Sgt. Hammer

Sergeant Alabama "Bama the Hammer" Kowalski, the Siege Tank Operator, is a Ranged Assassin Hero from the StarCraft universe. She has served some of the toughest tours around the Koprulu sector. The thunderous roar of her siege tank's shock cannon strikes fear right into the heart of the toughest of warriors... including some of her allies.

Sgt. Hammer is a long-range Physical Damage dealer who needs protection from allies.

Background
Alabama Kowalski, also known as "Sgt. Hammer," is a famed Crucio-siege tank pilot of the. Her ability to deliver her shells within inches of her allies has earned her a reputation among the, with some marines remarking "never trust a women who paints her tank red."

are vehicles that can be configured to fulfill both the armored support and the long-range artillery support roles. The dual-mode siege tank concept was a response to the  and the. Prior to the war, work had progressed on a static "final defense" cannon. However, the conflict demonstrated the need for mobility and as a result an effort was made to make the cannon more mobile. The solution was creative. An existing tank design was modified so that it could operate as a conventional tank in addition to being able to deploy the cannon and become a static artillery emplacement at will. Mobile siege tanks were in existence by, several years before the official beginning of the Guild Wars. Two primary variants of the siege tank exist the Arclite, in service during the, and the Crucio, which remained the core siege tank of the Dominion in the and beyond.

Siege tanks function in two modes. First is the "tank" or "assault mode" in which the vehicle may be used in the familiar armored support role using relatively light weapons. The second is the more radical "siege mode" in which the vehicle becomes a static emplacement able to deploy a much more powerful and longer ranged weapon.

Gameplay
Sgt. Hammer is a Ranged Assassin who excels at dealing large amounts of sustained damage from a very long range. Sgt. Hammer has the ability to alternate between Tank Mode (where she is mobile and has a shorter range and less powerful damage) and her Siege mode (where she is immobile yet has a longer range and more damage compared to her mobile counterpart). In general, Sgt. Hammer does well against team compositions that lack hard-engages, and as part of teams that can properly protect her, allowing her to freely decimate her foes and safely take down Structures.

Strengths

 * Very high single-target and area of effect sustained and burst Physical Damage
 * Excellent duelist
 * Excels at fixed Objectives (like Battlefield of Eternity)
 * Outstanding Siege Damage and waveclear
 * Good poke

Weaknesses

 * Exceedingly dependent on proper positioning
 * Vulnerable to skillshots, displacements and crowd control while in Siege Mode
 * Relies on her team to protect her
 * Very limited mobility

Abilities

 * See Data page for a table of scaled values at key levels.

Trivia

 * Sgt. Hammer represents the siege tank unit from StarCraft (March 1998). After being introduced in Heroes of the Storm, she went on to appear in the Co-op Missions mode of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (November 2015) and the StarCraft Field Manual (November 2015).
 * Sgt. Hammer is the first Heroes of the Storm original character to later appear in a canon source in her home universe, and the only StarCraft original character to have done so, having appeared in the StarCraft Field Manual in November 2015. While she, Lt. Morales and Blaze would show up in the Co-op Missions mode, the mode has been declared to be non-canon by Blizzard.
 * Sgt. Hammer is voiced by Courtenay Taylor.
 * She is a replacement for the characters of Horace Warfield and Edmund Duke from previous builds.
 * Hammer's rank of sergeant reflects the rank of siege tank units in the first StarCraft, which were "master sergeants."
 * Hammer's talents "Maelstrom Rounds," "Regenerative Bio-Steel," and "Ultra Capacitors" are names of upgrades for the siege tank in the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty campaign.
 * Graduating Range originated in Heroes of the Storm, but was later added as an upgrade for the Heavy Siege Tanks of Nova in StarCraft II's Co-op Missions.