Level Talent Name Description Cooldown
1 Ambush Gain Stealth when entering Siege Mode or after not taking or dealing damage for 3 seconds while in Siege Mode. Basic Attacks while Stealthed deal 125% more damage. Remaining stationary for at least 1.5 seconds while Stealthed grants Invisible.
1 Advanced Artillery Increase Siege Mode's splash damage to 60% of Basic Attack damage, and increase its splash radius by 25%.
1 Maelstrom Rounds Activate to increase Basic Attack damage dealt by 30% for 5 seconds. Hitting enemy Heroes or Structures with Basic Attacks while in Siege Mode reduces the cooldown of Maelstrom Rounds by 5 seconds. Stores up to 3 charges. 80
4 Barricade Reduce Concussive Blast's cooldown by 4 seconds, its Mana cost by 40, and when cast create an impassable wall in front of Sgt. Hammer for 4 seconds.
4 Siege Tactics Using Neosteel Plating while in Siege Mode grants Unstoppable for 2 seconds, as long as she remains in Siege Mode.
4 Regenerative Bio-Steel Basic Attacks while in Siege Mode heal for 10% of the damage dealt.
7 Pulse Detonation Core Spider Mines detonate 3 times over 3 seconds. Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes grant 5 Mana and reduce the cooldown of Spider Mines by 1.5 seconds. Increase this bonus to 2.5 seconds while in Siege Mode.
7 Hover Siege Mode Sgt. Hammer can move at 50% Movement Speed while in Siege Mode.
7 Graduating Range While in Siege Mode, Basic Attack range is increased by 1 every 1.5 seconds, up to 3.
10 Blunt Force Gun Fire a missile across the battlefield, dealing 500 (+3% per level) damage to non-Structure enemies in its path. 70
10 Napalm Strike Deals 164 (+4% per level) damage on impact, and leaves a napalm area that deals 50 (+4% per level) damage per second. Lasts for 4 seconds. 6
13 Tactical Mine Deployment Moving while Thrusters is active leaves a trail of up to 5 Spider Mines. Additionally, increase the Slow of Spider Mines by 15%.
13 Entrenched While in Siege Mode, Concussive Blasts's damage and knockback distance are increased by 75%.
13 Hyper-Cooling Engines While in Siege Mode, hitting Heroes with Basic Attacks reduces the cooldown of Thrusters by 5 seconds.
16 Mechanical Know-how Neosteel Plating grants 20% maximum Health as a Shield for 2 seconds and increases Basic Attack damage by 30% for 5 seconds.
16 Executioner Attacking a Hero that is slowed, rooted, or stunned increases your Basic Attack damage by 30% for 3 seconds.
16 Giant Killer Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 1.5% of the Hero's maximum Health.
20 Orbital BFG Blunt Force Gun's missile orbits the planet every 5 seconds. Only the last missile fired orbits.
20 Advanced Lava Strike Napalm Strike's range is increased by 75% and its impact does 50% more damage.
20 Shrapnel Mines Upon detonating, Spider Mines reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes hit by 10, up to 50, for 4 seconds.
20 Ultra Capacitors Hitting enemy Heroes with Basic Attacks while in Siege Mode grants 10% Attack Speed for 5 seconds, up to 60%.
Shortcut Ability Name Description Cooldown Mana Cost
Q Spider Mines Create 3 mines that arm after 1.25 seconds. Mines detonate when an enemy comes in range, dealing 96 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies and Slowing them by 25% for 1.5 seconds. Siege Mode: Cast range increased by 100%. 14 50
W Concussive Blast Deal 141 (+4% per level) damage to enemies in front of Sgt. Hammer and knock them back. Siege Mode: Radius increased by 50%. 12 80
E Neosteel Plating Gain 25 Armor for 2 seconds. Siege Mode: Grants 100% more Armor. 16 60
R Napalm Strike Deals 164 (+4% per level) damage on impact, and leaves a napalm area that deals 50 (+4% per level) damage per second. Lasts for 4 seconds. 6 35
R Blunt Force Gun Fire a missile across the battlefield, dealing 500 (+3% per level) damage to non-Structure enemies in its path. 70 100
D Siege Mode Activate to enter Siege Mode. While in Siege Mode, Basic Attacks deal 20% more damage, have 100% increased range, and deal 25% of their damage as splash damage around the target. 2
Z Thrusters Increase Movement Speed by 60% for 4 seconds. Thrusters are always active while at the Hall of Storms. Activating Thrusters cancels Siege Mode. 30

Sgt. Hammer

2024-05-21 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused Giant Killer to damage Invulnerable targets.

