The Greatsword in New World is not only visually impressive, but with the right build, it is also excellent for killing enemies - whether in PVP or PVE.
Here's the deal: With the "Brimstone Sands" update, the Greatsword was finally introduced as its own weapon type in New World. This was Amazon's response to numerous requests from the community. We took a closer look at the iconic blade and show you which build is best suited for the Greatsword.
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The Greatsword comes in two different appearances, although the stats of the weapon are of course the same in both variants. In any case, we can already say: Top! The blades are really imposing and make you want to hit everything that comes in front of your feet.
The Greatsword scales with both strength and dexterity. This means that you can combine it with many other weapons. As a rule of thumb, if you combine the Greatsword with a melee weapon, you should rather focus on strength. However, if you use a ranged weapon in addition to the Greatsword, you should rather focus on dexterity.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, such as the blunderbuss or the rapier, where the opposite rule applies. Due to the scaling of the weapon, the iconic blade is particularly suitable for two types of builds:
Tanks
Damage Dealer
Playstyle and stances with the Greatsword in New World
With the Greatsword you can switch between the Onslaught stance (offensive stance) and the defiance stance (defensive stance). While the Defiance Stance gives you strong defensive abilities and lets you tank incoming damage, the Onslought Stance gives you offensive bonuses for more damage. Whenever you use an ability from the Path of Onslought or the Path of Defiance, you switch to the respective stance for ten seconds.
Onslaught skills
Crosscut: You hit three times in quick succession. First hit: 130% weapon damage, Second hit: 160% weapon damage, Third hit: 110% weapon damage. When the skill ends, you take the Carnage Stance.
Unstoppable Cuts: You gain courage when performing Crosscut. (Courage prevents you from being staggered by attacks.) In Defiance Stance, you gain immunity to stun when performing Crosscut.
Skyward Slash: A fierce upward strike in an arc that staggers your target, deals 80.0% weapon damage, and creates 2 stacks of 5.0% Ripped for 10.0 sec. (Maximum 3.0 stacks)In Carnage Stance, you generate 1 additional stack of Ripped. When this skill ends, you take Carnage Stance.
Skyfall Sword: You make a follow-up attack that deals 140.0% weapon damage when you reactivate the skill or make a light attack.
Relentless Rush: Leap through enemies while spinning, dealing 20.0% slow for 4.0 sec on hit.First hit: 110.0% weapon damage. Second hit: 120.0% weapon damage. (This attack does not cause ambush attacks.)When this skill ends, take Carnage Stance.
Relentless Power: On a critical hit, you gain 10.0% Empowerment for 10.0 sec.
Giant Slayer: Base attack damage is increased by 20.0% when attacking enemies with more than 90.0% health.
Heavy Blade: Charged heavy attacks have 15.0% armor penetration.
Swift Onslaught: After using an ability from the Carnage tree, you gain 20.0% haste that lasts 5.0 sec.
Aggressive Shift: Take the Carnage Stance by hitting an enemy with a charged Heavy Attack.
Keen Posture: After taking Carnage Stance, your next attack within 5.0 sec. gains a 100.0% higher critical strike chance.
Critical Comeback: Become energized by landing a critical hit and regenerate 5.0 Stamina and 5.0% base health per second for 5.0 sec.
Crush the Weak: Critical hit chance is increased by 10.0% when attacking an enemy with an active debuff.
Step and Strike: After dodging, you gain 10.0% Empowerment for the next 3.0 hits within 10.0 sec. (This effect only occurs in combat.) Attacks boosted by this effect restore 10.0 Stamina on hit.
Unrelenting Onslaught: Hitting enemies reduces the cooldown of the Greatsword: Charged Light Attack: 2.0 %, Charged Heavy Attack: 10.0%.
Path of Onslaught: After using any ability in the Carnage Tree, take the Carnage Stance for 10.0 sec. Carnage Stance has the following properties: Damage taken increased by 15.0%. Damage dealt increased by 10.0 %. Fast Charge: Heavy attacks charge twice as fast, but consume 10.0 Stamina with each attack.
Defiance skills
Calamity Counter: Block for 2 sec. to reduce blocked stamina damage by 90.0% and then counterattack against all enemies within a 4m radius.- No Blocks: 100.0% weapon damage.
