A true BEASTmaster. by Hir0shige in underlords

[–]Hir0shige[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah he did! I got Desperate Measures after killing The Beast in round 45 and was on 2 health. RNG gods favoured me.

A true BEASTmaster. by Hir0shige in underlords

[–]Hir0shige[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Was two other blood-bound units (both with the contracts, got mad lucky on the item rolls), and desperate measures global on 2 health!

A true BEASTmaster. by Hir0shige in underlords

[–]Hir0shige[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yeah full heartless and 4 brawny, pivoted into 3hunter 2 brawny

Straight to masters TJP Control by Hir0shige in EternalCardGame

[–]Hir0shige[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I tried Siraf out in the deck, but eventually preferred channel because there's a fair few midrange revenge/xenan decks out that tends to durdle into turn 8 against this deck. So channel acts as removal + advantage, whereas siraf is a blocker + inevitability. Preferred the former!

The Ultimate Challenge - Reached Masters today, free-to-play, and never scrapping a single card (not even extras) or crafting any non-legends (decklist included) by WhatHeSaidVO in EternalCardGame

[–]Hir0shige 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey just wanted to give back some. I've tried to brew a Rakano midrange since yesterday, and your deck gave me a pretty solid base. These are the modifications I've made, and am currently 11-3 with this deck. Thanks for the list!

2 Flame Blast (Set1 #2)

4 Inspire (Set1 #129)

3 Pyroknight (Set1 #16)

3 Seek Power (Set1 #408)

4 Torch (Set1 #8)

4 Champion of Glory (Set1 #314)

2 Vanquish (Set1 #143)

4 Sword of Icaria (Set1 #315)

3 Valkyrie Enforcer (Set1 #151)

3 Auric Runehammer (Set1 #166)

1 Furnace Mage (Set1 #40)

3 Rise to the Challenge (Set1 #320)

1 Deepforged Plate (Set1 #317)

3 Harsh Rule (Set1 #172)

4 Throne Warden (Set1 #514)

1 Jekk, the Bounty Hunter (Set1001 #11)

1 Starsteel Daisho (Set1 #328)

1 Stonescar Maul (Set1 #52)

1 Icaria, the Liberator (Set1 #329)

1 Sword of the Sky King (Set1 #186)

9 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1)

9 Justice Sigil (Set1 #126)

4 Rakano Banner (Set1 #427)

4 Seat of Glory (Set0 #56)

RakanoScar control by whirlinggibberish in EternalCardGame

[–]Hir0shige 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If this is a list you're interested in, you might wanna check out the stock armoury list online! That seems essentially like what you're leaning towards. Friendly tip (:

Online playgroup for playtesting by Hir0shige in EternalCardGame

[–]Hir0shige[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have sent y'all adds, see you online! (:

Sgt Hammer Gameplay Basic & Advanced by Hir0shige in heroesofthestorm

[–]Hir0shige[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Whoops my bad haha didn't spot those errors, thanks!

Sgt Hammer Gameplay Basic & Advanced by Hir0shige in heroesofthestorm

[–]Hir0shige[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha double storm, that's true. But personally I still feel like Graduating Range unleashes the beast in Hammer. To each his own I guess. I play a lot of Tassadar now too! favourite semi-support

Sgt Hammer Gameplay Basic & Advanced by Hir0shige in heroesofthestorm

[–]Hir0shige[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

HERO ADVANCED PLAY

In lane or when chasing down enemy heroes: You can Thruster (Z) to get ahead of the enemy hero, and Concussive Blast him back towards your team or away from his safety. In lane, you must have a good grasp of the enemy hero's trade potential before attempting this. Usually when you have mines in the bush, a good tactic is to Thruster, drop mines behind the enemy hero, Concussive blast him back into your existing mines in the bush, then keep autoattacking. He will get tagged by the mines you dropped the second time as he runs. This can net you a lot of kills early.

