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The Ice Gauntlet provides some of the best crowd-control in Amazon's new MMO, New World. It can be paired with a variety of weapons for a dozen different styles of play, with uses for PVE, Expeditions, and PvP. If you need a weapon that can synergize nicely with AoE weapons like the Great Axe and War Hammer, this is the weapon for you.

Related: New World: Best Weapons, Ranked

This guide takes a closer look at what the Ice Gauntlet is capable of, as well as some suggestions of which weapons pair well with it. We'll cover the masteries, active skills, passives, and weapon combinations that turn the Ice Gauntlet into the ultimate CC machine.

Updated November 19 by Harry Alston: With New World's 1.1 patch come some heavy Ice Gauntlet nerfs. If you were worried about a mage in the Heavy Armor meta, then these changes are not exactly positive ones. We cover some of the changes below.

Patch 1.1 Changes To The Ice Gauntlet

The Ice Gauntlet has been nerfed substantially in this update. In the official blog post about the changes, it reads "Our goal was to tone down the effectiveness of some of the maxed-out combinations of abilities while still maintaining their individual usefulness." That essentially means a lot of the Ice Gauntlet's AoE abilities have been hit hard, like Ice Shower, Ice Storm, and the damage passives. Here's a rundown.

  • Changes to the Ice Gauntlet's Heavy Attacks. The Heavy Attack charge up time and recovery time have both been increased. This is to bring it more in line with the Void Gauntlet and Fire Staff. You will also move slower while attacking.
  • Ice Storm receives a nerf - the time between damage ticks has been increased from 0.25s to 0.33s. This means you will do less damage with the ability before it stops. In a more positive light, a few bugs have been fixed: Unending Thaw perk will no longer stop damage; the Ice Storm will do damage to enemies that are slowed, and your Ice Storm will now continue when you swap out your weapon.
  • A small buff to Wind Chill - a damage increase from 16 percent to 20 percent - may make it a more reliable skill. We will have to see if this impacts the popular Ice Gauntlet builds.
  • Ice Shower has its cooldown increased to 30 seconds from 20 seconds. This will make wars more bearable, but it's a hard hit for Ice Gauntlet users.
  • Entombed is nerfed. You can no longer be healed, you get less health when Entombed, and the damage is reduced massively from 168 percent to 70 percent when you burst out. This is a pretty hard nerf, especially for squishy mages that used Entombed to get out of trouble.
  • The Ice Pylon has a max timer now of 45s, but it gets 20 percent more health. It's an okay change, but this means you won't have a static Pylon dealing consistent damage for you.
  • Big nerfs to some of the passives: Ultimate Chill bonus damage is down from 35 percent to 25 percent; Critical Frost gets a crit reduction down from 20 percent to 15 and Energized Critical damage bonus is reduced from 15 percent to 10 percent.

Overall, the Ice Gauntlet is significantly weaker than the pre-patch version of the weapon.

Best Ice Gauntlet Build

The Ice Gauntlet provides some of the very best CC abilities in the entire game. We've already written about why you might want to take this weapon as a way to level up fast in New World, but this guide will focus more broadly on the different uses for the Ice Gauntlet.

Ice Gauntlet And Fire Staff - High DPS and PvP

One of the most popular builds during the first couple weeks of New World has been the Ice Gauntlet and Fire Staff combination. The high damage output and mana usage of the Fire Staff is well-balanced with the mana regen and CC of the Ice Gauntlet. You can check out NewWorldFans for a tool to experiment with your own builds, which is where the screenshots below are from.

Overview of the build:

Ice Gauntlet Fire Staff Armor
Ice Shower Fireball Preferably Light Armor
Entombed Reheat
Ice Storm Incinerate

This build is suitable for both Open World PvP and staged PvP. Check out our best PvP builds for more insight into the best ways to play these builds.

Best Active Skills For The Ice Gauntlet

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Ice Shower
  • Description: Create a linear shower of ice that extends 5m outward. Enemies hit by the shower are inflicted with Frostbite.
    • Frostbite roots for 1 second, disables sprinting and dodging, and reduces movement speed by 50%. Lasts for 4 seconds.
  • Quick Shower: Walking through Ice Shower grants a 25% movement speed boost for 2 seconds to yourself and your allies.
  • Frigid Showers: Frostbite reduces a target's defense by 10%.
Entombed
  • Description: Entomb yourself in ice, becoming invulnerable while greatly increasing mana regen.
    • Can break out of Entombed by using either light or heavy attack.
    • Enemies can break Entombed if they output enough damage.
  • Strengthened Tomb: Breaking out of Entombed grants 25% increased defenses for 3 seconds.
  • Cleansing Tomb: Cleanse all debuffs when using Entombed.
Ice Storm
  • Description: Create a 5m dome that deals 17% weapon damage every 0.25 seconds. Lasts for 5 seconds.
    • Enemies in the storm move 25% slower.
  • Weakening Gust: When an enemy drops below 50% HP while in Ice Storm, they take 10% more damage for 3 seconds.
  • Punishing Storm: Increases damage by 10% for each enemy in the Ice Storm.

