New World: The Best Greatsword & Bow Builds

Combining the great sword with the bow in New World is a versatile combination. With the right build, players have a high critical strike chance.

With The new World, meta builds are not always necessarily the best, especially in PvP. The most effective builds for warfare and small scale PvP are not the same. One of the most fun features of the game is the uniqueness of each server. Players need to consider who their opponents will be when making a build. Small groups of players can often lead their company and win wars. The best build is the one where players can be most useful. Company and faction members will have input on the “best” build, even if they don’t use the weapon, and communication with the server is always helpful.

Both veterans and players just starting out The new World You have to remember that when they are making a new build and choosing weapons, one of the goals is to fill in the weaknesses, using one weapon to excel where the other fails. Because the Bow scales with Dexterity and the Great Sword scales with both Dexterity and Strength, dumping points into Dexterity is better than trying to split between Strength and Dexterity. Bringing Dexterity to 300 guarantees a critical hit after dodging. Even though it will only proc once every 10 seconds, combining this with the Aggressive Shift and Keen Posture Great Sword passives allows for regular crit damage. ItzTermx has a PvP Bow and Great Sword guide that also has a detailed look at his gear. He also has some inexpensive gear ideas for players who need to earn more money in The new World before they can buy the best equipment.

Related: Where to find Corrupted Splinters in the New World (and what they are for)

great sword build

Skills	Effect	basic cooling Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
relentless race	A spin attack that deals 125% damage then 150% damage and applies a slow for 4 seconds.	20 sec
cut to the sky	A strike that hits for 85% damage. Staggers and applies Rend for 10 seconds.	18 sec Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
firm blow	Restores 20 resistance on hit. Staggers and pulls in enemies on the second hit.	18 sec

Most builds for PvP and PvE will be skill and passive based, mostly from the Onslaught tree, because there are other weapon options if players want to be a tank. Great Sword’s offensive potential is better than defensive. Even if the long-term goal with Great Sword is to use it defensively, leveling up will be quicker with Onslaught’s abilities and the points can be re-specified later.

Great Sword has two “stances”, Onslaught and Defiance, which are activated by using abilities from their respective trees. Some players like the Roaring Rupture ability from the Defiance tree with the Adaptive Rupture passive because it can pull in enemies when they’re running away. The healing aspects of the Challenge would make players more self-sufficient, but hopefully, in PvP, a Life Staff user in The new World with a good complexion will be at the party.

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arch construction

Ability	Effect	basic cooling Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
rapid fire	Fire three arrows, and the third hits for 125% damage and staggers.	14 sec
Piercing Shot	Fires a piercing arrow for 150% damage with a 100m range	18 sec Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
explosive arrow	Fire an arrow that deals 50% damage on hit and explodes for 135% damage at a short distance	22 sec

PvP builds for Bow are almost exclusively in the Hunter tree because the Skirmisher track has more close-range abilities, crowd control, and mobility. Close range abilities and crowd control aren’t as useful when using the greatsword with a bow because players will likely be meleeing with the greatsword. Many builds use Evade Shot from the Skirmisher tree because mobility is convenient, but it also depends on how close to combat players plan to use their bow. Until The new World Weapon tiers go, bows have remained popular for PvP since the game’s release.

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Plus: What is causing the New World GPU issue (and how to fix it)

Source: YouTube/ItzTermx