War Hammers
Warhammers are a type of Two-Handed Weapon in New World. It has the highest base damage of any weapon and can output some strong burst and aoe damage. It is also incredibly fun to smash your enemies, knock them flying off their feet and generally feel like you are Thor! Unfortunately all these cool animations come at the cost of speed and this weapon is generally the slowest of all weapons. The Warhammer has two mastery trees:
- Juggernaut: a powerful offensive tree aimed at outputting massive hits and cracking armor.
- Crowd Crusher: A crowd control focussed tree with elements of taunts aimed at holding enemies in one spot for your nukers to unleash damage.
Dealing damage with a Warhammer will scale off a player’s Strength Attribute so you should focus your points in these areas to improve your damage.
Below you will find a breakdown of each skill in the mastery trees.
Best Damage Types
Each weapon has a unique way of dealing damage on top of their abilities. For warhammers, this is primarily Strike damage. You should take care to look for perks and gems that prioritise Strike Damage as other types will provide no additional bonuses to your character.
Warhammer Mastery Trees
Active Abilities
- Armor Breaker – A powerful swing that penetrates 35% of the target’s armor and deals 120% weapon damage. Cooldown: 12 seconds.
- Mighty Gavel – An overhead leaping attack that crushes down on enemies dealing 120% weapon damage. Cooldown: 22 seconds.
- Wrecking Ball – Strike the ground around a target with the War Hammer dealing 100% weapon damage and flattening the enemy. Cooldown: 15 seconds.
Active Ability Enhancement Traits
- Indomitable – Adds Grit to the attack, preventing you from being staggered.
- Lasting Trauma – Armor Breaker inflicts Rend on targets, reducing damage absorption by 20% for 2 seconds.
- Opening Act – Increase Armor Breaker damage by 15% against targets with full health.
- Summary Judgement – On targets under 30% HP: Increase damage done by Mighty Gavel by 20%.
- Impact Fracture – Increase stamina damage done by Mighty Gavel by 25%.
- Expedite – After a successful Mighty Gavel attack, gain Haste, increasing the player’s movement speed by 30% for 3 seconds.
- Justice For All – Press Light Attack during Mighty Gavel to add a second attack that deals 150% weapon damage.
- Safety Measures – On a successful hit: player gains Fortify, granting 20% weapon damage resistance for 4 seconds.
- Breathing Room – All enemies near the target hit by Wrecking Ball will be pushed back 2 meters.
Passive Ability Traits
- Epitome Of Bonk! – Increase Armor Penetration by 10% for all War Hammer Standard attacks.
- Exhaustive Attacks – All War Hammer abilities apply Exhaust, slowing target’s stamina regeneration by 10% for 3 seconds. (Does not stack)
- Quick Recovery – Cooldowns are reduced by 7% with successful Heavy Attacks.
- Hammer Time – Gain Empower on successful Heavy Attacks, increasing attack damage by 10% for 2 seconds.
- Hardened Steel – Adds Grit to War Hammer Heavy Attacks, preventing you from being staggered.
- Contemption – On targets under 30% HP: Increase damage done by Heavy Attacks by 15%.
- Power Through Pain – For 1 second after taking damage, deal 20% extra damage.
Active Abilities
- Shockwave – Slam the Hammer into the ground causing a 3 meter radius AOE earthquake that deals 90% weapon damage. Applies Stun to all impacted targets for 1.8 seconds. Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your war hammer, this ability causes a 6-second taunt when it hits. (Taunt causes monsters to focus only on you.) Cooldown: 20 seconds.
- Clear Out – A wide swing that knocks enemies back 4 meters to create distance, dealing 110% weapon damage. Cooldown: 15 seconds.
- Path of Destiny – A powerful ground strike that erupts a linear wave of energy in front of the player, dealing 125% weapon damage to all targets in its path. Cooldown: 22 seconds.
Active Ability Enhancement Traits
- Frailty – The trauma of the attack inflicts Weaken for 6 seconds. (Weaken reduces target damage by 10%)
- Meteoric Crater – Expands the effective range of the Shockwave to a 4 meter radius.
- Power Cleaner – Hitting a target with Clear Out grants Fortify, providing a 10% defense bonus for 4 seconds to all friendlies within 6 meters.
- Clean And Refreshed – Clear Out’s cooldown is reduced by 5% per enemy hit with the ability.
- Swing Away – Using Clear Out on a target grants Haste, increasing movement speed by 30% for 3 seconds.
- Seismic Wave – Path of Destiny now staggers all targets in its path.
- Stimulated Reduction – Ability cooldown reduced by 5% for each enemy hit with Path of Destiny.
Passive Ability Traits
- Outnumbered – Increase Physical and Elemental resistance by 5% for every enemy within 5 meters of player.
- Facilitated Expedition – After hitting a target with an active debuff, obtain Haste, increasing movement speed by 10% for 2 seconds.
- Resurgence – After 2 Light Attacks with the War Hammer, debuff durations on player are reduced by 25%. Can only trigger once every 5 seconds.
- I Can Do This All Day – Reduce stamina consumption by 30% when blocking melee attacks.
- Guarded Sprint – Reduce damage taken by 10% while sprinting.
- Acceleration – Reduce War Hammer Cooldowns by 7% when using Light Attacks against targets with an active debuff.
- Concussive Impact – +15% damage against targets affected by War Hammer debuffs.
- Prevailing Spirit– Regain 35% of damage dealt as Health when using a Crowd Crusher ability.
- Aftershock – Whenever a target is affected by a Crowd Control effect, they are slowed by 20% for 4 seconds.
