The best great axe build in New World

The great axe is one of the heaviest weapons currently available to play in New World, the new MMO project from Amazon Studios that’s set to release on Sept. 28.

The great axe is slower than weapons like the rapier or the longsword but has an incredible damage output and a greater amount of reach compared to other melee weapons. When it comes to a combat role, the great axe is ideal for the DPS lovers looking to inflict lots of AoE damage and keep their enemies under control.

With that in mind, you’ll want to align your attributes and armor to match the ideal setup for a great axe user. You’ll also need to consider a secondary weapon that matches it, as well as where you should put your great axe mastery points. So here’s everything you need to know about achieving the best great axe build in New World.

Personal attributes

Your primary, and only, personal attribute for great axes is your Strength. If you’re looking to create a prominent great axe build, you should be putting most of your points from leveling up directly into Strength. If you’re still getting used to the controls and skillset and find yourself nearing death at the end of your fights, then you could spend a few on Constitution as well just to give yourself some more help.

Once your Strength is maxed out, you can fill out your Constitution stat. Once those are completely maxed, then you could stand to put some points in a stat that matches your secondary weapon.

Secondary weapon and armor

With plenty of AoE abilities and crowd control, you’ll want a secondary weapon that gives you an incredibly high amount of damage potential. Since you’ll be putting most of your stat points into Strength, you should look at the other Strength weapons like the warhammer, the hatchet, or the sword and shield. Sword and shield can be a great option to switch to if you get overwhelmed with enemies. The hatchet has high damage output and a throwing spec great for adding range, while the warhammer is another great crowd control option.

If you’re using the great axe as your primary weapon, you’ll want to aim for using as much heavy armor as possible to get the Heavy load buff, which causes your crowd control abilities to last 20 percent longer.

Great axe weapon mastery

The active abilities you can unlock for the great axe are all great. But in terms of pure damage, your primary trio should be Charge, Whirlwind, and Execute.

Charge is an unstoppable ability that deals 120-percent damage when you reach your target. This can be upgraded to 140 percent based on the distance you cover. Whirlwind deals just 50-percent damage per spin, but the base ability lets you spin four times if you strike an enemy each time. This can be upgraded up to seven spins while also covering a greater distance and dealing more damage if you’re surrounded. Execute is your finisher, dealing 200-percent damage on its own, but 300 percent on someone less than 50-percent health. This can be upgraded to crit opponents below 30 percent.

If you want to swap in a crowd control ability, take out Charge and swap in Reap, Maelstrom, or Gravity Well. Gravity Well looks the coolest and has the most damage output, but it also has the longest cooldown timer.