r/CodeVein2

Spoiler tagged because I'm going to bring up mid to late-game stuff here. You've been duly warned

I'm with Lycoris again in my current run, and I'm running around the Bureau Castle area since it counts as part of the Undead Forest and you can't explore half of it in the Past (that's a gripe for another day). It's the one place in the whole game where you can encounter NPC hunters in the Present and, except for the two who are a boss fight at the end of the Observation Outpost dungeon, all the hunters you see are ghosts. They're all dead. The two living hunters who make up that one boss fight don't survive their encounter with the player, and the Bureau Castle is completely closed off and silent

What the hell happened to all the other hunters? Where are they?

When Present NPCs mention you being a hunter, they don't seem shocked by you existing, so obviously you aren't the only one running around, but where are the others? Shouldn't there be at least one or two NPC hunters around you can talk to? Why is the player alone in the world? I have so many questions

You don't get to keep the Customer Tokens that expand Jadwiga's shop going into NG+.

I get that they're key items, but come on! They're not story related and in NG+ everything is expected to be top of the line too! PLEASE patch the game so that this is fixed! Okay, I still had mine from the first run. Still, we don't need another, right? So maybe disable purchasing them again?

Also, the bequeathed formae should probably be replaced by big haze items since there's literally no reason to have a secondary one (can't be modified outside of increased damage). Just a thing I'd like after having it happen in Wuchang Fallen Feathers.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, having the database reset going into NG+ is also quite annoying. Already saw the story, right? No reason to lose that unless you're streaming a NG+ run and hiding spoilers.

Anything else that should be included in the list?

#Introduction Stop! Hammertime! Because who doesn’t like turning their enemies into nice flat pancakes, right? And we are going to do just that in this write-up, attempting to do it in the best way possible (just the way our Lord and Saviour Idris intended).

Back during the prehistoric age known to some as Code Vein 1, Hammer was an awkward weapon.
Sure you could play it, and once in a while during multiplayer sessions (never forget what they took from us) you would run into a cute catgirl wielding the Argent Wolf Warhammer, but it sat in a place where it would permanently hear ‘Everything you can do I can do better, I can do everything better than you!’ in the background.
Damage? Lagged behind greatsword and halberds. Hitting multiple things at once or stagger stuff?
Same story for the most part.

Luckily, Hammers got a bit of a facelift in Code Vein 2 so they could get out of the corner of shame. Finally!
This time for the most part it feels like actually swinging a huge chunk of metal. And smashing into something feels rewarding. And staggering. Hammer finally staggers. That at least makes up for some of its remaining flaws…

#Advantages and disadvantages

Hammer is something you want to play when every hit should feel impactful (as far as Code Vein 2's combat can go into that direction). BONK. SMACK. THUD. Relying less on fast attacks but on slow brute unrelenting force. That unstoppable juggernaut fantasy. Hammer delivers on this. It is also (because of this) the slowest weapon in the game, with most of its impactful forma also not exactly being speed demons. As such, when playing with hammers you should always keep an eye on not just your positioning, but have a knack for identifying the correct window to strike. Because a miscalculation with a faster weapon means you can still dodge or evade. With a hammer it most likely means pain.

#The bloodcodes and weapons

This is not going to be a highly diverse section when it comes to bloodcodes. The absolute majority of hammers that matter only care about Strength scaling. As such, for pure unfiltered raw DPS and rage, [Artificial Arm Lyle](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Patientia+Bloodline:+Lyle+(Artificial+Arm\)) comfortably sits at the top. Should for some reason your options being limited by Lyle’s statspread you can consider eating a very modest DPS loss and use [Resurgence Core](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Resurgence+Core+(Blood+Code\)) instead (the damage is a little less, but it has a way more flexible statspread, especially with the Mind stat allowing several utility/flex options).

For the one case that preferred a more balanced approach, swiss knife melee code [Hero Valentin](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Hero+Valentin+(Blood+Code\)) said hello as a highly viable and respectable (but tier 2) option.

