Best PvP Builds in New World: PvP Build Guide

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Human Made

Penned by Joel Stadler

I have loved video games before I even knew what they were. I also love writing (am working on becoming a successful fantasy author), anime, tablet... Read more

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

In most any MMO, there are two primary modes of play — PVE (player versus environment) and PVP (player versus player). New World is a bit unique in that it has two distinct main modes of PVP. These two modes are large scale battles with many players on each side, and smaller 1v1 fights. Unsurprisingly, these two modes have different builds that are better or worse for each. Let’s get into the best PVP builds in New World!

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New World: The Best Armor for PvE and PvP

3 Best PVP Builds in New World

For this New World PVP build guide, we’ve put together the best weapon combos for you to consider. We’ve also detailed the skills for each weapon below, so you can decide which one works best for your needs.

1. Ice Gauntlet and Fire Staff

In New World, players can participate in wars and sieges. These are chaotic affairs with many combatants on the battlefield. As such, builds that prioritize AOEs and crowd control effects reign supreme. And one of the best combos for this is the ice gauntlet and the fire staff. This build will focus entirely on blasting your enemies from a distance, raining fiery and icy death upon them in equal measure.

Ice Gauntlet Active Skills

For the ice gauntlet, you will want a mix of skills from the Ice Tempest and Builder skill trees. You will primarily want Ice Tempest skills, but your most important skill comes from the Builder tree.

Ice Pylon

For those who have read my guides before (and frankly, for anyone who’s even remotely familiar with the ice gauntlet), it should come as no surprise that we’re recommending Ice Pylon as a primary skill. This is without a doubt the strongest ability the ice gauntlet gets.

You place a pylon down that shoots missiles doing 75% weapon damage to targets within 20m. The move lasts 15s (or until it is destroyed) and creates a 1m frosted area around itself. This comes at the cost of 15 mana and a 9.3s cooldown.

The reason why this ability is good should be self-explanatory. You get a second source of damage and, if you fully upgrade the ability, you can increase the duration, damage, and even rate of fire. There really isn’t much more to say.

Ice Spikes

Next, we want to move on to the Ice Tempest skill tree. The first skill we want is Ice Spikes, as it is a decent AOE for large PVP battles.

Ice Spikes is an 8m straight line AOE. Each of the spikes deals 56% weapon damage on a hit, but the final spike is a mighty spike that deals 157% weapon damage. This move has knockback, and you can press the light attack button to end the move early. This comes at the cost of 15 mana and a 9.3s cooldown.

The move is a solid AOE to have in your back pocket if you need it. In certain cases, the knockback will be clutch. Also, the upgrades to Ice Spikes can increase its area and make it a much more effective move for dealing with large groups of enemies.

Ice Storm

Ice Storm is the next active skill on our list. It is a solid AOE with some crowd control thrown in, which is exactly what this build wants.

You create a 5m area at the target point of your attack. All enemies within the area take 17% weapon damage ever 0.33s, and the effect lasts for 5s. The move also inflicts a slow, reducing enemy move speed by 25%. This comes at a cost of 25 mana and an 18.6s cooldown.

The damage is decent, but the slow is what you’re here for. Crowd control effects are great for aiding your allies and hindering your enemies. And, while the cooldown and mana cost are steep, if you grab the Storm Summoner upgrade, you reduce the mana cost by 80% when cast at full mana, making this a great opener.

Fire Staff Active Skills

Now we come to the fire staff part of this build. Here, you still get great AOEs, but you sacrifice the crowd control for raw damage. Once you have your enemies locked down, DPS the bejesus out of them. For this build, we will want to draw from both the Fire Mage and Pyromancer skill trees.

Pillar of Fire

Let’s start with the Fire Mage skill tree. The AOE Pillar of Fire will be our first pick. It does 170% weapon damage in a 2m radius. This comes at the cost of 15 mana and a 9.3s cooldown.

This AOE is hard to beat in terms of raw damage. There really isn’t much more to say on the matter.

Meteor Shower

Meteor Shower is the next skill we want from the Fire Mage skill tree. It trades out raw damage for DOTs and a larger radius.

Meteor Shower targets a 4.5m radius area for 6s. It deals 75% weapon damage on initial impact and 25% weapon damage thereafter every 0.75s until the duration is over. This comes at the cost of 5 mana per second it is active and an 18.6s cooldown.

