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

[FANTADEFENDER]

Question about Builds

Hi,
is there somthing like list for good usable builds for 1.10? Looking for a Fast Attack/Signs Hybrid build.

 

[ShinGnosis]

That's what I'm running right now. Had to change it up after 1.10.

So basically:

Full Mastercrafted Griffin Gear With Greater Quen Glyphs
Mastercrafted Grifffin Swords with "Severance" Runewright Glyphs
Two greater red mutagens, Two greater blue mutagens
Everything in the fast attack tree including whirl and then rend from the strong attack three
Medium armor sign bonus feature
Everything related to improving Quen including alternative sign mode and exploding shield
All in all that's 6 red features, 5 blue features and 1 yellow feature.

This build is pretty powerful and versatile.

 

[FANTADEFENDER]

That's what I'm running right now. Had to change it up after 1.10.

So basically:

Full Mastercrafted Griffin Gear With Greater Quen Glyphs
Mastercrafted Grifffin Swords with "Severance" Runewright Glyphs
Two greater red mutagens, Two greater blue mutagens
Everything in the fast attack tree including whirl and then rend from the strong attack three
Medium armor sign bonus feature
Everything related to improving Quen including alternative sign mode and exploding shield
All in all that's 6 red features, 5 blue features and 1 yellow feature.

This build is pretty powerful and versatile.

How is it working in HoS/Lategame?

 

[ShinGnosis]

How is it working in HoS/Lategame?

HoS/Lategame is the reason I had to change from a pretty much pure sign build

 

[hurrakan]

I found this thread quite helpful: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/thre...st-under-and-overrated-skills-in-your-opinion

 

[ottffsse]

Hi,
is there somthing like list for good usable builds for 1.10? Looking for a Fast Attack/Signs Hybrid build.

While it will not quite match the dps of pure sword + alchemy I find a balanced fast attack and sign build satisfying. At lvl 34 I have all fast attack perks except the last row 5 one. I take everything I mean everything from battle trance. It is optional though if you take fleet footed you don't have to have undying. If you dodge well.

From alchemy I take 3/3 increase toxicity from known recipes to use 2 decoctions.

In signs I full upgrade quen and axii in first row and yrden in the second.

From yellow I take cat school and the perk that allows to cast 1 sign for 1 adrenaline. Rest I dump into alchemy to hopefully eventually get to synergy.

I use flood of anger in very specific situations for sign boost. (igni mostly)

Overall it is quite flexible and a strong build as you can always cast signs thanks to adrenaline like instant axii, throwback when expires quen and best of all 50% damage increase and slowdown yrden all while being able to still use 2 decoctions and a thunderbolt and whirl to boot. Or build up 3 adrenaline points (happens really fast) for flood of anger.

 

[bjoernsen80]

I wanted to see how much the max DPS is in the game after this Hearts of Stone Update. Here is the configuration of the build:

Good build but there is a lot of room for improvements...

1. why do you have heavy attacks in your build? you don't need heavy attacks when you have high crit chance and use light attacks, why don't you take "Fleet footed" and "resolve" instead? they both synergize well with that build. resolve helps you to keep the 6% insta death bonus as well as the side effect of the blizzard potion to not lose stamina.
2. use the the battle frenzy skill it gives you 24 percent chance to crit
3. your weapon.... ofieri saber is nice but i prefer "hjalmars sword" over it because on max. level it has around 178 percent bonus to crit damage
4. "preservation" runeword is nice but you can get it to the top when you use "invigoration" runeword instead. it stacks with water hag decoc.if you additionally put health regen glyphs on your armor parts you will gain faster dps increase during combat

 

[Exentryk]

Good build but you could but there is a lot of room to improve...

1. why do you have heavy attacks in your build? you don't need heavy attacks when you have high crit chance and use light attacks, why don't you take "Fleet footed" and "resolve" instead? they both synergize well with that build. resolve helps you to keep the 6% insta death bonus as well as the side effect of the blizzard potion to not lose stamina.
2. use the the battle frenzy skill it gives you 24 percent chance to crit
3. your weapon.... ofieri saber is nice but i prefer "hjalmars sword" over it because on max. level it has around 178 percent bonus to crit damage
4. "preservation" runeword is nice but you can get to the top when you use "invigoration" runeword instead. it stacks with water hag decoc.if you additionally put health regen glyphs on your armor parts you will gain faster dps increase during combat

The video was to show the max DPS. Using Heavy attacks raises the DPS, so those were included. I did mention that other abilities can be used as per preference.

Using Battle Frenzy would have lowered the DPS. In practical purposes though, I would recommend using this ability because you won't be fighting in stormy weather all the time.

