New World
Weapon Builds

Introduction

There are no classes in New World, just weapons catered to certain combat tasks - DPS, Healer, and Tank. You can use multiple weapons, mix and match weapon skills, and create your own playstyle based on it. The freedom of choice, given by this system, is unparalleled - you can switch your role/playstyle at will and all you have to do beforehand is level up the appropriate weapon skills. However, the abundance of choices means that making a final decision on which weapons and skills to use, could be rather tricky to make. Luckily for you, we have prepared a wide collection of New World Builds for each of the currently available weapons - enjoy! 

Below, we present you with the best, the most powerful, and the most fun-to-play New World Builds. Moreover, for those of you who are not familiar with the Combat Roles present in New World, we've also prepared a short breakdown that should shed some light on them. 

The Best New World Builds

New World Combat Roles Explained

Amazon's New World follows the tried and true "Holy Trinity" gaming trope that devices the combat into three main Roles: 

• DPS (short for Damage per Second) - An offensive role whose main job is dealing damage to enemies. DPS players can be further divided into multiple sub-types, here are the most common: 
  • Melee DPS - A role focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat. It forces the player to be close to His/Her target to deal damage to it. Melee DPS often deal more damage than their long-range counterparts in pure DPS checks but suffer more from mechanics that force players to move around (when they are forced to run out of melee, they experience downtime - a period when they don't deal damage at all, thus losing on overall DPS). Melee DPS mostly deal physical damage, but there are cases of Magic-Based Melee DPS Roles as well. Depending on their weapon and armor of choice, most Melee DPS fit one of the following archetypes: "warrior", "paladin", "rogue", or "knight", known from multiple other RPG settings*. In New World, there are currently six Physical Melee DPS Weapon choices - Sword, Hatchet, Great Axe, War Hammer, Rapier, and a Spear. 
  • Ranged DPS - A role focused primarily on long-range combat. When compared to their melee counterparts, Ranged DPS turn out to be much more versatile (in most cases) as they are able to follow encounter mechanics without experiencing as much downtime. Thanks to their range, they are able to relocate/do mechanics/dodge AoEs while maintaining at least a part of their regular rotation and thus don't losing as much overall DPS as melees. Ranged DPS can be further divided into Physical and Magic-Based Ranged DPS, based on the main form of damage that they deal. Ranged Magic users mostly follow the "mage" archetype and Physical Ranged DPS are most often a variation of the "hunter" archetype, known from many RPG settings*. In New World, there are currently two Physical Ranged DPS Weapon choices - a Bow and a Musket, and two Magic-Based Ranged DPS Weapons - Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet. Moreover, there are two hybrid weapons that utilize a thrown ranged attack and a plethora of melee abilities - Hatchet and Spear. 
• Tank - A heavily armored and armed character, usually also equipped with a shield. Tank is capable of withstanding damage that would flatten multiple DPS players without too much of an issue. His job in a group is twofold; He holds the enemy's aggro (or, in other words, keeps the enemy's attention on himself) and soaks up most of the incoming damage by blocking, dodging, otherwise avoiding, or simply taking it on his chest. He deals much less Damage than a DPS as it's not his primary role, but he still needs to do some to "hold aggro" (Tank often uses special attacks that make monsters more likely to target them). His already impressive survivability can be boosted even further by special defensive abilities; in New World, these come mainly from the Shield Skill Tree. New World's Tanks use Heavy Armor in combination with Sword and Shield and a two-handed weapon (War Hammer or a Great Axe). Tanking is regarded as a task much more demanding than dealing damage. 
• Healer - An essential part of any group and the best buddy of any Tank. The Healer's job is to keep everyone in the party alive and kicking by healing them up and improving their characteristics with various buffs. His main focus is always a Tank, so DPS players should avoid taking unnecessary damage (unnecessary = any damage that can be avoided by following encounter mechanics or simply by thinking and having situational awareness). Keeping the Healer alive is paramount because if the Healer dies, all other group members will shortly follow suit. Heals often generate more aggro than dealing damage, thus Tanks (and Healers themselves) should pay close attention and react quickly if a monster switches and makes a B-line to the Healer. In terms of difficulty, Healing is as difficult as Tanking, if not more so, moreover, Healers always have the biggest personal responsibility in a group - they keep everybody alive.  
• Other Roles - Depending on the encounter or the party composition, some players may have some extra roles; be it support (buffing, debuffing, crowd control), or an encounter-specific role. Most of the time, however, these additional roles are filled by someone who already acts as a Tank, Healer, or DPS. Moreover, some builds allow players to fill up two (or more in some games) different roles. These so-called "hybrid builds" are often very versatile, but can't compete with builds designed to do one thing, in that specific thing. Players who use these types of builds often serve as off-healers or off-tanks while primarily acting as damage dealers. 

*New World does not feature Classes, but Weapon Builds can still follow the class archetypes known from other RPG settings. For example, a Character wearing a Light Armor and using a combination of a Rapier and a Bow closely resembles a Rogue or a Hunter, depending on which of the two weapons He/She primarily uses.