Best War Hammer build in New World

The War Hammer is a massive weapon in New World. When you use it correctly, you’ll be able to clear an area in a matter of seconds, doing plenty of damage and doing a massive amount of CC against multiple targets. There are a handful of abilities you want to make sure you use in your build, especially if you’re planning to charge straight into a PvP battle.

Best War Hammer build in New World

You have two trees to pick from when leveling up War Hammer: Juggernaut and Crowd Crusher. Both of these builds turn the War Hammer into a crowd clearing machine. The Juggernaut and Crowd Crusher trees feature various abilities to move an enemy around, making their PvE and PvP builds feel similar.

Juggernaut

• Armor Breaker – A heavy swing that penetrates 35% of the target’s armor and deals 140% weapon damage.
• Mighty Gavel – An overhead leaping attack that deals 160% weapon damage.
• Wrecking Ball – A massive attack that strikes the ground around the target for 120% damage, flattening the enemy.

Recommended active abilities: For the Juggernaut tree, the best ability you can grab is Armor Breaker. It’s a powerful attack that goes through an enemy’s armor, dealing a massive amount of damage to them, and it’s hard to dodge, making it an ideal choice for PvE and PvP. While Might Gavel is a solid choice for PvE leveling, it lacks PvP because of its slow wind-up, making it easy to predict. Wrecking Ball is significantly quicker and knocks down an enemy and those surrounding them if you grab the Breathing Room passive.

Recommended passive abilities: For your passive abilities, you want to consider grabbing Indomitable for Armor Breaker, Exhaustive Attacks, Power Through Pain, Epitome of Bonk!, Hammer Time, Safety Measures, and Breathing Room. You can also consider grabbing Hardened Steel, throwing in a few heavy attacks during combat.

Crowd Crusher

• Shockwave – Slam your hammer into the ground dealing 80% weapon damage to a 3 meter radius.
• Clear Out – A massive swing that knocks enemies back 4 meters, dealing 115% weapon damage.
• Path of Destiny – A strong ground strike that emits a linear wave of energy in front of the player, doing 110% weapon damage to all targets on the path.

Recommended active abilities: You want to grab more choices from Juggernaut than Crowd Crusher. The real standout ability for you to add to your arsenal is Shockwave, an attack that does some decent AoE damage, but anyone hit by that attack will be stunned for two seconds. You can use that time to land a solid hit, which breaks the stun. The other two, Clear Out and Path of Destiny, are solid considerations, but they cause more problems than they solve in combat, especially for PvP.

Recommended passive abilities: For the Crowd Crusher tree, you’ll want to grab Frailty, Meteoric Crater, Guarded Sprint, Concussive Impact, Acceleration, Outnumbered, and Prevailing Spirit. In addition, you want to make sure you grab Prevailing Spirit if you use any of the Crowd Crusher abilities, namely Shockwave.

You can have your War Hammer build to become a viable tank in many situations. While you won’t be as durable as a Sword and Shield build, you’ll be doing enough damage to compensate for the lack of durability the Sword and Shield has. Plus, if you have a reliable party healer you regularly work with, you’ll find yourself becoming one of the better go-to tanks because the best defense is a good offense.