New World Sword and Shield Tank Build.New World Tank Design Every party in any player-versus-environment massively multiplayer online RPG will necessitate a well-balanced party composition. As a general rule, you will require some damage dealers, a healer, and a tank. Each class is important in determining the success of a dungeon run. The tank has arguably the most important job, as they will set the tempo of the dungeon run and be in charge of keeping enemies dangerous. This guide will go over the best New World tank build you can use to make the most of your class.
New World is a one-of-a-kind MMORPG in that there are no pre-defined classes to choose from when creating your character. Each “class” is determined by mastering various weapons and choosing various skills and abilities. The Sword and Shield and Hatchet weapons will be used to create the best New World tank build, with a focus on having a large pool of health and high defence.
The only weapon that makes use of the shield is the Sword and Shield. Other classes will simply add weight to their characters by including a shield in their loadout. Shields, on the other hand, provide a lot of extra defenses and stats that are essential for a good tank build.
Table of Contents
New World tank build
The following are the best weapons, skills, and attributes for your New World tank build:
- Sword and Shield: Defiant Stance, Reverse Stab
- Hatchet: Berserk, Defy Death
- Attributes: Constitution
Shield and Sword
You can take a few different paths with Sword and Shield. Defiant Stance and Reverse Stab are two popular options in the current meta. Defiant Stance is a must-have for any tank build because it reduces incoming damage and is the best taunt ability in the game.
Reverse Stab, on the other hand, may appear unappealing at first glance, but it becomes incredible by utilising the Tactician skill further down in the skill tree. Your Defiant Stance cooldown is reduced by 25% for each successful Reverse Stab hit.
That is, if you Reverse Stab four enemies, your Defiant Stance cooldown will be reset. Given that Defiant Stance normally has a 45-second cooldown, this is extremely useful. Overall, it allows you to effectively spam Defiant Stance whenever you want while maintaining aggro on all monsters.
- Defiant Stance – For 8s, reduce the incoming base damage from attackers by 30%. Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your sword, the ability causes a 6s taunt to all enemies within 8m.
- Reverse Stab – A Stab that deals 175% weapon damage.
- Tactician – On a successful hit with Reverse Stab, all Sword cooldowns are reduced by 25%.
Other useful passives in the Sword and Shield tree are:
- Defensive Training – When you block an attack, gain 10% Fortify for 5s.
- Sturdy Grip – Stamina damage is reduced by 15% when blocking a melee attack with a shield.
- Sturdy Shield – Grants an additional 15% physical armor.
- Recuperation – All incoming healing and regeneration increased by 10%.
For the remaining points, you can choose from a variety of active abilities such as Shield Bash, Shield Rush, and Whirling Blade for more damage-oriented tanking. I prefer going defense-oriented and picking up shield bash, but it is entirely up to you.
Hatchet
We will use the Hatcher as a secondary weapon in addition to the Sword and Shield. Hatchet is an excellent tanking option because his Berserk ability has the longest duration taunt in the game and an eight-meter range. Not to mention the Defy Death passive, which allows you to avoid death in any potentially fatal blow and gain three seconds of immortality. Because your goal is to avoid death, this is obviously the best skill in the game for you.
- Berserk – Triggers a Berserk Mode that increases all attack damage by 20% while active. Berserk Mode will be active for 12 seconds. Cooldown will trigger once Berserk ends (Taunt Gem Compatible).
- Defy Death – When you receive lethal damage: avoid death, reduce to 50 HP, and gain immortality for 3 seconds (75s cooldown).
In the Hatchet tree, you can also learn moves like Rending Throw to reduce an enemy’s damage absorption. Personally, I like to use Social Distancing to either draw monsters into a battle or to create some distance between enemies to slow them down in certain situations. Depending on your playstyle, you could also equip Raging Torrent to deal some extra damage.
Attributes
As a tank in New World, it is critical to devote the majority of your attribute points to the Constitution, as this stat boosts your overall health pool. Every 50 points earned in any attribute grants a passive bonus, with most players aiming for the 250 Constitution point bonus. The following are the Constitutional bonuses:
- 50 points – All health consumables 20% stronger and 10% logging speed.
- 100 points – Increase max health by 10% of your physical armor, and -10% reduction on durability loss for tools.
- 150 points – -10% to crit damage taken and -10% decrease in weight of logging items.
- 200 points – 20% increase to armor and +10% logging speed.
- 250 points – -80% damage reduction when full health (60s cooldown) and +10% yield increase when logging.
- 300 points – 20% duration of stun, slow, and root spells, and 25% chance to chop down a tree in a single swing.
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As you can see, the 250 Constitution bonus is quite useful, providing -80% damage reduction when at full health. Aside from that, unless you want to be the best lumberjack in Aeternum, there’s no reason to get the 300 point bonus. For the 20% armour bonus, you should get at least 200 points in Constitution.
If you want to increase your damage slightly, you can put about one-fifth of your points into Strength. At the very least, you should aim for a Constitution of 250 and a Strength of 70 to 100. Your gear will provide you with a lot of bonus stats, so keep that in mind as you gear up your tank.
Gems and Equipment
In terms of gear, you should equip Heavy Armor for added block stability and damage reduction.
Heavy Armor – Your dodge is a slow sidestep while wearing heavy armor. Your block’s stability increases by 15%, and crowd control debuffs you apply last 20% longer.
In terms of gems, Onyx or Opal are good choices because they provide damage absorption in the form of physical or magical damage. Keep in mind the type of monsters you’ll be fighting and make your choices accordingly.
You’ll also need Cut Carnelian Gems in your weapons to activate the taunt abilities. These can be made at any town’s Stonecutting Table by combining a Carnelian Gem and some form of Fire Elemental Essence, depending on the quality desired.
Threats and taunting in the New World
Tanking necessitates the ability to taunt targets and generate threat, ensuring that enemies focus on you rather than your teammates. A tank’s role is to ensure that all enemies are focusing on them because they have the heavy armour and health required to take the damage. The healer will admire your ability to keep healing to a minimum while still ensuring a smooth dungeon run.
There are seven taunt abilities spread across seven different weapons in New World:
- Great Axe – Reap (four-second taunt)
- Hatchet – Berserk (eight-second taunt)
- Rapier – Riposte (four-second taunt)
- Spear – Vault Kick (two-second taunt)
- Sword and Shield – Shield Bash (six-second taunt) and Defiant Stance (six-second taunt)
- War Hammer – Shockwave (six-second taunt)
Taunt abilities are visible in your character information screen’s Weapon Mastery tab. On the bottom of each skill, look for the text Taunt Gem Compatible. To receive the bonuses from each taunt- or threat-oriented ability, a Carnelian Gem must be equipped inside the corresponding weapon.
One last thing to consider is your stamina bar. The yellow bar is important to keep an eye on because when it runs out, you will no longer be able to block. To make the best use of your stamina, put down your shield until the enemy attacks.
That brings us to the end of our best New World tank build! Remember that there are numerous other viable tank builds besides this one. This section will be updated as the meta evolves and we discover more viable tank-oriented builds. Meanwhile, you can peruse some new related content in our New World section.
