Best Sword and Shield Tank Build

The best Sword and Shield tank build in new world focuses on 300 Constitution/200 Strength for survivability in Expeditions.

Attributes

When leveling, focus all Attribute points into Constitution to maximize Perk activation. The goal for this build is 300 Constitution/200 Strength. This focus on Constitution will aid you in Expeditions as you progress towards level 60. Favor gear that increases both Strength and Constitution, but prioritize Strength when a choice must be made to compensate for the lower Attribute point investment.

• 50 Points: All health consumables +20% stronger. +10% logging speed.
• 100 Points: Increase max health by 10% of physical armor. 10% reduction on durability loss for tools.
• 150 Points: 10% reduction to crit damage taken. 10% decrease in weight of logging items.
• 200 Points: 20% increase to armor. +10% logging speed.
• 250 Points: 80% damage reduction when full health. +10% yield increase when logging.
• 300 Points: 20% duration of stun, slow, and root spells. -25% chance to chop down a tree in a single swing.

Sword and Shield - Main Weapon

The Sword and Shield is the only weapon in new world that offers multiple Taunt skills. Ensure you have Carnelian Gems slotted into your weapons to activate Taunt and always use the highest Tier available. Taunt causes monsters to focus only on you.

Skills

• Shield Rush: Rush forward 5 meters, knocking back foes and dealing 125% weapon damage. With perks, it adds Slow and Weaken to enemies.
• Shield Bash: Deals 50% weapon damage and stuns foes in front of you for 2s. With a Carnelian gem, this ability causes a 6s taunt to all enemies hit.
• Defiant Stance: For 8s, reduce incoming base damage by 30%. With a Carnelian gem, this ability causes a 6s taunt to all enemies within 8m. Upon ending, you restore 15% of your max health.

Defender Tree Perks

• Sturdy Shield: Grants an additional 15% physical armor.
• Sturdy Grip: Stamina damage is reduced by 15% when blocking a melee attack with a shield.
• Elemental Resistance: Reduce damage from all magical types by 10%.
• Defensive Training: When you block an attack, gain 10% Fortify for 5s.
• Intimidating Bash: Shield bash causes greatly increased threat and 100% more damage.
• One with the Shield: When you block with a shield, all shield skills recharge 1%.
• Improved Rush: On successful hit, all enemies within 5m gain 10% Weaken for 4s. (Weaken reduces damage.)
• Intimidating Rush: On successful hit, all enemies within 5m of you are 30% Slowed for 4s. (Slow reduces movement speed.)
• Final Blow: The 3rd attack in your light attack chain deals 15% more damage and causes more threat.
• Final Count Down: If your health is above 50%: damage reduction increased by 20%.
• Restoration: Gain 15% of your max health when Defiant Stance ends.
• Recuperation: All incoming healing and regeneration increased by 10%.
• Defensive Formation: While blocking, reduce damage to all allies within 2 meters by 30% (1s cooldown).

Swordmaster Tree Perks

• Achilles Heel: The final attack in your light attack chain causes a 20% Slow for 2s. (Slow reduces movement speed.)
• Precision: Sword critical strike chance increased by 10%.
• Mobility: Move 33% faster while blocking.

You will primarily use Light Attacks for Threat, making Achilles Heel very useful. Mobility increases your movement speed while blocking, which is frequent in this build.

Warhammer - Secondary Weapon

The Warhammer is an excellent secondary weapon choice, offering useful Crowd Control skills that also restore HP.

Skills

• Clear Out: A wide swing that knocks enemies back 4 meters to create distance, dealing 115% weapon damage.
• Shockwave: Slam the Hammer into the ground, causing a 3-meter radius AOE earthquake that deals 80% weapon damage. Applies Stun to all impacted targets for 2 seconds. With a Carnelian gem, this ability causes a 6s taunt when it hits.
• Path of Destiny: A powerful ground strike that erupts a linear wave of energy in front of the player, dealing 110% weapon damage to all targets in its path.