Best starter Hammer build in Monster Hunter Wilds

The best Hammer build in Monster Hunter Wilds is one that meets a simple criteria: It has to let you hit a monster in the head, and it has to let you do it a lot. Despite being a heavy-hitting charge weapon, the Hammer is a more nimble bludgeoning implement than you might expect, and it’s a fine weapon choice whether you’re leading the charge or hunting solo.

The main selling point of the Hammer is its capability to KO monsters with its blunt damage, guaranteeing a window where you and your hunting party can safely unleash your highest damage combos. Everyone loves having a capable Hammer main around, because Hammers bring free damage.

I’ll give you a rundown of the basics of Hammer gameplay in Wilds so that you can be the big bonking bro your friends are happy to have in their hunting party. Then I’ll set you up with a few suggested weapon and armor sets so you have a smooth experience smashing skulls across the Low Rank story campaign.

How to play Hammer in Monster Hunter Wilds

If there’s one thing to know about the Hammer in Monster Hunter, it’s that you should try to always be hitting the monster in the head. In Monster Hunter, dealing blunt damage to a monster’s head builds up a hidden stun damage meter; once a monster’s stun damage crosses a threshold, it’ll be KO’d, causing it to topple over and leaving it open to attacks.

If you’re switching to hammer from another weapon type, it can be nervewracking to spend your time fighting where many monsters are at their most dangerous. Luckily the Hammer is an extremely mobile weapon, with plenty of cancellable attack animations and forgiving recovery windows. Once you get comfortable, it’s possible to stick right at a monster’s face so you can deal those sought-after knockout blows.

The Hammer’s controls are pretty straightforward, relying on just a couple mainstay combos and charge attacks.

• Press Y for your standard attacks. This is a three-hit sequence, finishing with a heavy Upswing attack that, in addition to being a satisfying uppercut when you land it on a monster’s jaw, is also useful for hitting midair flying monsters. After the Upswing, you can transition into the new Mighty Charge. More on that below.

  The final Upswing also serves as an Offset Attack, which will knock monsters back if you time the attack to land during the monster’s attack animation.

• Press B for the Big Bang Combo. This is your highest damage default combo, but it’s also the one that leaves you the most vulnerable. It’s a five-hit sequence, ending with a Big Bang Finisher that does heavy damage. To reach it, though, you have to land every previous attack; one missed Big Bang ends the combo early, and puts you into a long recovery animation. When the monster is staggered, stunned, or toppled, this is the combo to reach for.

  You can also opt to transition into the new Mighty Charge in place of the Big Bang Finisher, extending the combo slightly for a bit more damage.

• Hold RT for charge attacks. As you hold the charge, you’ll drain stamina as you prepare heavier attacks. There are three successive charge stages, each producing a different attack. At charge level one, you’ll do a Charged Side Blow, a quick attack that easily chains into your Upswing combo. At charge level two, you’ll get a Charged Upswing, a lunging attack that’s great for closing distance to the monster. At the final charge level, you’ll do a Charged Big Bang, a heavy slam attack.

  While charging, you can press B to perform a Charged Step, tugging yourself a short distance across the ground with your Slinger to let you dodge without losing your current charge level.

• Many of your heaviest attacks lead into the new Mighty Charge. This is a second charge attack that serves as an alternate finisher to cap off your bread-and-butter combos. The most straightforward way to access it is by pressing B+Y while holding RT at charge level three, but you can also combo into it by pressing RT+B+Y at the end of your Upswing combo or in place of a Big Bang Finisher.

  Releasing the Mighty Charge early will perform a Mighty Charge Upswing, but fully charging it will perform a Mighty Charge Slam—one of your heaviest-damaging attacks. If you’ve got the opening for it, it’s almost always worth transitioning into a Mighty Charge off your Upswing and Big Bang combos.

• Pressing B+Y will start a Spinning Bludgeon during your Upswing combo or after a Mighty Charge. (Yes, if you’ve played Hammer before, this means you won’t accidentally start spinning off a charge attack anymore.) This is a sustained spinning attack that you can cancel out of early by pressing Y. If you don’t cancel it, you’ll go into a lengthy recovery animation, because you’ve made yourself dizzy.

  If you hold Y during the spin, though, you’ll prepare an Upswing attack like the one at the end of your usual Y button combo. Like the standard upswing, this is an Offset Attack, and can transition into yet another Mighty Charge.

