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Barbarian Hammer FAQ

by LoudWally

God Of War 2
Barbarian Hammer FAQ
Author: Loud Wally
v1.2
email:[email protected]

===========================================

THIS FAQ IS TO BE POSTED ONLY ON GAMEFAQS.COM
ANY OTHER SITES FOUND HOSTING THIS FILE WILL HAVE MUSTARD POURED ALL OVER
THE MAIN SERVER TO CAUSE INTERNAL BLEEDING.
===========================================

FAQ HISTORY

v1.0, April 8th, 2007 - The hammer FAQ is born.
v1.1, April 10th, 2007 - Added the stone enemy section
v1.11, April 10th, 2007 - Fixed some formatting

===========================================
Intro

Exactly what is this FAQ for you say?  Well, throughout the gamefaqs message
board for God of War 2, ever since the release, the hammer was seen as a slow
and inferior weapon.  The blades had range and reliability, speed, and combos.

The hammer was pretty much a glass cannon.  Everybody knew the hammer was
much stronger than the other weapons but the lack of mobility and safety
was more than enough to put most players off of using the hammer.

Even before I bought the game, I was determined to finish the game on God,
using only the hammer, then on titan using the hammer which I have just
finished recently.  As with most games where there are different types of
characters weapons, the pure power type weapon/character often has a trick
that uses the combat engine to give an advantage that the game developers
may or may not have overlooked.  Fortunatly, there is such a thing for the 
hammer.

Although the hammer IS gaining popularity just because a message board user
who goes by the name Shinobier started using the hammer in his titan mode 
videos, there are still plenty of uninformed players.

In this guide, hopefully people who immediately dismiss the hammer as a lesser
weapon will think a little before calling so and instead will see the hammer
as a tool to execute the legendary KRATOS SMAAAASH!

Also, I wrote this FAQ with a mentality that finished titan mode.  So on lower
difficulties, don't take what I say to heart though I tried to write some
that considers the lower difficulties.

===========================================

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started.................[0001]
2. Pros/Cons Between The Weapons...[0002]
3. Bow Switching...................[0003]
4. Using The Hammer................[0004]
5. Damage Comparisons..............[0005]
6. Stone Enemies...................[0006]
7. Video Links.....................[0007]
Final Closing/Credits..............[000F]
===========================================

1. Getting Started [0001]

I'm assuming the readers of this FAQ knows all of the God of War 2 basics
and controls as well as the combat engine used as it plays a huge part in
using the hammer well.  I'll try my best to explain everything, but it's good
to know some of the material beforehand.

Also, I'm not trying to say the hammer is SUPERIOR to the other weapons but
instead, it is a fully viable weapon and it is just another weapon that suits
different play styles.

You get the hammer about 4-5 hours into the game from the Barbarian King just
in case.

Hammer Attacks

[] Combo
Weak, slow, trash.  Though it can hit multiple enemies.

/\ Combo
This is the core of hammer use.  EXTREMELY powerful, and made even better with
bow switching. The 2nd hit of the combo does 2 hits and is about 45% or so 
stronger than the 1st hit. Remember that the damage is already done BEFORE
the hammer hits the ground on the first hit so you can bow switch then.

Jumping []
A side swing in the air.  Since you only get 1 attack in the air unless you
bow switch, it's useless.

Jumping /\
Does a BIT less damage than the 1st hit of the /\ combo and bounces some 
enemies.  More on bouncing is discussed later in the FAQ.

Jumping L1
Kratos comes down and smacks the hammer into the floor sending out a shockwave
If you want waves, use L1+/\.  Really.  Though the hammer can hit on the way
down, it's not very strong. You can use it in the same shockwave spots as
L1+/\, as it comes out faster.

L1+[]
Garbage.  You spin around with the hammer.  More often than not, you can't
even complete it because someone hits you out of the spin.

L1+/\
Great for certain parts of the game where you have a wall/barrier as you can
just spam the shockwave until the enemies die.  Not so useful in closer combat

Souls

Flicking the right analog sends out a soul that does next to no damage, but
keeps your combo going.  It also stuns smaller enemies.  You can throw these
out ANY time unless you are blocking without penalty since they just fly out
of the hammer and there is no animation you can throw these out during any
attack.

