Just to add, that griffin easily breaks the fight while flying away, make sure you dont let him go for more then 30sec or hell regenerate health.
Updated my sign build as I'm close to end game. Since the excess sign intensity was just going to waste, I decided to turn it in to a hybrid build to give me some extra DPS. This build ensures that I have enough Sign Intensity to burn everything (Novigrad Soliders were used as the minimum threshold), while still allowing decent DPS from swords and alchemy. I feel this is a much better and optimized build than my full Sign build.
I've only played W3 on Death March.
Here's my 2 cents:
1. Pure Combat (Feline Armor, Cat School Tech, Fast attack branch, adrenaline etc)
- Pros: - high intensity gameplay, lots of dodging, rolling, and button mashing sword play, satisfying to land those huge crits
- Cons - no healing on death march, so you need to eat a lot of food to regen, you die more often, and your play is one dimensional obviously bc its all combat.
A lot of people like this style I had fun with it, but it wasn't my favorite because I don't like the vulnerability (glass canon feeling) and having to eat tons of food.
2. Pure Signs (griffin armor, griffin techniques, minimum +125-150% sign bonus)]
- Pros: - You are impossible to kill with Alt. Quen, easy to heal/regain health, zero downtime, igni does very high damage vs humans, groups of monsters. Burning victims can be very satisfying
- Cons: - makes game very easy, fights take longer if targets are resistant vs igni, can get boring because nothing is challenging anymore, no risk of dying.
This was the second build I tried. I really enjoyed it at first because you are SO powerful and unstoppable, but like pure combat it became a bit one-dimensional for me and I got bored just Melting everyone to death with Igni or sitting back with Quen to regen full health.
3. Hybrid (Wolf school armor, griffin techniques, fast attack tree, adrenaline build)
- Pros: - Good fast attack damage, high adrenaline, Good sign intensity, ability to survive/heal using Quen, Melt armor aids your fast attack damage
- Cons: - You don't get to see those mega huge crits or mega huge Igni burns or the invincibility of pure signs Quen.
This so far has been the most fun build I have tried. It makes combat more multi-dimensional utilizing fast attacks and signs with high adrenaline. I really like the fact you can sword fight effectively and then heal/protect yourself with quen to give you that survivability and that zero-downtime that pure combat build lacks.
Hybrid Build = Wolf school armor, Griffing Techniques,
muscle memory, precise blows, resolve
Quen, Igni, Yrden (Quen for defense, igni for offense, yrden just because you need to dump extra points to unlock second tier)
Here's my 2 cents:
1. Pure Combat (Feline Armor, Cat School Tech, Fast attack branch, adrenaline etc)
- Pros: - high intensity gameplay, lots of dodging, rolling, and button mashing sword play, satisfying to land those huge crits
- Cons - no healing on death march, so you need to eat a lot of food to regen, you die more often, and your play is one dimensional obviously bc its all combat.
A lot of people like this style I had fun with it, but it wasn't my favorite because I don't like the vulnerability (glass canon feeling) and having to eat tons of food.
2. Pure Signs (griffin armor, griffin techniques, minimum +125-150% sign bonus)]
- Pros: - You are impossible to kill with Alt. Quen, easy to heal/regain health, zero downtime, igni does very high damage vs humans, groups of monsters. Burning victims can be very satisfying
- Cons: - makes game very easy, fights take longer if targets are resistant vs igni, can get boring because nothing is challenging anymore, no risk of dying.
This was the second build I tried. I really enjoyed it at first because you are SO powerful and unstoppable, but like pure combat it became a bit one-dimensional for me and I got bored just Melting everyone to death with Igni or sitting back with Quen to regen full health.
3. Hybrid (Wolf school armor, griffin techniques, fast attack tree, adrenaline build)
- Pros: - Good fast attack damage, high adrenaline, Good sign intensity, ability to survive/heal using Quen, Melt armor aids your fast attack damage
- Cons: - You don't get to see those mega huge crits or mega huge Igni burns or the invincibility of pure signs Quen.
