Fans of MMOs might want to check out New World by Amazon for a change of pace in their RPG gaming, especially when New World isn’t merely a fantasy game, but a medieval fantasy one set in the Aeternum Island in the Atlantic Ocean during the height of the Age of Discovery. With Aeternum Island holding a vast number of ancient mysteries and treasures, players - all members of in-game factions - are in a race against time to dominate the rest to secure Aeternum’s wonders for themselves. And as a game devoid of classes, players have weapons such as the Greatsword to rely on as trusty partners.
In New World, the lack of classes means all skills are tied to weapons players can swap in the middle of combat. With the Greatsword offering various stances and a heavier approach to combos, just how should players approach creating their builds with this massive weapon?
The Greatsword: Stance, Tempo Are Key
Due to the nature of the Greatsword as a heavy weapon in New World, one might immediately associate it with guttural thrusts and slow spinning that makes it incredibly unappealing at first glance. However, timing and tempo are key to mastering the Greatsword, and it can become an incredibly powerful weapon at the hands who fully understands its mechanics.
At its core, the Greatsword as a New World gameplay mechanic relies on its Stances. The weapon switches between an aggressive Onslaught Stance and a defensive Defiance Stance depending on which abilities or passives are used, altering the way a player approaches combat without having to immediately switch their weapons. This makes the Greatsword a weapon ideal for both tanking and DPS roles, especially courtesy of its debuffs, multi-hits, and decent survivability options.
Attribute Choice: Secondary Weapon Dictates Focus
Compared to other weapons in New World, the Greatsword’s abilities are tied equally to Strength and Dexterity. This can become tricky at first glance, as the Greatsword covering both Strength and Dexterity means not only is the Greatsword compatible with hard-hitting Strength-based weapons but also work with ranged weapons. However, interpreting this rule can be quite simple: the player’s preference for a Secondary Weapon dictates the focus of the Greatsword. For instance, pairing the Greatsword with a melee weapon means Strength is their focus, while pairing the Greatsword with a ranged weapon (and the Rapier, Blunderbuss) means Dexterity is the player’s priority. Ideal Secondary Weapons include:
- Sword and Shield (Strength): Despite the rather low attack nature of the Sword and Shield, the presence of the defensive implement immediately positions this as one of the best tanking specs in the game. When combined with the additional tankiness of the Greatsword and its additional defensive options, a Greatsword/S&S Tank could easily ensure the defense of the entire team.
Stance Focus: Choose Onslaught For DPS
Players enjoying the fast-paced combat of New World can still enjoy the Greatsword despite its perceived slowness, provided they use the Onslaught Stance. At its core, the combos and abilities of the Onslaught Stance paves the way for faster and powerful Charged Heavies, and all the while inflicting powerful attack buffs via Empower and weakening enemies further with Rend. As expected, this more aggressive Stance is resource-intensive. Players should anticipate quick depletion of Stamina as Charged Heavy Attacks will cost more of them to become more powerful, as well as defense taking a toll due to the prioritization of dishing out more damage.
Enter The Onslaught Stance
When a Greatsword player uses any ability classified as part of the Onslaught Tree, they immediately enter the Onslaught Stance. In this form, players are optimized to dish out damage, courtesy of these benefits that last for 10 seconds:
- 15-percent increased damage taken
- 15-percent increased damage dealt
- Quick Charge: Charged Heavies are charged twice as fast but now costs 10 Stamina each
Onslaught Skills: The Focus Is Getting The Kill Fast
As with other weapons in New World, the Greatsword boasts a wide set of abilities that players could use to spice up their combos. In the context of the Greatsword’s Stances, the abilities under the Onslaught Tree not only activate the Onslaught Stance but are tailored specifically to accommodate aggression in the battlefield. Here are the Onslaught Stance’s skills and how they may be maximized in the battlefield:
- Cross Cut: This is an ability that releases a series of three (3) quick slash attacks, with each slash dealing more damage. Upgrading this ability will add Grit, and the last attack dealing more damage to opponents below half health.
- Relentless Rush: This ability will have players spin the Greatsword and pass through enemies forward. The skill attacks twice, with the first one dealing 110-percent and the second dealing 120-percent damage. Upgrading this ability gives Empowerment and reduces the cooldown by half if this is used to land a killing blow. Depending on the Stance, the final upgrade can either Root or stun enemies (Onslaught) or heal for 15-percent of the damage done (Defiance).
- Skyward Slash: This ability will have the players make an upwards slash that carries them in the air. If upgraded, this ability will have a second attack that has players slam the blade back onto the ground, dealing additional damage plus 20-percent Disease.
- Unrelenting Onslaught (Passive): Serving as the Key Passive in the Stance, this reduces Greatsword cooldowns when hitting foes. Each Light Attack reduces CDs by 2-percent, while each Heavy Attack reduces CDs by 10-percent.
