New World: Weapon Tier List and the 10 Best Weapons Overall

Human Made

Tyler is a psych graduate turned freelance writer and one of the newest additions to the HGG team. They currently write guides for a variety of gam... Read more

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

With all the different weapon types in New World, it’s hard to decide which ones to use. Each has their own unique playstyle and pros and cons — while you could try them all out yourself, it takes too much time. Leveling weapon expertise is slow, and good weapons cost a lot of gold.

We’re here to help! To answer all your pressing weapon questions, we’ve ranked every weapon in New World from S to C tier. We’ve also included a more detailed breakdown of our top ten to cover what makes them good and potentially help you find a new weapon.

Let’s get started!

New World Weapons Tier List

Here is it is. In this New World weapon tier list, we’ve taken into account both PVE and PVP play, as many weapons tend to perform the same in both. In New World, no weapon is just plain bad. Each weapon has its uses, but some just perform better than others. Let’s take a look at our tiers:

S Tier

*Image: Amazon Game Studios via HGG / Tyler Locke*

Here in the S Tier, we have the cream of the crop. Going into PVE or PVP, most people will be using one of these weapons, and for good reason. Disregarding the Life Staff, these weapons have the highest DPS in the game. Along with their damage, these weapons have useful abilities and perks that increase their power and make them great for any situation.

A Tier

Weapons in A Tier are just barely outshined by S Tier weapons. They boast plenty of damage through AOE, but fall a little bit short in single-target damage. To compensate, they bring plenty of buffs, debuffs, and crowd control to the table, which is something that some S Tier weapons lack. If it wasn’t for nerfs to certain playstyles, most of these weapons would fall in the S Tier.

B Tier

As for B Tier, these weapons are outshined by S and A Tier weapons. It’s not that these weapons are bad. On the contrary; they can be pretty good in the right hands. However, they require way too much work to be effective when you can have an easier time with something better. For example, why should I use the Rapier when the Hatchet has better damage and utility for less effort?

If you have skilled hands, then you’ll be better than your average Greatsword user. But if you’ve got old man hands like me, why not use a big hammer instead?

C Tier

In C Tier lies the Fire Staff. What once was the best ranged weapon in New World has been reduced to ash. The signature mage weapon has been hit with too many nerfs and adjustments to hold a candle to other weapons. This weapon is still useful in PVE, but in PVP, it will be outshined by other ranged options.

10 Best Weapons in New World, Ranked Great to Best

Now that we’ve covered what each tier means, let’s go over what each of the 10 very best weapons bring to the table. If at any point you want to check out a weapon’s abilities that weren’t mentioned, go here. The New World database has all the information you need!

10/10

Spear

Just because the spear is at the bottom of the list doesn’t mean it’s bad. The Spear is a great weapon that does decent damage and has plenty of utility.

Perfect Secondary Weapon

When looking at the weapon options you can pair with the Spear, Spear falls behind. Weapons like Greatsword, Hatchet, or Sword and Shield will typically out-damage the Spear, so it’s not the best option as your primary damage source. However, its stat scaling and utility make it the perfect secondary weapon for most builds.

The Spear’s best characteristic is the sheer number of stuns and knockdowns available to it. The Spear has three abilities — Sweep, Vault Kick, and Javelin — that all can stun or knock down an enemy. All of these abilities can be chained together to lock down an enemy for a couple of seconds. Perfect for getting out of a bad situation.

Additionally, for PVE, the Spear has access to bleeds and armor reduction debuffs. With the Perforate and Skewer abilities, you can apply armor reduction and bleed debuffs to an enemy. Then you can switch to your other weapon to increase your damage output. Perfect for builds that typically wouldn’t have access to armor reduction or damage over time.

King of Small-Scale PVP

With stuns and knock downs, the Spear is unrivaled in small scale PVP. When it comes to 1v1s or 3v3s, getting hit by crowd control typically spells your doom (or, at the very least, a lot of damage is coming your way). Being able to single out a target is vital to winning small skirmishes and having Spear as your secondary weapon will improve your chances drastically.

