Games Marketplace - Odealo
0.00 25 (Click on the icon to view details)

Articles

New World Bow/Spear PvE DPS Build

New World Bow/Spear PvE DPS Build

A powerful Ranger/Hunter DPS setup that utilizes Bows and Spears to deal massive damage from a distance

"Huntsman"
New World Bow/Spear PvE Build

 

Build notes:
August 24, 2021
-Build created

 

Build Overview

In longer encounters, sustained damage always beats burst as a fight longer than a couple of minutes is a marathon, not a sprint. On the other hand, burst damage beats sustained DPS in solo content. Thus, one might think that he should focus on one of these, depending on the type of content they enjoy. However, doing so will result in a hyper-specialized build that excels at one thing but is sub-par in all other aspects. This is why we've decided to combine Burst Damage of the Bow with Sustained Damage of the Spear to create an all-purpose PvE build. 

Our "Huntsman" Bow/Spear Build focuses on powerful damage over time effects, coupled with high crit chance and a nice cooldown reduction. As a result, it is capable of delivering a deadly mixture of burst and sustained damage. Thanks to a mix of a ranged and a melee weapon, it is also very versatile - you can spend half of the fight in melee and don't lose out. For the best efficiency, we recommend opening with the bow as doing so will apply DoTs and deal high burst damage (aim for the head). Then, switch to the spear to keep the damage up. In longer fights, switch back to the Bow to re-apply DotS and debuffs. Also, if there are multiple enemies present, consider holding on to your Bow's AoE cooldowns - use them after the tank groups up the mobs. 

You can also check our other  New World Builds 

 

 Pros  Cons
 Good Burst Damage  Lacks Crowd Control 
 Good Sustain   Bad for Kiting 
 High Crit Chance  Bow Requires Arrows - a minor but rather annoying thing 
 Nice Cooldown Reduction   

 

Attribute Allocation

STRENGTH 5 (+0) No points added here 
DEXTERITY 150 (+0) This is the primary stat for both of your weapons - you should invest most of your points into it. Doing so will maximize your damage output and have a side-effect of making you better at skinning. You should aim to get 5 Dexterity bonuses, which means 250 points in total. 
INTELLIGENCE 5 (+0) No points added here 
FOCUS 5 (+0) No points added here 
CONSTITUTION 50 (+0) With this build, you will spend quite a lot of time in melee and thus you should invest some points into Constitution. Doing so will increase your overall health and make you much more resistant to incoming damage. If you feel like you don't need extra resilience, you can invest these points into Dexterity and get some Constitution from Gear later. 

 

Weapons

[PRIMARY] BOW

A fast-firing ranged weapon that offers a deadly mix of Single Target and AoE Damage, while also offering a nice boost to mobility (in the form of active abilities and passives). It has a great burst damage potential and can apply vicious damage over time effects to multiple targets at a time. For this build, we focus on Bow's burst damage and its damage over time effects but take only minimal crowd control. 

Active Skills:

  1. Rapid Shot (Hunter): Fires a burst of 3 arrows; the first two deal 100% weapon damage each and the third one deals 125% weapon damage and causes a knockback. This is a powerful skill that lets you deal a nice burst of single-target damage or split the damage between up to three enemies. You should take both of its corresponding passives as they increase damage and can potentially cut Rapid Shot's cooldown in half, which is ridiculous. 
  2. Poison Shot (Skirmisher): An AoE skill that creates a 3m wide cloud of poisonous gas that lasts for 6 seconds. Enemies that enter the cloud will be poisoned for 10% weapon damage per second for 20 seconds. This skill offers one of the longest DoTs in the game - you can't skip on that. You should also take both of the corresponding passives for even better DoT and some extra burst damage. 
  3. Rain of Arrows (Skirmisher): A powerful ground-based AoE skill that fires a barrage of arrows at the targetted area. It's great for Expeditions as it works wonders against packs of enemies; it loses out in solo PvE, however. If you upgrade it with its related passives (and you should), it will also apply a DoT and slow all affected enemies down. If you like playing solo or want the build to work better in PvP, you should swap Rain of Arrows for the Evade Shot. 

Core Passives:

  1. Concussion (Hunter): With this, Headshots made with a Bow deal 20% extra damage. All you need to do is aim well. 
  2. Bullseye (Hunter): This one increases the Critical Strike Chance of all Bow shots by 10%, which is universally good. This passive has a prerequisite, but it also happens to be a rather good one - Arrow Range that increases the arrow's flatness (it travels for longer before it starts to be affected by gravity). 
  3. Long Range (Hunter): With this passive, you will deal 20% more damage to enemies that are at least 10 meters away. This is a "free" 20% damage increase, just mind your range. 
  4. Battle Precision (Skirmisher): This passive makes Debuffs and Damage over Time effects last for 20% longer. It makes Poison Shot and Rain of Arrows much more efficient. 
[SECONDARY] SPEAR

A fun-to-use melee weapon that offers high reach, and a deadly mix of debuffs, damage over time effects, and sustained damage. It works wonders in the combination with a Bow as both of them use Dexterity as their primary stat and their skills supplement themselves very well. For a melee weapon, Spear is rather difficult to master and will require some practice, but the effects are definitely worth it. For this build, we focus on the Impaler skill tree to maximize sustained damage by reducing cooldowns and boosting up DoTs. 

Active Skills:

  1. Perforate (Impaler): A skill that makes 3 quick piercing strikes to your target, each one for 70% weapon damage. It also applies Rend, which is a debuff that reduces the target's damage absorption by 5% for 10s. This is your Spear opener, as using it first will make the other two spear skills deal more damage. You should take both of the corresponding passives for doubled Rend effectiveness against wounded enemies and stagger effect after landing 3 hits on the same target. 
  2. Skewer (Impaler): A charge-like skill that impales your Target for 125% weapon damage and applies a 10-second Bleed effect for 10% weapon damage per second. This offers great sustained damage, especially when combined with all three of its corresponding passives. 
  3. Vault Kick (Impaler): A stunning blow that deals 75% weapon damage. You might think that this skill is sub-par until you realize that its Continuous Motion passive reduces cooldowns of all other Spear skills by 30% (!), and its Relentless Blows passive gives you a 20% Damage buff against enemies below 50% health. You should use this after you use your other two Spear skills. 

Core Passives:

  1. Refreshing Reach (Zoner): This passive makes your successful Heavy Attacks with a Spear reduce all Spear Cooldowns by 15%. With this, if you make a single Heavy Attack after you use the Vault Kick, you'll get a 45% Cooldown Reduction which is simply ridiculous. 
  2. Refreshing Jabs (Impaler): Another Cooldown-reducing passive. This one cuts 10% off all your Spear Skill Cooldowns after you make a second hit with your light attack chain. 
  3. Exacerbating Crits (Impaler): From now on, your Critical Hits extend the duration of your Spear debuffs and DoTs by 20%. This passive is a must-have as it makes all your skills much more efficient. 
  4. Exploited Weakness (Impaler): This one provides +10% damage per debuff on the target, for a maximum of +30% Damage. You can easily apply multiple debuffs without breaking your rotation, so this is just free damage. 

 

Items/Stat Priority

First and foremost, you should try to get 250 total Dexterity points (which means only 50 Constitution). However, this does not mean that you should just spend all your points on Dex and get full Dex gear - If you not only do Expeditions but also play Solo or like to PvP from time to time, consider getting a bit more Constitution. As for Armor Weight, you should use Light/Medium Armor to benefit from the increased damage they provide. 

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 Bow/Spear 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.