L1+O
Kratos jumps and smashes the hammer into the floor sending out a bunch of souls
which can be paired up with the souls from the right analog flicks.  It can
hit on the way down but it's too slow.  Stay away from this attack.

So it comes down to /\ /\, L1+/\, and MAYBE the basic souls.  It can get boring
sometimes. D:  Just remember that the enemies are DYING from your hammer :D

===========================================

2. Pros/Cons Between Weapons [0002]

First off, the Blades of Athena

The Blades of Athena which will now be referred to as the "blades" for the
rest of this FAQ is your starting weapon and can adapt to many situations.
For most players, the favourite attack would most likely be the
"Plume of Prometheus" which will now be referred to as the "plume" from here.
On higher difficulties, instead of using the plume as your only attack, it's
wise to simply throw out 1 or 2 basic [] attacks then roll away at times,
ESPECIALLY on titan mode.  

While the blades gives range, speed, versitility, and high combos, I find much 
of this to be useless.  As for the range, most
of the time in this game when you get hit, you get hit while you are attacking
another enemy so keeping 1 or 2 small enemies at bay isn't enough to stop
the 3rd enemy from clipping your side or back to interrupt a combo.  

The damage output from the blades isn't worth mentioning unless you get the
last hit of the combo in which would be the plume, the valor which is dubbed
the "super plume" or the .....other valor, the [] ending to the [] combo.  
Rage of the Titans will be discussed later.  Even against 5-6 enemies at a 
time the radial attack L1+[] won't save you as it most likely won't stop all 
of the enemies which are attacking you so a couple of them would just walk 
through your attack as if you weren't hitting them at all and just hit you 
to interrupt the attack.  

This leaves the plume as the most reliable attack for a HUGE part
of the game.......unless you count air combos :D
Also during the plume, you can roll anytime during the combo UNTIL the plume
lands.  Even as Kratos is winding up for the plume, you can roll but after
the plume hits the floor, you can't roll for a little while so keep that in
mind for safety.

After a launch, mashing L1+O is the best way to do damage unless the enemy
bounces back after a throw.  Even then, it only works against 1 enemy at a 
time and there's a chance you'll get knocked down from enemies from the ground
though it isn't THAT likely.

Pros
+Safe
+Long Range
+High combos for bonus orbs
+Looks somewhat decently kind of cool

Cons
-LOW DAMAGE
-Pluming leaves you open vs many enemies
-Makes many players oblivious to the greatness that is the HAMMER!
===========================================

Blade of Olympus

Sure, it's a bonus weapon so it's better than the other weapons in everything
right?  Not quite.  The hammer still out damages the blade easily.  As in if
you give Kratos a target and 5 seconds, the hammer will do more damage than
the BoO.  The blade often hits more than 1 target though so theres a point
for the BoO.  Playing defensive?  The hammer wins there though.
I really don't want to say anymore.  You press buttons, you kill stuff. That's
the BoO.

Since this is a bonus weapon and has some blatant advantages, I won't be
discussing it all that much for the rest of this FAQ.  

Pros
+High damage
+Decent range
+Can shoot LASERS PEW PEW!

Cons
-Last hit of combos can't cancel into block
-Has too few cons
===========================================

Spear of Destiny

To be honest, I didn't use the spear that often during the course of the game.
It has some cool moves, but on higher difficulties, I don't think it really
has a place.  The blades offer range and safety, the hammer is pure power,
and the spear is well.......mainly a single target killer that looks cool.
Despite the bombs and such, I think more damage could be done if you just hit
hit and hit.  I honestly consider this as a fun weapon and less of a weapon
that can get you through tough spots.  

