Character Builds, Ability Points, & How to Kick Ass Thread

[EliHarel]

I started going magic for Delusion spell for dialogue and then a bit in sword. THEN I realized I should focus on a spec.

So now I'm a hybrid Sword + magic..that flamethrower made my life much easier. That + Griffin set utility and the set = 100% intensity = awesome! Unless you run into a fire resistant monster..in which case I went Strong Attack as backup.

PS: I'm on Death March as well...I've been killing monsters 10+ levels above me for quite some time now..I'm level 15 now and going to kill those 20+ ones that had guarded loot on Velen map..good times.

I like this thread.

I'm currently level 13 on Death March. Really enjoying the combat. Focusing on Swordsmanship and then later on gonna dip into a bit of Signs and Alchemy. This is what I have so far:

Swordsmanship
Tier 1: Muscle Memory 5/5 (=> fast attack damage)
Tier 1: Strength Training 5/5 (=> heavy attack damage)
Tier 2: Precise Blows 5/5 (=> fast attack critical)
Tier 2: Fleet footed 5/5 (=> damage reduction while dodging)

General
Cat school techniques (=> fast attack bonuses for every light equipment)
Focus (=> adrenaline increases Sign and weapons)


Next I'm going to focus on Whirl for 5 points (=> spinning attack), and Counterattack (=> more damage when riposting, I love counter-attacks). After that, Signs and Alchemy. In Signs I'll probably focus on Igni, mostly because the flamethrower looks cool, and in Alchemy Frenzy is really catching my attention (=> slow motion when an enemy counters if your toxicity is above 1).

I think you guys are underestimating Heavy Attack here. I find it very useful when I flank to get in one or two strikes before the opponent turns to face me.
Edit: Bugger, just aid attention and my strong attack damage isn't really all that better than my fast. Maybe it's due to Cat Techniques. I'll respec. Maybe three into Arrow Deflection, and then 2 into Undying to reduce the amount of reloads? I dunno. I think I rather just improve my attacking skills (in Geralt's numbers as well as my reflexes) rather than investing two points into something that I don't think grants me any edge in combat.

I'm also considering getting rid of Focus. Not sure how much it adds to my numbers. Thoughts?

I'm probably going to focus on Fast Sword until at least Whirlwind, grab Undying and then continue hard up the Signs tree, because I -really- want Domination*

Domination sounds good for crowd control, but honestly I enjoy the tension when facing groups and dodging around like crazy that I think I'll skip it. I think Domination will make me too passive.

I am only level 2 and still in the prologue area (white orchard), but since I am playing on Death March, the first ability I decided to learn was that Vitality regeneration ability called "Sun and Stars". I think it's a really useful ability to have in this difficulty as you can always heal back to full health outside of battles. The next ability I got was Quen upgrade. Honestly, all I really need is Quen to be able to take on enemies so far.

Anyway, I plan to have a mix hybrid build with emphasis on Sword and Magic. I'll post my build in this post once I get far enough.

Sun and Stars is a must have early ability for DM mode.

I thought about Sun and Stars, but eventually decided that healing is easy enough with the auto-refill (haters gonna hate - I'm having a blast with it), so it felt a bit like a wasted point to me. I can't imagine it being too influential in combat, so I rather spend it elsewhere and then just have Geralt eat sandwiches between fights while riding Roach.

How do you find arrow Deflection? I'm not sure on it's worthiness.

Edit: @blizzunit and WhiteLupus - I tried QUen upgraded..not really sure if it's worth it either. The heal one popped so fast. I love me some QUen, but I might wait and skip a few...

Arrow deflection... I'm considering it mostly because it seems cool, but I don't think it's too crucial for my playstyle. As I mentioned above, there are too many things I want to dip into this. And, again, I really like that crazed rush towards archers. The rolling and dodging while arrows buzz around me.

I'm kinda consciously neglecting defense because I think it makes fights much cooler. I also minimize Quen use for the same reason. Not against wraiths, though. I hate their ethereal guts.

 

[Lieste]

Not planning to have crippling blows? That does a cool 750 pts damage to a bleeding susceptible target from a single hit and evade (plus the actual sword damage itself...)

Not going to be useful against everyone... but it does mean that mobs of simple threats will die really fast.

 

[Darkhollow]

Not planning to have crippling blows? That does a cool 750 pts damage to a bleeding susceptible target from a single hit and evade (plus the actual sword damage itself...)