2024-02-06 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused Orbital BFG to not be affected by damage reduction.
  • Pulse Detonation Core will replace Spider Mines in the recap if chosen.
  • Spider Mines damage is now modified by Defense Matrix and Ultimate Evolution damage modifications.
  • Spider Mines duration will continue while they are chasing.
  • Spider Mines will no longer detonate on Invulnerable targets but will continue to chase them.
  • Spider Mines will now display their damage when clicked in the Target Info Panel.

2023-11-16 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Siege Mode [D]
    • Tank Mode Splash now triggers Physical Attack-limited on-hit effects (Example: Block charges will now be consumed).
    • Tank Mode Splash will now trigger if the Sgt. Hammer is Blinded. Splash damage and triggering effects will still be prevented.
    • Tank Mode Splash will now reveal the effect area for 0.75 seconds.
    • Tank Mode Splash attacks will no longer reveal targets hit.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused D.Va's Mech Basic Attacks to be capable of hitting multiple Sgt. Hammer Spider Mines at once.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Chilling Touch Basic Attacks to be incapable of killing Sgt. Hammer's Spider Mines.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Earth Spirit's Basic Attacks to be incapable of killing Sgt. Hammer's Spider Mines.

2022-03-29 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Ambush [D]
      • Bonus damage increased from 100% to 125%.
    • Advanced Artillery [D]
      • Splash damage increased from 50% to 60%.
    • Maelstrom Rounds [Active]
      • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 80 seconds.
  • Level 7
    • Hover Siege Mode [D]
      • Move speed increased from 40% to 50%.
    • Graduating Range [D]
      • Time between increased range reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds.
  • Level 20
    • Shrapnel Mines [Q]
      • Maximum Armor reduction increased from 30 to 50.
    • Ultra Capacitors [D]
      • Attack Speed per stack increased from 5% to 10%.
      • Maximum Attack Speed increased from 40% to 60%.

Developer Comment: Sgt. Hammer has decent talent parity, so we're just increasing the power of some keystone talents to further separate the different builds' identities.

2020-11-04 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Maelstrom Rounds [Active]
      • Bonus damage reduced from 35% to 30%.
      • Cooldown increased from 90 to 100 seconds.
      • Additional functionality: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes while in Siege Mode reduce the cooldown of Maelstrom Rounds by 5 seconds.
  • Level 4
    • Barricade [W]
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
  • Level 7
    • Pulse Detonation Core [Q]
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds, and from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds while in Siege Mode.
    • Graduating Range [Trait]
      • Duration between Basic Attack range increases reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
  • Level 16
    • Mechanical Know-how [E]
      • Shield amount increased from 5% to 20% maximum Health.
      • Basic Attack damage reduced from 50% to 30%.
      • No longer requires the Shield to be destroyed to gain bonus damage.

Developer Comment: Sgt. Hammer hasn't seen large changes for some time, particularly to talents like Maelstrom Rounds and Mechanical Know-how. As you've probably seen as a theme of this patch, these talents aren't too popular so we're helping them out by giving them bonuses that should be more consistently achievable.

2020-02-12 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Barricade [W]
      • Additional functionality: Reduce the Mana cost of Concussive Blast from 80 to 40.

Developer Comment: We like how the new Barricade is playing, but since Sgt. Hammer's Mana tension is now fairly high, taking the talent often meant that she would very quickly run out of Mana. We're giving it a hefty Mana cost reduction, which should make it an even more attractive pick.

2020-01-22 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Barricade [W]
      • Additional functionality: Reduce the cooldown of Concussive Blast by 3 seconds.
  • Level 7
    • Pulse Detonation Core [Q]
      • Additional functionality: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes grant 5 Mana and reduce the cooldown of Spider Mines by 1 second. Increase this bonus to 1.5 seconds while in Siege Mode.

Developer Comment: Both Barricade and Pulse Detonation Core have very low pick rates, so we're giving them some love, which should hopefully incentivize players to try them out more often.

2019-08-06 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer's Siege Mode can no longer out-range kill credit for the Salvaging the Stables questline.

