Hive of Gorgons Tank Build – New World Season 9

This New World Tank Build has gotten me many easy clears for the Hive of Gorgons raid in Season 9. There are other viable options to use, specifically within the perk tree and what abilities are used, but those will not be covered in this build. With proper mechanics in boss fights, the extra weaken and fortify from Fortifying Shield Rush I’ve found unnecessary to survive boss encounters. Plus it’s much more rare to get good Tower Shields with Fortifying Shield Rush + Shield Ward perks so this tends to be easier to build for over time.

Gear Score

725 on all gear is not mandatory, proper perks are the most important here and will allow you more survival than the few extra attribute points and armor that 700->725 provides.

Mainhand Weapon

Hoplite Longsword is Best in Slot for this build. Refreshing Move (arguably mandatory) helps keep uptime of Resolve, Trenchant Rend flows with weaving in heavy attacks through your rotation, plus Empowering Whirling Blade as my perk of choice to help maintain aggro on larger clumps of mobs while also doing higher damage.

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Offhand Weapon (options)

• Hammer 
• Greatsword 
• Hatchet 
• Spear

All of the above are used for Rend and Weaken abilities. Most of the time you should fill in the gaps on what is not being utilized on the team. I most commonly use Hammer or Greatsword. Ideally there should not be duplicates when someone else one of the above because they won’t stack unless you use a 5% spear build while the Spear mainhand on the team is using the 10% spear build. Ideal Greatsword to use as offhand is Footfall.

Attributes

Strength	fill the rest
Dexterity	5
Intelligence	5
Focus	25
Constitution	350

Armor

All pieces should be heavy weight + a Tower Shield for maximum damage reduction. Perk priority on armor (not weapons) should be as follows:

• Enchanted Ward
• Sundering Shockwave
• Accelerated Resolve
• Contagious Upheaval
• 2x Refreshing
• Health to fill the gaps

Jewelry

Having the 3 main Amulet protection types are mandatory for Tanks in the Hive of Gorgons Raid

• Strike Protection Amulet
• Slash Protection Amulet
• Nature Protection Amulet

Ring in my opinion should always be Blooddrinker because it allows you to be as self-reliant on healing as possible, giving the healer enough of a break to keep themselves and your other teammates alive.

Earring in my opinion should always have Despised because you’ll end up running with some incredible DPS players who can still manage to take aggro from enemies if you aren’t using Despised. Refreshing + Refreshing Toast to fill in the rest for potion uptime and Resolve uptime. Otherwise, the second 2 perks are fairly flexible as Earring perks are not as make-or-break.

Heartrune

Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform provides a critical layer of survivability in moments where you notice the healer is busy. The healing from this version of stoneform can be a massive help in staying alive at critical and hectic moments.

Typical Buffs and Trophies

For maximum damage and protection, the correct trophies and damage boosting buffs should be applied. The example below is for the Hive of Gorgon’s Raid, where you should ideally have 5 buffs above your health bar, and Major trophies at each of your 3 houses matching the enemy type.

• 3x Major Angry Earth Trophies – 3×5%(15%) Angry Earth Damage
• Infused Angry Earth Coating – 15% Angry Earth Damage
• Infused Angry Earth Ward – take 10% less damage from Angry Earth enemies
• Powerful Honing Stone – 7% Empower
• Desert Sunrise – reduce duration of incoming DoTs by 25% 
• +48 food Roasted Gnufish

How to Play (Rotations)

The idea should be to stay on Sword & Shield as much as possible so your teammates get the 10% empower from Leadership bonus + better overall survivability when the boss is attacking you. Weave in offhand abilities when the boss has a down moment for abilities to apply Rend, allowing your team to do more damage, and switch back to Sword & Shield quickly. Using the Echidna boss fight as an example the ideal rotation:

1. Whirling Blade – to stack aggro quickly
2. Heavy Attack – for brief taunt
3. 3x Light Attacks – for Rend and extra threat
4. Resolve – for longer taunt + big survivability
5. Upheaval – to reduce cooldowns of previous abilities
6. Heavy Attack + 3x light attacks to apply Rend – continue this until cooldowns are up on other abilities

Upheaval should be saved for after Resolve has been used. Weave in offhand abilities when safe between boss mechanics that take larger amounts of time like when Echidna is downed for the stamina break or “free DPS” phase where it’s standing on its back legs to trigger the spike explosion.

Tips for Hive of Gorgons Raid

Learning the boss mechanics will save you big time in stamina consumption. Dodging for 50 stamina is often the better option compared to blocking.

Echidna – Do your best to hold it still and facing the same direction so DPS don’t have to move all over the arena. Strike Amulet and Shield

Typhon – During the add phases, kite Typhon around one of the pillars to avoid damage, and save your stamina. Slash Amulet and Slash Shield

Broodmother Medusa – Keep Medusa busy between the two right fountains from the entrance. Cleanse yourself when poison stacks go above 10, although healer should be helping cleanse you. Nature Amulet and Strike Shield

Build made using the free tools at New World Buddy

For unfamiliar terms, please refer to our terminology guide.