For those who have played The Witcher game before, we know that you are now well-oriented with the game as you have tons of knowledge playing the game. In addition, advance players know how crucial the very first minute of the gameplay in The Witcher. If you checked your character, you will see tons of skills and little ability points. This is really a problem as once you've put the ability points to the wrong skill, then you will definitely have hard times coping up to mid and late games.
So, we've decided to share a guide just in case you need it. And oh yeah! Newbie players must read this guide as it will serve as one of our life-saver in the game.
Presenting the guide on the best skills to invest your ability points at the very beginning stage of the game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt!
This guide will give you some insights on what are best skills that you might want to get for your journey, and give you some recommendations on how to build your character in the game, for certain scenarios.
So, we think that you know what you'll be reading in this page, now let us proceed to the guide.
Note: These are only recommendations that we think best fits gamers playing style. Don't follow it blindly! Instead, use it as a guide to make your very own build for your character in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Credits: Best Skills To Invest at start - The Witcher 3 Guide by gosunoob.com
No matter which path you choose, you’ll have to rely on your swordsmanship to some extent. Committing to a combat build is therefore the path of least resistance. When you cut things, they bleed – it’s an easy choice. You have to spend 8 points in the first tier of the combat tree to unlock the second. There are two approaches you could go for in the beginning – the fast combat build, and the strong combat build.
Combat Build #1: The Speed Demon Combat Build (Rogue)
This build revolves around being nimble, utilizing fast attacks and not getting hit. The best way to achieve this is by maxing out:
- Arrow Deflection (Defense): Allows you to deflect arrows while parrying, and reflect them back at the archer at later levels.
- Muscle Memory (Fast Attack): Increases the damage you do with your fast attacks.
Once you’ve unlocked the second tier, you should concentrate on the following:
- Precise Blows (Fast Attack): Increases the critical chance and damage of fast attacks.
- Fleet Footed (Defense): Decreases the damage you take while dodging.
There’s also a couple of abilities in the general skill tree you should unlock:
- Cat School Techniques: Increases critical damage and fast attack damage for every piece of light armor you wear.
- Focus: Adrenaline points increase weapon damage. Since every skill in the combat tree improves adrenaline generation, this skill is essential.
Combat Build #2: The Tank Build
This one is all about dishing out and taking lots of damage. The first thing you need to do is invest in:
- Strength Training (Strong Attack): Increases the damage you do with strong attacks. Upgrade it to level 5.
- Resolve (Battle Trance): Makes you lose less adrenaline points after taking damage and increases adrenaline point gain. Invest 3 points into it.
Now that you’ve unlocked the second tier of abilities, focus on the following:
- Crushing Blows (Strong Attack): Increases the critical chance and damage of strong attacks.
- Undying (Battle Trance): When you lose all Vitality, it transforms some of your adrenaline into it.
The general skill tree holds a few gems as well:
- Bear School Techniques: Increases vitality and strong attack damage for every piece of heavy armor.
- Focus: Adrenaline points increase weapon damage. Since every skill in the combat tree improves adrenaline generation, this skill is essential.
Signs are the equivalent of magic in the world of The Witcher 3. Concentrating on them will make you worse at fighting in close quarters, but their advantages are numerous. You can specialize into a damage dealing wizard that concentrates on a single target, or a utility caster that casts area-of-effect spells. They still both rely on swords, but magic is their forte.
Sign Build #1: The Single Target Build
This build concentrates on dealing large amounts of damage to a single target, while protecting the caster from other enemies. First, you’ll need to max out the following:
- Melt Armor (Igni): Permanently weakens enemy armor.
- Exploding Shield (Quen): Pushes enemies back when the shield explodes.
Once the second tier is opened, you should invest in:
- Firestream (Igni): Fires a continuous stream of fire in the desired direction.
- Active Shield (Igni): Allows maintaining an active shield that drains stamina. Absorbed damage restores vitality.
The general skill tree has two abilities that should interest you:
- Adrenaline Burst: Casting signs generates adrenaline.
- Rage Management: If stamina is too low, you can use adrenaline points to cast signs.
Sign Build #2: The AOE Build
This one is heavy on the utilities – you will mostly be using signs to weaken enemies so that they’re no match for your (meager) combat skills. In the beginning, you need to upgrade:
- Far-Reaching Aard (Aard): Increases Aard range.
- Sustained Glyphs (Yrden): Increases Yrden duration, number of traps.
- Delusion (Axii): Stops the target from moving closer.
When you’ve unlocked the second tier, concentrate on Aard and Yrden:
- Aard Sweep (Aard): Strikes all opponents in a radius.
- Magic Trap (Yrden): Damages and slows all enemies in the radius. Destroys projectiles.
From the general skill tree, you should choose:
- Adrenaline Burst: Casting signs generates adrenaline.
- Focus: Adrenaline points increase sign intensity.
Character builds that rely on alchemy should mostly be using oils and bombs to complement their sword-fighting. Bombs are great not only at damaging, but also disabling enemies in a battle, while oils increase the damage done to a certain enemy type.
Max out the following abilities:
- Poisoned Blades (Oil Preparation): Chance of poisoning the enemy with oiled blade.
- Steady Aim (Bomb Creation): Slows time even more while aiming bombs.
Once the second tier is open, go for these:
- Protective Coating (Oil Preparation): Gives protection against the enemy type vulnerable to the oil.
- Pyrotechnics (Bomb Creation): Bombs that don’t do damage now do 30 damage.
- Refreshment (Brewing): Each potion you drink heals 5% of your health.
Hybrid Builds
Mixed builds are recommended only for experienced players. If you’re new to RPGs, you’re better of with one of the builds above. By investing across several skill trees, you’ll need much more time to get to the higher tiers, which is where all the best abilities are. The pay-off is greater, but the road is longer, too.
A hybrid build of Combat mixed with either Signs or Alchemy works lovely. You get what you do with regular Signs and Alchemy builds, but with better fighting skills. Combining the two themselves is pretty hard to pull off, but can be done with a lot of work.