Hammer of Wrath

Classes Paladin
1

It might be a very niche opinion… but Hammer of Wrath really doesn’t feel special any more. All too often, I can use it back to back to back.

Final Verdict can make it usable.
Blessing of An’she makes it usable.
Avenging Wrath and it’s various AW-alikes make it usable.
And it’s usable when an enemy drops below a certain health threshold.
And it might have stacks available so you can use it more than once.
And depending on circumstances it may grant an extra Holy Power when used.

The An’she proc makes it very attractive to push but otherwise it’s almost like it’s just another part of our rotation rather than a special Execute-esque ability… plus it behaves a bit differently depending on various talents and circumstances. There’s a LOT poured into this one ability.

Apparently Execute for Warriors and Kill Shot for Hunters, at a minimum, are treated similarly in that what was once a special ability only available at certain points in a fight… i.e. that Execute phase… are now just peppered in whenever and they lose some/most of what made them special.

I don’t know… is this good? It feels like I need a few Weakauras to know what kind of Hammer of Wrath I have available at the moment, so I can try to prioritize its use accordingly. Do I have the An’she proc? Is it the 35% health or less trigger, therefore I’ll generate more HP? Is it just a boring Final Verdict proc where it’s the most vanilla version of HoW? etc.

If this is different in the PTR then great (maybe)… I haven’t dug that deep into Paladin notes, admittedly.

2 Likes
2

You are correct, what made it special is it was a high damage unavoidable execute (you cannot run from justice!) Skill.

In DF they weakened it so it can be used during wings and FV procs, and in tww with how often your in wings in the next patch, it will just feel like a normal rotational skill which will develop the idea that HoW is nothong to fear about. It is too weak now even in execute phases to be that “oh your weak and running away, time to finish you” skill anymore.

2 Likes
3

Shadow Word: Death for Priests have been given the same treatment with the introduction of the Deathspeaker talent in DF.

I think DK are the only class that still has a “true” execute.

4

You mean soul reaper?

Not many DK’s use it due to the long delay it has. It’s only really useful maybe in raids where the boss is known to live long enough to be of use.

This is also not a true execute.

1 Like
5

It is true that Hammer of Wrath has lost its luster. For all intents and purposes it is just filler unless either:

A- You’re specced Herald and have a Blessing of An’she proc or

B- You’re specced for Vengeful Wrath and the target is below 35% health (most don’t take VW right now)

Its a prime example of the old expression about too much of a good thing. Greatbrae has suggested many times on these forums that HoW should be removed from wings and I agree with him. Going back to it being strictly an execute (plus Blessing of An’she proc) would allow Blizz to put some punch back in it.

3 Likes
6

Yup. Besides, if they need to add something to ret wings, they always add something like that old holy explosion on finsher would be nice.

Maybe they can retool it with if they don’t want it to AoE with “your single target holy power spenders laces your weapon with holy fire, spreading to your target upon contact doing x additional damage.” It could have a flaming on your target animation after the initial weapon strike.

2 Likes
7

I feel like it comes from an old concept where you’d never miss anything to press while in wings but it feels redundant now with some of the new interactions and talents.

They could add slight CD reduction effect on other spell with wings if that’s what they were aiming for.

You don’t even prioritize it in Wings, BoJ does more damage and most people play DP so you don’t even prio it on execute either.

Maybe over judgement if you have enough debuff stacked with Templar.

It will change this Tuesday with the tree change, at least on execute phase if there’s only 1 target.

8

post patch your still prioritizing everything over how

how is your last button to press

1 Like
9

Hammer of wrath feels like a mandatory spam cooldown instead of a finisher.

2 Likes
10

Even below 35% on 1 target?

It’s 176% AP HoW vs BoJ 168% ( with juris and set).

I get Expurg and Holy Flame but HoW still has Mastery too, wouldn’t you at least weave them?

1 Like
11

I’m just kinda treating hammer of wrath as a Vanquisher’s Hammer since thats kind of the role its filling now.
its nice having another -somewhat- consistent holy power generator to rotate into.

12

While i liked vanquisher’s, i do not think HoW is the place to have such mechanic.

(Judgement with ep kinda fulfills that mechanic now anyways)

13

post change? at 35 you start to weave hoj but its still somewhat your lowest priority button.

hence why pre class tree changed we ran dp :sadge:

14

I wouldnt mind losing on the FV and herald proc if it meant giving it more damage. remove HoW from any interacion but executing things. increase its damage, make it apply judgement and an aoe around it on impact so it remains priority even in aoe.

Overall I actually want them to buff HoW (if it stays as useable as it is rn but that is because of rg that I hate with all my life). I also want them to nerf boj and stop giving it tier sets that just buff it forever. make spenders stronger thats all I want.

15

I honestly don’t understand this argument. If you don’t like RG, just don’t use it. It isn’t a necessary talent to take.

16

it is 100% necessary. it is not a question of “just dont use it bruh”. I stopped queueing rss beacuse of ferals affs and sps but in blitz is a must for sure. Ret deals negative damage without it. all of rets kill potential comes from hammer ofl ight and radiant glory.

17

Yeah, that’s what I thought. :+1:

It’s odd that it’s been part of set for the last 3 seasons.
Given S4 of DF was just a re-run of S3 tier.

Not that I liked the HoW of S2 mind you.

The difference in damage is staggering though.

AW might + DW and RG Might have somewhat the same uptime, which technically would be balanced.

But Crusade and how it works being on the same CD as might with RG and higher uptime kind of blows any consideration to not play it to the side.

And that’s coming from someone who really doesn’t like crusade.

18

Ahhh, I forgot that you look at it from a PvP perspective and I’m looking at it from a PvE perspective. My apologies.

19

Give it a free blessed hammers animation with that AoE.

1 Like
20

I looooved that set it was like a rush of dopanine spamming hammers at range crit crit crit in pvp.

Regardless of what anyone believes, if HoW is to exist it needs to be priority when available AT THE VERY LEAST when executing. To make it “must use” it needs to do things like apply judgement and have some built in aoe that makes us wanna press HoW over judgement or anything.

Warriors execute makes their next 2 mortal strikes deal increased damage.

Maybe we pull back on how available HoW is (as I said maybe removing any proc that makes it useable) and turn it into a beast modifier at low hp.

Because Im in pvp gear I have low haste and I dont feel gcd capped even with wings up I am sure in pve people skip HoW unless its herald proc or nothing else is available. We need to get ti a point where you dont really skip it. HoW has to feel good to press.

1 Like