Greatsword Guide and Builds (2024)

The Greatsword is a weapon that has some of the best viability in both PvP and PvE, it will almostalways function as a primary damage weapon. It is easy to play, has some of the highest burst damagepotential, and very impactful abilities. In PvP it is a highly mobile dive assassin that can be veryrewarding and forgiving. In PvE, it will be a great source of single-target and AoE damage. It hasplenty of survivability even though it takes increased damage in Onslaught stance, but its Defianceabilities and passives can make it more defensive as needed.

• Relentless Rush — This will deal AoE damage primarily, but it is also important to use on cooldownto get its empower effect. Additionally, in PvP this can be used while in Onslaught stance to root a target orit can be used to get out of CC because of its perk effect.
• Skyward Slash — This is your primary Rend tool. It also has great single-target and AoE damage.
• Steadfast Strike — This is your pull and lockdown tool. It will lunge a far distance, hit the target,stagger them, and pull them back with the second hit. This is great for securing kills and survivability. It will healyou, and provide cooldown reduction.and heal you.

• Relentless Rush — This will deal AoE damage primarily, but it is also important to use on cooldownto get its empower effect.
• Crosscut — This is a high damage ability that can be used for single-target or AoE once enemiesare grouped together.
• Skyward Slash — This is your primary Rend tool. It also has great single-target and AoE damage.

This can be used as a tanking secondary weapon, or in some cases it can be used a primarytanking weapon that will spam heavy attacks and rotate through its abilities. It has a passive block whilecharging heavy attacks and has many damage reduction options with self-healing capabilities.

• Steadfast Strike — Use this when you need a quick taunt or way to stagger and pull enemies.It will also heal and provide cooldown reduction. Try to use this ability when your others are on cooldown.
• Calamity Counter — This can be used to completely block mechanics, provide burst healing in a pinch,and will add a DoT to all targets to help with aggro.
• Roaring Rupture — This will mainly act as an AoE taunt, but should also be maintained while usingthe Greatsword for its defensive buffs.

For a thorough breakdown on the Hatchet and how it can be used, please refer to ourHatchet guide.

This is the standard build option in PvP. It provides survivability and CC escape with Berserk and Social Distancing. It also has single-target CC with Feral Rush and Social Distancing tolockdown players who are trying to escape. This is commonly seen as a utility secondary in PvP that is onlyused for its abilities.

This will act as a primary PvE DPS weapon that comes with an incredible amount of damage. You should neverheavy attack, this is a DPS loss when comparing the time it takes to heavy attack with the damage it doescompared to two light attacks. You will want to maintain Berserk, use three light attacks, then useabilities like Raging Torrent for single-target or AoE. You will also maintain Rending Throwto increase damage output.

For more detailed information on War Hammer usage and other aspects of its gameplay, please refer to ourWar Hammer guide.

The War Hammer and Greatsword can be a great PvP or PvEpairing. It will allow you to CC targets and then follow-up with high burst damage from the Greatsword.

For more detailed information on Sword and Shield usage and other aspects of its gameplay, please refer to ourSword guide.

This is a great assassin build that can be used for surprise initiations with Leaping Strike. Youcan then get a target caught in a CC chain ending with Shield Bash. This then opens up a major single-targetdamage opportunity with the Hatchet to burst down priority targets.

Tanks will have the ability to flex into many builds, but here is a great build that can beplayed in a heavy or light tanking setup.

This pairing is typically seen in PvE, but there are PvP options provided for those who would liketo use it and focus primarily on their Great Axe.

For more detailed information on Great Axe usage and other aspects of its gameplay, please refer to ourGreat Axe guide.

This can be used with a Greatsword in PvE to group enemies together and deal fantastic AoE damage on non-boss enemies.You then use your Greatsword for all single-target.

This is general standard build with this weapon combination.Use this build if you are wanting to stay in clumpsand continue fighting. You will be focused on increasing damage by stacking Mauler's Fury.

