Hammer Guide
Hammer chases the next clean hit on the head. Accurate blunt hits create stuns and heavier punish windows, and you can walk while charging, meet eligible attacks with an Offset upswing, or spend a long opening on Mighty Charge. Focus Strike: Earthquake presents a separate choice: burst a wound now or leave it available for later attacks.
Hammer has no shield. Its Offset works by colliding with an eligible attack, not by evading it.
This guide covers Title Update 4. Complete weapon controls are in the in-game Hunter's Notes; the official manual covers general controls. Combat Mechanics explains why the same swing can deal different amounts of damage. Every move is in Motion Values.
If this weapon is new to you, try it in the Training Area first. Use the in-game Hunter's Notes to practice its basic attacks; this guide explains how to connect them into a hunt.
Charge, Offset, and Mighty Charge
Hold the charge while walking toward a reachable head. Your charge level and whether you are moving when you release determine the attack, so do not keep charging after a shorter release already fits the opening. shortens charge times. Charged Step evades while preserving the current charge level, whereas a standard roll cancels the charge.
For the direct Offset route, charge until Lv 2 is ready and release the charged Upswing so it meets an eligible monster attack. Merely taking a hit while charging does not trigger an Offset: the released swing must collide with the attack. A successful collision can lead into Follow-up Spinslam. The third hit of the basic overhead sequence, Upswing, can also be held and released as an Offset. The quick upswing released at the start of Mighty Charge has the same property; if you keep charging, you instead prepare the slam.
Entering Mighty Charge from your neutral charge requires reaching Lv 3 first. An Upswing or Big Bang IV provides a faster combo entry. After a successful Offset, use Follow-up Spinslam, then transition to Mighty Charge if the monster will remain reachable. You can move while holding Mighty Charge, but its full slam needs enough time for the spinning hits and final blow.
During a knockdown, Big Bang through IV leads directly into Mighty Charge. Use that route only when the head will stay in reach for the sequence; otherwise, choose a shorter charged release and resume moving sooner.
Earthquake
Focus Strike: Earthquake enters a wound, deals repeated spinning hits, and bursts the wound with its finish. Bursting trades the wound's later damage bonus, including the wounded-part portion of when the hitzone also qualifies, for Earthquake's damage and the opening created now. Use Earthquake when that immediate conversion fits the hunt; leave the wound intact when you can keep landing ordinary attacks on it and want to preserve those bonuses. Hold the charge input as Earthquake connects to prepare a charged follow-up during the same opening.
Fight loop
Begin charging, walk near the head, release an attack into the opening, and begin charging again. When you can meet an eligible attack, prepare the charged upswing and release it so the two attacks collide. After a successful Offset, use Follow-up Spinslam, transition to Mighty Charge if the monster remains reachable, and then resume charging. Use Charged Step when you need to reposition without losing the charge. Commit to Mighty Charge only when the opening is long enough for the slam.
At the start of a hunt, begin with releases that fit the openings you already recognize. On Chatacabra, practice walking a charge into the head: blunt hits there build stun, and a head wound lets you practice the choice between Earthquake now and wounded-part damage later.
When the monster is down, use Big Bang through IV and transition to Mighty Charge only if the remaining knockdown is long enough. Resume charging as the monster recovers.
When an attack interrupts the loop, use Offset, Charged Step, or a roll. Hammer has no guard action.
Skills
No skill replaces judging whether an opening is long enough for the release you chose. Start with enough defense to survive mistakes, then support charge speed, stun buildup, affinity, Attack, and sharpness according to the equipment available. Eat before every hunt. Getting Started explains meals and pouch preparation. Combat Mechanics explains wounds. Aim blunt attacks at a stun-enabled head hitzone when you want to build stun.
Core
| Offensive (weapon) | Why |
|---|---|
| Shorter charge times let you reach a chosen charge level earlier in an opening. | |
| Raises stun buildup from blunt hits, so repeated head hits can produce a stun sooner. | |
| Raises the damage of physical critical hits; its value grows as the set gains affinity. | |
| and | Raise affinity and Attack; affinity above 100% has no effect. |
| Maintain the best sharpness color the weapon supports | Dropping to a lower color reduces physical damage. |
| Offensive (armor) | Why |
|---|---|
| Adds affinity when your attacks qualify on the head you are already targeting. | |
| Raises Attack and affinity while the monster is enraged. |
| Defensive | Why |
|---|---|
| Eat a grilled meal every hunt | Meal bonuses give you more margin for taking damage and spending stamina. |
| Upgrade the armor | Raise its Defense when incoming attacks become dangerous. |
| Reach 20 matching elemental resistance | Prevents the corresponding elemental blight. |
| Has a chance to reduce incoming damage. | |
| Lv 3 | Prevents stun, so one mistake cannot leave you unable to evade the next attack. |
Add in a group, but skip it when hunting solo.
