New World Weapons
Table of Contents
Overview
New World offers a variety of Weapons, players can choose from in order to create their Builds and follow a specific play style. Since the game lacks classes, its the weapons that define how you play and the strategies you can follow.
In total there are eleven(11) Weapons available in New World at the moment, divided in four different categories:
- One Handed Weapons
- Two Handed Weapons
- Ranged Weapons
- Magic Weapons
One Handed Weapons include Sword and Shield, Rapier and Hatchet. Two Handed Weapons include the Spear, Great Axe and War Hammer. Ranged Weapons are the Bow and the Musket while Magic Weapons are the Fire Staff, Life Staff and Ice Gauntlet.
From the very first look it is easy to understand how each weapon affects your play style and how close or far from the enemy you will be fighting. Attributes also affect weapons and their potency. Each weapon in the game scales better with specific attributes and leveling up those, boosts their damage and makes the use of Weapons more efficient.
The five attributes you can level up on your character are Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Focus and Constitution. You can only have two weapons active at the same time, so picking weapons that scale with the same attribute is the best option.
For New World Tips and Tricks you can read my New World Beginner’s Guide.
Weapons & Skills
By using a weapon, you earn experience, levels and skill points that you can use to unlock skills. Each weapon has two skill lines of different purpose, you can choose from. You can only have three(3) skills from each weapon(both lines) active at the same time. But it is possible to mix and match skills from the two lines.
The maximum level is twenty(20) and you can use the points you earn to unlock active and passive skills for your weapons. Since you can only have two weapons active every time, that means that you can only have six(6) skills slotted, three(3) for each weapon.
But it is easy to switch weapons when not in combat and experiment with different combinations. Which is exactly what you should be doing until you find the right weapon or combination for you and your preferred play style.
Primary & Secondary Attribute for every Weapon:
| Strength | Dexterity | Intelligence | Focus | Constitution | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sword & Shield | 1 | 2 | x | x | x |
| Rapier | x | 1 | 2 | x | x |
| Hatchet | 1 | 2 | x | x | x |
| Spear | 2 | 1 | x | x | x |
| Great Axe | 1 | x | x | x | x |
| War Hammer | 1 | x | x | x | x |
| Bow | x | 1 | x | x | x |
| Musket | x | 1 | 2 | x | x |
| Fire Staff | x | x | 1 | x | x |
| Life Staff | x | x | x | 1 | x |
| Ice Gauntlet | x | x | 1 | x | x |
Sword and Shield
The Sword scales primarily with Strength but also dexterity. That means that leveling strength will have a bigger impact on the Sword’s capabilities than Dexterity. It is possible to use a shield along with the sword and gain access to more defensive skills.
Its two skill lines are Swordmaster and Defender.
Swordmaster is focusing more on offense and its active skills are Whirling Blade, Reverse Stab, Leaping Strike.
Defender is more defense/tank oriented with skills like Shield Rush, Shield Bash and Defiant Stance.
Rapier
The Rapier is an offensive weapon that relies on speed and burst damage. It scales primarily with Dexterity but also Intelligence. Its two lines are Blood and Grace.
Blood is focusing on DOT and Burst damage with skills like Tondo, Flurry and Flourish and Finish.
Grace is all about mobility with its skills beings Evade, Riposte and Fleche.
Hatchet
The Hatchet scales primarily with Strength but also with Dexterity. A unique melee weapon that you can also throw to enemies with specific skills. Its two lines are Berserker and Throwing.
Berserker deals strong melee damage while restoring your health. Its skills are Berserk, Feral Rush and Raging Torrent.
Throwing is focusing on throwing your Hatchet! Its active skills are Rending Throw, Social Distancing and Infected Throw.
Spear
Spear scales primarily with Dexterity but also Strength. A potent weapon to use to apply DOTs and deal good melee damage. Its two lines are Zoner and Impaler.
Zoner has a few nice skills for crowd control and also allows you to throw the spear. Its skills are Javelin, Sweep and Cyclone.
