Planning to do DM playtrough with "Default Kaer Morhen" armor - HELP decide which build I should go with

[Sharpy47]

Planning to do DM playtrough with "Default Kaer Morhen" armor - HELP decide which build I should go with

As title says - Im planning to do DM playtrough with "Default Kaer Morhen" armor - HELP me decide which build I should go with

So that being said, - I want to do my 2nd playtrough on DM once again but this time with DEFAULT armor which looks absolutely amazing IMO and I think it would be a nice challenge at the same time.

I have two questions for people who are really good at making certain character builds (signs / swordsmanship / alchemy / mix of all three):

1) Do you guys think it's even possible to complete the game on DM with just default (or enchanced) Geralt's starting armor or it's gonna be frustrating mess?

2) If yes - what build would you suggest me to go with for this playtrough with default armor? Should I go with 100% signs, swordsman, alchemy OR maybe mix of all three? You name it.

Maybe someone already did this "challenge" and has tips for me?

P.S. Im planning to be 100% completionist on this playtrough - which means doing all possible contracts, side quests, exploring all question marks etc before going for the main quests.

 

[Dread_Reaper]

Might as well go full sign, then you can use the Grffin school perk to get an increase in sign intensity and stamina regen.

 

[Lieste]

So, are you *just* going with the chest armour all game, or also restricting yourself to the same guantlets, trews and boots?

The latter is going to be a teeny bit uncomfortable, there are almost no resistances and 21 armour... the formerr not so bad, as the better alternates can give 250ish armour and modestly improved resistances.

You'll probably want some ability to tank/reflect damage from an alchemy build, and either DPS/specials from swordsman or heavy investment into signs (which could be mostly easier... though IGNI isn't a panacea).

 

[Sharpy47]

So, are you *just* going with the chest armour all game, or also restricting yourself to the same guantlets, trews and boots?

Well if it's really going to be bad luck with complete default set - I might change gauntlets / trousers as you suggested. But Chest Armour is going to stay (I will use enchanced version of it as I will progress further in the game).

 

[heschu]

Definitly possible, if you do it right probably not that hard, not sure the way you should skill but since you won't have much armor there is some stuff that will come in handy, Definitly would skill quen, second mode too for healing ability as you probably take a good amount of damage, then the alchemy skill which increases your toxicity for every known formula, in the end will give you the ability to use 2 maybe even 3 decotations at the same time, they are extremly powerful if you combine them right. And last but not least the adrenalin second live skill from the swordtree, if hp goes to 0, adrenalin will be used to restore life. Maybe useful is the yellow skill to use adrenalin instead of stamina too cast.

with all that you still have plenty of skillpoints left to spend them as you will and have a pretty big securitynet that guars you from mistakes and you won't need to play perfect, although if you skill all this and use better equip even DM gets boring as you are nearly invincible...

 

[karl_dietrich]

Max Queen alternative and then puppet up to level 10,then alchemy to use damage reducing decotion and the troll one.
And boosting health this way.

 

[Beas7ie]

I did my playthrough with the default chest piece because it's the best looking armor in the game and later used the Griffin Pieces for the rest of the armor.(boots, pants, gloves)

It is a bit tougher but with a Fighter/Sign hybrid build, I got through on normal mode just fine.


Also there is a very good mod that buffs up the stats of the default armor. There are several different versions depending on your level and it gets wiped with each new update from CDPR so be sure to update it regularly as you level up and update your game if you decide to get it.
http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/48/?

 

[Costa417]

@Sharpy47 Quen

 

[KyokushinMaster]

Nice challange might do it on an upcoming play through!

A bit off topic... But I do think the default armor looks great! I hope on a patch/dlc or whatever, that theg give us upgrade diagrams for it. Even if it stays the same look just the fact that I can start and finish the game with the armor while staying viable would be nice. I still have the armor in my inventory for a possible chest dlc or maybe a new game + mode.

On topic; Quen is your freind and I would want to focus on some sword skills but mostly magic as your going to be very "squishy" and would want to keep your distance where possible.

 

[taldira]

Just use the mod for upgraded starting armor on nexus. It has the progression and the best version has the same stats as the best Griffon armor.

 

[Percival_Dickenbutts]

Basically did this for the most part, but not as a challenge though, simply because I prefer the Kaer Morhen armor.
Switched out the boots with un-upgraded Feline Boots as soon as I could though, those boots look quite nice with the Kaer Morhen armor. Total armor value ended up at 72

Played on Death March until right past the main quest with Keira, then turned back to B&BB, at about level 20 I had to turn it back to Death March, at this point the game became quite easy on B&BB even with the Kaer Morhen armor and my underleveled swords. Stuck with my level 9 steel sword and level 13 silver sword, mostly for looks, but for most sidequests and contracts they evened out the difficulty quite nicely as well.

Towards the end of the game when you get pitted against mostly level 25+ enemies in the main quests I started using better swords though, but the armor still worked quite nicely. The ideal scenario in TW3's combat is to avoid taking damage in the first place, so for the armor I would recommend to anyone to just stick to what you find the most visually appealing. Same goes for talent-build, just go with whatever style you like the most, no real need to min-max.

 

[paladinshiva]

Quen, firestream, dont have to upgrade. Oils, synergy, mutagens. And armor or adrenaline cast sign skills. you should be just fine. Itll take you some time though

 

[Goodmongo]

Potion of respec will be your friend.

At the start it is much easier going fast sword build. By the end of the game it doesn't matter.

Quen outside of basic level doesn't do anything for you as your sign bonus stinks. So you need to kill things instead of trying to play defense. Quen is use to absorb one hit while you get in 2-3 whacks. Roll away and reapply quen and repeat. But for the first 10 levels you are really kinda forced to do this.

From level 15-24 you have many more options. Signs and alchemy are good choices. See the problem early on is you can't kill things and need swords to do that.

Here's a secret. Armor rating means nothing really. What is important is the armor type (if you spend one skill point) and the bonus stats/slots (if they fixed these).

 

[Sharpy47]

Alright guys, some really good advices! But for now Im thinking on upgrading my queen to max and then just focus on 100% alchemy build with ability to drink 3-4 decotions etc.

 

[Goodmongo]

Alright guys, some really good advices! But for now Im thinking on upgrading my queen to max and then just focus on 100% alchemy build with ability to drink 3-4 decotions etc.

Not sure what you meant by "quen to max". Did it mean getting Quen Discharge or just the 1st level Exploding quen? To get 5 points in Quen Discharge means you have 33 points in the branch. That is around level 18-20 if you go for lot's of power sites. Up till that point the game will be much harder than it needs to be. You can't kill anything.

As I advised you can do this once you have that many skill points but getting there is a whole different strategy.

Now if you meant just putting in 3 points for Exploding quen then that is a waste of time IMO. Without a large bonus to signs it will rarely if ever knock people down. Much better to focus on the alchemy and sword skills. Same goes for active shield. Without some large sign bonus it gets taken down in 2 hits.

 

[Sharpy47]

Much better to focus on the alchemy and sword skills. Same goes for active shield. Without some large sign bonus it gets taken down in 2 hits

Yeah that's the idea. I want to focus mostly on alchemy and depend on powerful decotions / maybe bombs too. And when I talked about Quen i meant 3 points upgrade for exploding queen. I still like to have that armour for 1-2 hits with queen, even if it won't be that powerful on this build.