New World Bow Build 2024 - PvE & PvP

In this New World Bow Build 2024 Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the Bow in both PvE and PvP. It’s a ranged weapon that uses arrows to attack enemies from mid-range. The Bow scales solely with the Dexterity stat, so if you want to increase its damage, you’ll need to invest heavily in that attribute.

New World Aeternum Bow Build Information

Scaling Stats: Dexterity (100%)
Damage Type: Thrust
Hip Fire Damage: 60%
Short Draw Damage: 100%
Long Draw Damage: 150%
Taunt Gem Compatible: No
Best Dexterity Weapon Pairings: Spear, Rapier, Musket

New World Aeternum Bow Build 2024 – Overview and Strategy

Firstly for this New World Bow Build 2024; like the Musket, Bows used to require ammunition, specifically arrows, to function. However, ammo was removed for all ranged weapons in New World: Aeternum. Instead, they now have a +20% base damage boost, making it easier to start with the Bow from the beginning of the game.

One unique aspect of New World Bow Builds in 2024 is their ability to shoot with either a full or partial draw. When aiming, you can release a regular shot, or hold down the right trigger button until the bow glows to charge a more powerful shot. However, if you’re firing without aiming (hip firing), there’s no option to charge—those shots will always deal less damage than partial or fully drawn bow shots, but the advantage is you can use hip firing while locked on, making it easier to hit targets with them.

To perform a charged shot with the bow, you need to aim (by holding L2) and hold down R2 until the bow is fully drawn. Unlike the musket, the bow has an arc to its shots, so when firing over long distances, you’ll need to account for this by adjusting your aim. This makes the bow a bit harder to use at very long ranges compared to the musket. However if you want to be a bit more accurate at longer ranges make sure to take the Arrow Range passive, as it allows your arrows to travel further before arcing.

If you prefer long-range combat in general instead of a New World Bow Build 2024, I’d recommend switching to the musket. But if you like mid to close-range combat, the bow is a better choice. It’s also more effective in melee situations, thanks to abilities designed for close combat.

New World Aeternum Bow Pros:

Attacking is easier with the lock-on feature
Doesn’t need arrows anymore
Great mobility with skills like Evade Shot
Can do both single target and AoE skills

New World Aeternum Bow Cons:

Lock-on doesn’t help with Precise Aiming
Limited Crowd Control
Limited utility

Skirmisher Skill Tree

Let’s take a look at the bow’s skill trees in this New World Bow Build 2024, which are Skirmisher and Hunter. The Skirmisher tree focuses on AOE damage and Debuffs. It’s great for situations where you’re up close and dealing with groups of enemies, especially since many will rush you once aggroed. On the other hand, the Hunter tree is more about long-range and single-target damage. It has some high-damage abilities, but they typically target only one enemy with the exception of Explosive Shot. If you’re looking to quickly take down a tough enemy or single out a player, the Hunter tree is ideal.

Poison Shot

Starting with the Skirmisher tree, the first ability is Poison Shot. This creates a poison cloud that deals damage over time in an AOE. It doesn’t have to hit an enemy directly—wherever the arrow lands, the poison cloud will appear. This is particularly useful for softening up groups of enemies in PvE or mid-sized PvP skirmishes. Progressing this skill line increases its damage dealt.

Evade Shot

Evade Shot is another Skirmisher ability that lets you jump backward while shooting an enemy in front of you. It’s perfect for creating space between you and a pursuing enemy, allowing you to maintain distance and continue attacking without getting caught in melee range. Progressing this skill line will also grant the skill with a knockback effect as well as give you a Haste buff which is very useful when kiting against enemies in PvP when using this New World Bow Build 2024.

Rain of Arrows

Rain of Arrows is an AOE attack that lets you target an area, dealing damage to enemies within it. When upgraded, it also applies a bleed effect. This ability shines in PvE, especially when fighting multiple enemies in dungeons or during questing. Progressing this skill line allows Rain of Arrows to cause bleed, as well as inflicting them with slow.

The capstone of the Skirmisher tree, Evasive Tactics, gives you the Empower effect and increases your damage dealt to 15% for 5 seconds after dodging. This is very useful, especially during PvP situations where players will often attempt to close in on you. This will also be useful during solo expeditions as enemies will try to swarm you and you’ll be dodging a lot. Overall a more useful Capstone compared to its Hunter counterpart unless you’re a good shot.

