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If you're looking for other melee and ranged starting weapons, you might want to check Starting loadouts.

The subject of this article appeared in Unreal Tournament. The subject of this article appeared in Unreal Tournament 3. The subject of this article appeared in Unreal Tournament 4.

The Impact Hammer is a melee weapon from the Unreal series.

Overview[]

The Impact Hammer serves as one default weapon (besides the Enforcer) which all UT99 and UT3 players start with. This pneumatic crushing device was originally used as a miner's tunneling tool, powered by extremely high amounts of air pressure (as proven by the 2 large air tanks on the sides).

Unreal Tournament[]

"Primary Fire: Just hold the fire button; it will automatically release when you touch someone.
Secondary Fire: Rapid impact; can deflect shots if your timing is good enough.

Originally used as a miner’s tunneling tool, the Impact Hammer is a pneumatic crushing device that now pulverizes opponents as effectively as it once shattered rock. Use it to demolish your enemies in one of two ways: hit them with quick repeated strikes, or charge it up and let loose with a single, more powerful attack."
UT manual

Classification
Melee Piston
Primary Fire
When trigger is held down, touch opponents with this piston to inflict massive damage.
Secondary Fire
Damage opponents at close range and has the ability to deflect projectiles.

Besides smashing opponents, it can also be used to do hammer jumps, which involves using the Impact Hammer to propel the player, as well as deflect or reflect projectiles away or back at its source. Secondary fire repeatedly triggered the hammer, while the Primary fire charges the hammer and delivers a lethal impact when the hammer comes in contact with a target bot.

Unreal Tournament 3[]

"The Impact Hammer, originally designed for sub-surface drift mining, can focus several hundred metric tons of pressure into the space of a few square centimeters. The impact, and resulting shock wave, easily destabilizes solid stone to speed ore separation and excavation. After several mining accidents highlighted the Hammer's devastating effect on the human body, the N.E.G. military took interest. To improve the Hammer's effectiveness against vehicles with shock-absorbing armor, an alternate electromagnetic pulse (EMP) mode was added. The EMP violently scrambles onboard computer systems, quickly leading to engine failure. Field testing showed the EMP has a similar effect on infantry powerups, knocking them off soldiers and enabling battlefield recovery."
UT3 manual

Primary Fire
Charges the hammer when held. It will automatically release upon an opponent in range, or when Fire is released. When hitting something other than other players (for example walls, vehicles or power nodes), that object receives a push, but no damage. Instead, the impact reflects back to the player, causing self damage and knock-back. Using this feature to gain extra jump height at the expense of some health is called impact jumping.
Secondary Fire
EMP Mode. This mode does no damage to players, but up to 150 points of damage to vehicles. Using this against an enemy player will dislodge their timed powerups and Shield Belt, which is especially useful against Invulnerability.

In Unreal Tournament 3, it is red, with an updated appearance, and has an all-new EMP alternate fire, useful for damaging vehicles or knocking powerups off the player's enemies. According to Steven Polge, it was brought back to address complaints regarding flag running in Capture the Flag.[1]

Related Achievements[]

UT3 Hammerhead achievement
Hammerhead
Gamerscore 10
Get the "JackHammer" award in 10 matches.
Bronze

Unreal Tournament 4[]

Primary fire
Tapping releases a burst that damages closeby enemies. Holding charges the weapon and increases damage dealt. A fully charged Impact Hammer will fire on contact and can be lethal.
Tips
Aiming at the floor and firing within close proximity will propel you upwards. The higher the charge, the further you will go, though the damage you deal to yourself will also increase.

Tips and tricks[]

  • Projectile deflection: A feature from the UT version, hitting the alt-fire button at the right time will deflect the enemy projectiles.
  • Hammer Jump: Shoot at the ground while jumping to jump extra high. Charging it makes you jump higher, at the cost of more health. Also called a "Piston Jump."
  • Hammer Dodge: Dodge and Hammer Jump at the same time to gain extra speed when escaping from enemies' base in CTF matches. Also called a "Piston Dodge."
  • Telepunting: The Impact Hammer can fling a translocator disk much further than a person could normally throw it. Care must be maintained by both the punter and the person teleporting that it doesn't fly off target or at terminal speeds/distances.
  • Watch out for piston camping near teleporters. This is a very popular technique in some maps, such as CTF-Face.

Trivia[]

Preview notes[]

"This could have been invented by the EverQuest dwarves--it's a hydraulic, steam-powered smasher that pounds the enemy into smithereens. Hey, wasn't Quake supposed to have a hammer at one point? Maybe it has finally arrived, after leaving one game and going to another one."
IGN, UT[2]


Gallery[]

External links and references[]

  1. hal (July 14, 2007). "BeyondUnreal Interviews: Steve Polge". BeyondUnreal. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  2. JB (May 13, 1999). "Unreal Tournament - Hands-on preview". IGN. Retrieved May 22, 2019.

See also[]


Unreal Tournament weapons
Chaos: UT weapons: 
Unreal Tournament 3 weapons
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