Great Axe Tank Information

The Great Axe is a weapon used for clumping, pulling and stacking enemies, making it easier for groups to AoE damage them. It’s a useful weapon for groups to have during add pulls but you won’t often see it used by a Tank due to the loss of AoE crowd control and debuffs if a Warhammer isn’t used.

Great Axes can pull and stack multiple enemies while also applying some debuffs, you’ll lose some of the benefits you gain from a Warhammer but gain additional benefits offered by the Great Axe along with some decent survivability but it’s not a good weapon for bosses and offers less damage than other options too.

You would combine a Great Axe with a Sword and Shield or Greatsword.

Below you’ll find the best abilities, passives and perks when using the Great Axe for Tanking in New World.

Abilities

  • Reap
  • Maelstrom
  • Gravity Well

Perks

  • Enfeebling Maelstrom
  • Bane: Ancients, Angry Earth, Beast, Corrupted or Lost

Gems

  • Pristine Carnelian

Great Axe Tank Build

Great Axe Skills

Reap

Extend your axe 5m, pulling foes to you and dealing 70% weapon damage and staggering struck foes.

Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your great axe, this ability inflicts taunt for 4s when it hits. (Taunt causes monsters to focus only on you.)

Cooldown: 18 seconds

Maelstrom

Perform a fast, spinning attack that pulls targets within a 2.5m radius closer to you. Deals 100% weapon damage.

Cooldown: 20 seconds

Gravity Well

An upward swing dealing 99% weapon damage and projecting a powerful tear in reality that creates a vortex up to 10m away. The vortex pulls foes within 4m to its centre and roots them for 1s. Foes within the vortex have their movement speed is reduced by 60% due to the intense gravity. The collapsing vortex ends after 3s with a damaging burst dealing 125% weapon damage.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

The way you play a Great Axe Tank is not complicated. You use this weapon on add pulls only and you use use your three abilities Reap, Gravity Well and Maelstrom to stack up enemies so your group can burn them down as fast as possible.

Named Great Axes

There are very few easily accessible named weapons but you could try to obtain this one:

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