Not going to be useful against everyone... but it does mean that mobs of simple threats will die really fast.

I think going SIGNS with insane intensity is way better than a bleed...you can terrify them if the burning procs and I've gotten 4.5k burning ticks...add petri's philter with a few strong buffed with oil sword swings and down goes pretty much everything except for Golems.

 

[EliHarel]

Btw, where can I find a respec potion besides the witch?

Not planning to have crippling blows? That does a cool 750 pts damage to a bleeding susceptible target from a single hit and evade (plus the actual sword damage itself...)

Not going to be useful against everyone... but it does mean that mobs of simple threats will die really fast.

Maybe. It's attractive, but by the time it's available I'll have so much invested in Swordsmanship, I might want to vary things up a bit.

 

[Sardukhar]

Screw Wraiths. I just took that first boss - with the dogs - on Death March, no problem, first try.

Then 2 damn level 7 Wraiths had me to 1% health, easy. The hell?

Sun and Stars is good until level 3 or so. Maybe. I'm speccing out of it asap.

Going to try for a Sword Dancer set up, as Eli mentioned. I really, really like leaping and cutting. Still keeping axii because Domination.

Would like to try a Heavy Build eventually. I find Strong attack nice to mix up the hits.

HOw are people liking Yrden? I pooh-poohed it at first, also because Sid likes it, but it's handy as hell in some fights.

 

[Ouroboros612]

Whole game has been easy for me on blood and broken bones.

I have zero points in sword and signs. ALCHEMY IS THE STRONGEST NO CONTEST!!!

1) Get general skill: Cat. In full light armor you now almost have the same sword strength as 5 points in fast attack (combat tree) for ONE skill-point.

You now have very strong sword attacks in light armor for only one skill point.

2) Get aquired tolerance in alchemy and metabolic control in general for a huge boost to max toxicity.

You can now use TWO mutagen concoctions instead of one, + a normal potion. Very powerful.

3) Protective coating

Flat 25% mitigation vs mobs that you use oil agains, very strong in fights that actually matter.

4) Refreshment

Heals 1/4th of your health when you use a potion

5) Endure pain + tissue transmutation

+1000 vitality per mutagen concoction, you can use two - so basically +2000 vitality permanently
+50% HP when toxicity passes the safe threshold, I have it up permanently

Summary:

Good damage
Very high health
25% mitigation bonus in hard fights (oil)
2 x concoction
25% heal of total hp when using any potion

Mutagen potions: The one that restores health when using stamina. Griphon for reducing damage taken or the 10% crit chance one for increasing damge done.
Mutagen slots: All green

At lvl 15 (there about) and to lvl26 (atm) I have been nearly unkillable. Good damage from oils and the cat school point, none needed in ANY combat skill.
Extreme hp + good mitigation + very easy to regain hp (Quen now heals me for 15% of my health per use, a potion heals me for 25%).

Worst part of this build: Game becomes too easy.
Best part of this build (other than being near-immortal): No need to micromanage signs , you can turn to button-mashing with some dodge.

Edit: Just to repeat it: From lvl15+ near30 I have been near-unkillable with good damage. Without using a SINGLE skill in signs or combat tree. 100% alchemy + general skills. I fear alchemy will get nerfed atm.

 

[darkligen]

I plan on going full sword combat with either Igni or Quen, and the rest in alchemy for monster hunting badassery.

BUT can someone tell me something, are most abilities passive? Are there any extra sword moves (l know of only one more)? The combat skill tree seems to be disappointing in this regard. In other RPGs I usually focus on increasing my move set and only increase passives when necessary or endgame because they don't really change how I play.

 

[Sardukhar]

Most are passives, yeah. BUt thos passives do change how you play, @darkligen. The post above you his passives means he just charges in. I like to mind control people and that lets me lunge and cut.

@Ouroboros612 That's interesting! I look forward to trying a similar build. Have you tried it in Death March? I was very interested in it at first, mostly for CLuster Bombs, but I felt it was a bit weak for the early levels..

Report from the Front:

Undying does seem to work, but it restores very little health to you. Still, free not-death, pretty sweet.

The Wratih Decoction, which I was trying in combo with Undying, is less reliable. NOt sure what triggers the pop - it must be on a cooldown.

 

[Phinnway]

I'm speccing heavily into Swordsmandship ATM. The tier 1 heavy attack/fast attack abilities are something I think everyone should get, since more damage = more damage, and you're going to be fighting with your sword no matter what specc you go to. Compare the 25% damage bonus you get from those skills with the +10% bonus you get from oils and it's a no brainer.

