The world of MMORPGs is in flux these days. Giants of previous decades are crumbling, while other games are rising to fill the void. New World, the much anticipated and often delayed new MMO from Amazon, is expected to release at the end of September. A closed beta is currently running that includes thousands of players, and pre-ordered copies are currently available. Plenty of information about the game is out there, and that includes both lore and information about equipment.
If there's anything people love about MMORPGs, it's the ways players can customize their characters. Naturally, players are already planning out their New World armor sets. There are several gear sets to choose from, regardless of whether a character wears cloth, leather, mail, or plate. The best armor set is always the one that players are able to customize for themselves.
Updated on November 11th, 2022, by Kristy Ambrose: New World has had an interesting year following an explosive initial launch followed by some unique problems and equally interesting solutions. The concept of building characters and classes from the ground up, including finding the perfect armor set for every unique build, continues to be one of the best features of the game. The Trading Post and various crafting stations present a myriad of opportunities for collecting and crafting along with the armor sets available from each faction according to the player's rank, level, and what Expeditions they've visited. Now that the new expansion, Brimstone Sands, has been released it seemed fitting to update the list with a few additional entries.
Each piece of armor in New World is assigned a rank instead of a level, and players can equip any gear as long as their character's level is within range. Tier 1 refers to the first rank of faction-specific gear but doesn't apply to other types of armor. Tier 2 pieces range from levels 1 to19, Tier 3 covers levels of 20 to 39, Tier 4 goes from levels to 40-59, and Tier 5 is the highest at Level 60. Tier 5 pieces often drop from bosses in endgame dungeons.
14 The Fisherman's Set
- Rarity Level: Common. These are probably some of the first quality armor set items that a character will pick up in New World. It's not the most mind-blowing set, but very useful at lower levels and for role-playing purposes.
- Tier Pieces: Five, consisting of a hat, trousers, gloves, boots, and a smock. There are higher-level fishing sets of different qualities, but the earliest quests reward players with this one.
- How To Acquire: Given as a reward from low-level fishing quests, purchased, or crafted.
- Perks: Constitution, Strength, Focus, and Dexterity bonuses.
13 The Covenant Adjudicator Set
- Rarity Level: Epic. Players will probably wear this gear at Tier 4 or 5.
- Tier Pieces: What's really nice about this set is that it's available in light, medium, and heavy varieties, allowing the player can mix and match as they please. That offers some nice customization options with no less than 12 pieces: a breastplate, jacket, coat, gauntlets, shoes, boots, leg guards, pants, and three different kinds of headwear.
- How To Acquire: These pieces are New World faction armor, which means they can be purchased from the Covenant, one of the three factions vying for control of Aeterneum. The player must be a member of the Faction and have the required rank of Adjudicator.
- Perks: The light and medium versions of this set give a healthy Resilience buff and boost health and mana regeneration. The heavy armor version provides a better damage absorption ability.
12 The Lumberjack Set
- Rarity Level: Uncommon. This is one of many New World armor sets in the game connected to gathering a resource. New World has a survivalist angle, so gathering resources like wood is central to building and construction, and players will be rewarded for their efforts.
- Tier Pieces: Four in total, consisting of a hat, shoes, pants, and a shirt. There are higher-level versions of this set, all the way up to Epic quality.
- How To Acquire: Crafted or Traded
- Perks: Constitution, plus an increased chance of finding rare items while logging.
11 Blackguard Set
- Rarity Level: Legendary
- Tier Pieces: Weapons only, which is still decent for New World, in which all players can carry two weapons even if they don't plan on using both of them. There's a chance that any kind of Blackguard weapon will drop, so this is a set for any character of even the most creative build.
- How To Acquire: Drops in the Tempest's Heart Expedition, which is part of the Heart of Madness storyline and connected to Isabella, an NPC that players are pursuing throughout Aeternum. This is also a craftable item and the recipe drops in the same location.
- Perks: Every Blackguard weapon has a socket for a gem and a generous buff for whatever the primary Attribute is for that weapon.
10 The Deepmist Set
- Rarity Level: Common. This is the armor of a Deepmist Spy, and thus more useful to some classes and builds than others. Most stealthy classes can acquire this initial set fairly easily.
- Tier Pieces: Three, consisting of a hat, gloves, and a shirt.
- How To Acquire: Crafted or Dropped
- Perks: None other than the armor class for most Tier 2 items if it's dropped. If the player makes it, they can add buffs or perks according to their crafting level.
9 Duelist Set
- Rarity Level: Limited only by level and crafting ability. The quality level ranges from Tier 2 to Tier 5.
- Tier Pieces: Five pieces at every tier, consisting of a hat, gloves, shirt, trousers, and shoes.
