- Q: When a card such as Grappling Hook or Sledgehammer instructs me to perform a different number of actions than the cost of the ability, how do I determine how many actions I have performed for the purposes of card effects? A: When resolving an ability, the investigator is considered to have performed as many actions as specified by the effect. For example, Grappling Hook or Discipline (Balance of Body) instruct you to perform 3 different actions. Regardless of the cost paid to initiate the ability, you have performed 3 actions (assuming you took each available action). Conversely, an investigator activating the second ability on Sledgehammer has only performed one action, although they spent two actions to do so. - FAQ, v.2.1, August 2023
Asset. Hand x2
Item. Tool. Weapon. Melee.
Cost: 3. XP: 4.
: Fight. You get +1 and deal +1 damage for this attack.
: Fight. You get +5 and deal +5 damage for this attack.
Related Cards
- Sledgehammer (Edge of the Earth Investigator Expansion #94)
FAQs
(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)Reviews
Is Arkham Horror not a game you actively enjoy playing? Roped in by a friend or family member, do you just wish that your turn would end faster? Well, call me Bob Jenkins, because FFG has the deal for you!
With Sledgehammer (4), you can make sure your turn is over and done with in minimal time. Spend every iota of your effort and all of your actions crushing that Swarm of Rats into nothing but juicy red pulp, and leave the actual minutiae of doing something so base as looking for clues or discovering locations to the other members of your team.
Sledgehammer (4) -- It's better than just watching.
(As an aside, I'm eternally amused that upgrading to Sledgehammer (4) adds five pounds of weight to the head of the hammer. Lol!)
Here are a few cards you may be interested to look at if you wanna slam around this bad boy:
• Relentless that can be recurred by Yorick to turn all these silly damages into resources, that you can spend with Scrapper to boost the smaller attack, or in Plucky (3) to investigate when there are no other enemies. Keen Eye covers for both in .
• Safeguard (2) so that you can save all the moving actions, and simply spend your turns eradicating everything that you collected on behalf of your teammates.
• Drawing Thin to turn the ridiculous +5 into resources/card draw.
• Live and Learn and Oops! as mentioned, especially paired with Drawing Thin to one-shot big bosses. It was correctly mentioned that you can use 2 Live and Learn on the same failed test, and even use Resourceful while doing the new test of Live and Learn to get it back and so on.
• Well Prepared for a +4 +1 damage, ammo-free weapon. You can also use it on Plucky (3) is you took it too for a good capacity to discover clues on empty turns.
• Riot Whistle to engage the enemies that your teammates draw and still have the 3 available to kill the threat without risking the 360--No-Scope on your partner in crime.
• Police Badge for the extra 2 actions that allow you to use the big hit and still have 2 actions to play. Also helps you with Well Prepared against tests.
• Nightmare Bauble and Eucatastrophe can also give you a little safety net against friendly fire.
• Jury-Rig for the 1 attack.
• Prepared for the Worst of course to find it.
• Nine of Rods to find more enemies to turn into jam
• Brand of Cthugha potentially for 1 hp attacks.
• Unrelenting to get 2 cards since you don't mind cancelling the better tokens
• Brute Force as a safety weapon for 3 health enemies when you have only one action.
• Galvanize that you can use on a Beat Cop (2) to get an extra action for an extra attack and an extra testless damage, resulting in 10 damages in 1 turn.
• Scavenging so that you can play the first one that you draw and commit the second one on the small attack, and get it back to your hand whenever you would succeed an investigation by 2 or more.
Off colour:
• Lucky Cigarette Case (0) of course, and if your teammate is Bob Jenkins, Lucky Cigarette Case (3).
• Shortcut/Pathfinder to move and hit
• Some succeed by shenanigans like Gregory Gry, "Watch this!" or All In that you can commit on your mate that is playing the Sledgehammer (4).
Feel free to tell me in the comments other good synergies and I'll update that review!
I can't match how entertaining the other review on this weapon is, but I do want to chime in and say that this doesn't actually look that bad, if a bit on the bland side. When a person building a fighting-focused deck looks at this, they (rightfully) go "meh, I can do better than +1 damage per action." That said, this is a very solid weapon for the fighter who doesn't care that much about fighting, but is still expected to do it:
Leo Anderson wants to do ally shenanigans, but definitely wouldn't mind a solid (cheap!) weapon for smashing little fellows, and he can still put his back into it for bosses.
Roland Banks (particularly Parallel Front Roland playing with Due Diligance) might feel like focusing a little more into his investigative side, but would want a damage boost to murder nuisances who get in his way.
Tommy Muldoon, if he's playing a tank role for his teammates in a multiplayer game, or is investing his time and effort into working Agency Backup.
Silas or Daniela are less likely to go for it, but it's still an option for some builds for them. Basically any time you're going to be building most of your deck around something that isn't fighting, but still have 4+ fight and would rather smash things than run from them, this is a solid choice, if you can stomach the xp cost. Like Fire Extinguisher (3), getting consistent +1 damage on an unlimited use weapon at 3 resources is a steal, and this also lets you get in on the big fights without any further investment.
"............................................................................... ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................... .......................................................it hurts a lot." -Yig
This thing was made for Yorrick to turn enemies into a thin red paste. It pairs very well with On the Hunt and Scene of the Crime (you can use the single attack feature to do two attacks on the enemy in the above scenario, or galvanize to do it all in the same turn). Throw on some overpowers and a vicious blow or two and it's basically a one and done weapon for all but the most spongy bosses.
Definitely a monster slayer and if your survivor is focused on that, great. If you aren't though, pretty expensive and action intensive.
Edit: As FHV launches this card also got a strange new use... throwing it away. Wilson is able to ad hoc this for hilarious damage, and can recur it fairly easily with Pushed to the Limit. Both of these attacks completely ignore the three action cost, enabling him to do it fairly regularly and surprisingly for big hits. It feels weird buying a card to throw it away, but it is surprisingly effective.
Fun to bring with Carson, whose measley 2 prevents him from using most weapons effectively. He already wants Safeguard to glue himself to another investigator, so chances are high that enemies will spawn at his location and he won't need to move. With Well Prepared he can even use the one- ability on weaker monsters. He also has access to Shortcut when he needs to step before swinging.
Also, nice combo that hasn't been mentioned: Task Force. Move, discover a free clue, swing the hammer, and still have an action left over. Whoops, nevermind, only works with the level zero version, which makes it effectively a clue for $2, making it redundant with Working a Hunch when used on yourself. Still a decent option for Carson, who generally wants to give away his actions anyway.