Code Vein Hammer Guide

Hammer Super Spreadsheet:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Time for a deep dive into the highest drain and highest stagger weapons in Code Vein. And Axes too. They're technically hammers too. The damage is less than that of greatswords with about the same weight, but that doesn't stop hammers from being a solid choice of weapon class. All things accounted for, hammers are definitely worth consideration.
------------------------WEAPON TIMESTAMPS-----------------------
Queenslayer Hammer: 04:09
Hammer of Thralldom: 04:56
Juggernaut Hammer: 05:42
Heavy Axe: 06:30
Impulse Anchor: 07:15
Huge Hammer: 08:17
Argent Wolf Warhammer: 09:37
Tyrant's Labrys: 10:32
Sunset Hammer: 11:25
Burned Warhammer: 12:37
Lost Heavy Axe: 14:08
Snowdrift Sharur: 15:12
Hellfire Hammer: 16:28
------------------------------------- MUSIC ------------------------------------
Advance Wars Days of Ruin OST - Wasteland Scourge
• [CO Theme - The Beast ...
Advance Wars Days of Ruin OST - Goddess of Revenge
• [CO Theme - Tasha - Go...
Advance Wars Days of Ruin OST - We Will Prevail
• [CO Theme - Will - We ...
Advance Wars Days of Ruin OST - Cruel Rose
• [CO Theme - Tabitha - ...
Advance Wars Days of Ruin OST - Hope Never Dies
• [CO Theme - Brenner - ...
Flowers by Ujico* - Dahlia
0101.bandcamp.com/track/dahlia

[@Yoshi15550]

Wow. The hammer guide is finally out. I'm amazed at how much stuff has changed in my life since the last guide, this almost feels like something entirely new. It's been a journey and a half, I can tell you that much. Leaving personal stuff aside, let's talk about what we have here, shall we? Hammers are without a doubt the most overlooked class of weapons in Code Vein, and arguably the worst one of them all. Not because they're bad, but because their staggering power is their only definitive advantage. Many enemies resist crushing damage, and hammers have shorter range than greatswords. At first glance, there's not much reason to use them. However, hammers have some universal aces up their sleeve, and I believe one hammer in particular shines brightly as one of the best all-around heavy weapons in the game. More on that later. -Impact Wave. The bread and butter of a dedicated hammer build, Impact Wave boosts their staggering power to ridiculous levels, and offers something no other weapon class can utilise as much: splash damage. Not amazing, but extra damage is extra damage. Combine that with Precision and laugh at the corpses of the Hunters in Black that tormented you before. Fucking garbage enemies that deserve... _ahem_ Yeah, Impact Wave is great on hammers. Definitely consider it. -Swallow Cutter. An often overlooked skill (just like hammers themselves), many players most likely used it with their greatsword of choice, then denounced it as terrible when they saw its unspectacular damage. That's because Swallow Cutter has a damage multiplier of 1.8x with greatswords. With hammers however, the damage multiplier is a respectable 2.5x. I cannot stress how powerful that ended up being. A highly-damaging, ultra-fast attack that knocks down. Yes please. Give me ALL of that. It faces serious competition from Tormenting Blast as the best skill, but still manages to hold its own in many situations. It starts pulling ahead when the counterattack opportunities are shorter, and it pairs beautifully with Gift Prowess. Always consider Swallow Cutter for hammer builds. -Precision is excellent in general (and overlooked), but since it's a fractional increase insted of a flat increase (unlike a certain other buff I despise), it ends up making the biggest numerical difference with hammers. I have seen Skull King getting stunlocked for 40% of his health with just Precision, a regular old hammer, and combo heavy attacks during focus. Insane. Superb filler Gift. And now, let's get on with the individual hammers. Truth be told, hammers are my least used weapon class, so I don't really have much to comment on them. I do remember some of my research with hammers, which I made a little before my final days with this game. -The Queenslayer Hammer is, in my opinion, the overall best hammer in the game. When you need versatility, manageable weight and damage, accept no substitutes. Maybe it's my bias with the Queenslayer weapons in general, but this is the only hammer I have used for a significant amount of time in combat. It has an excellent moveset, with vertical light and uncharged heavy attacks (great with Impact Wave), a sweeping combo light, and the charged heavy is a discount Nagimukuro charged heavy, complete with a lunge (albeit shorter) and a pancake. Further comparing it to the Nagimukuro, it weighs a tiny bit less and has more stability. Couple that with Steady Bulwark and you have an excellent shield too. There is nothing this weapon can't do, and you get it shortly after entering the MC's memories. The QS Hammer will easily carry you to and beyond the endgame. Amazing hammer, and in terms of overall utility, the only one that can challenge greatswords so well. Never overlook this one. -And now, after pouring my soul out for the holy grail of hammers, we have the Heavy Axe. This is the only other "hammer" I have ever touched, though I made quite a bit of research on it. It's the uncomfortable middle ground between the Bardiche and the QS Hammer. While its damage is similar to the Bardiche, it has shorter range, weighs more, costs more stamina to swing and has an atrocious charged heavy attack. Ouch. The Heavy Axe was a weapon I originally hoped was going to be great, but instead, it's only okay-ish. Still leagues above the worst hammers, but disappointing. Consider it, and hopefully you end up liking it more than I did. -When you first told me about the Sunset Hammer being better than the Huge Hammer in every way, I found it hysterical. I don't remember if I audibly laughed, but it certainly made my day. The Sunset Hammer is exactly like the Sunset Greatsword: a corrupt variant that's worse than its pure variant 95% of the time. The other 5%, it's a super light weapon that's perfectly serviceable for quick-dodge builds. If you like these, grab it and zip around the battlefield with it. Otherwise, it's not worth even thinking about. Especially not with blood damage. -The only aspects of the Lost Heavy Axe that stood out to me were its abnormally high stat requirement and its innate blood damage. Ever since then, I put it in my storage for completion purposes and completely forgot about it. _TRASH._ Use the Heavy Axe or the Tyrant's Labrys. That's pretty much it from me. You covered the rest of the hammers very well (and I haven't ever used them), so I wouldn't have much to add. Regardless, this is once again an excellent guide I'd certainly recommend to rookies and veterans alike.

