Sgt. Hammer - Rework by Vitali

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Sgt. Hammer - Rework

By: Vitali
Last Updated: Nov 13, 2021
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Sgt. Hammer - Rework

Siege Tank Operator

First of all, the goal of this rework is to make Sgt. Hammer less of a polarizing, feast-or-famine hero by redistributing her power from her Siege Mode to her Tank Mode. Of course, with less budget on being stationary, she won't need so much protection from neo steel plating so I opted to introduce a new basic ability (Hellblazer canons) to compliment her Tank Mode better without requiring too much new model making. By making Siege Mode be in a timed duration, I hope to make Hammer more mobile without making her range too oppressive (I am aiming for a rework similar to Sylvanas's Black Arrows changes). Her lack of mobility has been a point of contention since it's her biggest weakness that's so extreme and easily exploited, but we couldn't do much about it since her 100% increased range uptime is so oppressive. Hopefully, this rework can resolve that.

Sergeant Alabama "Bama the Hammer" Kowalski, the Siege Tank Operator, is a Ranged Assassin Hero from the StarCraft universe. She has served some of the toughest tours around the Koprulu sector. The thunderous roar of her siege tank's shock cannon strikes fear right into the heart of the toughest of warriors... including some of her allies.

Sgt. Hammer is a long-range Physical Damage dealer who is excellent at sieging enemies from afar if protected by her allies.

Vitals
Health: 1720
Resource: 500 Mana
Attack Damage: 120
Attack Range: 5.5
Attack Speed: 1.20

Change Logs
13/11/2021
- Revert spider mines change back to it being able to chase enemies
- Made some talent adjustments
- Reworked Hellblazer Canons to no longer allow Hammer to AA while moving and now just gives a ramping AA speed buff.

Combat Trait

1
D - Siege Mode
Cooldown: 40 seconds
Activate to enter Siege Mode after 1 second for 12 seconds. While in Siege Mode, gain 100% increased Basic Attack Range and her Basic Attacks deal 30% more damage and splash in a radius to deal 25% damage. However this also reduces Sgt. Hammer's Movement Speed to 50% and her Attack Speed by 0.45. Can be reactivated early to transform out of Siege Mode.

The purpose of this rework is to make Sgt. Hammer less polarizing. I'm doing this by making her siege mode to be a timed duration ability to hopefully redistribute her power budget into her Tank mode more by making it similar to what they did with Sylvanas's Black Arrows. The Cooldown starts after cast.

I'm giving Hover Siege Mode baseline because I feel like this makes Hammer less feast-or-famine because now at least she can try to dodge out of enemy abilities. The nerfed baseline Armor is because Neosteel Plating won't be needed anymore since my rework aims to make her less dependent on being stationary. The reduction in AA Speed is because I'm trying to mirror SC2's siege tanks where they get increased AA damage but significantly lower AA speed. Also, this hopefully offsets the damage bonus increase.

Primary Abilities

1
Q - Spider Mines
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Mana: 50
Create 3 mines that arm and become stationary after 1 second. When enemies get within their radius, they will chase them and detonate, dealing 87 damage in an area and Slowing enemies hit by 25% for 1.5 seconds. Mines last for 45 seconds.
While in Siege Mode, cast Range is increased by 100%.

The reduction in arming time is shortened to make it a more reliable Slow and damage ability instead of a zoning one. This should make them more fluid to use. A combo I was thinking is possible is to W someone into a bunch of armed mines and they will quickly take damage and be Slowed. Other attributes like range and projectile speed and mine health are still the same.
2
W - Concussive Blast
Cooldown: 14 seconds
Mana: 40
Deal 120 damage to enemies in front of Sgt. Hammer and knock them back.
While in Siege Mode, Radius is increased by 50%.

Unchanged from her previous W ability, except for the reduction in damage and mana cost. Hammer won't be depending on this ability as heavily as she used to since she'll be a lot more viable while in Tank Mode, so a reduction in significance I think is in order.
3
E - Hellblazer Canon
Cooldown: 16 seconds
Mana: 45
Activate to gain 12.5% increased Attack Speed everytime Sgt. Hammer attacks an enemy, stacking up to 6 times and lasting for 8 seconds. While this is active, Basic Attacks deal an additional 25 damage over time, stacing up to 6 times.
While in Siege Mode, this ability also allows Sgt. Hammer to attack while moving.