2019-07-10 Balance Update

Hero Updates

General

  • Removed Sgt. Hammer from ARAM

Developer Comment: We have been receiving a lot of feedback regarding Sergeant Hammer's playstyle in ARAM. While we are looking to make larger changes to the game mode in the near future, we decided it was best to remove her from the ARAM shuffle-pick for the time being

2019-04-17 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Spider Mines (Q)
    • Mana cost increased from 45 to 50
  • Concussive Blast (W)
    • Mana cost increased from 60 to 80
  • Neosteel Plating (E)
    • Mana cost increased from 30 to 60

Developer Comment: As we promised in the past, we took a look at the overall Mana tension of all the Heroes in the game. We also have some philosophies about Mana that we want to keep going forward. They are:

  1. Mana should be a meaningful part of the game, particularly in the early stages when wave clear is at a higher premium. We believe that as the game progresses, Mana tension should become less important as Heroes gain more base Mana and the game's focus shifts to team fighting.
  2. Mana tension doesn't have to be the same for every Hero, but every Hero should feel it to some degree, otherwise it serves no purpose.
  3. We like that some talents heavily mitigate Mana tension.

When we took a look at Mana tension in the game, we saw that, overall, things are in a fairly healthy spot, but could be fine-tuned and improved upon. We like the tension that the heroes who are closer to the middle of the spectrum have, with some examples being Malfurion, Tychus, and E.T.C. Our goal with these changes is to bring the outliers closer to the center. We are open to your feedback going forward if you think that the game needs to be stricter or more lenient in this area, or if you believe there are any outliers that we missed.

2018-09-19 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Neosteel Plating (E)
    • Cooldown increased from 12 to 16 seconds

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Siege Tactics (E)
      • Shifting out of Siege Mode now removes the Unstoppable effect.

2018-07-25 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Blunt Force Gun (R)
    • No longer deals damage to enemy Structures

Developer Comment: This change is to address situations where Orbital BFG could kill enemy Forts, Keeps, and potentially end the game with no counter-play from the opposing team. We realize that this is a minor nerf to Blunt Force Gun and a fairly hefty nerf to Orbital BFG. Both talents are performing well right now, so we will be waiting to see if they need a buff in some other area to compensate for this loss in functionality.

2018-05-22 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer: A.I. Sgt. Hammer will no longer become stuck in a Vent behind the opposing bottom-lane Fort on Battlefield of Eternity.

2018-03-06 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer: Commands can now correctly be queued while Sgt. Hammer is returning to Tank Mode.

2018-02-21 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer: Can now correctly deploy Biotic Emitters on Volskaya Foundry while in Siege Mode.

2018-01-24 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Regenerative Bio-Steel (D)
      • Healing reduced from 15% to 10% of Sgt. Hammer’s Basic Attack damage dealt in Siege Mode.
  • Level 7
    • Graduating Range (D)
      • Range reduced from 1.1 to 1 per stack, up to a maximum of 3

2017-12-12 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Health increased from 1638 to 1720
  • Health Regeneration increased from 3.4 to 3.6
  • Basic Attack damage increased from 128 to 140

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Maelstrom Rounds (D)
      • Damage bonus reduced from 40 to 35%
  • Level 7
    • Hover Siege Mode (D)
      • Movement Speed increased from 25 to 40%
  • Level 20
    • Shrapnel Mines (Q)
      • Armor reduction duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer: The Hyper-Cooling Engines talent will no longer grant cooldown reduction from Basic Attacks against non-Heroic targets while in Siege Mode.

2017-11-29 Balance Update

Hero Updates

  • Sgt. Hammer’s Basic Attack is now more responsive.

Abilities

  • Artillery (Trait)
    • Removed (including the +1 Basic Attack range)
  • Siege Mode (D)
    • Moved to D (Trait)
    • Mana cost removed
    • Basic Attack range bonus increased from 5 to 6
    • Sgt. Hammer now deals 20% bonus damage to all enemies while in Siege Mode, instead of 30% bonus to Minions and Structures.
    • Sgt. Hammer can no longer cast abilities while entering Siege Mode.
  • Spider Mines (Q)
    • While in Siege Mode, the cast range is increased by 100%
    • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 45
  • Concussive Blast (W)
    • Cone narrowed from 60 degrees to 45 degrees
    • While in Siege Mode, the cast range is increased by 50%
    • Mana cost reduced from 75 to 60
  • (New Ability) Neosteel Plating (E)
    • Activate to gain 25 Armor for 2 seconds.
    • While in Siege mode, increase this to 50 Armor.
    • 12 second cooldown, 30 Mana