Related: New World: Beginner Tips

Since the Ice Gauntlet's main strength is crowd control, we'll be exclusively using abilities that provide strong crowd control effects:

  • Ice Shower - Ice Shower is a powerful CC active ability for the Ice Gauntlet. It slows the enemy, roots them for a second, and prevents them from either blocking or dodging while affected by the shower. An extremely powerful PVP ability, it also has its uses for PVE and fighting large groups of enemies.
  • Entombed - An essential active skill for the Ice Gauntlet and Fire Staff combination, Entombed encases you in a block of ice and greatly increases mana regen. Because you'll be burning through mana fast with the Staff, this is a great way to step out of the fight for a moment and get your mana back.
  • Ice Storm - More CC. The Ice Storm ability creates an area of slowness and also deals damage. This is trickier to pull off in single-target PVP because it requires the enemy to stay within its radius, but it's very useful for multiple enemies or for during Expeditions, for example.

Best Active Skills And Masteries For The Fire Staff

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
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.
Incinerate
  • Description: Create a fiery explosion, dealing 130% weapon damage and pushing back targets 3m. Enemies hit are ignited.
    • Burning targets take 3% weapon damage per second for 6 seconds.
  • Cauterize Wounds: Restore 20% of damage dealt by Incinerate as health.
  • Flame Out! Incinerate hits twice.
  • Fireball - Fireball is a straightforward, powerful ability that creates an AOE of burn damage over a short period. This is a great pick-up for the Fire Staff. If you prefer targeted damage, take the Pillar of Fire ability instead.
  • Burn Out - This serves as an excellent movement skill. Use this to create distance when enemies are getting too close, or dash through a bunched-up group of enemies to inflict burn on all of them.
  • Incinerate - Incinerate is a powerful ability that will knock back opponents, help you to regen health if you spec all the way down its skill tree, and also stacks the burning debuff on your enemies.

You'll also want to grab the Reheat capstone from the Pyromancer tree. It will massively regenerate your mana (by 400 percent) if you don't use a Fire spell for a short period. As you will likely be switching out to the Ice Gauntlet regularly, this works very well for this build. If you want to double down on some of the passives in the Pyromancer tree, you can spec out of Burn Out to get a few more mastery points.

Best Attributes And Gear

  • Attribute: Intelligence
  • Armor: Light or medium

Since both weapons in this build scale with Intelligence, that's the main attribute you'll want to increase. As for your armor, light gives a fantastic dodge roll to help you avoid attacks. If you find yourself dying repeatedly, consider using medium armor instead. Any gear with critical-enhancing perks, reduced threat, or enhancements to your abilities is worth using.

How To Use This Build In Open World And Staged PvP

Your role is along the backline. It's up to you to deal consistent CC and AoE damage while staying away from pesky backline clearers with Great Axes. Thanks to the Entombed ability, you're able to pretty much consistently spam out abilities. In Wars, for example, you should be laying down constant damage on objective points.

As for solo PvP in the Open World, this build can deal a lot of damage, but you're also susceptible to gap closers and CC opponents, literally anyone with a Great Axe, War Hammer, or Spear. This is why light armor is recommended. You will need to be able to dodge and weave around opponents.

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Ice Gauntlet and Rapier Build

Another build that has been popular during the start of New World is the Ice Gauntlet and Rapier combination. This build is more about dealing big damage while evading your enemy's attacks. Be wary: this is more of a duelist-type build, which means you will take more damage if you're not careful.

Best Active Skills For The Ice Gauntlet

We'll be using the same CC-heavy build that was discussed in the last build section. Ice Storm, Ice Shower, and Entombed will give you the tools to dish out a ton of crowd control effects.

Best Active Skills For The Rapier

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Fleche
  • Description: Lunge 10m forward, dealing 145% damage to enemies in your path.
    • Passes through enemies
  • Quick Lunge: Kills with this ability reduce its cooldown by 80%.
  • Backside: After performing Fleche, your next critical strike will deal 15% increased damage. Lasts for 5 seconds.
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%.

Related: New World: Tips For Playing Solo

This is your standard Rapier setup, although it favors the Grace tree heavily. Evade, Riposte, and Fleche should give you the mobility you need to tackle large groups of PvE enemies.

  • Fill out the Grace tree - You want to take all three skills from the Grace tree, Riposte, Evade, and Fleche. The entire purpose of this build is to be a tricky, mobile opponent that controls your enemy's movement while also dealing damage and applying debuffs.
  • Riposte - Enters you into a defensive stance for a short period of time. If you're hit during this period, you'll stun the enemy. Pair this with an Ice Shower, and you've got a nasty combination.
  • Evade - This provides a lot of mobility and helps you stay out of trouble, either while you're waiting for cooldowns to refresh on your Ice Gauntlet or to activate another Riposte.
  • Fleche - Another mobility active skill, Fleche will have you lunging in and out around your enemies, helping you reduce incoming damage.

