New World DPS Weapons (Builds) Tier List & Rankings 2023 For PvE in Season 1

Here we've sorted out the New Word Weapon DPS Tier List for all Season 1 PvE content, by ranking the damage per second of weapons from the S+ tier to the D Tier. 

New World Weapon DPS Tier Lists & Rankings for Season 1

The most recent patch changed a ton about the damage output of different weapons especially the Greatsword was nerfed and that affects a lot of things in PVE. In this post, we're looking into those changes and the effects this has on DPS (damage per second) for all of these different weapons. There are some very interesting results here in terms of how far weapons are apart which weapons are performing best and worst, and there are some very unexpected ones that snuck their way up and down, so this may excite some of you and also frustrate some of you if you've been running one of the weapons that kind of dropped off a bit this patch.

Now New World doesn't actually have DPS meters so we can't just measure it that way, but there is a way to do it now and X-R went through the testing for all of the weapons. Since target dummies got changed and now have roughly 485,000 Health, what you can do is use an optimal damage rotation of abilities and attacks until the target dummy is at zero health and then check how many seconds it took, and then from there you can go backwards and figure out what this time span means in terms of damage per second done how long it took to get rid of 485,000 Health. Since Target dummies don't have a mob type, you can then very easily apply the multipliers for different mob types to figure out how much a weapon would actually do against a particular mob type.

New World Weapon DPS Tier List for Angry Earth

1 - Rapier [FnF] (S+ Tier)

The great sword has been dethroned by a weapon that doesn't even have type advantage against angry Earth and that is the Rapier with a bleed build or a flourishing finish build. The Rapier comes out at 15,609 DPS, far beyond the competition. The bleed build is just extremely strong at the moment and completely blowing the competition out of the water. If the thought of having to re-gear to Rapier here ever annoys you, worry not, you don't have to -  that's because due to the way this build works with its bleeds, only one person per group can actually run this build effectively and reach these DPS values. If you run multiple of them, it becomes very ineffective and you're probably better off having the second Rapier run and evade build instead.

So one is the absolute king of DPS now it's not something that everyone needs to run because that wouldn't work then we would have a problem, but that is just Angry Earth what about other mob types.

2 - Great Sword [Onslaught] (S Tier)

Now in the context of Angry Earth, the Great Sword and Onslaught stance is still very much up there, even after it got nerfed in multiple ways, we're still sitting in 13,300 DPS. So it's still good, but this is also a situation where slash has an advantage. Again with a great sword similar to the fire staff, a big advantage also that especially against mob groups is very effective because you swing through them with pretty much everything you do. In terms of rents and weekends, it is not as effective as a spear, it does come with the added utility of having a group pull as well which is very nice on many mob groups.

3 - Spear [LA] (S Tier)

In the S tier, we first have the spear with light attacks, this does 12,211 DPS, it is chaining light attacks and canceling into abilities in between and it's just absolutely insane DPS for a weapon that was previously primarily used for utility. Keep in mind that the numbers here are slightly skewed in favor of spear because we are running this with achievement whereas in most situations people will typically have feeling skewer on their spear, in PVE it's just such a nice safety option that you are probably not going to skip it. But that's a fairly minimal DPS drop and then you have two weekends going on at the same time, you have the perforate weekend and you have the infillings skewer we can which is extremely massive in any PVE content nowadays. With Fortify being nerfed, it's taken over by weekend and if you have a team comp that has a lot of different weekends going at the same time, you will notice a very big difference in terms of how much damage mobs really do to you and with this spear having a second weekend since this patch that is just Prime spare time for PVE content. In our opinion, every group should have a spear now, and with the DPS that it has it's actually very effective as a main hand weapon now as well.

4 - Rapier [Evade] (A Tier)

When you close out at here, we have the Rapier evade build. The Rapier was previously very difficult to test because it's not really something you can test through normal attacks, but now we have the means to actually test Rapier your damage. And with the Rapier mainly having benefited from changes while other weapons got pretty significant nerves, it's popping off. The Rapier with invade build does 11,100 damage on Angry Earth.

