New World Leveling Build – Hatchet and Great Axe
Introduction
This build is intended to be used as a New World leveling build. As a new player it is highly recommended that you try out multiple weapons during the leveling process to see what fits your playstyle. There are several different build options you could choose from that are all viable during the leveling process. This guide is going to focus on the hatchet and great axe combination.
The hatchet is a great weapon while leveling due to it’s self sustain and defy death ability. The great axe is a great pairing due to it’s ability to deal good amounts of area of effect (AoE) damage.
The pairing of these weapons will help reduce the need of burning through potions during the leveling process. It will also help you clear large groups of enemies quickly. However, the downside to this build is that it is all mostly melee and all one damage type, slashing.
Every enemy type has a different weakness to different damage types. You can reference our “Damage Type vs Mob Type” guide for more information on that topic. This is very useful when running expeditions and trying to optimize damage for a particular enemy type.
Mastery Points
For this build you will be focusing on the hatchet and the great axe. As you level up these weapons you will need to assign mastery points to gain active and passive abilities. Below is are the recommended abilities to take, and the order to take them for each weapon.
Hatchet
Your hatchet will be used to dish out good amounts of melee damage, obtain some rend to reduce your target’s damage absorption, and give you some great survivability while leveling. You will also gain the ability to throw your hatchet’s giving this build a ranged component. This will help you kite and take down some tougher enemies while leveling.
The below is the recommended order for your abilities:
- Berserk (Active ability)
- Feral Rush (Active ability)
- Rending Throw (Active ability)
- On the Hunt
- Berserking Refresh
- Berserking Purge
- Uninterruptible Berserk
- Accumulated Power
- Fortifying Strikes
- Against All Odds
- Enraged Strikes
- Defy Death
- Frenzied Purge
- Dispatch
- Aimed Throw
- Critical Throw
- Crippling Strikes
- Targeted Impact
- Opportunistic
Berserk is the staple of the hatchet tree. When you are low on health you can utilize this weapon to heal yourself without the need to use potions during down time. This will save you some valuable coin while leveling. Defy death is also a great ability while leveling. It can help prevent multiple deaths that can greatly slow down your progress.
Great Axe
Your great axe will be used to deal good amounts of area of effect damage, and provide you with an area of effect crowd control ability that will help you group and clear mobs quickly and effectively. The great axe is also going to provide you with a great mobility skill that will help you get out of bad situations quickly or close the gap if needed.
The below is the recommended order for your abilities:
- Maelstrom (Active ability)
- Enduring Strikes
- Gravity Well (Active ability)
- Greed
- Charge (Active ability)
- Crowded Well
- Storm’s Reach
- Absorb
- No Reprieve
- Center of Attention
- Crowded Protection
- Gravity
- Mauler’s Fury
- Critical Gains
- Death’s Embrace
- Keen Edge
- Critical Condition
- Feed
- Mauler’s Resolve
Attributes
As you gain character levels you will gain attribute points that you can utilize. For this build you are going to be spending those points in the constitution and strength categories. You will receive a total of 190 attribute points from leveling, and will find gear along your way that have attribute points attached to that gear.
You will want to make sure you keep and use gear with the strength and constitution attribute points association with them.
Every 50 points placed into a particular attribute will net you a nice bonus. You will inherently have 5 points in each attribute. Below is the recommended path for spending your points.
- 45 – Constitution
- 90 – Strength
- 140 – Constitution
- 190 – Strength
Without taking gear into consideration you will end with 100 points in both strength and constitution. You will ultimately be shooting for 300 strength and 200 constitution. This can be done near end game by utilizing your attribute points, food, and gear.
Once you hit the 200 constitution mark you will want to put your remaining points into strength. This means if you obtain gear that bumps you over the 200 constitution threshold simply respec your attributes and put more into strength and cap constitution at 200.
Equipment
During the leveling process you shouldn’t focus too much on the gear your are obtaining. You will be rotating gear out quite a lot until you reach end game. A good rule of thumb is to ensure you have either strength of constitution on your gear and ultimately utilize the highest level of gear you have obtained.
It is recommended that you utilize the light equip load category of gear for maximum damage as you level. However, if you are having hard time surviving or can’t find good pieces that drop that get you into that weight category then simply utilize the best gear you have available.
Gear will come with associated perks as well, and you will want to heavily focus on these perks once you reach 600 expertise.
