New World Equip Load System

Equip Load In New World

The Equipment Load system in New World defines your character as light, medium or heavy based on their equipped armor weight and then gives you bonuses based on that type.

For example, with mostly light pieces of armor equipped and perhaps one medium piece, your build will fall into the light Equip Load category.

Each category of Equipment Load in New World provides different benefits and drawbacks:

  • Light – grants you 20% increased damage, 30% increased healing, and gives you the best form of dodge possible: the roll dodge.
  • Medium – grants you 10% bonus damage, 15% bonus healing, as well as a 10% bonus to crowd control durations and turns your dodge into a quick hop instead of a roll.
  • Heavy – grants no bonus damage or healing, but does offer a 15% bonus to block and a 20% longer duration to crowd control effects. Heavy builds have the weakest type of dodge in the game which is a basic sidestep.

How Equip Load Is Calculated In New World

Your character’s Equip Load is based on the combined weight of your equipped armor and shield.

  • Light Range: 0-13 total weight
  • Medium Range: 13-23 total weight
  • Heavy Range: 23-50 total weight

You can easily track your character’s Equip Load weight by reviewing the scale next to their equipped items in the Inventory view:

Best Light Armor Equip Load

The weight limit for Light Armor builds in New World is 13.0. To get the best possible physical and elemental resistance while still remaining in the Light Armor category, players should use:

  • Medium Chest
  • Light Helm
  • Light Gloves
  • Light Legs
  • Light Boots

Best Medium Armor Equip Load

The weight limit for Medium Armor builds in New World is 23.0. To get the best possible physical and elemental resistance while still remaining in the Medium Armor category, players should use:

  • Heavy Chest
  • Light Helm
  • Medium Legs
  • Medium Boots or Gloves
  • Light Boots or Gloves (whichever piece is not medium should be light)

Best Heavy Armor Equip Load

Builds with an Equip Load of 23.0 or above fall into the Heavy Equip Load Category. To get the best possible physical and elemental resistance while in this category players should aim to equip all 5 pieces of Heavy Armor. There is no benefit to equipping light or medium pieces at this point.

Light Armor Benefits in New World

Light Armor is for Glass Canon style builds that want to maximize their offensive potential. The primary benefits of using Light Armor in New World include:

  • 20% Bonus Damage
  • 30% Bonus Healing
  • You can use a Dodge Roll, which covers great distances

The downside to Light Armor is that you will have very low resistances to both Physical and Elemental Damage, meaning any time you do get hit it will hurt!

Light Armor Dodge Roll.

Medium Armor Benefits in New World

Medium Armor in New World is a balanced option between more damage and healing combined with decent armor resistances.

Medium Armor builds in New World gain:

  • 10% Bonus Damage
  • 15% Bonus Healing
  • 10% Bonus to Crowd Control Durations
  • Dodge is a short hop

Medium Armor builds are also able to increase their armor significantly beyond that of Light Armor builds by equipping a Heavy Armor chest piece for greater resistances.

The main downside to Medium Armor is that your damage and healing will be 10% less than that of a Light Armor build. You also will have lower Elemental and Physical Resistances compared to a Heavy Armor build.

Medium Armor “Dodge Hop”

Heavy Armor Benefits in New World

Heavy Armor in New World is the most defensive option in the game which makes it perfect for Tanking or increased survival in PVP.

The main benefits to a Heavy Armor Equip Load in New World are:

  • 15% Bonus to Block Stability
  • 10% Bonus to Crowd Control Durations

Heavy Armor also has the highest Physical and Elemental Armor ratings per piece in the game helping to greatly reduce your overall incoming damage. If you choose to become a Heavy Armor Build in New World it will be important to wear 5 full pieces of Heavy Armor to maximize those Armor values. Wearing a Medium or Heavy piece once you cross over into Heavy Equip Load has no benefit and only reduces your potential Armor Rating.

The main downside to Heavy Armor is that your damage and healing will be the lowest of all builds in New World. This is due to the lack of any bonus damage or healing modifiers from the Equip Load system. Another downside is lack of Mobility as your Dodge becomes a simple sidestep.

Heavy Armor “Dodge Slide” AKA Side Step

Best Light Armor Builds for New World

Light Armor builds for New World will excel in Mobility, Damage AND Healing, making them a very potent option for both PVE and PVP content. Below are some of our favorite Light Armor Builds.

Rapier / Musket Solo Build: Duelist

Play as the Ultimate Musketeer with this Rapier / Musket combo. Perfect for Solo PVE and PVP Combat in New World!

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Bow / Hatchet Solo Build: Hunter

Easy ONE-SHOT Kills plus MASSIVE Melee Damage! This Bow / Hatchet Build for New World Can Do It ALL!

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Spear & Life Staff Solo Leveling Build: The Templar

Fantastic Passive Healing plus Great Damage and CC! This build can EASILY Solo most content in New World, even at LOW Levels!

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Best Medium Armor Builds for New World

Medium Armor builds in New World offer an excellent combination of damage and healing along with increased surviability. Medium Armor builds can’t heal or damage quite as well as Light Armor Builds, but their increased Armor Ratings, including the ability to wear some Heavy Armor pieces make them a very balanced option. Below are some of our favorite Medium Armor Builds.

Life Staff / Ice Gauntlet Healer Build: Frost Cleric

Great Group Healing and Crowd Control make this the Perfect Healer Build for Expeditions and Group content in New World!

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Sword And Shield / Great Axe Build: Brawler

This build offers a great combination of AOE damage, crowd control, defense, and mobility, letting you stand up to multiple enemies at once with ease.

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Hatchet / Great Axe DPS Build: Mauler

Kill Things FAST With This Extremely EASY DPS Build For New World Using Great Axe And Hatchet.

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Best Heavy Armor Builds for New World

Heavy Armor Builds in New World provide the highest Armor Ratings possible in the game while also having significantly lower damage and healing as compared to Light or Medium Armor. However, the extra protection, block stability and crowd control bonuses make Heavy Armor ideal for tanking, Solo PVE or Large-Scale PVP content. Below are some of our favorite Heavy Armor Builds.

Hatchet / Life Staff Build: Immortal Warrior

The Ultimate Solo Build For New World With Strong Damage And Even Better Healing and Defense!

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Sword And Shield / Hatchet Tank Build: META TANK

The EASY Meta Tank Build for New World Group Content! Great Defense, Healing and AOE Taunts!

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Sword And Shield / Fire Staff Solo Build: Battlemage

The Heavy Armor, Frontline Fighter that specializes in AOE Slash and Burn Damage, Defense and Self-Healing.

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War Hammer / Life Staff PVE & PVP Build: War Priest

The AOE King! Massive Damage combined with amazing defense and self-heals!

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Hack The Minotaur (HTM) is a professional Gaming Blogger and Youtube Creator with decades of experience in Gaming. Hack is the owner of HackTheMinotaur.com - an Elder Scrolls focused site for character builds and guides, and now RPGDOJO.com - your source for upcoming RPG news, builds, guides and more!

Hack loves gaming content, particularly Traditional RPG's, Action RPG's and MMO's. Go check out his YouTube Channel for even more builds and guides on popular series like the Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Cyberpunk and make sure to check out his social media for updates on what content is coming next!

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