New World PvE Build Guidelines

Introduction

When you’re engaging in PvE in New World, primarily expeditions, there are several different factors of gameplay you need to consider. Each mob in New World belongs to a family of mobs. Each family of mob has specific weakness to specific damage types. There are also consumables you can utilize to help enhance your damage output and resistance to various types of mobs.

When you reach end game, you will also want to consider the type of perks you are running on your gear for optimal resistances and damage output for each different expedition. There are also trophies that you can place in your house that will enhance your damage output against certain enemy types as well.

This guide will cover all of the New World PvE build guidelines that you need to know in order to effectively and efficiently complete expeditions and expedition mutations in New World.

Mob Resistances

Every mob type is weak against certain damage types in the game. When choosing your New World PvE build you want to be cognizant of the mob type your fighting and the weapon you are utilizing.

When damaging a mob, an icon will show next to the damage value. If there are small arrows above the icon, it means the mob is vulnerable to that damage type and your damage output will be increased. In this case the damage text is yellow in game. If the damage text is white it means you are dealing neutral damage to the enemy, and if the damage type is orange it means you landed a critical hit on your target.

The chart below also indicates the best damage types vs each enemy category. 

Gem Choice

Choosing the correct gem to slot into your weapon can also greatly enhance the damage you do against certain types of enemies. This should be taken into consideration when building out your New World PvE build. As the above chart outlines certain mob families are resistant to and weak to different types of magic damage.

DPS

For DPS weapons, if the difference between the elemental percentage and the weapon percentage is 30% or more then an elemental gem is the optimal gem. Therefore, you only want to slot an elemental gem into your weapon if the weapon you’re using has neutral damage percentage against the mob you are fighting.

The damage formula is the following:

(30% – Bonus%)/2 > = 15%

30% – The maximum % bonus any elemental gem will do.
Bonus% – The bonus damage percentage.
You want to divide by two because elemental gems only covert half of your damage.

For example:

If you’re utilizing a hatchet vs angry earth the following would apply:
(30% – 20%)/2 = 5%
In this instance you would want to slot an opal to deal maximum DPS.

If you’re utilizing a hatchet vs. ancients the following would apply:
(30% – 0%)/2 = 15%
In this instance you would want to slot a topaz to deal lightning damage to the enemy (see chart above)

Tank

Tanks should be utilizing cut pristine carnelian gems in both weapons.

Healer

Healers should be utilizing a cut pristine diamond in their life staff, and utilize the DPS guidelines above for their back bar weapon.

Mutations

If you are running mutated versions of the expedition you will need to be aware of the mutation type. This can change the gem you slot. Your armor gems when running mutated versions should be cut pristine elemental gems such as the following:

• Amethyst for Void
• Ruby for Fire
• Amber for Nature
• Aquamarine for Ice

The below chart is an overview of each weapon and damage type for each expedition:

Weapons Types, Gem Types, and Damage Numbers

Status Effects

When putting together your New World PvE build you want to consider all the different status effects and their purposes.

In PvE, the most important debuff you can apply to your target is Rend. Rend will reduce the amount of damage absorption your target has. It has a cap of 30%. Therefore, by maxing stacks of rend on your target you can kill them much quicker.

You can check out our New World Status Effects guide for a full list of all the status effects and their caps.

Important Consumables

In order to maximize your efficiency and damage output in expedition there are several consumables you should be utilizing. These consumables consist of food, coatings, honing stones, balms, dust, and potions. The most important consumables to utilize are attribute food, coatings, and honing stones. The remaining consumables are useful to have on hand, but not required.

There are different tiers of each item. The below chart outlines the most powerful of each item. You can view all the consumables, including the necessary attribute food you would need by checking out full consumables guide.

Trophies

In addition to all the consumables listed above you can also obtain trophies for your houses. You can obtain trophies for each different type of mob. The trophies can be minor, basic, or major. You can have a combination of any of the three. For example, you could have a minor in one home, a basic in one, and a major in one. Each type of trophy increases your damage to that specific mob type by a percentage.

• Minor – 3%
• Basic – 4%
• Major – 5%

It should be noted that obtaining major trophies can be incredibly expensive and difficult to farm the required materials.

Ideal Gear Perks

Ideally, when setting up your New World PvE build you will want to shoot for specific perks on your gear. Bear in mind that best-in-slot items are often times subjective and situational. However, there are some undisputed perks that you will want to have in order to maximize your efficiency in expeditions.

Perks on your armor are pretty straightforward and should consist of the following:

• Ward (per specific mob type)
• Refreshing/refreshing evasion
• Skill perk when necessary (depending on build, ex: sundering shockwave)

Other runner-up perks would consist of freedom, vigor, invigorated, elemental aversion, and physical aversion.

For your weapon, you will want to have the appropriate bane perk for the mob type you are fighting. This is undisputed. However, the other 2 perks on your weapon are subjective. Some great options include the following:

• Rogue
• Viscous
• Keenly empowered
• Thwarting strikes
• Keenly jagged
• Mortal empowerment
• lifestealing

These would of course change based on your role in the expedition. You can check our specific PvE build for information on specific perks for each build.

Farmable PvE Gear

In many cases, you can farm solid gear for PvE. There are several great options for both weapons and armor that are farmable. You can find this information listed within each equipment section of each specific PvE build guide.

For example, the Expedition Tank guide contains several great farmable swords and other equipment that will work well for almost any traditional tank build.