Making his debut on the Overwatch roster in 2018, Hammond (also known as Wrecking Ball) is a highly intelligent hamster inside a robot suit that functions as a mobile tank.
In this Overwatch Wrecking Ball guide, we’ll highlight the best tips, tricks, and strategies for playing as the charismatic mech pilot rodent.
If you would like more tips and tricks, check out our Overwatch Beginner’s Guide, where we dive into hero roles, team composition, and best practices for winning.
Table of ContentsShow
Wrecking Ball Abilities and Role Explained
Wrecking Ball is easily the most mobile offensive tank hero in Overwatch due to his ability to swap between Roll and Walker modes.
A good Wrecking Ball player will focus on area control while actively engaging and disengaging with the enemy to throw off their positioning and create opportunities for his teammates to secure kills.
Below, we’ll explain how you can achieve success using Hammond’s extremely unique moveset and lay out his strengths and weakness.
How To Use Quad Cannons
Wrecking Ball’s primary fire is his Quad Cannons, four automatic assault cannons that excel at medium range damage due to their falloff range and wide bullet spread.
The first two shots fired have perfect accuracy; however, the bullet spread will continue to increase the longer Hammond shoots until he’s out of ammo.
The Quad Cannons’ impressively fast rate of fire and limited ammo make them ideal for short engagements, mainly finishing off enemies with low health.
They’re pretty ineffective against enemy barriers and huge healthpool heroes, though you can boost their viability by comboing with melee attacks and Hammond’s other abilities.
How To Use Roll
Hammond’s ability to switch between a quadrupedal tank and rolling ball allows him to get in and out of combat seamlessly, which in many cases will disrupt the enemy team.
You can enter Roll form at any time, even midair, and doing so will boost Hammond’s maximum movement speed to 10 meters per second and reload his weapons.
While in Roll form, he also becomes immune to headshots and can roll faster downhill with no penalty to uphill movement.
Hammond will automatically exit Roll mode and switch to Walker mode anytime he tries to shoot or gets hacked, slept, pinned, hooked, or knocked down.
How To Use Grappling Claw
The Grappling Claw is without a doubt Hammond’s best tool for fulfilling his role in battle and earns him the title of “Wrecking Ball.”
Upon triggering, the claw will attach itself to any surface the player aims at, allowing Hammond to swing around the contact point with gravity factored in.
If you can manage to swing Hammond a considerable amount, he’ll gain a +100% speed buff, deal 50 damage to any enemy he collides with while also knocking them back up to 10 meters.
You’ll know when Hammond is fully “powered up” during his swing when a fireball aura effect appears around him; this occurs whenever Hammond reaches a speed of 15 m/s or higher.
How To Use Piledriver
Skillful use of Hammond’s Grappling Claw creates some exciting opportunities to deal damage, namely via his Piledriver maneuver.
This is achieved by first reaching an altitude of at least 2.25 meters off the ground before activating the ability using Crouch/Toggle Crouch key to slam into the ground below.
Keep in mind, Hammond will first travel 4 meters forward before slamming down, though the ability’s effective radius of 8 meters is fairly generous.
Any enemies who are affected by Piledriver are knocked into the air with limited mobility for half a second, just enough time for teammates to capitalize.
How To Use Minefield (Ultimate)
Hammond’s Ultimate ability is Minefield, which sees him deploying 15 proximity mines around him which explode upon making contact with enemies or after 20 seconds have passed.
Deployed mines are arranged in three rings and stick to the first surface they come in contact with, including the payload, walls, and ceilings.
Although the enemy can destroy Hammond’s mines, if they get too close to one, they’ll experience a high-pitched noise and also put themselves at risk of splash damage from the mines’ explosion.
Lastly, Hammond can start regaining Ult charge once his mines have been placed on the ground, though any damage dealt from mines won’t count.
Wrecking Ball Strengths
If it wasn’t clear by now, Hammond’s best attribute is his high mobility, which makes up for his relatively weak defenses and low damage output.
