New World

Best War Hammer Builds for PVE and PVP (Update 1.2.1)

Please note that the New World Team has stopped covering the game as of Update 1.2. Information on certain pages may not be up-to-date.

New World - War Hammer Builds

This is a guide on the best War Hammer builds in New World. Read on to see the recommended stats, skills, armor, and playstyle guides of the best and latest War Hammer builds for PVE and PVP as of Update 1.2.1!

War Hammer / Great Axe Crowd Crusher Tank Build

War Hammer / Great Axe Crowd Crusher Tank

Build Purpose
General (PvP and PVE)
Strengths Weaknesses
・High HP and defense, perfect for tanking
・Great crowd control and AoE skills
・Low offensive capability
・Attacks are slow and easy to miss
・Reliant on team to provide damage

Build Stats and Skills

Stat Priority Constitution
Strength
50
Dexterity
5
Intelligence
5
Focus
5
Constitution
145

Stats obtained through armor are not accounted for in this table.

1st Weapon 2nd Weapon
War Hammer ImageWar Hammer Great Axe ImageGreat Axe
Active Skills
Passive Skills

Best Perks and Equipment

Perks and Equipment Stats
PerksBest Perks
Weapon Icon Stats: Sentry
(Constitution)
Shield Icon Type: None
Stats: -
Headwear Icon Weight: Heavy
Stats: Sentry
(Constitution)
Torso Icon Weight: Heavy
Stats: Sentry
(Constitution)
Gloves Weight: Heavy
Stats: Sentry
(Constitution)
Leggings Weight: Heavy
Stats: Sentry
(Constitution)
Boots Weight: Heavy
Stats: Sentry
(Constitution)

Build Playstyle

War Hammer Crowd Crusher Tank Build is a pure tank build that relies solely on Constitution for survivability. This build does not have much offensive capability, leaving the damage-dealing to the DPS builds. What this build does have is the ability to pull enemies close and to keep them in place with stuns.

This build primarily uses abilities from the Crowd Crusher and Mauler skill trees, which are good at dealing with swarms of enemies. You can use the Great Axe to pull enemies close to you with Reap, Maelstrom, and Gravity Well, then stop enemy movement with War Hammer skills Shockwave, Clear Out, and Path of Destiny (with the Seismic Waves passive ability).

The passive skills are focused on more effectively stunning enemies, and increasing the range of your pulls. HP regen skills and perks are also important to this build, as you want the enemy to have a hard time taking you down.

You generally want to be on the front lines and in the center of all the action., where it would be easier to pull and stun multiple enemies at the same time. This would make it easier for your DPS allies to rain hell on them.

War Hammer / Spear Disabler Build

War Hammer / Spear Disabler Build

Build Purpose
PvP
Strengths Weaknesses
・Strong single-target DPS
・Great crowd control, lots of AoE disables
・Low DPS
・Low health pool

Build Stats and Skills

Stat Priority Strength → Dexterity
Strength
145
Dexterity
50
Intelligence
5
Focus
5
Constitution
5

Stats obtained through armor are not accounted for in this table.

1st Weapon 2nd Weapon
War Hammer ImageWar Hammer Spear ImageSpear
Active Skills
Passive Skills

Best Perks and Equipment

Perks and Equipment Stats
PerksBest Perks
Weapon Icon.png Stats: Fighter
(Strength → Dexterity)
Headwear Icon Weight: Heavy
Stats: Fighter
(Strength → Dexterity)
Torso Icon Weight: Heavy
Stats: Fighter
(Strength → Dexterity)
Gloves Weight: Heavy
Stats: Fighter
(Strength → Dexterity)
Leggings Weight: Heavy
Stats: Fighter
(Strength → Dexterity)
Boots Weight: Heavy
Stats: Fighter
(Strength → Dexterity)

Build Playstyle

Use the Great Hammer for crowd control and disabling, and general damage dealing. Switch to a Spear while War Hammer skills are on cooldown for additional disables.

War Hammer for Damage

War Hammer's crowd control and debuffs will make you a tough nut to crack. The War Hammer's multi-target disables will make it good at dealing damage to large groups. Shockwave and Path of Destiny are great crowd control moves, and Clear Out can give you space when you are overwhelmed.

Spear for Additional Disables

The Spear comes into play when the opponent starts to run away from battle, or when your War Hammer skills are on cooldown. Javelin is both a damage-dealing and disabling skill with its stagger passive skill. Try to headshot with it for a huge cooldown reduction. Perforate will deal decent damage but also allows your War Hammer to deal more damage. Lastly, Sweep is a great crowd control move that can come in clutch when you need it.

War Hammer / Ice Gauntlet CC Build

New World - War Hammer / Ice Gauntlet CC Build

Build Purpose
PvP
Strengths Weaknesses
・Lots of crowd control
・Has multiple AoE abilities
・Requires setup for combos

Build Stats and Skills

Stat Priority Intelligence → Strength → Constitution
Strength
65
Dexterity
5
Intelligence
110
Focus
5
Constitution
30

Stats obtained through armor are not accounted for in this table.

