Welcome back to JR Pro Shop Vids — it’s Jimu and Barks, and in this one I’m testing the brand new Hammer Zero Mercy Solid and Zero Mercy Pearl on a 44 ft EJ Tackett challenge pattern with some league burn in the lanes. We also brought out the actual Zero Mercy core mold, and Barks breaks down how it’s based off the original 3D Offset idea but “beefed up” to create a lot more overall hook. On the cover side, both balls use the new HK22C squared (HK22 base with cohesion plus a chrome additive), and the whole point is simple: these are made to hook… a lot. On-lane, the Solid is exactly what you’d expect from “the biggest hooking Hammer ball ever” — for me it was a 10/10 hook potential and it flat-out covered more boards than my Ion Max (which has been my hook monster). The catch is I needed to be really accurate and it felt like something that’ll shine more on the fresh. The Pearl was the star of the day on the beat-up condition: it saved energy, gave me miss room left and right, and it rolled extremely similar to my Evoke Hysteria (one of my favorite balls of 2025). Big takeaway: long pattern doesn’t automatically mean strongest ball — if the front is lower volume, pearls can actually roll better than big solids, so choose your arsenal wisely.