Additionally, Bruiser weapons, which also excel in small scale PVP, are usually countered by the Spear. With its fast attacks, long reach, and bonus damage to targets with grit, the Spear can easily outplay any Greatsword, Greataxe, or Hammer user, or at least keep them off your back.

For another great secondary weapon in New World, let’s look at the Void Gauntlet.

9/10

Void Gauntlet

While it lacks the damage in both PVE and PVP to be a primary weapon, the Void Gauntlet is a great complimentary weapon for any intelligence or focus user.

For Healers and Mages

The Void Gauntlet is a great weapon for both healers and mages. The ability, Orb of Decay, does AOE damage, reduces enemies’ armor, and provides a little bit of burst healing. Along with the Orb, the Void Gauntlet can place down an aura that damages enemies and boosts damage to yourself and allies. It’s the perfect weapon for supporting allies or increasing damage output.

In addition, mages have a melee option with the Void Gauntlet’s Void Blade. While it won’t have crazy damage, Void Blade applies armor reduction with every hit and has innate life steal. I recommend any mage to try out Void Blade, as it’s a great change of pace from regular casting.

Best CC Ability

The Void Gauntlet also has access to one of the best weapon abilities in New World, Petrifying Scream. Petrifying Scream is wave of energy that roots any targets hit. It’s quick, has a wide reach, roots up to three seconds, and can apply healing reduction. Many mages will run this ability in PVP to secure kills for themselves or their team. Getting hit by Scream often spells death unless you have tons of health or a debuff cleanse. On its release, Void Gauntlet was one of the most oppressive weapons to face due to this ability alone.

Speaking of debuffs, let’s look at the Sword and Shield next.

8/10

Sword and Shield

Despite its lower ranking, the Sword and Shield is one of the more important weapons on this list. Not only is it the best weapon for tanking, but it can play multiple roles in both PVE and PVP.

Must Have For PVE

For all the tank players out there, Sword and Shield is for you. In PVE, multiple weapons can be used to tank but no weapon does it better than the SnS. For tanking, the SnS comes equipped with multiple ways to generate threat and taunt enemies. One of these ways, Defender’s Resolve, is an AOE taunt, something that few weapons have.

In addition to its abilities, the Sword and Shield comes with perks that make tanking just a bit easier. Within the Defender tree, you can find perks that reduce the stamina damage you take from blocking, or offer damage absorption and increased healing. Also found in the Defender tree is the Defensive Formation perk, which will reduce damage allies take by 30%.

However, that’s not all the SnS can do.

Unlikely Assassin

While Tanks are useful for capturing points in Wars, the Sword and Shield can play an unexpected role in PVP. Believe it or not, the Sword and Shield boasts the third highest damage out of all melee weapons. How? Well, SnS has access to everything an assassin could ever want.

First off, SnS has stuns, slows, and a way to easily close the distance. Along with their light attacks, Leaping Strike applies a slow to any target hit and covers an insane amount of distance. Additionally, there’s Shield Bash and Shield Rush, which stun and stagger the target, allowing you to get free damage.

The Sword and Shield also has perks that increase damage and improve their survivability. In the Swordmaster tree, there’s perks that give 10% crit chance, 10% damage to slowed targets, and 10% damage for you and party members. With the leftover points, you can grab 15% increased armor, 10% reduced damage from magic, 10% increased healing, and a free 15% extra damage.

Lastly, the Sword and Shield has access to something no other weapon does — six weapon perks. While other weapons can only have three perks, the SnS can have six perks split between the sword and the shield. Not only does this mean more damage, the SnS can have perk combinations no other weapon can have. For example, you can have Enchanted, 10% extra damage, and Vicious, 12% crit damage. Six perks combined with the Swordmaster tree will do loads of damage and turn you into a roaming assassin.

For something with a little more CC, look no further than the War Hammer.

7/10

War Hammer

Much like Spear, the War Hammer is a great secondary weapon. While it can put out some damage, where it really shines is crowd control.

