Thank you Hammerwatch players for positive support on my guide. I'm glad to see the first guide I've written for any game ever has helped over 11,000 people with looting and pillaging and forcibly raping monsters. It's already been over a year now since I posted it and there's so much new content in the game relating to the characters that this update is looooong overdue. Sorry for slackin', let's do it.

Hello fellow adventurers, this is [Oooh]LongJohnson and I'm here to share some of my experiences with you in this awesome game, Hammerwatch.
First off I'd like to say thanks to the creators for making the game and steam users for getting it greenlighted. I'm having a lot of fun playing it, especially with friends. Whether we hunt together or murder each other it's always a good time.

This is the first guide I have ever written for any game ever. I am still relatively new to this game and and constantly learning things about it.
THIS GUIDE IS STRICTLY MY OPINION so take it with a grain of salt. Think for yourself. I am just trying to offer an alternate perspective for anyone who wants it.

I saw there were no guides for this game so I decided to post some ideas on how to make things run smoothly for you and your team in Hammerwatch.

I welcome all comments and feedback and will occasionally update it to reflect useful information. Feel free to contribute by way of comments and I hope you enjoy this.

Let's get to it!

Since steam has character restrictions on sections, time to split up my guide! Here's a section on all of the physical attackers of the game: Ranger, Paladin and Thief. Ranger is a Ranged attacker, the other two, well the other two are melee. And furthermore, Susan, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that all 3 of them habitually like to kill stuff.

Hidden deep in the realm of Mom's basement lies the:

RANGER
Character Info
-Starting Stats: 50 HP, 50MP, slow mana refill, Bomb cost 20 MP per use
-Insane damage potential but the arrows lose damage the further they travel, excellent mobility, good team utility
-This guy is a BEAST. The distance on his regular attacks combined with the penetrating arrows makes for a loooot of damage potential. On top of that, he starts with those awesome bombs which take quite a bit of mana to use but they pack a serious punch.
Character Strategies
-Ranger works very well solo and very well in any team make up as well. With some positioning behind a good paladin to block ranged attacks, you are free to wreak havoc without even breaking a sweat to dodge enemy projectiles.
-To further increase the rangers effectiveness, consider playing with the strafe function.
-I usually pick the timer combo skill for this class to make sure I'm constantly landing combos for the speed and damage boost.
-The ranger gets access to some really awesome damage skills and 2 great defensives. He gets arrows to pierce through more targets, a chance to do double damage every hit and a sweeping spinning AoE like the Knight Boss. To help him survive he gets a passive evasion chance and a large circular ranged roots spell equivalent to mother nature punching every monster it hits straight in the balls.

Can't keep a good knight down:

PALADIN
Character Info
-Starting stats: 75 HP, 50 MP, slow mana refill, Dash cost 10 MP per use
-Good damage dealer due to attack speed, durable, excellent defender, amazing team utility.
-This character is (in my opinion) the most fun to play. You get an amazing dash skill which works wonders both offensively and defensively. You have fap-like attack speed and to top it all off, facing some ranged enemies will block a lot of their projectile attacks! (It takes some getting used to but once you figure out the size of the hitbox, you can tank for your team.)
-Strafing is mandatory for this class if you would like to play it defensively.
-Although there are a lot of points in favour of this class, a new/lazy/unskilled paladin can be the bane of your team. Since he is a melee based character, he can end up taking a lot of damage and destroying your ankh supply very quickly.
Character Strategies
-Being a melee class, the nova combo option is also great on this character. Combined with some diligent movement and you will destroy waves upon waves of monsters.
-The healing combo option is also a very good choice for this class in a defensive role. Adjust according to your style.
-I find this class also takes the least damage from hits so use him to run into rooms and gather monsters into groups while dashing past obstacles/monsters that get in your way and set up easy combos for your team.
-If you are playing defensively, learning when to use strafe can be the difference between a living team and a dead one. Your job as the pointman is to block projectile attacks from hitting your team. Take the spiky worms for example, if you stand directly in front of them and face them you can stop any of their projectiles from moving past you. Be careful though, hits from the sides and rear will still deal damage to you.
-The upgrades on this character are so juicy they always keep me coming back for more. A passive stun chance, spinning attack and a heal that works on yourself and allies! But wait, there's more! You can upgrade the shield's hitbox size so blocking projectiles is effortless.