5 - Sword Shield  (A+ Tier)

Another slash damage contender is finally leaving its direct competition the hatchet in the dust and that is the sword and shield. If you have double Bane, you pull out 11,886 damage. Keep in mind again not every weapon can have double bane and not every build can have double bane, because certain mob types don't have main shields, so it's not always going to be quite the same but generally the sword is definitely a decent performer where it has type advantage. But we are not going to tell any Hatchet user to switch to sword and shield when there is a much more convenient option right above that.

6 - Firestaff [Incinerate] (A Tier)

There is another weapon that fills the niche of the Hatchet very well, now that you can switch over to very easily. But we're not quite there yet, the burstiest fire staff build is yet to come right above the headset here with 10,870 for the incinerate build. Now while this isn't the highest single target DPS, keep in mind that the fire staff damage translates very well into AOE damage too. 

7 - Hatchet [Right Tree Ult] (A Tier)

There's an option to make the Hatchet at least a little bit more effective in an Angry Earth situation, which is where it belongs along with other situations where Slash has an advantage and that is with the right tree ultimate. In this case, you're getting up to 10,750 DPS, it's almost like getting a 12 damage increase is actually useful. Now what we will say at this point is that you have to keep in mind that a lot of people specifically prefer the Hatchet for PVE, because it has that crutch option with Defy Death. And if you're still going that path, you will notice your damage drop off in comparison. There are many other weapons that will out DPS a full left tree Hatchet at this point or even a mostly left tree Hatchet and we have noticed this on our Expedition runs as well taking a few extra DPS in with us. And when they were running Hatchet, they were typically doing quite a fair bit less damage than most other DPS-focused options that you can run these days.

8 - Ice Gauntlet [Spike] (A Tier)

What is usable is the Ice Gauntlet in a spike build, this is a 10,750 DPS, more than many of the fire staff builds actually which is impressive. 

9 - Blunderbuss [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

Likewise, we have the Blunderbuss with 100% Headshot rate and almost the same damage 10,550, but again this is something that is very rare to actually be usable. 

10 - Bow [100% Headshot] (B Tier)

The last one in B tier is the Bow assuming 100% Headshot which is 10,400 DPS. Realistically you won't be able to do that in most situations but there are some bosses where it's possible.

11 - Firestaff [Meteort Shower] (B Tier)

Speaking of type advantage, by the way, the fire staff with a meteor shower build comes in at a 9,800 DPS which is at least more than you get with the flamethrower, but still not exactly top tier for an Angry Earth situation.

12 - Hastchet [Defy Death] (B Tier)

The next one is going to be one that will maybe shock a few people, the hatchet after its nerves is dropped down to 9,350 DPS. With a defy death build and this is against Angry Earth, so this is where Hatchet has a type advantage. But worry not there is an alternative.

13 - Bow (B Tier)

The Bow with a rapid shot here comes in at 9,150, for a weapon that's performing insanely well in PvP the PVE, the performance of the bow is still not particularly impressive at least even with the Bane buff. 

14 - Blunderbuss (B Tier)

The Blunderbuss has 9,100 damage, too keep in mind that the Blunderbuss is really not a great DPS weapon, it is a fantastic burst weapon and you can chain it as an offhand weapon, but if you're purely trying to DPS with a Blunderbuss, it will typically be outclassed. 

15 - Great Sword [Defiance] (B Tier)

In the B tier, first, we have the greatsword with 9,100 DPS as well but this is the defiant stance version which has reduced damage. 

16 - Great Axe (D Tier)

The great axe also not exactly a DPS weapon but a nice control weapon that comes out at 9,100 DPS.

17 - Great Axe (D Tier)

The great axe is also not exactly a DPS weapon but a nice control weapon that comes out at 9,100 DPS.

18 - Spear (D Tier)

The bow without rapid shot has around the same damage and the spear with rolls between the attacks has 8,900 damage.

19 - Fire Staff [Flamethrower] (D Tier)

The next one is a bit more of a surprise which is the fire staff with a flamethrower at 8,500 DPS. Now keep in mind that the fire staff can be used with an Ice Gauntlet in the offhand. For now, we look at the weapons without the secondary weapons but we'll get to that part.

20 - War Hammer (D Tier)

There is the Warhammer both with heavy attack X and light attacks both around 8,000 DPS, and the Void Gauntlet is in the same place. They've all gone at once upon a time used to be one of the best DPS weapons if not the best but were, massively nerfed because it was so strong in that regard, so those are just down there not really surprising with Angry Earth either.