- Keen Posture (Passive): Another alternative to a Key Passive, players who love dishing out damage will appreciate this ability, as it guarantees a Critical Hit when entering or refreshing an Onslaught Stance. A weapon or skill with high-enough base damage could do wonders with this passive.
- Heavy Blade (Passive): An alternative to a Key Passive, this ability will give Charged Heavies with 15-percent armor penetration. This is a must-have for both tank builds and DPS builds, especially when facing foes with tough armor.
Stance Focus: Choose Defiance For Tanking
Players who want to play it safe throughout the deadly gameplay of New World can make defense work with the Defiance Stance. While there’s not a lot of damaging combos and immense attack options, the Defiance Stance excels in boosting the player’s overall defenses. This is courtesy of Charged Attacks now being able to block attacks, something that is much-appreciated as a dual-purpose mechanic given the Greatsword’s slower speed. On top of this are the Defiance Stance’s ability to bolster defenses via Fortify and force enemies to deal less damage with Weaken, of which the latter already boosts a latent damage reduction passive exclusive to the Defiance Stance.
- 15-percent reduced damage taken
- 15-percent reduced outgoing damage
- Guard Point: Charged Heavies can now block attacks
Enter The Defiance Stance
As soon as a Greatsword player uses a New World ability under the Defiance Tree, they immediately go into the Defiance Stance. For 10 seconds, players are equipped to take on more damage without risking their overall survival. Here are the benefits they will receive:
Defiance Skills: The Focus Is Securing The Defense
Contrary to the Onslaught Stance, skills under the Defiance Tree not only triggers the Defiance Stance but also focus on defense and protecting the player and their allies at all costs. Skills here focus more on using the Greatsword for defense and, if damaging, focusing more on generating Threat for tanks. Here are the skills under the Defiance Tree:
- Calamity Counter: This ability is a Parry that can block incoming damage while dealing them back to attackers. Blocking one to two attacks will trigger Stagger in opponents at a wide radius, whereas blocking three or more hits can cause enemies to get knocked back.
- Roaring Rupture: This ability is an AOE that requires stabbing the Greatsword onto the ground. Upgrading this ability will add Cleanse to players and Weaken towards enemies when activated. Depending on the Stance, the final upgrade can push enemies back (Defiance) or pull enemies towards the player (Onslaught).
- Steadfast Strike: This ability thrusts the Greatsword forward to impale the target before pulling them back to the player, all the while generating Threat. Upgrading this ability will heal players for 50-percent of the damage they inflicted on opponents. Not only that, this applies Bleed when using this under the Defiance Stance. Another upgrade will have Steadfast Strike decrease the cooldown of all other abilities by 20-percent.
- Undying Defiance (Passive): Serving as the Key Passive in this Stance, this lets players get healing on the equivalent of 5-percent of the damage they’ve dealt with their Greatsword.
- Wary Posture (Passive): Another alternative to a Key Passive, this ability will reduce the damage on one (1) incoming hit by 25-percent as soon players enter the Defiance Stance. This ability triggers again after five (5) seconds.
Recommended Perks: Choose The Damage Focus
Players who are enjoying the Greatsword as a weapon in New World might remember how tricky it could get switching from one Stance to the next depending on combat encounters. However, for players to truly maximize their builds, they may want to consider choosing the right weapon Perks as well. When choosing a Perk, a Greatsword user must take note of the kind of gameplay they want to commit to for their build. Here are some suggested Perks:
- Relentless Freedom: This not only boosts the Critical Chance of Relentless Rush by 12-19-percent, it also cleanses Slows and Roots upon activation. In turn, this Perk has a lot of potential in PVP, especially since it can remove movement-impairing status effects while giving players room to zoom onto opponents.
- Leeching Crosscut: This will have the third attack of the Crosscut heal for 48-72-percent of damage it deals. While this isn’t massive at first glance, continuously doing this in PVE means a free sustain component for tanky PVE Greatsword players.
Recommended Leveling, Mastery: Focus On Securing Wide Damage
Players working on maximizing their Greatsword should know how to focus their leveling up and mastery, especially if they want to ensure their New World experience as a tank/damage hybrid goes smoothly.
Leveling Up: Keep STR At The Ready
In the case of leveling up, it’s always ideal to keep an attribute split of 300 STR and 200 DEX. While the STR and DEX scaling encourages players to keep these equal, maintaining 300 STR unlocks the Perk of the same name, which gives Grit on both Light and Heavy Attacks.
Remember, Grit puts a white aura around the player and ensures they're temporarily immovable during an action. When applied to light and heavy attacks, Grit makes a Greatsword user nigh-immune to staggers unless they run out of Stamina.
