should become maxed, along with decent levels of the other auras you may use regularly.
Hammer throwing direction:
The direction that you are facing has no effect on the orbit of your hammers. It always comes out from the left (10:00) circling clockwise and gradually going further out widening its orbit. Therefore the best position to place yourself with a group of monsters is to the bottom right of a monster pack. This way monsters standing right next to you (10:00 to 2:00) will always be hit, and as soon as you fire the first hammer.
Difficulties:
Tight areas e.g. maggot lair. I personally hate this place, no room for throwing hammers (only a few positions where you find enough room for say one hammer), so you need to rely on either another character cooping or your secondary skill. Unfortunately (hehe) mana/life steal does not work with BH, so you will need to watch your mana usage and not go crazy. With a mana pool of 300+ though, this will cease to become a problem.
For reference, I include my hammerdin/charger setup at clevel 71:
str: 103
dex: base
vit: all (1100+ life)
nRg: 40 (around 280-380 mana)
max BH
max CONC
max Charge
HF, HS, Vigor, Redemption (1), Mediation (1), Salvation (1)
+9 all skills or +5 all skill with full resists/tweaked setup
My current equipment:
Helm: rare, tarn
Armour: silks, skins
Scepter: priests war scepter of apprentice
Amulet: rare priests
rings: 2xsoj, 2xresists, 1xfast cast
boots: rare
belt: lenymo
shield: WoTe, Sigons
gloves: magefist
As you can see, I went full 103 str, so I can use most things I find (AC is not important remember?), giving me much greater flexibility with rare items if I find any worth replacing the uniques with. You soon have enough life/mana, so at high levels, you can afford to be that much more flexible. (added: Until I find a decent damaging scepter, or one with piercing too, then I rely 99.9% of the time on bh/conc, you CAN almost always find a position to hit a creature with practice. I've found 103 str too much with my latest hammerdins who DONT charge, prefering 45/55/75).
Hotkeys:
Good hammerdins, as with many skilful players (read non-ww ww ww babas) reset their skill keys so that they are all within reach (ESC>OPTIONS>CUSTOMISE KEYS). My keys:
R CONC
F BH (left mouse)
E Vigor
D Charge (left mouse)
W Redemption
S Holy Freeze
Q Holy Shield
A Town Portal
All the best, I hope you enjoyed reading this guide and that it may give you an insight into the hammerdin world.
Puffin, Europe Realm
"Hammerdins are respected, feared, and welcome everywhere they go."
Acknowledgements: Lance WhiteFist for his excellent Hammerdin/Charger guide, which started me upon this path, and all the input from the diabloii.net paladin forum - thx guys =)