The Sword & Shield Tank Build centers around tanking in dungeons and landscapes consisting of elite mobs or above. It offers excellent survivability skills due to the passive effects of the shield, as well as the ability to block dreadful attacks. In addition to that, it offers threat generation, which can drive the enemy’s focus towards you and protect the other party members. So, if you’re looking into a genuine tank build, then there’s no better option than to consider this guide.
Working of the build
You will lead with ‘Path of Destiny’ to drive the enemy’s attention towards you, and then immediately cast Shockwave to taunt them. But that’s only if you have a certain Carnelian Gem socketed into your hammer, which is a ‘must-have.’
After that, you can switch to Sword & Shield and attack, while utilizing Defiant Stance to taunt the enemies further away if you have to. Then again, it’s if you have a Carnelian Gem socketed into your sword, for this New World Sword and New World Shield Build. The remaining enemies can either be taunted or interrupted with the Shield Bash ability, followed by Reverse Stab to decrease the ability cooldowns of your Shield & Sword. It whoops about 25%, allowing you to quickly gain the casting opportunity.
Every trash pull needs to be followed using a similar pattern, but the bosses might slightly differ depending on how they attack or approach you. For instance, if it’s a single boss, then you’ll likely lead with Path of Destiny, followed by Taunt or Shield Bash, and then finally Defiant Stance and Reverse Stab. You can always utilize Armor Breaker to de-buff the boss, causing it to increase the damage inflicted by the party members. Later on, you can hit the boss with Shockwave to taunt it, while switching back to Sword & Shield attacks.
Attributes
The attributes distribution for this build is quite simple since both the weapons; scale with Strength. The only thing you need to be mindful of is adding some points to Constitution as you will be dealing with damage quite often. Higher-strength means higher DPS, which can easily speed up the pulls.
Sword & Shield Skills
Shield Bash
Shield Bash offers a single-target taunt and helps maintain control on mini-bosses and bosses, while also stunning some of them for this New World Sword and New World Shield Build. You can use it to interrupt attacks and make sure that you use it whenever it is off cooldown mode so you can keep the boss on AGGRO, thus preventing it from attacking the other party members.
Defiant Stance
Defiant Stance is an AOE taunt that not only buffs your defense, but makes it significantly difficult to kill you. You can utilize it to pull in trash mobs and keep them on you until the actual enemy dies.
Reverse Stab
Reverse Stab’s final upgrade permits you to reduce the overall cooldown of your Sword & Shield skills by 25%. It shaves about 5 seconds off of Defiant Stance, while also transferring negative effects onto the boss if this perk is on your equipment.
Warhammer Skills
Shockwave
Shockwave is another AOE taunt, which also stuns the enemy target, preventing from causing any unnecessary damage to the party members. It’s a good ability to utilize when you’re around by enemies full of AGGRO, as well as to gain distance to get back on track when the target is stunned.
Armor Breaker
Armor Breaker is a skill you would want to use to de-buff bosses who have Lasting Trauma passive abilities for this New World Tank Build. It reduces their overall protection by 15%, while greatly increasing the damage output of your party.
Path of Destiny
Path of Destiny isn’t that important to utilize, but you can opt for what you like. The reason why it’s on the list is that it permits you to AOE from a distance, while you approach closer and land hits on them. It offers a little more AGGRO than if you don’t utilize it.
Weapons & Armor
The only two weapons that you need for this build are a Hammer and Sword, but alongside that, it’s recommended to have a good shield. Both the weapons will need sockets on them, specifically named Carnelian Gems, as it helps generate thread with your skills.
Since you will be equipped with a complete Heavy Armor with this build to maximize the protection, look out for equipment with Strength and Constitution attributes in them (similar to your weapons), and if you’re having trouble finding some, you can purchase a few good types of equipment from your respective faction vendors. Also, make sure that you purchase good jewelry with the Stamina attribute or something that offers your Stamina every once in a while, to help your block the incoming attacks more often.
