First Hammerdin

[yourlocaldj]

First Hammerdin

I'm making my first Hammerdin, he does good damage but I get owned quickly. I'm trying to figure out why.

Base Stats
Stats: 60 (156+ with gear)
Dex: 100
Vit: Everything else

Life: With CTA 2300.

Gear:
Shako
Maras Ammy
Hoto/CTA
Enigma
Spirit Monarch (I was thinking of getting a Pally shield but the defense are around the same)
Soj
Rare 10% fcr cast rate and other mods
Aldurs Boots

I have Anni and Torch in my stash

I try to solo hell but I get owned pretty quickly, I'm not sure why. Do Hammerdins need life leech? And can you leech life with the hammers?

 

[JayhawkFan]

Re: First Hammerdin

idk why you are getting owned but to answer your leech question.. No. Hammers are magical damage and therefore life leech is irrelevant.

 

[yourlocaldj]

Re: First Hammerdin

Is my defense too low? My defense with holy shield is only 6k+. I get hit 3-4 times and I'm dead in hell...okay well not 3-4 hits but a lot quicker than most hdims I assume. I maxed out everything I needed to, should I max out holy shield now for more defense? I'm thinking I should change my boots out to something else.

 

[mrbll]

Re: First Hammerdin

i personally recommend having max block (if you already dont) and using wizzy spike instead of hoto. and use a sacred targe spirit ( or highest base block) with 45+ res. and amge fist. you will have good fcr and maxed res and block. you should do maybe 10k damage ( torch anni few gcs.) and hit alot faster and maybe a circ wiith 20 fcr +2 pally skills and resistance if possible (very very very expensive)

 

[Mongdengee]

Re: First Hammerdin

biggest thing i see wrong with your gear list is your spirit mon. switch that out for a pally spirit with 45 rez. pally shields like sacred targe have up to 45 res on them in addition to the normal rez from the spirit rw. which is why pallies use pally spirits NOT monarch spirits. im not sure what your DR% is but you might need to add some more. i still think hoz > spirit for hdin and you will easily have max block with hoz. you didnt mention your belt but arachnids is best option and would help.

 

[Korgath]

Re: First Hammerdin

When you cast hammers, you should hold down the shift key and spam hammers with the left mouse click. Also ALWAYS have one point in the "one point skill wonder" REDEMPTION. Its like a permanent rejuv pot. As you kill monsters and your life and mana bulb gets down, use mouse scroll to up them both with redemption.

BTW you must hotkey concentration and redemption with say F8 and F7.

 

[jeremyrx]

Re: First Hammerdin

Well if you expect to not ever lose health I think you have unrealistic expectations. Through regular use of the skill redemption I almost never have to use my full rejuv pots, but I literally use this skill after every other fight. In fact, it got to the point where half my stash was big purples and I had to stop picking them up since I could use redemption anytime after my hammers had killed 10 or so mobs.

Also, you didn't mention what merc you are using and what he is wearing. If you are not using an Act 2 NM Defensive (Holy Freeze) merc then I would recommend it as when mobs are chilled the attack slower...

 

[Alash]

Re: First Hammerdin

It's sad that you spent 35 points in Strength, but that alone isn't the answer to your problems. Firstly, you want a Defiance merc as he will boost your armor to 11k, which means being hit 8% less - or, if you will, a free 8% DR boost. Secondly, your life is strangely low seeing that you have CTA (should be in the region of 3k), which can be caused by two things: 1) You have a Torch and/or Anni with very low +stats, and 2) You are not high enough level (which would be 90+).

As for getting a Pala Spirit, you most definitely need it, but for other reasons than the one you stated. You want it for its natural resists. And that would also answer another part of the riddle: I presume you don't have 75 all res? Not having that is, if anything, the main reason you're dying.

Also, what gloves are you using?

 

[Aluroon]

Re: First Hammerdin

It's sad that you spent 35 points in Strength, but that alone isn't the answer to your problems. Firstly, you want a Defiance merc as he will boost your armor to 11k, which means being hit 8% less - or, if you will, a free 8% DR boost. Secondly, your life is strangely low seeing that you have CTA (should be in the region of 3k), which can be caused by two things: 1) You have a Torch and/or Anni with very low +stats, and 2) You are not high enough level (which would be 90+).

As for getting a Pala Spirit, you most definitely need it, but for other reasons than the one you stated. You want it for its natural resists. And that would also answer another part of the riddle: I presume you don't have 75 all res? Not having that is, if anything, the main reason you're dying.

Also, what gloves are you using?

Replace Spirit with a Phoenix Shield. Godly.

