New World Bow Build 2024 - PvE & PvP
Oct. 14, 2024To perform acharged shotwith thebow, you need to aim (by holding L2) and hold down R2 until thebowis fully drawn. Unlike themusket, thebowhas anarcto its shots, so when firing over long distances, you’ll need to account for this by adjusting your aim. This makes thebowa bit harder to use at very long ranges compared to themusket. However if you want to be a bit more accurate at longer ranges make sure to take theArrow Rangepassive, as it allows your arrows to travel further before arcing.
New World Aeternum Bow Pros:
New World Aeternum Bow Cons:
Starting with theSkirmisher tree, the first ability isPoison Shot. This creates apoison cloudthat dealsdamage over timein anAOE. It doesn’t have to hit an enemy directly—wherever thearrowlands, thepoison cloudwill appear. This is particularly useful for softening up groups of enemies inPvEor mid-sizedPvP skirmishes. Progressing this skill line increases its damage dealt.
Rain of Arrowsis anAOE attackthat lets you target an area, dealing damage to enemies within it. When upgraded, it also applies ableed effect. This ability shines inPvE, especially when fighting multiple enemies indungeonsor during questing. Progressing this skill line allows Rain of Arrows to cause bleed, as well as inflicting them with slow.
The capstone of theSkirmisher tree,Evasive Tactics, gives you theEmpowereffect and increases your damage dealt to15% for 5 secondsafter dodging. This is very useful, especially during PvP situations where players will often attempt to close in on you. This will also be useful during solo expeditions as enemies will try to swarm you and you’ll be dodging a lot. Overall a more useful Capstone compared to itsHuntercounterpart unless you’re a good shot.
Moving on to theHunter tree, the first ability isRapid Shot. This firesthree arrowsin quick succession, with the first two doing100% weapon damageand the third doing125%. It’s excellent forhigh burst damageinPvPor against tough enemies. Progressing this skill allows you to get a 50% cooldown reduction if you hit the same enemy with all three arrows. This skill is even more deadly thanks to New World: Aeternum’s lock-on, which makes it easy to land all three arrows.
Penetrating Shotis another strong ability in theHunter tree. It dealshigh damageand pierces through targets and it travels more than 100m. While thepiercing effectisn’t always useful unless enemies are lined up perfectly, the ability’s raw damage makes it great forsingle-target bursts. Progressing this skill line increases the damage ofPenetrating Shot.
Explosive Arrowis a good AoE skill. It deals half of your weapon damage on impact and then detonates dealing huge damage while covering a radius of 2.5m. It’s perfect for crowd control and is also useful in PvP where there are enemies huddled together for dealing huge group damage. Progressing this skill line allows you to inflict burn on your enemies as well as increasing its damage at the cost of a reduction on the explosion’s radius.
The capstone of theHunter tree,Concussion. It increases your damage when landingheadshotsby 20%.Headshotsare not impossible forBowusers, and you should aim to do them when leading off combat, but with the addition of the with the lock-on feature, you will be less likely to use manual aiming when you can just rapid fire arrows from the hip once combat starts. It can be useful in PvP if you’ve gotten used to dishing outheadshots, but if you haven’t, I recommend theEvasive Tacticscapstone.
What combination of skills you use will of course be determined by what sort of content you are attempting to complete. For instance, if you’re running expeditions as a DPS, then you’ll likely want 2 AoE Skills and single target skill: Explosive Arrow, Rain of Arrows and Rapid Shot. However, if you’re solo PvPing you’ll likely want Rapid Shot, Evade Shot, and maybe Penetrating Shot or Explosive Arrow.
AMusketcan be a great option forlonger-range encounters, with thebowfor when enemies get closer. Alternatively, amelee weaponlike theSpearorRapieris a good choice for when enemies close the gap. Both weapons scale withdexterity, so they pair well with thebow, making either an excellent backup.
Since thebowhas nointelligence scaling, unlike themusket, there’s no point in pairing it with weapons like theFire StafforIce Gauntlet. While themusketcan benefit from a hybrid build withintelligenceanddexterity, thebowis most effective when you’re fully invested indexterity, so sticking todex-based weaponsis the best approach.
That wraps up ourBow weapon guide. We’ve got moreweapon guidesincludingMusket,Rapier,Spear, andHatcheton the way, so keep an eye out for those. If you have any questions about the bow, feel free to check out theNew World wikifor more details. What do you think about the bow? Have you tried it? What kind of weapons do you prefer—bow or musket? Let us know in the comments below!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
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