[@PseudoDrifter]

Very astute and thorough commentary! The drain rating is the biggest draw for me when talking about hammers. A Devour transformed hammer is just silly amounts of ichor recovery. The stagger is bit of a let down for me since the times when a hammer out-staggers a greatsword are rare, not counting when Precision is active (more on that later). Impact Wave is VERY good. It's remarkably good. I used it throughout the Concrete Club challenge because I needed every scrap of damage and stagger I could get. It also makes dealing with dogs and monkeys remarkably easy since you only need to hit near them to stagger them. Top-tier gift for hammers. I had no idea Swallow Cutter had different multipliers based on which weapon you use. That's such a bizarre decision from the devs to make it that way. I'm sure it was more difficult to program too. Whatever. I like Swallow Cutter because it's a fast knockdown attack. It's quite good and to hear that it's even better on hammers is just more positivity! I seriously under-rate Precision. It's kind of like the Poison of weapon buffs. It's good, but only really good against bosses or super-tanky enemies. Normal enemies will die to from normal attacks before poison really has a chance to do much. Similarly they will be staggered before Precision really has a chance to shine. Stunlocking bosses with launch attacks while focused is outstanding, but the rest of the time the benefit is marginal to unnoticeable. I don't know, maybe you need Impact Wave active at the same time to really see the benefits of Precision. And that's two slots that could be devoted to damage instead. Call me unsophisticated, but I am on the fence when it comes to Precision. The QS Hammer is outstanding. It's very very good. Arguably the best in the game for the reasons you described. There's not much to say about it. The Argent Wolf Warhammer does deal more damage, but with Steady Bulwark the QS Hammer can block as good as the AWWH and weighs a lot less. It's a superb weapon. The Heavy Axe is okay? All the Axes occupy this weird halfway place where they're almost a different weapon class, but not really. Honestly I would have lumped them into halberds and called it a day, but there are soooooo many halberds. Another 3 would just be silly. Anyways, it's like a heavy bardiche to me with all the conditions and caveats that suggests. It's not completely awful, but it's not stellar. I am biased when it comes to the Sunset Hammer. I love that thing! And yes, zipping around with a natural quick dodge and a big stinkin' hammer never loses its charm. Comparing it to QS Hammer is a little unfair since the QS Hammer is so good. Maybe I'm just salty the Sunset Hammer isn't as good as I think it is. The Lost Heavy Axe is the really the only bad Axe. There's only three so one has to be the sucky weapon. The weight difference between the Lost and normal Heavy Axe is so small they might as well weigh the same. At least it looks cool. Thanks for weighing in! I always appreciate your perspective, even if you already told me a great deal as I was making the guide. And yeah, IRL stuff really prevented the release of this guide but what can you do?

[@jreid276]

Thank you for making Code Vein videos.

[@chiefenumclaw7960]

This guy was the best Code Vein creator out there. He would post regularly until he cancelled a couple of live streams after complaining about not feeling well. There's no way this guy is still alive. RIP PseudoDrifter

[@pigmanjj8483]

BIG BONK ENERGY

[@geofer.o.13.888]

14:10 the earliest Lost Heavy Axe that can be grinded is near the Crypt of the Breath mistle in the Ridge of Frozen Souls. A bit south of the Crypt, there's a small Sunset Lost that is hanging on a ledge that is waiting to ambush the player. He is wielding a Heavy Axe.

[@PseudoDrifter]

You are 100% correct about that guy wielding a Lost Heavy Axe. I could have sworn they were much later on. Thanks for the correction and good looking out!

[@e-d3_4all0ut3]

Head on. Apply directly to the forehead. Head on. Apply directly to the forehead. Head on. Apply directly to the forehead.

[@MissIceMateria]

Tasha's theme going ham.

[@AvengerofWarcraft]

Only weapon type left would be the bayonets, right? Or are they really horribad?

[@PseudoDrifter]

You are correct. I am hard at work putting together the Bayonet guide. They are perfectly acceptable weapons. Although you have given me an idea for a joke video. Keep your eyes peeled around the end of March.

[@outlawgt3045]

Is there a way to upgrade regeneration?

[@PseudoDrifter]

There are two separate items that boost your regen abilities. One is called Regen Extension Factor which will increase the number of heals (of which there are 7) and the other is called Regen Activation Factor which will increase the amount healed per use (of which there are 6). Simply google either of those for a list of locations.