New World breaks from some MMORPG character-building traditions in fascinating ways, but like pretty much every other RPG ever made, the game ultimately relies on stats and attributes to help determine the effectiveness of your created character.
That being said, it’s not immediately clear exactly how New World‘s attributes actually work. While the game tries to simplify the system through icons and basic explanations, you’re not alone if you initially feel overwhelmed by the possibilities and specifics.
In order to help make New World‘s attribute system a little less intimidating and a little more exciting, here’s a slightly expanded look at how the whole thing works and what stats you should focus on for which builds.
What Are New World’s Stats and Attributes?
These are the five main stats/attributes in New World:
- Strength
- Dexterity
- Intelligence
- Focus
- Constitution
Unlike weapons, you can’t level up your stats/attributes in New World simply by “using” them more often. Instead, you’ll have the chance to assign points to each attribute every time that you reach a new level.
You’ll also be able to increase your attribute points through gear bonuses, which are not only incredibly useful while leveling but are the only way to increase your attribute levels once you hit New World‘s level 60 character cap.
What Does Strength Do In New World?
Strength primarily impacts the effectiveness of most of your melee attacks in New World, though the specific relationship between your Strength and your attack power depends on what weapon you’re using. For instance, the attack power of two-handed weapons like the Warhammer and Great Axe is determined entirely by strength (and the weapon’s raw stats, naturally) while the attack power of smaller weapons like the Hatchet, Sword, and Spear is also dependant on your Dexterity.
Here are the bonuses you get for reaching various Strength thresholds:
50 Strength: +5% damage to melee light attacks, +10% mining speed
100 Strength: +10% damage to melee heavy attacks, +20 encumbrance
150 Strength: +50% stamina damage from melee light and heavy attacks, -10% decrease in weight of mined items
200 Strength: +10% damage on stunned, slowed, or rooted enemies, +10% mining speed
250 Strength: Stamina regen is faster during melee attacks, +10% mining yield increase
300 Strength: Melee attacks gain Grit, 25% chance to mine ore with a single swing
What Does Dexterity Do In New World?
Dexterity primarily determines the effectiveness of your ranged weapons (Bows and Muskets), but as we noted above, it also helps determine the attack power of Swords, Rapiers, Spears, and Hatchets. While Strength is generally more valuable than Dexterity when it comes to increasing your melee attack power (at least for weapons that depend on Strength), the versatility of Dexterity makes it a desirable second attribute for many builds.
Here are the bonuses you get for reaching various Dexterity thresholds:
50 Dexterity: +5% crit chance, +10% skinning speed
100 Dexterity: +5% thrust damage, +20% haste for 3s after skinning
150 Dexterity: Dodges cost 10 less stamina, -10% decrease in weight of skinned items
200 Dexterity: +10% bonus backstab and headshot damage, +10% skinning speed
250 Dexterity: +10% bonus crit damage on stunned, slowed, or rooted enemies, +10% skinning yield increase
300 Dexterity: Guaranteed crit after dodge roll (once per 10s), ammo has a 15% chance of being returned
What Does Intelligence Do In New World?
As is the case in most RPGs, Intelligence primarily determines the effectiveness of your magic weapons (the Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet). Interestingly, it also grants small damage bonuses to the Rapier and Musket for…reasons. Intelligence also increases the effectiveness of any weapon you’ve assigned a Magical Perk to, though the bonus isn’t nearly as beneficial as the bonus you get from the raw attribute that impacts that base weapon.
Here are the bonuses you get for reaching various Intelligence thresholds:
50 Intelligence: +10% damage to light and heavy magic attacks, +10% harvest speed
100 Intelligence: +10% crit damage, +5% chance for 1 Azoth while harvesting
150 Intelligence: +15% elemental damage, -10% decrease in weight of harvested items
200 Intelligence: +10 mana after a dodge, +10% harvest speed
250 Intelligence: +30% duration to damage over time spells, +10% harvest yield increase
300 Intelligence: +30% damage on first hit on full health target, -10% reduction in Azoth fast travel cost
What Does Focus Do In New World?
Focus is a somewhat odd stat as it primarily impacts the effectiveness of the Life Staff. While that would seemingly make it one of the least desirable stats for the majority of players, the fact that it also helps determine your mana recovery rate means that you’re probably going to want to spend at least a few points on it if you plan on playing as any kind of magic character.
Here are the bonuses you get for reaching various Focus thresholds:
50 Focus: +10% mana regen rate, +10% fishing line tension
100 Focus: +20 mana, +10% salvaging yield increase
150 Focus: +20% healing output, -10% decrease in carrying weight of fish
200 Focus: +20% casted buff duration, +10% fishing line tension
250 Focus: +30 mana on any self or group kill, +10% increase to caught fish size
300 Focus: When your mana hits 0, gain 200% mana regen for 10s (60s cooldown), -10% cooldown reduction for Inn fast travel
What Does Constitution Do In New World?
