Looking to do Chaos runs and possibly baal in P8 games.
Hammers or FoH.
I feel FoH is a little safer with the distance but lacks the damage.

Nobody has any insight?

P8 games is where hammer outshines FoH. I think P5 is the cut off.
Up to P5, the FoH is faster because he can spread his damage easier.
Hdin exceeds when past P5 because you need 3-4 FoHs to kill stuff. Fast for 2-3 hammers to kill it and move on.

This is all excluding bosses, where hdin will always shine.

For gear setup:
https://d2.maxroll.gg/d2planner/1e01064h

Wouldn't FoH be the safer bet though?

Sure FoH is always going to be safer. Not aura dependent, screen away from any damage, doesn't require teleport to aim, and holy bolt pierce is OP.
If you just want demon/undead areas in HC the loss in TTK would be worth the safety.

Hand of light might be better than hoto then, HoZ over Spirit. Don't need as much survivability and more focus on +skills.
FCR is 75 too, so lots of options for gear swaps from hdin build.