Really, the spear doesn't have TOO much going for it as of now. Unless someone
starts pulling out tricks with the spear, it doesn't seem all that great to me
The [] combo takes a bit too long and aside from the first and last hit, it's
aimed towards a single enemy.  Against single enemies, the /\ combo would be
better anyway.  It IS cool though so......have fun guys >_>

Pros
+Cool attacks
+Fastest launch in game
+Can "bomb" enemies
+L1+[] hits a lot of enemies

Cons
-L1+[] doesn't always stun all the enemies and takes some time to come out
-Single target
-Needs combos to do damage
-Range isn't as glaring as the blades
===========================================

Barbarian Hammer

Ahhh yes finally, the whole point of this poorly written FAQ.  The almighty
HAMMER.  The first thing you notice is that the hammer is SLOW, has NO range,
you CANT roll and it seems hard to use.  The only redeeming quality is that
it makes blue sparks with the /\ attack. ALL RIGHT!  Oh and the damage is
absolutely nuts.  Not just nuts, COCOnuts.  In fact, many users on the boards
make the comparison that the damage of a level 1 hammer is equal to that of
level 5 blades.  The sheer damage of the hammer is completely worth giving up
for the lack of range and speed.  Notice that I didn't include mobility as I
will discuss bow switching a little later which will help you roll with the
hammer just as well as you would with any other weapon.

The hammer doesn't have very many attacks but that's OK as you only need a
couple.  These are the /\ /\ combo, L1+/\ especially on titan, and sometimes, 
the jumping /\.

The /\ /\ combo will be your primary attack and method of destroying anything.
L1+/\ is mostly used during the harder difficulties in tough spots.  Most
likely made popular due to Shinobier's titan mode videos where he simply
hides behind some sort of barrier and spams L1+/\ since the shockwave doesn't
get blocked by walls/obstacles and just keeps going.  
Against enemies in an open field, L1+/\ isn't really that great though.  
The jumping /\ is used less, but still good against specific enemies.  More
details later.

With this being a hammer FAQ, another section devote to the use of the hammer
is in order so let's finish off this section :D

Pros
+DAMAGE
+DAMAGE
+HOLY SWEET ZOMBIE ZEUS ON A STICK, DAMAGE
+L1+/\ spamming with a wall
+Jumping /\ bounces enemies
+Can hit 2, MAYBE 3 enemies at a time with the basic /\ /\

Cons
-RANGE
-Low combos unless you bother to flick out souls
-Speed

So there goes this section.  This is just off the top of my head......and the
PS2 sitting right next to me and remember this is MY playstyle.  
If you see the damage of the hammer not worth the range, go ahead and pick 
another weapon.
===========================================

3. Bow Switching [0003]

Bow switching is one of the keys to use the hammer properly.  You MUST learn
to do it consistantly before using the hammer well against some enemies, more
likely bosses.  

How to do it

Set Typhon's Rage as your magic.  Anytime during the /\ /\ attack, you can tap
L2 to bring out the bow to get yourself back into neutral position, free to 
do any other action.  You have to remember that you have to hold a direction
on the left analog stick while doing this.  If you don't you'll have to go
through the animation of Kratos putting the bow away in his magical skin 
pocket which slows it down a bit.  
If you hold the stick, he will bring out his bow
for a very short amount of time, then put it away leaving you free to do 
another /\ /\ combo, jump away, or anything.


Of course, during the /\ /\ combo, you can just press L1 to block, but that
isn't the point.  Against attacks that are unblockable, what you can do is
tap L2, then tap R2 to switch to blades, roll to safety, then switch back to
the hammer.  At first, this will be a bit troublesome but within 5 or so
minutes, it should become second nature.  

Simply switching to the blades isn't enough.  You have to tap the bow first.
Or you can have Euryale's head equipped.......making it Head Switching instead
of the....bow.

You might have noticed you can jump, or switch to the blades and roll after
the first /\, but its from the lag after the second /\ where bow switching
shines.  It's also the key to using the jumping /\ attack properly.  Without
switching, you can only get 1 attack in per jump.  If you use the switch, you
can get 2, or 3 if you double jump first.

*Against cyclops' you can do more than 3 hits if you double jump.  
Due to their height, you end up floating around their head for a little 
while so you can get more hits in.  Be careful when you do this how ever as 
their attacks can swat you out of the air and into DEATH.
  
