New World received the new weapon Greatsword with the Brimstone Sands update. In this guide, we at MeinMMO present two strong builds that allow you to use the Greatsword as either a DD or a Tank in PvE.
What can the Greatsword do? Like the other weapons, the Greatsword relies on two skill trees, each with three abilities:
- “Butchery” focuses on offensive abilities and damage. With the final talent, your attacks reduce the cooldown of abilities, making you even more offensive.
- “Endurance”, on the other hand, focuses on defensive abilities and CC. With the last talent, you also receive 5 percent healing from your attacks.
In the video, the weapon’s animations look powerful and fun.
Greatsword Build as Tank
Is the weapon suitable for tanking? The Greatsword is perfect for tanks. In the “Endurance” tree, you have abilities that generate additional aggro, which allow you to block incoming damage or heal passively. One example is “Indomitable Endurance”, the final talent. This allows you to automatically heal for 5 percent of incoming damage.
Furthermore, every ability lets you enter the “Path of Endurance” at the end of the animation. This lasts for ten seconds and causes the following effects:
- You take 15 percent less damage
- You deal 15 percent less damage
- You automatically block attacks while charging a heavy attack
Which attributes should you skill? Like with most other tank builds, you invest in a mix of Strength and Constitution.
You distribute 250 points in Strength and 200 in Constitution throughout the attribute points and gear. This increases your melee damage and provides the most important defensive bonuses, including +10 more armor against physical and elemental damage.
What abilities should I skill? You will use the following three abilities:
- Crosscut
- Catastrophe Counter
- Roaring Rift
You will focus most of your points in the Endurance tree to maximize your defense. However, you also invest some points into offense to deal damage and gain additional health from critical hits.
What does my equipment look like? You normally use heavy armor. There is a type of speedrun build with light armor and a lot of dodging, but this is only worthwhile in established groups where the healer is informed accordingly.
It is important that you socket the Polished Flawless Carnelian in your weapons to build more aggro. For the armor, you will use Onyx or Diamond. For mutations, you should adjust your gemstones based on the enemies.
What does my rotation look like? Against weak enemy groups, you can open the fight directly with Crosscut. This deals damage and activates the “Path of Butchery”. This means you will deal more damage for ten seconds but also take more damage – the counterpart to the “Path of Endurance”.
Against bosses or strong enemy groups, you open with “Roaring Rift” and enter the “Path of Endurance”. You use Catastrophe Counter when you are already being attacked to block two seconds of incoming damage and then deal that damage back to enemies.
Which weapons do I combine with the Greatsword? The Greatsword can be combined with the Hammer or the Axe. Both rely on the same gear and playstyle.
Greatsword as DD in PvE
Is the weapon suitable as DPS? Yes. While the Greatsword hits quite slowly, it deals area damage directly. Offensive abilities also activate the “Path of Butchery” for ten seconds:
- You deal 15 percent more damage
- You receive 15 percent more damage
- Heavy attacks charge 50 percent faster but consume ten stamina
As a DD with the Greatsword, it is important to be optimally positioned and avoid incoming damage. This way, you can hit really hard.
Which attributes should I skill? In this build, you focus on Strength and invest 300 points, which you earn through attribute points and gear. Additionally, 150 points go into Dexterity and 50 points into Constitution. This gives you the perfect setup for damage while also providing the bonus for your buff food from Constitution.
What abilities should I skill? You will use all three abilities from the Butchery tree:
- Crosscut
- Unrelenting Storm
- Heavenward Slash
What does my equipment look like? You use light armor for the damage bonus but wear medium armor on the chest. This keeps you in the “light” weight category while collecting additional resistances.
On the weapon, you use the gemstone “Opening IV”, which increases your damage by 15 percent when stamina is not full. You should adjust your gemstones on the armor according to the respective dungeons to take less damage.
What does my rotation look like? It’s actually quite simple: “Unrelenting Storm” is used to slice through large hordes of enemies, while “Heavenward Slash” is meant for single targets.
It is important that you maintain the “Path of Butchery” to deal more damage consistently and reduce your cooldowns by ten percent when using heavy attacks. You should also dodge regularly to gain Empowerment for the next three attacks, which further increases your damage and activates your gemstone in the weapon.
Which weapons do I combine with the Greatsword? This build works excellently in combination with the Axe. You can find all our guides to New World in this overview: New World Guides – All tips, tricks, and builds at a glance.
