Quick Links

The Fire Staff has been a very popular weapon during the closed beta of New World. Even after New World's initial release, the Fire Staff still stands as one of the game's most powerful ranged weapon archetypes. It has great AoE spells, high damage output, and even a few ways of enhancing your character's mobility.

RELATED: New World: Best Weapons, Ranked

We'll cover the best weapon to pair the Fire Staff with, the weapon's abilities and what they do, as well as general playstyle tips for both PvE and PvP. The Fire Staff puts out a lot of damage, but due to its high mana cost, it can be tricky to use. Here's how to get the most out of it.

Updated November 19 by Harry Alston: Uh oh, here comes the 1.1 balance patch for New World. There's a mix of both nerfs and buffs to the Fire Staff, but overall this feels like a nerf. Here's a closer look at the changes.

Patch 1.1 Changes To The Fire Staff

Overall, there is a bunch of damage nerfs to the Fire Staff, mostly in the form of its passives. Your auto-attacks will now hit much less hard and without as high a crit chance. That being said, some of the abilities have received some buffs. It's an attempt to make the Fire Staff feel more like a mage weapon rather than just a stick that fires high-damage blobs of fire.

  • Pillar of Fire damage is increased from 134 percent to 174 percent and Flame Thrower damage is increased from 34 percent to 50 percent for scaling. Both of these are pretty positive changes. Also, this comes with a few bug fixes for the Pillar of Fire.
  • Here are the major nerfs to the Fire Staff passives: Clear Casting damage reduced from 10 to 5 percent, Clear Mind's Empower bonus is reduced from 10 to 5 percent, Runes of Helios reduced damage bonus from 30 to 25 percent, Prophet of a Fire God crit reduced from 20 to 15 percent, Spellslinger crit chance bonus reduced from 15 to 10 percent and no longer grants crit for regular attacks, and Pyromania has its damage bonus reduced from 20 to 15 percent.
  • That was a lot. Basically, the Fire Staff has been hit hard across the board, with a focus on reducing crit damage and general damage scaling.

The impact of these changes still isn't clear, but overall it seems like the Fire Staff will now be much weaker at combating Heavy Armor users.

Best Fire Staff Build In New World

There are three builds that have seen a lot of use with the Fire Staff: the Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet combination, the Fire Staff and Rapier combination, and the Fire Staff and Musket combination. These builds have distinct playstyles. We'll cover all of them here.

Before we cover these builds, it's important you understand the basics of each Fire Staff tree.

  1. Fire Mage: Focuses on high-damage AoE spells.
    1. Passives assist with mana sustain and critical hits.
  2. Pyromancer: Focuses on applying burn debuffs and mobility.
    1. Passives enhance the burn debuff and grant haste.

Return to Quick Links

Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet Build

We've gone into more depth about the Ice Gauntlet in our best Ice Gauntlet build guide, but we'll go over why the Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet pair so well together, mostly for PvE, with some use in large-scale PvP.

Ice Gauntlet Setup

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Entombed
  • Description: Entomb yourself in ice, becoming temporarily invulnerable while drastically increasing mana regen.
    • Can be broken out by taking substantial damage.
  • Strengthened Tomb: Increases defense by 25% for 3 seconds after breaking out of Entombed.
  • Cleansing Tomb: Cleanse all debuffs when being Entombed.
Ice Shower
  • Description: Create a 5m slow field, inflicting Frostbite for 4 seconds to enemies caught inside.
    • Frostbite roots for 1 second, prevents sprinting or dodging, and reduces speed by 50%.
  • Quick Shower: You and allies that pass through Ice Shower gain 25% movement speed for 2 seconds.
  • Frigid Showers: Frostbite applies Rend to enemies, reducing defense by 10%.
Ice Storm
  • Description: Create a 5m dome that deals 17% weapon damage per second every 0.25 seconds.
    • Enemies caught in the dome move 25% slower for 5 seconds.
  • Weakening Gust: Enemies that reach 50% in Ice Storm take 10% increased damage for 3 seconds.

RELATED: New World: Best Build To Level Up Fast

The Fire Staff and Ice Gauntlet combo is all built off of one active ability in the Gauntlet's Builder tree: Entombed. Entombed freezes you inside a tower of ice (it can be destroyed) that greatly speeds up mana regeneration.

