The massive open world of The Continent and its Northern Kingdoms holds all manner of allure for adventurers: with its hidden caves and ruins, secret chambers, distant islands, underwater treasures, and vast forests and plains. To proceed without caution . . . it can mean a swift death on black wings and sharp fangs. That's why we're here: to prepare your Geralt with the most effective skills and tools, so you can earn that fearfully whispered reputation of the White Wolf.
In a game that already offers one of the largest open worlds to date, it can be confusing to design the perfect Geralt with a skill tree that allows for thousands of combinations and synergies. If that wasn't enough, where do you place those rare and precious mutagens along with your hard-earned skill points? This guide will break down the two most powerful builds, Melee and Tank, and include nuances to accent those builds drawn from the impressive expansions: Hearts of Stone, and Blood and Wine.
Before we dive into your Geralt-of-Whirling-Death build, or your Unstoppable-White-Wolf build, I want to clue you in on how to expedite your transformation away from the level one Noob-Geralt you're initially handed. The Continent boasts several Places of Power (shrines) that grant Geralt a free skill point when they are found . . . but I warn you, some of these are guarded by monsters capable of obliterating a low-level Geralt. A hint: start out by exploring White Orchard fully. There are twenty-five locations spread throughout The Continent, allowing for twenty-five free skill points (twenty-seven if you can find the Magic Acorn)!
Geralt's Masterwork Cat Gear will cause both the ladies and villains to swoon.
The Melee Build
(Geralt-of-Whirling-Death)
If an aggressive, glass-cannon build is your style, read on . . . otherwise, skim down to the Tank Build. I promise you won't miss anything.
The scope of this build—without the added perks of Enchantments and Mutations from the expansions—hits its stride around Level 40, but the progression in skill point placement is pretty straight forward. Read this portion fully to understand how to optimize your skill slots/mutagen while constructing this whirling dervish of a Geralt!
Melee: Skill Point Placement
First, focus your skill points on the Combat Skill Tree (Red): maxing out both Muscle Memory and Strength Training. This will dramatically boost your DPS (Damage Per Second) while increasing your Adrenaline Point gain (important for higher level skills). Include one skill point for Cat School Techniques in the General Skill Tree (Brown), as Geralt begins the game in Light Armor, and you can immediately begin reaping the rewards with boosted DPS and Critical Hit Damage.
This will open up the next tier of Combat Skills in the Tree. Next, focus your skill points in maxing out both Precise Blows and Crushing Blows. These skills raise both Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage, and further improve your Adrenaline Point gain. With this, you have nearly achieved a Geralt-of-Whirling! . . . the Death part begins to develop in the next tier of Combat Skills. If you have an extra skill point handy, place it to activate Rage Management in the General Skill Tree. This allows you to maintain casting the all-important Quen sign, granting your glass-cannon that extra level of protection.
With twenty skill points now assigned in the Combat Skill Tree, the third tier of skills becomes available! Put one point in Razor Focus (only one, for now) to allow Geralt an immediate Adrenaline Point when entering combat, and further boosting his Adrenaline Point gain. Then, focus your skill points on maxing out Whirl and Rend. Geralt will now begin dealing out rapid blows that ignore your enemy's armor, and will also increase his Critical Hit Chance significantly!
Only three more skills are needed to round out this build, and open the door for Geralt to push his DPS into ludicrously high numbers. In the Alchemy Skill Tree (Green), max out both the Acquired Tolerance and the Heightened Tolerance skills. This will allow Geralt to drink multiple decoctions, keeping his Toxicity from reaching dangerous levels. After this, go ahead and spend the points to max out Razor Focus (Combat).
The last skill you want to pour five points into is Sunder Armor (Combat). This allows Geralt to ignore a goodly portion of his enemy's Damage Resistance. With a few gear tips and a short list of beverages for Geralt to drink, your Geralt is now ready to shred the competition.
Melee: Geralt's Gear
Early on in the game, you will come across a quest for the Feline School Gear. After acquiring the armor in this set, keep upgrading it until it achieves Grandmaster Legendary status (this will take some time, well after 40thLevel). What weapon should your spinning Geralt of doom use? With a system that concurrently offers weapons appropriate to Geralt's level and prowess, nearly any weapon will do . . . unless you can find the Aerondight Sword. It is rumored to be the best sword in the game.
Melee: Decoctions
Before wading into a field of lethal, red-skull-marked enemies . . . Geralt should guzzle these four decoctions: Water Hag, Ekimmara, Alghoul, and Forktail. This mixed cocktail will greatly increase Geralt's DPS, grant him a 'vampiric' strike, and quickly regenerate his Adrenaline Points, allowing him to whirl around the battlefield delivering that swift death on black wings I warned you about. Remember: keep that Quen shield up!
Melee: Mutagen Placement
Finally, all four of your Mutagen slots should be filled with your best Red mutagens. This allows for a staggering DPS bonus, making your glass-cannon function like a cannon . . . loaded with glass. Geralt will rip through enemies in a ballet of blood and bone . . . and isn't that what we all want?
Melee: Expansions
Here are a few enhancements that will make this version of Geralt nigh unstoppable! If you're using Enchantments from Hearts of Stone: place the Invigoration Enchantment on your sword, and the Levity Enchantment on your armor. Geralt's vampiric vitality gain will now also ramp up his DPS, and his armor adds up to 100% to Critical Hit Damage! If you're using Mutations from Blood and Wine: completely research the Mutations Tree, and keep the Euphoria mutation active. This can improve Geralt's DPS by up to 75%!