Remember that the jumping attack is pretty much equal to the first
ground /\ attack so don't ignore it completely.  
Against skinny, dodgy enemies being the siren and wraith, they bounce
everytime you land one of these so you can just keep on bouncing them until
they die.  Though other enemies bounce, it's these ones that often dodge your
attacks that it's worth doing it against.  Just ground pound the other guys.

Bow switching is how you bounce.  REMEMBER THAT  
===========================================

Using The Hammer [0004]

Aside from just bow switching, you can't blindly swing at enemies and hope for
a clear room and full health.  You still have to play SMART.  Against a group
of enemies, you have to play defensive.  
What you can do is just fleece counter a group of enemies and whack them 
while they're down but there are times where you just can't do it either 
because the enemies can't be knocked down, or there are other enemies around,
etc. etc.

If you have to, the easiest way is to just parry or block, throw out ONE /\,
then block again until the enemy is done attacking.  Remember to watch out
for stuns that may let you get free hits in.  

One /\ attack from a level 1 hammer is worth a bit more than a plume from a 
level 5 blade.  One /\ from a level 3 hammer is worth.....too many plumes.

Against several enemies, remember to play defensive in order to keep yourself
alive.

Using The Souls

Honestly I really don't use these often ever since I stopped worrying about
combos.  These souls can only be used to stun smaller enemies which are 
better off being thrown into other enemies instead of being straight out
killed.  Though the L1+O does damage, it's too slow and can't be bow switched
so it's a little dangerous to use.  If you really have to kill something
from a distance, use L1+/\.  MULTICOLOURED SHOCKWAVES. ARRRUGH

Enemy Specific Use

Critters: Boars, Hounds, Cerberus Seeds.

You're better off throwing these guys into other enemies since throwing 
enemies into other enemies in this game does pretty good damage.
As for boars, you only see them in 2 parts of the game being the cyclops 
fight in the yard right before the swamp, and there's a couple in the swamp, 
before  the temple of Euryale.  
I love puppies in this game :)  You get to throw them at other things!    
  
Human form soldiers: Skeletons, Rhodes Soldier, Legionnaires, etc.

If you can throw, throw, otherwise you should play defensive and just fleece
for the knockdown then pound away, or use single hits as described above.

Saytrs: Saytr, Saytr Champion

Man I hate these guys >: ( Block/parry and do 1 hit at a time. You have to be
patient unless you're not playing on titan, then you can just be less patient
:D  I hate these goat men freaks >_>

Sirens: Siren, Siren Widow

Bounce these guys.  Normally, you'd have to throw them once to make them 
scream to kill them, or twice for the other siren for the kill.  
For the ones that require 2 throws, normally you'd have to well......throw 
them twice, but if you bounce them, you can skip the first throw.

Wraiths:.........Both of them
Bounce.

Gorgons: Gorgon, Gorgon Assassin, Gorgon Queen

Grab them, they counter with a stare/blast, fleece it, smash them.

Minotaurs: Minotaur Grunt, Hades Minotaur, Erebus Minotaur

Just parry when you can, but don't counter.  Instead, just do the /\ /\.
Against the Hades Minotaur which are the white ones with the huge club, just
dodge their attacks, then /\ /\ while they're recovering or roaring like a
tasty fool.  A tasty fool indeed.  Full of fire.

Priests: High Priest Of The Fates

There's only one type because no one likes them.  Make sure you're safe and
do single pounds.

Cyclops: Cyclops Brute, Cyclops Tyrant, Cyclops Berserker

Ahh yes my favourite hammer target.  Big, ugly, why wouldn't you want to smash
their heads in?  This is where bow switching comes in handy.  /\ /\, 
bow switch and roll away, repeat until death.  
If a beast lord hops onto the berserker, remember that you can grab it to 
get it off or just double jump and pound at the beast lord in between the 
cyclops attacks.

Cerberus: Cerberus, Cerberus Breeder, Super Cerberus

Cerberus, you don't get the hammer just yet.
The breeders in the breeder room, turn on rage and pound away.  It's really
the easiest way.

Against super cerberus, whom you get the fleece from, you have to get bow
switching down.  Even if you turn on rage and just pound away, he can still
kill you on titan.  