Constitution determines how big your health pool is and how many additional health points you get with each new level. While that obviously makes it incredibly useful for every type of build, the fact that Constitution doesn’t directly impact the effectiveness of any of your weapons means that you won’t necessarily be “focusing” on it for most builds.
Here are the bonuses you get for reaching various Constitution thresholds:
50 Constitution: All health consumables 20% stronger, +10% logging speed
100 Constitution: Increase max health by 10% of physical armor, -10% reduction on tool durability loss
150 Constitution: -10% crit damage taken, -10% decrease in weight of logging items
200 Constitution: +20% armour, +10% logging speed
250 Constitution: -80% damage reduction when at full health (60s cooldown), +10% logging yield increase
300 Constitution: +20 duration of stun, slow, and root spells, 25% chance to chop a tree in a single swing
Which New World Weapons Benefit From Which Attributes?
While we’ve mentioned the relationship between New World‘s various weapons and attributes in the sections above, here’s a quick rundown of which attributes impact which weapons:
*Note: Stats are listed in order of how much they benefit each weapon
Great Axe – Strength
Warhammer – Strength
Hatchet – Strength, Dexterity
Sword – Strength, Dexterity
Spear – Dexterity, Strength
Bow – Dexterity
Rapier – Dexterity, Intelligence
Musket – Dexterity, Intelligence
Life Staff – Focus
Fire Staff – Intelligence
Ice Gauntlet – Intelligence
New World: Tank Stat Guide and Build Example
This won’t surprise many MMO fans, but Tanks in New World depend on Strength and Constitution. While you can spend a few points in Dexterity if you’re looking to use a one-handed weapon more often, this is a pretty common “final” build for any Tank players who want to focus on using the Warhammer or Great Axe:
New World: Melee DPS Stat Guide and Build Example
You have a little flexibility to work with when it comes to melee DPS builds in New World due to the fact that certain melee weapons scale with Strength, Dexterity, or a combination of both. For instance, this is what a typical endgame Hatchet build will look like if you just want to focus on dealing as much raw damage as possible.
If you want to incorporate a little more Dexterity in order to benefit from those attribute bonuses, then you’re probably looking for a final build closer to this:
It’s ultimately advisable to focus on Strength over Dexterity in a lot of cases, but the actual divide depends on your preferences. In either case, be sure to invest at least 50 points in Constitution.
New World: Ranged DPS Stat Guide and Build Example
Your Ranged DPS build really depends on whether or not you’re using the Bow or the Musket and what your secondary weapon is. Generally speaking, though, you’ll want to pair the Bow and Musket with a weapon that also primarily depends on Dexterity (like a Spear or Rapier). If you choose to go with such weapon combos, then your final build will probably look like this:
What if you want to run a Hatchet or Sword as your secondary weapon, though? Well, theoretically, you’ll want to spend more points on Strength, but I’d honestly still recommend going with the build above and taking the slight hit to your secondary weapon (at least until you get Strength bonuses through gear). Otherwise, take 50 points away from Dexterity and spend it on Strength.
New World: Magic DPS Stat Guide and Build Example
If you plan on running the Fire Staff/Ice Gauntlet combo we’ve previously recommended, you’re going to want to devote the vast majority of your attribute points to Intelligence. In fact, your final build will probably end up looking something like this:
Realistically, though, you’re probably going to want to pair the Fire Staff with a traditional melee weapon while leveling and then just respec to an Intelligence-heavy build later in the game. I generally don’t recommend sticking with a Fire Staff/melee weapon build for the late game, but if you want to run the Fire Staff with a Hatchet, Spear, or Sword, then just take 50 points away from Intelligence, put them towards Strength or Dexterity, and try to make up the difference with your gear.
You can also spend transfer your Constitution points to Focus for better mana regeneration, but your Weapon skills and gear should make up the difference in that department by the time you reach the late game. In any case, you probably want to have at least 100 points in Intelligence by the time you reach level 60.
New World: Healer Stat Guide and Build Example
As you may have guessed based on the information above, New World‘s healers will probably end up putting most of their points into Focus. In fact, there’s a strong case to be made for just putting all 190 leveling attribute points into Focus.
Realistically, though, it’s fine to spend 50 points on Constitution just to be safe, especially since you’ll be getting so many Focus points through your gear. Here’s what that build looks like:
If you’re going to pair your Life Staff with a melee weapon, Dexterity weapons like the Spear and Rapier are probably preferable to Strength weapons due to the dodge bonus you eventually get with Dexterity. While it’s still probably not worth devoting points to Dexterity or Strength over Focus and Constitution, you could always experiment a bit and devote 50 points to Strength or Dexterity.
More likely, though, you’re going to want to pair the Life Staff with an Ice Gauntlet. It might be worth spending some points on Intelligence in the event that you want to use your Ice Gauntlet as a weapon more often, but I’d say it makes more sense to just get the extra Intelligence points from your gear instead.
I also feel like there’s an interesting theorycraft opportunity out there for a Life Staff/Fire Staff user, but that’s a topic for another day…