Alchemy

Cat School: Guerilla

/ fentalyne / Leave a comment

Guerilla Combat  Guerilla Alchemy  Guerilla Active Skills

Gear: Feline armor and weapons
Min. level requirement: Level 35 + 25 Places of Power = 60 skill points
Recommended:

  • Glyphs: Quen
  • Runestones: Devana, Perun, Stribog
  • Potions: Thunderbolt, Blizzard, Tawny Owl, Golden Oriole
  • Decoctions: Cockatrice, Katakan, Succubus

Summary:

“Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants — use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military.” -Wikipedia

With that in mind, this build was designed to be agile alchemy build. Using bombs to start of a fight with a bang and moving in to deal quick damage with fast attacks which are boosted by your alchemy skills – that’s what this build is all about!

How it works:

  • Bombs are the main focus of this build
    • Efficiency allows to carry that many bombs that they should be enough for even a long battle
    • Cluster Bombs decimate large groups of enemies – just beware to not get caught in the blast yourself!
    • Pyrotechnics and Steady Aim are optional skills
      • Pyrotechnics helps with weaker enemies, but that damage is unnoticeable against bosses for example
      • Steady Aim helps with first shot, but usually just casting auto-aimed bombs during battle is recommended
      • One active slot is a selection between these and Poisoned Blades – select the one best for each battle!
    • Golden Oriole allows to move in and attack with swords even after you have cast a bomb which is normally poisonous to Geralt (Devil’s Puffball and Dragon’s Dream)
    • Northern Wind boosts damage for first hit you land on opponent
  • Fast attacks is your main damage dealer beside casting bombs
    • Feline gear and Cat School Techniques boosts damage
    • Use of potions, decoctions and blade oils add damage output
    • Last skill you should invest in this build is Hunter Instinct
      • Buffs critical hit damage to monstrous heights!
  • Refreshment allows the use of other potions in quick slots than Swallow
    • Boost your sword damage and recovery time with these
  • Decoctions provides needed boost for sword damage output
    • Katakan for critical hit chance and Succubus for attack power
  • Blade Oils are essential to heighten damage output without further investments to combat tree
    • They won’t wear off because of Fixative (should always use)
    • Poisoned Blades skill is optional buff to damage
  • Synergy makes this build bulky even with Feline gear

Pros and Cons:

+ Versatility is the key
+ Explosions are extremely satisfying
+ Feeling when using knowledge when combining bombs to swordplay and potions is really satisfying

– May lack raw power
– Bombs are quite ineffective against some enemies (those who resist the damage and those who can close the gap very quickly)

Bear School: Bomber of Blaviken

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Bomber of Blaviken Alchemy  Bomber of Blaviken General  Bomber of Blaviken Active Skills

Gear: Ursine armor and weapons
Min. level requirement: Level 23 + 25 Places of Power = 48 skill points*
Recommended:

  • Glyphs: Quen
  • Runestones: Dazhbog, Devana, Stribog
  • Potions: Thunderbolt, Maribor Forest, Blizzard
  • Decoctions: Katakan, Cockatrice, Ekimmara, Succubus

Summary:

When the butcher gets his hands on bombs, you know things are going down… This build entirely focused on alchemy makes Geralt act like a heavy artillery or tank! Watch your enemies blow away and enjoy what wonders your alchemy knowledge can achieve!

How it works:

  • Bombs are your main way of dealing damage
    • Efficiency allows you to carry enough bombs to blow up entire village if you wish to
    • Cluster Bombs blasts away large area and all enemies in it
    • Note: You will have plenty of skill points before you reach the end of the game. You can choose to upgrade Steady Aim and Pyrotechnics with additional skill points, but I haven’t found much use for them so they aren’t included.
  • Blade Oils buffs sword damage up to 50%
    • Poisoned Blades allows you to poison your enemy for extra damage, especially with Superior oils this happens all the time
    • Protective Coating reduces the enemy damage as long as you have prepared accordingly
    • Geralt won’t need to worry for oils to wear of thanks to Fixative
  • Potions are spammable and that’s even recommended!
    • With Side Effects you always activate another potions effect – extremely handy ability!
    • Refreshment allows you to have some other potion than Swallow in you quick slot
    • Delayed Recovery makes long battles child’s play. After few minutes into fight when Geralt has consumed his decoctions and potions (with added side effects), you’ll have eternal buffs for the remaining of battle!
  • Ursine gear provides enough adrenaline gain to use signs whenever needed, especially Quen
    • You need adrenaline just for Rage Management, so Quen becomes extremely spammable