As for the weapons themselves, I felt the following tier division to be highly defendable:

######Tier 1

The first (honestly surprising) weapon here is the Grotesque Bonemace (Brawn). And that is because this is one of those weapons where the statscreen lies to you when it comes to light attacks. It hits harder than you would expect. It has the strongest light attacks of all hammers even. And you can farm for it as early as the entire pre-Franz tutorial section with Noah (Go to the island with the dungeon entrance and respawning werebeasts). It also inflicts venom with every hit. Now you are unlikely to get venom to stick with a slow weapon like a hammer (and most stuff will be dead long before), but the once in a blue moon that you get it to trigger it’s free damage! The heavy and charged heavy are not the best, but still solid. I feel this warrants a tier 1 spot.

The next occupant of this tier is the Forma Mech Hammer Goliath (Brawn). You can trade for his as early as the Sunken City with one of Jadwiga’s merchants. And then you have one of the best hammers in the game. Not for the light attacks mind you, this is not a weapon you want to spam light attacks on. But the heavies and charged heavies Goliath will pulverize whatever poor soul you decide to unleash it on. Do note the charged heavy is a multi-hitter that can easily hit multiple things at once, so this might be preferrable against groups.

The third weapon here is the Nameless Hammer (Brawn). The light and heavy attacks on it are average. But the charged heavy, while doing not as much total as Goliath’s, does all its damage in one hit (while Goliath’s charged heavy swings four times total). That means Nameless is burstier for when you need the damage done in one hit (while Goliath can be better when you swing against a packed group). Nameless also sports the highest attack forma damage out of all hammers (Goliath comes in at 2nd place). You won’t read a lot about Nameless, but honestly, tier 1 is where it belongs!

All of the weapons above work the best with Artificial Arm Lyle (or Resurgence Core if you value the higher booster/burden flexibility).

######Tier 2

Huge Hammer is the first weapon here, being a highly consistent ‘number two’ across the board for heavies and charged heavies. It is very powerful, but behind in everything compared to Goliath (and less light attack damage than either this or Bonemace). Like Goliath it likes Lyle Artificial Arm.

The other weapon in tier 2 prefers a more balanced approach to unlock its full potential: Argent Wolf Warhammer (Vigor). You obtain it relatively late into your run towards the first ending (Insula Carcere) and it wants Hero Valentin as a code (ending 1 code). What you get in return is a weapon where none of its attacks are a liability. Only Bonemace has stronger lights (by maybe 5%) and the heavy and charged heavy attacks are relatively close to Goliath and Huge Hammer (the difference is ~7% or so). It doesn’t hit that absolute top, but you will never use an attack with it and go ‘oh yeah, that was the attack of the moveset that sucked’.

######Tier 3

In this tier you mostly find weapons that are solid, just outclassed by the monsters in Tier 1 and Tier 2. Sometimes a thing isn’t bad. But the other thing is simply superior (or the numbers look fine but the moveset makes you want to quit on the spot). It is what it is. Stuff like Heavy Axe (Brawn) and VK Hammer (Brawn) with Artificial Arm Lyle belong here, as does Primordial Battle Axe (either Vigor or Fire) with Hero Valentin.

######Tier 4

The dark abyss of a Tier 4 is here so Lost Heavy Axe (Vigor) with Hero Valentin has a home. Damagewise it is a worse Primordial Battle Axe except for the light attacks. The other weapon here is the Tyrant’s Labrys with Artificial Arm Lyle. The light and heavy attacks are nothing to speak off. BUT, the charged heavy hits extremely hard (in fact, only Goliath’s 4-hit combo charged heavy hits harder). It also costs 2 ichor everytime you use it. Still, I felt it deserved a mention.

######Buff Sticks Like always: every possible weapon that has at least 6 handling and 9-10 conversion can work as a buffstick (the weapon you load with all your buffs, so you can cast them before combat and then swap to your higher damage weapon to do the cool things).

But if you insist on using a hammer for this purpose, you only have one option: The Caged Heart Club (likely to cause overburden on Artificial Arm Lyle). Any other hammer does not have a sufficient handling+conversion stat combo to hold any combination of the four most common DPS buffs.

