Witcher 3 Character Builds

[damon8r351]

I was wondering how some people built their characters in The Witcher 3, just to see the different ways other people go about accomplishing the same thing. I'm about 8 slots into finishing this build:

• Muscle Memory x5 (Combat Skills, Fast Attack): Increases Fast Attack damage.
• Precise Blows x5 (Combat Skills, Fast Attack): Increases Fast Attack critical hit damage and chance of Fast Attack critical hit.
• Crippling Strikes x5 (Combat Skills, Fast Attack): Fast Attacks also inflict Bleeding damage.
• Strength Training x5 (Combat Skills, Strong Attack): Increases Strong Attack damage.
• Crushing Blows x5 (Combat Skills, Strong Attack): Increases Strong Attack critical hit damage and chance of Strong Attack critical hit.
• Rend x5 (Combat Skills, Strong Attack): Deals damage proportional to Stamina used, that ignores defense and raises critical hit chance.
• Delusion x3, then replace with Puppet x3 to get the trophy for that, then revert back to Delusion x3 (Sign Skills, Axii): Locks a single enemy in place for a brief second to make them vulnerable. Delusion speeds up the casting process.
• Exploding Shield x3, then Active Shield x3, then Quen Intensity x5 (Sign Skills, Quen): Blocks damage for a short while. Intensity upgrades increase the shield durability.
• Sustained Glyphs x2, then Magic Trap x 3 (Sign Skills, Yrden): Slows down an enemy temporarily. Magic Trap slows groups of enemies, damages them, and stops projectiles.
• Poisoned Blades x5 (Alchemy Skills, Oil Preparation): Poisons enemies when using blade oils.
• Acquired Tolerance x3 (Alchemy Skills, Mutation): Increases your upper Toxicity limit based on the number of alchemy recipes you know, allowing you to use more potions at once.
• Griffin School Techniques (General Skills): Wearing a complete set of medium armor increases your Sign Intensity and Stamina Regeneration, allowing you to cast Signs more often and making them stronger.

For equipment, I'll be using:

• Wolven Steel & Wolven Silver Swords: Boosts Sign Intensity and Adrenaline Point gain, inflicts Bleeding damage.
• Feline Crossbow: Armor piercing damage. Also easy to find.
• Wolven Medium Armor: Boosts Sign Intensity, Adrenaline Point gain, and Attack Power.
• Veles (Sign Intensity), Perun (Adrenaline Gain), Zoria (Chance to Freeze) Runestones installed on swords.
• Axii, Yrden, Quen Glyphs installed on armor.

This gives me a balanced setup: solid attack, status ailment inducing ability, strong support for defensive Signs, and a high Toxicity limit for using as many potions as I need to use without worrying about poisoning myself.

Edited October 9, 2016 by damon8r351

[Redgrave]

I'm pretty sure for combat I used mainly light attacks that did critical damage, and then had Quen as my main magic ability. For Alchemy I used these:

 

Refreshment: 5/5

Endure Pain: 5/5

Acquired Tolerance: 5/5

 

With those mixed with a Greater Green Mutagen I got a health bonus and every time I drank a potion it would heal me and last longer with lowered toxicity. So basically it's a semi-tank/potion build. Then Blood and Wine let me add more combat slots in which I destroyed everything especially with the bonuses the Grandmaster Legendary Viper armor gives.

[damon8r351]

I'd have spent some points in HP recovery abilities if I wasn't absolutely flush with food items. I think I'm set on food items for the rest of the game, and my character is only level 13.

[awf9495]

I started out with a fast attack build, but switched to an Igni (not Firestream)/Quen/Axii build about halfway through the game and found it to be quite a bit easier.  Igni doesn't always do a ton of damage (at least until you get the runes to really pump up sign intensity), but the burning effect makes most enemies that aren't resistant to it sitting ducks.  It made mob battles quite a bit more manageable as well with Igni's area of attack.  Due to the nature of my build though, a few enemy types that you may not have encountered yet just took forever to kill on Death March. I just downloaded Blood and Wine and plan to stick with my sign build throughout, as it is a lot of fun and I tend to play as mages or archers in most WRPG's.

[Pirelli913]

I initially started out going all signs (12 signs equipped), then I started to branch into alchemy (9 signs, 3 alchemy). The moment I learned about Whirl and Rend in the combat tree, I began focusing on combat (6 combat, 3 alchemy, 3 signs). And let me tell you, maxed out Whirl and Rend (third tiers in fast and strong attacks under combat) make Geralt OP as fuck.

[damon8r351]

After some more practice using Quen, I think I'm making a minor change and switching to medium armor and the Griffin School Techniques ability. Mostly because the fights are too easy and I dislike the Feline Witcher Armor. All the decent looking Witcher gear in the game seems to be medium armor.

[damon8r351]

Here's some insane builds from the hardcover strategy guide for the complete edition. These use all the extra character developments from the expansions.

 

Man of Steel and Silver

 

Abilities:

• Muscle Memory x5
• Strength Training x5
• Resolve x5
• Precise Blows x5
• Crushing Blows x5
• Whirl x5
• Exploding Shield x3
• Cat School Techniques
• Rage Management
• Oil Preparation x5
• Acquired Tolerance x3
• Refreshment x5
• Rend x5 (extra slot unlocked in Blood & Wine)
• Razor Focus x5 (extra slot unlocked in Blood & Wine)
• Crippling Strikes x5 (extra slot unlocked in Blood & Wine)
• Deadly Precision x2 (extra slot unlocked in Blood & Wine)

Equipment:

• Ursine Steel & Silver Swords
• Feline Armor
• Any crossbow
• Devana, Perun, & Stribog runestones
• Quen, Mending, & Reinforcement glyphs
• 2 red mutagens, 1 blue mutagen, 1 green mutagen
• Protection & Retribution glyphwords
• Rejuvenation, Elation, & Severance runewords
• Deadly Counter or Bloodbath mutations
• Bombs: Samum, Northern Wind
• Potions: Blizzard, Swallow, Maribor Forest, Thunderbolt
• Decoctions: Archgriffin, Doppler, Katakan, Succubus

Adrenaline Rush

 

Abilities:

• Muscle Memory x5
• Strength Training x5
• Resolve x5
• Precise Blows x5
• Crushing Blows x5
• Adrenaline Burst
• Melt Armor x5
• Exploding Shield x3
• Active Shield x3
• Bear School Techniques
• Focus
• Rage Management
• Razor Focus x5 (extra slot)
• Rend x5 (extra slot)
• Counter Attack x3 (extra slot)
• Sunder Armor x5 (extra slot)

Equipment:

• Ursine Steel & Silver Swords
• Ursine Armor
• Any crossbow
• Bombs: Northern Wind, Samum
• Potions: Blizzard, Maribor Forest, Thunderbolt
• Decoctions: Archgriffin, Alghoul, Katakan, Succubus
• Quen glyphs
• Chernobog, Perun, & Svarog runestones
• Protection, Retribution, & Rotation glyphwords
• Elation runewords
• 2 red mutagens, 2 blue mutagens
• Bloodbath or Mutated Skin mutations