Welcome to The Tank Club Ultimate New World Tank Guide!
Table of Contents
New World Tank Guide: Introduction
Welcome to The Tank Club’s New World Tanking Guide!
In this comprehensive guide, we will provide you with all the necessary information to become a successful tank in the New World MMO.
Tanking in New World offers a unique experience compared to other MMORPGs. As a tank, you’ll be expected to play a hybrid role, combining tankiness with damage dealing. The game’s skill-based action combat system means that you’ll rely more on dodging and evading damage rather than simply blocking it.
It’s important to note that New World presents certain challenges for tanks, making it one of the least accessible games for this role. The developers intentionally designed threat and aggro mechanics to be difficult, making it challenging to control enemy positioning. Additionally, the collision system can be problematic, causing bosses to push you around and break through your character. This means that you’ll need to rely on dodging attacks to maintain your position effectively.
Being a good tank in New World heavily depends on the cooperation and support of your group. A capable healer and attentive damage dealers who follow your instructions on enemy focus and stacking are crucial for your success. Unfortunately, these factors may sometimes be out of your control.
Despite the challenges, tanking plays a vital role in group content in New World. Tanks are needed for 5-person group activities like Expeditions and Arenas, while raids and larger group content often require multiple tanks. Mastering the tank role will open up numerous opportunities for you, as tanks are a rare breed in New World, likely due to the aforementioned challenges.
In the following sections of this guide, we will delve into various aspects of tanking in New World, including attributes, weapon choices, armor selection, tanking strategies and more. It’s essential to note that this is not a specific Tank build; instead, it’s a comprehensive guide on how to effectively tank in New World. By following our advice and adapting to the unique demands of New World, you’ll increase your chances of becoming a successful tank in this thrilling MMO.
Let’s get started on your journey to becoming an awesome tank in New World!
Useful Links:
New World Tank Guide: Attributes
When it comes to attributes for tanking in New World, your primary focus should be on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. To achieve the desired stats, there are several steps you can take:
- Increase Gear Score: Aim to raise your gear score to 625. This will ensure that you have access to gear with the desired attributes.
- Gear Selection: Look for gear that provides the necessary stats for tanking. Prioritize items that offer bonuses to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution.
- Food Buffs: Utilize food that provides a boost to the specific stats you want to enhance. Look for consumables that increase Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution to further enhance your tanking capabilities.
- Attribute Allocation: Make sure to allocate your attribute points accordingly. Increase your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution to maximize their benefits for tanking.
By following these steps and optimizing your gear, attributes, and food choices, you’ll be able to maximize the effectiveness of your tanking build in New World.
Strength
Boosting your damage output is essential for generating threat and maintaining aggro on enemies. Strength affects various tank-related weapons such as Longsword, Great Axe, War Hammer, Greatsword, Hatchet, and Spear. Additionally, strength-based milestone perks provide damage buffs.
Dexterity
While less commonly used than Strength, Dexterity can still be useful for tanks. Increasing your damage output helps in maintaining enemy aggro. Dexterity also benefits several tank weapons like Spear, Longsword, Hatchet, and Greatsword. However, it’s worth noting that at 150 points into Dexterity, you unlock cheaper dodging, reducing Stamina consumption by 10%. At 200 points, you gain bonus backstab and headshot damage, which is generally not useful for tanks since enemies will almost always be facing you.
Constitution
For newcomers to New World, Constitution is highly valuable. Each point in Constitution increases your maximum health, providing a buffer against mistakes and making it less likely for enemies to kill you. Constitution milestones offer significant benefits, such as stronger consumables, increased max health based on physical armor, reduced critical damage taken, increased physical and elemental armor, 60% damage reduction when at full health, and the essential GRIT for basic melee attacks. GRIT prevents stagger when using light and heavy attacks, allowing you to continue attacking without losing your position or being vulnerable. Since permanent blocking is nearly impossible for tanks, utilizing light and heavy attacks becomes crucial for managing stamina during combat.
211 STRENGTH + 300 CONSTITUTION
This is the standard setup, allowing you to benefit from all the advantages of Constitution while also utilizing an effective damage stat for various tank weapon types. This is especially good for new players or when you are venturing into new and unknown content.
Alternatively: 300 CON + 211 DEX
As you advance in tanking, focusing more on damage becomes important. Reduce Constitution to 100-150, increase Dexterity to 150, and assign the remaining points to Strength or vice versa.
Remember, attribute allocation can vary depending on your playstyle and preferences. These suggested attribute setups serve as a starting point, and as you progress in tanking, you can experiment and adjust them accordingly.
New World Tank Guide: Weapons
In New World, there are no predefined classes. Instead, your role is determined by the weapons you wield. As a tank, it is essential to choose two weapons that best suit your playstyle and the situation at hand. While the ideal weapons can vary depending on the content you engage in and the composition of your group, it is advisable to initially focus on mastering two weapons before expanding your arsenal for increased versatility.
When selecting your weapons, consider their ability to enhance your self-survivability, crowd control, debuff enemies, and buff your group. A popular starting choice is the Sword and Shield. This weapon offers both defensive capabilities and offensive benefits. It provides personal advantages and allows you to grant a 10% damage boost to your group. Additionally, the Sword and Shield offers access to area-of-effect (AoE) taunting abilities. Although it has become less favoured by tanks since the introduction of the Greatsword, it remains the preferred weapon, particularly for new players.