Due to the mana costs of the Fire Staff's abilities, this is a great ability that keeps you in the fight for longer.

Entombed can also be used as an "uh oh" card, to use when you find yourself surrounded by enemies during PvE. It will give you a brief moment to let your cooldowns recharge.

So what about the Fire Staff? What abilities work well alongside the CC of the Ice Gauntlet and its always-damaging Ice Pylons? This is what we like to call the Burn Build.

Fire Staff Setup

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Pillar of Flame
  • Description: A targeted spell that deals 134% weapon damage over a small radius.
    • Damage occurs shortly after casting.
  • First Strike: Pillar of Flame deals 40% more damage to foes at full health.
  • Arson's Advantage: Gain 10% of your max mana per enemy hit by Pillar of Flame.
Incinerate
  • Description: Cause a fiery explosion that deals 130% weapon damage and inflicts 3m of knockback. Enemies hit are ignited.
    • Burning field deals 3% weapon damage per second for 6 seconds.
  • Cauterize Wounds: 20% of Incinerate's damage is recovered as HP.
  • Flame Out! Incinerate hits twice.
Flame Thrower
  • Description: Create a jet of flame that deals 34% weapon damage per second. Enemies hit are ignited.
    • Burn deals 3% weapon damage per second for 8 seconds.
  • Infernal Flames: Flame Thrower deals 25% more base damage.
  • Pyro Dancer: Flame Thrower has no cooldown.

Pillar of Fire is great for dishing out a high amount of damage over a small area. It does take a little bit of getting used to, requiring good pre aim to properly catch enemies in PvE and PvP. If you don't like Pillar of Fire, you can use Fireball instead. Pillar of Fire is better for single-target PvP, whereas Fireball is better for PvE. Mix and match to see what works best for you.

Incinerate is your hard-hitting skill for this build. It deals immense damage with Flame Out allocated. The Cauterize Wounds passive in the Incinerate tree also provides a bit of sustainability, granting HP based on how much damage Incinerate dealt

Flame Thrower and Incinerate are your main source of Burn damage. Use this to punish aggressive PvP players, melee enemies in PvE, or use it at the start of a fight to deal solid chip damage.

Best Attributes And Gear

  • Attribute: Intelligence
  • Armor: Light

Your best bet is to wear Light Armor and focus on Intelligence for max damage with the Fire Staff. Any intelligence gem can be a huge boost to your fire and burn damage. Keep your eyes open for any weapons or armor pieces that enhance your burn debuff in some form.

Return to Quick Links

Fire Staff and Rapier

The Fire Staff and Rapier is an excellent choice for PvP, especially single-target and one-on-one duels as you run around the world with your PvP flag held high. We've covered the Rapier in-depth here if you want to read more about one of the best PvP weapons in the game.

Rapier Setup for the Fire Staff

The Fire Staff is your main damage source in this build, and as such, the Rapier is used primarily for evasion and kiting during fights.

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Tondo
  • Description: Slash targets in a 5m arc, dealing 50% weapon damage while inflicting bleed.
    • Bleed deals 85% weapon damage over 12 seconds. Stacks x3.
    • Stack increments refresh bleed's timer.
  • And Again: Reduces cooldown by 25% upon hitting a target.
  • Heavy Puncture: Heavy attacks extend bleed's duration by 2 seconds, applying to present and future stacks.
Evade
  • Description: Perform a sidestep, granting invulnerability mid-animation.
    • Light attacks during Evade are exceptionally quick.
  • Allegro: Gain 20% movement speed for 3 seconds on use.
  • Adagio: Evading forward grants 15% increased damage on your next light attack. Ends on hit or after 1 second.
Riposte
  • Description: For 1 second, parry an incoming attack, stunning the target for 1.5 seconds.
    • Successful Riposte gives you temporary invulnerability.
  • Insult to Injury: Successful Ripostes cause your attacks to be uninterruptible for 3 seconds.
  • Priority: Successful Riposte stuns reduce all Rapier cooldowns by 20%.

