The best New World rapier build for PvP and PvE

The best weapons to pair with the rapier in every situation

Looking for the best New World rapier build? There are plenty of powerful New World weapons to choose from, and because Amazon’s new MMO doesn’t limit you to a single class, players are able to try out every weapon in the game before deciding which ones to level up.

The rapier is an instant favourite for many players who enjoy its swishy, nimble playstyle. It’s a graceful yet ferocious weapon that is capable of dealing a large amount of single target damage, and has plenty of mobility skills in its arsenal to help you sidestep dangerous foes.

The rapier doesn’t offer too much in the way of crowd control – it’s best suited to one-on-one situations, whether that’s dueling foes in PvP or facing formidable PvE bosses. It’s also a melee weapon, so you may want to run a ranged weapon alongside it, particularly if you spend time in New World wars, prefer leveling solo, or want more versatility for open-world PvP. No matter the situation in which you intend to wield it, here are the best New World rapier builds.

The best New World rapier PvP build

The best build for PvP is the rapier and life staff. This is because the life staff is right at the top of the New World weapons tier list – it’s the only source of healing, and the value of heals cannot be overstated. It’s a ranged weapon, so works well when paired with the rapier. Life staff wielders are notoriously difficult to kill in PvP, but the rapier ensures that you can deal with anyone who happens to get in melee range.

Read more: How to get the best New World gear

If you’re going with the rapier and life staff combo, that means you need to put the majority of your points in focus, and convert some of your rapier’s damage to scale off focus using an amber New World gem. Your secondary stat should be constitution.

If you don’t fancy using the life staff, however, we recommend either the fire staff or ice gauntlet. The fire staff deals massive damage, particularly at higher levels, and the ice gauntlet offers powerful AoE and crowd control. These builds are also extremely viable in PvP. Instead of focus, you should put your points in intelligence, as this also benefits the rapier’s damage output.

For this build, we recommend using medium armour. You will miss out on the dodge roll, but the rapier has plenty of mobility to make up for it. The damage absorption from medium armour is highly valuable in PvP.

The rapier PvP abilities we recommend are:

  • Evade – performs a quick sidestep, granting you a brief window of invulnerability, and a super fast light attack. Use this as often as possible, not just in response to enemy abilities. Once fully upgraded, this skill gives you stamina, movement speed, and increased damage.
  • Riposte – gives you a one second window during which anyone who attacks you is stunned for 1.5 seconds. You should instantly hit this ability when you see anyone commit to an attack; don’t try to pre-emptively use it.
  • Fleche – you lunge forward through enemies, dealing additional damage. This will help you escape when you’re cornered, providing you additional mobility.

The life staff abilities we recommend are:

  • Sacred Ground – your classic AoE heal. Stay within the bubble to heal rapidly.
  • Light’s Embrace – a powerful targeted heal to cast on yourself or allies
  • Beacon – a damaging projectile that heals allies in the vicinity.

The best New World rapier PvE build

The best build for PvE is the rapier and fire staff. The fire staff gives you the range that the rapier desperately needs to round out its skillset, and outputs staggering amounts of damage, allowing you to rip through foes with utmost efficiency. You could also use this as a PvP build, as it’s very versatile.

Depending on your mobility needs, you can equip either medium or light armour; light may be better if you spend more time solo than in group PvE content. Both rapier and fire staff scale off intelligence, so that’s where you should commit the most points. After reaching 150 intelligence, ensure you also have at least 50 points in constitution to buff your health consumables, allowing you to sustain yourself longer in battle, and 50 in dexterity to get a bonus 5% crit chance. If you can, slot your rapier with a gem that converts part of its damage to intelligence, such as a ruby.

The rapier abilities we recommend are:

  • Flurry – this skill deals five rapid strikes that increase in damage; if they all connect, this skill does massive damage. This skill can also be buffed with gear that grants leeching flurry and creates chain damage to nearby foes
  • Evade – as described above, Evade gives you a moment of invulnerability, allowing you to evade powerful attacks
  • Fleche – the ability to dash through foes offers a lot of mobility and escape, useful in the open world.

The fire staff abilities we recommend are:

  • Fireball – launches a powerful fireball that leaves behind a burning trail
  • Pillar of Fire – deals a burst of damage to a targeted opponent
  • Burnout – dashes through a target, setting them alight and dealing damage to them. This works very well in conjunction with the rapier’s melee skills.

Those are the best rapier builds in New World, but we encourage you to experiment in order to find the build that feels right for you. We have some builds for the melee weapons for both PvE and PvP: a New World war hammer build, a New World hatchet build, a New World great axe build, and a New World tank build for sword users. There’s also a New World fire staff build for those who prefer magic.

If you’re looking for New World PvP tips, we’ve got you covered – if you’d rather take a break from the action, reel in our New World fishing guide.