After that, I've been looking into Alchemy trying to figure how to get Synergy for +50% bonus from slotted mutagens. It seems like Alchemy has a lot of skills for stacking tons of health and healing mid-combat. It basically seems like a tank 'n spank tree.
So I'm thinking maybe Heightened Tolerance and Aquired Tolerance for increased Toxicity cap, Refreshment in tier 2 for extra healing, plus Tissue Transmution or Endure Pain for increased health, and that will be enough to get me to tier 3 to get Synergy. I think you will end up wanting the increased Toxicity cap once you get a couple Mutagen Decotions. You may even be able to imbibe multiple Mutagen Decoctions at once. Hmmm....


I have to keep reminding myself I can only equip 12 skills though, and it's not like other games where there is one optimal build, because I'm going to keep swaping skills out.

Oh yeah... forgot to mention, I'm playing on Normal ATM. I didn't want to crank it up to hard right away because I was afraid dying over and over would mess up the pacing of the story

Tier 2: Fleet footed 5/5 (=> damage reduction while dodging)

How are you liking Fleet Footed? I started speccing into that, but then I realized -90% damage taken isn't that good when you can have -100% damage taken by dodging properly.

 

[Sardukhar]

@Phinnway Check this out, couple posts up. http://forums.cdprojektred.com/thre...k-Ass-Thread?p=1689971&viewfull=1#post1689971

I messed with his Alchemy suggestions using a respec..very potent indeed. Pure, it's not enough damage or survive on DM, but the ability to down two decocotions, plus boosting health with everypotion swallowed...oh yes. Very nice.

I didn't like Fleet Footed. Too expensive for being situational, honestly. Dodging isn't good on everything - lungers just get right at you and ranged or AoE can nail you if it's potent enough. Think I'd rather have Undying, Very handy.

 

[Gh0st787]

Just a few opinions on certain skills from my time played. I'm finding both Whirlwind and especially Rend fairly useless in builds. Whirlwind is the better of the two and very pretty to look at however it eats stamina (even fully leveled). This makes pairing it with signs next to impossible. The big drawback is that it also takes adrenaline . Which if your using Focus from the general skills hurts your overall damage. Rend has the slowest start up time especially when trying to fully charge. Obviously pairing this with Axii doesn't work seeing as you need stamina. Anyways just some personal thoughts on two skills a lot of people consider good when first looking at them.

 

[mindw0rk2]

I put 5 points in fast attacks and now maxing signs. Need as much energy regen as I can to spam shield, igni and trap.Second walkthrough with permadeath I'll max alchemy for max health bonus

 

[Gh0st787]

I retract my previous statement regarding Whirlwind. After more extensive testing with it maxed out it turns how to be highly useful. Maybe less so on Death March seeing as your very open to hits while spinning. Rend however is still terrible. Lot of damage but the only way to make it viable (short of getting the timing down completely) is to use it with Axii and the skill allowing you to cast with adrenaline.

 

[Sardukhar]

I retract my previous statement regarding Whirlwind. After more extensive testing with it maxed out it turns how to be highly useful. Maybe less so on Death March seeing as your very open to hits while spinning. Rend however is still terrible. Lot of damage but the only way to make it viable (short of getting the timing down completely) is to use it with Axii and the skill allowing you to cast with adrenaline.

Hmmm. Good. After your post I was rehtinking my plan for skills.

I have to retract my perspective on Yrden. After the so-so start, the Bugzapper option is highly useful on DM. Wraiths, wraiths everywhere.
Oh and Mind Control is as much fun as I'd hoped. On DM, it's a little dangerous, but oh so satisfying.

 

[WhiteLupus]

I tried the alchemy build from @Ouroboros612 it is okay but i personally have no fun with it so i stay with my hybrid build for a while

 

[Ouroboros612]

Most are passives, yeah. BUt thos passives do change how you play, @darkligen. The post above you his passives means he just charges in. I like to mind control people and that lets me lunge and cut.

@Ouroboros612 That's interesting! I look forward to trying a similar build. Have you tried it in Death March? I was very interested in it at first, mostly for CLuster Bombs, but I felt it was a bit weak for the early levels..

Report from the Front:

Undying does seem to work, but it restores very little health to you. Still, free not-death, pretty sweet.

