Spear Rapier Dive PvP Build for New World

This build offers top-tier mobility and ways to effectively dive in and out of combat. Its speed mixed with the various options it has for crowd-control allow you to control the entire pace of a fight and to pick your fights wisely. It can be played more as a frontline bruiser, or a nimble backline assassin.

One of the most effective DPS builds in the game uses the Spear and Rapier in a very unique way. With this build, players use the Spear for crowd control abilities and debuffs, and the Rapier for massive bleed and burst damage. All of these builds that primarily utilize the Rapier should be using the Finisher artifact to capitalize on the Rapier's true damage potential.

The video below highlights one of the most effective builds using these weapons. Two additional PvP builds are also included below for consideration. Enjoy!

There are two other versions of an effective Spear and Rapier Dive PvP build:

• Option 1: Light Armor - This has high burst damage and more mobility.
• Option 2: Medium Armor - This will focus on survivability but still has incredibly high burst potential.

• Javelin — This is a ranged ability that does a significant amount of damage. It scales its damage based on the distance it is thrown, but it is a powerful close range CC tool that will knock a player down and enable a plethora of combos.
• Skewer — This is a high damage ability that also applies a bleed. It has some subtle mobility that will lunge to the targets, making it easy to chase.
• Vault Kick — This stun will be paramount in crowd-control combinations. It provides you withn enough time to reposition behind a target to quickly burst them down, or enable a follow-up CC ability.

• Sweep — This provides an AoE crowd-control ability that knocks a player down and can be followed up with a downward stab that counts as a heavy attack. This is a strong from of CC that does not count toward diminishing returns since it knocks the target on the ground. Use this if you are not confident in using Javelin.

Use this if you prefer to have a burst damage option. At times, this can be significantly better for players using Dexterity builds. It acts similarly to Riposte by staggering the target, and it has a follow up ability that can deal damage or be quick mobility. This can be a great way to pick up quick kills on low health targets.

Use this if you prefer to have a survivability option with Riposte. This ability can be easily at times if used incorrectly. Nonetheless, it will give you a moment of invulnerability and will certainly save your life at times.

This split allows you to take advantage of the 200 Strength passive which increases damage on targets affected by crowd-control. If you prefer, you could go with 200 Dexterity to increase backstab damage. If you scale with Dexterity you will have higher sheet damage, but the passive from Strength will be more potential effective damage. You will want to scale both attributes to get the highest possible damage.

Alternatively, you can scale completely to 300 Dexterity and go 200 Constitution, or stay at 150 and go with 50 Strength. The 300 Dexterity passive guarantees a critical hit, but only applies every 10 seconds.

Slot	Perks	Gem	Weight	Attribute	Source
Spear	Vicious Keenly Empowered Attunement Perk or Chain Damage Perk	Runeglass of Ignited Opal**	-	Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Rapier	Omnidirectional Evade Vicious Attunement Perk or Chain Damage Perk	Runeglass of Ignited Opal**	-	Strength	Crafted/BoE
Helmet	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light or Heavy	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Chest	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Cut Pristine Onyx	Medium or Heavy	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Gloves	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light or Medium	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Pants	Refreshing or Freedom*** Resilient Shirking Energy	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Boots	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light or Medium	Strength or Dexterity	Crafted/BoE
Amulet	Health Stamina Recovery Slash Protection	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Ring (Light)	Mortal Empowerment Thrust Damage Hearty	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Ring (Medium)	Mortal Empowerment Thrust Damage Third Perk	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Earring	Refreshing Toast Purifying Toast Refreshing***	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Strength or Constitution	Crafted/BoE

*: The ability perks you need to make sure are in your build are Sundering Javelin, Keen Vault Kick, Enfeebling Skewer, Omnidirectional Evade, and Sundering Riposte if you choose to use it. You may also use Bleeding Sweep as an optional perk. If you do not use a perk, fill that slot with a viable defensive passive.

**: Your Opal Runeglass on your weapons can be any variation of elemental damage, the same goes for your Attunement and Chain Damage perks. It is best practice to match your Attunement or Chain with the type of DoT damage your Opal does.

***: Freedom, Elemental Aversion, and Refreshing, are all viable options. When using Freedom you should stack 3 or 5 times. Any combination of these perks is viable.

For more specific information on optimizing your gems in PvP and PvE please refer to our dedicated guides.

This will increase physical damage dealt by a flat percent, but it has an internal cooldown attached to it. This means that if you swing two light attacks, only every other swing will have the damage increase. This drastically reduces its effectiveness over time, whereas you could just take normal defensive gems to increase survivability. It can be worth it to put 1-3 of this Runeglass in your gear, but never use a complete set of 5 Punishing Runeglass

When you are looking to have higher damage output and burst down multiple targets within a clump should use Brutal Heartrune of Detonate. You just need to play safely after activating it.

If you are wanting to push through choke points, doorways, or want a more defensive option, Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform is great to have some independent burst healing if you do not have a healer. For max defensiveness, Cunning Heartrune of Stoneform is the better option.

Your Heartrune will be used similarly in PvP and PvE scenarios. As such, please refer to our Spear guide or Rapier guide for tips on how it can be used most effectively.

• Open on a target with Javelin if they are a farther distance away.
• Open on a target with Vault Kick if they are in melee range.
• Dodge and use Vault Kick or Javelin (Whichever you did not open with) to get cooldown reset.
• Dodge and use Skewer from behind the target.
• If it is available, repeat this rotation again, starting with either Javelin or Vault Kick.
• Light attack whenever all abilities are on cooldown or you can sneak in quick damage.
• If the target escapes, swap to Rapier, use Evade and attempt to execute them with Flourish and Finish. You can also chase them down with Fleche
• Use abilities like Riposte or Flourish and Finish to stagger targets and help you escape.
• Use Evade whenever it is available for a damage increase or for its mobility.
• Use Fleche for mobility and escaping.

When using the Spear or Rapier in PvP and PvE there are many similar aspects that go into gameplay decisions and rotations. To learn more about how you can improve your gameplay, use certain secondary weapons, or additional information on specific abilities, please refer to the Gameplay section of the Spear page or Rapier page.

For more information on the most frequently asked Spear or Rapier questions please refer to the FAQ section of the Greatsword, or Rapier, for answers on PvP and PvE topics!