Blunderbuss Abilities and Skill Trees for New World

While this page focuses on assessing the viability of abilities and skill tree nodes, it also gives a bit of advice on how to use them. The gameplay section Blunderbuss guide has additional information regarding the usage of abilities and each of our Blunderbuss PvP Builds and Blunderbuss PvE Builds has a detailed gameplay section that explains how to play the build.

• Net Shot — 15-second cooldown: Fire a large net out of the blunderbuss that deals 70% weapon damage and slows targets it hits by 40% for 3 seconds. If standing still or moving backwards, the recoil from this attack will knock you further backwards.If moving sideways or forwards, you will continue forward unhindered.
• Fast Hands — If Net Shot hits a target, reduce its cooldown by 20%.
• Apparatus — The net now inflicts a 50% slow that degrades to normal move speed over 7 seconds.
• Barbed Netting — Net Shot's initial hit is reduced to 30% weapon damage. However, it now deals 35% additional weapon damage as bleeding each second for 3 seconds.

Summary: This ability is the best crowd-control abilities for initiating combat, or for preventing escapes. It does do significant damage, especially, if you choose to take its DoT. When paired with Exhaustive Net Shot this will drastically reduce stamina regeneration and commonly cause players to exhaust themselves, and in most cases this will result in a free kill. It also has great mobility that will allow you to use it defensively to quickly escape from Gravity Well, Ice Shower, or other forms of CC.

Crafting Material: Steel Blunderbuss Charm - Exhaustive Net Shot: Net Shot inflicts exhaust, reducing target's stamina regeneration by 34% (57% on weapon) for 8 seconds.

• Claw Shot — 20-second cooldown: Shoot forward a four pronged claw attached to a chain from the muzzle. The projectile will travel up to 14 meters and cannot pull you upwards more than 3 meters. If it connects to an enemy it will deal 40% weapon damage and inflict root for 1 secons before quickly pulling you towards them. The pull can be canceled by any ability use or primary fire. This ability is Taunt Gem Compatible.
• In-and-Out — Upon usage, restore 8 stamina every second for 10 seconds.
• Combat Readiness — Landing a pellet, even if blocked, lowers the cooldown of this ability by 2% each.
• Mobile Overload — Successful pulls will automatically grant 1 loaded ammunition. If you currently have two loaded ammunition this will exceed the max cap and grant a third.

Summary: It is not common to use Claw Shot in most builds, but it can be viable alternative to close gaps, and root targets for a moment. This is a great ability to weave as it can easily be used to trigger its passives, then followed up with a basic shot to cancel the pull effect and deal additional damage. It should be used in builds looking to prioritize single target burst, but it is also up to player preference as it can be awkward and hard to use.

Crafting Material: Orichalcum Blunderbuss Charm - Venturing Claw Shot: When Claw Shot connects to a target at least 10 meters away, gain a 19% (33% on weapon) Empower for 3 seconds or until next hit.

• Azoth Shrapnel Blast — 14-second cooldown: Fire 5 shots in a horizontal fan in front of you while pushing yourself backwards. Each shot will deal 50% weapon damage.
• Reach — Increase the range of this attack from 12 meters to 16 meters.
• Discord — Fire 4 additional pellets with each use of this ability.
• Refresh — Each individual hit from this ability or from the blunderbuss primary fire will lower the cooldown of this ability by 1.5%.
• Azoth Bomb — Fire a singular bomb down the center of the fan. This bomb will implant itself in the world and explode dealing 100% weapon damage in a 3m area after a 1s delay.

Summary: This should be used in any variation of the Blunderbuss. It is its highest source of damage, it has great AoE viability, and it will have its cooldown reset fairly quickly. When paired with its perk, it can also have defensive utility through its self-healing effect. To use this most optimally, you will always want to fire a basic shot right before using it because you will not be able to shoot immediately after because of its recovery animation.

Crafting Material: Starmetal Blunderbuss Charm - Leeching Shrapnel Blast: Heal for 15% (24% on weapon) of the damage dealt from Azoth Shrapnel Blast.

• Splitting Grenade — 30-second cooldown: Shoot a grenade out of the blunderbuss that can bounce up to 4 times. The Splitting Grenade will detonate after 1.5 seconds but can be detonated early by reactivating its ability key within this time period. Upon detonation, it will create 3 mini grenades that will disperse and explode 1 second after landing, dealing 85% weapon damage in a 3 meter radius area.
• Soften — Deal 25% increased damage to targets greater than 50% health.
• Delayed Escape — Any grenade hit grants haste, increasing movement speed by 20% for three seconds.
• Incendiary Bursts — Splitting Grenade explosions inflict burn on hit, dealing 10% weapon damage per second for 10 seconds. Stacks up to three times.

Summary: This is another important ability that should be used in almost every single build. It is necessary to have mainly because of its perk, Plagued Splitting Grenade. It will apply an incredibly potent healing reduction debuff and this can apply to large groups because of its AoE explosion. Additionally, it deals burst damage, and a very strong stacking DoT that can also be applied to several targets. When using Double Down this ability should be prioritized so that you can apply AoE pressure and have it available for coordinated group ability combinations. It can also be used on a single target by detonating it immediately on their feet and hitting the target with another damaging ability right as the explosion occurs.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Steel Blunderbuss Charm - Plagued Splitting Grenade: Splitting Grenade hits inflict disease, reducing healing efficiency on target by 15% (24% on weapon) for eight seconds.

• Mortar Charge — 18-second cooldown: Load the blunderbuss with heavy canisters. For the next 15 seconds or 3 shots, shots will no longer fire multiple pellets but instead will fire a heavy, fast diving, mortar-style canister that causes a tall explosion upon impact, dealing 100% weapon damage in a three meter area. If the target is 10 meters away or further, they will take 35% increased damage from the mortar.
• Steady — Each hit grants seven stamina.
• Freedom — Firing grants 50% haste for two seconds.
• Streak — Gain an extra canister, you can now fire up to four shots.

