Best One-Handed Melee Weapons In New World: Aeternum

Summary

The Sword and Shield excels in tanking with block abilities and aggro control but has slow cooldowns and is hard to master.
The Rapier, the fastest one-handed weapon, is great for PvP with its parry and counter abilities, but it is cooldown reliant.
The Hatchet is versatile and sustains well, excelling in melee combat with strong passive synergies but leaves players exposed.

One-Handed Weapons in New World: Aeternum are quite interesting for an MMORPG, since they're not the average weapons most enthusiasts of the genre are accustomed to. With the exception of the classic Sword and Shield, the rest of them are quite refreshing and display a wide array of singular weapon skills that can be paired with lots of Two Handed Melee Weapons or Ranged Weapons to create great combinations.

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By Robbie Mitchell

On that note, here's a rundown of the best One-Handed-Melee weapons in New World: Aeternum, providing detailed info on how their skill branches work, their main and secondary stats, and the best weapons to combo them with.

4 Sword And Shield

The Most Reliable Tanking Option

Main Stat: Strength
Secondary Stat: Dexterity
Pairs Best With: Hatchet, War Hammer
Pros: Tanky, Deals Moderate Damage, Aggro Control
Cons: Slow, Long Cooldowns, Hard To Master

The Sword and Shield are great options for solo players who want to enjoy the game without too many worries about their defensive capacities. It's also the recommended starter weapon, since the game was released (prior to New World: Aeternum). The main attraction of Sword and Shield is the capacity of the weapon to block damage, consistently reducing incoming blows and preventing Heavy Hits from leaving the characters vulnerable to even more damage.

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By Marc Santos

The two skills branches for Sword and Shield are Swordmaster and Defender. The first focuses mainly on causing damage, picking aggro, and buffing the whole group with Empower as the player perform feats (use skills) during combat. The second is focused on defense, damage mitigation, skill interruption, guard break, and aggro control. If one had to pick the best of the two for damage, it would be Swordmaster, but Defender has some useful skills, like the Shield Rush, which allows players to close the gap between them and the enemy in an instant, staggering and pushing them back a few meters.

3 Rapier

The Fastest One-Handed Melee

Main Stat: Dexterity
Secondary Stat: Intelligence
Pairs Best With: Ice Gauntlet, Musket, Bow
Pros: Fast, The Best At PvP, Able To Parry And Counter
Cons: Cooldown Reliant, Power Attacks leave players exposed

Dashing through the battlefield like a gust of wind, slashing foes and causing bleed, the Rapier is the weapon of choice of dastardly duelists and swashbucklers. In New World: Aeternum, Rapiers have suffered a considerable buff, mainly due to the re-organization of its skill tree that allows players to get access to useful skills such as Fleche earlier than before. The two main skill branches of the rapier are Blood and Grace. Blood, as the name implies, focuses on causing Thrust and Slash damage and also striking fast and elegantly to cause bleeding effects that weaken foes.

Meanwhile, the Grace skill branch is all about mobility, finesse, parrying enemy hits and countering their attacks. With the correct amount of skill, a Rapier user can perform great feats in the battlefield, especially during PvP, but, on the downside, most of the skills will leave them open for a possible counter if not used quickly. That's why most Rapier users prefer equipping a secondary weapon, especially the Ice Gauntlet, since it scales with Intelligence (so does the Rapier) and has access to a lot of useful crowd control skills.

2 Hatchet

Versatile, Fast, And Has Great Sustain

Main Stat: Strength
Secondary Stat: Dexterity
Pairs Best With: Sword & Shield, Flail & Shield, Bow, Musket, Greatsword
Pros: Versatile, Can Become a Pseudo, Range Weapon, Great Sustain
Cons: Melee Combos Leave Players Exposed, Especially In PvP

The Hatchet is a hunter's most reliable weapon, a throwing axe that never runs out of ammo, and a powerful one-handed melee that crushes the skulls of enemies like butter. It is a versatile and strong weapon, mainly reliant on Strength but also scaling with Dexterity, which opens the way to many possible combos with other weapons. In general terms, the Hatchet does a fine job at striking down foes, and its two skill branches, Berserker and Throwing, can be combined to create powerful passive synergies.

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Berserk focuses on melee combat, sustain, and fast powerful attacks that overwhelm enemies. Throwing, as the name implies, is all about harnessing the aerodynamics of the Hatchet to turn it into a powerful mid-range weapon that surprises foes, never runs out of ammo, and has decent cooldown economy. On the downside, Hatchet users might feel overwhelmed when exposed to enemy fire from ranged weapons, especially the Musket, since its powerful skillshots and long distance sniping are the natural enemies of Melee users.

1 Flail And Shield

Powerful, Reliable, And Good AoE

Main Stat: Strength
Secondary Stat: Focus
Pairs Best With: War Hammer, Void Gauntlet, Life Staff
Pros: Reliable, powerful, Self-Healing, Buffs when in Groups
Cons: A social weapon, works best when the user has party members nearby

The Flail and Shield harnesses the strength of the user and empowers the blows with Arcane energy to create a whirlwind of punishing strikes that send foes running back crying. The powerful kit of the Flail and Shield works better when the player is in group with others, since it possesses buffing passives and also creates a healing aura around the user when allies are nearby, granting passive healing to everyone, including the wielder of the Flail.

Its two skill branches are Cleric and Bastion. The first one focuses on damaging foes with powerful arcane blasts and whirlwinds of energy, empowering allies, and granting passive healing to everyone around the player as it strikes down opponents. The second branch focuses on defense, creating defensive buffs and mitigation for allies, and also applies crowd control effects to enemies. It's a good weapon to combine with Void Gauntlet, War Hammer, or even Life Staff. The Flail and Shield are hybrid weapons, ideal for those looking to build a Paladin or a Healer.

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