Scrapper - Explosive Hammer Roamer

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Strike damage and Sustain

Designed for: WvW Roaming

This build was last updated on May 14, 2023 and is up to date for the May 02, 2023 game patch.

Overview

A bruiser style WvW Scrapper roaming build with high damage and sustain focusing on Stability uptime and Might stacking. Quite durable overall because of the defensive boons and stats, but its limited amount of cleansing could make condition matchups difficult especially for beginners.

Skill Bar

Hammer

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

There are 2 viable picks for the optional slot, both of them offer Stability on their toolbelt which is what the build needs most:

• - has a cast time and offers less sustain vs strike damage than the gyro but provides better uptime on your offensive boons from both the main skill and as well as Resolution which is great against conditions in a build that lacks frequent cleansing.

• - very defensive skill with good barrier and Stability/anti-projectile on . More forgiving than Elixir B as both the normal and the toolbelt skills are instant and can be used even while CC'd, but offers worse Stability uptime and less boon diversity.

Elite

• - while the Stealth duration on this is extremely low, currently we recommend it because it's still a valuable escape tool. Without stealth you'll have a much harder time surviving outnumbered situations.

• - bit of a gamble as you have no control over which form you'll get, but both of them offer great mobility and CC at the very least. could also act as a finisher, allowing you to CC-chain low HP enemies to death.

• - ranged CC, combo field for stealth, bit of extra damage.

• - does great damage when spamming skills on it with Quickness but it's primarily a defensive pick because of the Blind and the extra healing, plus it has some useful combo fields for aura combos and even more healing with .

Anti-condition variant

If you're struggling against conditions a lot then you might want to try a combination of the following:

• for the optional slot for the Resolution uptime.

• with for reduced incoming condition duration and frequent access to Resistance. could also work, this works best against debilitating conditions like Weakness and doesn't lock you into a specific elite skill.

• Consumables that reduce incoming condition duration such as or .

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Specializations

Variants

• - trades sustain for better burst.

Equipment

Head
Celestial

Shoulders
Celestial

Chest
Celestial

Hands
Celestial

Legs
Celestial

Feet
Celestial

Backpiece
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Amulet
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Hammer
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Runes

There are several other viable runes, but taking for the optional utility slot is highly recommended if you're replacing Pack because otherwise you'd lose too much Fury uptime:

• - the build struggles a bit against conditions, this is an excellent defensive rune that could help you out in those matchups quite a lot. Works best with which allows you to proc the 6th bonus as often as possible for high Resistance uptime.

• - sort of a middleground between defensive and offensive runes. Has good stats, Might stacking synergy and offers some defense against conditions too.

• - general tankiness.

Sigils

can be replaced by:

• - improves Quickness uptime considerably and the ICD lines up perfectly with .

• or - more damage and synergy with a bunch of traits including .

• - could make your entire burst combo more deadly.

• - more condition removal.

Infusions

• A full set of Mighty WvW Infusions would also do just fine if you already have those and don't want to get a set of Precise ones.

Consumables

Food

• - passive strike damage mitigation and Celestial-like stats.

• - same stats as the Peppercorn version but this one reduces incoming condition duration. The build doesn't have great cleansing so this could make all the difference against certain specs.

• - cheap anti-condition food if you can't afford an ascended feast.

• - defensive option with synergy due to more frequent dodging.
  • - budget version.

Utility

• or

Usage

General

• Might stacking is one of the most important aspects of the build. Most of it happens passively whenever you use an elixir or have Stability thanks to and .

• Try not to overlap your Stability sources as the boon stacks in intensity, NOT duration! Maximizing Stability uptime is the goal.

• Stability sources in the build:
  • which is also your only stun break so be a bit careful.
  • procs.
  • or (depending on your choice of utilities).
  • , feel free to use it to bridge gaps in Stability uptime if you're not roaming in a group.

• Other important things to maintain are Swiftness and Superspeed as these heal you for a considerable amount through (or increase your damage via if you went for that trait).
  • Swiftness procs from every 30 seconds, the trait, , and (if taken).
  • Superspeed comes from , , and .

• Hammer skills 2-5 are both defensive and offensive in nature. does great damage in melee while reflecting projectiles, has a lengthy evade frame on top of being a double combo finisher and having high damage, stuns enemies while leaving behind a pulsing damage field.

• is the most defensive skill on Hammer. While the damage is mediocre it's still worth using it in melee as you gain barrier whenever the skill strikes an enemy, but even if you don't do that the block is still very useful.

• Most of the burst damage comes from and . Try to CC enemies with Thunderclap or use Stealth from to make these two skills easier to land, as it's easy to lose out on damage against moving targets.

• Condition cleansing is the build's real weakness, limited only to the passive trait and which you can proc by entering or leaving once every 9 seconds. Winning against condition builds is by no means impossible, but requires proper CD management especially chaining blocks, CC and evasion while keeping the pressure up and kiting a lot.

• The damage of is often underrated. With high Might and stacks this becomes a 1/4 sec cast ranged AoE burst CD.