1 Block: 100.0 % weapon damage and stagger. 2 Blocks: 100.0 % weapon damage and stagger lasts longer.
3 Blocks: 100.0% weapon damage and causes knockback.This skill grants courage. Reactivate this skill or use light attack to attack earlier. When this skill ends, take the defiance stance.
Jagged Counter: Counterattack causes bleed for 6.0 sec per power level. Each stack deals 5.0% weapon damage per second. (Maximum 5.0 stacks.)
Steadfast Strike: Stab your greatsword forward to impale your foes, then pull back to rip the blade out. Restores 20.0 stamina on each hit. First Hit: Deals 70.0% weapon damage and staggers. Second Hit: Deals 120.0% weapon damage and pulls the target 1.5m in your direction.This skill generates 150.0% threat. When this skill ends, you take the defensive stance.
Steadfast Recovery: If the first attack with Steadfast Strike hits, you are healed for 50.0% weapon damage. In Defiant Stance, the first strike also inflicts 2 stacks of Bleed for 6.0 sec, dealing 5.0% weapon damage every second. (Maximum 5.0 stacks.)
Roaring Rupture: Stab the ground and create a shockwave with a radius of 4.0m, dealing 120.0% weapon damage. Each enemy hit provides 8.0% boost for 5.0 sec. (Maximum 3.0 stacks) This skill generates 200.0% threat and grants Courage.(Courage prevents being staggered by attacks.) When this skill ends, you take Defiance.
Purifying Roar: Removes 2.0 debuffs after using Roaring Rift.
Perfect Vigilance: When hit at full health, damage taken is reduced by 20.0% and you gain 20.0% buff for 3.0 sec.
Cleansing Chain: If you hit with the final attack of the Greatsword, the duration of debuffs on you is reduced by 10.0%.
Blade Honing: Base damage is increased by 3.0% for each greatsword bonus on you. (Maximum 4.0 bonuses.)
Wary Posture: After you take Defiance Stance, the next attack you suffer in the next 5.0 sec is reduced by 25.0%.
Guarded Shift: If you block for 2.0 sec, you take the Defiance Stance.
Unflinching Blade: Charged heavy attacks give courage and inflict bleed for 6.0 sec, dealing 5.0% weapon damage every second. (Maximum 5.0 stacks.)
Arrow Deflection: Allows you to block ranged attacks with a greatsword, but increases stamina damage by 10.0% when blocking an attack.
Faultless Defender: Reduce stamina damage by 50.0% when blocking attacks just after taking a defensive stance or when you have a point of protection. Deals 5.0% Ripped status to melee attackers for 10.0 sec. (Maximum 3.0 stacks.)
Undying Defiance: Heal you for 5.0% of damage from attacks. Attacks within 3.0 sec of blocking instead heal you for 15.0% of damage dealt.
Path of Defiance: After using any ability in the Defiance tree, take Defiance for 10.0 sec. Defiance has the following properties:- Damage taken reduced by: -15.0%. Damage dealt reduced by: -15.0%. Guard Point: Block incoming attacks while charging heavy attacks.
Since each stance only lasts for ten seconds, proper timing is very important. If you are in the wrong stance at the wrong time, it means that you will either do less damage or lose a lot of health.
Strong greatsword build with a hatchet
Surely shortly more and more strong builds with the Greatsword will appear in New World. We present here a build variant in which the Greatsword is combined with a hatchet. This build is extremely strong in the endgame and can deal a massive amount of damage.
#1 Attributes
First you should invest 100 points each in Strength and Dexterity. Then you put 50 points into constitution and after that you push strength and dexterity to 150. Once you are around level 60 and have a gear score of 625, you should have 150 points in strength, dexterity and constitution.
#2 Ability-Points for Greatsword and Hatchet
To progress as quickly as possible, you should first choose the skills highlighted below when selecting your abilities. After that, you can distribute your points as you wish.
#3 Choosing the right skills
To get the maximum damage out of it and not give your opponent a chance, it is recommended to use the following skills:
Skills for the Greatsword
Skill 1: Relentless Rush
Skill 2: Roaring Rupture
Skill 3: Calamity Counter
Skills for the Hatchet
Skill 1: Berserk
Skill 2: Rending Throw
Skill 3: Infected Throw
This choice of skills gives you extremely powerful attack combinations that leave nothing alive in both PVP and PVE. You can see how to best use the combinations in the video:
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Markus has been part of our Guided.news team since June 2022 and writes about many topics as a dedicated gamer. But he is especially fond of Path of Exile and other ARPGs.
