As a veteran player with over 500 hours of playtime, I‘ve gained extensive knowledge on New World‘s complex gearing system. Throughout my adventures leading warbands, crafting powerful weapons, and conquering high-level Expedition Mutations, I‘ve tested countless perk combinations to determine the best-in-slot armor and weapon upgrades for different playstyles.
In this definitive guide, I‘ll impart everything I‘ve learned to help you optimize your character‘s potential. Follow my gearing strategies and farming recommendations to become an unstoppable force on the battlefield!
Choosing the Right Armor Perks
When gearing up your character, the first priority should be survival. Boosting health and damage mitigation allows you to withstand enemy blows in PvE and PvP clashes.
I highly recommend taking one of two perks on your chest armor: Enchanted Ward or Physical Aversion. Here‘s a comparison:
| Perk | Effect | Recommended For |
|---|---|---|
| Enchanted Ward | 10% damage reduction from elemental attacks | Mages, healers |
| Physical Aversion | 10% damage reduction from physical attacks | Tanks, brawlers |
For example, against an enchanted ice gauntlet user‘s light attacks dealing 500 base damage:
- No resistance perks – Full 500 damage taken
- Enchanted Ward – Reduces 10%, so only 450 damage taken
That 50 damage reduction can save your skin in close fights!
Additionally, having the Refreshing perk on at least 4 armor pieces provides major cooldown reduction (CDR) at max stack:
- +15% CDR – More frequent ability usage
- Reduces potion cooldowns – 33% CDR makes pots incredibly spammable
Between Refreshing and your amulet‘s CDR perks, you can easily reach 30%+ cooldown reduction. That allows rapid-firing of your most powerful skills!
For your head armor, I recommend the Nimble perk for an extra dodge roll. Added mobility helps avoid enemy AOEs in hectic battles.
Best Weapons & Perks for Each Playstyle
With strong defenses set up through your armor, next comes beefing up your damage output!
Choosing perks that synergize with your weapons and abilities is key. Let‘s overview ideal pairings for common New World builds:
🔸 Tanks & Bruisers
Weapons: Warhammer, Great Axe
Recommended Perks:
- Infected Throw (Warhammer) – Renders target vulnerable, increasing your company‘s damage by 15% for 10 seconds
- Gravity (Great Axe) – Adds rend, reducing target‘s absorption by 15% for 6 seconds
Both help amplify your group‘s damage in team fights. For survivability, take:
- Defiant Stance (Warhammer) – Gain 30% Fortify for 10 seconds during the ability. Reduces incoming damage substantially!
🔸 Healers
Weapons: Life Staff, Void Gauntlet
Recommended Perks:
- Blessed (Life Staff) – Beacon heals 15% more
- Renewing Beam (Void Gauntlet) – Void beam cooldown reduced by 15%
Support builds also rely on cooldown reduction from armor perks. With 30%+ CDR, you can pump out nonstop heals and buffs!
For solo leveling, Prosperous Blessings (Life Staff) refunds 20 mana per ally affected by sacred ground. Extremely useful for sustaining your mana pool while questing or farming enemies.
🔸 Mages
Weapons: Fire Staff, Ice Gauntlet
Recommended Perks:
- Unending Thaw (Ice Gauntlet) – Ice storm deals 15% more damage
- Burning (Fire Staff) – Critical hits inflict burning DoT effect
Mages rely heavily on bursting down opponents with massive ability combos. Perks that boost your damage numbers are essential!
For catching slippery targets, Afflicted Punishment (Ice Gauntlet) is excellent – Entombed enemies take 15% more damage from all sources. A perfect set up for your team‘s nukes!
With the right perks equipped, you‘ll transform into an unstoppable mystical juggernaut. Now let‘s cover ideal spots for farming top-tier gear…
Farming Locations for Best Weapons & Armor
The key to upgrading your gear lies in two activities – Exploring high level zones and running end-game dungeons. Enemies in these areas have chances to drop equipment with perfect perk combinations and high gear scores.
Here are my favorite farming spots to repeatedly crush for loot:
♦️ Edengrove Territories
Recommended Group Size: Solo or Small Party
Edengrove is loaded with lucrative farming paths covering Storm-broken Arena, Imperial Palace, and more. With enemies scaling up to 66, it offers challenging PvE combat with chances for top-tier gear.
I‘ve had great success gathering high gear score armors with Enchanted Ward and Refreshing from these spots. The Imperial Overseers in particular can drop 595-600 gs faction armor when you raise your Expertise.
♦️ Dynasty Shipyard Mutated Expedition
Recommended Group Size: 5 players
By far one of the most rewarding end-game PvE activities. Dynasty provides a solid source of umbral shards from gold completions, which can be used to directly buy 600 gs items from your faction vendor.
I‘ve also had the Bruenor‘s Helm heavy helmet with Health and Physical Aversion drop from Silent Legion warriors here. It‘s currently equipped on my tanking loadout!
♦️ Sirens Stand Bosses
Recommended Group Size: 10+ players
The level 66 Siren‘s Stand bosses such as Moinsa and Purrvu are challenging foes, but provide chances for fantastic 595-600 gear score equipment.
In particular, they drop the Refreshing Wave armor set which includes the coveted Refreshing Torrent chest piece – extremely strong for reducing cooldowns with its built-in 13% CDR.
I hope these farming recommendations help you acquire some beastly weapons and armor for your build! Let‘s cover some final tips…
Further Optimization & Progression
Getting to 600 gear score and closing out those last few attribute points is a long journey, but very fulfilling once your build clicks perfectly! Here are key tasks to focus on:
- Run Genesis and Dynasties weekly for mutation orb gypsum and umbral shards
- Craft Orbs of Tempests using excess shards to rapidly level armor expertise
- Use trophy major trophies like Solen Champion for +25 attribute points
- Check trading posts for Stonecutting/Smelting/Weaving gear with +15-25 attribute perks
- Aim for the Voidbent armor set if playing solo – very efficient to craft at 595-600 gs
Let me know if you have any other questions in your progression! I‘m always happy to lend my years of RPG grinding knowledge.
FAQ
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions on min-maxing your New World build:
Q: What are some good refreshing perk items I can farm?
A: Siren‘s Stand named bosses have a chance to drop the Refreshing Wave armor set, which includes the coveted Refreshing Torrent chest piece. Stormbroken Arena in Edengrove can also drop refreshing/healthy gear.
Q: How important is raising expertise vs gear score?
A: Raising your expertise is critical to boosting gear score drops in high level zones. Focus on gypsum activities weekly and use umbral shards to craft exp boosting orbs. This accelerates raising your drops.
Q: What attribute distribution is best for tanks?
A: 300 constitution is essential to maximize your health and grit absorption. After that, 150-200 strength provides damage boosting perks for threat generation. The rest can go into dexterity for armor bonuses.
Q: What trophy perks should I slot in my house?
A: Major trophies are hugely impactful. I recommend Solen Champion for +25 attributes and one of the gathering trophies like Forester‘s Boon for +25 harvesting. Trophy perks are account wide, so the benefits apply globally!
Q: Which faction has the best armor sets available?
A: The Syndicate Tillers light armor is fantastic for mages with powerful offensive perks like Empowered Fireball and Unending Thaw. The Covenant armor is also strong for healers, with perks like Refreshing Divine Embrace. Choose based on your playstyle!
Let me know if you have any other questions – I‘m always happy to help new adventurers progress in New World. Now get out there and crush some end game dungeons!