As such it is very likely that you have to look for either a buffing weapon from a different weapon archetype (like one-handed swords or twinblades) OR spread your buff forma between two weapons when using Lyle as a bloodcode.

At that point a dedicated buffing hammer would become a liability, so if you find yourself in this situation, pick your two hammers of choice and divide your buffs until it fits and does not hamper your effectiveness or your fun (or use Resurgence Core which thanks to a better Mind stat does not have this problem).

For those that want to use Caged Heart Club as their DPS weapon for the memes, Josee 4 is probably your best bet for it. But be prepared to use a few years of your life over the frustration that comes with the weapon's strange delays in the moveset. #Attack Forma Your absolute strongest burst “SPLAT” forma is Mighty Smash. It takes time to charge, so you need to get your positioning (and read on what your enemy is going to do) right, but there is no denying that this has the highest burst potential.

Doomfall is another solid attack, with the restriction that it can only be activated while airborne. So you need to either jump, plunge down on something and open with this, or use a defensive forma that leaves you in the air afterward (Vanishing Hollow variants). I honestly feel this would be better if we got some hammers with an attack that send you up into the air, and then allow you to combo it with attacks. You have a few hammers with attacks that leave you airborne, but all of them animationlock you, meaning you cannot follow-up with a Doomfall to take advantage.

Personally I preferred Dive Bomb over Doomfall. Yes the damage is ~7% or so lower and yes it has a smaller impact/stagger radius. But you don’t have to be in the air to use it ánd for a hammer attack it activates deceptively fast (and comes with nice stagger values as well).

Fortress Stance is another interesting option. It consists of two parts, where the first bit gives you fast activating parry frames, and a secondary input allowing for an attack. Considering how slow hammers are, every option to turn a defensive action almost immediately into an offensive one is valuable. Do not sleep on this forma, once you get used to it you will find yourself parrying left and right and feel like an untouchable God.

Backdraft can be considered if you find yourself surrounded a lot and wishing for a way to create some breathing room. Then again, do you really want to propel yourself away without having access to reliable gap closers?

Severing Abyss can be used to hit certain weakspots a bit easier or to take advantage of the lifted player hitbox as pseudo evadeframes (Evasion options on Hammers are very rare. As such you could almost call this utility).

#Buffs Hammers unfortunately cannot reliably use Bladedance as a buff. In the open world this does not really matter (because your higher basedamage more than makes up for it), nor does it during short bossfights (because your buffs all give their damagebonus upfront, while with Bladedance you start with 0 and need to build up stacks). But eventually (against later bosses) the weapontypes capable of running BladeDance WILL surpass your damage output.

Like usual, I would recommend to bring at least 4 buffs that are ideally from different buff groups to take advantage of multiplicative scaling. More buffs will obviously always result in higher damage, but I would try to bring at least four.

#######Group 1: Double Down You simply are too slow to effectively use BladeDance, with a slow weapon might have issues evading unless already used to it (meaning Overdrive is probably out) and depending on your ichor economy solution you might dislike the bleed build-up penalty from Thirsting Blade. So Double Down (20% damage boost in exchange for losing a bit of Shield/LP) seems like a fair option for a DPS buff from Group 1. You can run another Group 1 buff here if you wish, I just feel Double Down is your best option.

######Group 2: Offensive Order A strong boost, but also makes you take a lot more damage. If you feel highly uncomfortable with this you can eat a modest DPS loss and add another group 1 buff like Overdrive or an Elemental Weapon. Technically Highlander could also work, but it gets a bit annoying to lose partner benefits because of Highlander eating all of your LP.

######Group 3: Warrior Spirit: Might This requires you to be in melee range for the best effect and if you hug your target can scale a bit beyond 20% as a buff. Because it sits in its own buff group, this is also worth it if you have a tiny bit of distance to your target (you only need 13% for this to be better than an extra group 1 buff). Do note that the buff percentage goes down HARD when not in melee. But you will be in melee whenever you do damage anyway, so this is a drawback that essentially does not exist for you.

