Bloodthirsty berserkers of Aeternum rejoice as we have the best New World Hatchet build queued up and ready to send you flying into the fray of battle.
New World’s impressive character creation system allows players to navigate the game in a variety of different ways, thanks to the lack of set classes.
But, without classes, weapons become all the more important to understand and master if you want to get the most bang for your buck.
For players that want to charge into battles, self-heal, and do loads of damage, the Hatchet might be the pick for you. Here’s our favorite New World Hatchet build, complete with a full Mastery Tree breakdown.
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New World Hatchet build
The Hatchet, whether being used for PvE or PvP, is one of the best overall weapon choices in New World thanks to its insane self-healing and high DPS output.
Playing with the Hatchet is one of the simpler tasks in all of Aeternum, almost as easy as cutting down a tree. Simply scream into your microphone, engage Berserker, and cut down whatever is in your path.
But, really, the Hatchet is an amazing Strength weapon that can help a player stay alive through difficult solo leveling, aid in any war, and be pesky through the game’s toughest Expeditions. It’s especially enabled when paired with another Strength weapon that can provide some stuns, like the Great Axe or War Hammer, seeing as the Hatchet can do very little in that department.
But, whatever you decide to pair this potent little weapon with, you need to make sure you’re getting the most out of the skills and passives in its Mastery Tree.
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Hatchet Mastery Trees
With your Hatchet drawn for what is maybe the first time, we need to slow down and examine what you’ll be spending those Weapon Mastery points on.
The Berserker and Throwing trees are very different, some of the most polarizing in the game, in fact. So, best to understand what each brings to the table as you look to build your character.
| Mastery Tree | Description |
| Berserker | The Berserker Mastery Tree is centered around its Berserk ability and is all about charging into the frontlines of battle while enraged. |
| Throwing | The Throwing Mastery Tree is about enabling the Hatchet’s range and enabling several possible debuffs to targets. |
Best Hatchet skills
| Skill | Description |
| Berserk | Triggers a Berserk Mode that increases all attack damage by 20% while active. Berserk Mode will be active for 12 seconds. Cooldown will trigger once Berserk ends. Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your hatchet, this ability causes an 8-second taunt to all enemies within 8 meters. (Taunt causes monsters to focus only on you.) |
| Feral Rush | A sprinting melee attack that causes the player to leap forward, hitting twice. The first hit deals 115% and the 2nd deals 130% weapon damage. |
| Raging Torrent | Perform four fast attacks each dealing 90% weapon damage. |
- Berserk: Berserk is the key to a solid Hatchet build. This ability runs for 12 seconds and can be paired with the other active abilities listed above to make you an absolute damage-dealing machine. Look to use this to open up just about every fight.
- Feral Rush: A great engage tool when in Berserk mode, Feral Rush is how you close the distance on foes that may be after an ally of yours or are simply farther away than you’d like. The attack can also do a significant amount of damage.
- Raging Torrent: This is the least exciting of the abilities and is simply a good way to get high damage out in quick succession. If you’d prefer to have a bit of Throwing in your kit, this would be the ability to drop.
Best Hatchet passives
Passives in the Hatchet Mastery Tree are best used to keep you alive, as your active abilities will cover much of the damage output on their own. With this in mind, we recommend unlocking Berserking Refresh, Fortifying Strikes, and Defy Death.
These will do wonders to keep you alive, despite whatever the odds may be, and can even bring you back from the grave if worst comes to worst.
- Berserking Refresh: While Berserk is active, gain a portion of your health back every 4 seconds to a max of 30% of max HP.
- Fortifying Strikes: Hitting the same target with 3 light attacks grants Fortify, increasing damage absorption by 15% for 3 seconds.
- Defy Death: When you receive lethal damage: Avoid death, reduce to 50 HP and gain immortality for 3 seconds. (75-second cooldown)
And, with that, you should have everything you need to get started using the Hatchet in New World. Make sure and take advantage of the game’s Respec feature before you hit weapon mastery level 10 so you can try out different combinations of abilities for free.
Or, if you’d prefer to try another weapon as you explore Aeternum, be sure and check out our other build guides!
Life Staff | Ice Gauntlet | Great Axe | Sword and Shield | Rapier | Bow | War Hammer | Musket | Spear | Fire Staff