Best New World Aeternum class and top weapons for all archetypes

What are the best archetypes in New World Aeternum? This re-branding of Amazon Games’ MMORPG into more of a co-op action RPG comes with seven starting classes, or ‘archetypes,’ to choose from. From the straightforward Soldier to the unique Musketeer, it’s a hard choice to begin with – luckily, we’ve put together a tier list of the best archetypes so you know which one is for you. That said, archetypes are little more than starting weapons and equipment, meaning there’s nothing stopping you from investing in other weapons from other archetypes.

If you’re just starting out in New World Aeternum, you might want to dive into our in-depth guide to the best New World Aeternum builds for the early and mid-game in PvE and PvP.

New World Aeternum class tier list

Here are the best New World Aeternum archetypes to begin the game with:

Since archetypes are an important – but not permanent – choice, this tier list ranks them based on how well they handle the opening hours of this massive MMORPG and how fun they are to play rather than their late-game viability; that said, we’ve also included the best future weapon combinations to consider for each of the seven archetypes as you flesh out your build for the late game.

S-tier

Musketeer

By far the most visually thematic classes for this 16th-century-inspired MMORPG, the Musketeer is also one of the most fun and diverse to play as. Musketeers come equipped with a Rapier and a Musket, making it pretty much mandatory for you to give your avatar a twirly mustache during character creation. Less importantly, the Rapier comes with great maneuverability skills such as Fleche, allowing you to rush forward, and Evade, which grants brief invulnerability and a side-step. When paired with the Musket’s range, the Musketeer plays almost like a dancer on the battlefield.

The Musketeer’s weapons rely on positioning to stay alive rather than passives and defensive skills, giving it a higher learning curve for new players. At the same time, this archetype provides a great look at both up-close and ranged combat, with the potential to dabble in Intelligence-based weaponry in the future as both its starting weapons have secondary scaling in the stat.

Best Musketeer weapons: 

• Bow (100% Dexterity)
• Fire Staff (100% Intelligence)
• Ice Gauntlet (100% Intelligence)
• Musket (90% Dexterity, 65% Intelligence)
• Rapier (90% Dexterity, 65% Intelligence)
• Spear (90% Dexterity, 65% Strength)

Swordbearer

The Swordbearer might look like New World Aeternum’s wrecking ball or ‘berserk’ class, going all out with Final Fantasy-sized Great Swords and a shotgun-like Blunderbuss, but it also has a lot of defensive utility to go along with it. The Greatsword skill tree has two notable stances in the form of passives: Path of Onslaught and Path of Defiance. Depending on which of the six skills you invest in, these passives grant some nice damage-dealing or defensive buffs. The Blunderbuss, on the other hand, has the Mortar Charge skill, which we found an absolute delight to use as we shot off grenade-like projectiles at foes.

In short, the Swordbearer hits incredibly hard and has some good defenses, making it a great starting archetype for those playing solo; however, it’s also the most flexible as the Swordbearer’s starting weapons scale off Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. This, in turn, makes it easy to shift into other weapons and give them a try. You can, for instance, switch out the Blunderbuss for a Sword and Shield for more defensive options when playing with a group.

Best Swordbearer weapons:

• Blunderbuss (90% Strength, 65% Intelligence)
• Great Axe (100% Strength)
• Great Sword (80% Strength, 80% Dexterity)
• Flail and Shield (90% Strength, 65% Focus)
• Hatchet (90% Strength, 65% Dexterity)
• Musket (90% Dexterity, 65% Intelligence)
• Rapier (90% Dexterity, 65% Intelligence)
• Spear (90% Dexterity, 65% Strength)
• Sword and Shield (90% Strength, 65% Dexterity)
• War Hammer (100% Strength)

A-tier

Occultist

If magic is more your style, the Occultist is the way to go in the early game. Wielding both the Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet, the Occultist is all-in when it comes to ranged, high-damage spells. We’re partial to the Flamethrower skill, which shoots out a jet of flames that’s fun to melt foes with. The Fire Staff also comes with the Burnout skill, adding some mobility for this squishy class, while the Ice Gauntlet features plenty of skills that slow enemies, keeping them at a distance, along with the Entombed skill that provides invulnerability and a massive boost to mana regeneration.

Whether entering Aeternum alone or with a group of friends, the Occultist isn’t a bad pick because it has enough survivability skills to go along with its massive damage output. Both starting weapons scale off Intelligence, but as you’ll want to invest in Focus for faster mana regeneration, this opens up options to shift into support-type roles later on through the Life Staff, or you can lean into Strength or Dexterity to make the Blunderbuss or Musket work, respectively. In short, the Occultist is the best pick for a caster.