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Advanced Artillery (D)
      • New functionality:
        • Now increases Siege Mode’s splash damage to 50% and its radius by 25%.
    • Resistant (D)
      • Removed
    • Ambush (D)
      • Adjusted functionality:
        • Sgt. Hammer now also enters Stealth after not dealing damage, taking damage, or using an Ability for 3 seconds while in Siege Mode.
    • Regeneration Master
      • Removed
    • (New Talent) Maelstrom Rounds
      • Activate to increase Sgt. Hammer’s Basic Attack damage by 40% for 5 seconds. Maximum 3 charges. 90 second charge cooldown. Basic Attacks in Siege Mode against enemy Structures reduce this cooldown by 5 seconds.
  • Level 4
    • Vigorous Assault (Passive)
      • Removed
    • Focused Attack (Passive)
      • Removed
    • Excessive Force (W)
      • Removed
    • Barricade (W)
      • Moved from Level 13
    • (New Talent) Siege Tactics (E)
      • Sgt. Hammer becomes Unstoppable for 2 seconds when she uses Neosteel Plating in Siege Mode.
    • (New Talent) Regenerative Bio-Steel (D)
      • Sgt. Hammer heals for 15% of her damage dealt with Basic Attacks in Siege Mode.
  • Level 7
    • Mine Field (Q)
      • Removed
    • First Aid (Active)
      • Removed
    • (New Talent) Pulse Detonation Core (Q)
      • Spider Mines explode 3 times over 3 seconds, instead of destroying themselves immediately.
    • Hover Siege (D)
      • Moved from Level 16
      • Movement Speed reduced from 50% to 25%.
    • Graduating Range (D)
      • Moved from Level 16
      • Maximum range bonus reduced from 5.5 to 3.3
  • Level 13
    • First Strike (D)
      • Removed
    • Bullhead Mines (Q)
      • Removed
    • (New Talent) Tactical Mine Deployment (Q)
      • Increases Spider Mine’s slow from 25% to 40%. Casting Thrusters leaves behind a trail of up to 5 Spider Mines while Sgt. Hammer is moving.
    • (New Talent) Entrenched (W)
      • Increases Concussive Blast’s damage and knockback distance by 75% while in Siege Mode.
    • Hyper-Cooling Engines (Z)
      • Moved from Level 7
      • New functionality:
        • Each enemy Hero hit with a Basic Attack in Siege Mode reduces the cooldown of Thrusters by 5 seconds.
  • Level 16
    • Stoneskin (Active)
      • Removed
    • Giant Killer (Passive)
      • Moved from Level 13
    • (New Talent) Mechanical Know-How (E)
      • Neosteel Plating grants a Shield equal to 5% of Sgt. Hammer’s maximum Health for 2 seconds. If this Shield is destroyed, she deals 50% more Basic Attack damage for 5 seconds.
  • Level 20
    • Fury of the Storm (Passive)
      • Removed
    • Nexus Frenzy (Passive)
      • Removed
    • (New Talent) Shrapnel Mines (Q)
      • Each Spider Mine explosion reduces enemy Armor by 10 for 3 seconds.
    • (New Talent) Ultra Capacitors (D)
      • Every enemy Hero hit with a Basic Attack while in Siege Mode increases Sgt. Hammer’s Attack Speed by 5% for 5 seconds, up to 40%.

2017-11-14 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Cursed Hollow: Sgt. Hammer’s Spider Mines will now correctly attack enemy Structures affected by the Raven Lord’s Curse.

2017-07-26 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Diablo: Casting Shadow Charge on Sgt. Hammer while she is in Siege Mode will no longer cause Diablo to pass through her.
  • Stukov: Massive Shove will no longer be cancelled when used on Sgt. Hammer while she is in Siege Mode.

2017-06-13 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Basic Attacks: Splash and Cleave damage will now correctly reveal targets who are hit while inside Bushes and Vents.

