Heroes of the Storm: Sgt. Hammer Talent Build Guide

Sgt. Hammer is a ranged Specialist who excels at dealing massive amounts of sustained damage from a very long range. Her unique playstyle, relatively less maneuverable, and her fragility meant her allies had to adopt a patient playstyle to get the most out of her.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Sgt. Hammer

Strengths:

• Good waveclear
• Good poke
• Outstanding PvE damage
• Damage sustains one target and the area of effect is very high

Weaknesses:

• Vulnerable to skillshots
• Limited team fighting utility
• Depends on the proper positioning
• The ability to move out of combat is very limited due to the lack of a regular Rack
• The special style of play that your team must play

Talent Build of Sgt. Hammer

Standard Build

Advanced Artillery (lv1) –Ambush – Maelstrom Rounds, Siege Tactics (lv4), Hover Siege Mode (lv7) – Graduating Range, Blunt Force Gun (lv10) – Napalm Strike, Hyper-Colling Engines (lv13), Giant Killer (lv16) – Mechanical Know-how, Ultra Capacitors (lv20).

This standard build focused on enhancing Siege Mode to maximize Sgt. Hammer damage from a high distance. While Hover Siege Mode is her most important Talent, the Graduation Range is great if an unskilled enemy hit you from afar.

At Level 16 Giant Killer is the standard Talent, but Mechanical Know-how is a good choice for more resistance.

Synergies and Counters

Synergizes with:

Hammer Guard! Her binary design makes her dependent on Heroes who have a way of keeping opponents away from her in order to thrive.

Countered by:

Ever since she needs to stay still in order to make the most of her Ability, she is naturally vulnerable to Heroes who use dangerous skills, especially skills that can make her teleport.

Maps of Sgt. Hammer

Her static nature makes her thrive on the Map with fixed Objectives allowing her to intimidate Heroes from range. On the contrary, she tends to be of limited utility when it comes to rapid group rotation.

Tips and Tricks

• Be careful with Siege Mode; although its damage boost may be appealing, it also makes you very susceptible to Skills.
• Economical use of Thrusters; They are your only reliable method of getting rid of the competition.
• Use Spider Mines while in Cooldown to protect your flanks. Keep the spiders away from Minions to preserve them.
• Concussive Blast deals very little damage; Use it to push enemies away from you or your teammates.
• Neosteel Plating should be used to avoid skill-based explosive damage, such as an impending Pyroblast.
• Napalm Strike is useful for quickly examining the Brush, disassembling or revealing an opponent, and deleting Zagara Creep Tumors.

Role in the Current Meta

The primary goal of Sgt. Hammer is to deal damage to anything in sight. However, the main difference between her and the regular Assassins is that she does not possess a Normal Mountain, significantly limiting her presence on the Map. The trade-off is that she has Thrusters, which innately gives her a powerful boost and is very helpful but calculated on Cooldown. She can also enter Siege Mode, leaving her unable to move but almost doubling her attack range. This makes her, as Ability’s name suggests, an outstanding catcher.