Silent but violent:

THIEF
Character Info
-Starting stats: 40 HP, 40 MP, average mana refill, Dagger throw costs 15 MP per use and hurls 5 daggers in front of you in a <90 degree cone.
-Good damage potential, excellent team utility, awesome maneuverability but pretty squishy
-One of the new classes, it is a pretty cool addition to the roster. His skills used to cost money to use! :o
-Not only does his attack hit on both sides simultaneously but he also attacks twice for every time you press the button. This makes him the most ideal for hit and run tactics.
-His attacks can also block some projectiles if timed properly! It takes some practice but good timing combined with the attack covering front and sides of this character means in skillful hands he can be a great pseudo-tank.
-MOVESPEED ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
-Nova combo option is a decent choice on this character because you will be running in and out of throngs of monsters as you frantically try to poke them with your bent spoons.
-Thief gets access to some pretty badass skills like Smoke Bomb which is an AoE stun, Grapple Chain which is kind of like hookshot or Timbersaw in Dota, passive chance to earn more money and a stacking attack speed buff based on kills.

This section is dedicated to the spell casters. The warriors of arcane, nether and holy energies, wielders of life and even death itself. Time and space bend to their will. They will hurt things.

Never hurts to have a good:

WIZARD
Character Info
-Starting stats: 25 HP, 75 MP, fast mana refill, Fire Blast costs 4MP per tick. (Hold for longer duration)
-Insane damage potential, extremely fragile class, decent team utility
-Here he is, our favourite glass canon in most fantasy type games. He stays true to that role in Hammerwatch and the pain he brings will not disappoint you.
-His basic attack is a fireball with an explosive splash area when it detonates. Splash damage does less than the balls sprite. It is great to hug against walls, break the enemies line of sight so they chase you then fire it beside a corner to attack without even a chance of taking damage. His first skill is a conelike firespray reminiscent of the Inferno spell in Diablo I and II.
-Since the wizard can die extremely fast, he can often kill off your ankh supply even faster than a paladin in the wrong hands. But with that in mind, dont be too scared to let this character on your team because he can dish out some serious damage.
Character Strategies
-The area of effect on the basic attack is great for racking up combo points if you are good at running through groups of monsters or your team can gather them into a mob for you.
-I cant emphasize the squishiness of this character enough. Some things will 1 shot you even in medium difficulty. It's a high risk, high reward playstyle.
-Timer combo option is a decent choice on this character because of his area of effect attack range. The heal is also good but it really depends on your playstyle. Stay away from the nova until you are able to run circles around the mobs of monsters.
-Wizard gets some interesting upgrades. A frost nova AoE that is really similar to the rangers roots attack, frost armor that boost survivability. For the damage skills, he calls meteors from the sky in a large area, gets a passive fire damage boost from Combustion. Everyone can upgrade basic attacks but I feel the wizards is exceptional because you can increase the area of effect on the fireballs explosion.

Holiest of the Holies:

PRIEST
Character Info
-Starting stats: 30 HP, 70 MP, fast mana refill, Kamehameha costs what feels like ~3 MP per second at first but then turns into like 10/second when you charge it. It's an energy beam that does pretty good starting damage and also heals any ally it touches. Positioning it can get tricky.
-Lower damage potential, Best team utility, good maneuverability but pretty squishy
-One of the new classes, it is a pretty cool addition to the roster. He is your standard cleric with some interesting mechanics worked in to accomodate this style of game.
-His basic attack is a ranged move but will hit anything closer given the opportunity. The animation is kind of slow so it lacks the spamability of other classes but it works.
-You will need the strafe function bound to play this class most effectively.
-Once you have access to the Draining Field move get some movespeed and laugh while the monsters helplessly chase you without meaning to offer their own life force as an apology for scuffing up your fancy pope robe.
-Cripple Aura and a mana shield ability make sure this guy is not going down easily. HP regen can be bought if you need to regain life. Remember, the priests heal can't heal himself.

