The Musketeer class in New World is an excellent choice for players seeking precision and finesse, blending the long-range firepower of the musket with the elegant and deadly close-quarters combat of the rapier. This combination shines in both solo and group play, making it ideal for players looking to thrive in Aeternum's open-world and questing scenarios. Let's explore why the Musketeer is a top-tier starter class and how it transitions into more potent builds for late-game content.

Early Game: Precision and Mobility in Aeternum

The Musketeer excels early on with the musket's long-range capabilities, allowing players to pick off enemies from a distance while the rapier provides high mobility and rapid strikes for when enemies close the gap. This combination is perfect for open-world exploration, as the musket can efficiently take out enemies before they even reach you, while the rapier gives you the ability to quickly dispatch foes in close combat.

Why the Musketeer is Ideal for New Players:

  • Long-Range Dominance (Musket): With the musket, you can handle enemies from afar, reducing the risk of damage. This makes it particularly useful for questing, where keeping distance can be crucial when taking on multiple enemies or tough mobs.

  • High Mobility and Burst Damage (Rapier): The rapier offers incredible mobility, allowing you to dodge and reposition effortlessly. Its quick, successive strikes deal impressive burst damage, helping you control fights in both PvE and PvP.

  • Sustain and Survivability: The rapier's Leeching Flurry ability grants healing on hit, offering sustain that allows you to keep fighting even in extended battles without relying on potions.

Mid-Game and Pivoting to Meta Builds

As you progress into the mid-game, the Musketeer's strong fundamentals continue to make it a reliable choice, but late-game content introduces more complex scenarios, requiring you to adapt to different combat roles. While the musket remains viable for PvP due to its range and damage, PvE content at this stage will often demand higher burst DPS and versatility. This is where the rapier, already one of the highest PvE DPS weapons, really shines.

To maximize your potential in late-game content, many Musketeers pivot to pairing the rapier with a magic weapon for additional utility and elemental damage. Weapons like the Ice Gauntlet (IG), Void Gauntlet (VG), or Fire Staff (FS) provide excellent synergy with the rapier, offering crowd control, area damage, or sustain, depending on the situation.

Why Pivot into Rapier + Magic Weapon Late Game:

  • High DPS (Rapier): The rapier's incredible burst damage and mobility make it one of the strongest PvE weapons, especially in boss fights or dungeons


Skill Trees

Rapier

This is a blood rapier build focusing on high damage output, stacking 3x bleeds before popping with FnF

Flourish & Finish

A swipe and stab popping your bleed stacks dealing huge damage

Tondo

An aoe swipe dealing damage and applying a bleed to those hit

Flurry

A quick burst of attacks which paired with leeching flurry weapon perk will give you a large amount of healing , last hit of its chain applying the bleed

Musket

To be honest Musket is not in my usual forte so if you have a better skill tree message me in discord.

Attribute Points

Attribute Points for Musketeer

The Musketeer class in New World thrives on a balanced attribute distribution that maximizes the damage output of both the musket and rapier. While the rapier traditionally scales better with Dexterity, Intelligence breakpoints offer greater overall bonuses to both weapons, making a high-Intelligence build optimal for late-game PvE. Here's a breakdown of recommended attribute points as you progress through the game.

Early Game (Level 1-20)

  • Dexterity (Dex): 100-150

  • Intelligence (Int): 50-100

  • Constitution (Con): 50

In the early stages, prioritize Dexterity to enhance your rapier’s damage, while allocating points to Intelligence to improve musket damage. Constitution provides some baseline survivability, ensuring you can stay in the fight during solo content or quests.

Mid Game (Level 30-50)

  • Dexterity (Dex): 200-250

  • Intelligence (Int): 150-200

  • Constitution (Con): 50-100

As you enter the mid-game, continue to increase Dexterity to boost your rapier’s damage output, especially in PvE content. Meanwhile, start investing more into Intelligence to capitalize on the scaling of the musket and prepare for the late-game shift. Keep a small but essential allocation in Constitution to maintain some survivability.

Late Game (Level 60-65)

For high-end content, you’ll want to focus on maximizing damage output while accepting a more glass-cannon playstyle, especially in PvE scenarios like expeditions or boss fights.

Best-in-Slot Glass Cannon Build

  • Intelligence (Int): 350

  • Dexterity (Dex): 250

  • Constitution (Con): 5

This attribute setup emphasizes maximum damage by focusing on the Intelligence breakpoints that benefit both the musket and the rapier. While Dexterity remains crucial for boosting rapier DPS, Intelligence allows you to access higher scaling and bonuses, making it a superior choice.

With only 5 points in Constitution, this build offers little to no survivability, meaning it’s best suited for high-damage roles where you rely on mobility and positioning rather than health. The 350 Int / 250 Dex / 5 Con distribution ensures you're dealing immense damage at the cost of being more vulnerable to mistakes.

Key Insights:

  • Glass Cannon Playstyle: The low Constitution makes this build risky, but it’s incredibly rewarding if you can avoid damage through smart positioning and quick reactions. In high-level content, you’ll want to use your rapier's high mobility and sustain, such as with Leeching Flurry, to stay alive.

  • Intelligence Focus: While the rapier’s primary scaling comes from Dexterity, the bonuses from Intelligence breakpoints are significant enough to warrant prioritizing it over Dexterity in the late game. This makes the rapier and musket combination one of the highest DPS setups in PvE.

By following this attribute distribution, you'll maximize your Musketeer's damage potential, making you a lethal force in both solo and group PvE content.

Weapons

In the early game you wont be able to get the best gear possible but focus the main damage perks

Important Weapon Perks

  • Vicious

  • Enchanted

  • Attunement

  • Keenly Jagged

  • Rogue

  • Keenly Empowered

    Examples below

Armor

Refer to the Armor pages for armor recommendations, this class plays best with a LIGHT armor weight but medium also is viable for more survivability.

Recommended Armor Perks In order of importance

  • Enchanted Ward

  • 4x Refreshing

  • Leeching Flurry

  • Health