Hunter Skill Tree

Rapid Shot

Moving on to the Hunter tree, the first ability is Rapid Shot. This fires three arrows in quick succession, with the first two doing 100% weapon damage and the third doing 125%. It’s excellent for high burst damage in PvP or against tough enemies. Progressing this skill allows you to get a 50% cooldown reduction if you hit the same enemy with all three arrows. This skill is even more deadly thanks to New World: Aeternum’s lock-on, which makes it easy to land all three arrows.

Penetrating Shot

Penetrating Shot is another strong ability in the Hunter tree. It deals high damage and pierces through targets and it travels more than 100m. While the piercing effect isn’t always useful unless enemies are lined up perfectly, the ability’s raw damage makes it great for single-target bursts. Progressing this skill line increases the damage of Penetrating Shot.

Explosive Arrow

Explosive Arrow is a good AoE skill. It deals half of your weapon damage on impact and then detonates dealing huge damage while covering a radius of 2.5m. It’s perfect for crowd control and is also useful in PvP where there are enemies huddled together for dealing huge group damage. Progressing this skill line allows you to inflict burn on your enemies as well as increasing its damage at the cost of a reduction on the explosion’s radius.

Concussion

The capstone of the Hunter tree, Concussion. It increases your damage when landing headshots by 20%. Headshots are not impossible for Bow users, and you should aim to do them when leading off combat, but with the addition of the with the lock-on feature, you will be less likely to use manual aiming when you can just rapid fire arrows from the hip once combat starts. It can be useful in PvP if you’ve gotten used to dishing out headshots, but if you haven’t, I recommend the Evasive Tactics capstone.

What combination of skills you use will of course be determined by what sort of content you are attempting to complete. For instance, if you’re running expeditions as a DPS, then you’ll likely want 2 AoE Skills and single target skill: Explosive Arrow, Rain of Arrows and Rapid Shot. However, if you’re solo PvPing you’ll likely want Rapid Shot, Evade Shot, and maybe Penetrating Shot or Explosive Arrow.

New World Bow Builds 2024

Solo PvE Bow Build – New World Aeternum

Group PvE Bow Build – New World Aeternum

Solo PvP Bow Build – New World Aeternum

Group PvP Bow Build – New World Aeternum

New World Aeternum Bow Build – Weapons & Armor

When choosing a weapon to pair with your New World Bow Build 2024, it works really well at mid-to-short range, so you don’t necessarily need a melee weapon like you would with a Musket. The musket can be less effective in close combat, but the Bow has tools to help you create distance from enemies, and it doesn’t need to be reloaded. This allows you to keep firing consistently, as long as you can maintain that separation. If you want to go for a pure ranged build, the bow can handle it on its own. However, because weapon cooldowns are shared, you can’t use two bows, so you’ll want to equip a second weapon.

A Musket can be a great option for longer-range encounters, with the bow for when enemies get closer. Alternatively, a melee weapon like the Spear or Rapier is a good choice for when enemies close the gap. Both weapons scale with dexterity, so they pair well with the bow, making either an excellent backup.

Since the bow has no intelligence scaling, unlike the musket, there’s no point in pairing it with weapons like the Fire Staff or Ice Gauntlet. While the musket can benefit from a hybrid build with intelligence and dexterity, the bow is most effective when you’re fully invested in dexterity, so sticking to dex-based weapons is the best approach.

Finally, when using a ranged weapon like the bow, Light Armor is your best bet. Light armor grants a 15% damage bonus, which is crucial when you’re focusing on hitting enemies from a distance. It also lets you dodge roll which is definitely useful if you’re going for the Evasive Tactics capstone. Since you’re aiming to avoid getting hit, maximizing your damage output with Light Armor is the way to go, making every shot count with your New World Bow Build 2024.

That wraps up our Bow weapon guide. We’ve got more weapon guides including Musket, Rapier, Spear, and Hatchet on the way, so keep an eye out for those. If you have any questions about the bow, feel free to check out the New World wiki for more details. What do you think about the bow? Have you tried it? What kind of weapons do you prefer—bow or musket? Let us know in the comments below!