Does anyone else think it’s weird that the logo for New World appears to be dual hatchets, but the game doesn’t allow for the dual-wielding of hatchets at all? Think about it. It’d fit within the theme of the berserker/reaver that the weapon mastery features. It’d give something to do to your off-hand, which currently when wielding a hatchet in your main hand, does nothing. Seriously, your left hand will just be empty and functionless, whilst you wield a single hatchet with your right hand. So weird.
Apart from this oddity, the weapon is actually extremely potent, especially in the PvP sphere of the game. This is, of course, the weapon mastery series wherein we cover the weapons to be found within Amazon’s New World from our experience with the beta, so that you can have a clear outline of what you’d like your character to look like when the game launches. This is part five and we’re covering hatchets, but if you’re unfamiliar with the series I highly recommended having a look at previous entries, as we’ve already covered a variety of weapons and build options for your character for when the game releases soon.
Over the course of the series, we’ll be looking at every weapon type that is available and how to accentuate them with your statistical decisions. So, if we haven’t covered your preferred weapon or character archetype yet, fear not! I’m going to do them all!
If you’re not sure how weapon mastery will work in the New World, or you haven’t had a chance to play the beta, well it works as the name might suggest. The more that you use a specific weapon like Hatchets, for example, the more proficient your character will become with them and you’ll get to choose perks from the weapon’s two skills trees. As you gain more weapon mastery levels, you get more perks. Some will be skills to use with your weapon, some will be passives that augment or change how your character functions whilst wielding that weapon.
With that out of the way, let’s look into how you can build your character to take the fullest advantage of wielding your little axe buddy. Hatchets gain potency the higher your Strength stat is, but your dexterity will also contribute. Meaning that if you have invested somewhat in Dexterity for the benefit of your secondary weapon, or have naturally gotten some Dexterity through your gear, your hatchet will also benefit just not as much as investing purely in Strength. The archetype also benefits from investing in Constitution in general, as you’re going to be in the thick of the fight, regardless of whether you’re throwing or slashing.
With recommendations on your secondary weapon, I’d probably avoid a pulling weapon that requires Intelligence or Dexterity and double down on strength instead. I say this because the Hatchet can serve as your pulling weapon and your main damage dealer in one. You can use your hatchet skills for positioning, pulling, and debuffs, before swapping to a close-quarter melee weapon that struggles with the benefits that the hatchet provides.
Start checking out the weapon mastery guides here!
As such, I’m going to recommend the Great Axe for your secondary weapon. You can deal heavy damage, but you’re going to need the hatchet for pulling, positioning yourself, evading, and applying some debuffs, before you swap over to its slow, heavy-hitting big brother. The benefit here is that they both mainly rely on Strength, so you can focus your attributes and gear into a single stat rather than spreading yourself thin.
Lastly, we’re going to look at the skill trees within the hatchet weapon mastery. The leftmost is referred to as “Berserker” and it focuses more on getting in the thick of the fight and dealing out heavy damage in melee range. The rightmost tree is referred to as “Throwing”, and as the name suggests, this tree focuses on ranged attacks and inducing powerful debuffs.
We’re going to take a look at the active abilities of the Berserker skill tree first, and then the augmentations that you can select along with those actives, before swapping over to the Throwing tree and doing the same, and then going over the passives for both of those trees:
Berserker
Active Skill 1: Berserk
Triggers Berserk mode which increases all attack damage by 20.0% whilst active. Lasts for 15.0 seconds.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds
Berserk Augments:
On the Hunt
Increases movement speed by 20.0% whilst Berserk mode is active.
Berserking Refresh
Whilst Berserk mode is active, gain health back every 5.0 seconds. The longer Berserk is active, the more health is gained by each increment.
Berserking Purge
Activating Berserk mode removes all CC.
Uninterruptible Berserk
Whilst Berserk mode is active, all attacks and uninterruptible and you cannot be staggered.
Active Skill 2: Feral Rush
Sprint forward, and deliver a leaping melee attack that hits twice. The first slash deals 115.0% weapon damage and the second deals 130.0%.
Feral Rush Augments:
Dispatch
If the target hit is below 30.0% health, both Feral Rush attacks deal 20.0% more damage.
Crippling Strikes
If Feral Rush hits a target from behind, it causes root, forcing the target to be immobile for 2.0 seconds.