Best Secondary for Bruisers

Just about every ability the War Hammer has some form of stun or knock down. Probably the most used within PVE and PVP are Shockwave and Wrecking Ball. You can apply AOE stuns and knockdowns with both of these abilities, allowing you to lock down multiple enemies for your teammates or set up an attack from your primary weapon.

War Hammer also has one of the best abilities to chase enemies in PVP, Path of Destiny. This ability creates a shockwave that travels some distance in front of you. Enemies hit by the shockwave are staggered and slowed, provided you have the Aftershock perk. This gives you ample time to catch up, use other crowd control abilities and secure a kill.

With loads of AOE crowd control, there’s a reason why War Hammer is the most popular weapon to run with Greataxe since New World release.

6/10

Greataxe

Greataxe has somewhat fallen off due to the release of Greatsword and the nerfs it received since release. However, it still does great damage and is one of the best melee weapons for large-scale PVP.

Best Melee AOE Damage

Out of all the melee weapon choices, the Greataxe has the best melee AOE damage in New World. With just two abilities, the Greataxe can wipe large groups of enemies with ease. First, Gravity Well launches a vortex that drags enemies in, slowing and rooting those hit. Then, as enemies try to escape, Greataxe users can jump in and use Maelstrom, a 360-degree attack that deals tons of damage and pulls enemies in. Being caught in this combo is a death sentence.

Additionally, Greataxe has great perks that increase its effectiveness. The Greataxe has built in self-healing through critical hits and attacks on targets below 30% health. With that self-healing, you also gain 10% crit damage and armor penetration, 10% crit chance, and 10% damage for being near three people. Lastly, Blood Lust, the best perk for Greataxe, gives 20% movement speed and 15% damage just by looking at an enemy.

Crazy PVP Impact

Due to these perks and abilities, the Greataxe has multiple uses in PVP, big and small. With Reap, Charge, and Blood Lust, the Greataxe excels at chasing down enemies and grabbing quick kills. Few can escape a dash, a pull, and 20% move speed. While this build is better in small skirmishes, many use the Greataxe to take out key targets in Wars and Outpost Rush.

However, quite possibly the best build for Wars, takes advantage of Gravity Well’s ability to gather multiple people on one spot. In Wars, numbers are everything. So, if you have a chance to take out a few enemies, you should take it.

More often than not, companies will have multiple players be on Gravity Well duty. These players will look for clumps of people, use Gravity Well, and call out to their teammates to use AOE on that spot. This usually scores a couple of kills, allowing teams to push points or push attackers off points.

As for other AOE damage, let’s move on to the weapon that loves Gravity Wells — Ice Gauntlet.

5/10

Ice Gauntlet

With Fire Staff nerfed, Ice Gauntlet has moved up to the best Mage weapon in New World. Despite having decent single-target damage, the Ice Gauntlet’s power mainly comes from its Ice Storm ability.

High Area of Effect Damage

What makes the Ice Gauntlet so good is its ability to easily do tons of AOE damage. Its ability, Ice Storm, creates a circular area of swirling ice that slows and damages enemies within the 5-meter radius. While in the storm, enemies take 17% weapon damage every 0.33 seconds for a total of 5 seconds. This may not seem like a lot, but we can further increase its damage.

As we upgrade Ice Storm, this ability will gain two damage boosts. The first increases damage by 10% to targets below 50% health. The second increases damage for every enemy within the storm by a max of 50%. Additionally, we can grab a weapon/armor perk that will increase this damage by another 10%.

While this damage is great for destroying groups of mobs, it’s insane for large scale PVP. In PVP like Wars, people tend to clump up to capture points or push through chokes. With a perfectly placed Ice Storm, you’ll be doing max damage to tons of people. With one ability, you can deny areas or wipe whole groups of people with your team.

Ice Cold

Along with Ice Storm’s AOE damage, the Ice Gauntlet also has AOE slows and roots. Abilities such as Ice Storm create frosted areas that can slow enemies. Other abilities like Ice Shower apply frostbite to enemies, which will apply a root to those affected. In combination, the perk Heavy Freeze will root any enemy affected by those debuffs when hit by a heavy attack.