Impaler on the other hand is focusing on gap closing, critical damage and DOTs to kill the target. Its skills are Skewer, Perforate and Vault Kick.
Great Axe
The Great Axe scales only with Strength. A powerful weapon with several single target and AOE abilities that is focusing on pure damage. Its skill lines are Reaper and Mauler.
Reaper is focusing on single target skills like Reap, Charge and Execute, while Mauler is focusing on AOE damage with skills like Maelstrom, Whirlwind and Gravity Well.
War Hammer
The War Hammer also scales only with Strength but is focusing mostly on crowd control and AOE attacks. Its two lines are Juggernaut and Crowd Crusher.
Juggernaut skills are Armor Breaker, Mighty Gavel and Wrecking Ball. Crowd Crusher on the other hand has Clear Out, Shockwave and Path of Destiny.
Bow
The Bow scales with Dexterity only. A great ranged weapon with strong burst, DOT and evasive skills. Its lines are Skirmisher and Hunter.
Skirmisher skills are Evade Shot, Rain of Arrows and Poison Shot, focusing on Evasion and DOTs.
Hunter skills are Penetrating Shot, Splinter Shot and Rapid Shot, focusing on burst damage.
Musket
The Musket scales primarily with Dexterity but also with Intelligence. Another strong ranged weapon with strong single target and crowd control skills. Its lines are Sharpshooter and Trapper.
Sharpshooter is all about damage with skills like Power Shot, Powder Burn and Shooter’s Stance.
Trapper is focusing on crowd control and earning you time to move away from enemies. Its skills are Traps, Stopping Power and Sticky Bomb.
Fire Staff
The Fire Staff scales with Intelligence only and can deal significant fire burst and DOT damage. Its lines are Fire Mage and Pyromancer.
Fire Mage has AOE Fire damage skills to use like Pillar of Fire, Meteor Shower and Fireball.
Pyromancer is a mix of single target and AOE with its own escape/gap closer skill. Its skills are Flamethrower, Incinerate and Burn Out.
Life Staff
The Life Staff scales with Focus only. A healer weapon with lines divided in pure healing and protective spells.
Healing is focusing on heals and its skills are Divine Embrace, Sacred Ground and Splash of Light.
Protector is focusing on protection spells and buffs. Its skills are Orb of Protection, Beacon and Light’s Embrace.
Ice Gauntlet
The Ice Gauntlet scales with Intelligence only and is focusing on Ice Damage and Crowd Control capabilities. Its lines are Ice Tempest and Builder.
Ice Tempest is focusing on Ice damage spells and its skills are Ice Spikes, Ice Storm and Wind Chill.
Builder on the other hand summons an Ice Pylon, can turn the caster invulnerable and cast ice AOE damage. The skills are Ice Pylon, Ice Shower and Entombed.
Weapon Combinations
There are many different combinations of weapons you can make, especially if you take into consideration the different skill lines but also skills of the eleven weapons. So in here we will mention the best weapon combinations based on Build purpose and Attribute. You can experiment with their skills for each weapon and create a truly unique Build and play style.
Combining a Ranged Weapon like the Bow or the Musket with a Melee Weapon like the Spear or the Rapier is a great way to gain strong ranged burst damage but also close combat capabilities and crowd control.
All four weapons scale with Dexterity so it will be easier to level them up along with that attribute and boost your offensive capabilities.
Alternatively you can use the Bow or the Musket with the Sword and Shield for a more defensive Build.
Since the Rapier scales with Intelligence as well, it is a great option to use with the Fire Staff. Strong burst melee damage and mobility can help you against enemies close to you while your Fire damage can destroy enemies from afar.
Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet is another interesting combination with strong elemental damage and crowd control. In general the Ice Gauntlet is a great option for strong Crowd Control capabilities and can be used with other burst damage weapons like the rapier.
War Axe and Great Hammer scale only with Strength which means that you can combine them with Sword and Shield for a heavier, tankier damage or crowd control build. The Hatchet might be a nice option as well for a more flexible build.