Introduction
This New World Musket Hatchet PvP build is a powerful ranged focused setup. Primarily this build is intended for Outpost Rush and 3v3 PvP Arenas but is a top tier war spec in ranged groups – particularly on the defending team. This build will have great pressure capabilities through the use of ranged abilities and heavy hitting left clicks. While also having great survivability and utility from the Hatchet.
Pros
- High single-target assassination
- Hitscan
- Heavy poke pressure on squishy targets
- Safety due to range and Hatchet
Cons
- Glass cannon, can die easily if caught out position
- Requires consistent aim and situational awareness
- Struggles outnumbered
Mastery Points
Musket
For this build, the majority of your damage will come from the Musket and your ranged pressure. The recommended abilities are:
Powder Burn is a great poke ability that deals considerable damage when chambered into the Musket. A strong point of this ability is the burning mechanic it has, allowing you to keep constant DoT pressure but also track your target if they get behind cover. Make sure to pick up all upgrades in this ability.
Stopping Power is a strong ranged ability that causes your opponent to stagger and deals increased damage. As a result you do not need to put upgrades into this already powerful tool, however it is option and you can gain both a slow and stamina regeneration reduction on hit. For the purpose of this guide, we have taken the first upgrade.
Shooter’s Stance is an incredible all-in DPS tool. Activating Shooter’s Stance puts you into a crouched position, allowing you to fire off up to 3 shots at a faster rate than normal. We recommend taking at least one upgrade in this ability to increase the total shots fired from 3 to 5.
The remaining passives taken will enhance your overall damage output and smooth out the build.
Hatchet
The Hatchet in this particular build is mostly a defensive backbar option for when you are under fire. Defy Death and Berserk will keep you alive in dire situations but you also carry some utility options. The recommended abilities are the following:
Rending Throw is a nice ranged option that allows you to deal a small chunk of damage to your target. However it also applies rend allowing you to really hammer some damage into them via your Musket should you be closer range.
Social Distancing is a great utility tool for mobility and escape and doubles up as a crowd control option via root. Social Distancing allows you a backward jump i-frame that allows you to get out of sticky situations. Fully upgrade this ability to make use of the haste and root.
Berserk is the main bread and butter of why you pick Hatchet as your supportive weapon, alongside Defy Death. With Berserk you will be able to give yourself a decent bit of health regeneration and movement speed to keep your distance. Another key reason for taking Berserk is that it allows you to break out of crowd controls that are currently affecting you and gives brief uninterruptable status. As a result, fully upgrade this ability to gain these benefits.
Most of the time the Hatchet will be purely for dangerous situations and helping you get out of them. You can however deal reasonable damage with the weapon too.
The remaining passives will help increase your damage and mitigation.
Attributes
In order to gain optimal damage you will want to take the following:
- 300 Dexterity
- 200 Intelligence
OR
- 300 Dexterity
- 150 Intelligence
- 50 Constitution
As is tradition with light armor glass cannon builds, you quite literally are a glass cannon. As a result you sacrifice a lot of your maximum HP pool for immense amounts of damage. These stat lines are what the best Musket players in the top few companies of New World or top OPR players currently use. We recommend starting with 300 Dexterity 150 Intelligence and 50 Constitution to provide you with some extra HP while learning the build. If you are feeling adventurous or ready to go all-in, 5 Constitution and bumping up to 200 Intelligence is the play.
Equipment
In this section of the Build, we will break down what equipment you will use. This includes things such as armor perks, weapon perks and equip weight.
You will want to be in the light equip weight category. Light will give you additional damage and mobility with the light dodge roll. The way to obtain light equip weight for this build is the following:
Medium chest, light helmet, gloves, legs and boots.
Barrier to Entry
Obtaining best in slot (BIS) gear can be a very daunting and expensive task. The recommendations below are ultimately what you should aim for. However, if you’re new to the build with no existing gear and perhaps want to try the Musket Hatchet PvP build you will want to obtain 5 stacks of Resilient, and the weapon perks Empowering Shooter’s Stance and Crippling Powder Burn on an armor piece. You can potentially round off purple gear pieces with Elemental Aversion or Physical Aversion in the remaining slots as its a pretty affordable 2-perk piece now.
This will allow you a competitive entry point to try and test the build before committing and progressing to better gear.
Armor
Most of the armor you need to run the Musket Hatchet PvP build will be obtained through crafting or random drops. Below are the recommended perks for your setup:
- Resilient (5)
- Crippling Powder Burn
- Empowering Shooter’s Stance
- Elemental Aversion/Physical Aversion (5)
- Shirking Energy
You can decide on whether Elemental Aversion or Physical Aversion is best for you based on what type of ranged poke you are dealing with more. Finally, there is a few options to fill out the spare perk slots. Cooldown perks such as Refreshing or Refreshing Evasion are possible, or even Vigor or Freedom. Test each out and find your preference!
Weapons
Musket
For the Musket you will want to ideally obtain the following perks:
OR
If you are rolling a 2 perk Musket to start off with, focus craft or purchase the perks highlighted in purple until you can get a legendary or BIS version. This will have to be a crafted weapon. It is also good to note that Keenly Jagged is a great substitute for Keenly Empowered for damage output.
