In Season 10 of New World: Aeternum, it’s quite possible to make a Bow build that has burst damage so high that you can practically one shot things both in PvE and PvP!
The new and rebalanced Perks, combined with the changed gearing system, really make it possible to stack a lot of damage increases. Plus, the Bow can already make that even better, with its headshots.
If that sounds like your type of playstyle, read on for all the build details!
Best One Shot Bow Build for PvE & PvP | New World: Aeternum – Season 10
Weapon Combination – Bow + Hatchet

Obviously, the main star of this build is the Bow. But we’ll be pairing it with the Hatchet thanks to a specific skill that we’ll talk more about in a moment.
For now, though, here’s what your Attribute spread should look like at the level cap:
- STR – 50
- DEX – 456
- INT – 5
- FOC – 5
- CON – 19
The most important thing here is to make sure to use Banana Pudding food items. Those will make your DEX reach the maximum cap of 500, giving you the best damage and all buffs from DEX.
STR is there to supplement your damage slightly, mainly with the buff to heavy attacks at the 50 breakpoint. For CON, it’s honestly a bit of a dump stat here, but having 19 does mean you can hit the 50 breakpoint easily with food items.

Attributes aside, your weapon Skill Trees should look like the ones above. Most important here for the Hatchet is to just get Defy Death at the bottom of the Berserker tree. That is the Hatchet’s main purpose on this build.
Defy Death will allow you to cheat death once. It negates any hit that would deal lethal damage and restores your HP. That said, it has a 70-second cooldown, so you don’t become unkillable.
This is a pretty important Skill, because this build is geared entirely towards damage. You’ll be a glass cannon, so having Defy Death to fall back on can really help you survive in a pinch.
Aside from Defy Death, the Hatchet’s second purpose will be to provide buffs via its Perks. Which, on that note, it’s time to talk about gearing this build.
Gearing Recommendations
Weapon and Heartrune

Starting with your choice of Bow, you’ll want the Boltcaster. This is an Artifact Bow, you can get it from the Annoyed Aguascia boss in the Isle of Zurvan.
The Boltcaster’s unique Perk is Electrified. It converts 99% of its damage to pure Lightning damage, while also giving 20% more Lightning damage to basic attacks for both of your weapons.
This bow is essentially great for pure damage. It even comes with an empty Offense Charm socket for you to use a Perk on! We’ll talk more about the must-have Perks later on, but this will come in handy.

Speaking of, for your Hatchet, you can really just get any Legendary Hatchet. What you need to look out for on it, though, is its Charm Perk sockets. Aim for a Hatchet that has 3 Offense Charm sockets.
For your Heartrune… honestly, anything will do. Use whichever one you feel most comfortable with, they all should do well enough with this build!
Creed Boots – Footwear Artifact

Aside from the Boltcaster, the other Artifact you’ll want for this build is the Creed Boots. You can get them by farming Level 62+ mobs at the Attalus’ Foundry area.
These boots give you the unique Ambush perk. This does quite a lot for you! Headshots will deal 20% more Critical Damage and inflict the target with 10% Weaken for 5 seconds. At the same time, you’ll get 10% Empower and your own Crit Chance will increase by 10% for 5 seconds.
Do note, your target can only be Ambushed once every 15 seconds. Thanks to all the buffs you get, though, they’ll likely not live long enough for a second Ambush!
Aside from this Artifact, there’s no other must-have armor Artifacts. However, you should make sure to stay at Light weight!
Perks and Gems to Get

Last up, let’s go over the must-have Perks and Gems for this build. Here’s a list of everything you should look out for, in order from most important to least important:
- Sacrificial Empowerment II – 5 Stacks.
- Vicious II – 5 Stacks.
- Vorpal II – 5 Stacks.
- Lightning Harnessing II – As many as possible.
- Keenly Jagged II – 1 Stack.
- Gambit IV – 1 Stack.
- Cursed Enchantment II – 1 Stack on Ring.
- Lightning Damage II – 1 Stack on Ring.
- Enchanted Ward II – 1 Stack on Creed Boots.
- Penetrating Rapid Shot II – 1 Stack on Creed Boots.
- Beloved II – 1 Stack. Higher priority for PvE, unnecessary for PvP.
Again, this build is entirely focused on dealing damage, and this Perk priority reflects that. Negating damage is unnecessary when you can kill everything instantly, right? You’re 100% a glass cannon here!
Nonetheless, that’s the end of our guide. You now know how to make a one shot Bow build that works great for both PvE and PvP in Season 10 of New World: Aeternum!
Is being a glass cannon not to your liking? Or do you just prefer melee combat instead? Well, we also have a guide for a powerful PvP build using Rapier + Fire Staff. It’s much more versatile and sustainable, although it lacks the insanely high burst damage of this build.

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