Clubs

Clubs deal Blunt damage, and they answer the two things a sword cannot: skeletons, which shrug off a blade, and stagger, which is how you actually kill a big enemy.

Combat

Pros

Blunt is the specialist type that actually has targets. Skeletons, Blobs, Oozers and the Growth all take extra, and nothing in the game is immune to it.
Knockback runs from 30 to 100 on the primary and double that on the secondary. That is not a damage stat: it moves a target out of the range it was about to attack you from.
The secondary deals 2.5x damage with 2x stagger for double stamina, the best straight damage trade of any melee secondary in the game.
Two-handed hammers hit a 4-metre area around the impact point instead of an arc, so a whole crowd takes the blow at once, and they carry 150 to 210 knockback.

Cons

Some creatures resist blunt, among them Bears, Lox, Morgen and every Seeker, so the specialist type is a liability in the Mistlands.
A two-handed hammer has no 3-hit combo at all. You get one swing in 1.7 seconds, with no double-damage finisher to build towards.
The knockback cuts both ways. A punted enemy is an enemy you have to walk to, which wastes the stamina the swing just cost.
The top of the class costs up to 28 stamina a swing, the dearest melee hit in the game.

Builds

Use one-handed with a shield for dungeons. You get 2.4 metres of reach, a 90 degree arc and a 3-hit combo. Save the secondary as the finisher rather than the opener: 2.5x damage and 2x stagger is worth the double stamina on something already reeling.

The hammer build is a different weapon. It has 4 metres of reach, and the hit lands 2 metres in front of you and damages everything within 4 of that point. There is no combo to learn, and the knockback clears a room. It is the answer to a Fuling village.

Clubs earn their place in the Burial Chambers, the Sunken Crypts and the Swamp. Skeletons and Blobs are the things in the early game that a sword genuinely cannot handle, and both fold to blunt.

Clubs are made at the Black forge, the Forge, the Frost Foundry and the Workbench, or by hand.

The skill is Clubs, and it levels up through use, not choice.

Best Clubs

Build	Name	Stats
Hardest hitter	Frostfire Sledge	300 damage across all types
Cheapest to swing	Torch	4 stamina a swing
Best guard	Frostfire Mace	66 block armour
Longest lasting	Frostfire Mace	400 durability

Notes

Each primary swing steps forward 0.66 meters, which closes the gap the knockback just opened.
The secondary attack hits a narrow 30 degree arc instead of the primary's 90, so it is for finishing off one enemy, not for hitting a crowd.
A two-handed hammer slams the ground 2 meters ahead and damages everything within 4 meters of that spot, so positioning matters more than aim.