New World Tank Gear Guide

You can now upgrade named items to 700 gear score, provided they are NEW named items with the Rise of the Angry Earth expansion. You might see other guides claiming you need items to be 650 gearscore or higher to upgrade them, this is not true. The Taiyi Longsword for example can drop as low as 550 gearscore, maybe lower, but it can still be upgraded to a 700 gearscore weapon.

To do this, you’ll need a named gear piece and the required upgrade materials. Head to the Gypsum Kiln, select the gear at the very bottom of the menu, and upgrade it to 700. Keep in mind that you must remove this gear from your any saved sets to upgrade it. When upgrading gear you also get to choose the final perk meaning you can virtually create a Best in Slot piece of gear.

Gear often drops in the 650-700 range and can come in purple or gold quality. Before upgrading, consider the perks and whether they align with your build. Another method to obtain gear is by collecting materia from mutated expeditions or the season pass. It’s a much faster way to quickly gain stronger gear especially if you progress far in the Season 3 pass but aside from that it takes some time to gather enough materia, roughly 25 M1 expeditions for one gear piece.

The Health perk is no longer essential on Amulets although it’s still a good option.
Refreshing is still an option if you’re not already using four pieces on other gear.

Protection perks are the most essential for survival in Mutation Expeditions. These are particularly useful to have and you can match them against specific Mutation types and Boss Damage types to reduce incoming damage. Check out the Wards and Protection Article to see which of the perks you need for every boss and mutation in New World. The most useful are Slash Protection, Strike Protection, Flame Protection and Void Protection.

If you have enough gold to do so, the Lifering Amulet would be the easiest one to farm. Collect this multiple times, each time you upgrade it, add a different Protection Perk.

Protection Amulets:

• Grovelight (Nature Protection & Health) from Taxodius in Genesis. Not great due to having Dex on it.
• Soul Shroud Amulet (Slash Protection & Health) found in the Myrkguard Elite Area in the Shattered Mountains. Decent option for Slash bosses.
• Tanglevine Amulet (Thrust Protection & Health) from named enemies in Elysian Wilds. Not a super useful protection perk compared to others.
• Sporelight Amulet (Strike Protection & Health) from named enemies in Tribunal Elite area in Elysian Wilds. Great against Strike bosses.

Other Amulets:

• Daemon Soul (Stamina Recovery & Fortified) Major Breach Cache. Decent option for a Fortified Amulet but will be missing Health
• Syncretic Amulet (Fortified & Alchemist Reprieve) Another decent option for a Fortified Amulet but will be missing Health.
• Lifering Amulet (Divine & Health) Found from bosses in the Malevolence Tower Elite Zone. Virtually Best in Slot if you have multiple of them upgraded.

Artifact amulets can be useful, but it’s so valuable to have protection perk amulets to match the damage type you’re facing to make Mutated content easier. Ankh can be really helpful for 50% more incoming healing and Lost Stopwatch during add pulls for 100% longer stuns.

Favorable perks for rings include Hearty, Leeching, and Enfeebling, especially if your abilities apply Weaken. Damage perks that match your weapon type can also help with threat generation. Consider rings like Soulpollen or Privateer’s Heirloom for these perks.

The Azoth Crystal Ring is a reliable source of Hearty and Leeching, making it a solid choice.

The Blooddrinker Ring artifact is a unique option, trading 25% damage for 25% lifesteal, which combined with Leeching and Hearty, can enhance your survivability. It’s super strong and helps you to stay alive much easier but may cause issues with maintaining enough threat on enemies when doing 25% less damage.

Other potentially useful Rings:

• Red Hot Slag
• Soulpollen
• Privateer’s Heirloom

Earrings with Refreshing Toast and Nimble are typically the most useful.

Despised is an optional perk for anyone struggling with maintaining aggro of enemies. Purifying Toast is another solid choice as is Regenerating as this heals you every seconds and counts as a “heal” so helps you also generate threat. Healthy Toast could add additional healing from Mana Potions if you need it although at 20k Health that will only be a 2.2k heal each time.

• Soul Shroud Earring obtained from any M2 expedition boss or crafted at the Gypsum Kiln offers Refreshing Toast and Nimble.
• Sporelight Earring found in Elysian Wilds, provides the Despised perk and Nimble, making it an excellent choice for maintaining aggro.
• Lieutenant’s Earring obtained from War Spoils gives you Regenerating and Refreshing Toast and just needs Nimble to be added.
• Corrupt Progenitor Earring obtained from enemies in the Myrkguard Elite area in Shattered Mountains

Shields play a crucial role in your tanking strategy and are categorized as armor in the artifact system. The choice of shield type depends on whether you use a Flail or a Sword alongside it, which affects the optimal perks.

• For Sword and Shield Users: Fortifying Shield Rush should be your primary shield perk. This complements the effectiveness of the shield when used with a Sword.
• For Flail and Shield Users: Fortifying Shield Rush is less effective when using a Flail so make sure there are no perks that buff the Sword.
• All Shield Perks: focus on perks like
  • Sturdy
  • Shield Defense
  • Sturdy Energy
  • Shield Ward perks such as Flame Shield Ward, for adapting to different damage types.