In practice, Hammer gameplay looks like starting a combo with either a charge level one attack for capitalizing on quick openings, or opening with a charge level two lunge to close distance. From there, you’ll use your standard Y button swings, and either dodge out early if you need to or continue the combo until the final Upswing and transition into a Mighty Charge.

Assuming you KO or topple the monster along the way, you should switch to a Big Bang combo on the monster’s head while they’re vulnerable, again transitioning into a Mighty Charge for the final hit.

Best Hammer builds in Low Rank

In general, Hammer builds will prioritize skills that assist in stamina management. Because you drain stamina while charging, you’ll want to ensure you’ve got plenty to work with, both to ensure you can deal damage with your charge attacks and avoid it with your dodge rolls.

In Low Rank, we’ll be seeking out the Marathon Runner armor skill, which decreases sustained stamina usage for actions like sprinting and—for Hammer users—charging attacks. Eventually, we’ll pick up the Stamina Surge skill to increase our stamina regen rate. We’ll also be throwing in skills like Evade Extender that help with general gameplay comfort.

• First weapon: Chata Clobberer I

After starting with the Hope Hammer, you’ll pretty soon be able to craft the Chata Clobberer from Chatacabra materials, giving you a decent increase in raw damage and a handy defense boost while you’re at your squishiest.

• First armor set: Bone Helm, Bone Mail, Chainmail Gloves, Bone Coil, Leather Pants

The Bone pieces from your first round of armor crafting will last you most of the way through Low Rank, because frankly, the Low Rank options don’t offer much for Hammer users. With those three pieces, you’ll have maxed-out Marathon Runner, so your charged attacks will barely be draining your stamina bar. Chainmail Gloves and Leather Pants, meanwhile, give you a point in Geologist and Botanist, respectively, giving you some extra materials to speed up your early-game gathering.

• Second weapon: Jail Hammer I

Once you’ve killed your first Lala Barina, you’ll unlock the ability to craft the first stage of the Jail Hammer. You’ll lose a slight amount of raw physical damage compared to the Chata Clobberer II, but you’ll gain Paralysis damage, giving you two ways to disable monsters as you clonk them in the noggin. Between paralysis, KOs, and wound staggers, you’ll have plenty of room to work with through the duration of Low Rank.

• Second armor set: Bone Helm, Bone Mail, Balahara Vambraces, Bone Coil, Balahara Greaves, Leaping Charm I

After returning to the Windward Plains to hunt a Balahara, it’ll be time to swap in some new pieces and craft your first talisman. With Balahara Vambraces, Balahara Greaves, and Leaping Charm I, you’ll end up with max Evade Extender, which will greatly increase the distance you cover with a single dodge roll. I try to stack a couple points of Evade Extender in all my armor sets; it adds a lot of comfort and mobility, without messing with my sense of evasion frame timings like the Evade Window skill can.

• Third weapon: Jail Hammer II

Once you make your first trip into the Iceshard Cliffs, you’ll have your first encounter with Nerscylla, which will provide the necessary Nerscylla Claw for upgrading your Jail Hammer. Extra paralysis buildup and attack damage never hurt anyone.

• Third armor set: Bone Helm, Xu Wu Mail, G. Rathalos Vambraces, Xu Wu Coil, G. Rathalos Greaves, Leaping Charm I

Our armor set for finishing up Low Rank brings the most changes. We ditch two of our Bone pieces for Xu Wu Mail and Xu Wu Coil, providing two points in the Stamina Surge skill; the swap loses us a couple points in Marathon Runner, but those can be regained with decorations if desired.

We’ll be dropping our Balahara pieces for G. Rathalos Vambraces and G. Rathalos Greaves. In the exchange, we gain two points in the valuable Weakness Exploit skill, which gives an extra critical hit chance when we hit monster weak points. Conveniently, a monster’s face is almost always a weak point, and because that’s where we should be hitting with our Hammers, it’s a respectable boost to our damage numbers. If the drop to Evade Extender I is rough, see if you’ve got any decorations to bump the skill back up. If not, survival outweighs damage, so feel free to swap Balahara back in.

As an alternate option, you could swap the Xu Wu chestpiece for Rey Sandmail from Rey Dau, which gives a point of Constitution—a skill that decreases “fixed stamina depletion” from actions like evading. I personally prefer Constitution over other stamina skills, because I find evading uses more of my stamina than anything, but do what feels comfortable for you.

We’ll continue building on this guide for High Rank and endgame builds in the future, so stay tuned.