War Hammer Ice Gauntlet
War Hammer ImageWar Hammer Ice Gauntlet ImageIce Gauntlet
Active Skills
Passive Skills

Best Perks and Equipment

Perks and Equipment Stats
PerksBest Perks
Weapon Icon Stats: Scholar
(Intelligence)
Headwear Icon Weight: Medium
Stats: Scholar
(Intelligence)
Torso Icon Weight: Medium
Stats: Occultist
(Intelligence + Constitution)
Gloves Weight: Medium
Stats: Sentry
(Constitution)
Leggings Weight: Medium
Stats: Spellsword
(Strength + Intelligence)
Boots Weight: Medium
Stats: Druid
(Constitution + Intelligence)

Build Playstyle

This build focuses on creating opportunities for you and your allies by inflicting Crowd Control status effects on your opponent.

Setup your team and yourself

During combat, initiate with your War Hammer. Your goal is to try and hit your opponent with Shockwave to stun them for your set-up. Once stunned, switch to your Ice Gauntlet and immediately cast Ice Shower to your opponent. Perform heavy attack to root, then cast Ice Storm under their feet. Since they're slow, you'll be able to easily hit them with a Clear Out to knock them back using your War Hammer. Since you've already created some distance between you and the opponent, perform a couple of light attacks to restore your mana using Empowered Frost and kite appropriately.

Alternatively, if their health is low, you can use Path of Destiny to finish them off, or if you're really in need of mana, cast Entombed to quickly restore it.

War Hammer / Sword & Shield Battle Tank Build

War Hammer / Sword & Shield Battle Tank

Build Purpose
General (PvP and PVE)
Strengths Weaknesses
・Solid offensive & defensive power
・Can switch between attacking and defending in a pinch
・Great & varied crowd control skills
・Not the hardest hitter & not the tankiest tank
・Poor agility & mobility
・War Hammer attacks are slow & easy to miss

Build Stats and Skills

Stat Priority Strength & Constitution
Strength
100
Dexterity
5
Intelligence
5
Focus
5
Constitution
95

Stats obtained through armor are not accounted for in this table.

1st Weapon 2nd Weapon
War Hammer ImageWar Hammer Sword and Shield ImageSword and Shield
Active Skills
Passive Skills

Best Perks and Equipment

Perks and Equipment Stats
PerksBest Perks
Weapon Icon Stats: Barbarian
(Strength → Constitution)
Shield Icon Type: Kite or Tower
Stats: Barbarian
(Strength → Constitution)
Headwear Icon Weight: Medium
Stats: Barbarian
(Strength → Constitution)
Torso Icon Weight: Medium
Stats: *Barbarian
(Strength → Constitution)
Gloves Weight: Medium
Stats: Barbarian
(Strength → Constitution)
Leggings Weight: Medium
Stats: Barbarian
(Strength → Constitution)
Boots Weight: Medium
Stats: Barbarian
(Strength → Constitution)

Build Playstyle

The War Hammer / Sword & Shield Battle Tank Build strikes a fine balance between offense and defense. It takes two weapons that scale well with Strength, using the best skills from both skill trees.

The War Hammer has active skills that can do crowd control like Clear Out and Path of Destiny, while also having good smiting potential with Mighty Gavel.

The Sword and Shield on the other hand has good all-around skills with Leaping Strike, Shield Bash, and Defiant Stance, which enable you to adapt to any situation.

The War Hammer's passive skills skew towards offense while the Sword and Shield skills tend more toward defense.

The War Hammer / Sword & Shield Battle Tank Build is a formidable force on the front lines, boasting capable offensive power and solid defensive grit when in a pinch. This build is very versatile and can adapt to any situation on the fly.

War Hammer / Great Axe Glass Cannon Build

War Hammer / Great Axe Glass Cannon Build

Build Purpose
PvE
Strengths Weaknesses
・Ultimate attack power ・Close to zero defensive capability
・Not viable in PvP
・Not very useful if the player isn't able to avoid damage successfully

Build Stats and Skills

Stat Priority Strength
Strength
195
Dexterity
5
Intelligence
5
Focus
5
Constitution
5

Stats obtained through armor are not accounted for in this table.

1st Weapon 2nd Weapon
War Hammer ImageWar Hammer Great Axe ImageGreat Axe
Active Skills
Passive Skills

Best Armor Type and Perks

Perks and Equipment Stats
PerksBest Perks
Weapon Icon Stats: Soldier
(Strength)
Shield Icon Type: None
Stats: -
Headwear Icon Weight: Light
Stats: Soldier
(Strength)
Torso Icon Weight: Light
Stats: Soldier
(Strength)
Gloves Weight: Light
Stats: Soldier
(Strength)
Leggings Weight: Light
Stats: Soldier
(Strength)
Boots Weight: Light
Stats: Soldier
(Strength)

Build Playstyle

The War Hammer / Great Axe Glass Cannon Juggernaut Build is centered on absolute melee power. All Stat points will be put into Strength first, creating a character who is fragile but can deal the most amount of damage in a single blow.

Because they are fragile, speed and mobility is preferred over tanking damage, hence the need for Light Armor. All Passive skills are focused on increasing damage output with a few ones focusing on Haste buffs for mobility.

This build is intended primarily for PvE, as the attack patterns of enemies are much easier to block and avoid compared to human enemies. This is intended for more advanced players who are confident in their ability to consistently dodge enemy attacks.

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