Hatchet
For the Hatchet you will likely have to craft your own or purchase a specific one for this build as it is fairly required to have the Refreshing Distancing Throw perk on the weapon itself along with two mandatory other perks. You will want to look for the following perks:
OR
Much like the Musket, aim for the purple highlighted perks if you are starting out and don’t want to commit yet.
Jewelry
Amulet – Ideally you will want the meta perks of Health, Stamina Recovery and Thrust Protection. However a farmable option would be the Champion’s Amulet from the PvP track.
Ring – For your ring, you can utilize the Champion’s Ring from the PvP track if you are starting out. Ideally however you will want to look for Thrust Damage, Mortal Empowerment and Hearty. If you prefer to boost the power of your elemental damage gem however, consider swapping out Thrust Damage for whichever element you are using.
Earring – For your earring. However, ideally an earring with Refreshing Toast, Regenerating and Purifying Toast will be the best option.
Gems & Runeglass Gem Upgrades
For this build you will want to use Runeglass of Sight (5) in your armor as your most consistent damage source is ranged. You can use a mixture of opals and emerald gems to ensure you have a strong mixture of high percentage resist versus elemental damage and thrust damage. Typically you do not have to worry about resists such as Slash as you will mainly try to avoid being poked out or ranged to death by opposing Bow or Musket players.
For weapons, make sure to slot in Runeglass of Ignited Ruby into both of your weapons, ultimately you can pick almost any element however or even Stamina gain in the Hatchet. Also a potential option might be to match your Runeglass element and gem to your elemental damage perk on the Ring.
Heartgem Rune
The Heartgem rune of choice for this build is the Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform. Almost every other Heartgem rune available does not suit the playstyle of the Musket. Where most of the time you will be playing too far away to utilize Detonate or Grasping Vines. As a result make sure to use Stalwart Stoneform to provide yourself a safety net to sustain yourself and avoid death as a squishy DPS.
Consumables
You will want to utilize the following consumables for this build:
You can opt to use Gemstone Dust of any tier or Oakflesh Balm.
Along with the above consumables make sure to use an attribute food depending on the attribute distribution you have on your gear and what you require as a result. You can check a full list of consumables by checking out our consumables guide.
How to Use Build
The Musket Hatchet PvP build primarily focuses on dealing heavy ranged damage to single targets. The majority of your damage comes from your Musket attacks and abilities and the opportunity to stack Mortal Empowerment with low risk.
Musket Usage
More often than not you will start most engagements by searching out a high priority target. Such as a light armor healer or another ranged player, potentially a melee assassin too. Firstly once you find your first target, try to abuse the many perks available to you in your mastery tree to enhance damage. One major factor in your mastery tree that allows you to pump pin-point accurate damage is Sniper.
Typically, this is the 1x zoom you as a Musket player have when holding right-click, however – Sniper changes everything.
With Sniper, you gain access to a 3x zoom function when holding down the right-click. However not only do you gain a zoomed in perspective to see further away and hit precise shots, you also gain 15% damage to headshots! This perk is an absolute must, and as a result should be utilized as much as possible.
Most of your time will be spent looking for good angles to crossfire opponents in modes like OPR. Finding decent high ground with cover spots can be helpful to have good elevation to target select, but also to disengage should you come under fire. In War, particularly on defense it is best advised to stay up on the walls unless called otherwise. Finally, if you are playing in a premade ranged group, be sure to stay vocal and call out potential targets. Lining up shots with friends can secure easy kills.
Firstly, make the most of Powder Burn by keeping high uptime. Do not forget to chamber the ability into your Musket, it serves as a great opener that slows the target to land subsequent shots. Also it doubles up as a pressure tool with the DoT burn and radar, seeing opponents locations through walls.
Secondly, it is crucial to understand the bread and butter of Musket mechanics. For example, utilizing Tactical Reload to guarantee back-to-back shots without reloading which is much faster. To push this standard mechanic further you can do the following:
- Left click (shoot)
- Dodge roll (activate Tactical Reload)
- Left click (shoot)
- Use Stopping Power
Unlike Powder Burn, you do not need to load Stopping Power into the chamber before firing it, meaning you can very quickly string shots together but also stagger your opponent. Make sure to practice and nail this bread and butter combo. Other than that however, make sure to utilize Shooter’s Stance when there is a clear shot on a target.
Hatchet Usage
The Hatchet can also be utilized as an opener to root a target if the opportunity is there with Social Distancing. If you can land this you can then follow up with a Rending Throw to fully set-up an easy kill on your rend-inflicted opponent. More often than not however, the Hatchet will be for defensive usage. When you are under heavy fire or collapsed on by melee players, pull out the Hatchet as soon as you can so you are ready to Berserk out of crowd control or survive a huge burst that would otherwise kill you.
It is worth noting too that with a bit of practice you can cancel Berserk’s animation by dodging and pressing Berserk + light attack in quick succession. This is an advanced skill to learn and helps save time.
Ultimately, remember to keep an eye on your Defy Death cooldown and when to utilize the Hatchet to either set-up a kill, or to escape with it.
Check out more builds like the Musket Hatchet PvP Build here.