Riposte is essential for PvP. If you manage to land it successfully, your opponent will be frozen in place for a short period, ideal if you can switch out to the Fire Staff and hit an ability while they're stuck.

Evade, when paired with the Light Armor mobility boosts, is basically the way you're going to avoid taking damage. Max out this tree.

You've got two options for your third active ability: Fleche or Tondo. Fleche gives you that extra mobility, whereas Tondo will apply extra bleed damage. Combine that with Burn and you've got a lot of stacking DMG, but Tondo is harder to hit if your opponent is playing ranged (most PvPers do.)

Fire Staff Setup With The Rapier

The Fire Staff is your main source of damage. Both your abilities and auto-attacks are going to melt through opponents if you can land your hits.

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Pillar of Flame
  • Description: A targeted spell that deals 134% weapon damage over a small radius.
    • Damage occurs shortly after casting.
  • First Strike: Pillar of Flame deals 40% more damage to foes at full health.
  • Arson's Advantage: Gain 10% of your max mana per enemy hit by Pillar of Flame.
Fireball
  • Description: Fire a fireball that deals 140% weapon damage on impact and leaves a 3m burning field.
    • Burning field deals 10% weapon damage per second for 6 seconds.
  • Scorched Earth: Fireball's burning field lasts 9 seconds.
  • Clear Mind: While above 50% mana, gain 10% Empower (deal increased damage).
Burn Out
  • Description: Dash through targets, dealing 129% weapon damage on hit. Passing through targets inflicts burn.
    • Burn deals 10% weapon damage per second for 8 seconds.
  • All In: Fire Staff cooldowns are reduced by 5% for each foe hit by Burn Out.
  • Heat It Up! Burn Out goes 50% further.

RELATED: New World: Everything You Need To Know About Camping

Pillar of Fire serves as a high-damage AoE spell. Once you get used to casting it, you'll be able to deal immense damage to a small cluster of targets. Be sure to grab both mastery passives tied to Pillar of Flame to maximize its damage output.

Fireball is another AoE spell but is much easier to use. Its versatility is hard to match, capable of dealing high damage or locking off areas due to its burning field.

Burn Out is an incredible movement tool for this build, allowing you to flame dash through targets. While its damage isn't as great as Fleche on your Rapier, it covers more ground once you grab the Heat it Up mastery passive.

Crucial passives to pick up include Singe, which creates a burning effect after hitting a critical hit, Spellslinger, which gives you a better crit chance, and Prophet of a Fire God, for extra crit damage.

You're basically building a crit-heavy Fire Staff that can deal massive damage from range. Use your Burn Out to either engage or escape, and switch to the Rapier if your opponent gets close. There's a great balance here between mobility and damage.

Best Attributes And Gear

  • Attribute: Intelligence
  • Armor: Light or medium

This build focuses on scaling Intelligence as much as possible, although you'll want to invest extra points into Dexterity to gain additional critical chance at certain point thresholds. As for armor, light or medium work here. Light is best if you want optimal DPS in endgame PvE. If you play PvP or find yourself dying too much in the endgame, swap to medium armor.

Tip: To help your Rapier scale alongside your Fire Staff, equip a Topaz gem in your Rapier. The lightning damage scales with Intelligence.

Return to Quick Links

Fire Staff And Musket Build

Other than the popular Rapier and Ice Gauntlet weapon combinations, the Fire Staff and Musket has also seen a bit of play during the first week of New World. The Fire Staff scales primarily off of Intelligence, whereas the Musket has secondary Int scaling. This does make it a viable build. This build relies on the Musket's traps -- you want to place down a trap, snare your opponent, and then drop massive Fire Staff AOE on their head.

Best Masteries For The Fire Staff

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Pillar of Flame
  • Description: A targeted spell that deals 134% weapon damage over a small radius.
    • Damage occurs shortly after casting.
  • First Strike: Pillar of Flame deals 40% more damage to foes at full health.
  • Arson's Advantage: Gain 10% of your max mana per enemy hit by Pillar of Flame.
Incinerate
  • Description: Cause a fiery explosion that deals 130% weapon damage and inflicts 3m of knockback. Enemies hit are ignited.
    • Burning field deals 3% weapon damage per second for 6 seconds.
  • Cauterize Wounds: 20% of Incinerate's damage is recovered as HP.
  • Flame Out! Incinerate hits twice.
Meteor Shower
  • Description: Call down a series of meteors with this channeled skill. The initial impact deals 34% weapon damage. Subsequent meteors deal 20% damage.
  • Immolation: The initial meteor gives 1% of your max mana per enemy hit.
  • Fiery Determination: You cannot be interrupted while casting Meteor Shower.

