Best Sword And Shield Build In New World. In New World, the Sword is a dependable weapon that is best suited to a tank role in PVE. Here’s the best build guide we’ve found.
Table of Contents
Quick Links
- Sword And Shield Basics
- Best Abilities For The Sword
- Is The Sword Valid For A DPS Build?
- Sword And Shield PvP Build
- Best Weapon Combinations For The Sword And Shield
The Sword and Shield are ideal for tank construction. Because these are the first weapons you’ll encounter in New World, you can begin stacking mastery points right away.
Because of the versatility of the Sword’s Defender tree, you can pair the weapon with a variety of others to create a solid tank build. You have Taunts, CC, and methods to buff yourself and your allies in PVE events and dungeons. Here’s our best build guide for making the most of the Sword.
Harry Alston updated this page on October 10, 2021: This guide is being updated to include more information about the potent Sword and Shield combo for large-scale PvP. In faction warfare and sieges, having solid tanks on the frontlines can make all the difference.
Basics of Sword and Shield
In New World, the Sword, and by extension, the Shield, is the go-to weapon for a tank build. It is the Defender tree that is responsible. That’s fine if you’re using the Sword to deal DPS, but its true strength lies in its defensive and taunting abilities.
During early game PVE Expeditions, the Tank is almost entirely responsible for success. Choose the defensive build and you’ll almost always be able to find a spot in open PVE groups. Here’s a rundown of what you need to know about the abilities.
Best Abilities For The Sword
Taunts, defensive abilities, and debuffs are all available. The Sword is an excellent tank weapon.
Rush of the Shield
Shield Rush is the first ability you’ll learn, and it sends your team rushing forward. It knocks enemies back and deals a percentage of the damage dealt by your weapon. The secondary passive perks, however, are what make this a reliable tanking tool: Improved Rush weakens enemies and Intimidating Rush slows enemies. Perfect.
Bash the Shield
Shield Bash is your primary CC in the early game, and it also grants you taunt abilities once you have a Carnelian Gem. Shield Bash stuns and then taunts enemies hit by the ability when equipped with a Carnelian gem, making it ideal for attracting aggro in PVE.
Defiant Pose
Defiant Stance both reduces incoming damage and serves as a taunt. It’s one of your most valuable tanking abilities, granting you additional damage reduction and instant health regen via the Restoration passive perk.
Is The Sword Valid For A DPS Build?
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Players have experimented with this over the course of the various Betas, and the general consensus is that if you want to deal damage, the Sword and Shield aren’t the way to go.
That’s not to say the weapon doesn’t have a place in PVP builds; however, there are other weapons that can deal more consistent damage than the Sword. To compensate for the Sword’s weakness, you’ll need a secondary weapon that can deal damage.
Sword And Shield PvP Build
Meeting a Sword and Shield user in the open world can be a frustrating experience. Even extremely DPS-heavy builds (Bow, Fire Staff, Rapier, etc.) struggle to deal much damage due to the large health pool and defensive abilities. More information on how to use this combo can be found in our support builds guide.
There have been a few different combinations used: the Life Staff and Sword and Shield build provides so much sustainability that you can survive most encounters, whereas the Great Axe CC build alongside the Sword provides a tanky, utility-based build that is ideal for large-scale PvP.
Best Weapon Combinations For The Sword And Shield
During the first few weeks of New World, there have been a slew of intriguing tank builds. We go over this in more detail in our full best tank build guide, but here’s a quick rundown of some of the best weapons to pair with the Sword.
Sword and Large Axe
During the Open Beta, the Great Axe became something of a hero, especially after the Hatchet was nerfed. This build combines the defensive abilities of the Great Axe with its AOE damage output. Right now, this is one of the best Sword combinations available.
Sword And Spear Build
The Spear is a fun weapon and is an extremely valid pick-up for either PVP or PVE. It saw use as both during the Open Beta. This is a tanky DPS build that leans heavily into the CC of the Spear.