Use this while in light armor build when playing in a dive team, or a heavier setup where you are wanting more crowd-control.This is best for applying pressure to a single target.

Due to the strength of the Greatsword it does not require you to have to play with extremely low Constitution.You can play 150 Constitution with this split for the most damage output and have fantastic passives at 200 Strengthand 150 Dexterity. You can play at 200 Constitution if you wish.

Play with this setup at either 150 or 200 Constitution when playing with a Great Axe.

Most perks for the Greatsword are utility options and are not needed to play its builds.

• Relentless Rush — (Armor) This perk is not necessarily needed, but it is very usefulonly because of its ability to remove roots and slows. The critical hit chance on the perk is wastedsince we guarantee critical hits when swapping into Onslaught stance.

• Trenchant Strikes — This will add a large burst of damage the Greatswordsince most of its output comes from heavy attacks. When you are in Onslaught stance these willcost stamina, but finish just as fast as most weapons' light attacks.
• Attunement Perks — This adds a great burst of damage to every heavy attack.
• Plagued Strikes — The Greatsword does not need 3 damage perks, it has incredibleoutput thanks to Onslaught stance and its passives. So, by adding an anti-heal, it willadd great kill potential.
• Bane Perks — (PvE) Use a Bane perk instead of Plagued Strikes in PvE.

• Enchanted Ward
• Refreshing
• Shirking Heals
• Shirking Fortification
• Health
• Conditioning Perks — Use Thrust Conditioning or Slash Conditioningacross multiple pieces to counter damage from major sources of player damage.
• Freedom

In most light armor builds, or ranged builds, it can be very strong to snowball kills with Mortal Empowerment,and drastically increase your damage potential. With that being said, it is important to note that this will not stack ifa the weapons have persistent damage source, or DoT, deal the final blow. This means if Attunement or any Runeglass gemsecure the kill, you will not receive a stack. This makes it inconsistent and not worth using in some builds.

When making this decision you also have to think about your likliness to be killed. If you are playing a light armorbuild, or one that is frequently diving into melee, you have high chances of dying. At that point if you lose your stacks,it is a wasted perk, especially if this happens multiple times, or in the middle of building stacks. As such, it may bemore advantageous to use Invigorated Punishment.

TLDR: If you are medium armor, want more consistent damage, or you have a high chance of death, Invigorated Punishment is the better option. If you want to snowball and have insanely high damage,you have a pocket healer, you are a dedicated ranged build, or you simply do not care and want to gamble, Mortal Empowerment is the better option.

• Elemental Aversion — This perk is a viable alternative in PvP as well, but is overshadowed by other PvP options.It provides great defense in mutated expeditions to help mitigate magical effects.
• Physical Aversion — Only projectiles that do physical damage will be mitigated by this perk. As such, it canbe useful in PvE as another potential option. It alsoprovides a small amount of PvP value, but Elemental Aversion andenemy Ward perks are certainly more defensive options.

• Health — This is the standard pick for all builds, it is free health that will add to the defensiveness ofyour kit.
• Stamina Recovery — This is a backpocket save when being focused and taking heavy damage.You will receive a burst of stamina that will allow you to potentially get a quick dodge that can save your iife and continuethe fight.
• Slash Protection — This acts as a third perk slot that provides more defensiveness against Greatswords,Great Axes, Hatchets, and Swords.

• Slash Damage
• Keen Awareness
• Leeching (3rd Perk Option)
• Invigorated Punishment
• Mortal Empowerment
• Hearty(3rd Perk Option)
• Refreshing

While playing with a Greatsword you will generally put 150 points into Dexterity, giving you cheaper rolls. Thisallows for you to play without Hearty because you will not see as much of a benefit. With that being said,you will always be choosing this or another form of utility as a third perk.

• Nimble
• Fortifying Toast
• Healing Heart
• Refreshing
• Refreshing Toast

• Serenity

• Tumbler Feetwraps
• Freedom
• Unyielding

• Ankh

For most builds that are looking to dive backlines, it is best to use Minor Heartrune of Stoneform to helpwith having additional survivability in addition to your Hatchet passives. This will save your life and allow foryou to escape frequently.