*Note: If you hoard all the Places of Power this build is finished extremely early in the game. Even so that all active slots aren’t open and you have many more skill points to spare. With this build searching every PoP isn’t really needed. You can freely choose to invest your skill points as you see best!

Pros and Cons:

+ Geralt becomes near impossible to kill
+ Your alchemy skills are non-matched and make you feel like a scholar
+ Explosions are really satisfying

– Battles can take too long for some people – stall tactics essentially
– Requires a lot of time to gather every recipe
– Struggles at the beginning of the game

Bear School: Wild Hunter

/ fentalyne / Leave a comment

Wild Hunter Combat  Wild Hunter Alchemy  Wild Hunter Active Skills

Gear: Ursine armor and weapons
Level requirement: Level 33 + 25 Places of Power = 58 skill points
Recommended:

  • Glyphs: Quen
  • Runestones: Perun, Stribog
  • Potions: Maribor Forest, Thunderbolt, Tawny Owl, Swallow
  • Decoctions: Alghoul, Ekimmara, Katakan, Succubus

Summary:

Geralt finds his inner beast with this build! Hunter Instinct and Killing Spree are the bread and butter of this CRIT-machine which is nearly impossible to kill!

How it works:

  • The main goal is to get maximum adrenaline ASAP!
    • When maxed, Hunter Instinct activates and gives 100% critical hit damage bonus
    • Bear School Gear + Perun Runestones + Potions + Decoctions provide consistent adrenaline gain even without further investments in combat tree
    • Resolve is essential for keeping you maxed out!
  • Killing Spree makes mobs of enemies child’s play
    • Nothing is more satisfying than to 1-shot everyone from a group of 10 enemies with powerful critical hits
    • Bosses which utilize/summon henchmen dig their own grave when sending weaker enemies for sword food
  • Take full advantage of being alchemy specialist
    • Blade Oils won’t wear off with Fixative, so remember to prepare for every battle! Superior oils provide crazy 50% damage bonus!
    • Use potions and decoctions to reach Delayed Recovery skills 70% toxicity limit for it to activate and enjoy your potion combinations to continue throughout whole fight!
      • Note: Making Swallow to not wear off is amazing!
  • When needed replace active skills with pre-existing fully upgraded ones
    • Poisoned Blades and Protective coating can give you an edge in a fight
    • Replace:
      • Muscle Memory when fighting slow&sturdy enemies
      • Strenght Training when fighting agile&weak enemies
      • Rage Management if you feel you won’t need Quen
  • Quen should be activated before every fight, but don’t count on it
    • Rage Management is your last resort to get Quen when needed
    • Note: You will lose adrenaline which means Hunter Instinct will deactivate, although it needs just few sword blows to regenerate
  • Main way of healing: Refreshment and Swallow
  • Variation: Feel like you just need Resolve from combat tree? Go deeper in the alchemy tree with 10 skill points relieved! Recommendation: Efficiency and Cluster Bombs adds destructive long range options to your arsenal!

Pros and Cons:

+ Geralt becomes terrifying offensive beast
+ He eats hits like a champ and is extremely likely to be at full health after battle
+ Preparing for battle is essential for Witcher and this build simulates it perfectly
+ Who doesn’t like critical hits?

– Alchemy is time consuming and slow in the beginning of the game
– Lack of signs leaves you occasionally vulnerable and unable to abuse weaknesses
– Build doesn’t reach its fullest potential if there is just one enemy