Earlier in New World‘s life, I did a few guides analyzing the virtues of different weapons and armour for the solo player. Most of what I said there still holds true, but some things are now a little outdated (hatchets are not quite the powerhouse they once were), and new options have been added since then. With the soft relaunch as New World: Aeternum on the horizon and emphasizing solo play, I thought it was time to do an up to date guide for the solo player. Don’t forget to also check out my pieces on new player tips and what to expect from the game.
This time, instead of analyzing every weapon again, I thought I’d just highlight what I believe are the top three solo builds in the game. Note that these aren’t the only viable solo builds; almost any combination of weapons is viable in this game. These are just the crème de la crème of solo builds for those who want to be the very best.
The screenshots of builds in this post were sourced from NWDB using the Aeternum open beta version of its build calculator.
Focus void blade
Up until recently, I would have said void gauntlet was the best solo weapon in the game, and it’s still pretty near the top for me, offering massive self-healing along with both melee and ranged options and effective damage against all target counts. It can’t just be any old void gauntlet build, though. A ranged void gauntlet build is mediocre at best in solo play; you need the Void Blade ability to unlock its potential as a solo weapon.
The most important thing Void Blade gives you is the ability to block, but the Voidcaller capstone passive from the same skill tree is also a huge power boost in solo play. It provides decent AoE damage and incredible self-healing, allowing you to survive tough fights and waste fewer consumables on recovery. Various other void gauntlet abilities also contribute to self-healing, but this is the big one.
Your choices for your other two active skills are mostly down to personal preference. I went with Oblivion and Orb of Decay for additional AoE and extra healing respectively, but I think any abilities could be valid. Void Blade is the only must-have active.
Combat will mostly boil down to simply spamming basic attacks along with hitting your non-Void Blade actives on cooldown (or when they run out for those with durations). Void gauntlet can eventually reach a point where they have nearly zero cooldown time, so it can be a pretty spammy build. If you find yourself low on mana, just drop Void Blade and drain your health for some mana. You’ll get that health back in no time. Ranged void gauntlet basic attacks can be used for pulling mobs, but otherwise this is a mostly melee build.
There are two ways you can set up your attributes for this build. If all you care about is solo play, I recommend putting 100 points each in intelligence and constitution, then putting the rest in focus. The extra intelligence will improve your void gauntlet’s damage without compromising your heals too much.
However, the downside of this is that void gauntlet is currently the only weapon in the game that scales off both int and focus, so you’ll be hobbling the performance of your secondary weapon. That said, Void Blade is so good you may not ever want to use your other weapon anyway.
A perhaps more relevant concern is that the int/foc split isn’t really viable for any group content (except maybe PvP, but I can’t speak with authority on that). You won’t heal enough to be a competitive healer, and you won’t deal enough damage to be a competitive DPS.
For this reason I prefer a build that puts about 100 points in constitution and then dumps everything else into focus. It slightly reduces my efficiency in solo play, but it lets me also serve as an effective healer in group content without the need to respec.
As I said above, the void gauntlet is such a one size fits all solution that you probably won’t use your other weapon for much. The most optimal choice is probably a life staff; you can throw a Beacon at your feet for even more healing on the toughest fights, and you can train up your life staff skill for if/when you make the transition to group healing.
I prefer using a medium equip load for this build, but you could also use light armour. It’s a little riskier, but it lets you use the same armour set for both solo play and group healing. It’s inadvisable to heal groups in anything but a light equip load. Remember that you can use a piece or two of the next heaviest armour type without changing your overall equip load.
If this is the build you want to pursue, it would be best to pick the mystic archetype when Aeternum launches.
AoE bow and control spear
This build is a little riskier than the other two I’m highlighting, but it’s incredibly rewarding if you get it right.
Basically, the idea here is to just not get hit. You use your bow to pick off enemies from afar, and if they manage to get close, you swap over to a spear and use its control abilities. Spear has a lot of cooldown reduction, so you can reach a point where you’re able to effectively stunlock most NPCs. That plus the occasional well-timed dodge should have you ending most fights having taken little or no damage.
My spear “rotation” is to open with Sweep and Coup de Grâce, followed by a Vault Kick and a charged heavy attack. Then just use your abilities on cooldown, prioritizing Sweep and Vault Kick. Perforate is a filler ability in this build mainly chosen to give me an option that doesn’t lose any efficacy against crowd control immune enemies; you could probably replace it with another active skill of your choice without much consequence.
