New World can be very chaotic, especially with all the melee weapons players can use. Frequent brawls between adventurers are common, so it wouldn’t be surprising if some gamers prefer to fight from afar, away from all the close-quarter battles. People can use several ranged weapons in the world of Aeternum. The most hard-hitting item with the most extended range is the Musket, but utilizing this armament might not be as easy as many think. Use this guide to learn more about this weapon and become an expert sharpshooter.
The Musket
This weapon is considered to have one of the greatest single-target damage in the game. It also has the furthest range with powerful headshot damage. However, the main drawbacks of using this item are its slow and interruptible reload animation and its necessity for good player aim. It can also be a bit weak during the early leveling stages due to its slow DPS.
Adventurers taking advantage of its perk can become exceptional members in expeditions and even in PvP. The first step to becoming an expert Musketeer is to know and understand this weapon's abilities. Here are all the skills and masteries of the Musket:
Sharpshooter
- Powder Burn – deals with 110% weapon damage and inflicts burn with 20% weapon damage for 9 seconds after overloading your Musket with gun powder
- Backdraft – deals 12% additional damage with standard musket shots upon hitting burning targets
- Chronic Trauma – extend burn duration by 4s if Powder Burn is a headshot
- Power Shot – cause your next shot to inflict 150% weapon damage by overloading your Musket with gun powder
- Initial Engagement – gain empower for 5s, which increases damage by 10% upon hitting with Power Shot
- First Blood – deal 10% additional damage when using Power Shot on enemies with full HP
- Bullseye – reduce the cooldown of Power Shot by 15% when it is a headshot
- Shooter’s Stance – gain enhanced shooting performance when crouching. Shots deal 100% increased weapon damage and earn 75% reduced reload time while having 0 mobility. This action ends after firing three shots.
- Shoot More – Shooter's Stance ends after firing five shots
- Marksman – reduce the cooldown of all other musket skills by 25% upon hitting 3 consecutive shots on the same target
- Critical Reload – gain an instant reload upon landing 3 headshots within 5s of each other
- Greater Accuracy – remove accuracy penalty with hipfires
- Ballistic Advantage – nullifies damage fall off of standard muskets from firing targets 50m away
- Hit Your Mark – deal increased headshot and critical hit damage with standard musket shots when hitting targets further away. Increase this damage to 15% when shooting beyond 100m out. Damage fall-off still applies here.
- Called Shot – aiming down sights for more than 3s increases the musket damage by 5%
- Called Shot Resupply – reduce all musket ability cooldown by 10% when standard attacks are headshot
- Heightened Precision – grant stackable 2.5% damage increase (max 6) on successful hits while aiming. This phase ends when you stop aiming or shoot intervals is more than 5s
- Empowering Headshot – gain empower, which increases damage by 10% for 5s upon successful headshots
- Sniper – gain an option to 3x zoom when aiming musket shots and gain 15% increased damage to all headshots
Trapper
- Stopping Power – deal 120% weapon damage that can stagger and knockback foes by 3m (can be done from hipfire or aimed down sights/ADS)
- Lasting Impression – hitting enemies with Stopping Power exhausts them, which reduces their stamina regeneration by 10% for 8 seconds
- Supplementary Repulsion – hitting foes with Stopping Power are Slowed by 10% for 8 seconds
- Traps – place traps that last for 20 seconds and cause targets to be rooted and immobilized for 3s
- Trapped Damage – inflict Rend to targets that trigger traps, which increases the damage they take by 20% for 3 seconds
- Scent of Blood – heal yourself for 100% weapon damage dealt when attacking trapped targets
- Double Trap – enables the placement of two active traps
- Sticky Bomb – toss a short-range bomb that sticks to anything it touches and will detonate after three seconds on impact, which deals 210% weapon damage and stagger all enemies within 3m
- Unflinching Walk – gain 40 stamina when Sticky Bomb deals damage after the explosion
- Sticky Slow – slow down enemies directly hit by the Sticky Bomb by 15% for 3 seconds
- Weakened Defense – standard shots increase the stamina damage to enemies blocking with by 50% and the armor penetration to targets who are not blocking with a shield by 10%
- Hustle – gain 10% in 3 seconds after dodging
- Energy Burst – restore 5 stamina after attacking an enemy with an active debuff
- Empowering Weakness – gain Empower, which increases damage by 5% for 5 seconds, after hitting a foe with active debuff
- Tactical Reload – dodging reloads the Musket, which can only occur every 6s
- Kick ‘Em When They’re Down – attacking targets affected by crowd control status effects deals 10% extra damage
- Back It Up – increase walking/strafing movement speed by 10% when there are enemy players within 8m
- Lethal Combo – attacks gain 20% bonus damage on enemies affected by Trapper tree status effects
Best Musket Build in New World
You should optimize your build depending on your participating content as a Musket user. Changing your masteries to the appropriate allocation will ensure that you contribute to your team. Here are the best masteries for the Musket:
For PvE
Sharpshooter
- Powder Burn
- Backdraft
- Chronic Trauma
- Critical Reload
- Ballistic Advantage
- Called Shot Resupply
Trapper
- Stopping Power
- Lasting Impression
- Supplementary Repulsion
- Traps
- Trapped Damage
- Scent of Blood
- Double Trap
- Weakened Defense
- Hustle
- Empowering Weakness
- Tactical Reload
- Kick ‘Em When They’re Down
- Lethal Combo
For PvP
Sharpshooter
- Powder Burn
- Backdraft
- Chronic Trauma
- Shooter’s Stance
- Shoot More
- Critical Reload
- Ballistic Advantage
- Hit Your Mark
- Called Shot Resupply
- Heightened Precision
- Empowering Headshot
- Sniper
Trapper
- Stopping Power
- Lasting Impression
- Salt on the Wounds
- Weakened Defense
- Hustle
- Tactical Reload
- Kick ‘Em When They’re Down
Best Weapon Pairings with the Musket
Dual wielding in New World is an essential feature that most players should take advantage of, especially when using weapons such as the Musket. Ranged items can be paired with other weapons, ensuring their efficiency and sustainability. In most combos, the Musket is the primary damage dealer, while the second is simply used for maneuvering or kiting. Here are all the best possible pairings with this weapon:
Musket and Rapier
This pairing is arguably the best set for the Musket. Due to the lack of this weapon’s mobility, partnering it with the Rapier gives it access to maneuver skills. This will help players kite their enemies, ensuring they can snipe enemies from a safe distance.
