Unswerving (Useless?) Hammer of Faith.

[htabdoolb]

So I hit level 54 on my cleric a little while ago and got my new spells. One that I thought my be interesting was Unswerving Hammer of Faith, since from the description in the wiki it seemed like it was some kind of pet. Neat! I wondered how strong it might be or what level it even is? I waited until I was 55 to test it out though, because I'm lazy.. but now is the time!

So I scribed it, memorized it, and then cast it.. and it promptly died. Before I even had a chance to target it.

Strange.. okay, well the wiki says that it lasts as long as its opponent does, so maybe I need to target something? Let's try it out!

I rooted an icky old dar ghoul knight, backed off and cast the spell, and then watched my new pet rush forward to do battle! ..only to die on the first hit. And it didn't even get a single swing of its own in first.. what the heck!?

Okay, my new pet is literally a one hit point wonder.. am I supposed to tank for my pet, then? That seems backwards! But I suppose I can try it out.

I attacked another dar ghoul knight, fighting it face to face this time, and cast my (slow as heck) pet.. Loner appeared by my side! To battle!

Ow.. Okay, taking stock post battle.. my valiant pet did 461 points of damage to the foul ghoul before he was slain by a simple riposte.. while in the mean time I took over 850 points of damage from face tanking something that was more than ten levels below me. Those 461 points of damage cost me 600 points of mana, which is.. bad. For comparison, 600 points of mana will buy me over 1500 points of direct damage with my normal undead nukes, especially the nifty new one I've gotten at 55.

Plus I had to heal myself afterward, which I wouldn't have had to do if I hadn't been tanking for my pet.. who did /con dark blue to me, at least. Though his max hit was only 38 damage, which seems pretty pathetic for a pet received at level 54.

For another point of comparison, a shaman wandered by not long after with his own pet in tow. He too fought a dar ghoul knight. Said shaman as able to easily face tank his slowed opponent, while his pet nipped at its undead heels. Said green /con pet hit far harder than my own had, topping out at 47 points of damage per bite.

So, to recap. 600 mana to cast my fragile pet, who managed to deal a measly 460 points of damage before dying pathetically. 600 mana, which would have bought me far, far more damage if spent on nukes. 600 mana, which is equal to one and a half complete heals.. is there ever, ever a situation where this "pet" is useful? Not even in groups, as even assuming I managed to summon the pet facing a mob's back so it wouldn't die to ripostes, groups typically churn through mobs fast enough that I may as well spend the mana on a nuke instead, since the pet seems to evaporate if not aggrod on something. Or spend that mana on healing the tank, as a cleric should be doing anyway. Arg!

[Duane]

Get a reclaim energy clicky. Take the mana back before the mob dies.
Magician Focus Items (https://wiki.project1999.com/Category:Magician_Focus_Items)

[Danth]

The cleric hammer pet is never required. Beyond whimsy, it does have value as a supplemental damage source in low-damage duos or trios. As a rule it should be used in conjunction with a reclaim energy click. Think of it not as a conventional pet but as a damage over time spell for niche usage that, when used appropriately, can return its mana.

Danth

[Toxigen]

The only time I've seen a cleric use this spell is in PoG on the 1 million hp focusers.

[darkreap]

I had a cleric use one in a duo in KC basement. Seemed like it was more trouble then it was worth

[Videri]

• Regarding your pet dying to a riposte, make sure the hammer pet is hitting from behind so the enemy cannot riposte.
• One of its primary uses is to deal at least some damage to magic-immune mobs if you're sitting at full mana or if there are too many clerics and not enough real DPS.
• You can also use it to pull a mob around a corner. I don't know why you would need to, but you can.

[ReoDobbs]

So I hit level 54 on my cleric a little while ago and got my new spells. One that I thought my be interesting was Unswerving Hammer of Faith, since from the description in the wiki it seemed like it was some kind of pet. Neat! I wondered how strong it might be or what level it even is? I waited until I was 55 to test it out though, because I'm lazy.. but now is the time!


So I scribed it, memorized it, and then cast it.. and it promptly died. Before I even had a chance to target it.

Strange.. okay, well the wiki says that it lasts as long as its opponent does, so maybe I need to target something? Let's try it out!

I rooted an icky old dar ghoul knight, backed off and cast the spell, and then watched my new pet rush forward to do battle! ..only to die on the first hit. And it didn't even get a single swing of its own in first.. what the heck!?

Okay, my new pet is literally a one hit point wonder.. am I supposed to tank for my pet, then? That seems backwards! But I suppose I can try it out.

I attacked another dar ghoul knight, fighting it face to face this time, and cast my (slow as heck) pet.. Loner appeared by my side! To battle!

Ow.. Okay, taking stock post battle.. my valiant pet did 461 points of damage to the foul ghoul before he was slain by a simple riposte.. while in the mean time I took over 850 points of damage from face tanking something that was more than ten levels below me. Those 461 points of damage cost me 600 points of mana, which is.. bad. For comparison, 600 points of mana will buy me over 1500 points of direct damage with my normal undead nukes, especially the nifty new one I've gotten at 55.

