So, would this be considered overpowered? (Melee related)

[TheCrustacean]

So, would this be considered overpowered? (Melee related)

So I see a lot of people say that signs are overpowered because they allow you to easily dispatch red skull enemies that multiple levels above the players.

So I decided to tinker around with a half assed build. In the build in the video below, I didn't abuse the mutagen skill that'd of gave me 50% increased effectiveness of mutagens because I like having rounded out skills instead of raw attack damage. Besides, at the DPS shown in the video I don't think an extra 1,000 DPS would have made a difference anyways.

I bring this up because while with Igni I'd of be been able to just straight up burn these guys but here I had to do minimal sword play. Even without using Igni, these guys didn't stand a chance whatsoever. In this video, I dispatched 5 red skull guards in just over a minute. In my opinion, melee is just as broken but I'd like to see what everyone else thinks.

Anyways, so this is mostly combat, a bit of alchemy, and using Quen as a buffer to allow me one mistake per cast.

 

[Phinnway]

Where'd you find level 45 enemies? Or did you spawn them using the console?

 

[TheCrustacean]

Where'd you find level 45 enemies? Or did you spawn them using the console?

Guards are, I believe, 15 levels over the player's. I'm on PS4 so no mods for me.

 

[shanersimms]

Ehh, imo red skull mobs need resistance to crits but, other than that, I don't personally see why that would be considered op. You were decked out with potions: tawny owl, thunderbolt, and two decoctions. You kept Quen up. You dodged most enemy attacks. Plus at lvl 30 you would have had quite a few spent talent points. I don't really see how this compares too closely to the Igni issue of being a three-shot aoe spell that can hit multiple enemies and there's no need for potions or really even a need to dodge enemy attacks and exploit openings as you did in the above video.

 

[TheCrustacean]

Ehh, imo red skull mobs need resistance to crits but, other than that, I don't personally see why that would be considered op. You were decked out with potions: tawny owl, thunderbolt, and two decoctions. You kept Quen up. You dodged most enemy attacks. Plus at lvl 30 you would have had quite a few spent talent points. I don't really see how this compares too closely to the Igni issue of being a three-shot aoe spell that can hit multiple enemies and there's no need for potions or really even a need to dodge enemy attacks and exploit openings as you did in the above video.

Fair enough. I made this one quickly with a low level backup save before I began the Novigrad MQ line. Only used Tawny Owl and Thunderbolt and no decoctions. Keep in mind at this level I can't even achieve high enough intensity to begin burning guards.

 

[shanersimms]

Fair enough. I made this one quickly with a low level backup save before I began the Novigrad MQ line. Only used Tawny Owl and Thunderbolt and no decoctions. Keep in mind at this level I can't even achieve high enough intensity to begin burning guards.

Hmm, well I watched the video at half speed, and if my count is accurate (which it's at least close) it took 22 landed blows for the first guard to die. So I would personally say that's at least in the realm of reasonable, I still think guard should have resistance to critical strikes. Then I think it would have taken in the neighborhood of 30-35 blows to take him out.

Again it's just my opinion, but since you kept Quen up absorbing damage and parry/riposted his attacks multiple times this still seems reasonable to me. Although it would make more sense if red skull enemies were beefier..

I think in my mind the difference is that here, although the guard clearly had no chance, it's that he had no chance because you found a good combat beat. You're absorbing damage, drinking potions to keep stats and dmg up, parrying/riposting blows, etc. essentially a process using combos that works. My beef with the Igni sign build alternative is that one could literally bind Igni to each and every one of their keyboard keys, position themselves in front of the same guard as above, and roll their face back and forth across the keyboard. When that player looks up about 15 seconds later, the guard will probably be dead and the player still alive lol.

 

[nerodiseppia]

in my personal opinion that is not overpowered at all. For starters i wouldn't call that an half assed build: cat school gear is clearely meleè oriented and a steel sword dps of +1600 is very strong.... especially for a level 31 (i'm level 36 and my steel sword dps is 1300).
Then u also add the water hag decoction (wich increase damage)......
and to get the better of those guards u needed quen and also whirl...... (i'd say that's more than "just a bit of swordplay").
i think that's perfectly balanced, and in no way comparable to pre-patch firestream (wich was indeed overpowered and allowed to roast any enemy in just a couple of seconds). but that's just my personal opinion, of course.

edit:
and the 2nd video makes it look even more balanced in my opinion.... that was a lot of whirling, plus thunderbolt.....and it still took u over 1 minute to defeat a single enemy.

 

[ReDD7]

in my personal opinion that is not overpowered at all. For starters i wouldn't call that an half assed build: cat school gear is clearely meleè oriented and a steel sword dps of +1600 is very strong.... especially for a level 31 (i'm level 36 and my steel sword dps is 1300).
Then u also add the water hag decoction (wich increase damage)......
and to get the better of those guards u needed quen and also whirl...... (i'd say that's more than "just a bit of swordplay").
in my personal opinion that's perfectly balanced, and in no way comparable to pre-patch firestream (wich was indeed overpowered and allowed to roast any enemy in just a couple of seconds). but that's just my personal opinion, of course.

edit:
and the 2nd video makes it look even more balanced in my opinion.... that was a lot of whirling, plus thunderbolt.....and it still took u over 1 minute to defeat a single enemy.

Nuff said:wisegirl:

 

[GratuitousViolets]

I came across a level 48 flying creature (incant remember the type of monster, looked like a griffin or something) on the top of a mountain in Skellige on one of the small islands, it one hit me at level 35. WAY over powered.

 

[braindancer12]

I came across a level 48 flying creature (incant remember the type of monster, looked like a griffin or something) on the top of a mountain in Skellige on one of the small islands, it one hit me at level 35. WAY over powered.

thats actually, as much as i know, the monster with highest level in the game, but you can beat that thing with the right techniques things like, add fire or bleeding damage on your sword, use different decotions like the archegriffin decotion (every strong attack do at least 10% damage to the enemies lifepool), also some bombs are usefull too
most important be fast, took me also some trys, cause one hit meant also death for me at the time

 

[perablenta]

Whats overpowered is the dumb down alchemy system. You can spam potions when ever you want as many you want, toxicity barely comes into play.

To bad they gave up on their original idea to have slots for potions and you can release them into your metabolism during the fight and that is it. No changing potions mid fight, not adding new potions mid fight.

 

[zetsumeisama]

Not bad not bad, but IMO this would be considered OP. Just saiyan.

Spoiler

 

[shnabeltasse]

This creature was dead within 2-3 min when I faced it at lvl 34. I am very okay with being one shotted, since you will do that with several low lvl creatures, too at some point. That keeps the challenge up. Still, this archgriffon did not stand a chance when I used Ekimma decoction + bleed and poison. Hp of my Geralt were 6100, wearing cat set. No one shot when it hit me but almost.

Poison and bleed tickedfor constant damage while I was being healed by that because of Ekimma decoction. Poison ticked for 1k-2k damage, bleed for alittle less. But in the end the fight was decided by my own dodging skills. I don't think this creature is overpowered.

Fight vs. a poisonous crab spider for comparison. These creatures have become my archenemies and most hated foes in Witcher 3. I can't beat them without superior golden pirol.