NG+: Glass Cannon

General Skills: Cat School Techniques
Optional*: Strong Back, Adrenaline Burst, Battle Frenzy

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Gear: Feline gear + Nilfgaardian Guardsman’s Gauntlets and Ursine weapons
Min. level requirement:
– (Standard: Level 41 + 25 Places of Power = 66 Skill Points)
– NG+: Level 30+ and 50 Places of Power available = Easily Achievable
Recommended:

• Glyphs: Quen
  • Glyphword: Levity
• Runestones: –
  • Runeword: Severance
• Potions: Thunderbolt, Maribor Forest, Swallow, Tawny Owl
• Decoctions: Ekimmara, Katakan, Succubus, Water Hag, Wraith

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Summary:

After playing countless hours of Witcher 3, many of us become accustomed to different attack patterns and game mechanics. You find yourself in situations, that you are unharmed even after a boss battle or being not even close of dying during a long playing session. Well, this is a build for you!

Focusing everything on attack power and utility instead of defensive skills and gear, this build is the real Glass Cannon version of Geralt! Relive the memories of being afraid to die in any moment! Feel the power when facing your enemies just inches away of getting hit to the ground!

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How it works:

• To maximize attack power, equip…
  • Feline gear (Attack Power)
  • Nilfgaardian Guardsman’s Gauntlets (CRIT damage)
  • Ursine swords (Adrenaline and CRIT damage)
  • 3 Greater Red Mutagens buffed with Synergy skill (Attack Power)
  • Cat School Techniques (CRIT damage and DPS
    • Levity glyphword so gauntlets are counted as light gear
  • Every important Combat skill
• Adrenaline gain is kind of low without the Ursine gear, but to compensate this build has the Ursine swords and Razor Focus accompanied by Maribor Forest
  • Adrenaline is mainly needed for Whirl and Rend
  • Optionally replace Refreshment with…
    • Adrenaline Burst, which may help to gain adrenaline faster
    • Battle Frenzy, applying interesting effect of greater critical hit chance!
• There is no need for Resolve, Fleet Footed or any other “defensive skill” because veteran dodging is the base of this build
• Acquired Tolerance allows the usage of potions and decoctions to further boost your damage output
• Refreshment is the only utility skill for the sake of getting you easily to max health if you happen to get hit, but this is totally replaceable!
• This build is the enhanced version of following original builds:
  • All combat builds, especially Cat School: Swordmaster
• If you have DLC, this build works perfectly with New Moon gear too!
  • If you forget the sign investments, compare to New Moon: Critical Hybrid

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Pros and Cons:

+ Ultimate build for experienced gamers
+ High Risk, High Reward
+ Extremely thrilling!

– Lacks versatility of signs
– If you are not experienced, you’re going to die – A LOT

Cat School: Glamdring

    

Note: I counted this as sign build even though in active skill photo I have Acquired Tolerance equipped. That’s because that’s the only skill from alchemy tree and I’d recommend to have Greater Blue mutagen there even it doesn’t link with the skill – that sign intensity boost is really needed.

Gear: Feline armor and Wolven (or Feline/Griffin) weapons
Min. level requirement:
Recommended:

• Glyphs: Aard, Quen
• Runestones: Veles, Perun
• Potions: Tawny Owl, Maribor Forest, Petri’s Philter, Swallow
• Decoctions: Ancient Leshen, Ekhidna, Katakan

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Summary:

This build takes quite different route compared with Witchers from the School of Cats normally taking. Using the fast stamina regeneration from Feline gear and adrenaline gain to cast signs is something rarely seen combined together – could it work? See it for yourself and be surprised!

PS. Name is a reference to Lord of the Rings 😉

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How it works:

• Fast attacks is the main damage dealer in this build
  • Lacks raw power, but damage output is passable
• Aard is the main sign of this build
  • Provides Knockdowns for easy/free kills
  • Aard Sweep is great for crowd control
• Quen is the main way of healing while staying offensive
  • Active Shield is astounding on Death March difficulty
  • Quen Discharge lets you deal damage while healing/defending
• Replace your active skills according to situation!!
  • There is 1 slot always free to change and additional option to replace Aard Sweep when dealing with only one opponent
  • Acquired Tolerance allows to use potions and decoctions more effectively (extremely handy)
  • Firestream is great for crowd control and against enemies weak to fire
  • Axii provides conversation options and option to Puppet enemies
• Wolven swords provide best buffs considering how build works
  • Before reaching Kaer Morhen, use Griffin or Feline swords
• Feline gears fast stamina regeneration and Rage Management using adrenaline to cast signs allows signs to be quite spammable
• Use potions to make this build more efficient!
  • Tawny Owl or/and Maribor Forest helps sign casting
  • Superior Petri’s Philter guarantees sign effects (knockdown)
• If you have Acquired Tolerance as active skill, consider using decoctions!
  • Boost signs with Ancient Leshen, heal with Ekhidna or improve critical hit chance with Katakan!

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Pros and Cons:

+ Able to use both swords and signs efficiently
+ Feline gear combined with Aard allows very offensive playstyle
+ Acquired Tolerance allows to use potions efficiently
+ Good options to replace active skills makes build quite versatile in that department

– Struggles a bit against opponents resisting Aard knockdowns
– Lacks raw power

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Cat School: Guerilla

    

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

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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!