######Group 4: Open buff slot You can run any additional buff from group 1 here. Overdrive if you are greedy and confident in your dodge/block/evasion skills, but any of the group 1 buffs mentioned earlier can fill this slot. You can also put some utility here if you wish, but it might be the best to just run four buffs and put utility in a single slot on your DPS set. Personally I just like to have 4 buffs (I know, I am repeating myself) on me as a minimum (more is always better, but not everyone likes the idea of 5/6/7/8 buffs spread over their weapons).

######Utility: Sacrificial Edge can be used as another melee buff. Forma Extension can be extremely powerful to keep your buffs up longer.

Ichor Regeneration is another thing to try as it will regain ichor for you while you are busy doing other things. It is no “ICHOR! NOW!” option, but it is a considerable positive flow over time.

Unlike in Code Vein 1, I do not recommend Red Shoes. And that is simply because Code Vein 2 has removed cooldowns on your attacks and spells, meaning you have less downtime between spamming your forma. You simply don't need the stamina this provides because spamming forma doesn't consume any and your basic stamina is more than enough for the amount of dodges or non-forma attacks you will do during a fight. At least personally I did not ever find myself in a situation that made me go "man, Red Shoes would really have helped right now..." If stamina truly is an issue, try Serene Stance instead.

If you prefer to focus on hitting with your heavies or charged heavies (to conserve ichor or because you feel the open world encounters don't warrant forma spam) you can try Time Crunch. Super Charge can technically work, but I'd prefer a buff that works with everything I do, not one that only works with charged actions.

Keep in mind that fitting all buffs and attacks/spells together might require some tinkering depending on your choices.

#Boosters Hammer Mastery is very obvious.And then you stack as many DPS boosters as you feel comfortable with. If you can reliably get and stay below 50% health then Survival Instinct is a premium boost of over 22%. Overheat is another strong boost( this needs Bloodline Agnostic) but make sure to check how much slower it makes your chosen Attack Forma.

Gain ichor on overheal is good, but the Mind requirement means this is a Resurgence Core only option.

Glutton is the exact same story. If you want to go with double food buffs it is obviously solid, but the Mind requirement means Artificial Arm Lyle cannot bring it.

Persistence Animus gives you a 2% damage bonus whenever you hit something, but resets to 0 if you miss. It is allright, just don't miss.

Another option is Boosted Technique if you spam your attack forma (makes them cost 2 additional ichor, but deal 20% more damage. Good for bursting, less if the fight draws out. So be aggressive and try to end fights quickly. Considering most Hammer forma (the ones that are good anyway) are single hits, I think this is a defendable option for more burst oriented players.

Ceaseless Assault ( 20% additional damage while you have LP but lose LP with every hit) can be ran as well, but be prepared to often use your heals just to fully recover your LP in that case. That might get irritating when fights drag on, but when you are bursting or can rest in the open world between foes this can be a reliable DPS booster worth considering.

If you really get into Burden troubles (you NEVER want to get overburdened. It just isn't worth it, considering how many of your boosters have a 'don't be overburdened' requirement) see if Weapon Rack helps.

Keep in mind some of these options NEED Bloodline Agnostic! #Jail The answer is the same as always: Reaper if it doesn’t overburden you, because having built-in parry frames is insane utility. If Reaper overburdens you, go with something else, it won’t break your build.

#Defensive Forma: It is truly your call. Mutinous Bracer if you could not use Reaper and still want parry, or an Evasive Forma of your choice like Vanishing Hollow/Vanishing Hollow Light, or something that helps with mobility like maybe Dodge Spin/[Dodge Spin Light](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dodge+Spin+(Light\)).

The Vanishing Hollow variants should be your preference if you play with Doomfall, so you can chain a defensive action right back into an offensive one. For pure evasion Umbral Shift is as reliable as ever.

If you prefer to block, Bleeding Shield (Light) can also work, but personally I prefer Vanishing Holliw variants for Hammers.

#Offensive Forma: Absolute Executioner is strong on paper, but also takes very long to execute, meaning you are not getting this off unless the boss is stunned/staggered or otherwise rooted in place. Still, might be worth it during a stagger window. If you run Argent Wolf Warhammer with Hero Valentin (or another Hero Valentin option), Bloodreaver Blade can also perform very acceptable.