Mastery: Focus On The AOE, Rotation
- Rotation: Relentless Rush > Keen Posture > Roaring Rupture > Crosscut > Light Attack > Heavy Attack
Due to the nature of the Greatsword as a wide-reaching weapon, it’s recommended for players to try and maximize its potential as such as often as possible. To do this, players may want to keep mobs together and use Relentless Rush to pass through them for decent AOE damage, all the while preparing Keen Posture for boosted stats. After this, players should trigger Roaring Rupture to deal huge damage while bolstering defenses. Once done, players should return to the Onslaught Stance via Crosscut. To cap the combo, pulling a Light Attack and a Charged Heavy can help lead to a rotation reset. With this rotation in mind, ideal Mastery Points should be allotted to the following:
- Critical Comeback: Level 7
- Keen Posture: Level 6
- Roaring Rupture: Level 5
- Perfect Vigilance: Level 4
- Relentless Rush: Level 3
- Crosscut: Level 2
Recommended Gems: A Choice Between Health, Stamina, Threat
An additional component to customization in New World have to dow ith Gems, essentially slottable items that provide buffs to particular attributes and aspects of combat. With the right Gem, a weapon can help players achieve their ideal build, especially when said Gems augment an aspect of combat or gameplay that a player or a weapon wants to exploit. Here are some ideal Gems for the Greatsword:
- Diamond (Rally): With the Diamond, a Greatsword can give a boost to damage and healing provided to others for as long as the user is at full health, ideal for tank builds that focus on survivability.
- Carnelian (Taunting): With the Carnelian, a Greatsword user has constant Threat active and generates for Threat, perfect for players who want a tank role and ensure enemies are focused on them.
- Opan (Gambit): With the Opal, players get a boost in damage provided their Stamina is not full. This is ideal in most combat situations where Greatsword users find themselves constantly dishing out combos, which always use Stamina.
On Combat: Combos, Blocking Require More Timing
Due to the lack of classes in the MMO, New World gameplay focuses heavily on syncing weapons with each other, especially in the combo department. This time around, hitboxes take precedence, and knowing just what attack to use and when to use them can spell the difference between victory and defeat. With the Greatsword being a slower weapon than usual, timing is all the more crucial for players who want to excel in using this massive weapon. In turn, successful combat with the Greatsword requires balance not just between switching Stances but in the way these complement with the rest of combat.
Offense: Attack Chains Should Capitalize On Heavies, Area Of Effect
As with other weapons, the Greatsword as a New World weapon also has its own set of animations for Light and Heavy Attacks. Unlike other weapons, however, the Greatsword boasts a rather wide area of effect for its attacks, ensuring that every enemy in a cluster of foes get hit by a player’s strike. Thing is, the first Heavy Attack of the Greatsword lacks any decent area damage, which means this isn’t the ideal combo starting point.
Likewise, it’s important to note that the Greatsword’s combos are also cancellable, particularly with a Charged Heavy Attack that can be positioned at any point within the chain. Here are some ideal combos:
- Light Attack + Heavy Attack + Heavy Attack. This is a recommended starting combo for players to maximize their AOE. That way, the first Heavy Attack that normally doesn’t hit a lot of opponents is positioned in the middle of the chain, where it’s guaranteed to at least hit the immediate target. This works great in larger groups, as more enemies could be hit all at once.
- Light Attack + Light Attack: One of the fastest chains in the Greatsword’s arsenal, this deals 90-percent Slashing Weapon Damage and paves the way for a devastating Charged Heavy Attack.
- Light Attack + Light Attack + Light Attack: Perhaps the quickest chain for the Greatsword, this skips the Charged Heavy Attack for a third Light Attack to deal 130-percent Slashing Weapon Damage.
- Heavy Attack + Heavy Attack: A relative basic repertoire for the Greatsword’s heavier attack, two (2) Heavies can dish out 150-percent Slashing Weapon Damage and has room for a Charged Heavy Attack.
- Heavy Attack + Heavy Attack + Heavy Attack: Despite being the slowest of the combos, three (3) Heavy Attacks is still much faster than two (2) Heavies with a Charged Heavy. Not only that, this particular combo can deal 170-percent Slashing Weapon Damage.
Defense: Blocking Is Still Beneficial
Players who use the Greatsword in their New World gameplay will likely rely on the Defiance Stance heavily for survivability. However, fans shouldn’t forget to Block despite Charged Heavies being perfectly capable of becoming a substitute.
This is primarily because the Greatsword itself has the highest block stability of weapons, save for the Shield, making this ideal for the defensively-packing Heavy Armor. Likewise, the Defiance Stance also has passives such as Arrow Deflection and Faultless Defender that reward the active blocking of attacks, making this tanky Stance a bit combo-intensive.
New World was released in 2021 and is playable in the PC.