The Hellhammer came into being as part of an effort to upgrade the standard Baneblade's performance against heavily armoured targets. The Tech-priests of Mars removed the standard Mega Battle Cannon, and installed the shorter but more potent Hellhammer Cannon. A larger version of the cannon found on the Leman Russ Eradicator, the Hellhammer Cannon fires massive shells whose unstable sub-atomic charge can shred armour and fortifications like paper, and obliterate any infantry attempting to shelter within in one fell shot. The lack of range that plagued the Hellhammer Cannon was an acceptable compromise for the added capacity for destruction, and the design was finalised, blessed, standardised and mass-produced by the Adeptus Mechanicus.