This ability replaces Neosteel Plating. I think that because Hammer needn't be stationary as often as she was, she would not need this ability (and perhaps the less armor can be a weakness to offset her Tank Mode's DPS increase). This ability emphasizes the mobility granted by Tank Mode. Also, because it's a Basic Attack modifier type of ability, it won't require extensive remodeling of Hammer.

Heroic Abilities

1
R1 - Blunt Force Gun
Cooldown: 70 seconds
Mana: 100
Fire a missile across the battlefield, dealing 500 damage to non-Structure enemies in its path. After 1.5 seconds of traveling, can be reactivated once to detonate the missile, dealing an additional 400 damage to all enemies in a radius, dealing 90% less Damage to Structures. The missile is destroyed after detonating.

The added detonation component is just to add some spice to a boring ability while also encouraging its usage from a further away range instead of just being activated in mid of team fights for extra burst. You could say this is a "Siege Mode" heroic option. The explosion radius is similar to Hanzo's Dragon Arrow.
2
R2 - Napalm Strike
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Mana: 35
Deals 164 damage on impact, and leaves a napalm area that deals 50 damage per second. Lasts for 4 seconds.
While in Siege Mode, increase the impact damage by 20%.

This heroic is virtually unchanged apart from the increased CD to offset Tank Mode's new redistributed power budget. The extra component in siege mode is just a little bonus to spice up this heroic.

Special Mount

1
Z - Siege Thrusters
Cooldown: 50 seconds
Increase Movement Speed by 60% for 4 seconds. Thrusters are always active while at the Altar. Activating Thrusters cancels Siege Mode.

Hammer's thrusters see a slight nerf in its CD because now it won't depend on its immediate mobility when in siege mode as much and can act similar to regular heroes with Tank mode.

Level 1

D - Demolitionist (NEW)
Basic Attack in Tank Mode splash to deal 25% damage. Basic Attacks deal 50% more damage against Non-Heroes. While in Siege Mode, increase this bonus to 100%. This bonus damage affects Hellblazer Canon's damage over time.

D - Advanced Artillery (ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY)
Increase Siege Mode' splash radius by 50% and its damage to 50% of the primary damage. Basic Attacks in Siege Mode deal 2% more damage for every 1 range they damage enemies in.

D - Ambush (ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY)
Entering and Exiting Siege Mode grant Stealth for 8 seconds and Unrevealable for 0.5 seconds. The first 3 Basic Attack after breaking Stealth deals 50% more damage. Armed Spider Mines are Stealthed and hidden from enemies.

Level 4

AA - Regenerative Bio Steel (ADJUSTED FUNCTIONALITY)
Basic Attacks heal for 20% of the damage dealt. Increase this amount to 30% while in Siege Mode.

D - Siege Tactics (NEW FUNCTIONALITY)
While in Siege Mode, gain 15 Armor. Hitting enemy Heroes with Spider Mines or Concussive Blast grant 50 Spell Armor against the next enemy Ability and subsequent abilities within 4 seconds. Stores up to 2 charges.

W - Barricade (ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY)
Reduce Concussive Blast's cooldown by 4 seconds and when cast create an impassable wall in front of Sgt. Hammer for 4 seconds. Additionally, Heal for 70% of the damage dealt to enemy Heroes.

Level 7

Q - Pulse Detonation Core (ADJUSTED FUNCTIONALITY)
Spider Mines explode 3 times over 1.25 seconds. Each enemy Hero hit by Basic Attacks grants 4 Mana and reduces the Cooldown of Spider Mines by 1 second. Increased to 2 seconds in Siege Mode.

E - Hover Siege Engines (RENAMED, ADJUSTED FUNCTIONALITY)
Casting Hellblazer Canons in Tank Mode grants 25% Movement Speed for 4 seconds. Increase Siege Mode's Movement Speed to 75%.

Active - Neosteel Plating (NEW)
Cooldown: 40 seconds.
Activate to gain 300 Shield that grants Unstoppable for 4 seconds.