There are two viable upgrade options:

• Cunning Heartrune of Stoneform provides two defensive buffs to reduce damage.
• Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform provides one defensive buff and a significant healingover time effect.

Minor Heartrune of Detonate should be used when you are prioritizing burst damage.

There are two viable upgrade options:

• Brutal Heartrune of Detonate makes you more vulnerable, but will result in a massiveAoE burst of damage. This is the preferred option.
• Cunning Heartrune of Detonate will result in less Detonate burst.But you will not be as vulnerable and can deal more damage with your melee weapons.

Try to avoid using Brutal Heartrune of Detonate while you have low health or are being focused on.The goal is to start the ability and wait a short duration and attempt to dive in right asthe ability detonates so you can catch enemies off guard and not be bursted down.

You can activate your Detonate and then use Charge or another movement ability to "deliver"your explosion and time it right as you meet a clump of players. This will catch them off guard andwill not be dodged in many cases.

Save your Detonate for when there are multiple targets stacked on top of one another. Preferably the targets willalready be under some kind of CC effect, or exhausted and unable to dodge out of them. It is best paired with somethinglike Gravity Well or Shockwave.

When using Detonate try to time it right as you hit an enemy with another burst damage weapon ability, or somethingthat will CC the target, like Shockwave or Wrecking Ball. When pairing thiswith a Great Axe, use somethingto again burst the target, or pull them toward you, like Maelstrom or Reap. This canresult in a kill even when the target is full health.

When using Cunning Heartrune of Stoneform, or other variants, you should save this for times where you are stunnedor affected by other forms of CC. Alternatively, you can use this right before pushing through a doorway or chokepoint tonegate the potential of being affected by CC.

Take advantage of down time to charge your heartrune. For instance if you are far away you might as well continue to tryhitting targets or structures to build charge.

Your heartrune will charge fast. While it is obviously beneficial to hold for times where there are large clusters of enemies.Do not wait too long and continue to waste your cooldown when you would have had the time to get another one recharged. Get familiarwith how quickly you can get it back online and do not hesitate to use it to secure high priority kills.

A Heartrune in PvE is significantly different than PvP. This will charge incredibly fast due to the sustained damage output onsingle targets. When using something like Brutal Heartrune of Detonate this is best used on large numbers of enemies instead ofsingle target. With that being said, use this as many times as possible in a boss fight since it will be available and otherwisewasted.

For more information on how to manage your cooldown hotbar, whatconsumables to use, what foods should be eaten, or tips on how to be moreeffective with your consumables in PvP and PvE, please refer toGreatsword Consumables guide.

Remember, Runeglass can only be slotted into armor pieces that are not jewelry items, and weapons.

For any type of bruiser build it will be best to use any Runeglass variant of Cut Pristine Opal that appliesa damage over time effect. For example : Runeglass of Arboreal Opal

In PvE it will be best to use Cut Pristine Diamond for maximum damage output.

In PvP combat your optimal resistance distribution is going to prioritize Slash resistance, then Physical,and lastly Elemental. This is the standard for any build where you will frequently be in melee range.

At times, it may not be beneficial to use a full Runeglass setup, for example using: Runeglass of Punishing Onyx. This results in marginal offensive gains for some because ofhidden internal cooldown effects. As such, it is preferred to take the defensive gains instead.(See FAQ).

To hit a 22.5 (Slash)/12.5 (Physical)/7.5 (Elemental) resistance setup you will need:

• Cut Pristine Onyx x5 + Cut Pristine Opal x3 + Slash Protection on Amulet

When using Runeglass, you will want to use a 20 (Slash)/10 (Physical)/7.5 (Elemental) setup:

• Runeglass of Punishing Onyx x5 + Cut Pristine Opal x3 + Slash Protection on Amulet

In PvE combat, more specifically mutators, elemental resistance is the main concern.

