Defender Tree | New World Skills
New World Sword And Shield Introduction
In New World, the Sword And Shield combination offers solid offensive and defensive capabilities. This weapon utilizes a series of arcing swings and lunges for offensive melee attacks and a Shield for bashing, stunning, and maximizing player defense.
Sword And Shield Skill Trees
The two Skill Trees available for the Sword And Shield are Swordmaster and Defender.
Defender Tree – Active Skills
Shield Rush
Rush forward 5 meters knocking back foes and dealing 125% weapon damage.
Cooldown: 
20.0
Weapon Tree: Defender
Tier I
Improved Rush
On successful hit, all enemies within 5 meters gain 10% Weaken for 4s. Weaken reduces damage.
Tier II
Intimidating Rush
On successful hit all enemies within 5m of you are 30% slowed for 4s. Slow reduces movement speed.
Tier III
Shield Bash
Deals 50% weapon damage and stuns foes in front of you for 2s.
Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your sword, this ability applies a 6s taunt to all enemies hit. Taunt causes monsters to only focus on you.
Cooldown: 25.0
Weapon Tree: Defender
Tier II
Defiant Stance
For 8s, reduce the incoming base damage of attackers by 30%.
Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your sword, this ability applies a 6s taunt to all enemies within 8m. Taunt causes monsters to focus only on you.
Cooldown: 45.0
Weapon Tree: Defender
Tier III
Defender Tree – Passive Skills
Final Blow
The 3rd attack in your light attack chain deals 15% more damage and causes more threat.
Tier IV
Defensive Formation
While blocking reduce damage to all allies within 2 meters by 30% (1 second cooldown).
Tier VI