In this New World Season 8 Overview, we’ll cover all major Season of Divide features: from the release timing to new PvP modes, the Hardcore Seasonal Server, world boss events, artifacts, combat changes, and more to help you get started.
4.9New World Season 8 Release Date
New World Season 8, titled Season of the Divide, went live on May 13, 2025. Since the season started, it has proved that it is full of exciting updates. Season of the Divide literally throws us into fierce competition with a focus on high-stakes risk, fast progression, and massive PvP encounters.
Now is the best time to Level Up and prepare yourself for these thrilling adventures. Our team can assist you on your way to 65 level and make your character stronger than ever before.
New World Season 8 Key Updates
As mentioned above, New World Season of the Divide brings a wealth of new content and improvements for both PvE and PvP enjoyers. Every player will find something for themselves. Below is a quick overview of the major updates arriving with NW Season 8:
- New PvP Modes & Maps — capture the Flag and a new 3v3 Arena map.
- PvP QoL Features — faction PvP Camps can now be placed in open-world PvP to create forward spawn points.
- New Outpost Rush Changes — new Coral Divide map and more.
- First Hardcore Seasonal Server — a limited-time Hardcore world (launching in early June) where death has serious consequences but yields exclusive legendary rewards.
- Barbershop Feature — added character customization via the Barbershop.
- Weekly World Boss Events — level 70 open-world bosses from Expeditions will spawn in limited-time events each week.
- Seven New Artifact Items — Artifact gear pieces that unlock new playstyle perks.
- Combat Improvements — introduction of five new Survival potions to boost survivability, and a rework of Target Lock/Aim Assist for more skill-based aiming.
- New Gear Perks and Gems — two new gem types plus multiple new weapon and armor perks.
- Season 8 Pass Rewards — free and Premium reward tracks.
By the way, you have a chance to conquer the Hive of Gorgons — one of the toughest raids, where you can get 725 GS gear. Just ask our team to do it for you, and in no time, you’ll get it done.
New World Season 8 PvP Changes
PvP Mode in New World is a beloved area by many players, which allows you to show off your skill and add s new layer of challenge into the game. In Season of the Divide, a few brand-new modes were added, as well as an exciting 3v3 arena map. So, key New World Season 8 PvP updates are:
- Capture the Flag (10v10 PvP Mode)
- New 3v3 Arena Map (Temple Grove Arena)
- Outpost Rush: Barebones Mode & Coral Dive map
- Hourly PvP Map Rotations
New World Capture the Flag PvP Mode
Capture the Flag is a new 10v10 PvP game mode in New World PvP. In Capture the Flag, two teams of 10 players try to steal and capture the enemy flag as many times as possible within the time limit. A few unique mechanics were added to this mode, e.g., Powerups and Jump Pads. Don’t forget to secure that your PvP Rewards Track Leveling never stops with the help of our fast and professional team.
New World New 3v3 Arena Map
A new map introduced in Season 8 is called Temple Grove Arena. This map is set in an ancient temple grove and is notably the largest arena to date. One of the best things about this map is a “death fog” (arena shrinking gas) that closes in faster, meaning that early on, ranged fighters have an advantage, but very quickly, the fight forces a switch to melee combat.
New World Hourly PvP Map Rotations
To keep PvP modes fresh, New World is changing how often maps rotate. In Season 8, we witness hourly map rotations for PvP modes. Instead of having a single map for weeks at a time, the available map in modes like 3v3 Arenas (and later Outpost Rush) will rotate every hour.
Mind you, Mystic Doubloons always come in handy, no matter what. So, ensure that you always have enough coins to upgrade your gear, and ask our team to deliver you as many coins as you need in the blink of an eye.
📌 Note: Once the original Outpost Rush map is reintroduced later in the season, Outpost Rush will also use hourly map rotations.
New World Season 8 PvP QoL Improvements
Open-world PvP is also affected by changes in Season 8 with the addition of Faction PvP Camps. A couple of quality-of-life features to improve PvP experiences are also added. All major New World PvP updates are:
- Faction PvP Camps
- Skipping Match Timer
- Spectator Mode for Arenas & Expeditions
So, first things first. When you flag for open-world PvP, you can now deploy a special PvP Camp that is faction-only and destructible. This works similarly to a normal camp (respawn point/tent), but crucially, only your faction members can use it to respawn.
