'New World': Greatsword Build For PvE

The new Greatsword weapon type introduced in "New World's" "Brimstone Sands" update offers melee-oriented characters a new way to protect allies while also dishing out some respectable damage.

"New World's" greatswords sit between the great axes and war hammers. They strike a balance between speed and damage output without compromising too hard on one side. Players who want to do a little bit of everything can't go wrong with picking this weapon class.

Here's a quick overview of the weapon as well as a useful setup designed for PvE activities.

Greatsword Stance Mechanics

This category of weapons comes with a unique Stance mechanic. Using any skill from either the Onslaught or Defiance trees causes the user to enter an offensive or defensive stance, respectively.

Onslaught stance increased damage output while decreasing survivability. Meanwhile, the Defiance stance grants opposite effects.

The stances also affect how Heavy Attacks function. Onslaught doubles charge times at the cost of 10 Stamina per swing, while Defiance protects the user while winding up an attack.

Abilities also have stance-specific interactions, all of which can be viewed on their tooltips.

"New World" Greatsword PvE Build

Pure DPS players will want to invest as many points into the Onslaught tree as possible. Every node will increase their offensive capabilities through buffs like Empower and Haste as well as debuffs like Disease and Rend.

Crosscut will be the bread-and-butter ability for an Onslaught build together with Heavy Attacks. The Cross Execution node doubles the damage of the ability's last swing when an enemy is below 50% health (75% if the user is already in Onslaught stance).

Skyward Slash is second on the ability priority list. It deals decent damage, applies Rend and staggers enemies. Use it as an opening attack to make sure Crosscut deals as much damage as it can. This ability can be improved further by taking the Skyfall Sword node.

Relentless Rush lacks utility and damage in PvE, but it becomes more valuable with the Relentless Refresh node. Only take this skill when the node can be unlocked.

Take the following nodes to maximize DPS:

• Heavy Blade
• Keen Posture
• Critical Comeback
• Step and Strike
• Perfect Vigilance
• Blade Honing
• Aggressive Shift
• Guarded Shift (optional)