Sgt. Hammer Build Guide “Napalm's airborne!”

HomepageHeroes of the StormSpecialist HeroesSgt. Hammer

Last updated on Sep 13, 2016 at 05:30 by Oxygen 34 comments

General Information

Welcome to our Sgt. Hammer guide for Heroes of the Storm. Here you will learn everything you need to know in order to play Sgt. Hammer in a competitive environment, whether you play on your own or with a team.

Note that this guide is still in our older format and it will eventually be moved to the new format. More information here.

About the Author

Oxygen is a veteran of the MOBA genre, which he has been playing for nearly 15 years. He has coached some of Heroes of the Storm's most prominent North American players and teams alike, including Team Liquid. As a Master player, he enjoys playing all Heroes and roles.

1. Quick Reference

Hover Siege Artillery: Focuses on dealing long-range sustained damage

Sgt. Hammer synergizes with

Sgt. Hammer is countered by

Sgt. Hammer's stronger maps

Sgt. Hammer's average maps

Sgt. Hammer's weaker maps

Ability Usage:

Use Thrusters sparingly; they are your only reliable method of escaping opponents.
Sgt. Hammer's low Mana costs allow you to use Spider Mines on cooldown to protect your flanks.
Be careful with Siege Mode, especially during team fights; it makes you a prime target, and does not yield a DPS increase.
Napalm Strike is useful for quickly checking Bushes, dismounting or revealing opponents, and clearing Zagara's Creep Tumours.

2. Introduction

Sgt. Hammer is a ranged Specialist that excels at dealing large amounts of sustained damage from a very long range. Her unique playstyle, relative lack of mobility, and her fragility mean that her allies must adopt a patient playstyle in order to get the most out of her.

3. Strengths

Very high single-target and area of effect sustained damage
Good waveclear
Good poke
Outstanding PvE damage

4. Weaknesses

Exceedingly dependent on proper positioning
Vulnerable to Assassins
Vulnerable to crowd-control
Very limited out of combat mobility, due to not having a regular Mount
Limited team fighting utility
Peculiar playstyle around which your team must play

5. Role in the Current Meta

Although classified as a Specialist, Sgt. Hammer plays like an Assassin; her primary goal is to inflict damage to whatever is in sight. The main difference between her and regular Assassins, however, is that she does not possess a regular Mount, greatly limiting her map presence. The trade-off is that she has Thrusters Icon Thrusters, which innately grant her a strong and very useful but cooldown-gated speed boost. She can also enter a Siege Mode Icon Siege Mode, which makes her unable to move but nearly doubles her attack range, and makes her deal additional PvE damage. This makes her, as the ability's name implies, an excellent sieger.

Since Heroes of the Storm is a game that is defined by the rotations that its various map objectives call for, having such an immobile Hero as part of any team composition requires very specific adaptations from the part of any team that is willing to pick her. Sgt. Hammer players must also be very critical of their own ability to predict necessary rotations ahead of time, so that they are rarely out of position and unable to assist their teammates.

In general, Sgt. Hammer simply does well against team compositions that lack hard-engages, and as part of teams that can properly protect her, allowing her to freely decimate her foes and safely take down structures.

6. Contents

To make it easy to navigate the guide, we have split it into 5 pages:

Abilities: a quick overview of your hero's abilities;
Talent Build: learn how to choose your talents;
Strategy, Tips, and Tricks: master your hero and his abilities;
Synergies and Counters: find out the heroes you are best suited to counter and those you should avoid fighting;
Map-specific Advice: learn how to excel in each of the maps.

Abilities⋙

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