Best Occultist weapons:

• Blunderbuss (90% Strength, 65% Intelligence)
• Fire Staff (100% Intelligence)
• Ice Gauntlet (100% Intelligence)
• Life Staff (100% Focus)
• Musket (90% Dexterity, 65% Intelligence)
• Rapier (90% Dexterity, 65% Intelligence)
• Void Gauntlet (90% Intelligence, 65% Focus)

B-tier

Destroyer

Trading flexibility for raw power, the Destroyer begins with the Great Axe and Warhammer weapons, making it the true wrecking ball (literally – it has a skill called Wrecking Ball) or berserk archetype in Aeternum. If you’re not interested in defensive utility and just want to smash things until you reach the mid or late-game, skills like Execute and Armor Break will ensure you can do just that. That said, the War Hammer does have quite a few crowd-control skills to ensure you don’t get too overwhelmed while you bonk your way to victory.

Because the Destroyer’s starting weapons both scale completely off Strength, this is a less flexible class to begin with as. If you want to swap out the Great Axe, for instance, you have fewer options as you likely don’t have points in Dexterity or Intelligence, and putting them into those skills will pull from your War Hammer’s power. Thankfully, there are a few other weapons that scale primarily off Strength that you can invest in.

Best Destroyer weapons:

• Blunderbuss (90% Strength, 65% Intelligence)
• Great Axe (100% Strength)
• Great Sword (80% Strength, 80% Dexterity)
• Flail and Shield (90% Strength, 65% Focus)
• Hatchet (90% Strength, 65% Dexterity)
• Sword and Shield (90% Strength, 65% Dexterity)
• War Hammer (100% Strength)

Ranger

Wielding a Bow and a Spear in a world with guns, the Ranger stands out as a rather rudimentary archetype, but that by no means makes it a bad choice. The Bow skills have a lot of utility, from Poison Shot creating a poisonous cloud over a large area, and Explosive Shot, which detonates to deal damage to a cluster of foes. The Spear, on the other hand, has quite a few mobility skills that are equal parts fun and valuable, such as Vault Kick.

Much like the Destroyer archetype, the Bow scales fully off Dexterity, while the Spear scales primarily off Dexterity with a little bit of Strength thrown in there. This makes it difficult to try out other weapon types if you want to keep using the Bow, as you’ll likely not want to pull points from Dexterity; that said, if you focus on either the Bow or Spear and choose a different weapon to pair up with them, there’s a lot of possibilities. Bow and Musket make for a status-effect machine, while Spear gives weapons like the Great Sword the mobility they desperately need.

Best Ranger weapons:

• Bow (100% Dexterity)
• Great Sword (80% Strength, 80% Dexterity)
• Musket (90% Dexterity, 65% Intelligence)
• Rapier (90% Dexterity, 65% Intelligence)
• Spear (90% Dexterity, 65% Strength)

C-tier

Mystic

The Void Gauntlet is an awesome weapon – one of the coolest we’ve seen in an MMORPG. It has the Void Blade skill, which is basically the Energy Sword from Halo: Combat Evolved, that burns through enemy health and armor. While the Void Gauntlet doesn’t have wild damage output, it does come with a handful of powerful debuff and crowd-control skills. The Life Staff, on the other hand, is an integral weapon for later in the game – a handful of AoE healing skills and buffs are integral to any adventuring party.

That said, neither weapon is great early on, and they’re even worse when paired together, meaning you’ll have to invest in another stat and another weapon. The Mystic is, however, the best archetype to use if you want to go with the Flail and Shield via the Strength route.

If you don’t swap out the Life Staff, you’re not going to want to spend the first two-thirds of the game healing yourself and debuffing allies, making your only other choice something like the Fire Staff. However, at that point, why not run an Occultist instead? Regardless, if you want the Energy Blade right away or want to pick up a Flail and Shield after character creation, the Mystic is for you.

Best Mystic Weapons:

• Fire Staff (100% Intelligence)
• Flail and Shield (90% Strength, 65% Focus)
• Ice Gauntlet (100% Intelligence)
• Life Staff (100% Focus)
• Void Gauntlet (90% Intelligence, 65% Focus)

Soldier

The Soldier is a great archetype to pick for the early game if you’re playing with a damage-focused friend or two. The Defender side of the Sword and Shield skill tree comes with some great tools like Shield Bash and Defender’s Resolve to stun and boost damage respectively, but they feel rather uninspired compared to other weapons. The Hatchet, on the other hand, has a lot of fun ranged-based skills that apply status effects, including one called Social Distancing which slows enemies.

The Soldier is a prime candidate for switching out one or the other starting weapon for something like the Spear, Great Sword, or Flail and Shield. In fact, much like the Mystic, the Soldier is a great home for the archetype-less Flail and Shield’s debuff skills. If you’re set on the Soldier, we recommend switching out the Hatchet for something like the Great Axe to give this archetype more oomph.

Best Soldier weapons:

• Great Axe (100% Strength)
• Great Sword (80% Strength, 80% Dexterity)
• Flail and Shield (90% Strength, 65% Focus)
• Hatchet (90% Strength, 65% Dexterity)
• Sword and Shield (90% Strength, 65% Dexterity)
• War Hammer (100% Strength)

And that’s it for our New World Aeternum archetype tier list. Remember, this initial choice doesn’t lock you into any single weapon or style of play, especially with how cheap respeccing is until later in the game. To see what kind of competition this refresh of Amazon Studios’ MMORPG is up against, why not check out the best MMOs on PC?