Best Attributes And Gear

  • Attributes: Intelligence and Dexterity
  • Armor: Light or medium

Your core Attribute is going to depend on how you play this build. If you focus on the Ice Gauntlet's abilities, focus on Intelligence first. If you prefer the Rapier's abilities, use Dexterity instead. With endgame gear, your goal is to have a good mix of the two stats to maximize your damage output. For armor, light is solid for enhancing your damage and giving you a powerful dodge roll. If you don't like how weak your defenses are, feel free to use medium instead. As for perks, look for anything that enhances your Ice Gauntlet cooldowns and mobility.

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Ice Gauntlet And Life Staff Build

This is one of the more popular support healer builds in New World. You can check out our in-depth guide to support builds in the game here, but we'll also cover the basics of the Ice Gauntlet and Life Staff pairing below.

Best Active Skills For The Ice Gauntlet

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Ice Shower
  • Description: Create a linear shower of ice that extends 5m outward. Enemies hit by the shower are inflicted with Frostbite.
    • Frostbite roots for 1 second, disables sprinting and dodging, and reduces movement speed by 50%. Lasts for 4 seconds.
  • Quick Shower: Walking through Ice Shower grants a 25% movement speed boost for 2 seconds to yourself and your allies.
  • Frigid Showers: Frostbite reduces a target's defense by 10%.
Entombed
  • Description: Entomb yourself in ice, becoming invulnerable while greatly increasing mana regen.
    • Can break out of Entombed by using either light or heavy attack.
    • Enemies can break Entombed if they output enough damage.
  • Strengthened Tomb: Breaking out of Entombed grants 25% increased defenses for 3 seconds.
  • Cleansing Tomb: Cleanse all debuffs when using Entombed.
Ice Storm
  • Description: Create a 5m dome that deals 17% weapon damage every 0.25 seconds. Lasts for 5 seconds.
    • Enemies in the storm move 25% slower.
  • Weakening Gust: When an enemy drops below 50% HP while in Ice Storm, they take 10% more damage for 3 seconds.
  • Punishing Storm: Increases damage by 10% for each enemy in the Ice Storm.

Once again, the CC-heavy Ice Gauntlet setup is what we'll be using for this build. Use Ice Shower and Ice Storm to slow your targets as much as possible. When you need more mana, use Entombed.

Best Active Skills For The Life Staff

Skill Effect Recommended Masteries
Sacred Ground
  • Description: Create an area that heals 20% weapon damage per second. Lasts for 15 seconds.
  • Holy Ground: Regenerate stamina and mana 100% faster while in Sacred Ground.
  • Blessed: Allies in Sacred Ground are healed for 50% more from all healing sources.
Orb of Protection
  • Description: Shoots a projectile that grants 10% Fortify for 20 seconds, heals for 10% weapon damage, and deals 146% weapon damage if it hits an enemy.
  • Shared Protection: If you hit an ally with this ability, you also gain Fortify and Recovery.
  • Aegis: When the projectile hits, it affects all allies within a 3m radius.
Light's Embrace
  • Description: Heal a target for 100% weapon damage.
    • Heal is 30% more per buff on the target.
  • Inspire: Healed targets also receive 25 stamina.
  • Connection: When Light's Embrace heals someone, gain 1% max man for each buff that target has.

Our ideal loadout for the Life Staff alongside the Ice Gauntlet looks like this:

  • Sacred Ground - This is one of the strongest healing effects in New World, and it persists when you swap weapons. Throw one down whenever you can.
  • Orb of Protection - Provides a plethora of buffs with a short cooldown.
  • Light's Embrace / Beacon - Light's Embrace is fantastic for single-target healing and for mana sustain. If your mana sustain is fine, Beacon is a great alternative that provides more group healing.
    • Beacon also persists when you swap weapons.

Best Attributes And Gear

  • Attribute: Focus
  • Armor: Light

Heavily invest in Focus. The Ice Gauntlet is a secondary weapon in this combo, and you will primarily be using the Life Staff to provide healing to your pals during Expeditions and PvP. Light armor is great for this build, as it provides a powerful dodge and increases your healing capabilities. For perks, look for anything that enhances your healing, cooldowns, and reduces your threat.

Note: As of writing, light encumbrance does not increase your healing output. Despite this bug, we still recommend you wear light armor. This setup will be even stronger once Amazon fixes this issue.

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General Tips For Ice Gauntlet Gameplay

https://www.newworld.com/en-us/news/articles/release-update
  • The Ice Gauntlet relies heavily on crowd control. Depending on which weapon you pair it with, it doesn't deal the most massive damage.
  • You can pair the Ice Gauntlet with the Life Staff for a very competent Support Healer build.
  • The Ice Gauntlet's Ice Pylon active skill should not be overlooked. It's incredibly powerful when paired with the right secondary weapon. Placing down Pylons that deal consistent damage means you can switch your attention to other matters, and rely on the Pylons to deal frost damage.
  • We saw some interesting PVP Ice Gauntlet builds during the first couple of wars.

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Next: New World: Complete Guide And Walkthrough