New World Best Solo Build

Image: Amazon Games via HGG / Joel Stadler

Human Made

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Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

As most players know, MMORPGs (usually shortened to just MMOs) are massive multiplayer games that frequently involve playing with a lot of people at once. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the case, though — some players want to play solo instead of in a group, even a small one.

In this guide, we’ll cover the best solo builds for New World, including what it means to have a solo build, the qualities you’re looking for, and a few recommendations to get you going.

Let’s get started!

What Makes a “Best Solo Build”?

We’ll begin by clarifying the difference between the viable solo builds versus the best ones. Most builds in the game are viable, and you should ultimately play the build you want to play.

With that being said, some builds can be very fun, but might require janky or unreliable methods for beating certain enemies or bosses. What we’re looking for in this guide is the build that makes going through quests/story content the easiest for the player.

What To Look for in a New World Solo Build

What Makes a "Best Solo Build"? — Image: Amazon Games via HGG / Joel Stadler

For a really good solo build in New World, you’ll be primarily focused on survivability and damage. It’s important to have a balance of these two factors — going too hard on DPS means you won’t be able to tank big hits or face swarming enemies, and too much tanking means you won’t deal enough damage to get through fights.

It’s also important to consider when putting together a solo build that you’re going to be playing…well, solo. Your enemies won’t always be alone, and while some builds are good for 1v1 fights, they might crumble against a group. Ideally, the best solo build will be equipped to deal with multiple enemies at once.

The Best Solo Build in New World: The War Hammer Build

In my opinion, the War Hammer is the best weapon for solo play. There are many fun and viable builds in New World for solo play, but this build exemplifies what we’re looking for in solo play.

The Attributes

For this build, you’ll want to focus on Strength and Constitution. The War Hammer scales with Strength, so you’ll obviously need that for damage. Constitution gives you extra hit points, so it’s vital for tanking.

You can divide these points as you see fit, but personally, I put two points in Strength and one in Constitution at each level. It’s up to you, though!

The Equipment

To compliment your War Hammer, you’re going to want to wear the heaviest armor you can get your hands on. This build ideally wants to be attacking as much as possible and spending minimal time on blocking or dodging.

You should prioritize your armor ratings and gear score to maximize your defense, giving mobility the backseat. You want all your equipment (including the War Hammer itself) to be “of the barbarian,” since that will boost your Strength and Constitution.

It doesn’t hurt to also have a good stock of potions and food on hand in case you need healing. Hopefully your tankiness will be enough to carry you through, but having the potions and food in your bag just in case is a great backup.

New World Solo Build: Active Skills

For this build, you want high damage and a bit of crowd control. You’ll also get a lot of benefit from your passive skills, so keep an eye out for those.

1. Shockwave

Shockwave is the second-row active skill of the Crowd Crusher skill tree and by far your most important active skill in this build. You hit all enemies in a 3m radius for 80% weapon damage and stagger/stun them for 2s. This ability has grit and a 19.6s cooldown.

Shockwave is an AOE stun. You will run into situations where three to four, or sometimes more, enemies will be on you at once. Use Shockwave and you’ll be able to take out a few before the horde recovers.

The fact that Shockwave has grit makes it even better because it’s harder for enemies to interrupt the skill.

2. Armor Breaker

Armor Breaker is the first-row active skill in the Juggernaut skill tree. It does what it says on the tin. Armor Breaker does 140% weapon damage, ignores 35% of the target’s armor, and comes at an 11.8s cooldown.

It just does reliable damage. With the full upgrades, Armor Breaker becomes your best opener in ninety-nine percent of your fights.

3. Mighty Gavel

Mighty Gavel is your closer. Once Fully upgraded, you are not competing with Mighty Gavel for damage in this build. You leap toward your enemies and deal 170% weapon damage. This comes at a 19.6s second cooldown.

Mighty Gavel is an investment, but it is your best source of damage.

New World Solo Build: Passive Skills

The passive skills are actually a lot of the meat of this build. They allow you to get your heavy attack damage up really high, which is the goal in this build.

1. Crowd Crusher

First off, I recommend Outnumbered. It increases your damage absorption by 10% when you have at least two enemies within 3m. The skill on its own is good, but would not be good enough to be top priority. I recommend it first, because it lets you unlock Shockwave as quickly as possible.

Once you unlock Shockwave, grab the upgrades Frailty, which applies Weaken to enemies hit by Shockwave, and Meteoric Impact, which increases Shockwave from a 3m area to a 4m area. Once you have those passive skills, you can largely ignore the Crowd Crusher skill tree.

2. Juggernaut

This is where you can really boost your heavy attacks, which is something that should not be underestimated in this build. The active skills are certainly flashier, but don’t let that fool you into thinking they are all you need.

Both Epitome of Bonk! and Hammer Time from the first row are solid. Epitome of Bonk! increases armor penetration on all light and heavy War Hammer attacks by 10%. Hammer Time grants empower on your heavy attacks. This increases your damage by 20% for 4s.

Moving down to the second row, Hardened Steel is the must-pick skill. Hardened Steel gives your heavy attacks grit, and gives you a 12% damage reduction while grit is active. Grit is huge, meaning you can power through most enemy attacks and just keep piling on the damage, and the damage reduction is a nice cherry on top

Exhaustive Attack is a bit of a trap. It isn’t necessarily bad, but you don’t normally have to worry about enemies running away from you, so I would not prioritize it.

Justice for All: Mighty Gavel Upgrade

You might think racing to fully upgrade Mighty Gavel is the way to go. After all, Justice for All does a lot of damage. It does of course. But keep in mind that to unlock Justice for All, you first need ten other Juggernaut skills, one of which needs to be Expedite. In other words, you need to fully upgrade Mighty Gavel first.

But even if you race as quickly as you can, grabbing a first-row skill then going Mighty Gavel all the way, you will only have five Juggernaut skills in total, half what you need to unlock Justice for all. And that’s assuming you don’t grab and upgrade Shockwave first, which I would strongly recommend.

Save Mighty Gavel, and therefore Justice for All, for the end of the build.

Fighting with the War Hammer

Putting this build into practice is quite simple actually, which is part of why it’s the best solo build for New World. Ultimately, you just rush in and start bonking enemies on the head until they stop moving.

In most cases, Armor Breaker is going to be how you start the fight. Once you have it, Mighty Gavel is probably how you end the fight. If overwhelmed by enemies, apply Shockwave until the group is more manageable. Other than that, just keep heavy attacking. It’s simple, and should see you through most fights you engage in.

Join the High Ground

That’s it for our guide to the best solo builds in New World — thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment below, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for more content like this.

Happy gaming!

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