Hjalmar's sword actually goes up to 200% crit damage. But obtaining it is a bit annoying, and I wasn't going to go through the whole game again for it. Once the devs announce a max level cap (maybe 100), then I'll get a level 100 Hjalmar's sword, and make an updated video.

Invigoration is crap. Health regen glyphs would give you about 20 health regen per second, so that's 10 extra damage. Not very much at all.
Preservation actually has a decent 20% boost to damage and and visibly shows a DPS increase.

 

[TreesAreCanon]

I wanted to see how much the max DPS is in the game after this Hearts of Stone Update.

You've already seen it 5 days ago and then just copied it - https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/co...ansion_sharing_my_critical_chance_and/cvyqc6k
Enjoy your views. I don't care, although it would be cool if you at least mentioned the source when copying something.

Here is the original without any Levity bugs (these come later in the game as they remove your gear twice in a row and
you have to equip it again, your DPS raises with each equip) https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/3omjm3/hos_expansion_sharing_my_critical_chance_and/

Good build but there is a lot of room for improvements...

1. why do you have heavy attacks in your build? you don't need heavy attacks when you have high crit chance and use light attacks, why don't you take "Fleet footed" and "resolve" instead? they both synergize well with that build. resolve helps you to keep the 6% insta death bonus as well as the side effect of the blizzard potion to not lose stamina.
2. use the the battle frenzy skill it gives you 24 percent chance to crit
3. your weapon.... ofieri saber is nice but i prefer "hjalmars sword" over it because on max. level it has around 178 percent bonus to crit damage
4. "preservation" runeword is nice but you can get it to the top when you use "invigoration" runeword instead. it stacks with water hag decoc.if you additionally put health regen glyphs on your armor parts you will gain faster dps increase during combat

1. Battle Trance is better unless you want to combine both attacks a lot.
Here is the build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR7U7Fxn_nU

Maximum you can squeeze out on lvl 39 with both Viper Swords and NO Levity bugs: http://i.imgur.com/RkNjFsb.png

2. As a replacement for what? It's not better out of rain... Cat School Techniques give you +100% critical damage bonus and +20% fast attack damage, which outweights +24% crit chance. Use Assassin's Gauntlets for additional ten percent.

3. You're right. Use it if you have it, it's insane.

4. I've tested Invigoration and it seems bugged... When I got damaged in the fight once and healed to full HP with White Raffard's Decoction, it stopped buffing my attacks, which is why I just use Preservation on Steel and Bleeding on Silver.

 

[bjoernsen80]

The video was to show the max DPS. Using Heavy attacks raises the DPS, so those were included. I did mention that other abilities can be used as per preference.

Using Battle Frenzy would have lowered the DPS. In practical purposes though, I would recommend using this ability because you won't be fighting in stormy weather all the time.

Hjalmar's sword actually goes up to 200% crit damage. But obtaining it is a bit annoying, and I wasn't going to go through the whole game again for it. Once the devs announce a max level cap (maybe 100), then I'll get a level 100 Hjalmar's sword, and make an updated video.

Invigoration is crap. Health regen glyphs would give you about 20 health regen per second, so that's 10 extra damage. Not very much at all.
Preservation actually has a decent 20% boost to damage and and visibly shows a DPS increase.

First of all... that's not maximum dps, it's not even close to it so your argument "i wanted to show max. dps" has no value.
Second, Invigoration gives way more than just 10 extra damage. Have you even tested it? It gives tons of damage but how it works is a little bit complicated and not very practical in normal gameplay but we talked about max. dps didn't we ?

 

[TreesAreCanon]

Enjoy my autism.

Spoiler: Text from the reddit post

[Dev post: Critical damage is addictive to base damage and not multiplicative to final damage](http://forums.cdprojektred.com/thre...culation-bug?p=1687987&viewfull=1#post1687987)

First 3 minutes ~ Introduction, known bugs and Mastercrafted Feline versus Relic New Moon

[02:50](https://youtu.be/zwFApHpBpS8?t=170)
Explaining the Fast Attack Build Character Tree and the core Decoctions and Potions

[12:36](https://youtu.be/zwFApHpBpS8?t=756)
Showing the Relic New Moon Build out of the rain and in the rain **(no Levity bugs)**

[19:53](https://youtu.be/zwFApHpBpS8?t=1193)
Showing the Mastercrafted Feline out of the rain and in the rain **(no Levity bugs)**

[27:25](https://youtu.be/zwFApHpBpS8?t=1645)
Detailed comparison of the gear, Levity bug and discussing the Character Tree again

**My original thread from five days ago:** https://redd.it/3omjm3

[Awesome video made by 'Asleep in the Fantasy' showing all the Relic New Moon gear locations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Z_TsamBlY)

[Testing this build on three question marks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwoIANIfOU8)

[Having some fun with Redanian soldiers ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-OxJqTyXzU)

[Two very quick attempts on The Caretaker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOaTZqfSu2o)

In the end, New Moon is a bug city and numbers don't add up. Feel free to ask any questions.
I'm still testing new gear and Runewright upgrades, so there's a lot of room for improvement.

