New World allows players to equip two types of weapon, each with its own Mastery tree and skills.
This guide is all about the Sword & Shield combo, one of the more defensive weapon setups in the game.
How to get a Sword & Shield
In New World, there are various ways to obtain a Sword & Shield.
- Dropped by mobs or found in crates
- Purchased through the it in the Trading Post
- Crafted by Weaponsmiths
Which weapon to pair with the Sword & Shield
A primarily defensive weapon, the sword & shield combo is designed purely to protect your allies, whether in PvP or PvE. As such, secondary weapons aren't goiing to be of too much importance, but can still prove useful.
A couple options stand out for us:
War Hammer
The best choice to pair with the Sword & Shield, in our opinion, the War Hammer adds more control to your build. Switch from the Shield after a parry to inflict stuns using your Hammer.
We'd recommend the following skills:
Great Axe
Another fairly straightforward choice, the Great Axe allows for group mob control, pulling them in and opening the door for your allies to wreak devastation upon them.
We'd focus on the following skills for the Great Axe:
The best build for the Sword & Shield
Our guide focuses on builds that offer ideal balance between the PvE and PvP sides of the game.
It is intended for players who don't wish to waste resources when it comes to allocating skill points.
Alternative Suggestion
For Expeditions, it might be a good idea to take Defiant Stance. This will let you take the aggro, and therefore spare your healer or glass cannon DPS teammates from being targeted.
However, this skill is pretty useless in exploration and PvP.
Passive Tree Build
Why did we choose this build?
The offensive skills in this build are very aggressive, and will allow you to deal enough damage to overcome battles in both PvE and PvP fight.
The passive skills we've chosen provide the defense you'll need, and you'll have good resistance against both magical and ranged attacks.
Stat Point Allocation
Given the type of gameplay involved with the Sword & Shield, you'll want to focus on Strength and Constitution. We've gone for slightly more STR in this build, so you have more damage to be able to bring down your enemies while remaining tanky enough to survive.
You gear follows more or less the same path, relying on Strength and Constitution.
How to level up the Sword & Shield
Levelling up equipment is pretty easy in New World -- the more you use the weapon, the more experience it will gain.
Be mindful that the weapon doesn't gain experience if you don't use it, so even if you bring it out for a single hit, you'll benefit from the XP.
