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

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

  • Primarily Combat Build. Blood and Fear!

    Votes: 193 34.9%
  • Mostly Signs. Your Mind Is Mine.

    Votes: 74 13.4%
  • Alchemy. Mutant and Proud of It.

    Votes: 82 14.8%
  • Hybrid, some of each. Polymath!

    Votes: 215 38.9%
  • I also love the General set! Lots of use.

    Votes: 27 4.9%
  • Can't decide. Many Respecs lie ahead!

    Votes: 37 6.7%

  • Total voters
    553
iCake pointed out that Hunter Instinct isn't really that good. And for single tough guys Rend does a great job of killing them pretty fast. Going with Protective Coating is probably a better option.
 
iCake pointed out that Hunter Instinct isn't really that good. And for single tough guys Rend does a great job of killing them pretty fast. Going with Protective Coating is probably a better option.

I think you're right. Although I go with Whirl instead of Rend, seems more universal and works on single tough guys too. But I took your advice and switched HI for Protective Coating, which was actually also my initial strategy before I followed some other guide :)
 
Alchemy Build Help

Hi,

I'm done with the game and the expansion so I'm killing time by killing guards at the Nilfgaardian Center Camp.
So I decided to try the alchemy build.

First thing I wanted to try is the Delayed Recovery.
So with this equipped, and Acquired Tolerance, I put on a lot of potions: tawny oil, thunderbolt, maribor forest, ekhidna decoction, full moon, blizzard.

One thing I noticed, if the potion reaches 0:00, it gets removed from my HUD.
Does this mean that the Delayed Recovery skill is not that effective? Not sure how it works.
Maybe it chooses only one potion that will not expire? I am pretty sure that the toxicity of my character is beyond 70% because I am spamming blizzard whenever it expired.

And one more thing, the "when 3 stamina points are available, actions don't deplete stamina" description for the Superior Blizzard only works when you attack the things are slowed down. Is this really how it's supposed to be? Everytime I managed to slow down the actions, I can only make 3 ignis against my opponents. I can see youtube videos doing this even without the slowmo effect (ex. unlimited whirl/firestream).

So is alchemy build possible at the current patch?

EDIT:
In the video below, I popped a superior blizzard potion right after having 3 APs. But the stamina keeps on draining whenever I do a whirl or use a sign. Unless time is in slow motion.

https://youtu.be/z2vUgMLKfHw
 
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HOS RUNEWRIGHT INCORPORATED BUILT!!!

Ok fooled around with the runewright craft. I was specifically reviewing the armor type runecraft . When I was playing the vanilla game I ultimately fell in love with the op of the alchemy/combat build I focused on fast adrenaline regeneration for crit strikes and damage this build was perfected with skills like deadly precision, razor sharp, killing spree and hunter instinct...among others. I will load up a list of the skills for the build soon. I used feline armor for the fast atk and crit strike dmg and to keep the ad regeneration high, I used ursine swords with greater perun runestones which gave me 35% ad regeneration in total as well as 75% crit damage. As you may now by now the focus is to have high ad regeneration to be op and be able to pull off constrant high crit strikes pretty much every second strike.

So when I found out about the levity runewright, to be able to turn ursine heavy armor into light armor, it blew my mind. As ursine gear has 125% ad regeneration. Keeping the ursine swords with prolongation or severance runewright...OMG, youll be unstoppable!!!
 
Venomous Viper build

The armour looks really awesome, but I really can't find a good build for it. Has anyone managed to make a effective build for it? (For example, managed to kill the high level guards)
 
At NG+ lvl 70, I had about 160% sign intensity with pyromaniac but the guards wouldn't burn (maybe because their level 85?), then I changed my skills and added another quarter to signs and then igni burnt' the guards, however I'm using the Ofeiri set (added sign intensity) and I can't get that higher sign intensity with the Viper gear (unless I go mostly signs with my skills), so a bit confused whether to include signs in the build, however, thanks for the vid
 
At NG+ lvl 70, I had about 160% sign intensity with pyromaniac but the guards wouldn't burn (maybe because their level 85?), then I changed my skills and added another quarter to signs and then igni burnt' the guards, however I'm using the Ofeiri set (added sign intensity) and I can't get that higher sign intensity with the Viper gear (unless I go mostly signs with my skills), so a bit confused whether to include signs in the build, however, thanks for the vid

You need to add the superior version of petri's philter.
 
Have got that, bumped it up to 180 but still not enough, my build at the moment is good don't get me wrong, I just want to wear the Viper armour, not the Ofieri gear
 
Now that they nerfed the Superior Blizzard Potion, I stopped using most of the Alchemy builds except for the Acquired Tolerance skill.
Here's my longest killing streak at Crow's Perch (~6min). I used Griffin, Arachas, and Ekimmara Decoctions.