Plus I had to heal myself afterward, which I wouldn't have had to do if I hadn't been tanking for my pet.. who did /con dark blue to me, at least. Though his max hit was only 38 damage, which seems pretty pathetic for a pet received at level 54.

For another point of comparison, a shaman wandered by not long after with his own pet in tow. He too fought a dar ghoul knight. Said shaman as able to easily face tank his slowed opponent, while his pet nipped at its undead heels. Said green /con pet hit far harder than my own had, topping out at 47 points of damage per bite.

So, to recap. 600 mana to cast my fragile pet, who managed to deal a measly 460 points of damage before dying pathetically. 600 mana, which would have bought me far, far more damage if spent on nukes. 600 mana, which is equal to one and a half complete heals.. is there ever, ever a situation where this "pet" is useful? Not even in groups, as even assuming I managed to summon the pet facing a mob's back so it wouldn't die to ripostes, groups typically churn through mobs fast enough that I may as well spend the mana on a nuke instead, since the pet seems to evaporate if not aggrod on something. Or spend that mana on healing the tank, as a cleric should be doing anyway. Arg!

Wizards have a similar spell. These are useless

[Gustoo]

Best thing i can imagine it doing is being a small mana bank eh? Cast it during dwon time have it sit near you and reclaim energy next battle.

[Videri]

It's not useless. It's a way to damage for magic-immune or highly resistant mobs that someone else is tanking, when mana permits it. It is indeed a niche spell, useful only in rare circumstances. Examples might include Brother Qwinn, Kromzek Captain, Enraged Golem (Broken Golem).

Best thing i can imagine it doing is being a small mana bank eh? Cast it during dwon time have it sit near you and reclaim energy next battle.

It can't be cast without a target. When you cast it, it immediately attacks your target.

[getsome]

The Hammer pet can be used for an indefinite amount of time. The hammer pet poofs when the cleric who casted the pet is out of combat. To use efficiently cast the hammer pet once you are in combat, (if soloing make sure you are tanking the mob in melee range of mob while casting) once the pet is summoned, quickly target the pet and give it a mana free clicky HP buff (i believe summoned pet only has 1 hp), this will prevent the pet from dying to an aoe, or riposte if mob turns unexpectantly.

Now if soloing always make sure you got a 2nd mob is on deck rooted in camp. I usually let the 2nd mob hit me a few times while the first mob is dying. When the first mob is about dead you can swap to the second mob and your hammer pet will finish off the first mob and start attacking the second mob when the first dies. rinse repeat.

I have used one pet to clear the entire ldc camp in solb when soloing.

On very long boss fights, I have asked enchanters to haste my pet and it is a very nice damage over time for a cleric.

A side note, on kunark release this pet did not depop. I remember giving it hero, symbol, haste etc, Only a few people had the spell before it was fixed.

[Benanov]

I used this spell extensively. You don't want to use it when mana is tight because you're going to lose 600 mana if you can't reclaim in time.

To use the spell effectively, you must be close enough to the mob that the hammer can aggro - the hammer will poof if you're not in range (you can reclaim if you're quick). The hammer will smack your target, doubling for max 45* until the target dies**, you die, or the hammer dies. The hammer has 10 HP but regenerates it all every tick. It cannot survive any damage shield save the crappy wizard 2-point one, so you're going to want to make sure any DS's are gone.

Thankfully, clerics GET a spell to delete damage shields from mobs. It's called Mark of Karn.

It's good when your group DPS was poor in places like The Hole with a solid MT; golems lived long enough to justify it use. If you're in a duo with a kiter or you have some way to control the mob the entire time, but need a little extra DPS, it's useful. I did some Stupid Cleric Tricks (TM) with a bard in Skyfire, and it was pretty handy there, as I have the Terror Forged Mask and can basically spam Fear for free - with the bard twisting snare, it was basically a zero-mana fight. Anything that required mana in that situation was pretty unsustainable.

It's also good on any magic-immune or very resistant mob with a ton of HP, like the Ulump Pujuk fight or Brother Q/Z.

It is, IMO, unsuitable as a mana battery because it's so fragile and ephemeral.


*Ever heard a cleric bitch that they didn't get max pet? :)

** I have never experienced a hammer pet changing targets, but that's simply I've never used it in a chain pulling situation.

[eisley]

I use it on AoW, Tunare, Vindi, etc.

Get a Reclaim Energy clicky like the Broom. If you end up needing mana, you can reclaim it. Aside from that, it's a bit of free damage.

[7thGate]

I wonder if you can team up with a friendly enchanter in a raid situation, duel them, and have them mez lock it to act as a mana battery for an upcoming fight while you med to full?

[Jimjam]

I think the memblur aspect could cause it to poof.... a wiζαυδ could root park it and concus away most of their aggro so the hammer would turn on the next aoe mob.

[Jimjam]

I think the memblur aspect could cause it to poof.... a wiζαυδ could root park it and concus away most of their aggro so the hammer would turn on the next aoe mob.