War Hammer Perks for New World

All the perks below are usable in any War Hammer build. While there are many other perks in the game, these are the perks that are within the scope of having value when using a War Hammer and properly gearing your build.

The perks within this section include general weapon perks and War Hammer specific perks that are in the current META.

• Sundering Shockwave — This should be located on your weapon, it will result in a large amount of AoE rend and make all targets more vulnerable.
• Thwarting Counter — This will add a large burst of damage to most melee targets. When playing as a bruiser you will be near enemies that will frequently have Grit. When this hits in combination with all of your other additional damage, you will notice the burst.
• Attunement Perks — This is may be less damage than Shirking, but it will always proc, making it better because of consistency.

• Leeching Path Of Destiny — Great defensive utility that keep you alive in both light and medium armor variants.
• Shirking Damage Perk — When using any ability this will frequently activate for a moderate burst of damage, this is less consistent than Attunement.
• Thwarting Strikes — Many abilities and basic attacks will have grit, resulting in additional damage. But, the weapon is not used enough outside of its abilities to really make this perk useful. It can be a budget option.
• Keenly Jagged — This will stack with whatever Runeglass DoT you have an result in fast Heartrune charge, especially if it hits mulitple targets.
• Chain Damage Perks — This can be another budget alternative that can be added onto a weapon for additional damage.

• Penetrating Wrecking Ball — This is generally not valuable enough to give up a perk to fit into a build. It seems like it would be great, but armor penetration does not result in a large amount of damage.
• Trenchant Strikes — Can be good for a PvE heavy attack spam build.
• Enchanted — Has PvE damage viability, but not the best option.
• Refreshing Mighty Gavel — If you are able to land hits with this ability, this perk can be great. It would have the most value in PvE.

• Repulsing Clear Out — This can be beneficial if the ability consistently knocked back, but it is extremely low value and should not be prioritized.
• Empowering Armor Breaker — It is a very niche perk that will have very low up time and usually not worth prioritizing.
• Keen — Not needed, but can be a free damage increase at times.
• Vicious — Can be a slight damage increase, but typically not used.

The perks within this section include general armor perks for builds that are viable in the current PvP META.

• Resilient — Great for survivability in all PvP environments. Should be stacked on almost every armor piece.
• Shirking Fortification — This provides a large amount of fortify and gives free defensiveness to players who are actively in the frontline.

• Refreshing Ward — Best source of cooldown reduction for medium bruiser builds.
• Refreshing — Top-tier cooldown reduction option so that maximum cooldowns are shorter and abilities come online faster. Used in non-bruiser builds.
• Freedom — Fantastic survivability option when stacked four times on armor pieces. Allows for you to get out of stuns, slows, and roots more quickly to save your life.

• Elemental Aversion — Defensive option that can provide value when being hit by ranged attacks. It can act as a third perk option, but is overshadowed by S-Tier and A-Tier in terms of overall benefit.

These options are somewhat filler perks that can be used on a three perk item so you have more value than a simple two perk item. They are low value perks in this aspect of gameplay and would not be the pick for a Best in Slot item.

• Physical Aversion
• Invigorated
• Refreshing Evasion

• Refreshing — Free cooldown reduction in PvE. This is generally a top pick due to the lackof needing PvP survivability perks.
• Elemental Aversion — High value defensive option because of the rotating elemental types in mutated expeditions.
• Ward (Ancient, Angry Earth, Corrupted, Lost) — When playing damage roles in end game PvE content, it is important to have this in your gear so you are able to play with less Constitution and have more defensiveness.
• Bane (Ancient, Angry Earth, Corrupted, Lost) — Free damage increase for mutator-specific enemies. This will require you to have multiple different weapons depending on the expedition it is used in.

• Shirking Fortification — Provides great defensiveness when threat is focused on you and you are forced to dodge enemies.
• Physical Aversion — Has less value than Elemental Aversion due to the high amount of magical damage in all expeditions. It can be a viable third perk option.

• Refreshing Evasion — Free cooldown reduction in PvE. It can be useful, but it is better to have Refreshing
• Freedom — Can be beneficial to reduce CC effects from some enemy types.
• Refreshing Ward — Loses value in PvE, it is typically best to just use Refreshing as a DPS. With that being said, this is a good option for tanks.

These options are somewhat filler perks that can be used on a three perk item so you have more value than a simple two perk item. They are low value perks in this aspect of gameplay and would not be the pick for a Best in Slot item.

• Invigorated
• Ward (Beast) — Although listed in C-Tier, this should not ever be taken until there is an expedtion with beast damage in it.

The perks listed below are combined between amulet, ring, and earring. These are the best options for jewelry as a whole. Keep in mind that some of these perks are only able to go on a specific jewelry slot, for example Keen Awareness can only go on a ring.

• Health — This is just free health. This is crucial on any amulet for increased survivability.
• Stamina Recovery — Great survivability option in any kit. When you are being dove on by enemies this has the potential to save your life.
• Mortal Empowerment — In light armor builds, especially War Hammer and Blunderbuss, this is the best option instead of Invigorated Punishment. It will allow you to snowball into many kills and do very high amounts of damage. This will only be effective in PvP combat.
• Slash Damage — This should be used whenever you have a Great Axe paired with your War Hammer in PvP and PvE.
• Fire Damage — This should be used whenever you have a Blunderbuss paired with your War Hammer in PvP and PvE.
• Keen Awareness — This is the better second perk option for medium bruiser builds with Great Axe and War Hammer in PvP and PvE.
• Refreshing Toast — Incredible perk to increase self healing and Infused Regeneration Potion usage to remove debuffs. This is a "must-have" on earring.
• Purifying Toast — Necessary for most frontline players in PvP to help with defensiveness and one's ability to play in the frontline. Removing a debuff such as a root, or a DoT, and can save your life.

• Slash Protection — Can be a great third perk option on amulet to help provide defensiveness against enemies using melee weapons who are trying to dive onto you.
• Refreshing — Can be placed as a third perk on an earring or used as a functional perk on other jewelry pieces for non-bruiser builds.
• Refreshing Ward — Best source of cooldown reduction for medium bruisers in PvP.
• Invigorated Punishment — This can be used if you are looking for a more consistent damage option over Mortal Empowerment, but it is not used by medium bruisers. This is only effective in PvP.
• Hearty — Do not use this in a medium loadout build. It is not necessary unless playing in a light armor loadout. If you are playing in light this must be on your ring and it would be S-Tier. It is not needed in PvE.
• Leeching — This a great option to pair with Slash Damage and Keen Awareness when playing in a medium bruiser build.

• Refreshing Evasion
• Thrust Protection — Slash Protection should be prioritized, but this can be used if you are struggling against damage from Bows, Muskets, and Blunderbusses.
• Divine — Can be a decent third perk option. Increasing healing received could save your life, but often times this amount is not enough and more defensive options have more value. This is a great PvE option instead of something like Stamina Recovery.
• Regenerating — Free additional healing over time. This can be a decent third perk option.

These options are somewhat filler perks that can be used on a three perk item so you have more value than a simple two perk item. They are low value perks in this aspect of gameplay and would not be the pick for a Best in Slot item.

• Frozen Protection
• Brilliant
• Fortified Recovery
• Fortified
• Alacrity
• Purify
• Focused
• Healthy Toast