As your Geralt climbs in levels, pressing ever on into the late game, consider adding these skills to the broadened slot structure of the expansions: Deadly Precision (Combat), Metabolic Control (General), Synergy (Alchemy), and Killing Spree (Alchemy).
With all of this, your Geralt-of-Whirling-Death will tear through even the toughest foes as if they were made of tissue paper. Enjoy!
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Nothing like using your new skills to eradicate an infestation. Bugs are like bad guys, right?
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Geralt's Ursine Gear comes with heavy leg protection. I dare you to call it a "dress."
The Tank Build
(Unstoppable-White-Wolf)
This slow, indestructible version of Geralt is awe inspiring to watch, resisting blow after blow as if his enemies were wielding wiffle ball bats.
The scope of this build—without the added perks of Enchantments and Mutations from the expansions—hits its stride around Level 40, and the method of skill placement requires point dropping to unlock the necessary skills. Read this portion fully to understand how to optimize your skill slots/mutagen while constructing this damage resistant beast of a Geralt!
Tank: Skill Point Placement
First, focus your skill points on the Combat Skill Tree (Red): maxing out both Strength Training and Resolve. This will greatly boost your Strong Attack DPS (Damage Per Second), while protecting your Adrenaline Points (crucial to skills later in this build). You would think that getting a skill point placed in Bear School Techniques (General) would be ideal, but I urge you to hold off! Heavy armor isn't available until you leave White Orchard and progress a bit in the open world . . . so wait until you see some decent heavy armor for sale before committing that skill point.
Here is where the path deviates from the Combat Skills for a bit—contrary to the Melee Build. Moving into the Alchemy Skill Tree (Green), begin maxing out skills in this order: Heightened Tolerance, Acquired Tolerance (which unlocks the second tier), Tissue Transmutation, and Protective Coating. Now, Geralt can ingest a multitude of decoctions without fear of deadly toxicity, his vitality gains a boon for each potion downed, and his oils add a higher defense against the prescribed monster.
Now we need to drop skill points simply to unlock the next tier of Combat Skills (Red). After assigning and maxing out Crushing Blows—which enhances your Strong Attack Critical Hits—choose either Fleet Footed or Undying. Max out one or the other in order to unlock the third tier of Combat Skills. We won't be using this skill in the build, it's simply a means to an end.
Our final run at the Combat Skills is as follows: max out Rend, Razor Focus, and Sunder Armor. These skills are going to allow your tank-Geralt to deal some heavy damage, stripping away your enemy's defenses and boosting your Adrenaline Point gain.
The last skill to drop three points into is Fixative (Alchemy). This will allow Geralt to oil his blade and never have to reapply, also creating a beautiful synergy with Protective Coating. With a few tips on gear and a beverage list to add to Geralt's swagger, we have nearly completed our Unstoppable-White-Wolf.
Tank: Geralt's Gear
While following the main quest, you will come across a scavenger hunt for Ursine School Gear. The armor from this set will make your White Wolf unstoppable. Make sure you continuously upgrade the armor, until reaching Grandmaster Legendary status (which can take a while, well after 40th Level). Try to find the Aerondight Sword, for it is rumored to be the best sword in the game. If not, the game's system will concurrently offer weapons appropriate to Geralt's current level and prowess, and are just as functional for this high-defense build.
Tank: Decoctions
Before testing Geralt's hardened skin and armor against swarms of enemies, Geralt should guzzle these three decoctions: Water Hag, Ekimmara, and Arachas. This tasty cocktail provides Geralt with a DPS boost, a 'vampiric' attack that regenerates his vitality, and Damage Resistance based on the weight of his gear (good thing our tank is wearing his heavy trousers, right?). With all of these defenses up, why not add one more? Remember: always activate your Quen shield! If the Quen shield can keep a glass-cannon alive . . . imagine a Tank . . . now imagine a Tank with a force-field!
Tank: Mutagen Placement
Finally, all four of your Mutagen slots should be filled with your best Red mutagens. This allows for a staggering DPS bonus, making your Tank's Strong Attacks land for incredible damage. Meanwhile, Geralt is soaking incredible amounts of damage while laughing in the shocked faces of his soon-to-die foes. Wild Hunt? More like Mild Hunt.
Tank: Expansions
Here are a few enhancements that will make this version of Geralt completely immune to damage! If you're using Enchantments from Hearts of Stone: place the Invigoration Enchantment on your sword, and the Deflection Enchantment on your armor. Geralt's vampiric vitality gain will now also ramp up his DPS, and his armor will completely ignore arrows and bolts! If you're using Mutations from Blood and Wine: completely research the Mutations Tree, and keep the Euphoria mutation active. This can improve Geralt's DPS by up to 75%!
As your Geralt climbs in levels, pressing ever on into the late game, consider adding these skills to the expanded slot structure of the expansions: Deadly Precision (Combat), Metabolic Control (General), Synergy (Alchemy), Killing Spree (Alchemy), and Hunter Instinct (Alchemy).
Having completed your Unstoppable-White-Wolf . . . watch now as your enemies land their strongest blows against you, and your health bar doesn't even flinch. You could wade through an army, and convince yourself it was merely a strong breeze.
It's been a pleasure bringing you insights into making your Geralt the best of the best. Enjoy rampaging through the rest of this massive, open world game! And read more articles – game on!
Joshua is a King among nerds (or at least a Lord): Dungeon Master, Magic card wielding thug, and a romantic poet, his pen has saved or scarred players for decades.