As you gain experience and become more comfortable with a less defensive playstyle, you can transition from the Sword and Shield to the Greatsword. It is recommended to focus on either the Sword and Shield or the Greatsword, as combining them diminishes group utility. However, for raid content with larger groups (10-20 members), there may be strategic advantages to utilizing both weapons, considering the multitude of buffs and debuffs provided by other group members.
For the secondary weapon, beginners will find utility in the Hatchet. It offers some group support and a crucial passive called “Defy Death,” which helps prevent your demise. Another option is the War Hammer, which excels in crowd control and AoE debuffing, making it essential for handling additional enemies. The Spear is an excellent choice for boss encounters, providing potent single-target debuffs. However, its usefulness diminishes if someone else in your group is already using it. The Great Axe is decent but not as effective as the War Hammer, although it can be suitable if your group is able to utilize both weapons effectively.
There are currently 17 taunt gem compatible skills that can be used with 11 different weapons out of the 14 weapons available. Only the Bow, Musket and Life Staff don’t have the capability to taunt.
When you combine a weapon with a Cut Carnelian Gem and one of these skills – they are Taunt Gem Compatible meaning you’ll physically taunt the enemy to you for a certain time upon using a taunt skill with the gem equipped to the weapon.
New World Taunt Skills
- Sword – Shield Bash & Defender’s Resolve
- War Hammer – Shockwave & Mighty Gavel
- Great Axe – Reap & Maelstrom
- Hatchet – Berserk
- Greatsword – Calamity Counter & Roaring Rupture
- Spear – Cyclone & Vault Kick
- Rapier – Riposte
- Ice Gauntlet – Wind Chill
- Void Gauntlet – Petrifying Scream
- Blunderbuss – Claw Shot & Blast Shot
- Fire Staff – Incinerate
Recommended Weapon Setups:
- Beginners: Sword and Shield + Hatchet/War Hammer: This setup combines the tankiness of the Sword and Shield with the utility of the Hatchet, offering an additional AoE taunt skill and the Defy Death passive. This configuration allows for more room for error, enabling you to learn and make some mistakes without severely impacting your group. However, it sacrifices crowd control and debuffs for add pulls, making the War Hammer a valuable option in such situations.
- Intermediate: Sword and Shield + War Hammer/Spear: Once you become more comfortable with tanking, you can replace the Hatchet with a Spear for boss fights. The Spear’s larger debuffs increase your group’s damage output, while still retaining the defensive benefits of the Sword and Shield.
- Expert: Greatsword + War Hammer/Spear: At an advanced level, you may find that the Sword and Shield’s usefulness diminishes. While it is beneficial to keep it for practicing new content, transitioning to the Greatsword will provide more damage output. However, the Greatsword requires more skill to utilize effectively, so it is advisable to stick with the Sword and Shield until you become more proficient.
Remember, weapon choice is subjective and can vary based on personal preferences and the specific dynamics of your group. Continuously refine and adapt your weapon selection as you progress and become more experienced in tanking in New World. If you’d like more information on each weapon then please see our website for detailed weapon guides.
Weapon Guides:
New World Tank Guide: Gear
Useful Link: New World Tank Build for information on perks, gems and more, which offers comprehensive insights and resources to help you optimize your tanking build.
When it comes to gear, it is recommended to use Heavy Armor to achieve a Heavy Equip Load, ensuring greater resilience as a tank. However, for experienced players with well organized groups, using Light or Medium Armor becomes an option for advanced tanking, allowing for score pushing and increased DPS.
Gear Perks
The primary gear perk to focus on is Ward gear. However, it’s important to note that Ward and Bane gear will be removed from the game in October. As a result, it is wise not to heavily invest in crafting or buying this gear at this stage. Instead, you can make use of easier-to-obtain gear to sustain your tanking until the changes take effect.
There are multiple types of Ward gear available, such as Ancient Ward, Angry Earth Ward, Beast Ward, Corrupted Ward, Human Ward, and Lost Ward. Each Expedition in the game features specific enemy types, and you should match your Ward gear to the corresponding Expedition for optimal effectiveness.
It is crucial to distinguish between Best in Slot (BiS) gear and easily obtainable gear. BiS gear typically includes perks that enhance your weapon abilities, such as Contagious Reverse Stab, Leeching Cyclone, and Relentless Freedom. These perks, combined with both the Ward perk and Refreshing, create BiS gear items. However, finding these items randomly through crafting or looting can be exceedingly challenging.
In terms of useful gear perks, prioritize Refreshing and alternative refreshing options, Elemental Aversion, Physical Aversion, Invigorated, Freedom, Vigor, and one piece of gear with Sturdy Energy.
For Shields and Amulets, Protection Perks can be utilized and are particularly beneficial. It is advisable to obtain multiple Amulets, each with a different protection perk, and switch them depending on the type of boss you are facing. Slash Protection, Strike Protection, Flame Protection, and Void Protection are among the most useful options.
To tank most effectively, a Tower Shield must have the Fortifying Shield Rush perk. Amulets should have Health, a Protection Perk, and Fortified is the best option when using Fortifying Shield Rush. Earrings should have the Refreshing Toast perk to reduce the cooldown of all potions. Rings with the Hearty perk are recommended to provide additional Max Stamina, enabling more blocking and dodging.
You can find guides on easy-to-farm Named Gear at these links:
These guides provide valuable information on obtaining gear that can be used throughout your progression, even up to M10 Expeditions. Gathering these easy farmable gear pieces will enable you to work towards acquiring BiS gear over time.