Additionally, for instanced PvP modes like 3v3 Arena and Outpost Rush, Season 8 adds a Ready Up system to reduce waiting time. At the start of a match, if enough players on each team press the Ready Up prompt, the game will skip the usual pre-match countdown and start the battle immediately.
Finally, when you die in a 3v3 PvP Arena, you will have the option to spectate the remaining players on your team. The camera will let you follow the action through your teammates’ perspective or a free camera. It means that you can watch how the round or boss attempt plays out.
New World Season 8 Outpost Rush Changes
Alongside the new maps, Season 8 adds Barebones mode to Outpost Rush, New World 20v20 PvP battleground, and a new map — Coral Divide.
Our team trained nonstop to ensure that any amount of Outpost Rush wins can become yours. Don’t hesitate, reach out to our team and enjoy all kinds of better rewards.
Outpost Rush Barebones Mode
Outpost Rush Barebones in New World is an interesting variant aimed at leveling the playing field by removing gear-based advantages. In a word, in Barebones mode, all gear perks are disabled and every player’s gear score is bumped up to the max, so everyone fights on equal footing regardless of their equipment.
Outpost Rush Coral Divide
The Coral Divide map for Outpost Rush makes its permanent debut in Season 8 of New World. This is a really nice new map in a tropical ocean-themed setting with a focus on verticality and flank routes in its layout. Notably, at the start of Season 8, Coral Divide will be the only Outpost Rush map in rotation (the original map is temporarily out). Additionally, the following important changes appeared with the release of the New World Coral Divine map:
- Each player now starts with 50 Azoth at match start.
- Gates have separate interaction points for repairs, and repairs are limited to one at a time to prevent instant gate spamming.
- The Baroness capture (mid-game PvE objective) now locks scoring for 1 minute for the team that wins her, and up to 2m30s for the losing team.
- The fuse time for setting kegs (explosives) is reduced, so you can blow up structures faster.
- Placeable bulwark barriers now require no resources to build.
- Players now respawn in waves instead of individually, to better synchronize team pushes.
- You can enable a new optional “raid status” UI to see the state of your entire Outpost Rush team.
New World Season 8 Hardcore Seasonal Server
One of Season 8’s flagship features is the Hardcore Seasonal Server, a completely new way to play New World for a limited time. This Seasonal Server Hardcore is set to launch in early June, shortly after Season 8 begins. In New World’s case, it is the first hardcore server where death carries heavy consequences. The accelerated progression is another advantage. Here’s a list of key Hardcore features:
- Expedited Experience — leveling process will take only a few hours, and Main Story Quests are replaced with new quests.
- Crafting Changes — the crafting process is accelerated, access to Artifacts and high-end materials is streamlined.
- Death Mechanics — in case of death, you need to restart your character to regain access to Set 3 Journey rewards.
- Seasonal Server Journey — all players have access to Set 1 & 2, Set 3 is exclusive for players with a 0 death count.
Among the new Hardcore Seasonal Server rewards, we can mention exclusive cosmetics, special crafting materials for main servers, and Tier 3 trophy crafting materials. But note that these rewards are only claimable on one character of your choice on a standard or legacy world, not a seasonal character. Want to test your skill in this Hardcore mode? Make sure to train with a skilled Coach first to prepare for all challenges.
New World Season 8 Pass Rewards
Season 8 brings a new Season Pass with two tracks of rewards: a Free Track available to all players, and a Premium Track that can be purchased for 20,000 Marks of Fortune (in-game premium currency). By earning Season XP through various activities, you will level up this pass and unlock rewards on whichever track you have access to (premium includes both).
Even though Season 8 brings tons of new rewards, it doesn’t mean that you have to grind day and night to get them all. You can simply ask our team to deal with your Season Pass while you enjoy the content that you like.
New World Season Pass Free Track Rewards
The Free track of the Season 8 Pass is packed with useful and cosmetic rewards that anyone can earn:
- Corruption-Themed Cosmetics (Free tool skins, mask skins, and tent skins)
- New Artifact Armor Pieces: Lich Gloves and Vampire Vestments
- Utility Tokens & Consumables: a Barbershop Token, Transmog Tokens
New World Season Pass Premium Track Rewards
Players who buy the New World Premium pass (20,000 Marks of Fortune) will get additional exclusive rewards on top of the free rewards:
- Corruption-Themed Weapons & Armor Skins
- Emotes and Resources
- Extra Tokens & Boosters
New World Season 8 Barbershop
Season 8 finally lets New World adventurers get a makeover. The new Barbershop feature allows you to change your character’s appearance in-game. In a word, Barbershop is a very popular quality-of-life update.
