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A Support Healer build is one of the best builds in New World, both for leveling and for running endgame PVP and Expeditions. This build makes use of the Life Staff and Ice Gauntlet, for AoE healing, sustain, and CC. You can also use the Sword for solo leveling as a Healer.
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This guide will cover the path you should take through your masteries and attributes, as well as how you can effectively use a support build to level up your character fast. We will also include some variations on the build so you can experiment with your playstyle.
Note: this guide is based on information from the Closed Beta of New World, and everything is subject to change with the game's full release. We will update this guide for the full release.
Support Build In New World
The main focus of this build is a combination of the Life Staff and Ice Gauntlet. It can be tricky to level up with this combination at the start of the game, but by the time you reach Expeditions and beyond, it should make for a very effective healer build. As a reference, and thanks for the mastery tree images, you should check out NewWorldFans as a place to experiment with your own builds.
Masteries For The Life Staff
The Life Staff is going to be your main source of healing and support. You want to focus on these three abilities:
- Sacred Ground
- Orb of Protection
- Light's Embrace
Sacred Ground – This is one of the biggest sources of AoE healing at your disposal. The base-level ability creates an area of healing (which does not move) that heals for 20 percent of weapon damage every second for 15 seconds. It tiers into Holy Ground (buffs mana and health regen up to 100 percent while stood in Sacred Ground's aura) and then into Blessed (all allies get an extra 50 percent buff to all incoming healing.)
- Sacred Ground is situational. Unless you're running with a reliable group, in an Expedition, for example, it can be tricky to get your allies to actually stay within your aura of healing. It's an ability that will likely be less useful in PVP because of the number of Bow/Rapier kiters.
- Sacred Ground is useful for solo-leveling because it offers consistent sustain, but you will have to stay in its aura. It can be difficult to tackle large groups of enemies that might swarm you.
Orb Of Protection – Arguably one of the best abilities for the Life Staff, this is going to be one of your biggest sources of damage. It grants Fortify to allies, healing, and also deals up to 146 percent weapon damage when it hits an enemy.
- You probably want to take this mastery ability first.
- Its third-tier of mastery progression, Aegis, provides further AoE healing, ideal if you're frequently running Expeditions or PVP, but less useful for solo levelers.
Light's Embrace – Light's Embrace is the third and final ability. It's a targeted heal ability that will make up the bulk of your easy healing/support during combat. It tiers into Inspire, which grants extra stamina to your targeted ally, and then into Connection, which helps you to maintain your mana regen.
- If you're not running an Ice Gauntlet, Light's Embrace is the main way to increase mana regen.
- You don't need to focus on this mastery tree as a solo player, although it is very useful when it comes to any kind of team combat.
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Masteries For The Ice Gauntlet
This is where things get a bit more situational. In the build above we've specced entirely into the Builder tree, but you can experiment with the other side. The Ice Gauntlet has some seriously impressive CC and AoE, so you should spec into trees like Ice Shower and Ice Storm if you're going for that angle.
However, you definitely want to take the Ice Pylon tree, and Entombed is incredibly good for a solo player, so now you're stuck with four potential choices. We recommend something like this:
- Ice Shower
- Pylon
- Entombed
Ice Shower – We've gone for Ice Shower over Ice Storm in this build because of its overall stacking effects of slowing enemies, and eventually lowering their defense with the Frigid Showers mastery. The third tier of Ice Storm also requires enemies to stay inside the storm…which isn't likely to happen much.
Ice Pylon – The ultimate mastery for the Ice Gauntlet. You can place these Pylons and then switch back to your Life Staff to maintain your passives. They do loads of damage and boost other frost powers. Very strong.
Entombed – Recommended for a solo player, not only to massively regen your mana but to provide a sort of "Uh oh, I'm in trouble" button, which is otherwise pretty lacking in this build.
General tips for the build:
- Heavy Armor is recommended for a full Support build, although you can experiment with the movement bonuses of the other armor sets.
- You want to chuck as many points into Focus as you can. For more tankiness, go for Constitution. Experiment a bit with the attribute points to see what best suits your playstyle.
Solo Life Staff Leveling Build
The above build is a bit tricky to level with, just because your damage output with the Life Staff and Ice Gauntlet isn't going to be enough to singlehandedly deal with higher-level mobs. That's why you switch out the Ice Gauntlet for the Sword.
There are two options for your Sword masteries:
- Swordmaster – Abilities like Whirling Blade and Leaping Strike give you some mobility, which the Life Staff is seriously lacking. This is a more offensive choice.
- Defender – Taunt up and bash your way to victory. Ideal for a more tanky build with your Life Staff, but does give you enough fighting power to take down larger groups of mobs.
For a more in-depth look at the best build to level up with, check our guide:
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