Titan Minotaur

Try to aim for his hand instead of his body since the first /\ attack can
miss depending on where his head is.  Just back off while hes spinning or 
pounding the floor, go in for some hits, then bow switch/roll to get away.

As for bosses, it's pretty much dodge, /\ /\, bow switch away.  Repeat until
death.  Oh and parry too :D

===========================================

Damage Comparisons [0005]

I did all this in the arena so don't poo poo my info :D

Against a cyclops on spartan difficulty, I hurt it until the circle came
up because it means the cyclops is in critical health.  It could have been
at 1% health left but that doesn't mean it takes the FULL damage of 3 /\
attacks to kill it.
This next section tells how many hits from the same attack it takes to get 
the cyclops to low health.  

Level 3 Hammer
/\ - 4
Second hit in /\ /\ combo - 3 hits+the cyclops is really close to death
Jumping /\ - 5

L1+/\ SHOCKWAVE ONLY - 15
L1+/\ Hammer, AND shockwave - 4

[] combo - 2, and 1 more basic [] attack
Jumping [] - 8

Jumping L1 SHOCKWAVE ONLY - 15
Jumping L1 - 5

*Since the cyclops is tall, it gets hit a bunch of times on the way down.
Of course, the damage will be lower on smaller enemies.

L1+[] - 3

Lvl 5 Blades
These attacks don't count the attacks beforehand.

Plumes - 10

Super plumes - 5

Tartarus' Rage - 4

Lvl 3 BoO

L1+/\ - 5

[] Combo - 2

/\ Combo - 2, kills the cyclops
===========================================
Stone Enemies [0006]

Something the hammer is notorious for is smashing up stoned enemies.  It
doesn't matter if they got petrified from a fleeced gorgon blast or your own.
The hammer makes quick work of stone enemies moreso than other weapons.  This
section shows how many of which attacks are required to shatter enemies and
hopefully you'll decide on the best one depending on the situation.

Remember that some enemies recover faster than others so prioritize your
targets!

Also, difficulty does NOT have an effect on a stone enemies endurance so it
takes 2 triange attacks to kill a stone cyclops on mortal, and on titan.
Flying enemies are excluded since they shatter once they hit the ground.
Since it's usually a group of enemies being turned to stone at a time, try
using the first /\ to hit an enemy that only takes one hit, then the second
/\ to hit another that takes 2.  Or just use a shockwave and take them all
out :D

Also, these are numbers that are averaged out.  Depending on what attack
you use on the tougher enemies, it may take 1 more or less hits to shatter.

The only enemies that can take more than one hit from the hammer, be it a
/\ attack, or the WAVE of the shockwave are as follows.

FATES Juggernaut - 2 hits
The ones with golden armour at the clotho hallway, not the darker ones.

Gorgons - 2 hits+fast recovery from stone form

Hades Minotaur - 3-4(!!)
The white minotaurs with the flaming pole weapon.  Try to use the L1+/\ and
make sure the hammer hits it too, but also aim the shockwave to hit other
enemies.

Cerberus BREEDER - 2 hits+slightly faster recovery.

===========================================
Video Links [0007]

Courtesy of another hammer lover, heres and excerpt from an email and
descriptions of them

One  about bow cancelling for increased damage in a given time; 
one about shockwave spamming, 
the 'super cerberus'/'cerberus bastard' with no magic or RotT using 
weapon-switch-roll-away tactics, 

Euryale fight from 'sweet spot' using shockwaves,
Bow Tricking for invulnerability (uploading now)
 
Heres a link to the euryale fight 
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JesQ5-ZuE4Y
 
The rest are on my page at youTube
http://uk.youtube.com/profile?user=addaminsain
 
===========================================
Closing [000F]

For now, this concludes my hammer FAQ.  The information is from my own 
gameplay experience.

Credits to:
Shockwave spamming on tough parts - Shinobier

Getting a whole bunch of others to use hammer through your videos - Shinobier

Bow switching - Too many people, it's hard to find the originator I'm sorry X(

SCEA for this game of course :D

Sony for existing

CJayC for being the best Veasy a Veasy can be :D

THE GAMEFAQS BOARD. EVERYONE, yes including deanstash for the entertainment

OK, thats it :D
===========================================
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