This so far has been the most fun build I have tried. It makes combat more multi-dimensional utilizing fast attacks and signs with high adrenaline. I really like the fact you can sword fight effectively and then heal/protect yourself with quen to give you that survivability and that zero-downtime that pure combat build lacks.
Hybrid Build = Wolf school armor, Griffing Techniques,
muscle memory, precise blows, resolve
Quen, Igni, Yrden (Quen for defense, igni for offense, yrden just because you need to dump extra points to unlock second tier)
I updated my fast swords/alchemy/adrenaline build a bit. I got rid off Undying skill because it doesn't work properly and replaced it with Fleet Footed. And decided to try Deadly Precision skill. I wasn't sure if it's worth it because 2% instant kill per adrenaline point (8% max) doesn't sound promising, but changed my mind in seconds after trying it in the fight. This skill is beautiful, especially when combined with Whirl. I love the slow motion when it happens. Build is vey much end game build, 32 points in combat tree is a must, 1 point for Griffin School Techniques and about 23-30 points in alchemy tree (less when sacrificing Synergy at cost of DPS replacing it with one unused skill from combat tree, and 1 or 2 points from Fast Metabolism), 63 skill points used so that's about level 38, with less points into alchemy it would be about level 31-33. Because of that I'm hoping for NG+.
Hybrid build oriented for fast attacks with whirl, building adrenaline fast for instant kill chance and using 3 decoctions (Ekhidna's for health regeneration is a must and Wraith's for auto cast Quen works best against guards 10-15 levels above Geralt) and all potions. Not using signs at all.
Mastercrafted Wolven armor, Griffin School Techniques
Resolve, Razor Focus, Fleet Footed, Precise Blows, Whirl, Deadly Precision
Synergy (or unused Muscle Memory instead if short on skill points, with 4 greater red mutagens attack power bonus is 110% instead of 150%)
Acquired Tolerance, Fast Metabolism, Tissue Transmutation, Endure Pain - two last skills boost HP from 5500 to 12500.
Here it is in action on Death March. Sorry for a little long preparation before the actual fight, I usually don't play with English text, only dialogs.
And here's the most OP build I can think of. It would be possible to go even higher with DPS with Cat School Techniques, Cat gear and Nilfgaardian gloves. Or it could be redesigned for Igni with Griffin gear. Actually the combination of skills and potions make you invincible and it's pretty much like God Mode. But the funniest part is that it's 100% legit, no cheating or using glitches like bugged insane stats for DPS, signs intensity and health with dimetirium bombs cloud. Requires a minimum of 23 points into alchemy tree to unlock Delayed Recovery (Heightened Tolerance 5/5 is a must too) and Superior White Raffard's potion, and that's it. Here's the invincible part. The real fun begins with Superior Blizzard potion and infinite Whirl (1/5 point is enough to put in) with Deadly Precision or spamming Igni in signs oriented version. It's so OP it's too boring for me honestly.
Hybrid build oriented for fast attacks with whirl, building adrenaline fast for instant kill chance and using 3 decoctions (Ekhidna's for health regeneration is a must and Wraith's for auto cast Quen works best against guards 10-15 levels above Geralt) and all potions. Not using signs at all.
Mastercrafted Wolven armor, Griffin School Techniques
Resolve, Razor Focus, Fleet Footed, Precise Blows, Whirl, Deadly Precision
Synergy (or unused Muscle Memory instead if short on skill points, with 4 greater red mutagens attack power bonus is 110% instead of 150%)
Acquired Tolerance, Fast Metabolism, Tissue Transmutation, Endure Pain - two last skills boost HP from 5500 to 12500.
Here it is in action on Death March. Sorry for a little long preparation before the actual fight, I usually don't play with English text, only dialogs.
