New World Aeternum Combat Trophy Guide 2025

If you're playing through New World: Aeternum and want to squeeze every ounce of damage out of your PVE adventures, combat trophies are your ticket. These handy home decorations give you a global damage buff against certain mob types - think Ancients, Corrupted, or pesky bears - and they're a game changer for expeditions, mutations, or just smashing stuff in the open world. With Minor, Basic and Major levels, plus an Ultimate option for the lazy (or rich), there's a lot to unpack. Let's take a look at how they work, how to get them, and why you'll want three of each to maximise your DPS in 2025.

Combat trophies are craftable items you hang in your houses to boost damage against specific enemy types. Each trophy type targets one mob category - Ancient, Angry Earth, Corrupted, Human, Lost, or Wildlife - and comes in three flavours:

Minor: +3% damage  

Basic: +4% damage  

Major: +5% damage

Hang one in each of your three houses, and bam, you're stacking up to +15% damage with three majors. That's a hefty chunk of extra pain for those Lazarus Ancients or Shattered Mountain Corrupted. But there's a catch - you need to own houses, and the trophy needs to be active when you fight that mob type. No house, no buff. So get yourself some real estate if you haven't already!

Minor Trophies are your entry point - cheap, easy and a solid +3% boost. You can craft them, buy them from the Trading Post, or pick them up as rare mob drops. Here's what you'll need:

25 Motes (Varies by type: Soul for Ancient, Earth for Angry Earth, Life for Corrupted, Death for Human/Lost, Fire for Wild)

These mats are ubiquitous - chop some trees, smelt some iron and you're good to go. They are so common that you might even stumble across them while exploring Aeternum.

Ready for +4%. Basic Trophies build on the Minor Trophies and add an epic resource twist. You'll need

1 Minor trophy (of the same type)  

1 Epic Resource (drops from mobs)  

Ancient Femur (Ancient mobs)  

Bark Flesh (Angry Earth)  

Corrupted Crest (Corrupted)  

Human Digit + 5 Flame Cores (Varangian mobs; Flame Cores can also be loot from chests in Adelus Foundry, Ayda Keep, Brandy Cave)  

Ectoplasmic Essence (Lost)  

Pristine Wolf Claw (Beasts)

Farm these epic drops while you're out smashing mobs - Varangian chests are a goldmine for Flame Cores if you're targeting humans.

Major Trophies require rarer items and a base trophy to upgrade for a maximum of +5%. Collect these:

Ancient Mandible (Surgeon, Celestial Rest, Stenchwater)  

Glowing Sap (Baines, Dangerous Spire, Edengrove)  

Corrupted Totem (Pit Lord Daehi, Lurma, Shattered Mountain)  

Ephemeral Signet (Morai the Mortician, Skysong Crypt, Ebonscale Reach)  

Pristine Bear Claw (Bears in Northern Brightwood - Gravelle Grotto is a hotspot)  

Human Idol (Sir Junric the Strategist, Adelus Foundry, Ebonscale Reach; PVE only, no PVP boost)

These Legendaries are tough nuts to crack - low drop rates mean you'll be camping bosses like The Surgeon or Pit Lord Daehi. But here's a lifeline: each boss drops shards (such as the Ancient Mandible Shard) with a much higher drop rate. Collect 100 shards in a workshop and you can craft the legendary resource. No more RNG tears - just grind it out.

Swapping trophies for every dungeon got you down. Enter the Ultimate Combat Trophy - a late-game luxury that combines all the major types into one +5% buff against every mob type, no swapping required.

Buy the recipe from your faction vendor (tons of gold and faction tokens - bring your wallet).  

Combine one of each major trophy (Ancient, Angry Earth, Corrupted, Human, Lost, Wildlife).  

Hang them in a house and you're set for life - well, until you sell the house.

The downside is that it's bind-on-pickup, so you can't sell it later. And making three (one per house) will drain your gold reserves faster than a bad trading post bet. Save it for when you're rolling in gold and just want the convenience.

Ancient: Skyview Repose in Reekwater - visit the surgeon for mandibles or shards.  

Angry Earth: Spire Perilous in Edengrove - Baines drops this glowing sap.  

Corrupted: Lurma in Shattered Mountain - Lord Daehi is your totem guy.  

Lost: Skysong Crypt in Ebonscale Reach - Morai has these seals.  

Wildlife: Northern Brightwood - bears galore for pristine claws.  

Human: Adelus Foundry in Ebonscale Reach - Sir Junric's idol stash.

Check the prices at the trading posts: large trophies or shards may be cheaper than farming if your server is full of crafters.  

Stockpile mats early: Ironwood and ore ore are gold mines for late game crafting.  

Plan your runs: Hang the right trophies before expeditions like Lazarus for maximum DPS.

That +15% damage isn't just for bragging rights - it's a lifeline in high-end mutations or elite zones. Whether you're a casual tree feller or a hardcore raider, these buffs stack up quickly. Start with minors, upgrade as you go, and dream of the ultimate trophy when you're rich. Prices vary by server (Casia's ironwood is 0.56 gold for reference), so check your trading post before you commit.

There you have it - your roadmap to fighting trophy domination in New World: Aeternum. From minors to the ultimate prize, you're now ready to slay mobs harder than ever.