In New World, dealing with mobs with shields can be very problematic. They can block your normal light attacks using a shield with just a little bit of stamina. And their stamina will be back up very fast after depletion.
This is especially irritating for ranged weapons such as life staff and ice gauntlet, which do not have good single target spells.
I experienced this problem in my playthrough with life staff / ice gauntlet build, but I also found a few tricks that helps with dealing these mobs:
Attacking mobs from behind
In theory, we should attack from behind when facing enemies using shield. However, in practice, the enemies can turn very fast and you are unlikely to be able to get behind the mobs, unless we are playing as a party.
Apart getting other people to help, ice gauntlet builds can also summon Ice Pylon as a way to attack from behind, sandwiching the mob between you and the Ice Pylon.
Using heavy attack for mobs with shields
Heavy attack is not very useful during normal PvE combat as it takes quite long to charge up. However, they are surprising effective against shielded enemies.
They will not break the shield instantly, but instead they cause significantly more stamina to block, which in turn makes it easier to deplete the mob’s stamina pool and make them easier to take down.
These are my tricks in New World dealing with mobs with shields, playing a life staff / ice gauntlet build.
Have fun questing and clearing mobs in New World. And enjoy this awesome new MMO.
If you have suggestions, please leave comments below. Also check out my other new world tutorials and guides.