 

[ColdFireSp]

Re: First Hammerdin

I would say that probably the main problem is your "playing style". With this I mean that perhaps you are thinking that the hammerdin can tank a large group of monsters with no problem at all, and that is not true in most cases.

First, do you have a merc? With him you will be two players and not one, so not every monster will attack you. Some will attack your merc who is able to tank that attacks with the correct gear, some nice defense, reduced damage, resists and leech. You also can benefit a lot from his auras if you get an act 2 merc. With holy freeze monsters will move slowly through your hammers, that's cool. If you give him an insight polearm you'll be always plenty of mana. Hire a merc if you haven't done yet.

Second, it's more important to cast hammers properly than getting a sky full of hammers with no sense. You can have 2 or 3 monsters around you and if you are not in the correct position against them you can cast hammers for minutes without hitting them. Hammers come out from the 9 o'clock of your char. Practice where you have to place against monsters to hit them properly. A sky full of hammers is only nice when monsters walk to you. Think that ranged attackers, souls and other monsters usually don't come near you, so if you don't cast hammers from a correct place they will be between two lines of hammers and you will not hit them.

Third, you are a paladin, get a paladin shield. You'll have the same spirit stats but a lot of added resists. And with the correct shield you'll need less dex to have max block, so you'll place more points in vit. If you haven't high resists in hell you'll be dead, it doesn't matter if you cast high damage hammers.

You have very nice gear, 18% reduced damage from shako and enigma and 2300 life is not really high but you should not be owned that easily. Think that you're a caster. You want monsters to be hit by your hammers while you're out of their range. I think that working a bit on that is the most important thing you need.

 

[ColdFireSp]

Re: First Hammerdin

Replace Spirit with a Phoenix Shield. Godly.

Not as godly as 125% faster cast rate. And getting 125% fcr without spirit will cost you a fortune.

Sure Phoenix is comfortable but you can flash redemption after killing a group of monsters. We still want to play this game, dont we?

 

[Alash]

Re: First Hammerdin

Replace Spirit with a Phoenix Shield. Godly.

I disagree. You want the 125% BP, and with Phoenix I don't see that happening (yeah, I know, 2/20 amulet and god knows what, but if he's got that sort of capital it's likely he'd be the one telling us how to do things, and not the other way around). It's a great shield, but the sacrifices you must make to get it makes it not worth it in my book.

I would say that probably the main problem is your "playing style". With this I mean that perhaps you are thinking that the hammerdin can tank a large group of monsters with no problem at all, and that is not true in most cases.

Though commen sense wants me to agree with that statement, having played the Hammerdin extensively for quite some time now I have to say, that it's a truth with modifications. If it's not elemental damage, you can virtually tank 20 mobs in Chaos Sanctuary in an 8 man game without being remotely close to trouble. If it gets elemental then there's a good chance it gets ranged, which resets the idea of tanking in the first place. With that said, I most definitely agree that it's likely to be an issue with play style. One has to learn the limits, I guess.

 

[doomstriker]

Re: First Hammerdin

Two things you might be doing wrong.

1. make sure you max resists, maybe use wizspike and spirit sac targe like other have said
2. playstyle - lure packs into your hammer field and hot key redemption for a quick refil, its a life saver

I've only got 1200 health and 6K hammers but take on 8 player hell with ease.

The only thing the gives me real trouble are packs of stygen dolls, those little bastages always jet right through my hammers and blow up in my face.

 

[yourlocaldj]

Re: First Hammerdin

Thanks for the replies. To answer some questions:
I do not have a merc (I should get one but I used up all my stuff on good items for pally and other charc)
As for the belt, I am using Arachnids.
As for gloves, I'm using Trang-Ouls for the FCR
Most of my items are mediocre at best..meaning my items aren't perfect.
I have no charms besides Anni/Torch
My poison resist are maxed, the rest are in the 60's
Since this is my first time using a hdin, I don't know how to aim the hammers (obviously)
I'm level 86 now, with CTA my hammer dmg is 12k and I have 2500+ life (not exactly sure how much I have). If I switch my spirit and use my cta, I have more life.

I think I made the mistake of putting in too much dex and str for the Spirit Mon. I had the Mon on my druid and decided to just transfer all the items and make a hdin. I realized that I never had a point in redemption and I admit, it makes hell of a difference. I guess I'll just have to practice aiming my hammers more.

 

[Mongdengee]

Re: First Hammerdin

its not really about aiming since your basically holding down shift and left clicking to spam hammers but more about placing yourself right beneath your target and hammering away. This is especially important in cramped areas where you cant just spam a field of hammers for mobs to walk in to. As long as you can keep mobs hammered they wont hit you.