New World's meta is finally starting to establish itself. This guide covers some of the standout weapons and builds for use during PvP combat in the game, both for open-world PvP (mostly duels and random encounters), and the best weapons for large-scale PvP like Wars, Sieges, and Outpost Rush.

RELATED: New World: Best PvP Builds

There's quite a lot of variety here thanks to the flexible manner of New World's builds and masteries. We'll divide this list into two sections: one for Open World, and one for staged PvP.

2/2 Best Weapons For Open World PvP

Open World PvP mostly boils down to duels or ganks. You might find yourself in a one v one situation or having to face multiple enemies at once. As a result, builds with a high degree of mobility and CC are very useful. Here's a look at the three most popular weapon combinations for Open World PvP.

Rapier and Fire Staff

This weapon combination relies on heavy DPS. Even the ranged auto attacks of the Fire Staff can melt enemies, and if you do get into a situation where you need to go into melee, the Rapier is more than sufficient.

• Masteries for the Rapier - Riposte is excellent for one v one melee. Evade for dodging around opponents. Fleche for mobility.
• Masteries for the Fire Staff - Head into the Fire Mage tree, i.e Pillar of Fire, Meteor Shower, and Fireball .
• Light armor load is recommended. Full Intelligence.

Check out our Fire Staff builds here and our Rapier builds here.

Ice Gauntlet and Rapier

The Ice Gauntlet provides some fantastic CC in one v one situations and can also be used to fight with more players, too.

• Masteries for the Ice Gauntlet - Ice Storm, Ice Shower, and Entombed . Storm and Shower provide some good CC while Entombed acts a "get out of jail" card.
• Stick to the similar masteries listed for the Rapier above.
• Light armor load is optimal. Extra dodges are important. Full Intelligence build.

Check out our Ice Gauntlet build guides here.

RELATED: New World: Best Tank Builds

Bow and Spear

The Bow and Spear provide a solid balance between ranged damage and melee CC. Other than the War Hammer, the Spear provides some of the most reliable CC in the game, and the Bow just hits hard.

• Masteries for the Bow - Evade Shot, Penetrating Shot, Poison Shot . You might want to change these to more Aoe orientated for staged PvP, like Rain of Arrows instead of Penetrating Shot.
• Masteries for the Spear - Sweep, Cyclone, Vault Kick . The total CC combination. Vault Kick into a Poison Shot into a follow-up Evade Shot...yeah, they're likely dead.
• Light armor load, full Dexterity build.

Check out our Bow guide here and our Spear guide here.

1/2 Best Weapons For Staged PvP

Staged PvP is a little different than the one v one fights you have in the Open World. Here's a look at some of the meta weapon choices for Sieges, Wars, and Outpost Rush.

Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet

This is all about AoE and pure damage. Both the Ice Gauntlet and Fire Staff have excellent AoE capabilities. It's your role to hang back and deal damage from afar, trying to avoid the Great Axe sweepers approaching the backline.

• Masteries for the Ice Gauntlet - Similar to the Open World PvP build, go for Ice Storm, Shower, and Entombed .
• Masteries for the Fire Staff - Meteor Shower, Incinerate, Fireball . Pure AoE.

RELATED: New World: Best Weapons, Ranked

Sword, Shield, and War Hammer

This is a frontline role that relies heavily on being as tanky as possible. Deal out some CC damage with the War Hammer and act as a protective barrier for your squishy backline.

• Masteries for the Sword - Shield Bash, Shield Rush, Defiant Stance . Full tank. Block everything.
• Masteries for the War Hammer - Shockwave, Mighty Gavel, Clear Out . Full CC to keep players under control and to hold off objective points.
• The choice here of full Heavy armor and low mobility or a medium-armor build for a bit of extra mobility. Constitution focused build is recommended.

Check out our Sword build guides here and our War Hammer build guides here.

Great Axe and Hatchet

One of the most popular melee DPS roles in Wars so far has been the Great Axe and Hatchet combination. You've got great CC and huge potential damage output with the Hatchet. Pull them in with Reap and then go Berserk on them with the Hatchet.

• Masteries for the Great Axe - Reap, Gravity Well, Charge . All about closing the gap, landing the Well, then dealing lots of damage.
• Masteries for the Hatchet - Berserk, Feral Rush, Raging Torrent . Fast-paced DPS melee damage. Unstoppable.
• Medium armor. Full Strength build.

Check out our Great Axe build guides here and our Hatchet build guides here.

Life Staff and Ice Gauntlet

Large-scale PvP requires a Healer. While it's not really the most fun role, per se, you are an extremely necessary part of the conflict. It's your job to keep your tanks healthy and to protect any squishes you see that might be getting focused.

• Masteries for the Life Staff - Sacred Ground, Orb of Protection, Beacon.
• Masteries for the Ice Gauntlet - Stick to a similar CC build from above.
• Medium armor or light armor. Depends on how much damage you expect to be taking.

Musket And Rapier

In the right hands, the Musket can do a lot of damage. Sat back in a War pinging off the enemy's heads can put out a LOT of consistent damage. While you might not land so many kills, the constant whittling down of the opponent's health definitely puts a hamper on their progression.

• Masteries for the Musket - Powder Burn, Power Shot, Traps. Long-range damage and potential CC with the Traps.
• Previous masteries for the Rapier work well from other weapon combos above.
• Light armor. Full Intelligence build.

Check out our Musket build guides here.

NEXT: New World: Complete Guide And Walkthrough