Spoiler: Original long reddit text

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwoIANIfOU8

[Level 38 with around 7k Silver Sword DPS and 5k Steel Sword DPS (as long as you have 100% crit)](http://i.imgur.com/OQBgvh2.png)

[Out of storms DPS is 4700 and 3700 with Assassin's Gauntlets, Water Hag, Katakan & Thunderbolt](http://i.imgur.com/lITTyJX.jpg)

'Ofieri Saber' Steel Sword with +75% crit dmg bonus, +15% crit chance and 'Preservation' upgrade
'Sarrim' Silver Sword with +75% crit dmg bonus, +10% crit chance and +15% bleeding
New Moon Relic Armor with +20% crit dmg bonus and +5% crit chance and 'Levity' upgrade
Nilfgaardian Guardsman's Gauntlets with +50% crit dmg bonus
New Moon Relic Trousers with +20% crit dmg bonus and +4% crit chance
New Moon Relic Boots with +20% crit dmg bonus and +3% crit chance

Where to get all this equipment? Just go through all the new question marks.
And you know, in the worst case you still have Google.

[As for the build - currently 34 points in Offense and 25 points in Alchemy + Cat School perk.](http://i.imgur.com/SM5XPDb.png)

In the Offense tree, 5 points in every 'Fast Attack' ability except for Crippling Strikes.
5 points in every Battle Trance ability except for Flood of Anger (the last one).
Then I'm using 2 points in Deadly Precision. The last two skills don't matter.
Put two points into something. We are aiming to get maximum bonus from mutagens.

In the Alchemy tree, we're only using two abilities, however in order to get the second one,
we need to spend 20 points in that damned tree (but I have to admit, Alchemy can be fun).
So you have 3/3 Acquired Tolerance (gives you around 240 Toxicity) and then you put 17 more
points into the tree. Finally as you reach 20, you put 5 points in Synergy = +50% mutagen bonus.
This gives you +180% Attack Power. And +675 HP. Superior Full Moon for additional 1000 HP.

Cat School perk works with the 'Levity' upgrade (which is costy though ~ 35-40k).
Four pieces of light armor, +25% critical dmg bonus and +5% fast attack dmg for each one of them,
which makes yet another +100% critical dmg bonus and also +20% fast attack dmg bonus.
Although all of these stats are bugged anyway (especially crit dmg bonus) at least the game is harder.
If the statistics scaled properly, real DPS would be over nine thousand! But seriously, do the math.

Katakan Decoction gives you additional +5% crit chance.
Water Hag Decoction increases your attack power by +50% if you are full HP.

Try to keep your Quen up at all times with Tawny Owl, Blizzard (potion haha) helps with that.
Maribor Forest gives you an additional adrenaline point (so you have 2 of them when entering the fight).
It also regenerates your adrenaline points faster - which helps a lot with Whirl.

For healing you have White Raffard's Decoction and/or Swallow. Not necessary at all though (in combat).
You can use bombs as you like - I use Northern Wind a lot.

**Ultimate dummy edition: Fight only when rainining.**
Just spam meditate until it starts pouring. Pop your Thunderbolt. Abracadabra. Every hit is a critical strike.
It also increases your AP by 35% and if you don't get hit, you get another 50% from Water Hag Decoction.
The additional DPS based on AP bonus percentage is bugged as well (RIP Chernobog) and so is crit bonus.

If you get hit just pop your White Raffard's to trigger the Water Hag Decoction again.
Make sure to always get rid of bleeding and any other dot effects with Quen before healing to full hp.

On level 38, this build gives you around 2.5-3k dmg per hit with steel and 3.5-4k per hit with silver.
On level 39, you just swap your swords for the Viper School ones and your DPS increases even more.
When it doesn't rain, you still have around **50% crit chance.** So the result is more or less the same.
It only takes 1-3 more hits. Depends on your luck. Just don't forget to use the **Katakan Decoction.**

http://i.imgur.com/RkNjFsb.png

This is the highest DPS I was able to squeeze out with **both Venomous Viper Swords.**
You can get higher than that when using Wyvern/Succubus and/or Forktail decoction.
Water Hag Decoction + Thunderbolt + 2 other Decoctions = 235 Toxicity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR7U7Fxn_nU

Here is a quick video showing how to build it with Viper Swords (replacement for Ofieri Saber and Sarrim).
Alchemy doesn't matter. I had to borrow a save to record this, so I don't have "correct" upgrades on swords.
Damage is also a bit lower after meditating, since I lost the 'Enhanced Weapons' buff.
I use Preservation on Steel to prevent that from happening and +15% Bleeding on Silver.