So, in PVP, the Ice Gauntlet becomes a master at area control through its slows and roots. It forces people to choose between walking through an Ice Storm/Ice Shower and become a sitting duck or find another entry. In Wars, defending companies will have multiple Ice Gauntlet mages at the ready to prevent attacking armies from pushing into Forts.

The Ice Gauntlet’s damage and utility make it one of the most-needed weapons for coordinated PVP. But for the most-needed weapon in both PVE and PVP, look no further than the Life Staff.

4/10

Life Staff

Due to the fact that every bit of content in New World needs a healer, the Life Staff has found itself in S Tier. Besides one ability on Void Gauntlet, Life Staff is the only weapon that can heal your team. Yet its power doesn’t come from only the fact it can heal. Its power comes from the sheer amount of healing it can do.

Insane Healing

Each ability the Life Staff has, including its regular attacks, has some sort of healing. Some are heals over time, others are instant, and some are AOE. In addition to the healing from each ability, there are also perks that further increase healing done.

Take, for instance, Divine Embrace, a single-target ability. At first, Divine Embrace can only heal one person. When fully upgraded, however, it can heal up to two more people. Or look at Bend Light, which gives 20% more healing done after a dodge.

Interesting Scaling

What’s more, healing effectiveness is affected by your weapon’s damage. There’s always a reason to have a maxed-out Life Staff and as much Focus as possible to dish out as much healing as possible. On top of that, the weapon/armor perks, Blessed and Sacred, can increase your total healing by 28%. Once you’re all geared up, your teammates will find it hard to ever die.

It’s hard to imagine Amazon Game Studios ever topping Life Staff. If they do, it would probably be the most overpowered weapon in New World. For now, we will have to settle for what I think is most overpowered weapon, the Bow.

3/10

Bow

Bow, the 3rd best weapon in New World — **<Click to Expand>** | *Image: Amazon Game Studios via HGG / Tyler Locke*

The Bow is quite possibly the best ranged weapon in New World right now. Unlike other ranged options, the Bow has anything you could ever want from a ranged weapon.

Movement for Days

As with other Dexterity weapons, the Bow has multiple ways to escape from enemies that get too close. All of these options can be found within the Skirmisher side of the perk tree. To start, let’s take a look at Evade Shot. With Evade Shot, the player leaps backwards 5 meters and fires an arrow. Upgraded Evade Shot staggers and pushes back enemies and grants 20% more movement speed. With just one ability alone, you can easily evade anyone looking to get you.

In addition to Evade Shot, the Skirmisher tree has multiple perks that grant movement speed. For instance, you can gain 10% movement speed for dodging or swapping to your Bow. If enemies get too close, the Catch Me If You Can perk gives 20% movement speed just for enemies being within 3 meters of you.

With just a few points in the Skirmisher perk tree, you can run circles around your enemies, never letting them touch you.

One Shot Machine

With great movement also comes great damage. By itself, the Bow already has high base damage and its perk tree further increases this. With just a few point investments, you can gain almost 60% extra damage, and the only thing you have to do is dodge.

Invest two more points, and you gain 40% damage on targets with full health and targets you haven’t attacked. Then invest just one more point and the Bow gains a free 20% increase to headshot damage. With just a few points, the Bow gains 120% extra damage, and I haven’t even mentioned damage abilities yet!

With damage abilities equipped, the Bow’s damage output skyrockets. While other weapons are somewhat slow, the Bow can weave shots in between abilities, allowing for high amounts of damage in short periods of time.

Right now, many skilled Bow users will fire a shot, use Evade Shot to stagger their target, use Rapid Shot to quickly fire three arrows, then finish you off with Explosive Arrow. That’s a combo most people won’t survive unless they have tons of health or armor.

Master of PVE and PVP

These perks combined make the Bow a demon in both PVE and PVP. In PVE, its high single-target damage lets you safely pick off weak mobs or deal consistent damage to the boss at range. The Bow also has access to AOE abilities to deal with large groups of enemies if need be.

For PVP, its range and high damage make the Bow a terrifying weapon to go against. If you can’t land any stuns or slows on a Bow user, then they will just outrun you and out-damage you. By the time you catch up, they will likely have you at less than half health and there’s no telling what secondary weapon they have.