Level 13

Q - Tactical Mine Deployment (NEW FUNCTIONALITY)
Gain 2 additional charges of Spider Mines and increase their Slow amount by 20%.

E - Rapid Fire Mortar (NEW)
Basic Attacks against Heroes extends Hellblazer Canon's duration by 1 second.

Z - Hyper Cooling System (RENAMED, ADJUSTED FUNCTIONALITY)
Hitting Heroes with Basic Attacks reduce the Cooldown of Siege Mode and Siege Thrusters by 1.25 seconds.

Level 16

Q - Shrapnel Mines (MOVED FROM LEVEL 20)
Upon detonating, Spider Mines reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes hit by 20, up to 40, for 4 seconds.

E - Giant Killer (ADJUSTED FUNCTIONALITY)
Basic Attacks deal an additional 0.5% of enemy Heroes' maximum Health as damage. While Hellblazer Canon is active, increase this amount to 2%.

E - Siege Breaker (RENAMED, ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY)
Attacking a Hero that's Rooted, Slowed, or Stunned grants 25% increased Basic Attack damage for 3 seconds. Basic Attacks while Hellblazer Canons is active Slows enemies by 5% for 1.25 seconds, stacking up to 25%.

Level 20

R1 - Orbital BFG (ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY)
Reduce the Cooldown of Blunt Force Gun by 20 seconds. Blunt Force Gun's missile orbits the planet every 5 seconds. Only the last missile fired orbits. Additionally, detonating the missile redirects it.

R2 - Boom Goes the Hammer (RENAMED, ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY)
Gain 1 additional charge of Napalm Strike with a 6-second Cooldown in between uses. Increase the range of Napalm Strike by 75%, its impact area by 50%, and the impact area duration to 8 seconds. The impact area explodes after every 2 seconds to deal 90 damage.

Active - Immortality Protocol (NEW, ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY)
Cooldown: 150 seconds
Activate within 10 seconds of death to allow Sgt. Hammer to revive upon death after 4 seconds. After revival, gain Unstoppable for 1 second and reset the cooldown of Siege Thrusters.

D - Graduating Range (MOVED FROM LEVEL 7, ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY)
While in Siege Mode, Basic Attack range is increased by 1 every 1.75 seconds, up to 4. However, while at maximum bonus range, cannot attack enemies that are within 5.5 range. Passively increase Siege Mode's duration by 8 seconds.

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SMILE (1) | November 8, 2021 6:09pm
I don't like this rework at all. Hammer indeed needs changes to her talents, but not her abilities.

Abilities
Your rework basically removes what being a Siege Tank means.
Siege Mode MUST be her core ability, but you turned it into a "Press this in a teamfight to easily win, then forget about it until the next teamfight" type. This is bad.

Spider Mines are named like that for a reason. If they don't chase, they are no longer Spider Mines. Not to mention that such a change will leave you no choice but place them into bushes only.

Hellblazer Canon is just unfair and unfun to play against. It will remove any other DPS hero from the game, because why would you pick anything besides Hammer who can annihilate everything with D+E (maybe even without D) from Level 1 by dealing absurd amounts of AoE damage from a huge distance while also moving while attacking.

The only change I like is Blunt Force Gun. It's a really nice buff.

Talents
Level 1:
Demolition Expert and especially Advanced Artillery won't see any play. Why? Because Ambush is just beyond broken.
Giving Hammer 100% bonus damage for the next 5 attacks after using an insane D+E combo is already strong enough, maybe even too much. But ALSO giving her Spider Mines Ыtealth? There is a reason why Blizzard didn't add stealthed traps/mines. This buff should NOT exist.

Level 4:
Siege Tactics seems lackluster compared to other talents. Why would you pick 25 SA instead of Lifesteal?

Level 7:
Pulse Detonation Core wouldn't be a problem if Ambush didn't exist.
Hover Siege Engines is just too much. She can already move while attacking, and this talent turns her into a better Tracer.

Level 13:
Tactical Mine Deployment should be reduced to 1 bonus charge and 10% bonus Slow. Remember Zagara?
Hyper Cooling System seems too weak compared to other talents.