Weapon DPS Ranking Tier List For Ancient

1 - Rapier [FnF] (S+ Tier)

2 - Spear [LA] (S Tier)

3 - Great Sword [Onslaught] (S Tier)

4 - Rapier [Evade] (A+ Tier)

5 - Ice Gauntlet [Spike] (A Tier)

6 - Sword Shield  (A Tier)

7 - Bow [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

8 - War Hammer [LA] (A Tier)

9 - War Hammer [HA] (A Tier)

10 - Blundy [100% Headshot] (B Tier)

11 - Void Gauntlet (B Tier)

12 - Hatchet [Right Tree Ult] (B Tier)

13 - Spear [Roll] (B Tier)

14 - Bow (B Tier)

15 - Firestaff [Incinerate] (B Tier)

16 - Bow [No Rapid Shot] (D Tier)

17 - Blunderbuss (D Tier)

18 - Great Sword [Defiance] (D Tier)

19 - Hatchet [Dety Death] (D Tier)

20 - Great Axe (D Tier)

21 - Firestaff [Meteort Shower] (D Tier)

22- Fire Staff [Flamethrower] (D Tier)

When it comes to ancient, then the Rapier stays on top of the same damage output and the spear with light attacks actually takes second place here that's since the great sword drops down to 11,650 DPS because the slashed image bonus is non existent here. Ancients are weak to lightning void and strike damage so really not ultimate shifts around. The Void Gauntlet barely makes it up to B tier but the hammer makes it up to solid A Tier here. If you're running a mage build, the ice gauntlet is still doing very well here, but the fire staff drops off significantly in return with no type advantage. 

New World Weapon DPS Tier List for Corrupted

1 - Rapier [FnF] (S+ Tier)

2 - Spear [LA] (S Tier)

3 - Rapier [Evade] (S Tier)

4 - Great Sword [Onslaught] (A+ Tier)

5 - Bow [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

6 - Ice Gauntlet [Spike] (A Tier)

7 - Blundy [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

8 - Spear [Roll] (A Tier)

9 - Bow (A Tier)

10 - Sword Shield  (B Tier)

11 - Bow [No Rapid Shot] (B Tier)

12 - Blunderbuss (B Tier)

13 - Hatchet [Right Tree Ult] (B Tier)

14 - Firestaff [Incinerate] (B Tier)

15 - War Hammer [LA] (B Tier)

16 - Great Sword [Defiance] (D Tier)

17 - Void Gauntlet (D Tier)

18 - War Hammer [HA] (D Tier)

19 - Hatchet [Dety Death] (D Tier)

20 - Great Axe (D Tier)

21 - Firestaff [Meteort Shower] (D Tier)

22- Fire Staff [Flamethrower] (D Tier)

Corrupted our weak-to-thrust circane and teacher and the only one that really melody is thrust which pushes the Rapier and the Spear up, and the Rapier build actually gets slightly better than the great sword at this point. , not by much but by enough. The Bow and the Blunderbuss also move up a bit obviously the 100% headshot rate moves up higher and the no headshot rate stays lower, so you have to assume somewhere in between the two but they move towards A Tier high B Tier, so there are a fair bit more useful here

New World Weapon DPS Tier List for Lost

1 - Rapier [FnF] (S+ Tier)

2 -  Ice Gauntlet [Spike] (S Tier)

3 - Spear [LA] (S Tier)

4 - Great Sword [Onslaught] (A+ Tier)

5 - Rapier [Evade] (A Tier)

6 - Sword Shield  (A Tier)

7 - Bow [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

8 - Blundy [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

9 - Hatchet [Right Tree Ult] (A Tier)

10 - War Hammer [LA] (B Tier)

11 - Spear [Roll] (B Tier)

12 - War Hammer [HA] (B Tier)

13 - Bow (B Tier)

14 - Firestaff [Incinerate] (B Tier)

15 - Bow [No Rapid Shot] (B Tier)

16 - Blunderbuss (D Tier)

17 - Great Sword [Defiance] (D Tier)

18 - Void Gauntlet (D Tier)

19 - Hatchet [Dety Death] (D Tier)

20 - Great Axe (D Tier)

