Welcome to The Tank Club! Today, we’re going to take a closer look at the Spark of Mjölnir artifact from a tanking perspective and discuss whether it’s a worthy choice for PvE tanking in New World. As a tank who frequently engages in mutation expeditions, I’ll share my thoughts and insights on this controversial War Hammer artifact.

Feel free to share your thoughts in The Tank Club Discord, and if you believe I’ve missed something, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’ve discussed this with many other in Discord to gather opinions and insights from fellow tank enthusiasts, and so far, my perspective on the Spark of Mjölnir hasn’t been swayed.

First, let’s delve into the Spark of Mjölnir and its perks:

1. Mjölnir Blessing: This perk converts 99% of hammer damage to lightning and increases your lightning damage with both weapons by 20%. While I can’t provide accurate DPS testing as a tank, I received a spreadsheet where someone tested all artifacts and weapon types against different enemy types in New World. Surprisingly, the Spark of Mjölnir War Hammer didn’t once appear in the top 5 weapons. Moreover, the way Blessing buffs lightning damage on your other weapon seems inconsistent, as it doesn’t enhance all sources of lightning damage, such as Lightning Damage Gems on other weapons.

2. Spark: This perk makes Mighty Gavel cause a 30% weaken for 7 seconds. Many players have been confused by this perk due to its history on the PTR, where it was initially 50% and was later reduced to 30%. It’s important to note that sources of weaken are reduced by 50% on M2 and 75% on M3 content, resulting in a 15% weaken on M2 and a 7.5% weaken on M3.

3. Refreshing Mighty Gavel: This perk reduces the cooldown of Mighty Gavel by 20%.

4. Refreshing Move: This perk decreases your Hammer cooldowns by 2.5% with each Light or Heavy Attack. In my opinion, this perk is rather useless, considering that War Hammers already have Quick Recovery and Acceleration passives, which reduce Hammer cooldowns by 7% with Light and Heavy attacks. Additionally, Hammer abilities already have relatively short cooldowns, making Refreshing Move unnecessary.

Finally, you can add one more perk to your weapon. Notably, you can’t add a gem slot to this weapon like other artifacts. You also have limited perk options, for instance, you can’t use Sundering Clear Out because Refreshing Mighty Gavel blocks it. Thus, your choices are somewhat constrained, with options like Thwarting Strikes or Enchanted.

When we examine the overall package of this War Hammer, only one out of the four perks seems truly valuable – the 30% weaken from Spark. However, to apply this weaken, you are compelled to use an ability, Mighty Gavel, which falls short of four other powerful Hammer abilities. Furthermore, you need to sacrifice multiple sources of Rend to gain that 30% weaken.

Consider these sources of Rend:

• Armor Breaker: Applies a 30% rend.
• Clear Out: Grants a 25% rend when you use a Sundering Clear Out perk on your Hammer.
• Shockwave: Offers a 10% weaken and 10% Rend when you use a Sundering Shockwave perk on your armor.

Without the Spark of Mjölnir, you benefit from a total of 65% Rend. By using Mjölnir, you instantly lose 15% Rend, as you can’t use Sundering Clear Out on your weapon. Consequently, Clear Out becomes the weakest skill in your arsenal, offering only 10% Rend instead of 25%, so you’d sacrifice this for Mighty Gavel when using Mjölnir. Moreover, you lose the crowd control and the group buff of 20% fortify by dropping Clear Out. It’s worth noting that other accessible sources of Weaken are strong, such as a Spear with the Enfeebling Skewer perk, which applies a 47% weaken and in addition to that the ability Perforate applies a 30% Weaken and 30% Rend.

In essence, it’s a Weaken versus Rend situation. Weaken reduces the enemy’s outgoing damage, while Rend increases the damage they receive. In New World, there are multiple ways to reduce incoming damage, including Shield Wards, Protection Amulets, Ward Potions, gear, and various damage reduction mechanisms. In contrast, increasing group DPS and boosting damage is a more challenging task, primarily reliant on gear, weapon choices, and perks.

In my view, prioritizing Rend is more beneficial than Weaken, especially if you must choose between the two. Rend accelerates enemy elimination, shortening fights, and reducing the need for prolonged survival. Ending battles swiftly is more advantageous than focusing on Weaken, which prolongs fights and necessitates greater endurance from the tank and healers.

I personally do not see the value of using the Spark of Mjölnir as a tank, despite its popularity among some players. Many might not be aware that the weapon is different from its PTR version. With the lack of compelling tank weapon artifacts, I understand why some players want to make this War Hammer work for tanks.

The Spark of Mjölnir includes multiple perks that aren’t beneficial or useful for tanks. It forces you to use Mighty Gavel, which, based on my testing, falls short of Clear Out, Shockwave, Wrecking Ball, and Armor Breaker in terms of tank utility. Additionally, you’re required to use the Lost Stopwatch, which, while improved, forces you to give up Protection Amulets, potentially resulting in more damage taken.

Can you use the Spark of Mjölnir as a tank? Yes, you can. Should you use it? In my opinion, you’d be better off with a standard War Hammer featuring the Sundering Clear Out perk, which can help end fights more quickly and make use of more beneficial War Hammer abilities over Mighty Gavel.