This skill works well because you’ll hit a larger area than with Pillar of Fire, and the DOTs can outdo the damage of Pillar of Fire if given enough time. It is a good alternative to have so you can switch between the two as the situation requires.

Incinerate

Finally ,we want to move over to the Pyromancer skill tree and pick up Incinerate. Good for getting pesky enemies off your back.

You create a 3m explosion centered on yourself that does 130% weapon and pushes back enemies 3m. It also inflicts a burn that does 6% weapon damage every second for 6s. This comes at the cost of 22 mana and an 11.2s cooldown.

This is a great move for when you are surrounded by enemies. Ideally, you won’t need to cast Incinerate, but when you find yourself in a tight spot, you’ll be glad you have it.

Attributes and Equipment

Intelligence is the attribute of choice for this build, as it scales both of your weapons. Throw in a bit of Constitution for good measure, and you’re all set.

As far as equipment goes, both heavy and lighter armor have their merits. Either one can be a good pick here, so prioritize equipment for the stat bonuses it gives. The most important thing is to pack lots of mana potions. You don’t want to run out at a critical time (especially since your light and heavy attacks also consume mana).

2. Musket and Rapier

Next, let’s look at a build best suited for 1v1 fights. This is a build I covered in a previous article for the current best DPS build. It’s no surprise it makes the cut for a top 1v1 build, either! The main 1v1 strategy is to prioritize speed, mobility, and damage, all of which this build excels at.

Musket Active Skills

The Musket is king when it comes to ranged DPS, and that is what we’re focusing on here. This build will draw primarily from the Sharpshooter skill tree, but a bit from the Trapper skill tree as well.

Powder Burn

The first skill we want from the Sharpshooter skill tree is Powder Burn, which overcharges your next musket shot. It deals 110% weapon damage and inflicts a burn that does 20% weapon damage each second for 9s. This comes at the cost of a 14s cooldown.

It’s a nice DOT effect that can pile on the damage.

Shooter’s Stance

The next Sharpshooter skill we want is Shooter’s Stance. Let’s rapid fire!

This skill puts you in a crouched stance. Your mobility is reduced to zero, but your next three shots have a reduced reload time of 75%. This comes at the cost of a 16.8s cooldown.

Until you start playing the musket, you won’t realize just how good a 75% reduction to reload time is. With this skill, you’ll really lay on the damage.

Sticky Bomb

Finally, we’ll move on to the Trapper skill tree to pick up Sticky Bomb. This is the only AOE you will get with the musket in this build.

You throw a short-range bomb that sticks to what it hits. Three seconds later, it explodes, dealing 210% weapon damage and inflicting a stagger to all enemies within 3m. This comes at the cost of an 11.2s cooldown.

It is a decent AOE to round out the skill list. It’s good to have one of these in your back pocket, and the stagger can really help against tricky opponents.

Rapier Active Skills

Next we come to the Rapier. This weapon is used primarily for if your opponent gets too close, so you can throw out some quick DOTs before retreating to range again. You will want both the Blood and Grace skill trees for this build.

Tondo

The first skill we want is Tondo from the Blood skill tree. This is the source of DOTs I mentioned above.

You can strike up to 5m away for 50% weapon damage. This also applies a bleed that deals 10% weapon damage per second for 12s. This bleed can stack up to three times, and comes at the cost of a 5.6s cooldown.

As mentioned before, Tondo is an excellent source of DOTs. It is also a very quick move, so you can strike and move away before your enemy knows what hit them.

Evade

Evade does what it says on the tin. You perform a side step that grants temporary invulnerability and boots light attack speed while active. This comes at the cost of an 11.2s cooldown.

Simply put, this build does not want to be in melee. Use Evade to help you get back out of melee if you ever find yourself in it for some god-awful reason.

As for the third active skill, the choice is really up to you. This weapon is a back-up to the musket to pull out if needed.

Bow Variant

You can also make a bow variation of this build, swapping it out for the musket. While not as good at direct damage, the bow version focuses on the skill Poison Shot to inflict more DOTs. It’s arguably not as strong, but still viable if you would rather go that route.

