The Large hammer is the only tool that places the heavy structures. Season 1 made it deliberately expensive: it moved from Support 7 to Support 8, its one-time unlock tripled from $25,000 to $75,000, and the hammer itself went from $1,600 to $2,400. The good news is that only one player in a squad has to pay any of that.
What the Large hammer places
| Structure | Menu cost | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Bunker | 61 | Protected firing slits on ring corners |
| Recon Tower | 61 | Two floors, directional ladder, deck carries a Talon |
| Indirect Fire Shelter | 61 | Roof against mortars, garage for the spawn vehicle |
| L81 Mortar | 91 | 700 m indirect fire, 30 Ammo per shell |
| Stingray | 91 | Kamikaze FPV drones, 900 Mechanical + $5,000 each |
| Refuel / Repair Station | 121 each | Vehicle services from the FOB stock |
| Talon 9K-SAM | 601 ‡ | Heat-seeking anti-air, 50 Ammo per missile |
| Vanguard CIWS | 901 ‡ | 20 mm gun that ignores flares |
| Drill Rig | 1,351 ‡ | Pulls the Hot Zone, $2,500 per activation |
‡ Talon and CIWS menu costs are disputed tenfold between sources (601 vs 60, 901 vs 90). We show the higher value until the in-game measurement lands; see the structure table.
Everything else (HESCO, Bremer, doors, gates, loudspeaker) is Medium-hammer work, and a Medium hammer ships free in every FOB kit.
The placer/finisher rule
Any hammer can finish a blueprint that a higher-tier hammer placed. Building progress only depends on hits, and the yellow X marker works for every hammer. In practice:
- The Support 8 player walks the base with the Large hammer and places every heavy piece as a blueprint: bunkers, tower, Talon, CIWS.
- Everyone else, including fresh accounts with the kit’s Medium hammer or a $100 Small hammer, hammers the yellow X until the piece reads 100%.
- The placer moves on to the next blueprint instead of standing at one piece for five minutes.
This is why every FOBplans blueprint lists roles as “placer”, “finisher” and “logistics” rather than “everyone needs Support 8”. A squad of six needs one Large hammer, not six.
Support XP: what counts
Support levels come from a separate XP track, not from account level. The sources that credit it:
- Every hammer strike: 1 XP for a body hit, 7 XP for a yellow-X hit, plus 15 XP and $15 when a piece completes.
- Supply deliveries: dropping a pallet or crate at a FOB credits XP (which role track receives the pallet XP is on our verification list; several sources say Support, one says Driver).
- Vehicle repairs with the wrench.
- Kills with Support weapons: shotguns, LMGs, launchers, the mortar and anti-air emplacements. Rifle kills do not count.
The XP thresholds we have from community trackers: level 6 at 9,250 XP, level 10 at 35,000. Level 8 sits between those, roughly 20,000 XP. A dedicated FOB builder who spends a match placing and finishing walls at a busy base reports 100,000 to 190,000 dollars per match; the Support XP arrives at a similar pace.
The fastest route
- Buy the Small hammer ($100) on your first life and hammer at any friendly FOB. Yellow-X hits pay seven times a body hit, so stand at maximum hammer range (the marker locks in place) and release the mouse button on impact to double your strike rate.
- Take the Medium hammer out of any FOB kit you deploy or find (free kits sit on the crane-tower platforms).
- Once you can afford it, keep a Support weapon in the loadout: a shotgun or LMG turns close-range kills at your own base into Support XP.
- Run pallets with a Kodiak or Ural between builds. A pallet costs $400 and pays about $3,900 when a teammate absorbs it, so logistics funds the $75,000 unlock while you level.
Expect the unlock in the low tens of hours if you build every match; the cash is the bigger hurdle than the level.
After the unlock
The Large hammer has 3,000 durability, so it wears out; keep a spare in the FOB inventory. Placing a Talon or CIWS deducts the full menu cost immediately, which can empty a fresh kit’s 1,250 starting stock in one placement, so bring a Build pallet before you seed the heavy pieces. The Duo Overwatch Tower is the cheapest full base that needs the Large hammer; the AA nest shows the placer/finisher split with six players.
Sources: s1-changelog · allthings-cluster · steam-skivin · keengamer-fob · fobplans-research