This build is all about dexterity. Reach a minimum amount of constitution (at least 50, no more than 150), then pour everything into dex. You definitely want to use light armour; the extra mitigation from heavier armour is wasted when you’re avoiding so many hits in the first place.
I will note that while I prefer the bow, you could also just as well use a musket in this build. Throwing hatchets would also work, though their range is less, so you’ll probably need to use your spear more in that case. If you do go the hatchet route, it may be worth putting some points into strength as well as dexterity.
This build does have some Achilles’ heels. Neither weapon has great AoE, so things can get a little tense if you get swarmed. I built my bow for maximum AoE to compensate for this, but it’s an imperfect solution.
As implied above, enemies that are immune to your spear control abilities can also be a threat. In those cases, the priority of your rotation reverses, so you’ll want to use Perforate (or other damage skill) as much as possible. You can also swap to bow and kite the enemy while dodging.
It’s very much a glass cannon build, and you need to be on your toes, but it’s incredibly strong in the large majority of situations and still viable even in scenarios that don’t cater to its strengths. It’s also an incredibly active and engaging playstyle and in my opinion possibly the most fun build in New World.
The ranger archetype will get you started on this build, giving you a bow and spear right off the bat.
Greatsword
That’s it. Just greatswords in general.
All right, I should probably justify my pay cheque a little more than that. Greatswords are a massively versatile melee option, and the reason why I’m no longer ranking void gauntlet as the best solo weapon. Offering a potent mix of damage and survivability in an easy to use and heavily customizable package, greatswords are just bonkers good in solo play.
Each of greatsword’s skill trees — Defiance and Onslaught — has an associated stance that is activated for several seconds when using an active skill from that tree. Defiant stance reduces the damage you take and deal, while Onslaught stance does the opposite, causing you to both deal and take increased damage.
The stances also modify your heavy attacks, with Onslaught speeding up their animations while adding a small stamina cost to them and Defiant causing heavy attacks to also block enemy attacks. Note that it doesn’t block through the whole animation of the heavy attack. I find you get the most benefit from Defiant heavy attack blocks when facing swarms of enemies, as it’s very difficult to time against single targets.
For simplicity, you can fully commit to one or the other. If you want the absolute laziest build in this game, go full Defiance, wear heavy armour, hit your skills on cooldown, and spam heavy attacks the rest of the time. It’s a little slow but extremely safe. Go Onslaught instead if you prefer a high risk/high reward style.
That said, you can also mix trees to get the best of both worlds, and that’s what I’ve come to prefer. I always open fights with Crosscut, then I change things up depending on the situation. On easier fights, I stay in Onslaught stance and spam heavy attacks until things stop moving. Otherwise I immediately follow Crosscut with Calamity Counter and Steadfast Strike to switch to Defiant stance, then use heavy attacks until my abilities are off cooldown and I can repeat the rotation.
Regardless of build, there are two passives I consider essential for solo play: Critical Comeback from Onslaught (crits give you health and stamina regeneration) and Unflinching Blade from Defiance (heavy attacks have grit and make enemies bleed).
Greatsword is currently the only weapon that scales equally off two attributes, strength and dexterity. Because of the way diminishing returns work, this means the best way to maximize its power is to have an even split of dex and strength, though you could still fully commit to one or the other depending on what your second weapon is and how much you want to use it. As with the other builds, be sure to spend some points in constitution as well; anywhere from 50-150 at max level.
Like the void gauntlet, the greatsword is so strong you probably won’t switch to your second weapon unless you want to for funsies, so what you choose mostly comes down to preference. I use sword and shield, but this was more a stylistic choice than anything. The min/max option is probably throwing hatchets, as it gives you a ranged option that also scales off strength and dexterity.
Armour is also mostly down to personal preference. I use heavy armour with my greatsword build to really capture that unstoppable juggernaut feel. If you’re going for a pure Onslaught tree build, choosing light armour to double down on being a glass cannon would be better. Just remember to dodge often in that case.
If the greatsword calls to you, the swordbearer is the obvious archetype to pick when starting out.
New World’s Aeternum is a land of many secrets. In MassivelyOP’s Vitae Aeternum, our writers delve those secrets to provide you with in-depth coverage of all things New World through launch and beyond.
