Greatsword

The Greatsword is a powerful DPS weapon with impressive cleave damage, making it a strong choice for dealing with groups of enemies. Start fights with Relentless Rush to quickly close the gap and deal AoE damage, followed by Rupture for initial grouping . Use Skyward Slash next to enter Onslaught Stance, boosting your damage output. To maximize DPS, aim for backstabs whenever possible, as they grant additional crit chance and damage. This rotation ensures you're dealing high burst and cleave damage while maintaining pressure throughout the fight. You do need to be careful though as you will be taking extra damage while in onslaught stance.

Attributes

The Greatsword scales evenly with Strength and Dexterity, so at the ideal max level, aim for 300 Strength, 300 Dexterity, and 5 Constitution. At 725 Gear Score, you can consider adding 50 Intelligence or pushing Dexterity to 350 for more damage potential.

When you’re still learning, it’s wise to go with 50-100 Constitution or even wear medium armor to mitigate the extra damage taken in Onslaught Stance. If you’re opting for higher Constitution, maintain an even split between Strength and Dexterity, hitting key attribute breakpoints when possible.

Armor

As always with armor you are looking at as much enchanted ward as possible while having your 4 refreshing stacks, fill any gaps with health , conditioning or other weapon perks you may want , harnessing is not needed with this build. Ensure your amulet is Health , Empowered/Divine & Protection .

All gear can be interchangeable with the gear score you have access too it is the perks that are the most relevant. For 700gs azoth crystal is a solid option.

Weapons

Serenity is always the best option for great sword due to its illegal perk combo. Greatsword Dps is a waste of time without this weapon unfortunately so if you don’t have it you should run another build until you acquire it.

Skill Tree

Offhand Options

There are many different offhand options but below are a few different ones for different scenarios.

Great Axe

The Great Axe is all about grouping mobs tightly to control the battlefield and ensure a smoother run. With proper mob clumping, it feels like you're fighting a single target rather than multiple enemies. Start by opening with Gravity Well or Reap to pull enemies together, then use Maelstrom if additional grouping is needed. For optimal placement, aim your Gravity Well centrally where you want the group and just above head height for maximum effectiveness. This strategy keeps enemies controlled, making them easier to handle and allowing for more efficient damage output.

Skill Tree

Weapons

You want to be lookin at perks that increase damage like vicious , enchanted , keenly empowered,  distained and having a weapon perk.

Hammer

The War Hammer is an excellent offhand for DPS in risky situations where extra crowd control (CC) is needed, such as the opening areas of Ennead. Rotating through its abilities allows you to apply CC and Rend effects, helping to manage tough enemies. Since the tank will often have Sundering Clear Out, you should run Sundering Shockwave to further reduce enemy defenses. In scenarios where you need significant CC, like when the tank is down, weave in light attacks between abilities to reduce cooldowns and keep the enemies controlled. This makes the Hammer a powerful tool for stabilizing fights.

Skill Tree

Weapons

On your ice gauntlet look for a damage increasing perk like vicious or enchanted and a weapon perk like unending thaw or ice pilon

Spear

The Spear as an offhand option offers a decent amount of crowd control and bleed damage, making it a solid choice for various encounters. You can start by opening with Skewer to empower yourself and apply a bleed to your target. Follow that up with Bleeding Sweep to maintain pressure and inflict more damage over time. From there, you can either use Perforate for additional burst damage or Cyclone for some area-of-effect control. Make sure to equip Leeching Cyclone on your armor to benefit from the life steal, which can greatly enhance your survivability in prolonged fights.

Skill Tree

Good option for pugs / open world where you need to apply rends with perforate

Weapons

Take bleeding sweep ideally but if you dont have an enfeebling skewer spear in the group or if youre using for open world take an enfeeble skewer spear.

Great option for when you can trust the soear mainhand to keep up perforate rends.

Bow

The Bow in New World has always been a solid option for leveling, offering strong ranged damage, good mobility, and utility. Its ability to kite enemies and maintain distance while dealing consistent DPS makes it a great weapon for open-world PvE and questing. However, it was often overlooked in late-game PvP and PvE content due to the preference for other high-DPS weapons and meta builds.

That said, as New World transitions more into raid content and larger-scale battles, the Bow has seen a resurgence in late-game viability. Its range and ability to consistently apply debuffs such as Rend make it an attractive choice for players looking to contribute from a safe distance while still dealing meaningful damage.

Skill Tree

You can adjust the skill tree to your game mode and requirements but this is a super solid option for gorgons and worm raid bosses.

Weapons

For your weapon look for damage con like distained , vicious or enchanted , Keenly empowered with weapon perks like pen rapid shot or enfeebling poison shot.

Musket

For this Musket build, we're running Power Shot, Shooter's Stance, and Powder Burn, making the Musket an ideal offhand option for the Rapier in specific scenarios like difficult boss fights or when a ranged option is needed in dungeons like Savage Divide. The rotation is simple: enter Shooter's Stance for faster firing, open with Power Shot to deal burst damage, and follow up with Powder Burn to apply a damage-over-time effect. This combination allows you to maintain consistent damage from a safe distance while the Rapier handles close-quarters combat.

Skill Tree

Weapons

You want to be lookin at perks that increase damage like vicious , enchanted , keenly empowered,  distained and having a weapon perk.