New World Rapier PvP Build – Rapier and Ice Gauntlet

New World’s weapon system allows for a wide variety of viable PvP builds. Not forcing players into one class lets players experience all of the weapons for themselves before committing to mastering their weapon of choice. When it comes to player-versus-player combat, one popular weapon choice is the Rapier. Combine this with the Ice Gauntlet, and you have yourself a deadly combination. In this guide, we will look at the New World Rapier PvP build, utilizing the Rapier and Ice Gauntlet.

The New World Rapier PvP build utilizes the zoning abilities from the Ice Gauntlet tree to slow and control enemies. Switching to the Rapier allows for high burst damage on a defenseless target when the opportunity presents itself. These two weapons synergize nicely together and provide a comfortable mix of melee and range options to deal with various enemies.

New World Rapier PvP build

• Rapier: Riposte, Evade, Fleche
• Ice Gauntlet: Ice Shower, Ice Storm, Entombed
• Gear: Light Armor
• Attributes: Intelligence, Constitution, Dexterity

We will be picking up all of the skills in the Rapier’s grace tree and a mix of some nice zoning abilities and a disengage ability in the form of Entombed. The strategy is to zone enemies out and get them in a position where you can burst them down with Fleche, Evade, and Riposte. Successfully landing Ripostes is key to landing a good stun and turning the tides of a battle.

Utilizing Ice Storm to slow enemies is also very important, which will open up the opportunity to perform a Fleche combo. Meanwhile, Entombed provides the defense you’ll need to protect yourself and regenerate mana if you find yourself needing to reset a fight entirely.

Rapier

For the Rapier, we’ll be picking up these skills:

• Riposte – Enter into a defensive stance for one second. If struck during the ability, counter the attacker and stun them for 1.5 seconds. You are briefly invulnerable upon a successful Riposte.
• Evade – Perform a small, reliable sidestep in your current movement direction that cancels any current activity and provides momentary invulnerability. Light attack’s made during Evade are performed exceptionally fast.
• Fleche – Leave the ground lunging forward for 10m in a stabbing motion piercing through enemies dealing 145% damage.

Here are the best passive abilities to pick up with the Rapier:

• Red Curtains – Critical strikes reduce all cooldowns by 5%.
• Engarde – Deal 10% more damage when your target has greater than 50% health.
• Controlled Breathing – Gain 3 Stamina on any hit.
• Refreshing Strikes – Reduce all cooldowns by 1% on any hit.
• Swiftness – Gain 3% haste for four seconds on any hit, stacking up to five times.
• Momentum – Gain 25% increases damage on your next light or heavy attack after an ability, ending on hit or after three seconds.

Ice Gauntlet

For the Ice Gauntlet, we’ll be picking up these skills:

• Ice Shower – Summon a shower of ice that creates a frosted area approximately one meter by five meters. Enemies entering the Ice Shower are stricken with Frostbite. 
• Ice Storm – A ranged attack that deals 17% weapon damage every 0.25 seconds and slows enemies within a five-meter radius frosted area, 25% slow, 20-meter range, and five-second duration.
• Entombed – The player entombs themselves in ice, becoming invulnerable and increasing mana regeneration. The Ice Tomb has a lifetime of ten seconds and can be destroyed. 

Here are the best passive abilities to pick up with the Ice Gauntlet:

• Cold Reach – Increase damage of light and heavy attacks by 15% for targets farther than 15 meters
• Critical Rejuvenation – Recover 15 mana after triggering a critical hit on a target
• Critical Frost – Increase critical chance of hitting an enemy in a frosted area or with Frostbite by 20%
• Energized Critical – Increase critical damage of Ice Spells by 15% when at full Stamina
• Gathering Storm – Hit with three consecutive light attacks to grant player 15 mana
• Heavy Freeze – Heavy attacks freeze targets if hit in Ice Storm or with Frostbite for one second
• Quick Frost – increase speed by 10% in a frosted area
• Ultimate Chill – Ice abilities chill targets, increasing ice damage by 35% for three seconds

Gear

For the New World Rapier PvP build’s gear, you’ll want to focus on a Light Equip Load. Not only will it allow you to dodge much more quickly, but it will provide a nice 20% bonus for your damage. 

• Light – While wearing light armor, your dodge is a quick roll covering a lot of distance. You deal 20% bonus damage and healing.

Utilize gems for damage reduction and absorption in your gear to give you a slight edge and reduce your overall damage taken. 

As you have no inherent healing skills with this build, you’ll be utilizing a lot of food and potions. Make sure you are always stocked up and ready for an encounter when you leave town with your PvP flag enabled!

Attributes

As for your gear stats, you’ll want to prioritize Intelligence and Constitution while sprinkling in some Dexterity where necessary. Aiming for 100 Intelligence will give you a 10% bonus to critical hit damage, making it a good baseline for this build.

• Intelligence
  • 50 points – +10% damage to light and heavy attacks
  • 100 points – +10% critical hit damage
• Dexterity
  • 50 points – +5% chance to critical hit
• Constitution
  • 50 points – consumables are 20% stronger

For more related content, guides, and builds, check out our website’s New World section!