Pillar of Fire deals great damage over a small area, making it perfect when paired with your Musket's Trap ability. CC the target, use Pillar of Flame, and repeat.

Incinerate is your main burst ability, dealing an immense amount of damage once you get Flame Out allocated. It also heals you when you grab Cauterize Wounds from the tree, making it a solid panic skill as well.

Meteor Shower is an underwhelming skill on the surface, but it works surprisingly well for this build. This is your answer to Zerg rushes, 50v50 PvP battles, and PvE encounters where dozens of enemies are stacked atop one another. Channeling this skill is quite risky if the target isn't stunned or isn't aggroed, so be careful when using this skill.

Mana sustain can become an issue with this setup. You have two ways of dealing with it:

  • Pick up the Reheat capstone in the Pyromancy tree to increase your mana regen.
  • Grab Spell Focus and Flare in the Fire Mage tree to gain mana through your Fire Staff's heavy attacks.

The former feels much smoother if you use your Musket more than your Fire Staff. If you prefer using your Fire Staff, consider the second option.

Best Masteries For The Musket

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Stopping Power
  • Description: Your next shot deals 120% weapon damage and inflicts a 3m knockback.
    • Does not stack with other Overloaded shots.
  • Lasting Impression: Stopping Power now inflicts Exhausted, reducing stamina regeneration by 10% for 8 seconds.
  • Supplementary Repulsion: Stopping Power slows targets by 10% for 8 seconds.
Traps
  • Description: Throw a bear trap that lasts for 20 seconds. Enemies that activate the trap are rooted for 3 seconds.
    • While rooted, the target can't move.
  • Trapped Damage: Trapped targets take 20% increased damage for 3 seconds.
  • Scent of Blood: 100% of weapon damage dealt to trapped targets is recovered as health.
Sticky Bomb
  • Description: Throw a bomb that detonates after 3 seconds, dealing 175% weapon damage over 3 meters when it explodes.
    • The bomb sticks to surfaces or enemies on contact.
  • Unflinching Walk: Gain 40 stamina for each enemy hit by the explosion.
  • Sticky Slow: Sticking a target with the bomb slows them by 15% for 3 seconds.

Stopping Power, in the most literal sense, stops enemies from moving. Its bonus damage doesn't match the damage of your Fire Staff, but its ability to stun targets shouldn't be overlooked. Use this whenever you fail to land a Trap.

Traps is the staple of this build. Enemies that are trapped can't move, making it easy to hit them with a Fire Staff AoE or a headshot from your Musket. Don't feel intimidated if you have a hard time trapping enemies in PvP. Using this ability takes a lot of practice.

Sticky Bomb is a rather fun skill, allowing you to stick a target with what's effectively a grenade. It deals great damage and pairs nicely with Traps. Once the target is rooted, throw the Sticky Bomb at them to apply a slow debuff. This gives you enough time to land one or two AoE attacks from your Fire Staff.

For passives, go for the Lethal Combo keystone in the Trapper tree for extra damage against trapped enemies.

Best Attributes And Gear

  • Attribute: Intelligence
  • Armor: Light or medium

Intelligence is going to scale your hard-hitting abilities from your Fire Staff. Your Musket does gain some scaling from Intelligence, but if you want it to hit even harder, consider applying an Intelligence-scaling gem such as Topaz or Amethyst. For armor, light or medium work well. Light is best for DPS, while medium armor is better for PvP or content where you need to take more punishment from enemies.

Return to Quick Links

In Closing

Credit to NewWorldFans for the mastery tree images. Visit their site to experiment with some builds of your own, as well as view the massive database of gems to customize your build with. You can check out some of our other build guides below:

NEXT: New World: Complete Guide And Walkthrough