You can use the following gems in your gear:

• Elemental Resistance Gem x8 + Amulet Protection Perk (Based on mutator elemental effect.)

In PvP and PvE you can still use Punishing Runeglass variants of your gems if you only care aboutraw damage, and not effective damage based on survivability. For example, you would use Runeglass of Punishing Onyx x5 in PvP

The age old saying, "A dead DPS does no DPS", should come to mind when making this decision.

For more information on how to manage your cooldown hotbar, whatconsumables to use, what foods should be eaten, or tips on how to be moreeffective with your consumables in PvP and PvE, please refer toGreatsword Consumables guide.

In PvP, a Greatsword has many gap closers and important damage abilities, butit* primary source of damage are its heavy attacks. In PvE, it is the same idea.

• Open on a target with Skyward Slash (Or a heavy attack if it is on cooldown),to get into Onslaught, and apply Rend.
• Use Relentless Rush to do damage and root the target.
• Charge a heavy Greatsword attack and hit the target from behind if possible.
• Use Steadfast Strike if the target starts to escape to pull them back. Thiscan also be used for quick bursts of healing or potential cooldown reduction.
• Relentless Rush can be used if available to break out of roots or slows.

• Use Relentless Rush for its empower.
• Use Skyward Slash to apply rend.
• Use Crosscut for its damage.
• Dodge to receive an empower for 3 hits.
• Heavy attack 3 times.
• Dodge for empower.
• Repeat

To learn how to use your second weapon properly, and complete rotation,please refer to our PvE and PvP build pages:

It is important to recognize what stance you are in and the effect it has on an ability.This is mostly important in PvP for abilities like Relentless Rush. You must be inOnslaught stance so that you can root targets. So make sure another Onslaught ability is usedfirst or you heavy attack a target.

This same logic applies to many Defiance abilities for PvE combat, or if you choose to usethem in PvP.

Onslaught stance makes you spend stamina when you heavy attack. So, when you mix this withdodging, it can be very easily to burn your stamina bar. Be aware of what your stamina is at soyou do not exhaust yourself and die.

The Greatsword is incredibly forgiving when it comes to weapon tracking. What this means is thatyou may charge a heavy attack or use an ability like Steadfast Strike and lunge extremely farand hit a target even when you think you would not. Use this to your advantage to catch targets who aretrying to escape.

When in doubt, just try to catch an enemy even if they seem too far away, odds are you will probablyhit them if they do not dodge.

The Greatsword has great mobility because of the 150 Dexterity passive, but also because of Relentless Rush and the increased speed from the Onslaught passive. Use all of these to youradvantage to catch targets or escape.

Also be aware of all your options to escape crowd-control. If you use Relentless Freedom your Relentless Rush will now have a utility option. Pairing this with the commonly used Hatchet makesyou very hard to lockdown. You can use a Hatchet's Berserk and Defy Death to aid withsurvivability and removing crowd-control effects.

To be completely transparent, this ability will lunge you across the world and pull enemies backtoward you. It has incredible range. Use this always right as a target is trying to escape and it willpretty much always guarantee you a kill.

This will also be great for a quick burst of healing. In mainly PvE, but PvP too, it can be a wayto get cooldowns back online so that you can pump out more damage. Try to always use this ability whenthe other two are on cooldown.

This ability should mainly be used for its empower and rooting effect while in Onslaught stance. Otherwiseit is a quick form of mobility, or you can use it as a source of AoE damage on enemies who are clumpedor in a Gravity Well. It is especially important on AoE damage to try and still root enemies.

This ability staggers and applies rend, it is almost a guaranteed initial hit that can lead to insaneburst follow-up damage. Its passive that enables a downward strike will have farther range than you may thinkand it can be a great way to burst AoE clumps and add additional anti-healing.