Attributes and Equipment

For this build, you want to go full Dexterity. You can add some Constitution if you wish, but maximizing DPS is really the goal here.

As far as equipment goes, prioritize keeping your equipment load light so as to maximize your dodge and mobility. This requires all light clothing, except for one piece of medium clothing. The maximally effective build is a medium jacket and light everything else.

3. Void Gauntlet and Life Staff

Finally, let’s look at a build that good in both 1v1 and group PVP. The Void Gauntlet and Life Staff build has a nice balance of DPS and healing, flexible for solo play or support.

Void Gauntlet Active Skills

Here’s the last of the best PVP builds in New World. The void gauntlet is where your DPS will come from. This build will be primarily ranged, but you might consider adding in a bit of melee, since it is an option. As such, while you will primarily want the Decay skill tree, you can dip into Annihilation too.

Orb of Decay

Orb of Decay is the first skill from the Decay skill tree and your main source of DPs. A solid skill all around.

You fire an unblockable orb that deals 90% weapon damage to all enemies it passes through and inflicts Disintegrate. This deals 5% weapon damage and reduces damage absorption by 5% a second for 8s. This stacks up to three times. At max range, the orb will bounce back as a healing orb that heals allies for 20% weapon damage and lasts for 5s. This comes at the cost of 20 mana and a 14s cooldown.

This is your best source of DPS. The Disintegrate status effect can be really nasty.

Baleful Tether

This next skill is best for the 1v1 version of this build. Baleful Tether attaches you to an enemy to Weaken them and Empower you by 4% per second to a maximum of 20%. This ability lasts 10s, but is ended if the enemy is at least 15m away from you. This comes at the cost of 25 mana and a 23.3s cooldown.

The use in 1v1 is pretty obvious, since it is a solid single-target effect.

Oblivion

This skill is better for the group PVP version of this build. With Oblivion, you create a 5m void that deals 30% weapon damage to enemies per second, as well as Empowering you and your allies, increasing your weapon damage by 15%. This ability lasts for 6s and comes at the cost of 30 mana and a 16.3s cooldown.

It’s decent AOE that harms enemies and helps allies. The flexibility is nice!

Void Blade

The third active skill I recommend is Void Blade. Your basic attack becomes a melee attack. Tap for 90% weapon damage or hold for 140% weapon damage. Both attacks inflict the same Disintigrate status effect we saw earlier. This all lasts for 15s. This comes at the cost of 20 mana and a 23.3s cooldown.

It is nice for ranged builds to have a melee option when needed.

Life Staff Active Skills

This portion of the build I have covered a couple of times before, and it is what I call the “pure healer” life staff build. Unsurprisingly, it draws exclusively from the Healing skill tree. This will let you heal yourself or allies, depending on if you are playing in 1v1 or group play.

Divine Embrace

Divine Embrace is the first row active skill in the Healing skill tree. It’s a solid starter that heals the target for 120% weapon damage. This comes at the cost of 25 mana and a 5.6s cooldown.

It’s a good burst heal, and a must-have for healing builds.

Sacred Ground

Sacred Ground replaces burst heal with HOTs. Better if you have the time for it.

Sacred Ground sets a 3m radius circle on the ground where you target. The circle lasts 12s and heals 16% weapon damage ever second to each ally in the circle. This comes at a cost of 15 mana and a 19.6s cooldown.

You can heal multiple allies and the healing will trump Divine Embrace if you stay in the AOE for the full duration.

Splash of Light

Splash of Light gets the burst heal of Divine Embrace and the AOE of Sacred Ground, since you don’t always have time to wait for an HOT effect.

Sometimes you don’t have the time to wait for a HOTs effect.

Heal yourself and all allies within 100m for 60% weapon damage. This comes at the cost of 15 mana and a 14.7s cooldown.

Attributes and Equipment

For the Void Gauntlet and Life Staff build, you will want (a lot of) Focus, and probably a bit of Constitution for good measure.

As far as equipment goes, heavy armor is probably the best for the group version since you have lots of enemies, though a case can be made for light armor as well. For the 1v1 version of this build, light armor is the way to go.

Join the High Ground

And there are the best PVP builds in New World — thanks for reading! Let us know your thoughts below, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest and greatest from HGG.

Happy murdering and mass murdering, explorer!

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