VisVenti said:
In the end, however, I believe the skill tree is balanced enough so that everyone can stick to the playstyle they enjoy the most, I don't think it's possible to make a unique 'uber' build of Geralt in this game, and converesely, it's probably not possible to really screw it up entirely either, even though some choices can be regreetted for various reasons (as I have regretted some of mine).
I would agree that the game seems pretty well balanced, so that you shouldn't get in any drastic trouble by putting (or not putting) skills in a certain area. In general when choosing which skills to put points in you should consider under what circumstances the skills occur, and if you are in those circumstances enough to warrant using a point on it. Power up the skills you use the most, and skills that remain effective under all conditions first. Avoid the skills marked "only works when" until you filled up the other skills that interest you and you find yourself in the "only" situations quite often. For example in the bronze category (which you'll get plenty of coins for anyway
):Skills to avoid or hold off on:STR related:Only works when intoxicated: Buzz, Only works when less than 25% vitality: True Grit (and requires consumption of a mutagen)Position: Parry provides 10% boost (not a very large boost)DEX related:Repel: provides 10% boost (not a very large boost)Predator: Requires consumption of a mutagen & only works from midnight to dawn (even though the 50% boosts to attack and dodge are nice - you may want to invest in skills like this later in the game, but not starting out).Mutation: requires a mutagen, and increases toxicity in the bodyIgni related:Harms Way I: provides a 10% bonus (not very large boost), while the same one skill point could be put in Harms Way II which provides a 20% boostStrong Steel related: Bloody Rage I (and II): Only works when vitality below 15% (by that time your almost dead
)Fast Steel related:Sever Sinews I (and II): Only works when enemy's vitality is below 25% (by that time he/she/it is almost dead
)Group Steel related:Trip I (and II) works only when fighting at least three opponents (if you're using a lot of signs they you are probably limiting your enemies to less in direct contact with you)(again this is a skill you might want to add later, but not when first starting out, and you might want to go with level II before I).Strong Silver related
atinado I (and II) only works when enemy is effected by Incineration. If you are constantly using Ingi and have incineration then it may be worthwhile (once again you might want to get level III (silver skill) before level II,and that before level I).Fast Silver related:Sinister I, II, and III (only works when enemy is blinded, and the higher level ones can be obtained the prerequisite of the lower level ones).Group Silver related:Knockdown: only works when fighting three or more opponents at a time.With Sword skills it is usually more worthwhile to put them into level skills (which more than double your damage over the previous level) than in skills that add 15% or 25% more damage. For example going from Level I Strong Steel to Level II Strong Steel goes from 20-30 damage to 40-80 damage while that same skill point used in crushing blow in the Strong Steel tree would have only increased damage by 5-6 points and 10-20 (at level II).The Sign Student, Apprentice, Specialist, etc in many cases may be a waste of skill points (with the exception of Aard which gives you a larger degree of effect).Sliver Skills I'd advise holding off on include: Survival Instinct (only works when bleeding), Finesse (only works when using Fast sword combat), Altered Metabolism (only works when poisoned by potion), Blasting Fist (only works with Strong Sliver sword attacks), Burning Blade (only works with Group Silver), Faze (only works with Fast sliver attack), Bloody Rage III (only works when below 15% vitality - aka almost dead and Strong Steel), Sever Sinews III (only works when below 25% vitality and using fast steel), Trip III (only works with Group Steel, Patinado III (only works with Incineration active and strong silver), Sinister III (only when enemy blinded, and only with Fast Silver), Knockdown III (only works when fighting three opponents and group silver).