You can feint attacks with melee weapons, such as any weapon you may pair with the Hatchet in PvP,to try and bait an enemy into dodging and wasting their stamina. This can be done to try an exhaustenemies so that you can get free hits in. To do so, charge a heavy attack and block before the attackis initiated. This will make it look like you are swinging, and then you cancel the attack until you canstrike at the correct opportunity.

Effective movement is incredibly important in a build like this, especially when playing in medium.Do not panic and use your entire stamina bar and exhaust yourself, as it may result in death. You cantake advantage of jumping, diving (going prone while moving), and changing direction byquickly moving your mouse or taking advantage of quick inputs on your movement keys.

There are many movements in New World that will stagger you in place for a moment when quicklychanging direction. If you move left and right or if you jump left and right you will notice thereis a momentwhere you will be standing still. To prevent this you will need to use a key input whileyour character is in the animation. For example, if you hold your left directional key and jump thenright before you land you hit your right directional key and jump, you will quickly jump left and right.If you simply run left and right using your directional keys your character will respond similarly.To avoid this you can move left and then right before you pivot to go right, hit the backward directionalkey and instantly follow up with your right directional key. If you continue doing this back and forth youwill avoid the sliding animation.

The Hatchet is an incredibly strong PvP and PvE damage weapon. In PvP it will be for survivability and allow theGreatsword to be the most powerful version of itself because you can play very aggressively. In PvE, it is stillgreat for its survivability, but also its Berserk damage.

To learn more about ability usage and how to use the Greatsword, please refer to ourHatchet guide.

When deciding to use a Sword and Shield with your Greatsword, this will always be for a PvP assassin build.You can use the engage and crowd-control of the Sword and Shield to setup your Greatsword for large windowsof burst damage. It can also be used for PvE tanking.

Please refer to our Sword and Shield tips for more on this playstyle.

The War Hammer is a great PvP or PvE complement when you want to have multiple crowd-control options at yourdisposal to setup your Greatsword burst damage.

To learn more about ability usage and the intracies of the War Hammer, please refer to ourWar Hammer guide.

The Great Axe is generally a PvE pairing with the Greatsword. It has phenomenal AoE damage that can be used to cleartrash packs before boss fights. It does have PvP potential too when playing in light armor and focusing on a Reapplaystyle with Blood Lust

Please refer to our Great Axe tips for more on this playstyle.

It is possible to use the Defiance side mixed with some of the mobility options on the Greatsword as a healingsecondary. It is not the most competitive option, but it can be fun.

Please refer to our Life Staff tips for more on how to heal properly.

The Greatsword is a unique weapon because it has two primary stances: Onslaught and Defiance. Both stances come withmultiple offensive or defensive benefits and one form of reduction. You can swap stances either through specific passivesthat require you to land a heavy attack, or block for a certain amount of time. Otherwise, you will swap between stanceswhen you use an ability from either skill tree.

• Onslaught
• Outgoing damage increased by 15%.
• Damage taken increased by 15%.
• Heavy attacks charge twice as fast but consume 10 stamina each.

• Defiance
• Damage taken reduced by 15%.
• Outgoing damage reduced by 15%.
• Guard Point: Block incoming attacks while charging heavy attacks.

Generally, in any Greatsword build you will typically be in light armor and willsee the most benefit while using Refreshing. Even in medium loadouts, it is still valuable.

When playing a physical damage build it will be tempting to use Runeglass of Punishing Onyx. While this will provide a damage increase, there isan internal cooldown which will only allow it to proc every other hit. So, this will not actually be as much of a damage increase as it was thought to be.In most cases, just use regular gems for more defensiveness. The marginal damage loss will be made up for by survivability.

It is best practice to use a magic damage type that is the least likely to be countered. While most players tend not to focus on a specific magic damage type likethey do for physical damage, it is still possible. In most cases, players may use extra Ice damage protection due to the Ice Gauntlet,or Fire due to the Fire Staff or Blunderbuss. As such, Nature, Arcane, or Lightningdamage can be beneficial options. Nature specifically is beneficial because it will always work in PvE environments because it is never weak to any enemy types.