Are you confused by all the stats and weapon classes in New World? Then look no further. This guide will help you get to grips with the basics of New World’s weapon systems and basic attributes to help you on your way to building a powerful character.
INTRODUCTION TO STATS IN NEW WORLD
It may not be immediately clear to you on how to invest points into your new character – but don’t fret! Unlike most other games, you’ll have ample opportunity to experiment with your build without having to permanently commit to your stats thanks to the ability to respec. All respecs are free until you hit level 20, and by the time you go over that level, the price to redistribute points in your character won’t break the bank.
Apart from the omission of static classes, New World sets itself apart from other RPGs’ character-building traditions with five main stats that contribute to your character’s overall build. You will gain a few points to put towards each of these stats every time you gain a new level. Every stat has a milestone that, once reached, offers some nice passive bonuses for your character.
As with weapons, you can respec your stats to your heart’s content – especially if you decide to re-roll your ranged damage dealer into a tank at some point in your playthrough.
Every weapon class benefits from one or more of the five main stats or attributes in New World.
Strength
Strength impacts the effectiveness of your melee attacks in New World. However, the relationship between your damage output and your Strength depends on the weapon class. Two-handed weapons like War Hammers and Great Axes are determined entirely by your strength stat, while weapons like the Hatchet, Sword, and Spear also depend on Dexterity as a secondary stat.
Here are the bonuses you unlock every time you reach new milestone in the stat:
50 Strength: +5% damage to melee light attacks, +10% mining speed
100 Strength: +10% damage to melee heavy attacks, +20 encumbrance
150 Strength: +50% stamina damage from melee light and heavy attacks, -10% decrease in weight of mined items
200 Strength: +10% damage on stunned, slowed, or rooted enemies, +10% mining speed
250 Strength: Stamina regen is faster during melee attacks, +10% mining yield increase
300 Strength: Melee attacks gain Grit, 25% chance to mine ore with a single swing
Dexterity
Dexterity affects the damage output of your ranged weapons, which includes Bows and Muskets. It also functions as a secondary stat to boost the attack power of Swords, Rapiers, Spears, and Hatchets. Strength is generally more important than Dexterity for melee weapons, but the benefits it confers to critical attack chance, thrust damage, and crit damage can be incredibly useful for certain DPS builds. Higher milestones of the Dexterity stat also offer bonuses to dodging, for characters who like zooming around on the battlefield.
Here are the bonuses you get for reaching milestones in the Dexterity stat:
50 Dexterity: +5% crit chance, +10% skinning speed
100 Dexterity: +5% thrust damage, +20% haste for 3s after skinning
150 Dexterity: Dodges cost 10 less stamina, -10% decrease in weight of skinned items
200 Dexterity: +10% bonus backstab and headshot damage, +10% skinning speed
250 Dexterity: +10% bonus crit damage on stunned, slowed, or rooted enemies, +10% skinning yield increase
300 Dexterity: Guaranteed crit after dodge roll (once per 10s), ammo has a 15% chance of being returned
Intelligence
Intelligence determines how effective your magic attacks are in New World when you use weapons like the Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet. The stat also grants some secondary bonuses to Rapiers and Muskets. While focusing on Intelligence is neither necessary nor recommended for characters solely focused on those two weapon classes, the bonuses Intelligence offers makes rolling a magic user with one of those two weapons as a secondary quite viable.
You’ll unlock the following bonuses for reaching milestones in the Intelligence stat:
50 Intelligence: +10% damage to light and heavy magic attacks, +10% harvest speed
100 Intelligence: +10% crit damage, +5% chance for 1 Azoth while harvesting
150 Intelligence: +15% elemental damage, -10% decrease in weight of harvested items
200 Intelligence: +10 mana after a dodge, +10% harvest speed
250 Intelligence: +30% duration to damage over time spells, +10% harvest yield increase
300 Intelligence: +30% damage on first hit on full health target, -10% reduction in Azoth fast travel cost
Focus
Focus is perhaps the least desirable stat in that it offers little to no benefit to most of the weapon classes. The stat primarily impacts the effectiveness of the Life Staff, for characters that want to focus (no pun intended) on healing other players. The focus attribute contributes gredatly to the rate at which you will recover your mana, which you’ll need if you want to be constantly casting spells. If you’re rolling any kind of magic user, you’ll want to invest at least 50 points in Focus for the 10% increase to mana regeneration, if nothing else.
Here’s what you’ll unlock for reaching the thresholds in the Focus stat:
50 Focus: +10% mana regen rate, +10% fishing line tension
100 Focus: +20 mana, +10% salvaging yield increase
150 Focus: +20% healing output, -10% decrease in carrying weight of fish
200 Focus: +20% casted buff duration, +10% fishing line tension
250 Focus: +30 mana on any self or group kill, +10% increase to caught fish size
300 Focus: When your mana hits 0, gain 200% mana regen for 10s (60s cooldown), -10% cooldown reduction for Inn fast travel
Constitution
Last but not least is the Constitution stat, which determines how much damage your character can take. Not only does pumping points into this stat going to give you more health, reaching some of the thresholds will provide bonuses to your overall health based on the armor you have equipped, reduce how much damage you take from enemy attacks, and bonuses to your overall armor. It’s an absolute must-have for tanky characters, but not something you’ll want to focus on in most builds.
50 Constitution: All health consumables 20% stronger, +10% logging speed
100 Constitution: Increase max health by 10% of physical armor, -10% reduction on tool durability loss
150 Constitution: -10% crit damage taken, -10% decrease in weight of logging items
200 Constitution: +20% armour, +10% logging speed
250 Constitution: -80% damage reduction when at full health (60s cooldown), +10% logging yield increase
300 Constitution: +20 duration of stun, slow, and root spells, 25% chance to chop a tree in a single swing
Weapon Classes in New World
Right off the bat, you’ll notice that New World doesn’t come with a typical class system. Unlike World of Warcraft or The Elder Scrolls Online, you don’t get to choose your player class at the start of the game – nor does one even really exist.
Instead, the weapons you choose determine your playstyle. These include one-handed weapons, two-handed weapons, ranged weapons, and magical weapons. Each weapon class is split between two skill trees with skills that you can pick and choose from to complement your personal preference.
The weapons and their attribute dependencies (primary, secondary) include:
One-Handed Weapons
Swords – Strength
Rapiers – Dexterity and Intelligence
Hatchets – Strength and Dexterity
Two-Handed Weapons
Spears – Dexterity and Strength
Great Axes – Strength
War Hammers – Strength
Ranged Weapons
Bows – Dexterity
Muskets – Dexterity, Intelligence
Magical Weapons
Fire Staffs – Intelligence
Life Staffs – Focus
Ice Gauntlets – Intelligence
Unlike other games, you level up your weapon skill by simply using them. Want to unlock new skills in the Fire staff weapons tree? Just use it to kill more monsters. Furthermore, if you’re unhappy with the way your build is going, you can opt to respec your skills.
BEYOND THE BASICS
Now that you’ve had a chance to experiment with the basic weapon classes, you’ll have the ability to mix and match with the two weapon slots New World provides. Effectively, every character is made up of two weapon classes, so it’s generally a good idea to pick two weapon classes that compliment each other in their attribute dependencies or the skills they offer.
For example, you won’t go amiss with rolling a Dexterity-based build that uses Spears and Bows to cover damage dealing both near and afar, while equipping light armor. Alternatively, you can also roll with a low-DPS, heavily armored class like the Sword and Shield and equip a Life Staff as a secondary if you intend to solo through the game’s PVE content and take on a tank role in group expeditions.