21 - Firestaff [Meteort Shower] (D Tier)

22- Fire Staff [Flamethrower] (D Tier)

Losts are weak to nature ice and strike, Rapier is back to its normal damage but the Ice Gauntlet pops up to second place here with 12,350 damage.  It is really good to see a mage weapon that you use as a main hand to be that high up here even though the Rapier in a way is also a major weapon because you run it with a split index build. The strike weakness of lost is lower than that of ancients, so the hammer doesn't really climb up as much here. We don't need to mention the fire staff at this point, it's just consistently towards the bottom because it never gets type advantage again as it does against Angry Earth, overall it's just more of an AOE weapon.

New World Weapon DPS Tier List for Humans

1 - Rapier [FnF] (S+ Tier)

2 -  Great Sword [Onslaught] (S Tier)

3 - Spear [LA] (S Tier)

4 - Sword Shield  (A Tier)

5 - Rapier [Evade] (A Tier)

6 - Ice Gauntlet [Spike] (A Tier)

7 - Hatchet [Right Tree Ult] (A Tier)

8 - Bow [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

9 - Blundy [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

10 - Hatchet [Dety Death] (B Tier)

11 - Spear [Roll] (B Tier)

12 - Great Sword [Defiance] (B Tier)

13 - Great Axe (B Tier)

14 - Bow (B Tier)

15 - Firestaff [Incinerate] (B Tier)

16 - Bow [No Rapid Shot] (D Tier)

17 - War Hammer [LA] (D Tier)

18 - Blunderbuss (D Tier)

19 - Void Gauntlet (D Tier)

20 - War Hammer [HA] (D Tier)

21 - Firestaff [Meteort Shower] (D Tier)

22- Fire Staff [Flamethrower] (D Tier)

Against humans, our advantage is slash damage which brings the great sword back to spot number two, slash much advantage is slightly lower than with Angry Earth but otherwise, we see a similar picture. What's mainly different from Angry Earth is that the fire staff is lower which makes some other weapons appear a little bit higher. There is something worth pointing out though, the damage advantage against humans is technically slashed damage that is not always the only weakness, the bosses in the Imperial Forge for example both Ifrit and Marius are weak to eyes. And because of these specific weaknesses, those boss fights can go differently and certain weapons can be better or worse. In this particular case, if we're factoring in this weakness, then the Ice Gauntlet is actually the third-best DPS weapon against those particular human bosses, but it just doesn't apply the same way against mobs, so this is again a situation where you can maybe switch to your Ice Gauntlet for the boss and otherwise when they fire staff or something like that depending on what you want to run, but it is pretty good to see it catch up here once again.

New World Weapon DPS Tier List for Beast

1 - Rapier [FnF] (S+ Tier)

2 - Spear [LA] (S Tier)

3 - Rapier [Evade] (S Tier)

4 - Great Sword [Onslaught] (A+ Tier)

5 - Bow [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

6 - Ice Gauntlet [Spike] (A Tier)

7 - Blundy [100% Headshot] (A Tier)

8 - Sword Shield  (A Tier)

9 - Spear [Roll] (A Tier)

10 - Bow (B Tier)

11 - Bow [No Rapid Shot] (B Tier)

12 - Hatchet [Right Tree Ult] (B Tier)

13 - Blunderbuss (B Tier)

14 - Firestaff [Incinerate] (B Tier)

15 - War Hammer [LA] (B Tier)

16 - Great Sword [Defiance] (D Tier)

17 - Void Gauntlet (D Tier)

18 - War Hammer [HA] (D Tier)

19 - Hatchet [Dety Death] (D Tier)

20 - Great Axe (D Tier)

21 - Firestaff [Meteort Shower] (D Tier)

22- Fire Staff [Flamethrower] (D Tier)

The last type we have Beast with a Thrust weakness or the Rapier once again, higher up the spear. The a similar picture to what we already saw with the Corrupted because it is essentially the same weakness only 5% less. Overall we can see that the Bleed Raper build is a very clear winner whereas the Great Sword and this Spear are basically in constant competition for the second spot, but that's also fine because you can run both on the same person if you want to. And then the Ice Gauntlet is the unexpected contender creeping into the top areas against certain Mobs with certain weaknesses.