Sign

Griffin School: Maximum Intensity

/ fentalyne / Leave a comment

General Skills: Griffin School Techniques, Adrenaline Burst

Equipment:

Gear: Griffin armor and weapons (DLC: Ofieri w/Balance)
Min. level requirement:
Level 48 + 50 Places of Power = 98 skill points (NG+)
Recommended:

  • Glyphs: Igni
    • Glyphwords: Eruption, Beguilement, Possession (Balance w/Ofieri)
  • Runestones: Veles
    • Runewords: Replenishment
  • Potions: Petri’s Philter, Tawny Owl, Swallow
  • Decoctions: Ancient Leshen, Ekhidna, Ekimmara

Summary:

This build is “The Vesemir of Griffin School”. Old and skillful character, who has mastered every sign and has learnt how to maximize his power with the help of alchemy. This is the final form of the sign builds – it can’t really get much better than this!

This build combines the features of every Sign Build meant for the first playthrough.

How it works:

  • Normally sign build would need to focus on one sign and maximize its power
    • This build offers variety by making every sign as powerful as ever!
  • The main factors of this build are the 3 skills that you should never take off…
    • Acquired Tolerance lets you use potions and decoctions
    • Synergy buffs sign intensity to insane levels (over 300%)
    • Griffin School Techniques offers both intensity and stamina boost
  • The last 9 skill slots are free to manipulate the way you wish
    • For maximum stamina regeneration, activate 5/5 skills instead of 3/3 skills
    • Igni
      • Has insane damage and is your main damage dealer
      • Also offers greater sword damage by weakening enemy armor
      • Equip the armor with Eruption while using Igni as the main sign
    • Yrden
      • Makes dodging child’s play and offers needed damage buff
      • The bane of Specters existence
      • Equip the armor with Beguilement for some craziness
    • Axii
      • Control your enemies and let them work for you
      • Equip armor with Possession to make Axii as terrifying as possible
    •  Quen
      • Your safety net and the main way of healing besides of Swallow
      • Quen Discharge offers damage output even while defending
    • Aard
      • Easy knockdowns and crowd control, nothing special here
  • The importance of your armor changes the way this build works!
    • For Griffin armor
      • Eruption when having Igni as the main sign
      • Beguilement when having Yrden as the main sign
      • Possession when having Axii as the main sign
    • For Ofieri armor
      • Balance to make this light armor to work with Griffin School Techniques
  • Activate both Ekimmara and Ekhidna decoction at the same time to having no worries about keeping you healthy
  • ALTERNATIVE:
    • If you want to have more use of your swords, enchant them with Replenishment and equip Adrenaline Burst skill. This makes quite an interesting combination while sacrificing little bit of sign intensity!

Pros and cons:

+Extremely powerful
+Versatile

-Enchanting is expensive
-Lacks sword damage

Cat School: Glamdring

/ fentalyne / Leave a comment

Glamdring Combat  Glamdring Signs  Glamdring Active Skills

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

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 😉

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!

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

Griffin School: Sign of All Trades

/ fentalyne / Leave a comment

Sign of all Trades Signs  Sign of all Trades Active Skills 1  Sign of all Trades Active Skills 2  Sign of all Trades Active Skills 3

Gear: Griffin armor and weapons
Recommended:

  • Glyphs: Aard, Igni, Yrden, Quen, Axii
  • Runestones: Veles, Stribog
  • Potions: Tawny Owl, Petri’s Philter, Swallow
  • Decoctions: Ancient Leshen, Ekhidna

Summary:

Getting bored of specialized sign build? Struggling with opponents resisting your chosen fully upgraded sign? Look no further! This build lets you combine your active sign skills so that you’ll always face the enemy with signs they’re weak against! Jack of all trades kind of build maybe hasn’t the raw power of specialized sign build, but is whole lot more versatile!

How it works:

  • Choose your active skills when preparing for battle!
    • Every highly beneficial alternate sign and intensity skill is available to combine accordingly
    • Quen skills and Griffin School Techniques are always essential
  • Remember to read Bestiary and have knowledge of enemy weaknesses
    • Aard
      • Against enemies vulnerable to knockdown
      • Aard Sweep against large groups of enemies
    • Igni
      • Firestream against enemies which can get burned
      • Your most potent damaging sign
    • Yrden
      • Makes agile enemies slower and easier to deal with
      • Magic Trap when wanting to block projectiles and buff damage output of swords
      • Essential against Specters
    • Quen
      • Active Shield is your main way of healing
      • Discharge deals damage while healing and defending
    • Axii
      • Become a puppeteer and set your enemies against each other!
      • Domination works as crowd control
      • Chance to slay opponent instantly
      • Additional conversation options help a lot
  • Recommended skills against human opponents are Igni, Aard and Axii
  • Choose your potions and decoctions with care as you have limited toxicity limit!
    • Prefer battling during night as Superior Tawny Owl won’t wear off
    • Superior Petri’s Philter guarantees secondary effects of your signs
    • Decoctions are very risky, but may give you needed edge for tough battles

Pros and Cons:

+ The most versatile sign build in existence
+ Always able to use enemy sign weakness to your advantage
+ If battle preparations are made with care, you’ll have no trouble facing anyone!

– Limited use of alchemy
– Wrongly predicted battle preparations can make battles extremely tough

Griffin School: Pyromaniac

/ fentalyne / Leave a comment

Pyromaniac Signs  Pyromaniac Alchemy  Pyromaniac Active Skills

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

  • Glyphs: Igni, Quen, Yrden
  • Runestones: Veles
  • Potions: Tawny Owl, Petri’s Philter, Swallow
  • Decoctions: Ancient Leshen, Cockatrice, Ekhidna, Wraith

Summary:

Divide and conquer! After Geralt has mastered his signs to the fullest potential in terms of sign intensity there are very few enemies to give him trouble! With this build Geralt sometimes even forgets he carries two swords on his back…

How it works:

  • Griffin Gear + Griffin School Techniques + Sign Skills
    • Recover stamina near instantly!
  • Igni is the main damage dealer
    • With nearly 300% sign intensity you are nearly guaranteed to burn your opponent
    • Melt Armor makes swords effective against armored enemies
  • Use Firestream for unrivaled crowd control
  • Quen makes it nearly impossible to die
    • Use standard Quen when healthy
    • Recover health with Active Shield
    • Quen Discharge allows to continue damage dealing while defending and regaining health
  • Delusion gives you more conversation options
  • Magic Trap is helpful to boost damage output and defend against archers
  • Synergy makes sign intensity to skyrocket
    • Adds 60% to sign intensity!
  • Healing: Quen, Refreshment and Swallow

Pros and Cons:

+ Igni makes nearly every fight child’s play
+ Quen makes Geralt nearly invulnerable

– Becomes repetitive quickly
– Struggles against enemies resistant to Igni (eg. Elementals and Wild Hunt bosses)