New World Aeternum War Hammer Build Guide
Time: 2024-10-18 by mmojugg Game: New World Aeternum Guide
In New World Aeternum, the War Hammer is a fearsome weapon known for its high crowd control, devastating AoE abilities, and unparalleled stagger potential. This guide will dive deep into the War Hammer's strengths and weaknesses, explore its two skill trees—Juggernaut and Crowd Crusher—and provide strategies for excelling in both PvE and PvP with this colossal weapon.
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War Hammer Overview:
The War Hammer is a pure Strength-scaling weapon, meaning that every point invested in Strength directly increases its damage. Unlike some weapons that benefit from dual attributes, the War Hammer focuses exclusively on Strength, making it an ideal choice for players looking to maximize raw power. Additionally, it deals strike damage, which is particularly effective against undead enemies, frequently encountered in early-game dungeons and the overworld.
Light Attacks: 100% damage.
Heavy Attacks: 130% damage.
Charged Heavy Attacks: 170% damage, one of the highest in the game, tied with the bow.
While the War Hammer excels in crowd control and AoE damage, it comes with its own set of challenges. Slow attack speed and limited mobility are significant drawbacks, and its short range can make it tricky in fast-paced PvP situations.
Pros and Cons of the War Hammer:
Pros:
Exceptional Crowd Control: Multiple abilities such as knockdown, stagger, or stun enemies, making it invaluable in group content and PvP.
High AoE Damage: The War Hammer shines in encounters where you must damage multiple enemies simultaneously.
High Stagger Potential: Its ability to interrupt and stagger foes makes it particularly useful in both PvE and PvP, keeping enemies at bay.
Cons:
Slow Attack Speed: The War Hammer's attacks take time to wind up, which can leave you vulnerable in certain situations.
Limited Mobility: Without gap closers or quick movement abilities, it can be difficult to chase down enemies, particularly in PvP.
Short Range: While it hits hard, the War Hammer's reach is limited compared to other melee weapons, which can put you at a disadvantage in PvP.
War Hammer Skill Trees: Juggernaut vs. Crowd Crusher
The War Hammer has two distinct skill trees: Juggernaut, which focuses on single-target damage, and Crowd Crusher, which emphasizes AoE damage and crowd control. Depending on your playstyle, you'll want to choose abilities from each tree that best suit your PvE or PvP goals.
1. Juggernaut Tree (Single-Target Damage)
The Juggernaut tree is ideal for players looking to maximize their single-target damage output. It's particularly effective against bosses or tanky enemies, allowing you to deal heavy damage and break through their defenses.
Wrecking Ball: This ability deals damage to the target and knocks them down, making it a fantastic opener in both PvE and PvP. Additionally, Wrecking Ball grants grit, preventing you from being staggered while performing the attack. When upgraded, the ability knocks down nearby enemies and grants 20% Fortify, boosting your armor.
Mighty Gavel: Acting like an execution move, Mighty Gavel deals significantly more damage to low-health targets. However, it comes with a long animation and short range, meaning you must carefully time this ability. Mighty Gavel is taunt gem compatible, allowing tanks to use it to hold enemy attention in group content. Upgrades increase its stamina damage and grant 30% haste after use, helping to make up for the War Hammer's lack of mobility.
Armor Breaker: This skill delivers 160% weapon damage while penetrating 35% of the target's armor, making it a crucial ability against heavily armored enemies. Progressing down this skill line grants grit and inflicts 30% Rend on the target, further reducing their armor and boosting your overall damage output.
Capstone: Justice for All only enhances the Mighty Gavel ability, granting grit, increasing its critical hit rate by 20%, and reducing War Hammer skill cooldowns by 10% when successfully landed. If you aren't using Mighty Gavel consistently, skipping this capstone is better.
2. Crowd Crusher Tree (AoE and Crowd Control)
The Crowd Crusher tree offers some of the best crowd control abilities in the game, making it perfect for large-scale PvE encounters and group PvP. It's focused on AoE attacks that stagger, stun, and weaken enemies, allowing you to control the battlefield with ease.
Shockwave: A staggering AoE ability that stuns all enemies in the area of effect. Shockwave is essential for both PvE and PvP, allowing you to stop enemies in their tracks and set up for follow-up attacks. When upgraded, enemies caught in the AoE are weakened, dealing 10% less damage for 10 seconds.
Clear Out: While it doesn't deal much damage, Clear Out knocks enemies back, creating space when things get too chaotic. This ability is especially useful in both PvE and PvP when you're overwhelmed and need to reposition. When upgraded, Clear Out also grants 20% Fortify and 30% Haste for 4 seconds, improving both your defenses and mobility.
Path of Destiny: This ability sends out a shockwave in a straight line, damaging and staggering enemies. It's one of the War Hammer's few ranged abilities, making it invaluable in PvP for catching fleeing enemies or interrupting opponents at a distance. Upgrades reduce its cooldown by 5% per enemy hit.
Capstone: Aftershock is one of the strongest passives in PvP. It slows enemies hit by your crowd control abilities, making it easier to keep them locked down and ensuring they can't escape your follow-up attacks.
Weapon Pairings and Armor Choices:
To compensate for the War Hammer's slower attack speed and lack of mobility, pairing it with weapons that offer gap closers or additional mobility is key.
Great Axe: This is a popular pairing for both PvE and PvP due to the Great Axe's Charge ability, which lets you close the gap quickly. The Great Axe also has strong AoE abilities, making it a perfect complement to the War Hammer's crowd control. You can Charge into a group of enemies, use War Hammer CC abilities to lock them down, and then follow up with Spin to Win or other AoE attacks.
Hatchet: The Hatchet's Berserk ability increases your damage and run speed, which helps make up for the War Hammer's lack of mobility. While it doesn't have a direct gap closer, the speed boost allows you to chase down enemies more effectively. The Hatchet also has a passive that prevents death once every 60 seconds, giving you an extra survival tool.
Great Sword: Like the Great Axe, the Great Sword excels in AoE combat. It also covers thrust and slash damage, giving you a broader damage type coverage in PvE.
Armor Recommendations:
You'll want to run medium or heavy armor when using the War Hammer since you'll be in close combat frequently. The War Hammer's abilities grant some defensive buffs, so combining that with heavy armor will increase your survivability in PvP and PvE.
Stat Priorities:
Focus on Strength, Critical Chance, and damage-boosting passives. Since back attacks are automatic critical hits, positioning yourself behind enemies in PvE and PvP will maximize your damage output.
The War Hammer in New World Aeternum is a formidable weapon that excels in crowd control and AoE damage. While its slow attack speed and limited mobility can be drawbacks, pairing it with the right weapons and armor can mitigate these weaknesses. Whether dominating the battlefield in PvP or controlling large groups of enemies in PvE, the War Hammer is a weapon worth mastering.
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