#Food: Hammers are overwhelmingly Strength Weapons, meaning Sukiyaki will perform the best with most of them (with lower-tier alternatives being Steak or Hamburger). If you have something more balanced/quality scaling with an equivalent code like Hero Valentin, it will highly depend on the scaling. If it is truly equal Strength/Dexterity scaling, then Sukiyaki and Consomme soup will perform the exact same. If there is even the slightest more scaling for Strength, Sukiyaki will still be the way to go.

#Consumables: For direct damage the elemental salve of your choice will fare the best and is the biggest boost when comparing everything you can eat or ingest.

Attack Injection S would be the next option (it has a low duration, so save it for when you get the most out of it or when you really need a bit more oomph).

Stat enhancers like Strength/Dexterity/Willpower Enhancer S can be used, but do not expect them to add more than 2-3% damage at best. The boost is so small you can safely ignore it unless you happen to find yourself in a speedrun tournament and really want to push that Code Vein 2 (Any% No Glitches All Bosses) category.

#TL;DR:

######Best Bloodcodes:

Tier 1: Artificial Arm Lyle, Resurgence Core for pure Strength.

While leveling, you can use Josee or Craig.

Tier 2: Hero Valentin for more balanced/quality weapons.

while leveling you can use balanced codes like Valentin or Zenon.

######Best weapons:

Tier 1: Nameless Hammer (brawn), Forma Mech Hammer Goliath (brawn), Grotesque Bonemace (brawn)

Tier 2: Huge Hammer, Argent Wolf Warhammer (Vigor)

Tier 3: Heavy Axe (Brawn), VK Hammer (Brawn), Primordial Battle Axe (Vigor/Fire)

Tier 4: Lost Heavy Axe (Vigor), Tyrant's Labrys

Buff Stick: Caged Heart Club (but seriously, do consider non-hammer alternatives for your buffs, especially on Artificial Arm Lyle. Especially on that code it is not worth it to jump through several hoops of transformations+active forma+boosters just to get it to function).

######DPS Buff options Double Down, Offensive Order, Warrior Spirit: Might, Overdrive, an Elemental Buff, maybe Highlander, Thirsting Blade or Sacrificial Edge.

######Booster options: Hammer Mastery, Survival Instinct, Overheat, Bloodline Agnostic, Persistence Animus, Boosted Technique, Ceaseless Assault, Glutton, Gain Ichor On Overheal, Weapon Rack.

######Utility: Forma Extension, Ichor Regeneration, etc. Honestly, whatever you feel helps you do damage faster/better or keeps you from failure. Possibly Time Crunch or Super Charge, depending how hard you decide to lean into heavy or charged heavy attacks.

######Attacks: Mighty Smash (premium SPLAT), Doomfall (requires you to be airborne), Dive Bomb (hit's hard enough and activates fast), Fortress Stance (fast activating parry frames and damaging follow-up), Severing Abyss (for specific weakspots or pseudo evade frames), Backdraft (if you feel you need a "Get me out of here now" option).

######Jail: Reaper if it does not overburden you, any other jail if it does.

######Offensive Forma: I would say Absolute Executioner if you seek something hard hitting but more occasional. Bloodreaver can be used instead of attack forma on Hero Valentin.

######Defensive Forma: Mutinous Bracer if you want to parry, Dodge Spin variants for offensive evasion combo’s, Umbral Shift for pure defensive evasion.

######Consumables and food: Sukiyaki is pretty much the clear winner for all Hammers no matter the build variant.

Elemental Salves are fine DPS boosts. Attack Injection is solid, but has a low duration so save it on your hotbar for burst windows. You can use Enhancers that boost the stats your weapon scales with, but expect below 3% damage boosts.

#And now you have reached the end! Compared to the first Code Vein game hammers have definitely improved. No longer are they the awkward weapon that you only ran 'for the lolz', it is a solid and defendable option in this game! I hope this gave you a few pointers should you want to play Code Vein 2 with a Hammer build. Thanks for reading!

I finally beat Josée with 17fps and at level 34