New World has a whole series of weapons that were broken at one point or another and now the shields are enjoying a spell of being overpowered.
New World meta has revolved around more things than just the actual playstyle and efficiency of a weapon in the past. Some of the most remembered metas were actually caused by bugs that completely broke the balance of the game.
Greataxe wielders with permanent Bloodlust probably haunt some people's dreams to this day but hatchet users with permanent damage buff stacks are definitely causing some victims insomnia. Well, they might be forgotten temporarily as a new king has arrived - the mighty shield.
It is once again a problem pertaining to buffs but it's actually not as severe as the aforementioned examples. Namely, the shield now lets players keep its perks even when you're using your other weapon.
For example, as you can see in the video below, having a Keenly Jagged perk on the shield would normally cause your sword in the other hand to cause bleeding on critical hits. With the bug, however, you can completely switch the weapon set and attack people with the other weapon while the shield's perk keeps working in the background.
Xecil used a greataxe in the video as an example but nothing is stopping you from dispensing bleeding stacks at range with some of the weapons that are at your disposal.
Furthermore, it doesn't even have to be Keenly Jagged, it's merely the perk that is easiest to demonstrate the bug with. Going ham with this bug will probably be the talk of the town for the next few days as people try to come up with builds that exploit the bug to the fullest extent.