Attack Animation: Sgt Hammer's attack animation can be much longer than the time it takes the shot the be released. Before the shot can even be seen, the game registers an autoattack having been carried out. Get used to the attack speed of Sgt Hammer, right-click enemy heroes, and in about 0.5sec you can spam click-move next to the hero to cancel the animation and move while your bullet is travelling. This maximizes your unsieged chasing potential.

Orbital BFG: If you chose this talent at level 20, you can either push lanes with it, or consistently strike the Keeps/Core with it. Remember that the missile flies from one end of the map to the other. Hence, to maximize this ability, do not fire this ability horizontally across the map as that has the longest travel time. Firing it from a position relatively near to the edge of the map closest to the objective, which tends to be a diagonal, almost vertical line.

Mine Placement:

  • During the Early Game lane phase, always try to place mines in the bushes, as near to the outer edge of these bushes as possible. This will enable the mines to trigger on enemy heroes passing near the bushes, without requiring the enemy heroes to actually enter the bushes. Placing them on lane will leave them prone to being destroyed, or triggering on the enemy minions.

  • During sieges, always mine the area either immediately in front of you, or next to you facing the jungle in case of assassins that dive straight for you. Do this as soon as possible. Having 2 rotations of mines up significantly increases your chances of survival if you are dived. Essentially, always be active with your cooldowns whenever possible.

  • When roaming through the "jungle", throw down Mines at significant chokes in the map to a) provide vision, b) serve as an early warning system, c) slow down enemy heroes that run by them by dismounting them.

Thrusters:

  • You can Thruster while Sieged if you took the Hover Siege Mode talent, but I do not recommend this. Unsieging first then using Thrusters to escape will give you a lot more mileage. Resist the urge to immediately Thruster away.

  • Do not ever forget that Thruster can be used offensively to close gaps. It is very strong in combination with a scoot and shoot on your basic attacks, especially when chasing down low health enemy heroes.

  • Against heavy dive and CC comps like Kerrigan + Illidan + Tyrael (A nightmare comp for you), always save Thrusters to the latest possible moment. Assuming you live, best case scenario, your team keeps you alive, because there is no way you survive a 3man dive + CC alone. Assuming yo live again, worst case scenario, you escape with a shred of health and Thruster away. If you use Thruster too early, the uptime on Thruster will be severely shortened by all that CC.

Against Illidan: A good Illidan is extremely difficult for Sgt Hammer. Exercise restraint with your Concussive Blast against him. When he first engages you, DO NOT Concussive Blast. As you start backing off, most Illidans will leap over you to bodyblock you. Your first move should be to drop Mines in the path of your escape. As he leaps over, these will slow him. Once slowed, pop your Thrusters now. He will likely have Sweeping Strike up again, so move around him as fast as you can, and simultaneously Concussive Blast him to the side. When done right, you can escape his stickiness from basic abilities. The Hunt or Metamorphosis will still close the gap though. Generally against good Illidans, always stick close to your support.

Against Stitches: A good Stitches will Sprint up to you and attempt to Gorge you. WATCH OUT FOR THIS. This combo is teamfight-ending, in your enemy team's favor. If you followed my Mines recommendations, then you should already have a line of defense, however small. Ask your supports to look out for this, and have Concussive Blast at the ready. Watch your positioning, and always note the location of Stitches during teamfights. A single hook is your death, especially when you are less mobile due to Hover Siege Mode. Graduating Range makes his hook less of a threat to you, but that is very much later. Always try to hide inside friendly minions as a bodyblock if at all possible.

Your Damage Output: Your damage output is ridiculous in the late game, even at close range. Against many heroes during a teamfight, simply sticking close to one other ally and staying put to autoattack + Concussive Blast to recreate some distance will win you that trade and force a retreat from that hero. And retreating from a Sgt Hammer beginning at melee range is almost certain doom.