To access the Barbershop, you’ll need a Barbershop Token (purchased from the in-game store for 10,000 Marks of Fortune). Once you have a token, visit any Stylemancer NPC (the in-world barber) and choose “Update My Appearance”. This will open the character customization interface, where you can modify any and every aspect of your character’s look.
You can change: Body Type, Face, Skin Tone, Hair Style, Facial Hair, Eye Color, Facial Features, Scars, and Tattoos — essentially all options you had during initial character creation. The Barbershop Token allows unlimited changes in one session.
✏️ Tip: Note that the Season 8 free pass includes one Barbershop Token, so all players have an opportunity to experiment with a new style without extra cost.
New World Season 8 World Boss Events
New World Season 8 introduces Expeditions Unleashed events, which are essentially weekly rotating World Boss encounters in the open world. A level 70 boss will appear each week during the season as a limited-time encounter.
These world bosses include the likes of Mammoth Mahantaram, Scarab Boss Khepri, and Fire Naga Ifrit, among others — all giant, iconic foes drawn from New World’s PvE content. Defeating a world boss during its event grants lucrative rewards. The loot has higher level than normal expedition drops, up to Gear Score 725. In fact, each event guarantees one item at 725 GS for your character, plus multiple other drops in the 710+ GS range.
You surely don’t want to miss all these updates, so to let you jumpstart your journey with a high-level character equipped with top-tier gear, we prepared a Rise of the Angry Earth Standard Bundle. It’s a perfect chance to equip your hero and start fighting world bosses straightaway.
New World Season 8 Artifacts
Following on the success of New World Artifact gear in previous seasons, in Season 8 we receive seven powerful new Artifacts to discover and craft. These Artifact items are endgame-quality gear pieces that come with unique perks and can redefine your build. Here’s the list of new Artifacts and their special effects:
- Old Crown (Medium Helmet) — Grants +10 to all attributes and has a bonus gem functionality (likely allowing an extra gem effect).
- Relentless (Tower Shield) — Provides a team armor aura (buffing your group’s defense) and enhanced healing effects.
- Vampire Vestments (Light Chest Armor) — Features lifesteal and mana synergy, meaning it likely restores health or mana as you deal damage.
- Wit (Sword) — Increases threat generation and damage mitigation on critical hits.
- Chaos (Blunderbuss) — Its shots can launch enemies with fiery blast damage.
- Runic Greaves (Heavy Boots) — Gives a speed boost after using a Heartrunes.
- Lich Gloves (Light Gauntlets) — Offer empower stacking with ability usage.
Many players want to get these Artifacts, but you can claim them right now with the help of our team. Even Old Crown can be yours — just ask, and you’ll get an item and save a lot of time.
New World Season 8 Combat Adjustments
Combat in New World also sees some exciting updates in Season 8. There are new perks and balance changes, but the devs have also added new Survival potions and adjusted the target lock/aim assist system to refine the feel of combat.
New World New Survival Potions
There are five new Survival Potions in New World Season 8. They can give you more ways to manage survivability during fights:
- Burst Regen Potion: Instantly grants a small burst of healing followed by a moderate regen over time.
- Health Shot Potion: A twist on the regular health potion — it heals less per use but you can use it more frequently.
- Shield Potion: Provides a temporary damage shield that blocks the next 3 hits you take.
- Grit Potion: Grants the Uninterruptible (Grit) effect for a short duration.
- Lifesteal Potion: Temporarily amplifies all your lifesteal effects.
New World Target Lock and Aim Assist Changes
New World Season 8 patch makes notable changes to Target Lock and Aim Assist mechanics, mainly to make combat more skill-based, particularly for those who play using controllers. In Season 8, the devs reduced the amount of aim assist when target locking onto other players.
Hitting a moving target while locked on will now be harder, forcing you to manually aim more. At the same time, they improved the general controller aiming (aim friction/assist when not using lock) to keep controllers viable without over-relying on lock-on.
