Thunder hammer feedback

[Reginald]

@hgjw

enemies go for like 0,2 seconds “oh crap that dude went to the moon”.

I think you’re looking for the suppression mechanic.

@Rainman

It’s just one of my main gripes with it is that the heavies throw around trash yards away, then you gotta go around to each one and bonk them with slow ass attacks. It’s a total slog to go around and bonk everything that flew 10ft from you when you otherwise could’ve already killed them all off while they were grouped up.

As an avid hammer user I don’t find this too bad or tedious and I find the high stagger and knockback/knockdown to be quite handy. I would be satisfied with adjusting the hammer charged attack mechanics first and foremost.

Thunder Hammer Charged Heavy

Considering that’s an exploit it will presumably either be patched out or enhanced and formalized (which is what i propose) But you do bring up a good point. I’m typically stubborn about not using exploits but i could test my proposed change out, in part. Actually Pmaul is objectively kinda pathetic. The two ton man with the fridge on a stick takes two unpowered swings to kill a poxwalker. I plan to write a proposal on this front too. Keep in mind Pmaul heavy swing does 189~ damage. Meanwhil…

I have had the opportunity to try out this technique in earnest today. It backs up my proposed solution which I proposed in a previous thread also linked above.

@Reginald

In light of this i reject my previous restrained enhancements propose the following;

1. Eliminate the self recoil on the hammer
2. Charging the weapon will allow 3 or 4 swings before needing to be recharged
3. Damage is still single target, first hit.

But I am going to actually propose something extremely radical, a departure from the current norm of Power Weapons in general. Give the Thunder Hammer an on-off switch.

The new Thunder Hammer design is as follows:

1. Eliminate Self Recoil on the charged hammer attack EXCEPT when hitting a monstrosity
2. The weapon’s charged mode can be toggled on or off and lasts infinitely
3. Charged attack damage is single target, first enemy hit as it is currently
4. Enemies who are killed by a charged heavy gib in the direction momentum of the swing
5. Enemies within 1 or 2 meters (very close) of an enemy killed in this way flinch (this will not be a powerful enough effect to suppress incoming attacks, its more for feel than utility)

Justification:
Charging the hammer over and over is tedious busywork. Unlike other powered weapons the Thunder Hammer, when charged, fundamentally changes weapon behavior entirely. You are sacrificing ALL cleave damage and cleave stagger for single target. This is already sufficiently punishing to the player to be running around in charged mode as it is. It has absolutely no value against hordes in this state and is a poor weapon against hordes in uncharged mode, only benefiting from its high stagger and single target KO on heavy swings. HOWEVER eliminating all recoil and charging animations from the hammer against monstrosities would result in them becoming incredibly easy meat for the Zealot. Thus ruining the fun for everyone. Adding the recoil against monstrosities actually enhances the fun by creating an additional layer of skill ceiling when fighting these most dangerous foes. Furthermore this keeps the character of the weapon without treading on the territory of either the Eviscerator or the Crusher.