Build Introduction

The War Priest Build for New World is a Heavy Armor, War Hammer and Life Staff combo that offers a balanced approach to gameplay, including Massive AOE and Single-Target Damage, plus amazing Healing and Survivability. This build can solo multiple enemies at once and can even handle enemies above the player’s own level, elite mobs and bosses!

Best Attributes

The core attribute needed for the War Priest is going to be Strength. Strength in New World is the primary attribute for the War Hammer, letting your basic attacks and skills do as much damage as possible. Maxing out your Strength also unlocks many powerful melee passives including increased light attack and heavy attack damage.

Putting points into Constitution is also recommended for increasing your Maximum Health, especially early on in the game. Having at least 50 points in Constitution results a fantastic healing perk great for all builds that increases the effectiveness of your potions. Eventually, you will want at least 100 Constitution for the bonus Health Perk as well.

As a secondary Attribute, some Focus will also be useful for improving the healing potential of this build. An alternate method of setting up this build also involves investing primarily into Focus as your main stat and then slotting an Amber Gem into your War Hammer to convert a portion of the damage to Nature Damage.

Armor Choices

New World has a detailed Armor Weight and Equip Load system. For increased survivability and defense in the game your best choice by far will be Heavy Armor for every piece on your character. Heavy Armor pieces in New World have the best overall Physical and Elemental Resistance ratings, letting us stand our ground for longer and against larger groups of enemies.

Heavy Armor builds have the following passive bonuses in New World.

Heavy Equip Load

• 15% Bonus Block Stability
• 20% Bonus Crowd Control Duration
• Shortest Dodge Distance: the Dodge Slide
• Highest Physical and Elemental Resistance

As you can see, Heavy Armor passives are perfect for absorbing damage due to the increased Block Stability. You will also benefit greatly from the maxed out Resistances. The main downside to using Heavy Armor in New World is that your Healing and Damage is decreased, however we can mitigate this to a large degree through Skills, Attributes and Perks.

Armor Attributes

Remember, when looking for gear pieces for this build try to find those with a bonus to the Strength Attribute. Some additional armor pieces with Focus or Constitution will be fine as well.

Armor Sets

Some Armor Sets you will want to look for include the Soldier set if you want to take a Strength-based approach or the Sage if you want to take the Focus-based approach.

Primary Weapon

The Primary Weapon for the War Priest Build is the War Hammer. This weapon allows for massive AOE and single-target damage as well as great crowd control and passive healing.

For the recommended Gem on this build, Cut Emeralds do very well. Emeralds give your attacks a significant bonus when the enemy drops below 30% Health, which is great for finishing off opponents faster.

More information on Emerald Gems can be found here.

Secondary Weapon

The Secondary Weapon for this Build is going to be the Life Staff. This weapon is a fantastic choice for any solo build in New World due to its many heal over time effects that will continually heal your character, even after switching back to the War Hammer.

War Hammer Skills

The War Hammer Skills we’ve selected for this build are centered around big AOE Damage and Crowd Control.

Click each skill name below to learn more about that skill and its upgrades or dive into our complete New World War Hammer Guide.

Skill #3

Life Staff Skills

The Life Staff skills we’ve selected for this build allow for amazing Area Effect healing over time, keeping us alive in difficult encounters.

Click each skill name below to learn more about that skill and its upgrades or dive into our complete New World Life Staff Guide.

Skill #3

Combat Basics

Damage

Usually it’s best to start with a Heavy Attack to enabled the Empower buff, then follow up with Shockwave for the stun and debuff on enemies. From there, another Heavy Attack to charge up Empower again, followed by Clear Out and then more Heavy Attacks. If facing enemies you can use Path Of Destiny for some solid AOE damage and healing.

Healing

To effectively Solo tougher enemies and survive on this build you will need to utilize all of your Life Staff healing Skills. Start a fight by casting by Orb Of Protection and Beacon on an enemy for the heal over time effect. Next, switch to the War Hammer and begin using your active skills which also heal you back for a percentage of the damage dealt once you’ve unlocked the Prevailing Spirit Passive. You can then switch back to the Life Staff and use Orb Of Protection combined with Sacred Ground.

Important Passives

Passive Skills in New World are extremely important! The more passives you unlock, the more  potential damage, healing and survivability your character has access to.

War Hammer

• Prevailing Spirit
• Hammer Time
• Hardened Steel
• Contemption
• Quick Recovery
• Power Through Pain
• Epitome Of Bonk!
• Outnumbered

Life Staff

• Absolved
• Desperate Speed
• Enchanted Justice
• Intensify
• Bend Light
• Protector’s Touch
• Protector’s Strength
• Balance

Consumables

Food

You’ll want to start this build off with a basic food option such as Light Rations or Travel Rations. This food is helpful at all times, whether you are in a group or playing Solo as it slowly restores your Health over time. Keep in mind you can also consume this food for a faster heal over time for a few seconds if you are not getting hit.

Potions

For Potions, Weak Health Potions will be fine at first, but you will eventually want to upgrade these to Common Health Potions and Strong Health Potions. Strong Health Potions especially can be a real life saver.

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