Choose Your Armor Type

The armor a player decides to equip in New World determines a lot about how a player’s character functions in and out of combat. All equippable armor comes with a specific Physical and Elemental resistance, as well as a weight that determines how quickly or slowly a player’s character moves. Like weapons, armor may also provide your character with specific weapon ability perks, general perks, and attribute point bonuses that can be obtained through perks and gem slots.

BoP & BoE:

Every piece of armor will be either BoP (Bind-on-Pickup) or BoE (Bind-on-Equip). BoP items are bound to the player and may not be sold, traded, or given away. Its counterpart, BoE, means that an item may be sold, traded, or given away until it is equipped by a player. These mechanics have been a long-standing MMO staple that ensures a stable economy by allowing other, usually weaker, items to be sought after when compared to the BoP items a player may find. All quest rewards like the Everfall Scout’s Longcoat, for example, are BoP and may only be received if the player completes that specific quest.

Tier & Level Requirements:

All weapons and armor in New World are given a tier based on the level requirement. The gear system works as follows:

• Tier 2: level 1-19
• Tier 3: level 20-39
• Tier 4: level 40-59
• Tier 5: Level 60

Gear Score:

The Gear Score of a player’s armor is based solely on the Physical and Elemental Resistances it possesses. The higher the gear score, the more damage mitigation the armor will offer. Like the Tier and Level Requirements above, gear score follows a similar system:

• Tier 2: Gear Score 100-299
• Tier 3: Gear Score 250-399
• Tier 4: Gear Score 350-499
• Tier 5: Gear Score 450-600

Keep in mind that because a certain piece of armor has a higher gear score won’t always mean that it is more beneficial than a piece of armor with lower gear score. For example, a chest piece with +8 Strength and 200 gear score could be more beneficial than a chest piece with +2 Strength and 240 gear score. More often than not, the attribute bonus of a piece of armor should be deemed most important.

Armor Rarity:

Like most MMOs, New World follows a familiar armor rarity system. The color of the piece of armor a player finds is a good baseline to follow and the progression is as follows:

• Common (Gray)
• Uncommon (Green)
• Rare (Blue)
• Epic (Purple)
• Legendary (Orange)

Generally, rarer items have a higher chance of possessing a gem slot, perks, and attribute points. For example, an uncommon (green) piece of armor may possess a gem slot, attribute bonus, or both. A legendary item, like the Spear of the Corrupted Assault, will always come equipped with 5 total benefits (i.e., gem slot, weapon ability perk, attribute bonus, and two general perks).

Armor Weight:

All equippable pieces of armor are categorized by weight class: Light, Medium, and Heavy. These weight classes determine how far a player’s character can dodge. Not only that, but each class has specific bonuses:

• Light: A player’s dodge is a quick roll that covers a lot of distance. Receive a +20% overall damage bonus.
• Medium: A player’s dodge is a quick hop. Receive a +10% overall damage bonus as well as a +10% CC (crowd control) duration.
• Heavy: A player’s dodge is a small sidestep. Receive a +15% block stability bonus as well as a +20% CC (crowd control) duration.

As a player begins to mix and match these weight classes, their playstyle will change drastically. (Picture on the right). Keep in mind that in most cases, a player mixing weights of armor can usually stay in the lower tier weight class. For example, a player can be in the light weight class while wearing majority normal weight armor.

Physical & Elemental:

Physical and Elemental are the two types of resistances a player may receive in New World. Physical resistances help mitigate damage from all melee weapon types of attacks, like Slash, and ranged damage, such as Thrust. Elemental resistances, on the other hand, help mitigate damage from all schools of magic, like Fire and Lightning. A key factor that every player should keep note of is that the heavier your armor is, the higher both of these ratings will be. The Starmetal Soldier Helm, for example, has higher Elemental and Physical armor rating than the Layered Leather Sorcerer Hunter Coat.

Bonuses:

The two bonuses that can be applied to a piece of armor are perks and gem slots. Perks will give the player specific buffs such as Luck, Corruption Resistance, and attribute point bonuses. There are also more specific perks that can benefit a weapon or gathering/crafting, such as Contagious Reverse Stab and Mining Luck.

Gems can also be equipped in armor that will grant a player additional benefits. Most of the benefits that a gem will grant a player are Ward buffs that reduce or absorb a specific class of damage. For example, when an Elemental Ward I gem is slotted into a piece of armor, the player will gain 1% Elemental damage absorption.

There are many ways of obtaining armor in New World. A player can obtain armor by looting chests, crafting, trading, monster drops, and faction vendors.

As a player explores Aeternum and defeats monsters, these monsters have a chance of dropping a piece of armor. These armor drops have a chance of possessing attribute bonuses, perks, and gem slots. For most cases, the higher level monsters and chests will drop higher tier and higher gear score armor.

Crafting armor allows the player the ability to create pieces of armor with specific perks, attribute bonuses, and gems. If there is a specific weapon trait that is desirable, obtaining the correct charm and crafting it will be the way to obtain those perks.