Spear Hatchet Dive PvP Build for New World

A build with this weapon combination enables an incredibly strong kit that will allow you to dive into backlines and have some of the best survivability in the game because of your Hatchet. This build emphasizes crowd-control combos to take on one target at a time. You are highly mobile and can do fantastic burst damage in light or medium variants of this build.

There are two versions of this build:

• Option 1: Light Armor - This has high burst damage and more mobility.
• Option 2: Medium Armor - This will focus on survivability but still has incredibly high burst potential. It is not commonly played, but is more of a bruiser option.

• Javelin — This is a ranged ability that does a significant amount of damage. It scales its damage based on the distance it is thrown, but it is a powerful close range CC tool that will knock a player down and enable a plethora of combos.
• Skewer — This is a high damage ability that also applies a bleed. It has some subtle mobility that will lunge to the targets, making it easy to chase.
• Vault Kick — This stun will be paramount in crowd-control combinations. It provides you withn enough time to reposition behind a target to quickly burst them down, or enable a follow-up CC ability.

• Sweep — This provides an AoE crowd-control ability that knocks a player down and can be followed up with a downward stab that counts as a heavy attack. This is a strong from of CC that does not count toward diminishing returns since it knocks the target on the ground. Use this if you are not confident in using Javelin.

• Feral Rush — This ability is perfect for targets who are trying to escape, or quick bursts of mobility. You will leap and hit a target in the back for a large burst of damage, root them, and slow them if you have its perk. This can also be used to escape abilities like Gravity Well.
• Berserk — In PvP, this can be used to get out of crowd-control, even stuns. This will also provide movement speed and free healing in addition to its damage increase.
• Social Distancing — This is mobility that can be used to escape roots or other crowd-control. But it can also be used to root players who are attempting to escape.

This split allows you to take advantage of the 200 Strength passive which increases damage on targets affected by crowd-control. If you prefer, you could go with 200 Dexterity to increase backstab damage. If you scale with Dexterity you will have higher sheet damage, but the passive from Strength will be more potential effective damage. You will want to scale both attributes to get the highest possible damage.

Alternatively, you can scale completely to 300 Dexterity and go 200 Constitution, or stay at 150 and go with 50 Strength. The 300 Dexterity passive guarantees a critical hit, but only applies every 10 seconds.

Slot	Perks	Gem	Weight	Attribute	Source
Spear	Vicious Keenly Empowered Attunement Perk or Chain Damage Perk	Runeglass of Ignited Opal**	-	Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Hatchet	Vicious Keenly Empowered Attunement Perk or Chain Damage Perk	Runeglass of Ignited Opal**	-	Strength	Crafted/BoE
Helmet	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light or Heavy	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Chest	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Cut Pristine Onyx	Medium or Heavy	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Gloves	Ability Perk* or Refreshing** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light or Medium	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Pants	Refreshing or Freedom*** Resilient Shirking Energy	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Boots	Ability Perk* or Refreshing** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion**	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light or Medium	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Amulet	Health Stamina Recovery Slash Protection	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Ring (Light)	Mortal Empowerment Thrust Damage Hearty	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Ring (Medium)	Mortal Empowerment Thrust Damage Third Perk	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Earring	Refreshing Toast Purifying Toast Refreshing***	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Strength or Constitution	Crafted/BoE

*: The ability perks you need to make sure are in your build are Sundering Javelin, Crippling Feral Rush, Keen Vault Kick and Enfeebling Skewer. You may also use Bleeding Sweep as an optional perk. If you do not use a perk, fill that slot with a viable defensive passive.

**: Your Opal Runeglass on your weapons can be any variation of elemental damage, the same goes for your Attunement and Chain Damage perks. It is best practice to match your Attunement or Chain with the type of DoT damage your Opal does.

***: Freedom, Elemental Aversion, and Refreshing, are all viable options. When using Freedom you should stack 3 or 5 times. Any combination of these perks is viable.

For more specific information on optimizing your gems in PvP and PvE please refer to our dedicated guides.

This will increase physical damage dealt by a flat percent, but it has an internal cooldown attached to it. This means that if you swing two light attacks, only every other swing will have the damage increase. This drastically reduces its effectiveness over time, whereas you could just take normal defensive gems to increase survivability. It can be worth it to put 1-3 of this Runeglass in your gear, but never use a complete set of 5 Punishing Runeglass

When you are looking to have higher damage output and burst down multiple targets within a clump should use Brutal Heartrune of Detonate. You just need to play safely after activating it.

If you are wanting to push through choke points, doorways, or want a more defensive option, Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform is great to have some independent burst healing if you do not have a healer. For max defensiveness, Cunning Heartrune of Stoneform is the better option.

Your Heartrune will be used similarly in PvP and PvE scenarios. As such, please refer to our Spear guide or Hatchet guide for tips on how it can be used most effectively.

• Open on a target with Javelin if they are a farther distance away.
• Open on a target with Vault Kick if they are in melee range.
• Dodge and use Vault Kick or Javelin (Whichever you did not open with) to get cooldown reset.
• Dodge and use Skewer from behind the target.
• If it is available, repeat this rotation again, starting with either Javelin or Vault Kick.
• Light attack whenever all abilities are on cooldown or you can sneak in quick damage.
• If the target escapes, swap to Hatchet and attempt an animation cancel with Berserk immediately into a Feral Rush.
• If the target successfully escapes, attempt to use Social Distancing to root them and catch up.
• Swap to Hatchet if you are about to die to use Defy Death. Also swap and use Berserk to escape CC.

When using the Spear or Hatchet in PvP and PvE there are many similar aspects that go into gameplay decisions and rotations. To learn more about how you can improve your gameplay, use certain secondary weapons, or additional information on specific abilities, please refer to the Gameplay section of the Spear page or Hatchet page.

For more information on the most frequently asked Spear or Hatchet questions please refer to the FAQ section of the Greatsword, or Hatchet, for answers on PvP and PvE topics!