Level 16:
Giant Killer should NOT have this: While Hellblazer Canons is active, increase this amount to 3%. I can explain why.

Level 20:
How does the redirection of Orbital BFG works?
Boom Goes the Hammer removes BFG from the game. Why would you pick it when you can pick Napalm Strike and then have a supreme zoning tool at Level 20?
Immortality Protocol should not exist. Do you need an explanation on why giving a DPS hero Resurrect with lesser cooldown and cast time is a bad idea?

That's probably it. I hope you will see this comment and reply to it.
1
[-]
Vitali | November 9, 2021 11:52pm
"Siege Mode MUST be her core ability, but you turned it into a "Press this in a teamfight to easily win, then forget about it until the next teamfight" type."
Not saying that I agree that my iteration of Siege Mode is "press to win team fight", but there are plenty of other traits that functions similarly. Dragonqueen and Molten Core both are basically secondary heroics and they're more "press to win" than Siege Mode. Granted their CDs are significantly longer, but I don't think SM is too powerful. Maybe some talent interactions are overpowered but I'm working on that right now.

"Spider Mines are named like that for a reason. If they don't chase, they are no longer Spider Mines. Not to mention that such a change will leave you no choice but place them into bushes only." I share your sentiment, but I don't think having them needing to arm, chase, then rearm before exploding is a good fluid way for Hammer to be played (in my iteration of her at least)

"Hellblazer Canon is just unfair and unfun to play against. It will remove any other DPS hero from the game, because why would you pick anything besides Hammer who can annihilate everything with D+E (maybe even without D) from Level 1 by dealing absurd amounts of AoE damage from a huge distance while also moving while attacking." D+E combo which only comes online every 30 ish seconds that still reduces her mobility significantly and her AA speed even with the ability's AA speed buff. I personally don't think it's that powerful in SM. Maybe in TM, but I don't think so in SM.

"Demolition Expert and especially Advanced Artillery won't see any play. Why? Because Ambush is just beyond broken.
Giving Hammer 100% bonus damage for the next 5 attacks after using an insane D+E combo is already strong enough, maybe even too much." This I agree with. I went overboard with the numbers. "But ALSO giving her Spider Mines Ыtealth? There is a reason why Blizzard didn't add stealthed traps/mines. This buff should NOT exist"Well considering I've already removed their chase and reduced their damage, this is a pretty fine tradeoff imo. Also, Abathur already has stealth mines which are way more annoying.

"Siege Tactics seems lackluster compared to other talents. Why would you pick 25 SA instead of Lifesteal?"
Yes, I am aware of this and currently trying to adjust its functionality.

"Pulse Detonation Core wouldn't be a problem if Ambush didn't exist.
Hover Siege Engines is just too much. She can already move while attacking, and this talent turns her into a better Tracer.". Again, I don't think Stealthed mines are that much of an issue in Ambush. HSE is getting some adjustments.

"Tactical Mine Deployment should be reduced to 1 bonus charge and 10% bonus Slow. Remember Zagara?
Hyper Cooling System seems too weak compared to other talents." Yes, I went overboard with the bonus charges, but not the Slow imo. HCS I agree with, didn't know what talent to put there.

"Giant Killer should NOT have this: While Hellblazer Canons is active, increase this amount to 3%. I can explain why." I personally don't see the problem and 0.5% max health only seems pretty lackluster.

"How does the redirection of Orbital BFG works?
Boom Goes the Hammer removes BFG from the game. Why would you pick it when you can pick Napalm Strike and then have a supreme zoning tool at Level 20?
Immortality Protocol should not exist. Do you need an explanation on why giving a DPS hero Resurrect with lesser cooldown and cast time is a bad idea?"
OBFG's redirection is now instead of you recasting the ability to explode it, you can click the ability and have a target aim while the missile is moving (for example when you're trying to cast D as Qhira when she's spinning).
I went overboard with BGTH's numbers. It shouldn't deal that much damage and I forgot about the scaling.
For Immortality, I don't think it's too game-breaking especially when it competes with superior zoning and siege. The CD I agree should be significantly longer.

Thank you for your insightful feedback. They are noted, but I won't necessarily use them.
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