For the gear, I used Ursine gauntlet, Wolf trousers and boots, then enchanted the Ursine armor with Levity.
This could get better if it's raining and I used thunderbolt potion.


Edit: I used Wolf swords, but I should've used Ursine for more AP gain. I forgot to switch. :D
 
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Killed a vampire with ONLY black blood!

I jest you not. I did not attack the Katakan in any way. I didn't slash it with sword, use arrows or bombs, not once. I just drank black blood and swallow (both superior level). I didn't even use Quen or any other sign. Its my first alchemy build playthrough. The poor vampire just kept attacking me and soon bit the dust. Alchemy build is proving very powerful.
 
I wonder if patch 1.20 makes it so yellow/general abilities don't need to be slotted in to work?

 
@Exentryk

The preleveled character they gave the Youtvers, had one yellow slot in it already. I doubt CDPR would do that, if they were passive now. You can see it on the Nerdists video. The dream is dead. :p

@iCake

You seem to know a lot of the combat mechnaics. I'd interested in how some skills work.

My current build is 6 Green, 3 Red, 2 Blue and 1 Yellow, but I'm going to change it up for B&W. I'm not on NG+, and those new synapse mutagen skills require a lot of exp points to upgrade, in order to get the four new skill slots. I'm thinking I'll go 8 Green, 6 Red, and if there's anything left - which I doubt, 2 blue, or 1 blue 1 yellow).

The Killing Spree skill sounds great, but does it actually work? I recall reading some threads that said it was broken, the crit chance wasn't working or something. So if I drink a decoction (or must it be a potion?), my crit chance will be at a base 50% once I've killed one enemy, plus whatever other enhancements from my gear, correct? That sounds broken. Basically, kill one drowner, destroy the three that are left with crits.

Does Fast Mataoblism affect decoctions? I think it decreases your toxicity bar faster, so you can drink more potions, but that doesn't make sense. What's the purpose of this skill, basically?

If you take a decoction, plus some others and a White Raffards, which gives a very quick temporary immunity to damage, as well as Delayed Recovery (which means that potions don't expire as long as you maintain 70% toxicity), are you basically invincible?

I see a lot of builds using Fast Matabolism with Endure Pain, the skill that increases your vitality when you reach the potion threshold. That doesn't make sense to me. If Fast Matabolism decreases your toxicity level, how could Endure Pain ever activate, unless you drink two decoctions and all the other potions at once.

I would also like to keep Whirl and Rend, although I think I'm going to have to pick one, as there just aren't enough points without NG+. A lot of the potion skills need better descriptions. None of the swordsman or signs skills are this confusing. Maybe you could provide some suggestions for a build?
 
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@TheImpZA

The killing spree does work, but its usefulness is very limited. As you said you have to kill someone first for its effects to kick in, so you have to be facing a horde of enemies to reap the benefits of this skill. So it won't do you any good in most boss fights, well maybe the keeper and its pawns can really suffer from that. All in all, the skill is controversial at best, but boy, oh boy, if it isn't fun when it works :) As for whether it goes along with decoctions, I'm 95% sure that it does. As for how it was broken, I think you're referring to messed-up calculations of your DPS when the skill is in effect. You can or could (if it was patched) see some crazy DPS numbers then. I think it is or was because of your crit chance going over 100% at some point and yes, the crit chance buffs obtained through different means does stack.

Before we talk about fast metabolism in detail, you must understand that decoction toxicity is a separate matter from potion intoxication. In fact, the decoction toxicity fills up your toxicity bar in darker green than potions. In simple words, they are not the same, but they do stack to fill in your toxicity as a whole. So the skill does not decrease decoction poison, but it does indeed lower your potion toxicity. This is basically a must have skill for anyone who relies on decoctions but still wants to use potions at will. Let's say you have 250 points of max toxicity, you stuff up on 3 decoctions, which gives you 70*3 = 210 points and which leaves you with 250 - 210 = 40 spare points for potions. Without the skill your potion toxicity drops like 1 point per second, so if you drink a 25 points potion you only have 40-25 = 15 points left and you must wait like about 10 seconds to drink another 25 potion. But with the skill the time you have to wait is drastically reduced, it takes less than 2 second before you drop those 10 points and can drink yet another 25 potion. It's a great skill to use if you know what you're doing with it.