- How To Acquire: Crafted or Dropped.
- Perks: Defense against Elemental Damage and the lightest burden on the character possible. This makes it great for casters and fighting classes who want to avoid rather than absorb damage and hits.
8 Admiral's Set
- Rarity Level: The musket is Rare or Epic, and the armor pieces for this New World set are Legendary.
- Tier Pieces: The weapons are Tier IV, and the clothing is Tier V. There are only two weapons, and each is a musket. The only difference between the two is the quality. The rare musket has a chance to drop from the Cache of the Depths Armaments and the epic one drops from Swogglesmear, a boss in the dungeon. The Legendary clothing set, which includes a petticoat, pantaloons, a tricorn hat, gloves, and even a peg leg all drop from Admiral Blackpowder, the final boss.
- How To Acquire: These items drop from enemies found in the Barnacles & Black Powder Expedition.
- Perks: Every piece of gear in this set reduces damage taken, has a handy gem slot, and increases damage done against Lost, which makes up the enemies in this dungeon.
7 Sage Set
- Rarity Level: Limited only by level and crafting ability. Ranges from Tier 3 to Tier 5 depending on the player's skill level.
- Tier Pieces: Five pieces at each tier, which consist of a hat, shirt, gloves, trousers, and shoes.
- How To Acquire: Usually crafted and occasionally dropped.
- Perks: Light Armor makes it the least cumbersome choice. In addition, this armor set comes with added protection against Elemental damage.
6 Explorer's Set
- Rarity Level: Limited only by level and crafting ability. Ranges from Tier 2 to Tier 5.
- Tier Pieces: Five pieces at each tier, which consist of a hat, coat, gloves, pants, and boots.
- How To Acquire: Crafted, Dropped, or given as a Quest Reward
- Perks: The leather construction is lightweight but durable, ideal for traveling adventurers. New World is a vast open-world sand-box style game, and this is a standard PvE set.
5 Soldier Set
- Rarity Level: Limited only by level and crafting ability. Ranges from Tier 2 to Tier 5.
- Tier Pieces: Five pieces at each tier, which consist of a helm, vambraces, breastplate, greaves, and boots.
- How To Acquire: Crafted or Traded
- Perks: Bonus to Strength along with the better protection offered by a heavy armor set. This inhibits mobility, but any New World heavy armor build has that drawback.
4 Heavy Set
- Rarity Level: Limited only by level and crafting ability. Ranges from Tier 3 to Tier 5.
- Tier Pieces: Five pieces at each tier, which consist of a helm, gauntlets, breastplate, greaves, and boots. This New World armor set is slightly better than Soldier when it comes to protection and defense, but less accessible at lower levels.
- How To Acquire: Crafted or Traded.
- Perks: Better protection is offered by heavy armor, but the set does put some limits on mobility and dodge ability.
3 Syndicate Plague Doctor
- Rarity Level: Limited by Faction choice and character level (Adept, Scrivener, Chronicler, Alchemist). All of the items in this set are of Epic quality.
- Tier Pieces: There are four, consisting of robes, pants, boots, and a hat.
- How To Acquire: This New World faction armor can be purchased from the faction Quartermaster. There are three Factions in New World, and a character must choose the shadowy Syndicate as their faction at level 10 in order to be able to obtain and equip this armor set.
- Perks: Improvement to Strength and Constitution. This set is medium armor — not heavy but provides some protection. It also includes extra resistance to Corruption damage.
2 Trapper's Set
- Rarity Level: Common, but attributes and buffs can be added during the crafting process to improve the quality depending on the player's Armoring level.
- Tier Pieces: There are five, and players can choose medium or heavy for most pieces. These include a hat, a coat, gloves, pants, and boots.
- How To Acquire: Crafted
- Perks: This is primarily a PvE New World set for players who have decided to retreat into the woods with little more than a rifle and their bulbous backpack. In a big sandbox game like New World, gathering resources is a high priority; not to mention this is a great way to level skills that also improve the campsite, like Cooking, Woodworking, and Skinning. Most of the sets that focus on wilderness survival are intended for lower-level players, but the Trapper's Set is one of the few for Tier 4 or 5 characters.
1 Marauder Commander of the Barbarian Set
- Rarity Level: Limited by Faction choice and character level (Adept, Scrivener, Chronicler, Alchemist). All are of Epic quality.
- Tier Pieces: There are four in this New World faction armor set, consisting of headwear, gloves, footwear, and leggings.
- How To Acquire: Purchased from faction Quartermaster. The character must have chosen the militant Marauders as their Faction at level 10, to be able to obtain and equip this New World armor set.
- Perks: Bonuses to Strength and Constitution as with every Barbarian set, extra Resilience, and lowers cooldown times on other abilities.