Brimstone Sands has hit the New World PTR and we’ve taken a look at the New World Heartrune Abilities that are dropping with this update.

There are currently 5 types of Heartrune which can come in either Cunning, Stalwart or Brutal which will alter the perks that come with each rune.

You have to equip a Heartrune in the same way you equip your gear.

Once equipped you then have to build up your Heartrune by blocking attacks or by attacking enemies with Light Attacks, Heavy Attacks or by using abilities.

Once the Heartrune is recharged it can be used by pressing the “G” key. If you’ve played other MMO games, you’ll have seen things like Ultimate abilities, and this is essentially what this is.

You unleash a special effect/attack which you’ll want to time for precise situations since you can’t constantly use them, they have to be charged up before you can use them.

This adds a completely new layer to combat in New World since it’s only possible to equip 2 weapons and 3 skills with each weapon, the option of adding a new ability with a Heartrune gives even more options for builds and more varied options for different combat situations.

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See more: New World Brimstone Sands 

New World Heartrune Abilities

Stoneform

Stoneform Heartrune

Harden yourself with layers of stone, cleansing all crowd control debuffs and granting immunity to both stagger and crowd control debuffs for 5s.

  • 1,089 Damage
  • 10.0% Critical Hit Chance
  • 1.30 Critical Damage Multiplier
  • 50.0 Block Stamina Damage

Perks

  1. Fortifying Form
  2. Mending Form
  3. Unstable Form
  4. Hardening Form

Dark Ascent

Dark Ascent Heartrune

Fly up into the air then plummet back down to the ground, staggering and dealing 100% heartrune damage within a 3m radius. Press the Heartrune Ability of Basic Attack input while hovering to trigger the fall immediately.

  • 2,179 Damage
  • 10.0% Critical Hit Chance
  • 1.30 Critical Damage Multiplier
  • 80.0 Block Stamina Damage

Perks

    1. Empowered Ascent
    2. Leeching Ascent
    3. Fortifying Ascent
    4. Crippling Ascent

Grasping Vines

Grasping Vines Heartrune

Summon vines around you that deal 100% heartrune damage and root enemies within a 4m radius for 3s.

  • 1,816 Damage
  • 10.0% Critical Hit Chance
  • 1.30 Critical Damage Multiplier
  • 30.0 Block Stamina Damage

Perks

  1. Rending Vines
  2. Enfeebling Vines
  3. Resilient Vines
  4. Leeching Vines

Cannon Blast

Cannon Blast Heartrune

Summon a cannon and fire a powerful, long-range shot that deals 100% heartrune damage.

  • 3,633 Damage
  • 10.0% Critical Hit Chance
  • 1.30 Critical Damage Multiplier
  • 100.0 Block Stamina Damage

Perks

  1. Burning Blast
  2. Concussive Blast
  3. Penetrating Blast
  4. Explosive Blast

Detonate

Detonate Heartrune

Charge yourself with explosive energy for 3s and then detonate, dealing 100% heartrune damage within a 5m radius.

  • 4,359Damage
  • 10.0% Critical Hit Chance
  • 1.30 Critical Damage Multiplier
  • 70.0 Block Stamina Damage

Perks

  1. Accelerating Charge
  2. Leeching Explosion
  3. Empowering Charge
  4. Escalating Explosion

Having tried out the various New World Heartrune Abilities I really like the idea and the addition of them to the game, coming from other MMO games where we build up an Ultimate to cause a big impact for our group or to the enemy, this is following a similar concept.

I do wonder how impactful the Heartrunes will be, for example as a Tank I am interested in the Stoneform Heartrune. They seem to take an awfully long time to generate and then it only lasts for 5s. Obviously there has to be some balance involved so they are not overpowered in both PvP and PvE but I’m not really sure how useful some of them will be due to the small radius and short durations.