Mechabellum Sledgehammer Guide
All units Sledgehammer
Sledgehammer
Used against
Crawler
Mustang
Stormcaller
Countered by
Hacker
Fortress
Phoenix
Overlord
Scorpion
War Factory
Marksman
Rhino
How to play Sledgehammer
The sledgehammer is an early game chaff clear unit that does very well against crawlers and fangs. Throughout the game they are very good versus crawlers but get stuck on shielded fangs for eternity.
In the midgame, the role of the sledgehammer is to assist in chaff clear as well as provide a frontline for your bigger units. During this stage of the game the enemy has instant clear for your crawlers/fangs with units like Typhoons, Vulcans, Wraiths etc. and the sledgehammer can tank all them very well.
While they are an early game powerhouse, you should not tech your sledges too early as they are hard countered by multiple units (f.e. scorpions, fortress, overlords). In a late game composition they offer a lot of options. They can tank enemy melting points for a long time, they can nullify mustangs completely with armor enhancement tech and they can clear crawlers fast and offer solid damage boost in general to your whole composition.
When enemy leans a bit too heavily on Stormcallers, going sledges + crawlers is a very good option. Sledges struggle against storms for a round but once you get speed or mechanical rage they do well.
Against Steelballs, it's usually better to deploy the sledges vertically as all the balls will start drilling on the first sledge instead of all focusing on their own target.
Keep in mind that not leveling your sledgehammers is often correct. Most of the sledgehammer counters are bad versus level 1 sledges since they are tied to that position and overkill them by quite a bit. And level 1 sledges do their main role similarly compared to higher level sledges; they still clear chaff the same and they still get one shot by a scorpion.
Mechabellum Sledgehammer counter
Don't build too many crawlers and lean more into fangs so you have the option to tech fang shield later.
Going charged shot arclight might be a good option if the enemy also has a lot of crawlers or leveled crawlers.
Scorpions are a solid choice against sledgehammers but unlocking them too early leaves you very vulnerable to overlords.
Fortresses are very good against the sledgehammers and if the sledges are paired with something like marksmen/arclight/phoenix/wasp, the fortress will counter them also with either anti-air tech or summoning shielded fangs.
War Factory is another option in a similar scenario. If the enemy fails to build chaff and just keeps building sledges, round 4-5 factory will be very strong.
There's some more niche counters like hacker, but its not good unless you get it free from the unit drops.
If the enemy sledges develop the damage sharing technology, counter them with a Melting Point.
Sledgehammer Builds
Listed below are all some highlighted Sledgehammer builds.
Surrey's Sledgehammer build
Field maintenance is for sure the best technology for the sledgehammer. Many people keep teching the mech rage early but trust me, don't do it. When I tech my sledges it's something like 60% field maintenance, 37% armor, 3% mech rage, 0% damage sharing. Going any kind of carry sledgehammer with for example range+emp+mech rage is a very bad idea and easily shut down.
Sledgehammer Technologies
Listed below are all available technologies for Sledgehammer, their viability and how to use them.
Mechanical Rage
Increases the movement speed of units by 4m/s and reduces attack interval by 1.5s
300
Very good against Stormcallers especially, It's also good against crawlers/fangs with usually it's better to clear a little bit slower and just go field maintenance or armor depending on the situation.
Range Enhancement
Increases attack range by 40m
300
Part of the "carry sledge" kit. Not a good tech usually since you want your sledges to serve as a tanking unit, not a backline damage dealer. Can be good with the high range sledgehammer card.
Armor-Piercing Bullets
Increases ATK by 150% and attack interval increases by 20%
250
In theory this looks like a good technology, but the main role of the sledgehammer is to assist in chaff clear, and this technology weakens its main role. If for some reason your opponent refuses to buy fangs or crawlers it might be good for use. It's a huge damage boost if you can connect to medium units, giant units or barriers.
Armor Enhancement
The effect increases with unit level, reducing damage received by 60 per level. Additionally, increases HP by 20%.
300
I usually tech this against mustangs or vulcans. Can be also very good against crawlers if they somehow don't have impact drill available.
Electromagnetic Shot
Causes electromagnetic interference on hit, temporarily disabling the target unit's Tech and reducing its movement speed by 40%
300
It counters a lot of nasty enemy technologies like armor enhancements, crawler acid and steel balls life steal and mechanical division. If you are specifically doing Sledge carry, you might need this vs rocket punch Fortress or against just range technologies to the enemy scorpions cannot shoot back. I wouldn't every use this technology, but in some playstyles I can see some value, not much though.
Field Maintenance
Increases HP by 30%, automatically restores 4.5% Max HP per second upon taking damage
200
Costing only 200, it's very good value for the money. Almost always my first (and only) tech on sledges. Good especially in sledgehammer mirrors or versus stormcallers.
Damage Sharing
Chains adjacent Sledgehammers together, increasing HP by 120% and sharing damage received equally between them
200
This technology has some uses in gaining fast power spikes or forcing enemy to build certain units, but if you don't know what you are doing, never buy this technology. You get countered early game by steels balls. Late game I have seen 16 sledges simultaneously explode to a drilling melting point. Beside the channeling damage (melting point + steel balls), many units would deal overkill damage to the sledges and with the damage linking upgrade, the overkill is not wasted and this technology will do more harm than good, even though it adds a bunch of HP. It's a one turn trick and it being available on your tech bar might make the enemy do some bad plays.
