War Hammer Abilities and Skill Trees for New World

While this page focuses on assessing the viability of abilities and skill tree nodes, it also gives a bit of advice on how to use them. The gameplay section of our War Hammer guide has additional information regarding the usage of abilities and each of our War Hammer PvP Builds and War Hammer PvE Builds has a detailed gameplay section that explains how to play the build.

• Armor Breaker — 12s CD: A powerful swing that penetrates 35% of the target's armor and deals 140% weapon damage.
• Indomitable — Adds grit to Armor Breaker.
• Lasting Trauma — Armor Breaker inflicts rend on the target, reducing damage absorption by 20% for 10s.
• Opening Act — Increase Armor Breaker damage by 25% against targets at full health.

Summary: This ability has great PvE viability. It is not frequently ysed in PvP combat because it can be difficult to land on enemy players, it also has lackluster damage that make the CC options of the hammer more valuable. If this lands, it does apply a large rend on the target that will increase damage.

Crafting Material: Steel War Hammer Charm - Empowering Armor Breaker: If Armor Breaker breaks a block, the next attack within 5 seconds deals 29% (50% on weapon) additional damage.

• Mighty Gavel — 20s CD: An overhead leaping attack that crushes down on enemies, dealing 170% weapon damage.
• Summary Judgment — Increases Mighty Gavel damage by 20% to targets below 30% health.
• Impact Fracture — Increase stamina damage done by Mighty Gavel by 25%.
• Expedite — After a successful Mighty Gavel attack, gain haste, increasing player's movement speed by 30% for 3 seconds.
• Justice For All — Pressing light attack during Mighty Gavel performs a follow up attack that deals 220% weapon damage.

Summary: This ability is lackluster in all types of content. It has no crowd-control effects, and while it does do decent damage, it can be very hard to hit. This is overshadowed by something like Wrecking Ball. It does have ultimate baked into its passives, but it is wasted in most cases. This ability is not recommended.

Crafting Material: Starmetal War Hammer Charm - Refreshing Mighty Gavel: Mighty Gavel hits reduce the ability's cooldown by 9.8% (14% on weapon).

• Wrecking Ball — 15s CD:Strike the ground with your war hammer, dealing 130% weapon damage and knocking down your target.
• Safety Measures — On a successful hit, gain fortify, granting 20% damage resistance for 7s.
• Breathing Room — Expands the range of Wrecking Ball to a 1.5m radius.

Summary: This is one of the strongest abilities in the War Hammer kit. It has great damage, provides a fortify, and it will knock down all the targets within its area of effect. It is great for setting up damage combos and should be used in all builds..

Crafting Material: Orichalcum War Hammer Charm - Penetrating Wrecking Ball: Wrecking Ball penetrates 19% (33% on weapon) of the target's armor.

• Shockwave — 25s CD:Slam your war hammer into the ground, causing a 3 meter radius earthquake that deals 80% weapon damage, staggering and stunning all impacted targets for 2 seconds (Taunt Gem Compatible).
• Frailty — The trauma of the attack causes weaken, decreasing the damage dealt from the target's attacks by 10% for 10s.
• Meteoric Crater — Expands the range Shockwave to a 4 meter radius.

Summary: This the best and most impactful cooldown on the War Hammer, and arguably in all of New World. It can apply a stun to an unlimited number of targets, deal damage, weaken them, and apply a rend. This is perfect for setting up combos with an ally, or after hitting a target with Wrecking Ball. This should be used in both PvP and PvE for any build.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Steel War Hammer Charm - Sundering Shockwave: Shockwave inflicts Rend, reducing target's damage absorption by 9.8% (14% on weapon) for 10 seconds.

• Clear Out — 15s CD: A wide swing that knocks back 4m and deals 115% weapon damage.
• Power Cleaner — Hitting a target with Clear Out grants fortify, increasing damage absorption by 10% 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 3s.

Summary: This is ability can be interestingly used for self-peel, but its knock back is usually mitigated by grit. It is usually counter-intuitive and more harmful than good. If you do land your knock back, it is most likely going to knock an enemy away from an ally and help the enemy escape. It has no offensive potential, and very lackluster defense potential.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Starmetal War Hammer Charm - Sundering Clear Out: Clear Out now knocks targets back an additional 146% (209% on weapon).

• Path Of Destiny — 22s CD: A powerful ground strike that erupts a linear wave of energy in front of the player, dealing 100% weapon damage to all targets in its path.
• Seismic Waves — 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.

Summary: This is a great utility option in PvP combat. It is not the best in PvE since it is mainly used for its stagger and slowing effect to chase down enemy players. It does have good self-healing, but is outmatched by other options in PvE. If you in a PvP scenario, this can be one of the best options to lock down a target who thinks they have escaped.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Orichalcum War Hammer Charm - Leeching Path Of Destiny:Heal for 29% (47% on weapon) of the damage dealt from Path Of Destiny..

• Epitome Of Bonk! — Armor penetration does not result in a large amount of increased damage. But, this is free damage, so this is can be taken if you have the extra points, it is just low value.
• Hammer Time — Often times if a basic attack is hit with a War Hammer, it is a heavy attack. So, this has more value than most passives if there are points to spend.
• Exhaustive Attacks — Exhaust can be strong in some cases, but this 20% is not significant enough to take over other perks.
• Hardened Steel — This should be taken in all builds. While it adds innate grit, which can be nice if you are not 300 Strength, the important piece is the 12% damage reduction when you have grit active. So when you use any ability or attack, you have passive damage reduction..
• Contemption — Generally you will not be heavy attacking with your War Hammer, there are some cases after landing a stun that it can be viable to execute a target thanks to this passive.
• Quick Recovery — Heavy attacks are not used frequently, but this does have great value in PvE and some in PvP.
• Power Through Pain — This is a unique passive, it is active fairly often, but the 1 second duration can make you miss increased damage windows. This is generally better than other passive options.

• Outnumbered — When using the War Hammer you will most likely have 2 or more enemies nearby, this will give you extra damage reduction and should always be taken.
• I Can Do This All Day — You may occasionally block, but not enough to make this passive ever worth it. You should most likely avoid this and pursue other passives.
• Guarded Sprint — This is another source of damage reduction, but it is only active when you are sprinting. Most of the time when the War Hammer is being used you are in the middle of combat, swap to it, then swap off of it. This makes this passive have low value.
• Concussive Impact — Every ability will apply a debuff, therefore this should always be taken to increase damage on weverything.
• Prevailing Spirit — This has great synergy with Leeching Path Of Destiny. It will make Path heal for more, but it also adds more self-sustain when using Shockwave.
• Resurgence — There is never a situation you will light attack a target twice in a row with a War Hammer. If you do, you may want to consult the Intro guide again. Also, reducing debuff durations on yourself has minimal value.
• Aftershock — This ultimate should always be taken to make sure that all abilities apply a debuff, and because the movement speed reduction it applies makes it easier to catch targets who are trying to escape, or keep them close after using Shockwave or Wrecking Ball.