 

[Exentryk]

You've already seen it 5 days ago and then just copied it - https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/co...ansion_sharing_my_critical_chance_and/cvyqc6k
Enjoy your views. I don't care, although it would be cool if you at least mentioned the source when copying something.

Like I told you on reddit, I did not copy your post. I barely even read it (and this was when I had just started playing the expansion), and I mainly just recall you had 6800 DPS in that post. My video has 7500+ dps.
Stuff like using Nilfguardian Guantlets, Water Hag Decoction, Thunderbolt potion, Synergy, Acquired Tolerance, etc, I have already used in my Hybrid build (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtbQ88dJwI8). In fact, you're actually "copying" the layout that I use for my skills. I can just as easily say that you copied my concepts and applied it to DPS.

Plus you're not the only one that comes up with builds. I've gone through a lot many builds throughout this thread even. That doesn't mean I copy stuff. When I sit down to make a build, I do it myself. Doesn't matter what other people are doing, as they usually miss things or make it non-optimum. That's why you originally had 6800 dps and not 7500+.

First of all... that's not maximum dps, it's not even close to it so your argument "i wanted to show max. dps" has no value.
Second, Invigoration gives way more than just 10 extra damage. Have you even tested it? It gives tons of damage but how it works is a little bit complicated and not very practical in normal gameplay but we talked about max. dps didn't we ?

I have tested it. Have you? Used Ekimmara, Ekhidna and Troll decoction all on top of each other, and there was no visible difference in damage compared to without using Invigoration. And the continuous hits aren't practical in most situations anyway. So, like I said - Invigoration is crap. (If this is bugged, then I will re-test it once they fix it.)

And that is max dps with those swords at that level. The only thing I actually missed was 15% attack power runes on Silver, and that'd be the max. Since I'm still playing through the expansion, I don't have the Viper swords yet. If I wasn't using the stormy weather gimmick, I would change the build to a more "practical" build. Maybe once the devs address the Levity bug and the Stamina regen issue with levity, I'll revisit it.

 

[Trzebiat]

@Exentryk @Wasaabii28
You're (like basically everyone I saw on youtube for their max DPS build) reffering to that overall stat for Steel/Silver sword when talking about max DPS. You do realize that these stats basically mean nothing, right? You can go to 20k+ DPS by simply increasing crit hit CHANCE (to like +1000% with green skill - it was bugged when I checked last time) and how's putting red skill for strong attack damage (which increases that overal DPS stat) can change the actual damage you deal with sword if you don't use strong attacks at all? 7k DPS from that stat and what's the actual max crit fast attack damage considering extra crit damage bonus from skill, sword and armor? 4-5k? Strong attacks also won't come even close to that 7k. The DPS stat always was a big lie for me, it's more like to show the power of each sword.

You want the actual maximum Damage Per Second value then write down all damage you can deal in fight as fast as you can and divide it by the time it took, multiple times for average result. With that said using whirl against single enemy can itself double or triple DPS because you can strike faster, not mentioning groups of enemies.

I'm just saying

 

[Kinley]

That's why you originally had 6800 dps and not 7500+.

Or maybe it's because Levity is bugged and every time you unequip/equip gear your DPS raises.

 

[Exentryk]

Or maybe it's because Levity is bugged and every time you unequip/equip gear your DPS raises.

It's not the Levity bug that's giving me more DPS than him. I had a quick look now and it was because he was using a green mutagen for his DPS build, lol. There might be other non-optimum stuff in there, I don't know. Like I said previously, I optimise myself. People usually make some non-optimum changes as mentioned.

Anyway, this doesn't have to be a fight. Two people can come up with a similar build, esp if the goal is one and the same.

---------- Updated at 01:34 PM ----------

@Exentryk @Wasaabii28
You're (like basically everyone I saw on youtube for their max DPS build) reffering to that overall stat for Steel/Silver sword when talking about max DPS. You do realize that these stats basically mean nothing, right? You can go to 20k+ DPS by simply increasing crit hit CHANCE (to like +1000% with green skill - it was bugged when I checked last time) and how's putting red skill for strong attack damage (which increases that overal DPS stat) can change the actual damage you deal with sword if you don't use strong attacks at all? 7k DPS from that stat and what's the actual max crit fast attack damage considering extra crit damage bonus from skill, sword and armor? 4-5k? Strong attacks also won't come even close to that 7k. The DPS stat always was a big lie for me, it's more like to show the power of each sword.

