Update 1.9: Season 1 – Fellowship & Fire

The next big update has hit the New World MMO and in this one we see the introduction of seasons, with the option of buying a season pass to earn rewards in game. Along with the new season pass there is also a new expedition, balancing and many more changes.

In this article we are going to take a look at New World Update April 2023 Tank Changes and the most important things you need to know as a Tank in New World.

Full Patch Notes: Season 1 – Fellowship & Fire – Releases | New World – Open World MMO PC Game

  • SEASON PASS REWARD TRACK
    • The Season Pass gives players a variety of ways to earn new titles, gear, and more, including: 5 Seasonal Armor Skin pieces, 1 Seasonal Armor Set (5 pieces), 9 Seasonal Weapon Skins, 6 Seasonal Tool Skins, 1 Seasonal Emote, and 1 Camp skin.
  • MAGIC AND RANGED WEAPON PVE VIABILITY
    • Players that like to tank will now have more options for a wider variety of gameplay (Added more Taunt Gem capability for various abilities on numerous weapons).
  • EQUIP LOAD BALANCE
    • Adjusted damage mitigation formula and how rend and fortify affect it
  • GEAR SET STORAGE
    • Need to quickly swap gear for Mutated Expeditions? You’ll now be able to save and switch between your favorite gear sets after reaching level 25. Additional slots can be earned through the Season Pass or purchased with Marks of Fortune.
  • NEW EXPEDITION: EMPYREAN FORGE
    • The Empyrean Forge is a new Level 60+ Expedition set in the Great Cleave. Pursue the commanders of Sir Loth, a knight of Artorius, to stop the flow of elemental magic deep within an Ancient Forge. This is a HUMAN expedition
  • MUTATORS
    • Removed the Elemental Resist (Fire, Ice, Nature, Void) Mutation effects from all Mutations. Mutations will no longer have the 50/75% reduction in elemental damage for the elemental type associated with that mutation.

Combat Changes

  • GENERAL
    • Updated the 300 STR Attribute bonus to be the new 300 CON bonus. As a result, we also updated the functionality of the STR Attribute bonus to grant increased base damage on heavy attacks.
    • Updated the 300 CON attribute bonus to specify all melee basic attacks, not melee weapons, and added Grit to Void Blade basic attacks while at 300 CON.
    • Added a 50% max for the Exhaust and Increased stamina regen rate status effects.
  • MITIGATION
    • Changed Fortify and Rend to directly scale to the player’s Armor Rating. Increased Fortify and Rend caps to account for these changes.
  • EQUIP LOADS
    • Changed bonuses that increased outgoing CC status effect durations on targets, to instead reduce incoming CC status effect durations on self.
      • Heavy equip load – Incoming Crowd Control Debuffs: -20% reduced duration
      • Medium equip load – Incoming Crowd Control Debuffs: -10% reduced duration

Weapon Changes

  • TAUNTS
    • Added in Taunt Gem compatibility to several weapons and abilities to create additional choices when tanking:
      • Calamity Counter (8s AoE taunt on activation)
      • Mighty Gavel (4s on hit taunt)
      • Maelstrom (4s on hit taunt)
      • Cyclone (2s on hit taunt)
      • Incinerate (3s on hit taunt)
      • Windchill (3s on hit taunt)
      • Petrifying Scream (4s on hit taunt)
      • Blast Shot (4s on hit taunt)
  • CROWD CONTROL BALANCE
    • War Hammer
      • Shockwave damage reduced from 80% to 60%.
      • Wrecking Ball damage reduced from 130% to 90%.
      • Clear Out damage reduced from 115% to 100%.
      • Path of Destiny damage reduced from 100% to 70%.
    • Sword and Shield
      • Shield Bash intimidating bash upgrade damage reduced from 100% to 75% weapon damage.
      • Shield Rush damage reduced from 125% to 100%.
      • Shield Rush’s Improved Rush Weaken increased from 10% to 20%.
      • Leaping Strike damage reduced from 150% to 100%.
      • Reverse Stab no longer staggers.
    • Spear
      • Javelin damage reduced from 125% to 80%.
      • Perforate’s final upgrade Impactful Strikes no longer staggers and was reworked to inflict a stack of 10% weaken for 5s on each successful hit (3 stacks max).
      • Sweep’s knockdown attack damage reduced from 75% to 45%.
    • Greatsword
      • Calamity Counter damage reduced from 100% to 80%.
      • Steadfast Strike’s first attack damage reduced from 70% to 40%.
      • Skyward Slash’s first attack damage reduced from 80% to 50%.
    • Rapier
      • Added the stagger back into Flourish, and reduced damage of Flourish from 90% to 60%.
      • Flurry’s final upgrade Finalize upgrade no longer staggers and was reworked to apply a stack of the bleed used by the rest of the tree on successful hit.
    • Great Axe
      • Reap’s first hit damage reduced from 70% to 60%.
      • Gravity Well’s upward Melee Swing damage reduced from 99% to 25%.
      • Gravity Well’s Vortex Burst damage reduced from 125% to 100%.
      • Insatiable Gravity Well Perk’s Burst damage reduced from 100% to 50%.
    • Hatchet
      • Feral Rush’s first attack damage reduced from 115% to 80%.
    • Bow
      • Evade Shot damage reduced from 125% to 90%.
      • Rapid Shot no longer staggers.
    • Musket
      • Stopping Power damage reduced from 120% to 90%.
    • Ice Gauntlet
      • Ice Spikes Mighty Spike no longer staggers.
    • Void Gauntlet
      • Scream damage reduced from 100% to 70%.

Sword & Shield

Notable Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where the Sword and Shield’s defensive formation ultimate showed the incorrect value for its radius. Incorrectly showed 2m instead of 3m.
  • Fixed an issue where Sword and Shield’s Defender ability visual effects would not display when used by other players.
  • Fixed an issue that considered players “In Combat” when activating Defender’s Resolve without taunting an enemy.

Great Axe

Ability Updates

  • Gravity Well is now considered a ranged attack.
  • Updated incorrect range description for Charge from 10m to 15m.

Notable Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where Engage would hit twice.
  • Fixed an issue where some damage bonuses were not properly functioning with the Great Axe Bloodlust ultimate.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Gravity Well vortex to disappear if a target hit by it immediately died.
  • Fixed an issue where the Roots applied by the Gravity passive for the Great Axe would apply though blocks. Also updated the icons for those Roots to show as red to indicate it is negative.

Greatsword

Ability Updates

  • Tuned Light and Heavy attack homing to be consistent with other melee weapons.
  • Updated tooltip for “Giant Slayer” to be clearer on the target needing to be above 90% health and not self.
  • Increased the time it takes to charge a heavy attack while in the Path Of Onslaught stance to be only 50% faster instead of twice as fast.
  • Increase cooldown for Crosscut from 15s to 20s.
  • Adjusted Relentless Rush and Adaptive Rush Upgrade to reduce the root from 1s to 0.5s.
  • Fixed an issue where the Adaptive Rush upgrade that applied Root prevented dodges while Rooted.
  • Reduce damage for Giant Slayer passive from 20% to 15%.
  • Changed activation condition to trigger off of ability hits and not ability activations for Swift Onslaught passive.
  • Updated several Greatsword tooltips to better communicate when stances take effect.
  • Fixed an issue with Calamity Counter where the hitbox size was bigger than intended and extending past the visuals of the attack.
  • Fixed an issue with Calamity Counter that caused the ability to cause performance issues in certain in-game locations.
  • Fixed an issue where the Greatsword Relentless Rush and Skyward Slash abilities would apply their effects through blocks.