We propose an extremely simple, yet effective Hatchet setup for this build. Mainly, we recommend that you just max out the Berserker Skill tree. Doing so will give you some nice defenses, a cheat death mechanic, and turn you into a blood-crazed death machine. Thanks to Berserker Tree passives, you will become (almost) unstoppable - fully-upgraded Berserk Mode makes you immune to interruptions and stagger effects. On top of that, Fortifying Strikes and Berserking Refresh will greatly increase your overall survivability. 

Active Skills:

1. Berserk (Berserker): Activating this skill makes you enter a Berserk Mode, increasing all attack damage by 20%. Once activated, Berserk Mode stays active for 15 seconds and its 15 seconds Cooldown starts after Berserk Mode ends. When upgraded with all four of its corresponding passives, Berserk becomes one of the most powerful abilities in the game; it makes you immune to interrupts and staggers, it removes all cc effects when activated, it heals you periodically, and it increases your movement speed. The fact that ability this powerful has a 50% uptime is mind-boggling. 
2. Feral Rush (Berserker): A charge ability that makes you leap at your target and hit it twice. The first hit deals 115% weapon damage and the second hit deals 130% weapon damage. You can (and should) upgrade Feral Rush with both of its related passives for extra execute damage and an immobilizing effect when striking an enemy in the back. This versatile ability will serve you as a gap-closer and a solid source of burst damage. 
3. Raging Torrent (Berserker): An offensive ability that makes you strike 4 times, dealing 90% weapon damage with each hit. Upgrading Raging Torrent with both of its corresponding passives will add an extra attack to it (press Light Attack at the end of the ability to activate it) and make it increase your movement speed by 20% for 6 seconds. With this, you'll increase your mobility while keeping the damage numbers up. 

Core Passives:

1. Against all Odds (Berserker): This unbelievably strong passive increases your base damage by 10% for every enemy within 5 meters of your character. As you can imagine, it makes your damage scale extremely well when fighting multiple enemies at a time. 
2. Fortifying Strikes (Berserker): With this passive, you'll get a 15% Fortify (damage absorption) buff, for 3 seconds, after you hit the same target with 3 light attacks. This gives you some extra survivability, which is nice when you are forced to tank. 
3. Frenzied Purge (Berserker): This life-saving passive will remove bleed, burn, and poison DoT effects from you when hitting an enemy while your health is below 30%. It has a long 60-second cooldown. 
4. Defy Death (Berserker): Once 75 seconds, you can avoid death when your receive lethal damage. Instead of dying, you will gain immortality for 3 seconds. This can and will save your life on multiple occasions. If healers wake up in time to heal you before your immortality period ends, that is. 

Great Axe is not only a very solid secondary weapon for Tanks, but it is also a deadly DPS weapon - especially if you can swing it freely at the enemies' backs. Thanks to Keen Edge (extra crit Damage), Feed (self-healing when attacking enemies below 30% Health), Critical Gains (self-healing after crits), and Greed (up to 15% extra damage for 5 seconds) Great Axe works wonders in groups as well as when solo. The skill setup we propose is focused on maximizing grouping and AoE damage while also providing an extremely high damage boost against wounded enemies. As a result, our build is great for dealing with packs of enemies as well as bosses. 

Active Skills:

1. Reap (Reaper): An AoE ability that pulls enemies within 5 meters to you and deals 110% weapon damage. Reap is compatible with the Taunt Gem. You should upgrade it with all three corresponding passives; The collector for an extra 3 meters range, Hunger for an amazing healing effect (30% of the damage done), and Fatal Attraction for an additional spin attack that deals 115% weapon damage. With this, you will be able to easily control multiple mobs at a time and deal with them swiftly. 
2. Execute (Reaper): One of the most powerful DPS abilities in the game (damage per hit wise); it deals 200% weapon damage and an extra 100% if used against targets below 50% health. When upgraded with both of its passives, it becomes unstoppable and will always crit when used against enemies below 30% health (ouch). If you like extremely high damage numbers, you'll fall in love with this amazing ability. Just remember to prioritize low-health enemies to maximize its effectiveness. 
3. Maelstrom (Mauler): An AoE ability that pulls targets closer to you and deals 110% weapon damage to them. You should invest in all three of its corresponding passives for a 50% increased pull range, an effect that will consume all projectiles while the ability is active, and for an additional spinning attack, that deals 110% weapon damage. It works extremely well when used in combination with Reap, thus you should use it after it for the maximum benefit. 

Core Passives:

1. Greed (Reaper): This passive gives you a stacking buff (up to 3 times) that increases your damage done by 5% for 5 seconds. To trigger the effect, simply use Great Axes Light Attack (3 times for the maximum buff). 
2. Critical Gains and Feed (Reaper): We cheat a little and put two passives here, but we have a good reason for it; both of them provide you with solid self-healing. Critical Gains heals you for 10% of your damage done with a Great Axe critical hit, and Feed heals you for 10% of your damage done with a Great Axe against enemies below 30% health. 
3. Keen Edge (Reaper): A simple passive that increases your critical damage by 10%. It synergizes extremely well with other Great Axe's passives. 
4. Blood Lust (Reaper): Grants you a 30% movement speed and a 15% damage buff when you look at an enemy within 15 meters of you. This amazing passive will greatly boost your DPS and mobility in any fight. 

First and foremost, you should try to get 300 total Strength points. After you do that, you'll have two options: Get some Dexterity for increased Critical Chance, or get some Constitution. If you choose the first option, you'll become an ultimate (but a bit less resilient) war machine. If you choose the second, you'll lose on DPS but will gain some much-needed staying power. As for Armor Weight, you should primarily use Heavy and/or Medium Armor as it will make you tankier - yes, you can tank with this build if you need to. Moreover, wearing Heavy Armor will let you solo more powerful monsters, so it's a much more versatile choice than going with Light Armor. That being said, if you want to maximize your DPS and don't play solo or tank, Light Armor might be the way to go - just consider all the downsides before deciding to use it over a heavier set. 

We are obviously going to update this section when the full game is released, and we have more time to get familiar with all the Perks, Gems, and specific attributes of higher rarity equipment. Any changes to this guide will be described on top of the page in Build notes. 

END NOTE

This is the initial version of our New World Hatchet/Great Axe DPS build. We tried to include all the important information on how to set up a character to run it, while also trying to keep the guide as compact as possible. If we've missed something of importance, please let us know! 

If you have any Build requests, please post them in the Comments section below. We will be happy to cover your most requested builds in the future! Also, we hope that you have found this guide useful and informative. Also, we will be happy to receive constructive criticism that will help us improve our future work, so don't hesitate to give us your feedback.