And here's the most OP build I can think of. It would be possible to go even higher with DPS with Cat School Techniques, Cat gear and Nilfgaardian gloves. Or it could be redesigned for Igni with Griffin gear. Actually the combination of skills and potions make you invincible and it's pretty much like God Mode. But the funniest part is that it's 100% legit, no cheating or using glitches like bugged insane stats for DPS, signs intensity and health with dimetirium bombs cloud. Requires a minimum of 23 points into alchemy tree to unlock Delayed Recovery (Heightened Tolerance 5/5 is a must too) and Superior White Raffard's potion, and that's it. Here's the invincible part. The real fun begins with Superior Blizzard potion and infinite Whirl (1/5 point is enough to put in) with Deadly Precision or spamming Igni in signs oriented version. It's so OP it's too boring for me honestly.
True and the game is way too easy even on Death March and any build will work really well except maybe pure alchemy.
If you were referring to me, it's shown at the beginning of the video. If you meant Exentryk's post, I'd like to see it too.
I'm not a fan of Delayed Recovery skill because it has one big downside, you can use only potions, can't use any decoction. And the only possible health regeneration is from Swallow, food, 25% with every potion used from the alchemy skill, or alternate Quen. But since you need to keep toxicity high, you can't use potions whenever you want and you're also locked out with White Raffard for getting the health back to 100% if you don't want to engage in god mode. So it's either too OP with White Raffard or too risky, especially when fighting higher level enemies. And I think when playing only with potions and no decoctions Fast Metabolism is much better.
I'll do it tonight. Note that I have potions and decoctions active when viewing the stats screen. Might make a detailed video or something to show the build in action too.
EDIT - Here is the build:
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I noticed you mixed armor parts for extra bonuses, that's interesting. I've never tried that except the gloves for critical chance with cat gear.
I'd like to ask you about one thing I noticed in your stats. It shows you have max toxicity 249, I already cleared the whole map from question marks and did all quests but I'm stuck on 244 while I'm missing 4 superior oils (and have no idea where to find them) so I'd be still 1 point short. What is that 1 extra point for?
I'd like to ask you about one thing I noticed in your stats. It shows you have max toxicity 249, I already cleared the whole map from question marks and did all quests but I'm stuck on 244 while I'm missing 4 superior oils (and have no idea where to find them) so I'd be still 1 point short. What is that 1 extra point for?
There's another Archgriffin that's level 48? Btw sweet build.
Some of those oils and what not are random, so even if you cleared everything, it's not guaranteed you'll find them. I am guessing you might be missing some bomb, or potion recipe? Did you get those Phermones (Nekker, Drowner and Bear?).
No, there is only one on that island in Skellige. I just spawned this guy artificially as I had already killed the one in Skellige.
Ahh Okay. I thought there was one more level 48.
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Wait, what? There are two more Pheromones? I played twice, got 247 toxicity on first playthrough without clearing the map, now I'm on the second playthrough and cleared the whole map but I never found any other pheromones recipe than the Drowner one (it's quest related). I have all bombs and all potions already (missing beast and hybrid oils mainly). Where did you find two other pheromones? I'm not saying those two will make a big difference but I'm a completionist. I guess I'm now totally screwed. This is some kind of bullshit, I cleared the map and haven't found the missing alchemy diagrams but instead I'm finding duplicate diagrams, I found at least 25 diagrams and recipes for gear, bombs, oils and potions I already have.
I never could get into the Alchemy skill tree mainly because I dislike using potions. Hmm. It really depends on your play style. I'll most likely never use the Alchemy skill tree no matter how powerful the build is.
Drowner pheromones was in that contract quest. I don't recall where I got the Nekker one from though. Probably a random chest?
The bear pheromone I just spawned it artificially as I didn't find it anywhere.
It appears that the recipes are dropped randomly and at certain levels. So you might get basic insectoid oil recipe between levels 5-7 from certain chests. But if you come to those chests later, you will not find that recipe. So, there is a very good chance that people will miss stuff. Really poor design.