While there aren’t any remarkable named shields to farm, be cautious of Refreshing perks if you already have Refreshing gear and you don’t want to overstack it.

Two notable shields are the Mossborne Tower Shield and The Pharaoh’s Tower Shield, both with the Fortifying Shield Rush perk. However, they are unupgradable and drop with random gear scores and perks.

• Mossborne provides Nature Ward and Shield Defense, obtainable from M3 Genesis
• Pharaoh’s offers Thrust Ward and Shield Defense, obtainable from M3 Enned.

The Wall artifact can also be considered, which reduces base damage by 5% and all elemental damage by 25%. However, it removes the dodge ability, requiring you to facetank and time your blocks accurately. This approach suits experienced players looking to maximize damage output while reducing damage taken but may not be beginner-friendly.

When using a sword, prioritize the Refreshing Move perk as the main priority. Taiyi Longsword is a suitable option with the Refreshing Move perk, which can be acquired easily from named enemies in Ebonscale Reach.

Other Swords:
For these options you would need to add the Refreshing Move perk when you upgrade these swords.

• Stalagmite – Obtained from enemies in Lazarus Instrumentality.
• Azoth Crystal Longsword – Obtained from any M2+ Expedition Boss.
• Reputation – Obtained from Luciferin in Elysian Wilds.

The Odo artifact Flail is an excellent choice for tanking, offering Refreshing Move, Lifestealing, and Odo Defense, which heals you when you block. Make sure to attach a gem slot when upgrading it at the Gypsum Kiln otherwise you will not be able to taunt with it.

Flail typically has quite low damage output so with that in mind you want to try and increase damage output if you decide to use a none artifact Flail.

Other good Flails:

• Azoth Crystal Flail – From any M2 Expedition
• Rending Flail – Might not seem that great but it provides some Rend which is missing on the Flail and Keenly Jagged which applies a bleed which helps with threat generation. Obtained from Named enemies in Great Cleave.
• Commandant’s Flail – Keen and Thwarting Strikes offer some damage buffs and you could add Refreshing Move onto this Flail also. Obtained from Outpost Rush Cache.
• Corrupt Progenitor Flail – Obtained from Myrkgard Elite Area
• Deepriver Flail – Obtained from named enemies in Siren Elite Area

The Serenity artifact greatsword is suitable for tanking. Ensure you attach a gem slot when upgrading to maintain taunting ability. Greatswords are generally more DPS-focused, and this artifact enhances your damage output.

Greatsword Tanking relies on heavy attacking to activate the Faultless Defender passive, and so you need to make use of perks that buff heavy attacking.

Other Greatsword Options:

• Strikeback – Obtain from enemies in Empyrean Forge. This has Trenchant Crits and Energizing Counter which helps sustain
• Daemon Thigh – Obtained from Major Breach Cache
• Azoth Crystal Greatsword
• Bouldershard
• Woodgrain Greatsword

The most essential perk on a Hammer for a Tank is Sundering Clear Out or Sundering Shockwave but there are very few options available with these perks already applied. The most accessible War Hammers would be Commandant’s War Hammer from OPR Cache if you use Clear Out or Hero of the Hills from Remnant of Simon Jeffrey in Elysian Wilds if you use Shockwave, however some of the perks on these hammers are not good so don’t upgrade them.

To get a good hammer you can use the Azoth Crystal War Hammer by defeating any M2 Expedition bosses and you must upgrade it at the Gypsum Kiln to add the perk you want when upgrading.

Other good hammers:
For all of these War Hammers you will need to add Sundering Shockwave or Sundering Clear Out onto them when upgrading, depending on your preference and chosen War Hammer abilities.

• Hippopotamidaen Strength – Dropped by Heru in The Ennead.
• Deepriver War Hammer – Dropped by named enemies in Siren’s Stand Elite Zone.
• Corrupt Progenitor War Hammer – Dropped by named enemies in the Shattered Mountains.
• Tanglevine War Hammer – Dropped by named enemies in Elysian Wilds.

Once again the Azoth Crystal Spear from any M2+ Expedition Boss proves to be one of the best you can get, just make sure to add the Leeching Cyclone perk when upgrading it at the Gypsum Kiln.

Other Spears

• Lifering Spear
• Scorpion’s Sting the Artifact Spear could have some use with pulling enemies
• Bramblebranch from Taxodius in Genesis
• Firepoker
• Commandant’s Spear
• Azoth Crystal Spear

Great Axe isn’t usually the first choice for a Tank weapon but can still sometimes be useful.

• Lieutenant’s Great Axe has Enfeebling Maelstrom so is a strong weapon straight away.
• Commanding Strike
• Commandant’s Great Axe
• Lifering Great Axe
• Taiyi Great Axe
• Azoth Crystal Great Axe