Musket
Sharpshooter
- Powder Burn
- Backdraft
- Chronic Trauma
- Ballistic Advantage
- Hit Your Mark
- Called Shot
- Heightened Precision
- Empowering Headshot
- Shooter’s Stance
- Shoot More
- Marksman
- Sniper
Trapper
- Salt on the Wounds
- Weakened Defense
- Empowering Weakness
- Tactical Reload
- Sticky Bomb
- Unflinching Walk
- Sticky Slow
Rapier
Blood
- Tondo
- Thirst For Blood
- And Again
- Proper Spacing
- Refreshing Strikes
- Unerring
- Engarde
- Light Edge
Grace
- Evade
- Crescendo
- Allegro
- Adagio
- Breathe In
- Controlled Breathing
- Swiftness
- Fleche
- Quick Lunge
- Backside
- Momentum
Musket and Fire Staff
If you don’t care about kiting or moving around and want to unleash maximum damage, then this pairing is the best thing you could ask for. The Musket’s high single-target damage combined with the Fire Staff’s good DPS and damage over time attacks maximizes your attack output. However, you must position yourself correctly with this build since you don’t have mobility.
Musket
Sharpshooter
- Powder Burn
- Backdraft
- Chronic Trauma
- Called Shot
Trapper
- Traps
- Trapped Damage
- Scent of Blood
- Double Trap
- Sticky Bomb
- Unflinching Walk
- Sticky Slow
- Hustle
- Energy Burst
- Salt on the Wounds
- Empowering Weakness
- Tactical Reload
- Kick ‘Em When They’re Down
- Back It Up
- Lethal Combo
Fire Staff
Fire Mage
- Pillar of Fire
- First Strike
- Arson’s Advantage
- Fireball
- Scorched Earth
- Catch
- Prophet of a Fire God
- Spellslinger
Pyromancer
- Burn Out
- All In
- Heat It Up!
- Pyromania
- Heat Up
- Kindle
- Trial By Fire
- Let It Burn
- Watch It Burn
- Combat Speed
- Reheat
Musket and Hatchet
This pairing might look weird at first, but it is also one of the highest damage-dealing pairs for the Musket. While you don’t gain much mobility from this set, you do gain the ability to maintain damage upkeep in long and short-distance battles. You can swap between the Musket to deal significant damage from afar and the Hatchet when enemies get too close.
Musket
Sharpshooter
- Powder Burn
- Backdraft
- Chronic Trauma
- Shooter’s Stance
- Shoot More
- Marksman
- Critical Reload
- Called Shot Resupply
- Heightened Precision
- Empowering Headshot
- Sniper
Trapper
- Traps
- Trapped Damage
- Scent of Blood
- Salt on the Wounds
- Hustle
- Empowering Weakness
- Tactical Reload
- Kick ‘Em When They’re Down
Hatchet
Berserker
- Feral Rush
- Dispatch
- Crippling Strikes
- Berserk
- On the Hunt
- Berserking Refresh
- Berserking Purge
- Uninterruptible Berserk
- Raging Torrent
- Aggressive Approach
- Final Blow
- Enraged Strikes
- Against All Odds
- Frenzied Purge
- Accumulated Power
- Relentless Fury
- Fortifying Strikes
- Desperate Refresh
- Defy Death
Alternative Options:
- Musket and Spear – Unlike other combinations, this set provides Musketeers with zoning abilities that prevent enemies from coming close instead of using movement abilities to get away. Due to Spear’s limited mobility, players must rely on carefully placed traps and crowd-control usage to make this a practical pair.
Try Out Different Builds
While these sets have already been tried and tested, nothing will stop players from experimenting with builds. One of the best things about MMOs is that you can try out non-meta setups to see which works and is valid for New World. Study each weapon and determine which items would synergize well with the Musket.
