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An MMORPG without classes means that any character can equip whatever weapon they choose. That means New World players that are building Mages and Rogues are free to add a war hammer to the mix. A two-handed weapon with some impressive crushing damage, any character can be a force for melee DPS when swinging this heavy hammer around.
Barbarians, Warriors, Fighters, Gladiators, and Mountaineers are all examples of classes that would carry a war hammer. On the other hand, the mighty war hammer can also be the central part of a build dedicated to melee DPS or for party defense. Paladins, Mercenaries, Privateers, and other more refined fighters would appreciate the kind of damage this weapon is capable of doing, and sacrificing a bit of speed just means a slower burn for that heavy impact.
Acquiring A Warhammer
Big, heavy, and intimidating, the warhammer is a player favorite. There are several ways a character can acquire this intimidating weapon even at even the earliest levels.
- Drops. It's possible to pick up a war hammer from an enemy that has been slain, especially a humanoid figure. Another option is to find one in a Hidden Stash recovered from chopping down trees or mining.
- Crafting. The most basic war hammer can be crafted at a Forge using a few simple materials that are also easy to gather. Iron, wood, and leather are all that are required for a simple recipe, but more expensive and rare materials are required for Epic or Rare war hammers.
- Quest Rewards. The higher level of the quest, the better the quality of the reward, but one of Common quality might be included in the payment for completing low-level tasks as well.
Attributes That Scale With The Warhammer
It reveals something about the nature of the war hammer that it scales with a character's Strength score and nothing else. Aside from the battleax, no other weapon in New World comes closer in terms of size, and the battleax is the only other weapon that scales only with Strength. Taking on such a combination would be a fearsome melee DPS build, with the only other priority needed being Constitution for the extra hit points.
This kind of build would simplify and speed up the leveling process earlier in the game when a character has fewer Attribute points to use. Adding points to another Attribute score to a third score would be easier at higher levels.
A pure Strength and Consitution build give the player a lot of extra Attribute points to use in fewer scores, but remember that this combination has the disadvantage of limiting a character's access to ranged weapons. The spear and hatchet offer some options but also scale with Dexterity.
Warhammer Mastery Trees
One side of the Mastery Tree for the war hammer is focused on crowd control and the other is about doing damage. It's as uncomplicated as the weapon it represents.
- Juggernaut. When a character needs the skill and weight to deal substantial damage, even through heavy armor, this is the tree to favor. Power Through Pain increases a player's damage output after they take damage themselves. Exhaustive Attacks give an opponent a debuff to Stamina regeneration and Wrecking Ball is a powerful attack that does extra damage to a single target.
- Crowd Crusher. Shockwave is a nice AoE ability that affects every opponent within a three-meter radius, dealing 80% of regular weapon damage and giving them a stagger debuff. Give a character more damage absorption when fighting two or more foes with Outnumbered and Concussive Impact deals extra damage to targets that already have war hammer-related debuffs.
Warhammer Weapon Combinations
Priests. Shamans and Paladins are examples of combination classes that would carry a war hammer as part of their build. Other choices for these classes would be a Life Staff for healers, which would mean some extra points for the Focus Attribute score or a Void or Frost Gauntlet for DPS builds that scale with Intelligence.
- Battleaxe. Another melee weapon that scales with Strength, a character that carries these two weapons would be a force to be reckoned with in close combat. However, this combination doesn't have a lot of options for ranged combat past what the character gets from the Mastery Trees.
- Spear. Give a character a ranged weapon that scales with Strength and Dexterity with the versatile spear, which also has some useful crowd control abilities. Ideal for a Survivalist or Barbarian build.
- Ice Gauntlet. One of two magical weapons that scale only with Intelligence, the player can also equip a Fire Staff if they prefer to burn it all down.
- Sword. Fighters, Paladins, Soldiers, and other military ranks can equip a sword, either for pure DPS or with a shield as a Defender. Sword skill requires Dexterity as well as Strength.