He’s at his best whenever he’s rolling around the map annoying the enemy team and keeping their attention off of the main objective.
Hammond’s playstyle naturally lends itself to secondary-tank territory, meaning he requires a more traditional tank by his side in addition to other certain heroes we’ll get into below.
Which Heroes Combo Best With Wrecking Ball?
- Sigma – Can combine his Ult with Hammond’s to deal massive damage within a concentrated area.
- Orisa – Can use her Halt! ability to pull enemies within range of Hammond’s Piledriver or Minefield.
- Reinhardt – Fulfills the main tank role, allowing Hammond to play more offensively and create openings for the team.
- Doomfist – Together, Hammond and Doomfist can apply a great deal of pressure to enemy teams, knocking them into the air and into the ground.
- Junkrat – Can use his Steel Traps to anchor opponents to a designated spot, allowing Hammond to follow up with a swinging roll or Piledriver.
- Sombra – Can prevent enemies from escaping Hammond’s wrath by hacking their abilities.
- Zarya – Can protect Hammond with bubble shields and pull enemies into his Minefield using Graviton Surge.
- Zenyatta – His healing orbs allow Hammond to move freely while still recovering HP.
- Moira – Her abilities let her heal Hammond from close range and afar.
Wrecking Ball Weaknesses
We’ve already mentioned some of Hammond’s flaws, with the biggest being his low damage and relatively weak defenses compared to other tanks.
Since Overwatch is very much a numbers game, situations where Hammond has to deal with more than one enemy usually don’t work out in his favor.
Below, we’ll share which heroes to look out for, namely those who can place a status effect on Hammond to momentarily disable his Roll mode.
Which Heroes Does Wrecking Ball Struggle Against?
- Brigitte – Can stun Hammond out of his ball and interrupt his momentum with her Whip Shot.
- Zenyatta – Hammond becomes extremely vulnerable after Zen assigns him Orb of Discord, which increases damage taken by 30%.
- Orisa – Can resist Piledriver and other swing attacks using Fortify and also pull Hammond away from his targets using Halt!.
- Roadhog – Can stop Hammond from building grapple momentum using his hook; massive healthpool and healing abilities make him hard to kill.
- Zarya – At max charge, can rip through Hammond’s shield and health; Graviton Surge prevents Hammond from using any of his abilities.
- Bastion – Is immune to Hammond’s abilities in sentry mode; high damage output makes him a threat to Hammond.
- Doomfist – Can easily dodge Hammond’s attacks and interrupt grapple swings using his rocket punch.
- McCree – Can deal high damage to Hammond from long range and prevent escapes using flashbang.
- Mei – Can freeze Hammond in place with her primary fire and ice walls and also freeze herself to avoid attacks and recover HP.
- Pharah – Operates beyond Hammond’s effective range; can push Hammond off-target using her Concussive Blast.
- Sombra – Once Hacked, Hammond becomes completely exposed, allowing Sombra and her allies to bring him down.
General Tips for Playing Wrecking Ball
When you consider how distinct Hammond’s playstyle is compared to most Overwatch heroes, it becomes clear why so few players have managed to master his kit.
Getting better with Wrecking Ball requires a lot of practice on different maps in order to get a sense of his movement mechanics and identify key chokepoints where he can be most effective.
To finish off this guide, below, we’ll share some additional tips that will come in hand as you continue to improve your performance and rise up the ranks.
- Actively look for opportunities to disrupt the enemy team with quick engagements and prevent them from securing an area.
- Since Hammond spends a lot of his time away from his teammates, get familiar with the health pack locations for every map.
- Know when to disengage from battles to replenish health, restore shields, and rally with your team before a big push.
- You can gain a lot of ultimate charge quickly by combining your Grappling Claw and Piledriver abilities.
- Once you have Minefield ready, initiate a combo by first Piledriving into the ground before triggering Hammond’s Ult.