2017-04-04 Patch Notes

Design & Gameplay

Hero Radii

  • The radius of many heroes in the game have been adjusted to better match their actual model size.
    • Increased Radius - Abathur, ETC, Gul'dan, Baleog, Muradin, Misha, Sgt. Hammer, Thrall, Uther, Varian, Zagara
    • Decreased Radius - Li Li, Tracer, Valeera

2016-11-15 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Stats

2016-10-18 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Damage Reduction: When two damage reduction effects, such as Resistant (25%) and Hardened Shield (75%), are simultaneously applied to a Hero, the larger effect will no longer be overridden by the lesser effect.
  • Sgt. Hammer: Re-casting Orbital BFG just as the first missile re-enters the Battleground will no longer cause the new missile to follow the previous path.

2016-09-20 Hotfix Patch

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer: Fixed an issue in which each of Sgt. Hammer's Basic Attacks could reduce her Ability cooldowns multiple times after learning the Focused Attacks Talent.

2016-09-13 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Siege Mode (E)
    • Sgt. Hammer can no longer enter Medivh's Portals while in Siege Mode (without the Hover Siege talent)

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Resistant (E)
      • New functionality:
        • If you are Stunned or Rooted while in Siege Mode, gain 50% damage resistance for 3 seconds
  • ​​​Level 7
    • Slowing Mines (Q)
      • Removed
  • Level 16
    • Mine Field (Q)
      • Moved to Level 7

Developer Comments: We’re removing the majority of our old Relentless- like Talents from the game, because we found that it wasn’t clear to the enemy team what was happening. Reducing the duration on very short disabling effects to begin with was hard to notice, and typically felt like a bug when it did happen. In some cases, we’re replacing these Talents with Hero specific ones that more clearly convey what’s happening, while fitting the gameplay of the Hero.

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer: Basic Attack range indicators should now appear consistent while Sgt. Hammer is in both Tank and Siege Modes.

2016-08-24 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Thrusters (Z)
    • Thrusters are now always active while in the Altar of Storms
  • Artillery (Trait)
    • Now also increases Sgt. Hammer’s Basic Attack range by 20%

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Lethal Blast (W)
      • Removed
  • Level 4
    • Maelstrom Shells (Passive)
      • Removed
  • Level 7
    • Hyper-Cooling Engines (Z)
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 10 to 15 seconds
      • No longer makes Thrusters always active while in the Hall of Storms

Developer Comments: We’re planning to do a deeper dive into our favorite Siege Tank down the road, but in the meantime we felt Sgt. Hammer could use a few changes to make her feel more competitive compared to other heroes. Sgt. Hammer was originally designed to be the master of ranged damage, but has since become outshined by other poke heroes like Li-Ming and Chromie. To help her assert her spot again as a scary ranged damage-dealer, we’re making Maelstrom Shells a part of her baseline Artillery Trait, which should also help that tier’s pick rates. We’re also giving her a bit of a quality of life improvement by making her Thrusters always active when she leaves the Hall of Storms, which should help her get back to the game faster from her base.

2016-07-12 Patch Notes

Talents

Executioner

  • The Executioner Talent effect will now only trigger after attacking disabled Heroes. The bonus damage gained through this talent will still apply to anything attacked after the effect is triggered.

Bug Fixes

  • Battlefield of Eternity: AI Heroes can now halt their attacks on Immortals at the center of the Battleground in order to gank an enemy Sgt. Hammer that is attacking inner-Towers and Keeps.
  • Sgt. Hammer: Enemy AI players will no longer immediately dive Sgt. Hammer if she enters Siege Mode while hidden in a Shrub or Vent.
  • Sgt. Hammer: The targeting reticule for Blunt Force Gun will no longer highlight targets that are outside its area of effect.

2016-05-17 Patch Notes

Talents

Executioner

  • This Talent has been reworked.
    • Increases Basic Attack damage by 30% for 3 seconds after hitting a Stunned, Slowed, or Rooted target with a Basic Attack. Using Basic Attacks against a Slowed, Rooted, or Stunned target during this time will refresh the buff duration.

Developer Comments: We like the punishing nature of Executioner, but have found over time that its benefit to the player is too narrowly scoped. We’re changing the Talent to be more consistently useful by giving the player a temporary Attack Damage buff that procs when they first hit a crowd controlled target.

