FoH is very good with little investment, but limited in farming areas due to it’s futility against animals. Hammers are good almost everywhere, but they suffer a bit in confined spaces, and hammers generally suck in terms of QoL.
A nice hybrid of the 2 is ideal imo, unless you are SP and pushing P7/P8, then hammers is better in most regards. 125%fcr is required for QoL.
For HC, and since a Pally doesn’t use SS, CoA is a really nice choice either way to make up some skills, resistences, and especially DR.
Whatever you do, don’t try a pure FoH Pally. That is a skill exercise in futility, meaning no points into holy shock or conviction.