Build: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

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on November 21, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 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

Elite

• Sneak Gyro - 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.

• Elixir X - 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. Rampage could also act as a finisher, allowing you to CC-chain low HP enemies to death.

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

• Elite Mortar Kit - 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 Rocket Charge.

Anti-condition variant

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

• Elixir B for the Resolution uptime.

• Rune of Superior Rune of Resistance for reduced incoming condition duration.

• Consumables that reduce incoming condition duration such as or .

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Specializations

Variants

• Object in Motion - trades sustain for better burst.

Equipment

Head
Celestial

Shoulders
Celestial

Chest
Celestial

Hands
Celestial

Legs
Celestial

Feet
Celestial

Backpiece
Diviner

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Celestial

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Celestial

Hammer
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Relics

• Relic of Vass - adds frequent Poison procs to the build for extra damage and healing reduction.

Sigils

Energy/Cleansing will give you a lot of extra survivability, but if you feel like you don't need them then other viable options include:

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Celerity - improves Quickness uptime considerably and the ICD lines up perfectly with Thunderclap.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Strength or Sigil of Superior Sigil of Battle - more damage and synergy with a bunch of traits including Applied Force.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Vision - could make your entire burst combo more deadly.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Generosity - 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. The stats from this and the Diviner backpack bump you up to ~25% boon duration. If you're using a different food, replace the backpack with Berserker and a ring with Diviner.

• - 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 Explosive Entrance 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 HGH and Applied Force.

• 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:
  • Elixir U which is also your only stun break so be a bit careful.
  • Applied Force procs.
  • Toss Elixir B
  • Function Gyro, feel free to use it to bridge gaps in Stability uptime if you're not roaming in a group and don't have to rez others with it.

• Other important things to maintain are Swiftness and Superspeed as these heal you for a considerable amount through Rapid Regeneration (or increase your damage via Object in Motion if you went for that trait).
  • Swiftness procs from the Hidden Flask trait, Elixir H, and Elixir B (if taken).
  • Superspeed comes from Toss Elixir U, Toss Elixir H, and Elixir H.

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

• Shock Shield 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 Grenade Barrage and Shrapnel Grenade. Try to CC enemies with Thunderclap or use Stealth from Sneak Gyro 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 Transmute and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing which you can proc by entering or leaving Grenade Kit 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 Function Gyro is often underrated. With high Might and Explosive Temper stacks this becomes a 1/4 sec cast ranged AoE burst CD.