Regeneration Master

  • A reward has been added to this Questing Talent.
    • Quest: Regeneration Globes now grant 1.0 Health per second, stacking up to 30
    • Reward: Upon gathering 30 Globes, also increases Health by 500

Developer Comments: We’ve added a completion point to this Talent. Upon completing its quest, players will be provided with some additional power. This allows us to offer spikes of power in-between Talent levels, or even for a single player on a team. Now, simply picking the Talent and only partially completing it is worse, but finishing the quest will return a larger reward. Choosing the right Talents on the right Battleground or with the right team composition has always been an important goal for us, and this change pushes this Talent to closer align with that goal.

2016-04-12 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • The tooltip for Sgt. Hammer’s Siege Mode will no longer reference a nonexistent Talent.

2016-03-29 Patch Notes

Design & Gameplay

Hero Movement Interaction Unification

  • Several Abilities have been changed in an effort to unify their usage.
    • The following Abilities can now be used to move to invulnerable units:
      • Kerrigan — Ravage (Q)
      • Illidan — Dive (Q)
    • The following Abilities can now be used to travel to objects created by an enemy, such as Sgt. Hammer’s Spider Mines:
      • Kerrigan — Ravage (Q)
      • Lunara — Leaping Strike (R)
      • Illidan — Dive (Q)
      • Kharazim — Radiant Dash (Q)
      • Chen — Flying Kick (Q)

Talents

Vampiric Assault

  • Has been renamed to Vigorous Assault

Bug Fixes

  • Regeneration Globes will now properly grant healing and Regeneration Master stacks when collected as a Shield expires.

2016-02-02 Patch Notes

Talents

Focused Attack

  • Basic Attack damage bonus reduced from 75% to 60%

Developer Comments: The talent is doing a bit too much damage over the course of the game. We like that it is a highly contested pick on Basic Attack Heroes, but want to bring its overall power down a bit.

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer’s Siege Mode will no longer visually persist if she is interrupted while casting Siege Mode.

2016-01-27 Balance Update

Hero Updates

  • Blunt Force Gun (R)
    • Damage increased from 365 (+4% per level) to 500 (+3% per level)

Developer Comments: We are looking for opportunities to increase the impact that some Heroic Abilities have at the moment they are cast. When it makes sense, we are also looking to increase the cooldown in order to keep the big moments more impactful. This is our first pass at doing this and you can expect to see more changes like these as we move forward with this initiative.

2015-10-06 Patch Notes

Design & Gameplay

Vehicles and Regeneration Globe Interaction

  • Regeneration Globes will no longer heal Dragon Knights and Garden Terrors.
    • Instead, Regeneration Globe effects will now be applied directly to the Hero inside the Dragon Knight or Garden Terror.
  • Players within a Dragon Knight or Garden Terror can now also accumulate stacks for Talents such as Seasoned Marksman, Gathering Power, Regeneration Master, etc.

Bug Fixes

  • A Sgt. Hammer clone created by Abathur’s Ultimate Evolution will no longer be granted the Napalm Strike Heroic Ability after entering Siege Mode.
  • The Focused Attack Talent now properly uses a 10 second cooldown between bonuses to Basic Attack damage.

2015-08-18 Patch Notes

Design & Gameplay

Ability Power Gains

Developer Comments: This change was aimed at removing odd gameplay where a Nazeebo player may actually want to sacrifice his or her Gargantuan for a more powerful one. This occurred if players kept a summon alive for a very long time and gained Ability Power via Talents, like Gathering Power, as this increase in Ability Power was not passed onto the Summon. Short term summons or persistent effects will still take a snapshot of your current Ability Power at the time they are cast, and apply the bonus for the complete duration of the effect.

  • To clarify the rules for temporary Ability Power gains, the following rules have been added:
    • For permanent or very long duration pets or persistent effects, their damage and maximum Health will now update dynamically when Ability Power is modified. This includes:
      • Abathur's Monstrosity
      • Nazeebo's Gargantuan (with the Humongoid Talent)
    • For short duration pets or persistent effects, their damage and maximum Health should snapshot based upon the Ability Power of the character when they are cast. This includes:
      • Jaina's Water Elemental
      • Sgt. Hammer's Blunt Force Gun
      • Tychus' Drakken Laser Drill

Talents

Focused Attacks

Developer Comments: This could be viewed as a buff or nerf depending on how players perceive it. You can still reduce the cooldown by attacking Minions, but won’t accidently waste a burst of damage on an unintended target. This talent will no longer be as effective at sieging, but it should be significantly better at harassing in lane. We will continue to monitor the talent, and tune as necessary.

