New World Builds Season 9

New Artifacts

Plagueherald (Helm)
A control-focused artifact aimed at punishing heal-heavy enemy groups.

• Effect: Light attacks and abilities inflict stacks of Disease (3% per stack, up to 10). Once capped, heavy attacks trigger a 7-second AoE cloud that applies 30% Disease and 10% Weaken in a radius.

• Use Case: Strong counterplay in expeditions and arenas where mobs cluster or enemies rely on self-sustain.

Hammer of Yeet (War Hammer)
Knockback-focused crowd control with explosive synergy.

• Effect: +300% knockback distance and +10% base damage to all knockback abilities. "Clear Out" ignites the first enemy hit, launching them forward as a projectile dealing splash damage.

• Use Case: PvP area denial, and PvE knockback/stagger builds.

Crescent’s Wave (Greatsword)
Transforms the Greatsword into a ranged hybrid weapon.

• Effect: Heavy attacks launch a projectile (150% weapon damage) while you're above 50% HP. Melee heavy attacks are reduced by 50% in return. Also grants +12% base damage to targets over 10m away.

• Use Case: Ideal for ranged Greatsword builds in OPR or mixed-range dungeon roles.

Reworked Artifacts

Vengeance
Now boosts healing only when you’re not affected by Life Staff HoTs. Also grants ally regen (mana and stamina) when basic attacks pass through them.

• Promotes off-healer play and sustain roles outside traditional healer comps.

Grey Wizard’s Hat
Magic ranged heavy attacks now charge 25% faster when above 50% mana.

• Encourages high-tempo casting and tighter mana management for IG/VG/Frost/Fire users.

Creed
Full rework focused on ambush burst:

• +20% crit damage and 10% Weaken on backstabs/headshots.

• Also grants +10% empower and +10% crit chance for 5s. (15s cooldown per target.)

Trsna
Now includes lifesteal against rooted or stunned enemies — a huge survivability buff for control builds.

Flail: Core Overhaul

Flail is no longer a meme pick. It now receives conditional bonuses based on its pairing:

• +15% outgoing healing if not using Life Staff

• +15% damage if not using a shield

• +15% healing again if not in heavy equip load

• Deflecting Frailty: lifesteal increased from 10% → 15%

• Supportive Blessing: self-heal reduced from 50% → 35% of base damage

Use Case: Off-healer builds, support tanks, and damage-focused light Flail pairings are all now viable.

Haste Rework (Game-Wide)

Global haste clamp reduced from 50% → 40%
Nearly every weapon, consumable, and perk that granted haste has been nerfed by 20–40%. A few key ones:

• Bow: Dodge and Weave now 7% haste (was 10%)

• Fire Staff: Accelerating Flamethrower now 15% (was 20%)

• Life Staff: Speed of Light reduced to 15% (was 20%)

• Flail (Accelerated Advantage): Ally haste now 20% (was 25%)

• Keen Speed: Reduced from 20% → 15%

Why it matters:
You’ll feel this in build pacing — expect slower movement and repositioning, especially in dodge-heavy or speed-stack metas. It also brings weapon speeds more in line with server desync tolerances.

Notable Weapon Balance Adjustments

Fire Staff

• Smolder DoT damage: 5% → 4.5%

• Pillar of Fire cooldown: 10s → 15s

• Fiery Restoration CDR: 10% → 7%

Void Gauntlet

• Void Blade Light/Heavy: reduced by ~5%

• Leeching Blade now scales only with Focus

• Invigorated Rupture now has a cooldown

Bow

• Poison Shot cooldown reduced from 30s → 20s

• Fixed rapid-fire and hipfire bugs

Hatchet

• Berserk base duration now 5s

• Hitting enemies extends it by 1s (up to 12s total)

Sword & Shield

• Leaping Strike no longer staggers

Ice Gauntlet

• Wind Chill knockback increased

• Refreshing Frost CDR reduced to 15%

Rapier

• Flourish & Finish now hits more reliably vs. AI

• AI pushback distance halved (PvE only)

War Hammer

• Wrecking Ball animation improved

• Swing Away haste reduced (30% → 20%)

What’s New – Season of the Banner Season 9

Season 9: Season of the Banner introduces sweeping changes to artifact builds, weapon balance, and overall combat speed — and every single one of them has implications for PvE and PvP optimization. We’ve broken it down so you can focus on what actually affects your builds.