Summary: This is not commonly used due to its awkwardness and lack of damage output. While it can be interesting at times and offer some AoE burst damage, it is just outpaced by other options. To use this properly you must be playing ranged, which is counterintuitive to the Blunderbluss playstyle already. Additionally, you move very slowly, it can have bad hit detection, and it is just awkward to play with. You are better off playing in melee and dealing far more damage. Playstyles with this build would require you to play farther away, and at that point there are better weapon options to play that role. It can be used at close range to shoot into something like a Gravity Well, but its damage is lackluster and leave you vulnerable.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Starmetal Blunderbuss Charm - Resupplying Mortar Charge: Mortar Charge kills reload 1 additional canister and grant 8.7% (14% on weapon) Empower for 5 seconds.

• Blast Shot — 30-second cooldown: Blast immense wind out of the blunderbuss knocking down any target immediately in front of you. Blast Shot deals 50% weapon damage. This ability has grit.
• Preparation — Blast Shot applies rend, increasing damage applied to all targets affected by this ability by 10% for six seconds.
• Lingering Flow — The area 10 meters in front of you remains influenced by wind for the next 8 seconds. You and your allies gain a 25% move speed bonus while in the area.

Summary: It can be a very strong crowd-control tool since it will hit all targets in front of the user. The problem with this ability is its long animation. While you do have grit, this ability takes a long time to actually happen and it is easy to predict. As such, it will generally be a waste of time, enemies will close the gap, and you will be vulnerable. With that being said, if you do hit a target, this can result in strong one-shot combinations where the target is knocked onto the ground, unable to move, and is affected by rend. Its rending passive is great, but the movement speed passive is rather pointless because of its small area that it is applied to. This ability is not commonly used except for a few one-shot, niche builds.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Orichalcum Blunderbuss Charm - Crippling Blast Shot: Targets hit by Blast Shot are slowed, reducing movement speed by 19% (33% on weapon) for 5 seconds.

• Future Endeavors — The stamina this restores is marginal and unnecessary. This should never be taken.
• Run and Gun — Generally, haste is always nice, but this passive is has minimal use because of its duration. It applies for one second after reloading. The entire reload animation takes one second and the haste buff will apply as soon as it starts. This should never be taken, especially because you should be instant reloading with weapon swaps instead.
• Ramp — This is another passive with minimal use. We do not want to reload ever because of its long animation. Additionally, it stacks as you reload, there is never a time where you will shoot and reload 4 times to get the 16% damage bonus. It will maybe only ever apply one stack when you happen to accidentally reload. This will be removed when you weapon swap as well. In all, there are much more valuable passives that should be prioritized.
• Deep Load — This is a low priority passive because it can be useful for your last bullet fired, but there will be many cases where you will fire a single shot and weapon swap. This will reload your weapon and not apply the damage buff. It can have some usefulness, but it is typically not taken.
• Fortifying Aggression — This is a defensive passive that should be used in all builds. The Blunderbuss has some of the best defensive passives and can help you survive very well in any build. As long as you hit a target that is close you will receive a large fortify buff. Since most builds will be playing in melee, this is very strong.
• Unload — This can be a strong ultimate passive to use in builds that prioritize single-target burst damage, but even then it is still outpaced by the cooldown reduction of Double Down in some cases. It is up to the player's preference. This is generally seen as the lesser option when comparing both sides.

• Future Planning — This is a good cooldown reduction passive to take simply because of how many sources of cooldown reduction the Blunderbuss has. This will help to make it a little easier when cycling through cooldowns.
• On a Roll — This can be a very strong defensive option, but it can also be wasted if mismanaged. It will always be a long duration fortify that applies whenever you use an ability. The important part is that it stacks. If you are able to hold your Blunderbuss out for long durations it will stack up and make you very defensive. In most cases though, you will be frequently weapon swapping, making it less effective because it will drop after swapping weapons.
• Bite Back — This synergizes with passives like Refresh that reduce cooldowns per pellet hit. If you hit a full headshot with six pellets while using this it will reduce Azoth Shrapnel Blast by 12%. Nonetheless, it is still free cooldown reduction.
• Frozen Touch — This ability has incredibly low up-time. It only applies when you are max health, and the slow only lasts for two seconds. As such, there are much stronger passives that can be taken.
• Buckshot — Slight damage increase overall, but it is generally taken for increased burst.
• Artillery — While the only real value this has is on max range shots and Net Shot, it is crucial to a Double Down build because in most cases it will be the only way to actually reach the ultimate passive because you will not be taking Mortar Charge or Blast Shot.
• Last Chance — This is arguably the best defensive passive on the Blunderbuss. It is somewhat similar to Defy Death, but it will get much more use since it will activate when below 50% health. This will result in massive damage reduction and will generally save your life, or extend fight durations significantly. It will almost always be available when you need it since it only has a 30 second cooldown. This should be taken in all builds.
• Extended Chamber — Generally, you will not frequently use a second or third shot before weapon swapping and getting a free reload. This passive is often wasted.
• Double Down — This is generally accepted as the better all around passive because of the longer cooldown on Splitting Grenade. This ability is one of the strongest and most useful in the Blunderbuss kit, so if you can prioritize the 50% cooldown reduction on it this will result in more potential kills. Most other commonly used abilities have shorter cooldowns, or passives baked into their unique passives that result in bonus cooldown reduction. Your grenade does not, so you need to be cognizant of Double Down and when it is available. If necessary, delay using other abilities until you have a good opportunity to drop a Grenade.