New World Season 8 New Gems and Perks
To further spice up builds, NW Season 8 adds two new gem types and a host of new weapon/armor perks. These expand the customization options for your gear. Now you can counter certain strategies better or improve and change your combat style. Two New World cut gem types can now drop: Jade and Turquoise gems, each bringing unique effects.
| Jade Gem Perks | |
|---|---|
| Plagued | When a Jade gem with the Plagued perk is in your weapon, your basic attacks will inflict a stack of Disease on the target. Each stack reduces the target’s incoming healing by 2.5% and outgoing healing by 1.25%, for 3 seconds per stack (up to 10 stacks) |
| Plagued Ward | When a Jade gem with this perk is slotted in armor, it reduces the duration of Disease effects on you by 6.2% per piece |
| Turquoise Gem Perks | |
| Penetrating | A Turquoise gem in a weapon grants +12% armor penetration on attacks |
| Hardened | A Turquoise gem in armor gives +3% to both Physical and Elemental armor for that piece |
This way, you can upgrade your Artifacts, but you will also need to complete a few preparation quests and find an appropriate crafting station. Or, you can simply ask our pro players for Artifact Upgrade and skip all this grind.
New World New Weapon and Armor Perks
Season 8 of the New World adds a pack of new perks that can roll on weapons, armor, or accessories. These perks enable new effects and synergies, enhancing your combat capabilities in creative ways. Here are some of the noteworthy New World weapon and armor Perks:
| New Attack/Weapon Perks | |
|---|---|
| Sundering Stacks | Your attacks inflict a stacking Rend debuff: each hit applies a 4% damage reduction to the target (Rend) for 6 seconds, stacking up to 5 times |
| Alternating Enchantment | If you hit with a basic attack, your next ability within 5s deals +10% base damage; if you hit with an ability, your next basic attack within 5s deals +10% base damage |
| Vital Synergy | While under 50% health, you gain +20% stamina regeneration rate; and while below 50% stamina, your incoming healing is increased by 20% |
| Hardcore Parkour | Triggering any traversal (climbing, vaulting, etc.) grants you +18% Haste for 5s |
| Stop, Drop, and Roll | When you dodge, it reduces the duration of all Burn (damage-over-time fire) effects on you by 25% |
| New Armor Perks | |
| Potent Alacrity | Increases the potency of all Haste buffs on you by 9% per piece |
| Potent Energy | Reduces the potency of Exhaust (stamina regen reduction) effects on you by 12% per piece |
| Anointed Potions | Consumable healing (potions) heal you 3% more per piece |
| Anointed Lifesteal | Lifesteal effects heal you 4% more per piece |
New World Mutated Expedition Reward Adjustments
In terms of PvE endgame, Season 8 changes the reward structure for Mutated Expeditions and the Mutator Reward Cache, or Mutator Combo Box. The goal is to simplify the system and ensure players can get their guaranteed 725 GS item each week. No need to do both raid bosses and mutations every time.
And no need to farm yourself. With the help of our team, you can deal with any Mutated expedition, like the Mutated Ennead, and receive all rewards. The progression is usually much faster when you don’t have to grind.
Key changes to New World Season 8 Mutated Expedition rewards:
- Unified Progress for 725 GS Cache. Previously, players needed items from both the 10-man raid (Hercyne or Sandworm) and from mutations to craft the best reward box. Season 8 removes the dual dependency – now you only need Damaged Gorgon’s Eyes to craft the Mutator Combo Reward Box.
- More Gorgon’s Eyes Drops. To help you reach that 60 Eyes cost, devs increased drop rates. The Hercyne Shrine raid boss and the Sandwurm world boss now drop 30 Damaged Gorgon Eyes each per week.
- Improved Reward Cache Loot. The Mutator Combo Rewards Box (once you craft it with 60 Eyes) now guarantees a 1 Gear Score 725 item every time you open one.
- Weekly Cap and No Specific Caps. A new global cap of 90 Damaged Gorgon’s Eyes per week is in place for looting.
- Better Perk Rolls. The devs curated the perk pool on items from these 725 reward boxes to remove less desirable perks.
4.9In summary, New World Season 8: Season of the Divide is one of the most ambitious updates yet. New PvP experiences with PvE challenges and quality-of-life improvements make the gameplay much smoother and nicer. Jumping into the new Capture the Flag mode, braving the Hardcore seasonal server for exclusive rewards — there’s something for every type of player.