The following skills are often added but are not required:
| Skill | Why | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Raises both damage and stun power for charged Hammer attacks. | Weapon | |
| Raises Attack while health is full; any unrecovered damage disables it. | Armor | |
| Adds affinity after stamina remains full; sustained charging and evasions can make that condition unreliable. | Armor | |
| Earthquake's repeated contacts can reach its larger temporary bonus; a lone charged hit triggers only the first-hit bonus. | Armor | |
| Temporarily raises elemental attack and status buildup after you recover from a blight or abnormal status. | Armor | |
| Raises part damage and also raises qualifying damage when a Focus Strike destroys a wound. | Armor | |
| Raises Attack and Defense after a faint; it helps recover a hunt rather than defining the build. | Armor | |
| Extends the invulnerability window of Charged Step, which already preserves the charge. | Armor |
Maintain a sharpness color
Choose sharpness support according to the weapon's gauge and how often the build lands critical hits. becomes more consistent as affinity rises.
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Adds sharpness when the gauge is not already full. | |
| Gives each critical hit an 80% chance not to consume sharpness. | |
| Prevents sharpness loss for a fixed time after you sharpen. | |
| Gives each hit a level-dependent chance not to consume sharpness. | |
| Removes cycles from the sharpening process. |
Comfort
| Skill | Why |
|---|---|
| Increases the health restored by healing items. | |
| Shortens the time spent drinking. | |
| The red portion of the health bar returns faster. | |
| Adds Defense after the armor itself has been upgraded. | |
| Lv 3 | Prevents elemental blights when matching elemental resistance cannot reach 20. |
| Prevents one qualifying lethal hit from causing a faint; the next hit can still faint you. | |
| Shortens the recharge time of mantles and other specialized tools. | |
| Prevents qualifying roars from canceling a committed attack. | |
| Extends evasive movement, but can carry the next charge away from the head. | |
| Sometimes uses a consumable without removing it from the pouch. |
Styles
The usual style focuses physical damage on the head.
| Style | Skills |
|---|---|
| Offset | reaches the Lv 2 charged upswing sooner, but no skill replaces learning which attacks are eligible and when to release. |
This hunt
These skills do not belong on every set, but the right monster can make one more useful than another generally applicable option.
| Skill | When |
|---|---|
| Use it when easier wound creation and its buildup damage support a plan to keep attacking the same reachable part. | |
| Use it when wind pressure would cancel Mighty Charge. | |
| Use it when tremors would cancel Mighty Charge. | |
| Use it when the hunt keeps a blight or abnormal status active often enough for its conditional Attack to matter. | |
| Use it when stronger flash attacks can help create head-level openings against a flying monster. | |
| Raises explosive-item damage; use it only when barrel bombs are part of the hunt plan. | |
| Makes the monster more likely to target you, which can keep its head in front of Mighty Charge but changes its attention in a group. | |
| Use it when water, oilsilt, or streams impair the movement needed to stay near the head. |
A monster can also make , , , , , or more useful than another damage skill. Carry Dung Pods when an unwanted large monster is likely to interrupt the hunt.
Skills that look better than they are
- Do not treat as another . It helps only when the monster's head remains available for blunt attacks.
- Do not use Focus Strike: Earthquake merely because a wound exists. Bursting commits the wound now and removes the bonuses it would provide to later attacks.
- Holding the charge while the monster hits you does not trigger an Offset. You must release the swing so it collides with the eligible attack.
- Releasing an Offset against an ineligible attack only sends the charged Upswing into the incoming hit.
- A short flinch may end before the full Mighty Charge slam lands.
- activates only after sliding on terrain. Use it only when your route provides repeatable slides without pulling you away from the head.
- supports mounting and wounds inflicted while mounted, but it does not improve the grounded charge loop.
- reduces stamina depletion only while health is at 40% or lower, so it is not a general solution for charge stamina.
Settings
Use Focus Mode to steer a charged release toward the head. Set automatic sheathe to Manual so waiting for an opening does not put the weapon away.
If the head drifts out of frame while you walk a charge, raise the camera before you release. A low view that clips into the body makes charge-level timing harder to judge and often sends the hit to the neck or chest instead of the stun zone.