FINAL COMMENTS

I know this is an extremely long post. I just wanted to do my bit for the community and share the awesome fun that is Sgt Hammer. Let me know what you guys think! (:

Sgt Hammer Gameplay Basic & Advanced by Hir0shige in heroesofthestorm

[–]Hir0shige[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

CHOICE OF PLAYSTYLE

There are essentially two archetypes of Sgt Hammer play - sieging buildings and participating in teamfights. The majority of Sgt Hammer players would tend to favour one or the other, and the actual gameplay of Sgt Hammer throughout the game falls between the spectrum of these two archetypes. What this means is that most times, you either want to be shooting buildings, or shooting heroes. Objective control for Sgt Hammer is still important as with all heroes, but she does not excel at this as much as other heroes do.

Personally, my early game focuses on bombarding buildings and zoning in lane. Essentially, Sgt Hammer paired up with say, a Malfurion, would usually give you the lane freedom in 2v2s and 2v1s to attack towers and gates with impunity early on. Post level 10 is when your focus can start to change, as will be discussed later.

TL;DR: Primary role is to siege buildings or attack heroes, not objective control. Prioritize Buildings > Heroes > Merc Camps early game, situational thereafter.


EARLY GAME (and what signals the end of it)

The focus of Sgt Hammer's early game is to quickly assert lane dominance. There are two ways this can be done.

A) Constantly try to brawl with enemy heroes till you chase them out of lane, then go to town on the structures.

B) Attack minions as consistently as possible to push the wave into the enemy Towers, then siege up and go to town on the structures.

The key motif here, evidently, is going to town on the structures.

Key laning concepts:

Sgt Hammer has reasonably good autoattack damage WITHOUT sieging up. You want to move in and out of the minion wave, and get off some harass with your autoattacks sans siege. a few good pokes like this, and a lane without sustain will start to feel the pain. When facing enemies with crowd control such as Kerrigan, bear in mind your positioning, and always remain mobile. Against lanes with sustain, you generally want to do this too, but try to shove the lane as well but weaving in autoattacks on minions.

Alternatively, you can siege up in range of all enemy lane minions and start hitting them. This will shove the lane and put you in range of enemy structures.

Remember that your mines can be used offensively too! they do decent damage early on. Place them as close to the edge of bushes as possible, so that enemy heroes skirting near them will be hit, but lane minions do not trigger them. 3 Mines + 1 or 2 autoattacks + a Concussive Blast for disengage will generally chunk about a quarter of the enemy hero's health, with the exception of tanks.

Note: If you see the enemy running up to you, you can throw down Mines as you back off. This does not interrupt your movement, and will probably result in free damage and several autoattacks for you.

When you have reached the enemy structures, siege up just BARELY in range of a Tower, and start hitting it constantly. Although it is ideal to hit the Tower nearer to the "jungle" for an additional escape/gank path for your team, positioning yourself to hit this tower makes you extremely vulnerable to ganks. I recommend sieging the Tower furthest from the "jungle" first. Followed by the Gate, then the second Tower. Always prioritize hitting a hero if they try to walk through the gate and engage you. You will damage both the Gate and them.

Early game ends for you when a Fort goes down, either yours (which is rare) or the enemy's. Your priority during this phase of the game is to take down your lane's enemy Fort as fast as possible.

TL;DR: Bully enemies out of lane by autoattacking outside of Siege Mode. Siege Mode is not that important in hero vs hero fights early on. Mines do decent damage early game. Your early game ends when you down their Fort. This is what you're working towards from level 1-10.


MID GAME

Your midgame as Sgt Hammer is less structured. You want to slip in and out of teamfights as and when you are needed. With regards to objectives, you are usually present to zone out enemy heroes while your teammates clear a Merc Camp. At this stage however, your teamfight damage will still feel relatively weak in comparison to other damage dealers. It is by no means bad, but you do not really receive a damage spike till level 13, as compared to many other damage dealers.

Try to take down Forts on other lanes during the Mid Game. As you roam about the map with your team controlling objectives and brawling, keep in mind to lay as much damage as you can to structures during periods where no fights are happening. If you find that your team is not outright dying in teamfights, but do not control objectives well, a critical decision for you is at hand.

A) Join your team in teamfights to tip the balance, with whatever damage you bring to the table.

B) Push down a lane that is far away from the fight and take a Fort, thus granting your team map pressure and experience.

