Best Sword and Shield Builds in New World

In New World, the Sword and Shield combination is the very first weapon that you are introduced to. It also happens to be one of the most powerful weapons in the game. But which builds are the best ones to play as? Of course, it will all depend on your play style. You need to know what perks, stats, and skills you find most valuable. If you want to have a great Sword and Shield build for both PvE and PvP, check out our preferred builds below.

Best Sword and Shield / Life Staff Paladin Build

This build may sound like a mouthful, but it's incredibly valuable. It's perfect for soloing as it has a high survivability rate since it requires high Focus and Constitution stats. Another great aspect of this build is the fact that you can switch between healing and tanking. With the Sword and Shield weapon, you'll want to take advantage of the active skills Shield Rush and Shield Bash. For the Light Staff, you'll want to focus on dealing tons of damage with the active skills Orb of Protection and Beacon.

The entire purpose of this build is to decrease incoming damage while also boosting your healing and granting buffs to you and your allies.

Related: All Arcana Level Unlocks in New World – Items unlocked for every level

Best Sword and Shield / Hatchet Max DPS Build

This build focuses a lot on Strength and makes sure that you hit hard and fast. You'll be able to keep enemies in check with passive skills like Swordmaster and Berserker to increase damage and speed. There are also many passive abilities that can cover a lot of distance, deal a ton of damage, and increase attack movement and speed. You'll have to be careful since this build lacks HP and defense, but you'll be doing so much damage that it'll be hard to notice.

The most important passive abilities to consider in this build would be both the Empowered Staff from the Sword and Shield Swordmaster skill tree and Defy Death from the Hatchet Berserker skill tree.

Best Sword and Shield / War Hammer Pure Defender Tank Build

Separate from the previous two builds, this one has great defense and even better tanking ability. This build focuses a lot on Constitution which is great for survivability. You'll also enjoy the playstyle of this build if you're fond of deflecting and knocking down your enemies with stun debuffs. This build also only uses abilities from the Sword and Shield Defender skill tree and the War Hammer Crowd Crusher skill tree. Another fun aspect of this build is that it allows you to be front and center without having to suffer the consequences of intense damage.

For more New World Guides check out both Best Cosmetics in New World and All Factions Rewards List in New World on Pro Game Guides.