  • The increased damage effect will now only trigger when hitting Heroes

Hero Updates

Developer Comments: Hammer is one of our lowest win rate characters so we looked at some easy buffs we could make. We feel like she has a great playstyle and wanted to highlight her fantasy more. The increased health will let you be a bit more aggressive and the increased damage will better reinforce her long range, high damage capabilities. Finally, her Siege Mode can be used much more frequently and with less emphasis on securing the perfect location. It’s okay now to Siege up, get a couple shots in, and then get out of danger.

  • Health increased from 720 (+140 per level) to 740 (+150 per level)
  • Artillery (Trait)
    • Damage bonus against distant targets increased from 20% to 30%
  • Siege Mode (E)
    • Cooldown decreased from 5 to 2 seconds
    • Mana cost reduced from 40 to 20

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue in which Ability effects, such as Giant Killer, Focused Attack, and Zagara’s Envenomed Spines, could be applied while Blinded.
  • Fixed an issue in which the following Abilities and Talents were not damaging or destroying Zagara's Creep Tumors:
    • Brightwing's Peekaboo, Diablo's Firestorm (returning fireballs), Johanna's Blessed Hammer, Leoric's Buried Alive, Nova's Railgun, Sgt. Hammer's Napalm Strike (impact damage) and Tychus' Big Red Button (the nuke portion)

2015-06-30 Patch Notes

Design & Gameplay

  • A number of Hero Abilities were not intended to completely Stun enemy targets. In these cases, Stuns have been converted to Dazes, which act similarly, but will no longer interrupt Abilities that can be channeled while the Hero is moving.
    • For example: Dazing Valla will not stop her from channeling Strafe.
    • The following abilities will now Daze, rather than Stun, enemy Heroes:
      • Brightwing -- Emerald Wind (R)
      • Chen -- Wandering Keg (R)
      • E.T.C. -- Face Melt (W)
      • Falstad -- Mighty Gust (R)
      • Kerrigan -- Primal Grasp (E)
      • Raynor -- Penetrating Round (Q)
      • Sgt. Hammer -- Concussive Blast (W)
      • Tychus -- Frag Grenade (W)

Talents

New Talent: Vampiric Strike

  • This is a new version of Vampiric Assault
    • Basic Attacks heal for 25% of the damage dealt to the primary target
    • Vampiric Assault has not been changed

Regeneration Master

  • Initial +4.0 Health Regeneration removed
  • Each Health Globe now grants +1.5 Health Regeneration

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer’s Blunt Force Gun will no longer be placed on reduced cooldown when coming under the effects of Anub'arak Web Blast during Blunt Force Gun’s casting time.

2015-05-12 Patch Notes

Talents

Focused Attack

  • Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 75%

2015-03-24 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

  • Health reduced from 770 (+170 per level) to 720 (+140 per level)

2015-02-10 Patch Notes

Talents

Regeneration Master

  • Now grants 4 Health regeneration upon learning the Talent

New Level 20 Talents

Fury of the Storm

  • Every 5 seconds, the next Basic Attack will deal an additional 200 damage to the primary target, and 500 damage to each nearby Minion or Mercenary.
  • Found on the following Heroes:
    • E.T.C., Gazlowe, Nazeebo, Sgt. Hammer, The Lost Vikings, Zagara

Nexus Frenzy

  • Increases both Attack Speed and Basic Attack range by 20%
  • Found on the following Heroes:
    • Falstad, Jaina, Raynor, Sgt. Hammer, Tychus, Valla

Hero Updates

  • Spider Mines (Q)
    • Bullhead Mines (Talent)
      • Enemies are now knocked back slightly farther, but only the center of the three Spider Mines will knock the target back.

Bug Fixes

  • A Sgt. Hammer in Siege Mode now properly becomes mobile while under the effects of Brightwing’s Polymorph, and will no longer be in Siege Mode when Polymorph expires.
  • Visual explosion effects from Sgt. Hammer's Basic Attacks while in Siege Mode now appear at the appropriate location when attacking flying enemies.

2015-01-13 Patch Notes

Talents

Resurgence of the Storm

  • This Talent has been removed from the game.

