This guide breaks down the powerful "Thor" PvP build, featuring Hatchet and Warhammer. This setup excels at high burst damage, strong crowd control, and surprising survivability in medium armor, making it a formidable choice whether you're earning rewards or looking to buy New World Coins to expedite your gear acquisition.

Core Concept & Playstyle

The Thor build is a melee bruiser focused on two key goals:

1. Delete targets with the Hatchet's Raging Torrent and lightning procs.

2. Control the battlefield and peel for teammates with the Warhammer's heavy crowd control (CC).

3. You are not a pure tank, but your medium armor and defensive perks make you surprisingly durable. Your role is to disrupt enemy formations, punish out-of-position players, and secure kills on focused targets.

Attributes

1. Primary Goal: Split points between Strength and Dexterity for optimal Hatchet scaling (it benefits from both). The Warhammer also scales well with Strength.

2. Constitution: A matter of preference and comfort. In the current high-damage meta, 150 Constitution is recommended for survivability. You can drop to 50 Con if you're confident, but going as low as 5 is not advised.

3. Example Split (with 150 Con Food):

· 150 Constitution

· ~300 Strength

· ~300 Dexterity

4. Alternative: Consider shifting some points from Strength into Focus for the stamina regeneration passive, which pairs well with the Nimble perk on earrings.

Weapon Masteries & Rotation

Hatchet (Main Damage)

Key Active Skills:

1. Berserk: Your engage/disengage and sustain tool. Provides Uninterruptible, immunity to staggers, and life steal. Animation cancel is possible: Hold W, block (RMB), then activate Berserk and throw immediately.

2. Raging Torrent: Your primary burst damage skill. Use when enemies have wasted stamina rolls for maximum effect.

3. Social Distancing: An incredibly versatile skill. Use it to:

· Escape bad situations (backward throw with invulnerability frames).

· Chase/root ranged players (applies slow/root if target has a debuff, like from Keenly Jagged).

4. Crucial Passives:

· Berserk Tree: Max this for Uninterruptible and stagger immunity during Berserk.

· Adrenaline Rush: Reduces dodge stamina cost after hitting a target (essential for melee).

· Crit Stacking: Prioritize passives that increase crit chance (e.g., Keen). This fuels the core mechanic: Critical Storm.

· The Lightning Combo: The new Critical Storm perk (on the hatchet) is core. Every 0.5 seconds you crit, you gain a stack. At 6 stacks, you proc a lightning bolt for 100% weapon damage. This is buffed by Mjolnir's 20% extra lightning damage. Combined with Raging Torrent's fast attacks, you will proc lightning often.

Warhammer (Crowd Control & Setup)

Key Active Skills:

· Shockwave: A reliable, instant 2-second AoE stun that applies Weaken. Use it to peel for teammates or initiate on groups.

· Mighty Gavel: Your high-damage follow-up. Deals 190% weapon damage with Grit, has high crit chance, and applies a powerful Slow and Weaken.

· Path of Destiny: Great for staggering clumped enemies and controlling space. Cooldown reduces per target hit.

· Core Combo: Shockwave (Stun/Weaken) -> Mighty Gavel (Big Damage/Slow/More Weaken). This can apply up to 40% Weaken, drastically reducing the target's damage output.

Gear, Perks & Gems

Armor Perks (Medium Weight)

1. Target Weight: Heavy Chest, Medium Head, Heavy Pants, Light Gloves & Boots.

2. Must-Have Perks:

· Resilient: Still king for PvP damage reduction.

· Freedom: Reduces CC duration. Very important.

· Shirking Fortification: Huge fortify on dodge.

· Invigorated (Jin Head Wrap): The star defensive perk. At 5 stacks, it gives ~95% reduction to non-CC debuff durations (Rend, Disease, Exhaust, Weaken). Critical in the current meta.

· Conditioning Perks: Thrust Conditioning or Slash Conditioning depending on what you face most.

· Vital Synergy (Chest): Provides stamina regen below 50% health.

3. Gems: Use Turquoise gems. They provide 3% reduction to both Physical and Elemental damage, making them BiS for PvP.

Weapon Perks

1. Hatchet:

· Critical Storm (Infix): Core to the build. Procs lightning.

2. Attunement: Great for extra damage.

· Keenly Jagged: Applies a DoT and a debuff, which can trigger effects from Social Distancing.

· Vicious / Rogue / Keen: For more crit damage/chance.

· Gem: Moonstone (20% dmg when abilities are on CD) or Topaz (if split gem bug is fixed for max lightning dmg).

3. Warhammer:

· Mighty Gavel Perk: Increases damage and applies slow/weaken.

· Attunement / Keen / Vicious.

· Gem: Opal (damage at full stamina) or an elemental gem based on your stats.

Jewelry Perks

1. Ring:

· Keen / Vicious for crit.

· Invigorated Punishment / Hearty.

· Slash Damage (for Hatchet light attacks).

2. Amulet:

· Health.

· Divvy / Slash Protection / Thrust Protection.

· Fortifying Toast or Empowering.

3. Earring:

· Refreshing Toast (BIS): 10% cooldown reduction is massive.

· Nimble: Stamina regen on health pot use.

· Fortifying Toast or Regenerating.

Consumables & Heart Rune

1. Health Potions: Infused Health.

2. Regeneration Potions: Strong Oakflesh Balm (vs. melee) or Gemstone Dust (vs. mages).

3. Food:

· PvP Modes (OPR, Arena): Attribute food to hit your desired stat breakpoints.

· Open World / Wars: Use Desert Sunrise for reduced dot duration, plus attribute food.

4. Honing Stone: For extra damage when consumables are unlimited.

5. Heart Rune: Stone Form is exceptional. It provides a burst heal, cleanses debuffs, and makes you unstaggerable.

PvP Tactics & Tips

1. Engage Wisely: Don't run into the open against ranged players. Use line-of-sight (walls, trees) to close the gap.

2. Stamina is Key: Bait enemies into wasting stamina rolls before committing with Raging Torrent.

3. Target Selection: Focus healers or DPS who are out of position. Use your Warhammer to peel enemies off your own backline.

4. Social Distancing Usage: This is your "get out of jail free" card. Save it to escape clumps or to secure a kill on a fleeing low-health target.

5. Animation Cancels: Practice the W + Block -> Berserk -> Throw cancel for faster engages.

6. Empower Cap: Remember, the empower cap in PvP is 50%. Berserk gives 25%, so be mindful of other sources (Slash damage passives, harnessing, etc.) to avoid wasting stats.

Final Notes

This build is potent in the current season but requires practice to master, especially the Hatchet's sometimes-unreliable tracking. It's a versatile bruiser that can swing fights with well-timed CC and devastating burst combos. Remember to test the split gem (Topaz) fix mentioned in the video, as it could further optimize lightning damage output. For adventurers looking to fast-track their gear without the endless grind, a secure option is to buy New World Gold coins from MMOEXP to ensure you’re raid-ready and fully optimized. Good luck, and see you in Aeternum!