What damage does corruption do New World?

Please note that the New World Team has stopped covering the game as of Update 1.2. Information on certain pages may not be up-to-date.

New World's damage mechanics consists of two damage types: Physical Damage and Elemental Damage. Hovering over your weapon in the Inventory lets you see its Physical Damage Type, as well as any perk that adds an additional Elemental Damage Type.

Some weapons allow you to use a secondary physical damage type. For example, Swords have a Slash damage type when using its light attack. However, its heavy attack is a Thrust damage type.

Certain Weapon Skills also allow you to change a weapon's damage type when activating an abillity.

All weapons in New World have a Critical Hit Chance and Critical Damage Modifier.

Critical Hit Chance determines the chance of landing a critical hit to an enemy while Critical Damage Modifier determines the extra damage dealt when doing so.

You can increase these two stats using perks or adding points to a certain attribute.

Backstabbing or hitting an enemy in the head is a guaranteed critical hit.

Backstab works by hitting an unsuspecting enemy from behind. This works best against stationary enemies such as the Corrupted in abandoned farmlands or the Lost sailors in shipwrecks.

Headshots work by aiming at an enemy's head using a ranged weapon such as the Bow or Musket.

Take advantage of these maneuvers when facing PvE and PVP enemies.

Resistant	Neutral	Effective

When dealing damage to an enemy, a floating damage counter number appears briefly showing your damage output. The color will vary depending on the enemy's resistance and weakness.

Resistant damage values are displayed with a blue color along with double arrows pointing downwards (⯯). This indicates that the physical or elemental damage is ineffective against the enemy.

Neutral damage values are displayed with a white color and a physical or elemental damage type icon used to attack the enemy. This means that the damage type is neither weak nor resistant against the enemy.

Effective damage values are displayed with a yellow color with double arrows pointing upwards (⯭). This means that the physical or elemental damage is effective against the enemy.

Every enemy type in the game is weak or resistant against certain damage types. Knowing these will help you defeat enemies easier and create effective DPS builds.

See the chart below to learn each of the enemy type's resistances and weaknesses.

Slash is the primary physical damage type of Swords, Hatchets, and Great Axes.

Strike is the primary physical damage type of War Hammers.

Thrust is the primary physical damage type of Spears, Muskets, Bows, and Rapiers. Swords can also inflict thrust damage when using its heavy attack.

Fire is the primary elemental damage type of Fire Staves. You can also equip a gemstone on a weapon to add a secondary fire elemental damage.

Ignited III	Ignited IV	Ignited II
Ignited I

Ice is the primary elemental damage type of Ice Gauntlets. You can also equip a gemstone on a weapon to add a secondary ice elemental damage.

Frozen IV	Frozen III	Frozen II
Frozen I

Nature is the primary elemental damage type of Life Staves. You can also equip a gemstone on a weapon to add a secondary nature elemental damage.

Arboreal I	Arboreal IV	Arboreal III
Arboreal II

Arcane is a secondary elemental damage type that you can equip as a perk on a weapon. Certain weapons such as the Faeforged Musket has this as its primary damage type.

Empowered IV	Empowered III	Empowered II
Empowered I

Lightning is a secondary elemental damage type that you can equip as a perk on a weapon.

Electrified II	Electrified IV	Electrified III
Electrified I

Void is a secondary elemental damage type that you can equip as a perk on a weapon. Certain weapons such as the Longsight has this as its primary damage type.

Abyssal I	Abyssal IV	Abyssal III
Abyssal II

Tips and Tricks: Beginner's Guide to New World