Deathbringer Incarnate:

WARLOCK
Character Info
-Starting stats: 100 HP, 75 MP, fast mana refill, Lightning Ball cost 25 MP per use.
-Sweet Jesus! damage potential, durable, decent attacker due to ridiculous basic attack spamability and skills but suffers from lowest range basic attack, hit-and-(mostly)run style tactics
-Although his basic attack is the shortest range of all basic attacks it has a damage over time effect which is very useful for hit-and-run tactics or kiting. His starting skill, lightning ball, can be very deadly and is a great combo builder.
Character Strategies
-Sometimes it's more effective to fire the lightning ball beside a group of enemies instead of directly at them so you will get the full number of hits in. Shooting it directly at a monster will cancel the remaining range it can travel. A bit of practice and you will know the best place to aim.
-Warlock is also a great team player but I dont think any class is as good rolling solo as the ranger. Coordinating the lightning ball with another team mates skill like rangers bombs or wizards flame shooter thing can drop a group of monsters very quickly.
-Getting the nova combo skill with the warlock is a pretty fun way to play him, especially if you're planning on being a close ranged stab happy kind of guy.
-With the amazing upgrades this character gets you can kiss your stubby little wand goodbye and say hello to DESTROYEVERYTHINGAHAHAO%YR@*OIA#JGA%OUGTH#!GOA&IWIN cloud. It's a cloud that follows you around and does all the work for you. Combine that with the health and mana recovery abilities triggered on monsters dying and a HP sucking circle you can drop... If you need further explantion then you should probably pick a different class.

Here are some general tips to keep things running smoothly.

-There are multiple game modes. The campaign (Standard and Desert expansion), a survival (my favourite) and a tower defense style map. There are also many fun and challenging user made maps. Don't be scared to check them out!

-This is kind of obvious, but voice chat is your best friend for communicating and setting up strategies on the go. I am almost always in skype with team mates when I play this game. However, some of us don't have that luxury and that's fine. It's optional but to me it makes things much more enjoyable.

-Try to pick a team composition that plays off of each others strengths. Not to say that running with 4 rangers is a bad idea. It's damn fun but there are certain advantages and disadvantages that will make themselves known once you start getting down and dirty.

-Play with a gamepad. I use a Playstation 2 controller. Again, this is another optional choice but since there is button mapping support built into the game programs like Joy2Key aren't even necessary. Besides, it just feels better with a gamepad. :P Directional buttons or analog both feel great, each providing accurate movement and I find it helps to set your healing and strafing buttons to shoulder/trigger spots.

-Dont forget to open your port (its 9995 by default, I believe) if you're planning on hosting multiplayer games. Some people wont have to do this but for others, it might be required to be able to host. Look for a guide on google for 'port forwarding'. It's pretty easy once you know how.

-Set all of your buttons up! I know this might sound ridiculous but there are certain features like strafing that go commonly unused that are so damn useful.

-Keep your eyes open for secrets. There are cracks in the wall that can be destroyed with a few attacks to reveal hidden passages. There are also animated tiles that appear as a tiny hole or a brick or two missing from the wall that will have hidden passages. Don't be afraid to explore! For me, explorating is one of the best parts of these kinds of games.

-Use your map! The mini map is very detailed and useful in this game. MAP IS FRIEND

-It is possible to reconnect to a game that you've disconnected from even while the game is in progress. If the person is not on your friends list, just rejoin the IP that appears.

That's all for now folks. Expect some updates in the future as comments come in and I learn more about the game. I am also messing with the level editor so when I accumulate enough experience with it I will try to share it.

Thanks again to the games creators and everyone who supported greenlighting it on steam.

If you want to friends list me to play the game together, feel free. I'm down for whatever.

And just remember; If it bleeds, we can kill it.

[Oooh]LongJohnson over and out.