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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

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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)

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Cat School: Odd Cat

    

Gear: Feline armor and Ursine/Feline weapons
Min. level requirement: Level 34 + 25 Places of Power = 59 skill points
Recommended:

• Glyphs: Quen
• Runestones: Devana, Perun, Stribog
• Potions: Thunderbolt, Maribor Forest, Blizzard, Tawny Owl
• Decoctions: Katakan, Archgriffin, Succubus

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Summary:

When looking just the active skills, one may mistake this for another standard Alchemy Tank -build with Ursine gear. The build would work well with Ursine too, but this Odd Cat from the school of Cats shows that you needn’t be slow and sturdy to land heavy blows!

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How it works:

• Rend is the main damage dealer
  • Cat School Techniques gives additional 100% critical damage boost when landing a critical hit with Rend
  • Feline gears faster stamina regeneration in contrast to Ursine allows to spam Rend in quicker succession!
  • Use Rend especially against slower and sturdier opponents or when facing just single enemy
• Fast attacks work as secondary damage dealer and helps to deal with larger groups of enemies or against agile enemies
  • Skill investments boosts damage output and makes fast attacks usable
• Heighten the chance of critical hits as much as possible to increase damage output
  • Use Katakan decoction for boss battles
  • Choose between Feline and Ursine blades
    • Feline swords with higher critical hit chance
    • Ursine swords with higher critical hit damage
• Blade Oils buff your damage output – remember to prepare for battle!
  • Fixative makes sure oils won’t wear off before the battle ends
  • Switch active skill between Poisoned Blades and Protective Coating as you see is better for battle
• Refreshment allows to use other potions instead of Swallow for healing
  • Geralts main way of healing with this build
• Synergy buffs your mutagens so that you have higher attack power and more vitality
  • Vitality buff makes even the Witcher from the School of Cat somewhat sturdy
• Use standard Quen-Slash-Retreat -tactic

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Pros and Cons:

+ Extremely versatile with fast and strong attacks combined with alchemy
+ Damage output is surprisingly high
+ More agile and versatile than the nearly same build with Ursine gear
+ Alchemy investments lets Geralt act like a real Witcher when preparing for battle

– Signs are nearly unusable
– Feline gear doesn’t provide as high damage resistance as Ursine gear

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Cat School: Swordmaster

    

Gear: Feline armor and Ursine weapons
Min. level requirement: Level 31 + 25 Places of Power = 56 skill points
Recommended:

• Glyphs: Quen
• Runestones: Devana, Perun, Stribog
• Potions: Thunderbolt, Maribor Forest, Blizzard, Swallow
• Decoctions: Katakan, Archgriffin, Succubus

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Summary:

Build making Geralt true swordmaster! Really straightforward build enabling to use both fast and strong attacks with great results while using a bit of alchemy to heal from your little mistakes!

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How it works:

• Combine fast and strong attacks according to enemy type
  • Fast attacks against agile enemies and groups
  • Strong attacks against slower and single opponents
• Use your massive adrenaline gain to use Whirl or boost Rend damage
  • Whirl destroys nearby enemies if you are surrounded
  • Rend deals massive damage with single blow
• Feline armor provides naturally fast stamina regeneration
  • Notable with Rend which is usually used in tandem with Ursine gear and slow stamina regeneration
  • Allows to use Quen-Slash-Retreat -tactic (Investment to Rage Management is optional)
• Boosting critical hit damage is essential for smoother battles
  • Katakan decoction and Thunderbolt to boost critical hit occurence
  • Archgriffin decoction to boost Rend damage
  • Ursine swords and Cat School Techniques gives massive boost to critical hit damage
• Deadly Precision gives helpful chance of instantly killing an opponent
• Alchemy investments provides this build greater efficiency
  • Refreshment is the main way of healing and allows you to have other potions than Swallow in quick selection slots
  • Allows you to have at least one decoction active for battles without hindering potion usage

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Pros and Cons:

+ More versatile than a build focusing on just fast or strong attacks
+ Simple but efficient
+ Rend and Whirl in the same build is awesome!

– Hack and Slash gameplay can get boring
– Signs are nearly unusable

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Cat School: Whirl + Crossbow

    

Gear: Feline armor and weapons
Min. level requirement: Level 27 + 25 Places of Power = 52 skill points
Recommended:

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

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Summary:

Build taking full advantage of Cat Schools buffs. Fast attack and crossbow damage with critical hits and added chance to instantly kill opponent will make quick work of most opponents you will come across!

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How it works:

• Standard “Quen-Attack-Retreat”
• Healing: Refreshment and Swallow
• Whirl is the main damage dealer
  • Gain more adrenaline with sword blows and shooting crossbow
  • Critical hits boost damage output
• Use recommended potions to accelerate adrenaline and stamina gain
  • Allows to cast Quen and use whirl in faster succession
• Deadly Precision gives up to 6% chance to instantly kill opponent with every successful hit
  • Whirl and Crossbow become extremely potent with luck
• Cat School Techniques
  • Boosts your Fast Attack and Whirl damage by 20%
  • Boosts your critical hit damage by 100%
    • Affects both sword and crossbow critical hits!
• Rage Management
  • Allows to cast Quen in dangerous situations with the cost of adrenaline

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Pros and Cons:

+ Whirl is extremely powerful and you can use it nearly all the time
+ Refreshment provides healing while using offensive potions
+ Build makes crossbow damage passable and usable

– Signs are extremely weak and nearly unusable except from Quen
– Becomes repetitive over time

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