2014-12-02 Patch Notes

Talents

Resurgence of the Storm

  • Cooldown increased from 120 to 180 seconds

2014-09-10 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

  • Maelstrom Shells (Talent)
    • Basic Attack range bonus increased from 1 to 1.1
  • Crucio X-2 Cannon (Talent)
    • Has been removed from the game
  • Spider Mines (Q)
    • Slowing Mines (Talent)
      • Moved from Level 16 to Level 7
      • Duration bonus reduced from 1 to 0.5 seconds
      • Slow amount bonus reduced from 25% to 15%
  • Concussive Blast (W)
    • Lethal Blast (Talent)
      • Damage bonus increased from 25% to 50%
  • Siege Mode (E)
    • Fortify Position (Talent)
      • Has been removed from the game
    • Graduating Range (Talent)
      • Basic Attack range bonus while in Siege Mode increased from 1 to 1.1 per stack
    • Hover Siege Mode (Talent)
      • Moved from Level 7 to Level 16
      • Hover Siege Mode is now cancelled when using Thrusters (just as it does with regular Siege Mode.)
    • Resistant (Talent)
      • Crowd Control reduction increased from 50% to 75%

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer can now move appropriately after being transformed by the Garden Terror’s Spore Queen’s Curse Ability while in Siege Mode.
  • Sgt. Hammer now properly earns experience points when killing Minions that are outside of her normal experience range.

2014-07-23 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused damage dealt by Sgt. Hammer in Siege Mode to count toward the Tab Screen’s Healing stat.
  • Sgt. Hammer's Siege Mode targeting graphic is no longer visible through the Fog of War.
  • Sgt. Hammer's Thruster effects no longer detach from her model when switching Camera Follow on and off again.

2014-06-25 Patch Notes

Talents

First Aid

  • Healing amount increased from 20% over 4 seconds to 35% over 6 seconds.

Regeneration Master

  • Health regeneration increased from 3 to 4 per stack

Hero Updates

  • Thrusters (Z)
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 50% to 60%
  • Ambush (Talent)
    • Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 100%

Bug Fixes

  • Sgt. Hammer clones created by Abathur’s Ultimate Evolution Heroic Ability now receive an appropriate initial cooldown timer on Blunt Force Gun.
  • Sgt. Hammer’s First Strike Talent no longer stops functioning upon reviving after death.

2014-05-22 Patch Notes

Talents

Executioner

  • Damage bonus decreased from 50% to 40%

Focused Attack

  • Base cooldown has been increased from 5 to 10 seconds.
  • Each basic attack reduces this cooldown by 1 second.

Hero Updates

  • Hotkey changes
    • Siege Mode and Spider Mines hotkeys have been swapped
  • Has received significant Talent changes
  • Bribe, Have a Mine, and Maelstrom Rounds have been removed
  • Artillery (Trait)
    • New Talent (Level 13): First Strike
      • Basic attacks deal an additional 25% damage if Sgt. Hammer hasn’t taken damage within the last 5 seconds.
  • Thrusters
    • New Talent (Level 7): Hyper-Cooling Engines
      • Thrusters (Z) now activates automatically while inside your Hall of Storms. This does not start the Thrusters cooldown timer.
      • Reduces the cooldown of Thrusters from 30 to 20 seconds
  • Spider Mines
    • Slowing Mines (Talent)
      • Slow duration increased from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds
      • Slow effect increased from 25% to 50%
    • New Talent (Level 13): Bullhead Mines
      • Spider Mines now knock the target back. This effect stacks if hit by multiple mines.
  • Siege Mode
    • New Talent (Level 1): Ambush
      • Entering Siege Mode now cloaks Sgt. Hammer
      • The first basic attack from Siege Mode now deals 50% increased damage and uncloaks Sgt. Hammer.
    • New Talent (Level 1): Resistant
      • Reduces crowd control effect duration while in Siege Mode by 50%
    • New Talent (Level 16): Graduating Range
      • Sgt. Hammer’s range while in Siege Mode increases by 1 every 3 seconds, up to a maximum increase of 5.

2014-04-15 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

  • Basic Attack starting damage increased from 50 to 55.
  • Siege Mode cast time decreased from 1 to 0.5 seconds.

2014-03-25 Hotfix Patch

Talents

  • Focused Attack talent bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from +30% to +50%

Hero Updates

  • Base vision radius increased by 2