Active Skill 3: Raging Torrent
Quickly perform four attacks that each deal 90.0% weapon damage.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds
Raging Torrent Augments:
Aggressive Approach
Hitting any enemy with Raging Torrent grants you haste, increasing movement speed by 20.0% for 6.0 seconds.
Final Blow
Using light attack at the end of the Raging Torrent animation makes the player strike an additional final blow, dealing 120.0% weapon damage.
Throwing
Active Skill 1: Rending Throw
Throw your axe and deal 110.0% weapon damage to the target hit, applying rend which reduces the target’s damage absorption by 10.0% for 10.0 seconds.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds
Rending Throw Augments:
Targeted Impact
Rend reduction increased to 15.0% if the target hit is further than 8.0 meters away.
Opportunistic
If the target enemy already has any active debuff, Rending Throw will deal an additional 20.0% damage.
Second Wind
If the target enemy already has any active debuff, Rending Throw will have its cooldown reduced by 20.0% on hit.
Active Skill 2: Social Distancing
Throw your axe forward and your body backward. The axe deals 130.0% weapon damage and slows the target hit by 15.0% for 3.0 seconds.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds
Social Distancing Augments:
Quick Power
Movement speed increased by 30.0% for 3.0 seconds if the target hit with Social Distancing has any active debuff.
Stay Back
Slow increased to 25.0% for 4.0 seconds.
Active Skill 3: Infected Throw
Throw your infected axe, which deals 150.0% weapon damage and debuffs the target with Disease and weaken for 5.0 seconds.
The weakening reduces their damage done by 10.0% and the disease reduces their healing received by 30.0%.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds
Infected Throw Augments:
Mortal Power
Increase the duration of the disease and weaken to 8.0 seconds when hitting targets below 30.0% health.
Aerial Transmission
Creates a 3.0-meter AoE at axe landing that lasts for 3.0 seconds. Those caught inside the AoE are inflicted with disease.
Passives
Desperate Refresh
All cooldowns are reduced by 2.0% when hitting an enemy with any attack while you are below 30.0% health.
Enraged Strikes
If your target is below 30.0% health, light and heavy attacks will do 20.0% more damage.
Against All Odds
Increase base damage by 10.0% for every enemy within 5.0 meters.
Frenzied Purge
Hitting an enemy with any attack while you are below 30.0% health will remove all damage over time effects.
Cooldown: 60 Seconds
Accumulated Power
After three successful light attacks against the same enemy, gain 30.0% extra damage for 3.0 seconds or for your next attack within that frame.
Relentless Fury
After a successful heavy attack, gain 30.0% extra damage for 3.0 seconds or after 4 attacks.
Fortifying Strikes
Hitting the same target with three light attacks increases damage absorption by 15.0% for 3.0 seconds.
Defy Death
Survive after receiving lethal damage. HP will be locked at zero and the player will be immortal for 3.0 seconds.
Cooldown: 75 Seconds
Aimed Throw
Replaces block with an aimed axe attack that deals 95.0% weapon damage. Throwing consumes 20.0 stamina.
Refreshing Throw
Hatchets throwing against targets with any active debuff reduce your cooldowns by 5.0%.
Boot and Rally
Light attacks and aimed throws regenerate 10.0 stamina when hitting targets with any active debuff.
Exploitation
All attacks deal 15.0% extra damage against targets with any active debuff.
Adrenaline Rush
Dodging within 2 seconds of using an active consumes 25.0% less stamina.
Persistent Hindrance
Connecting with a thrown axe will extend all active hatchet debuffs on the target by 30.0%.
Critical Throw
Thrown axes are now able to cause headshot and random critical hits.
Critical Throw Augments:
On Fire
Every third hit with a throwing axe is a guaranteed critical hit.
Rejuvenating Criticals
Criticals from light attacks or thrown axes regenerated 10.0 stamina.
Closing
That just about wraps things up for our overview of the Hatchet mastery for Amazon’s new MMO, New World. We hope that you’ve found the information useful in planning out your character and hope to see you online! If you have any suggestions or comments, we’d love to hear from you on the MGN.gg blog, our YouTube channel, of course, the new MGN Twitter @MGN_TV, and our Discord – links for all of which can be found within the description of the video overview.
Read Next:
New World Weapon Mastery Guide Part 6 – the Bow
Credits
| Program | Founding Writers |
| Author | Luke Cowling |
| Publisher | MGN |
| Game | New World |