New World Great Axe build: Skills, Mastery tree, passives

Amazon’s new MMORPG is finally here, and there’s been a lot of content for players to check out and weapons to obtain. The Great Axe is one of the premier two-handed weapons in New World, but it might take some time to get!

Like any other MMO such as World of Warcraft, there’s a ton of items you can obtain in the game, and most of these have some sort of mastery tree that players can level through.

For the Great Axe, though, you’ll need to unlock it first before being able to utilize its Mastery Tree. With that said, here is how you can achieve the best Great Axe build in New World.

The Great Axe is one of the strongest two-handed weapons within New World.

What is the Great Axe in New World?

The Great Axe is a two-handed weapon, perfect for both Tank and DPS roles that focuses on Strength.

While you may want to dabble in the Great Axe class, there’re some notable characteristics and branches you can take with the Mastery Tree to make this two-handed weapon shine even more.

New World Great Axe build mastery trees

Once you have chosen the Great Axe weapon class, you will have the choice of venturing into one of two mastery trees. These are outlined in New World as the following.

Mastery Tree	Description
Mauler	The Mauler weapon mastery tree focuses on high damage and multi-hit abilities to hack and slash your way through your foes.
Reaper	The Reaper weapon mastery tree focuses on crowd control and escape prevention. These skills will help you control the flow of the battle while your allies dispatch those who have caught in your grasp.

Making sure to choose the right abilities can be the difference between life or death.

Best Great Axe skills

Skill	What it Does
Charge	Charge 10 meters dealing 120% weapon damage when you reach a target or press LMB. This ability grants Unstoppable, preventing you from being interrupted.
Reap	Extend your axe 5 meters, pulling foes towards you and dealing 110% weapon damage.
Maelstrom	Fast-spinning attack that pulls enemies closer to you and deals 110% weapon damage.
Gravity Well	Creates a vortex that pulls foes to its center for 3s. Ends with a damaging Burst dealing 125% weapon damage. Range 10m.

Charge: Charge is an absolute must as a tank with the Great Axe due to its slower speed, giving you that extra momentum you need without being interrupted to deliver those killing blows.
Reap: Taking this skill will allow you to pull your enemies towards you, which is incredibly useful to get any DPS-based foes away from your Ranged part members.
Maelstrom: Similar to Reap, this will also bring your enemies closer to you to take the heat off of your party. The bonus, however, is that it’s a fast-spinning attack – dealing more damage in less time.
Gravity Well: This skill is especially useful in PvP. It allows you to trap enemies, which is perfect for an ambush as well if you want to group enemies together to inflict shared damage.

Best Great Axe passives

To truly make the most of the two-handed weapon and its skills, we’d recommend taking perks such as Blood Lust, Death’s Embrace, Feed & Frustration.

Blood Lust: Grants a fantastic 30% speed increase coupled with 15% higher damage when enemies are 15 meters in front of you.
Death’s Embrace: Amplifies both damage and armor penetration with enemies below 50% health.
Feed: Perfect for keeping your health topped up, this heals you for 10% of the damage dealt when attacking an enemy below 30% health.
Frustration: Increases your damage by 15% for 10 seconds after one of your attacks is blocked.

Best Great Axe PvP & PvE build

For players looking for a solid all-rounded Great Axe build in New World, then we’ve got you covered.

Whether you’re in PvP or PvE, we recommend you use these skills:

Charge
Maelstrom
Gravity Well

Charge is both good in PvP and PvE as it allows you to close long distances faster while also doing 120% weapon damage. Maelstrom has a fast cast time compared to similar Great Axe abilities. This allows you to deal damage very quickly and efficiently to enemies.

Gravity well slows all enemies inside its vortex, which is most useful in PvP encounters as this gives you the opportunity to catch up to enemies while they are vulnerable.

To round off the best New World Great Axe build, we recommend using any of these passives:

Blood Lust
Death’s Embrace
Feed
Frustration
Mauler’s Resolve
No Reprieve
Unyielding

So, there you have it. That’s everything you need to know about the best Great Axe build and mastery tree in New World.

Looking to become the best adventurer the island of Aeternum has seen? Check out our weapon guides: