What is the focus of the Catacombs DPS Build in New World?

The Catacombs DPS Build focuses on delivering high clump damage and critical debuffs in a three-player team, using a Hatchet and Spear to maximize damage output and support team synergy in the procedurally generated Catacombs.

What mainhand weapon should I use for the Catacombs DPS Build?

Equip a Hatchet with Keen Berserk, Vicious, and Refreshing Move perks. Suitable named options include Duneborn Hook with Refreshing Move or Sin with Keen Berserk.

What is the offhand weapon for this build?

Use a Spear with Enfeebling Skewer and Distained Infliction, Vicious, Rogue, Attunement, or Sundering Stacks. Alternatively, use Venom with Enfeebling Skewer if not using Sin.

How should I allocate attributes for the Catacombs DPS Build?

Set attributes to Strength 350, Dexterity (fill the rest), Intelligence 25, Focus 25, and Constitution 25.

What armor perks and gear should I prioritize?

Prioritize armor perks: Enchanted Ward (x4-5), Refreshing (x4), Weapon Perks (Refreshing Torrent, Fortifying Perforate), Empowering Breaker, Mortal Power, and Mortal Lifesteal.

What jewelry should I choose for this build?

Select a Protection Amulet matching the activity’s damage type with Health, Protection, and Empowered perks. Use a Ring with Hearty, Keen Awareness, and Leeching perks. Equip an Earring with Nimble, Refreshing Toast, and Empowering Toast perks.

Which Heartrune is best for this build?

Use Cunning Heartrune of The Devourer (extra CC with DoT), Brutal Heartrune of The Devourer (small CC with burst damage), or Brutal Heartrune of Grasping Vines (root with Rend).

What buffs and trophies should I use for Catacombs?

For Angry Earth enemies, apply: 3x Major Angry Earth Trophies (15% Angry Earth Damage), Infused Angry Earth Coating (15% Angry Earth Damage), Infused Angry Earth Ward (10% less damage from Angry Earth), Powerful Honing Stone (7% Empower), Desert Sunrise (25% reduced DoT duration), and +48 food. Use Ultimate Combat Trophies for leaderboard performance. Aim for 5 buffs above your health bar.

What is the combat rotation for the Catacombs DPS Build?

Follow this sequence: 1. Use Sweep, 2. Use Skewer, 3. Use Perforate, 4. Activate Berserk, 5. Perform 3-4 light attacks (3 for clumps, 4 for single targets), 6. Use Rending Throw, 7. Perform 3-4 light attacks, 8. Use Raging Torrent. Swap to Spear for debuffs when Berserk is on cooldown and Skewer/Perforate are available.

What are some tips for optimizing this build?

Avoid relying on Defy Death. Maximize debuffs with Sin and Hatchet skill tree. Ensure at least one player extracts for loot. Use Raging Torrent with Refreshing Torrent perk to reduce Berserk cooldown. Choose Against All Odds over Accumulated Power for increased base damage. Use Sweep for crowd control. Use the Empower Calculator to track your 74% Empower total (capped at 50%) from Berserk, Mortal Power, Empowering Toast, Powerful Honing Stone, Leadership, and Oblivion. Refer to New World Buddy and the terminology guide for support.

Catacombs Hatchet DPS Build - New World Season 10

The Catacombs Hatchet DPS Build is a high-impact setup tailored for New World’s Catacombs, optimized for delivering high clump damage and critical debuffs in a three-player team. Built around a mainhand Hatchet with perks like Keen Berserk and an offhand Spear for applying Rend, Weaken, and crowd control with Sweep, this build maximizes damage output while supporting team synergy. Designed for a mix of enemies in the procedurally generated Catacombs, it leverages precise ability rotations, high Strength attributes, and carefully selected gear perks to dominate small-group encounters. Below, I detail the weapons, armor, jewelry, and gameplay strategies to excel with this DPS build. Updated for Season 10 of New World.

Additional Hatchet builds:

Gorgon

Catacombs

Weapons

Sin actually works very well since you will be the only member of the team using Keenly Jagged, but it cannot use a Gem if you use Keen Berserk, although your max damage uptime does not depend on you being at full health, so depending on how much you take damage it feels very competitive with a Hatchet that can have Keen Berserk on it.

Mainhand

Sin with:
Keenly Jagged
Vicious

Alternative
Hatchet with:
Keen Berserk
Vicious

Offhand

Spear with:
Enfeebling Skewer
Vicious/Rogue
Attunement/Sundering Stacks

Skill Tree

With a mainhand Hatchet, Keen Berserk is the most important ability so you have more time at Empower Cap. With an optimized team, there is no need to take Accumulated Power on Hatchet, so you can opt for the increased Base Damage from Against All Odds. With only 3 players in Catacombs it will be more important to have multiple sources of Crowd Control, which is why we take Sweep instead of Cyclone on Spear. With spear as an offhand, there is no need for Refreshing Jabs, so we can replace it with Deep Wound upgrade on Skewer.

Attributes

Strength	350
Dexterity	[fill the rest]
Intelligence	25
Focus	25
Constitution	25

Armor

Prioritize armor perks in the following order:

Weapon Perks
- Keen Berserk
- Enfeebling Skewer
- Compounding Torrent
- Compounding Perforate
Gem Socket on each armor piece
Offensive Sockets to fill the gaps
Fixed perks, anything that’s not Conditioning works

Jewelry

Pick the best Protection amulet that matches the most common damage you will be taking in the activity you are in. Elemental Band works, but this build does not benefit from the Infix.

Amulet Perks:
Protection
Well-Being
Leeching
Keenly Fortified
Divine

Ring Perks:
Enchanted Totality
Critical Infliction
Keen
Leeching
Offensive Socket

Earring Perks:
Beloved
Refreshing Move
Leeching
Offensive Socket
Defensive Socket

Heartrune

Cunning Heartrune of The Devourer – extra CC with DoT damage

Brutal Heartrune of The Devourer – small CC with higher burst damage

Brutal Heartrune of Grasping Vines – root with Rend

Typical Buffs and Trophies

You should ideally have 5 buffs above your health bar, and Major trophies at each of your 3 houses matching the enemy type you are facing. Since Catacombs can use enemies from all over New World, it’s highly recommended to have Ultimate Combat Trophies if you are looking to get on the leaderboards. For example:

3x Major Angry Earth Trophies – 3×5%(15%) Angry Earth Damage
Infused Angry Earth Coating – 15% Angry Earth Damage
Infused Angry Earth Ward – take 10% less damage from Angry Earth enemies
Powerful Honing Stone – 7% Empower
Desert Sunrise – reduce duration of incoming DoTs by 25%
+48 food

How to Play

Sweep
Skewer
Perforate
Berserk
light attack x3-4
Rending Throw
light attack x3-4
Torrent

Without Accumulated Power on Hatchet, you can extend the amount of light attacks between Hatchet abilities to 4 for single targets. But for clumps stick with 3 light attacks.

When Berserk is done, and Skewer AND Perforate are back up you can swap back to Spear to apply debuffs again. If Berserk is still on cooldown, try to get in hits with Refreshing Torrent to get Berserk up faster.

Empower details

Berserk	20%
Mortal Aggression	7.8%
Powerful Honing Stone	7%
Leadership (team)	10%
Oblivion (team)	15%
Total	59.8%

Empower is capped at 50%, but having more than 50% can help you manage to stay at cap at all times. To know where your current Empower total stands, check out the Empower Calculator.

The Empower details here assumes at a minimum your Tank is using a Sword and Shield with Leadership, and the healer is using a Void Gauntlet with Oblivion.

Tips to remember

Optimal Hatchet DPS builds do not rely on Defy Death, so do not count on surviving lethal damage when Berserk is up.

The more debuffs the enemy has, the more damage you do to them from both the Hatchet Skill Tree and from Sin.

Play smart, since in order to get loot from Catacombs at least 1 player needs to successfully extract from the game mode.

Build made using the free tools at New World Buddy.

For unfamiliar terms, please refer to our terminology guide.

Catacombs Hatchet DPS Build – New World Season 10