With the Musket and the Fire Staff being heavily nerfed, the Bow has taken their place as the best ranged weapon to use in PVP. For those wanting to use the Bow, let’s move onto a great secondary weapon, the Hatchet.

2/10

Hatchet

Much like the Greatsword, the Hatchet deals crazy amounts of damage in both PVE and PVP. With its current damage, the Hatchet is tied with the Greatsword for highest DPS in New World. Oddly enough, with the amount of damage it can do, the Hatchet is pretty simple weapon.

Go Berserk

A lot of the Hatchet’s power comes from its high attack speed and the Berserker perk tree. Within the Berserker perk tree you can find the ability, Berserk. This ability, when activated, grants 20% damage to all attacks for 12 seconds. That’s not all, as you upgrade Berserk, you gain movement speed, healing, crowd control cleanse, and become uninterruptable during attacks. With just one ability, you can just wail on a target without a care in the world.

To compliment Berserk, the perk tree has a few perks that further increase your damage for throwing yourself at enemies. Perks like Against All Odds increase damage by 10% per surrounding enemy, for a maximum of 50% increase damage. Other perks like Accumulated Power give every fourth attack 20% extra damage. So, as long as you are mindlessly cleaving your way through enemies, the Hatchet will do tons of damage.

Second Chance

Also in the Berserker skill tree, you can find Defy Death. Defy Death is one of the best perks you can have in New World. With the Hatchet equipped, when you fall below 0 health, you gain 50 health and become unkillable for 3 seconds. During this time, you can freely move, attack, or heal yourself.

Not only does Defy Death make Berserk stronger but it makes the Hatchet the perfect secondary weapon for any build. With Strength and Dexterity scaling it can fit into any build without losing damage. Even if you don’t plan on using the Hatchet, being able avoid death every 60 seconds is a great ability to have for any piece of content in New World.

For the best weapon to pair with the Hatchet, let’s see our last weapon on this list and the best weapon in New World, Greatsword.

1/10

Greatsword

Greatsword is the newest weapon type in New World, and boy does it do damage. The developers over at Amazon Game Studios hit the nail on the head when creating their first stance-switching weapon. Both stances have their uses, but what puts the Greatsword so high on the list is its Onslaught stance.

Huge Damage and Insane Perks

In Onslaught stance, you gain 15% more damage and charge heavy attacks faster, but take 15% more damage. This seems like a scary trade-off on paper, but in practice, you hardly notice a difference in damage taken since you kill everything so fast anyway. Just about every heavy attack will hit for around 3k damage and crit for 5k. Keep yourself in Onslaught stance and you’ll mow down enemy after enemy.

To further increase your damage output, the Onslaught perk tree gives armor penetration to cut down tanks, guaranteed crits after using abilities, haste to run down enemies, and 10% extra damage just for dodging. There’s even a perk that gives self-healing for landing crits, which, with guaranteed crits, means you’ll be healing every couple of seconds.

What’s more, the Greatsword’s abilities have great perks attached to them. Take for instance, Skyward Slash. When fully upgraded, this ability will apply rend and disease, decreasing armor and healing on the target with one attack. Or look at Relentless Rush. When upgraded, Relentless Rush gives the user 10% more damage for 10 seconds and applies a root to their target.

With the Greatsword, no one can escape the massive amount of damage.

Pair It with Anything

The best part about the Greatsword (besides the nutty damage) is you can pair it with just about any weapon in New World. Since it evenly scales on Strength and Dexterity, the Greatsword can be used with most weapons without losing any damage. Bow user? Slap on a Greatsword! Blunderbuss user? Slap on a Greatsword! You can even install an Intelligence conversion gem and pair it with an Intelligence weapon and only lose some damage.

High damage and versatility makes the Greatsword an extremely fun weapon to use and one of the best weapons in New World.

Join the High Ground

That wraps up our New World weapon tier list — thanks for reading! Leave a comment on what’s your favorite weapon to use and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more New World content.

Happy gaming!