The Wratih Decoction, which I was trying in combo with Undying, is less reliable. NOt sure what triggers the pop - it must be on a cooldown.

Completed the game with alchemy only just now Death march completionist now. Alchemy really gets crazy at lvl10+. If gold wasnt a problem my choice would be cat + fast attack (combat) + quen until lvl10 then switch to full alch. However - I dont want to spend 1000gold on respec.

---------- Updated at 03:47 PM ----------

I tried the alchemy build from @Ouroboros612 it is okay but i personally have no fun with it so i stay with my hybrid build for a while

Its definitely a bit boring! Not going to argue there.

You basically become a passive skill walking fortress. It puts the fun out of the risk / reward combo which makes combat fun and interesting.

 

[Darkhollow]

Whole game has been easy for me on blood and broken bones.

I have zero points in sword and signs. ALCHEMY IS THE STRONGEST NO CONTEST!!!

1) Get general skill: Cat. In full light armor you now almost have the same sword strength as 5 points in fast attack (combat tree) for ONE skill-point.

You now have very strong sword attacks in light armor for only one skill point.

2) Get aquired tolerance in alchemy and metabolic control in general for a huge boost to max toxicity.

You can now use TWO mutagen concoctions instead of one, + a normal potion. Very powerful.

3) Protective coating

Flat 25% mitigation vs mobs that you use oil agains, very strong in fights that actually matter.

4) Refreshment

Heals 1/4th of your health when you use a potion

5) Endure pain + tissue transmutation

+1000 vitality per mutagen concoction, you can use two - so basically +2000 vitality permanently
+50% HP when toxicity passes the safe threshold, I have it up permanently

Summary:

Good damage
Very high health
25% mitigation bonus in hard fights (oil)
2 x concoction
25% heal of total hp when using any potion

Mutagen potions: The one that restores health when using stamina. Griphon for reducing damage taken or the 10% crit chance one for increasing damge done.
Mutagen slots: All green

At lvl 15 (there about) and to lvl26 (atm) I have been nearly unkillable. Good damage from oils and the cat school point, none needed in ANY combat skill.
Extreme hp + good mitigation + very easy to regain hp (Quen now heals me for 15% of my health per use, a potion heals me for 25%).

Worst part of this build: Game becomes too easy.
Best part of this build (other than being near-immortal): No need to micromanage signs , you can turn to button-mashing with some dodge.

Edit: Just to repeat it: From lvl15+ near30 I have been near-unkillable with good damage. Without using a SINGLE skill in signs or combat tree. 100% alchemy + general skills. I fear alchemy will get nerfed atm.

I've always been fascinated with Alchemy tree in general in all Witcher games and I will most definitely try this spec out on Death March...1k gold I can make easily so I can spec it in or out accordingly if need be.

 

[EliHarel]

Whirl is great all around. It's beautiful to look out, it's just plainly fun, and it's highly useful. Quen up before battle or during with tawny owl, add some thunderbolt, and it just obliterates.

Something really fun about the combat is how much you can move. Usually (or maybe I just need to be acquainted with more melee games), when you block, or do a special attack, you're locked in place. One of the funnest things about Whirl is how you can still move while performing it, as well as when in parry mode.

Right now my biggest dilemma is that damn bear armor. It looks so beautiful, but I favor fast attacks, and Cat technique fits that better. Meaning I should stick to light armor. I gave a glance at the feline armor set and the torso pales in comparison to ursine

Gimme cool feline armor. I needs it.

 

[thehawkness]

Does anyone know if you can "guess" potions without a diagram, by putting the correct ingredients together in a diagram you do have? Basically like Witcher I where you could make "unknown potions" or "unknown oils" if you didn't have the knowledge of how they were exactly made, but could make them if you got the right ingredients. In Witcher 2 they removed this, so I'm wondering if they brought it back for Witcher 3?

 

[Solid_Altair]

Sorry for bringing this up again. I still can't seem to use Adrenaline. My only way to use so far is Rage Management. I still don't know if grey means you have adrenaline, or if it's red that means it. Is it grey, or red? Pretty please. I'm starting to think it's a bug.

I recently got Undying. I'm thinking about letting enemies kill me to see if grey means I have Adrenaline. I haven't died in a while, because I've been doing some underleveled stuff.

As ffor my build, I think I'm gonna go halfsies between sword and signs, fosucing on Axii and Aard. I'm doing some experimenting with Aard and I think I'm starting to understand it.