With the New World weapon system, there are tons of variations and playstyles to try out. These are a few builds not only by us but also by the best PvPers in New World. In this guide, we’ll focus on the best New World PvP builds for various weapons in the game. You can use any of these builds for open-world PvP, group PvP, and even dungeon grinding if you don’t want to spend the Azoth to switch up your spec.
We’ll be taking a look at three of the best New World PvP builds for each type of playstyle. Included are builds for ranged and melee DPS, caster DPS, and healing and support DPS. In the future, we plan to update this to include more viable build options. It is not a comprehensive list of every PvP build in the game, but ones we have had the time to test out thoroughly in Wars and open world PvP.
The best New World PvP builds
Rapier and Musket
- Musket Skills: Shooter’s Distance, Powder Burn, Sticky Bomb
- Rapier Skills: Riposte, Evade, Fleche
- Stats: Dexterity and Intelligence (2:1)
We’ll be focusing primarily on the Sharpshooter tree to unlock Sniper for the bonus headshot damage with the Musket weapon. We’ll also be picking up a bunch of passive bonuses from the Trapper tree, including the Sticky Bomb skill for bonuses damage in close-range encounters and to zone out enemies.
For the Rapier, pick up every talent in the Grace tree, except for Controlled Breathing and Perfectionist. We pick up Refreshing Strikes and Engardge for cooldown reduction and an easy 10% bonus damage on high-health targets with the remaining two points.
The build gives you a lot of versatility, mobility, and burst damage, and it is strong in both melee and ranged fights. With Fleche, you have both a reliable opener and escape. You can pop Evade whenever you need to avoid combos and set yourself up for some burst damage. Use Sticky Bomb to stick it to enemies, or throw it at a target location to zone off enemies. When your targets run away after taking too much damage, it’s time to enter Shooter’s Stance and finish it off.
In terms of gear, you’ll want mostly light Dexterity gear with Intelligence sub-stats. You can also sprinkle some constitution in there for a little bit more survivability—your health pool will be around 6500-7000, but you won’t need much to get the job done.
Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet
- Fire Staff Skills: Pillar of Fire, Fireball, Burn Out
- Ice Gauntlet Skills: Ice Storm, Ice Shower, Entombed
- Stats: Intelligence
This build uses Pillar of Fire, Fireball, and Burn Out for the Fire Staff and focuses mostly on the Fire Mage tree. We’ll need enough points to pick up Runes of Helios, which places a rune that increases spell damage by 30% while standing on it. We will also put a few points into Pyromancer, including picking up the Burn Out skill for an escape and zoning ability. Make sure to pick up both Spell Focus and Flare in the Fire Mage tree so heavy attacks are free and restore mana. You can spam heavy attacks if you’re out of mana, as well as use Entombed with the Ice Gauntlet.
We go with Ice Storm, Ice Shower, and, of course, Entombed for the Ice Gauntlet. Our talent points will be mostly split between the Ice Tempest and Builder trees, but we’ll be going a little heavier into Ice Tempest. We pick up talents that grant mana regeneration, CRIT, and damage bonuses to add to the burstiness. You can also swap some points around if you want to make Entombed Stronger, but remember, you’ll need at least ten in Ice Tempest to get Ultimate Chill.
Overall, the Ice Gauntlet is the king of crowd control and kiting, and you can throw out an Ice Storm and spam enemies down with heavy attacks. You also have Entombed for mana regeneration and Ice Shower for mobility, zoning, and crowd control. Then, you have your Fire Staff pumping more damage out when necessary.
You’ll want to prioritize light gear with Intelligence as the primary stat and Constitution as the sub-stat. Aim for the 200 Intelligence breakpoint as early as possible while leveling, as that will provide the +10 mana after dodge passive. Socket your gear with Diamonds for Wilderness Ward, granting Physical and Elemental Damage Absorption. Alternatively, you can go with Malachite or split between Onyx and Opal.
Life Staff and Great Axe
- Life Staff Skills: Sacred Ground, Light’s Embrace, Beacon
- Great Axe Skills: Charge, Reap, Gravity Well
- Stats: Focus, Constitution, Strength
As a Life Staff user, we’ll be utilizing Sacred Ground, Light’s Embrace, and Beacon. These are hands down the three best Life Staff skills for PvP, allowing you to spam light attacks to heal your team while weaving heavy attacks every ten seconds for 10% bonus healing for ten seconds, thanks to Intensify. Remember, heavy attacks also remove a single debuff because of Mending Touch. Pick up all the other useful passives to unlock Divine Blessing.
Next, moving on to the Great Axe, the best three skills to pick up are Charge, Reap, and Gravity Well. Buff Reap as much as possible and spend enough points to unlock Blood Lust. We also have some nice synergy in this tree with Greed and Frustration. Spam light attacks to force a block and then hit the target with a 30% increased damage heavy attack. To close out the Reaper tree, we also pick up Charge because it’s an amazing gap-closing ability. Moving on to the Mauler tree, we’ll pick up Gravity because it’s incredible in all situations. Use it to prevent enemies from running away or synergize it with Reap to keep the enemy nearby.
For attributes or stats, aim for 200 Focus, 100 Constitution, and 50 to 100 Strength. When you hit those thresholds, you can distribute your remaining points evenly or however you see fit. If you find you need more health, prioritize Constitution. If you want more damage or healing, go with Strength or Focus instead.
In terms of gear, you’ll be going for an overall medium equip load. Aim for a solid stat distribution based on the attribute goals listed above. You can mix and match medium and heavy armor, but ideally, you will want a heavy helmet and chest, medium gloves and boots, and light pants. When you are first gearing up, it all comes down to what good pieces you can find and equip while maintaining the medium load.
That concludes our list of the best New World PvP builds. It should go without saying that this is not a comprehensive list. We do plan on updating it as we test out more powerful PvP builds. Also, “best” lists are naturally subjective, so these are just our opinions, and it is okay to disagree. For more related builds and guides, check out our website’s New World section.
