Hammers... How?

[Risky(Glyph)]

I've been an obligate GS main ever since I started MH. Nothing else feels as strong, mobile, or as fun.

That said, I do like the other weapons and I'd like to get better at them. I'm trying to run through the Arena quests and Rathian is trying my patience. The only options are hammers or hunting horns (which I've yet to even try)...

So how do you "git gud" with hammers? I find myself missing with the full charge tornado most of the time, and half of the other attacks just bounce off of Rathian. I know I can get it if I'm just slightly more patient, but it still totally feels like I'm doing something wrong.

HALP

[AmyRoxwell]

Knowing monster patterns and also being patience can help you, remember that you dont have to be literally 1 cm close to the monster, level 3 charge is really good but if you can, go for an golfswing, really good damage, always aim for the head for stuns but also use the damage to trip monsters.

[pepesito1]

first rule of the hammer club is to never use the spin attack. in generations some of the hunting styles removed the spin attack and it was actually a straight upgrade because it meant you could no longer do that attack accidentally

[pepesito1]

in newer games, hammer is, similar to greatsword, more about predicting monsters and placing yourself ahead of them so that by the time you do your level 3 slash/finisher golfswing, it would hit the monster. however in the first 2 generations of monster hunter, hammer doesnt really have that movility yet, and it relies almost exclusively on the level 3 superpounds. it relies on hit and runs, such as:

• place yourself behind the monster and charge your hammer to level 3
• the monster will most likely turn in place, when it finishes turning do the superpound
• roll to the side and repeat (not too different from greatsword)

the ordinary 2 slams and golfswing finisher you do by just moving the right joystick upward is almost exclusively for when the monster is toppled/paralyzed/etc, if you try to do it at any other time youll most likely get tripped by the monster turning and walking in place, etc.

overall the weapon is extremely strong for that very reason, the level 3 charge superpound is a very strong attack, very easy to do and hit with it, 90% of the damage you do in a hunt will come from superpounds

[jamie]

basically, you want to be holding a superpound charge more often than not, nearly all the time. rathian i think is an excellent monster for learning hammer because nearly every single animation she can get locked into can be safely punished with a superpound canceled into roll. if you don't know how to do a superpound (which i didn't for like my first 10 hours since i'd never played hammer in a monhun before >_<), you just have to release your level 3 charge (by holding R1) without holding any directions on the left analog stick. it has a pretty wide splash radius, so you often don't even need to make contact with the monster for it to do damage, though i imagine the splash does less damage. you can also unsheathe directly into your charge.

as everyone else has said, pretty much never do the spin attack. it's bad. you can cancel out of it by flicking the right analog stick, and depending on how early or late you do it, it'll cancel it into the level 2 charge attack or the golf swing. the only time i use it is if i am about to run out of stamina from holding my charge, nice thing is you start regaining stamina immediately after releasing iirc.

your 1-2-golfswing combo (3 swipes up on the analog stick) is your highest dps, and the golfswing can be roll canceled out of. the golf swing hits at an awkward angle, so when you get stuns and knockdowns (which is generally when you'll be doing this combo), you'll want to position yourself well enough so that the monster's head is caught by the swing. in the case of rathian, it's easy to have the first two hits connect with her wing instead of her head, causing it to bounce and kill your combo, so watch out for that as well.

i feel super spoiled playing hammer, because it has such high mobility and safe damage, as well as having elemental hammers for every element in village. it also has status hammers for every ailment in village. superpound also has bounce protection, AND you have wind resistance while holding a charge or in the middle of an attack done from a charge!!

[Risky(Glyph)]

basically, you want to be holding a superpound charge more often than not, nearly all the time.

OHHH SO THAT'S HOW!

Thank you so much to all of you! I was able to beat her without any problems!

I had no idea that you could do anything with the charge besides spin attack, it makes so much more sense to use the superpound though!

Wow, hammers are actually good!

[arkenDuelcalion]

superpound is definitely a good go-to bread-and-butter move! on top of everything already mentioned, it also deals wicked KO damage -- a good chunk more than most of your normal hammer attacks. landing these consistently enough on the head should make getting knockouts come pretty easy

the range of it can be dangerous, though, since the superpound launches hunters pretty hard. when hammering with others, just try your best to be mindful of your surroundings before letting loose. your partners will thank you (and owe you one for all the KOs you're getting)!

[shamino]

Why the disdain for the spinning attack?. I know is tricky to fully pull off, but I found it's neat to either finish into a charged swing 2 or a golfswing.

[Kirbincho]

Why the disdain for the spinning attack?. I know is tricky to fully pull off, but I found it's neat to either finish into a charged swing 2 or a golf-swing.

Scrubs can't handle the power of the SPIN

Jokes asides, it should be used mostly for status procs (Which is actually decent) and maybe elemental builds.But you're better using Sns/DB at that point. Also on MHDOS it doesn't do KO damage (This was changed on later games, but still negligible). The golf-swing finisher has higher dmg and KO values than a normal golfswing and can be pulled out faster. Of course, like every hard-hitter weapon, its about timing.
IMO, super-pound spam is an even worse noob trap, specially when someone keeps doing it on downed/knocked-out monsters.

[Lutyrannus]

Jokes asides, it should be used mostly for status procs (Which is actually decent) and maybe elemental builds.But you're better using Sns/DB at that point.

Don't forget crits! Like status, if crit procs, it procs for every single hit in the spin (until you input the ending attack).

Also on MHDOS it doesn't do KO damage (This was changed on later games, but still negligible).

Holy fuck, really? I had never noticed.