Introduction
This New World PVE Tank build is suitable for all expeditions in New World, including mutations but can be used in open world and trials as well! This build utilizes the sword and shield and war hammer for elite amounts of Crowd Control and Utility. In this guide, we’ll cover what gear you need, what abilities to take, your attribute distribution, and how to use the build.
Mastery Points
Sword and Shield
Reverse Stab, Shield Bash, Defender’s Resolve
You will want to fully upgrade reverse stab. It is only going to be utilized for the cooldown reduction it provides. Defender’s Resolve has a very long cooldown and reverse stab will help greatly reduce that.
You will upgrade shield bash to the first upgrade, intimidating bash. This ability will be primarily used to gain increase threat so you can gain aggro of mobs. It also provides a nice stun allowing you to peel for your DPS and healer. Not upgrading it fully will also give you an additional point to put into another useful passive.
Defender’s Resolve should also be upgraded one time. This ability will make you very tanky, and it a very nice AOE taunt. You are not going to push down to the final upgrade to allow you take an additional passive.
War Hammer
Armor Breaker, Wrecking Ball, Shockwave
Armor breaker is going to upgraded twice, down to the Lasting Trauma upgrade. This will allow you to rend your target reducing it’s damage absorption. Wrecking ball should be fully upgraded. This ability is utilized as CC for your group, and it will provide you will a nice fortify buff on hit. It’s upgraded fully to take advantage of the AOE CC it will provide.
Finally, You will want to upgrade shockwave fully as well. This is the staple ability of the war hammer tank. It provides and AOE taunt, weakens the targets hit, and when utilizing sundering shockwave, will also rend the targets that are hit.
Attributes
| Attribute | Beginner | Experienced (EXP) | Advanced (ADV) |
| Strength | 200 | 200 | 350 |
| Constitution | 350 | 300 | 150 |
| Dexterity | 50 | 100 | 100 |
Equipment and Perks
NOTE – ARMOR PERKS CAN BE ON ANY PIECE OF ARMOR
| Item | Weight (Beginner) | Perk 1 | Perk 2 | Perk 3 |
| Helm | HEAVY | Health | Refreshing | Grit Ward |
| Chest | Void Dark Plate or (HEAVY) | Health | Penetrating Wrecking Ball | Grit Ward |
| Gloves | HEAVY | Health | Refreshing | Grit Ward |
| Pants | HEAVY | Health | Empowering Armor Breaker | Grit Ward |
| Boots | HEAVY | Health | Refreshing | Grit Ward |
| Amulet | n/a | SEE BELOW | Health | Divine |
| Ring | n/a | Hearty | Leeching | Slash Damage |
| Earring | n/a | Refreshing Toast | Healing Heart | Nimble |
| Sword | n/a | Refreshing Move | Enchanted | Lifestealing |
| Shield | TOWER (Sturdy) | Accelerated Resolve | Sturdy Energy | Refreshing |
| Warhammer | n/a | Sundering Shockwave | Refreshing Move | Trenchant Recovery |
For The Advanced Build, you can drop down to Medium Equip Load to deal 10% more Damage! If you do, Try the Artifact Kite Shield Michael, a Heavy Chest Piece, and Light Armor for the Rest.
Gems and Amulet
For Mutations and other PVE activities you want Amulets with Protection on them for the Mutation Type. For Example, using an Amulet with Ice Protection during an Ice Bound Mutation. With this method you can place Opals or Malachite’s in your gear and swap Amulets instead of Gems.
For Weapons – Use Cut Pristine Carnelians
Heartgem Rune
The Heartgem rune of choice for this build can be either the Greater Heartrun of Stoneform or the Brutal Heartrune of Grasping Vines.
How to Use Build
Your job as the tank is to maintain aggro, position the mobs, and apply debuffs. You have a large AOE taunt with your defender’s resolve. You can utilize this ability to draw aggro of large groups of enemies so your DPS can kill them while you maintain aggro.
In order to maintain aggro, you want to understand how taunting works. In New World, starting off with an AOE taunt is acceptable, but if you want to keep aggro, you will want to continuously attack. If you sit in your shield, your initial taunt will not be enough to maintain aggro. It is far more recommended to start off with an attack, using a weapon with a taunt gem, and then follow up with an AOE Taunt.
One you have aggro, you will want to block incoming damage and weave light and heavy attacks into the mobs when you have the opportunity. You will also be applying rend stacks with your shockwave ability if you have the sundering shockwave perk. You can enhance the rend amount by utilizing your armor breaker ability as well.
Shield bash can be used to stun enemies and regain aggro when needed. This ability is also useful for peeling single enemies from your healer or DPS that may need it.
You will want to save your reverse stab and utilize it for cooldown reduction so you can use your defender’s resolve more often.