Now let's talk about delayed recovery. This is a tricky one, because it relies on potion toxicity but does not take into account your decoction toxicity, but it does calculate its threshold from your toxicity points combined (both decoction and potions). So you only want to use it if you don't drink any decoctions and keep your max toxicity level as low as possbile, ideally the default 100. For this very reason the fast metabolism works against this skill, because it purges the toxins from your veins very fast. As for white raffard + delayed recovery = god mode, it actually was the case at some point, but now it's fixed, doesn't work on the immunity effect anymore. But I heard someone saying that the new enchantment that prolongs your potion duration by half a second with each of your successful hits still affects the immunity. So whirl+this enhantment+white raffard = god mode. Warning, didn't test this one personally :)

Endure pain is another great skill to use for anyone stuffing up on decoctions, as it does take into account your decoction toxicity and as the decoction toxicity doesn't drop over time this skill is in permanent effect as long as your decoctions last. To offset the health drain effect that kicks in when you exceed your safe intoxication threshold you might want to drink the troll decoction + some mending runes. Your health will not drop any longer, but the water hug decoction will be useless as you'll always stay one health point below your maximum health and the troll decoction will take up place of a potentially more useful decotion you could take instead. Not a terribly bad price to pay if you ask me.

Alternatively, you can pick the tissue transmution skill instead of endure pain. That skill will give you +1000 health point for each decoction you drink, granted the skill is upgraded to its maximum. That'll account for 3000 or 4000 (if you're willing to waste a slot on a general skill that gives you + 30 to your max toxicity and don't mind having to resort to the basilisk decoction and locking yourself from potions to boot) health points and that is actually more than what you can gain from endure pain. Combine it with the skill that eliminates any fear of overdosing and you have a pretty good alternative to endure pain and you won't have to cope with the health drain any longer to boot, but at the cost of another ability slot. Now that raises an intriguing question... Does the tissue transmutation and endure pain stack? Well, you'll reach some ridiculously high health if they do :D You might want to test this in your build, just let me know of the results, will you? Note: don't combine the skill that raises your safe toxicity level threshold to 100% along with endure pain, as the former will render the latter useless.

As for your your whirl vs. rend dilemma. I'd personally pick rend over whirl on any given day. Why? Because it's the only damn skill that let you cut through blocks and shields... and the blocking in this game is ridiculous (sorry for this CDPR). It alone makes you so more well-rounded and well-fitted for almost any situation and it almost always lends a critical blow. I saw a lot of people complain about rend being clunky, but I think that's because they haven't discovered the awesomeness of quick rend. However, if I were you, I'd try my best to fit both whirl and rend in your build, because whirl has some pretty sick uses as well. Such as this:

[video]https://youtu.be/sqBi8bigMX8[/video]

I know someone posted a similar video way before me, but that's just to illustrate how great whirl can be.
 
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The 4 new skill slots will need a lot of points. I used the preview vids to work the following out:

1 slot - Research 2 mutations - 4 skill pts
2 slots - Research 4 mutations - 9 skill pts
3 slots - Research 8 mutations - 21 skill pts
4 slots - Research 12(?) mutations - 35 skill pts

Inner ring with 3 mutations need 2 points each to be researched.
Middle ring with 7 mutations need 3 points each to be researched.
Outer ring with 2 mutations need 4(?) points each to the researched.

Image for Reference - http://i.imgur.com/f8lC9qy.jpg
 
The 4 new skill slots will need a lot of points. I used the preview vids to work the following out:

1 slot - Research 2 mutations - 4 skill pts
2 slots - Research 4 mutations - 9 skill pts
3 slots - Research 8 mutations - 21 skill pts
4 slots - Research 12(?) mutations - 35 skill pts

Inner ring with 3 mutations need 2 points each to be researched.
Middle ring with 7 mutations need 3 points each to be researched.
Outer ring with 2 mutations need 4(?) points each to the researched.

Image for Reference - http://i.imgur.com/f8lC9qy.jpg

Thanks :)

So that's definitely not for "normal" players. Unless they add a metric ton of skill points to Toussaint, I'm out of luck. I don't have any interest in NG+ currently, or the time to spend another 100 hours to get to the level needed for B&W. Really disappointed that they put in the effort to make an entire new system, and then basically gate the best parts of it behind NG+. Let's say there are 6 Places of Power, plus 10 more levels for a total of around 16 skill points. 9 go into synapse mutagens for two more slots, and the rest go to into other skills.

What do the first 3 skills do, because those are the only ones I could actually get. I know the first blue one makes your Aard icy to freeze enemies. What about the first red and green?

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@iCake, Thanks for that info! I actually saved it to my gdrive incase the forums ever die. :p

What do you think of this build, any tips? I have a feeling it could be made better. I only realise now that I forget to turn of MSI afterburner. I really wanted Poisoned Blades, I've been using that before, but alas, no points left.

In that video, I assume that was you playing? Was that NG+ or first time, and maybe you could provide screens of that build.

I'm going to put Severance on both the Swords. What do you recommend for the armour? I quite like the one that gives you a free quen, so then I never have to cast it. :p I never use Roach anyway, so I'm always on foot.
 
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