You want the actual maximum Damage Per Second value then write down all damage you can deal in fight as fast as you can and divide it by the time it took, multiple times for average result. With that said using whirl against single enemy can itself double or triple DPS because you can strike faster, not mentioning groups of enemies.

I'm just saying

Yes, I am talking about the DPS stat. Yes, I know that that stat doesn't mean much, but only because it can be incorrect/misleading in some cases.
I know how all of this stuff works, so please don't insult my intelligence.

 

[TreesAreCanon]

@Exentryk

You are level 40, but there's no way you will get 7570 DPS with Sarrim. I was able to get 6953 Silver DPS on level 39
with the same build - Water Hag Decoction, Superior Thunderbolt and Enhanced Weapons during a storm. Your DPS won't increase by 617 for one level. You used Levity bug at least once to get 7570. Knowingly or not - matters naught.

[video=youtube;nJh9Iv-PvVA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJh9Iv-PvVA[/video]

 

[Exentryk]

@Exentryk

You are level 40, but there's no way you will get 7570 DPS with Sarrim. I was able to get 6953 Silver DPS on level 39
with the same build - Water Hag Decoction, Superior Thunderbolt and Enhanced Weapons during a storm. Your DPS won't increase by 617 for one level. You used Levity bug at least once to get 7570. Knowingly or not - matters naught.

Thanks. Guess it may have happened once. Hopefully the devs fix this nonsense.

 

[bjoernsen80]

I have tested it. Have you? Used Ekimmara, Ekhidna and Troll decoction all on top of each other, and there was no visible difference in damage compared to without using Invigoration. And the continuous hits aren't practical in most situations anyway. So, like I said - Invigoration is crap. (If this is bugged, then I will re-test it once they fix it.)

And that is max dps with those swords at that level. The only thing I actually missed was 15% attack power runes on Silver, and that'd be the max. Since I'm still playing through the expansion, I don't have the Viper swords yet. If I wasn't using the stormy weather gimmick, I would change the build to a more "practical" build. Maybe once the devs address the Levity bug and the Stamina regen issue with levity, I'll revisit it.

first of all, when i talked about heavy attacks not being practical in that build you sayed you're just talking about DPS. But when i'm talking about invigoration raising your DPS, you say it's not practical (i even said that myself btw)..... lol? What do you want... most DPS or practical build? stop twisting things like you want!

second, it seems you never understood how invigoration works. ekimmara and ekhidna decoc or every other health potion have absolutely no effect to it.The DPS provided by invigoration constantly raises depending on your infight health regeneration (you can see that in the stat screen). You have to be in a Fight (it doesn't work outside) and you have to have full health. So... as long as you are in a fight, have full health and a very good natural health regen, invigoration will raise the dps constantly. But when you get hit or the fight ends... the bonus dps will be away.

Yes, I am talking about the DPS stat. Yes, I know that that stat doesn't mean much, but only because it can be incorrect/misleading in some cases.
I know how all of this stuff works, so please don't insult my intelligence.

Same applies to you dude! you're not the only person in the world who knows how the game works, so stop beeing so arrogant.

 

[Exentryk]

second, it seems you never understood how invigoration works. ekimmara and ekhidna decoc or every other health potion have absolutely no effect to it.The DPS provided by invigoration constantly raises depending on your infight health regeneration (you can see that in the stat screen). You have to be in a Fight (it doesn't work outside) and you have to have full health. So... as long as you are in a fight, have full health and a very good natural health regen, invigoration will raise the dps constantly. But when you get hit or the fight ends... the bonus dps will be away.

Well, the official description says, "When at maximum Vitality, any Vitality regeneration turns into added damage (up to 50%) on your next strike." Ekhidna decoction and Ekimmara decoction both regenerate Vitality in their way, and since the wording says ANY, it's not wrong for people to expect that.

But I tested it again after your explanation, and it is indeed working. The fact that it only works for one hit and then the dps goes back to normal before rising again is bad. Maybe a slower strong attack build might make good use out of it. I do use strong attacks more, so I will be considering it now. Cheers.

Same applies to you dude! you're not the only person in the world who knows how the game works, so stop beeing so arrogant.

And when did I say that? I have learnt a lot from this thread and the posters here. But Wasabi was blaming me thinking I am not familiar or capable of coming up with a dps build on my own. I was only defending that.

 

[Riven-Twain]

Please keep it respectful, mates. Thank you.