The fog-shrouded spires of Nighthaven have barely settled since Season 10 launched on October 13, and New World Coins already the melee meta is shifting like a vampire slipping through the mist. Expeditions, Catacombs runs, and the Season 10 Trial all demand brutal consistency, high mobility, and enough burst to punch through the game's new blood-soaked bosses. In this environment, few weapons carve a path through the darkness as viciously as the Greatsword and Rapier combo.
This pairing isn't just strong. It is a relentless engine of destruction built around stacking burns, detonating them for massive burst, and cycling windows of Empower, Overcharge, and evasive survivability. When used correctly, the Greatsword and Rapier create one of the highest sustained DPS loadouts in Season 10 PvE, regularly outperforming some of the traditionally dominant ranged builds. It shines especially in mutated expeditions and raids, where uptime, smart cooldown management, and DoT cycling matter more than raw frontal burst.
Below is a full breakdown of why the combo is dominating the current season and how to build, gear, and play it to its full potential.
Why Greatsword + Rapier Dominates Nighthaven's Nightmares
Season 10's new enemies and locations force you to constantly reposition and create room for damage. Many bosses deal persistent ground effects, massive cleave patterns, or chained stagger hits that can wipe Overcharge stacks if you play too aggressively. That is why the Greatsword + Rapier pairing stands out so sharply: it blends the sweeping power of a massive two-hander with the precision and survivability of one of New World's most agile weapons.
Greatsword provides the backbone of this build. Its charge-up windows, cleaving arcs, and Empower synergies allow you to deliver heavy hits that scale dramatically when paired with the right artifacts. If you play around the Overcharge mechanic and cycle between stances correctly, Greatsword becomes a devastating primary damage dealer capable of carving down elites and bosses alike.
The Rapier complements this perfectly. Instead of competing for the same role, it fills in the weaknesses Greatsword leaves behind. Rapier adds bleeds, burns, quick defensive responses, gap closers, and more importantly, fast-hitting skills that consume and amplify burn stacks created by Doroth's Blade. In multi-phase fights like Nighthaven Monastery or Isle of Night, Rapier creates safe DPS windows even when bosses force movement or spawn adds that disrupt Greatsword's slower commitment-heavy animations.
The synergy becomes especially lethal with Doroth's Blade. With this artifact equipped, every heavy attack from the Greatsword applies burning, and consuming those stacks releases explosive bursts that melt boss HP bars. This mechanic turns the build into a hybrid of sustained rotation and controlled detonations, rewarding players who time their weapon swaps and cooldown cycles with precision.
Community test logs show this combo outperforming many meta setups by fifteen to twenty percent in high-end parse benchmarks during sustained boss encounters. The trade-off, however, is unforgiving. Lose track of positioning for even a moment, drop an Overcharge window, or eat an avoidable mechanic, and your DPS collapses. This is a build for players who want a high-ceiling melee loadout with true raid carry potential.
Core Build Setup Weapon 1: Greatsword
Focus on the Onslaught tree with key skills such as Relentless Rush, Skyward Slash, and Crosscut. The rotation relies on building Empower, applying heavies to stack burn, and weaving these skills into Overcharge windows to maximize damage.
Important passives include Swift Onslaught for mobility, Keen Posture for crit potential, and Heavy Blade for better scaling on heavy attacks.
Weapon 2: Rapier
The Grace and Blood trees both work depending on your preference, but most high-end players lean toward a Blood hybrid for more DoT synergy. Tondo and Flourish and Finish are essential for triggering burn explosions and maintaining pressure when Greatsword cooldowns are unavailable or unsafe to use.
Evade is almost always taken because it allows you to dodge without giving up your DPS rhythm, and the associated passives give extra damage and stamina benefits.
Key Artifact: Doroth's Blade
This artifact is the centerpiece of the build. The burn stacks from heavy attacks add a surprising amount of hidden power, especially in elongated fights where they can accumulate quickly. What sets this artifact apart, though, is that the Rapier's hitbox frequency lets you detonate burns at will, turning your rotation into a controlled cycle of stacking and bursting.
Players who optimize these detonation windows often see over thirty percent of their total damage coming from these burn interactions alone, especially in mutated expeditions with Damage modifiers active.
Recommended Perks and Gear Stats
For stats, favor Strength for your Greatsword and Dexterity for the Rapier. Many players run a split, usually something like two hundred Strength and two hundred Dexterity, but you can go heavier into Strength if you want more consistent Greatsword damage.
Best-in-slot perks include:
Refreshing to maintain cooldown uptime Keenly Empowered for burst Rogue or Vicious on the Rapier for DoT amplification Trenchant Rend, Trenchant Strikes, or Trenchant DoTs for Greatsword depending on your exact roll Burning and DoT duration bonuses whenever possible
Run Elemental or Physical Ward depending on the expedition mutators.
How to Play the Rotation
The rotation for this build is deceptively simple but brutally unforgiving. You open with Greatsword heavies to stack burn, weave Relentless Rush and Crosscut for burst, and maintain Overcharge as long as possible. Once burn stacks are high or you need to move, swap to Rapier.
Use Tondo to refresh your bleed, then Flourish and Finish to consume burn stacks for massive burst. Evade can be used as a quick reset tool to reposition into another DPS window. The goal is to constantly alternate between stacking with Greatsword and detonating with Rapier without dropping Empower or wasting burns.
Proper timing matters. The top players hold their detonation until mechanics force them out of Greatsword stance, squeezing in one last heavy swing before bursting with Rapier.
Final Thoughts
Season 10's gothic overhaul has introduced some of the most demanding PvE content New World has seen yet. With enemies that hit harder, reposition faster, and punish mistakes more severely than ever, the meta naturally favors builds that blend power, mobility, and consistency. The Greatsword + Rapier combination delivers exactly that.
When mastered, this setup lets you carve apart Nighthaven's horrors with surgical precision and overwhelming force. It requires discipline and a strong sense of timing, but the reward is some of the highest sustained DPS in the season, capable of carrying entire expedition groups through the most punishing challenges Aeternum has to offer.
If you are ready to New World Gold coins embrace a melee playstyle with sky-high potential, start sharpening your Greatsword, polish your Rapier, and step into the fog. Season 10 belongs to players who can dance with danger, detonate their burns on command, and turn every fight into a showcase of skill and discipline.
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发表于 2025-12-15 14:39:37