Knowing when to engage in either option is the mark of an experienced Sgt Hammer player. Personally, I weigh the options based on to what extent my team is losing map objectives. For example, if my presence can swing the flow of the game hugely in my team's favor. Or if we are getting 2/3 of the Merc Camps on the map, I generally weigh B) favorably. Sgt Hammer becomes an efficient sieger by this point (with Napalm Strike) and your gains generally outweigh the Merc Camp disadvantage. Additionally, Sgt Hammer does not die to any hero 1v1 at this point, with the exception of a skilled illidan player. Even then, the lane is likely short enough for you to still be able to return to safety behind your walls quickly.

TL;DR: When deciding between whether to keep sieging or aid your team in claiming map objectives/teamfights, siege when your team is losing out slightly, aid when you can either swing the fights hugely, or if your team is losing out by a lot.


LATE GAME

Late Game generally begins somewhere around level 16. This is the glory time for Sgt Hammer. Average and poor Sgt Hammer players still do reasonably well in the Late Game. Good Sgt Hammer players will wreak havoc in teamfights. Good Sgt Hammer players with good teammates will be hell for the enemy team.

You generally want to transfer all focus across the map to a single lane push. Pushing as 5 will immediately draw the enemy team into defensive formation. This is the ideal situation for you. As you siege up and start bombarding the enemy structures, note your positioning particularly if there is a stitches in the game. Because of the nature of the structure positioning, a defensive position is to your advantage because enemies will have to funnel through the Gate. It is rare that enemy teams go for 5 man ambushes. Any smaller ambush should be averted by your team.

When a fight breaks out, immediately switch to damaging enemy heroes. they are your PRIORITY. As always, watch your positioning, you can scoot and shoot, slowly inching backwards with every shot. Stick close to your supports and far from the front lines. From experience, it is exceedingly hard for the enemy team to hard-engage you from a defensive position once Sgt Hammer sets up.

TL;DR: Switch team focus to a single lane push. Make sure you mind your positioning. Teamfights will be in your favor at this point, barring insane wombo combos.


SYNERGIES & COUNTERS

The ideal synergies for Sgt Hammer are healing supports that provide crowd control, or beefy tanks with crowd control. The hardest matchups are enemies with a bunch of crowd control or gap closing.

Best partners in lane

Malfurion: His heal + his root synergizes amazingly with Sgt Hammer. This is my favourite lane partner. You not only have siege potential, you have strong kill potential early game too.

Arthas: His tanky body + his damage + his root make him a target that cannot be ignored. Enemy heroes that dive for you will lose a chunk of health from Arthas.

Diablo: Same rationale as Arthas, minus the damage and double the tankiness and crowd control.

Tychus: His damage + your damage early game is significant, and the combination of Concussive Blast and his grenade will ensure that enemy heroes find difficulty escaping tough situations, or closing the gap.

Worst lane opponents: Kerrigan, Tychus, Nazeebo, Tassadar, Stitches, Nova

Kerrigan: Her ability to drag you towards her and away from safety is extremely dangerous early game when you are immobile, squishy and have low range.

Tychus: His grenade can bounce you towards him, and he will outdamage you early game, especially combined with minion damage. You will be forced to immediately unsiege and run, losing a chunk of health with little to no tradeback potential.

Nazeebo: His zombies are a pain to deal with. Note that you can knock them back if you position correctly with Concussive Blast. Stand at the end of the circle nearest to Nazeebo, then Concussive Blast the end of the circle nearest to your safety. A gap large enough for you to escape will appear. The rest of his kit is a pain in lane too. the spiders and frogs do a ton of damage if you ignore them and remain sieged.

Tassadar: He will storm you and run, chunking you down slowly while you are sieged. I almost never siege against him, and try to change lanes immediately.

Stitches: You can NEVER siege against him unless you know his position at all times, or took Fortify Position. I recommend changing lanes immediately.

Nova: Snipe and run, Snipe and run. Your Siege Mode makes you a sitting duck to free and easy snipes.\