Build Advice

There are a lot of ways to build Geralt to get through Arena mode on the difficulty setting of your choice, but a strong build is going to follow certain basic rules of thumb.

Generally, the best Dark mode builds are going to be well-rounded builds. You can’t afford to specialize purely in any one skill tree, because of the way battles mix different types of enemies. You are likely to find yourself dealing with enemies that resist magic one minute, then enemies that are resistant to sword damage the next. If you want to make it to round 30, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

Try to invest your talents in skills that are always going to be useful. Anything that increases vitality, reduces damage, boosts vigor, or accelerates vitality regeneration in combat is going to prove useful. Stay away from talents that give bonuses out of combat, since they’re basically useless in this game mode. If you’re not in combat, nothing is going to be threatening you.

Finally, be very conservative about investing in the alchemy tree. Getting to any of the useful skills involves spending talents on skills like Harvester that are basically useless in this mode. Impregnation is also not worthwhile in the arena, since rewards are not guaranteed. You don’t know when you’re going to get a worthwhile mutagen, so the points you invest in Impregnation may never be put to good use. Take more immediately useful talents from the mage and swordsmanship trees instead.

Once you unlock your adrenaline abilities, you may find you can save adrenaline between matches. Your adrenaline degrades over time as it does in a standard game, but not significantly. It’s still possible to enter a tough battle with an almost-full adrenaline meter and take a large threat out of the fight very quickly.

If you want some more ideas for how to build Geralt for the arena, then check out the sample build included here. This is the “Prima build” used in the Prima offices to clear Arena mode. Other builds that can clear Arena mode are certainly possible, and you can probably think of ways to improve this build as you play with Arena mode yourself. What you should pay attention to here is how this build fits the rules of thumb we’ve outlined.

This build takes the steps necessary to keep Geralt alive and mobile. This build invests heavily in skills to increase vitality and resistances while reducing the damage Geralt takes. Feet Work is essential in the arena to improve Geralt’s mobility and dodging ability, while Quen III and both levels of Venting act both as a strong defense and a passive offense. Axii III and both levels of Fatal Attraction help you turn foes into pawns that distract other enemies.

Finally, this build invests talents in causing critical effects. Being able to freeze, stun, and instantly kill opponents gives you a huge advantage, especially when you’re into the final rounds. Note that none of these talents boost effectiveness of specific critical effects. Since your weapons change frequently and are chosen from basically random selections, you need to be ready to take advantage of the strengths of any weapon you lay hands on.

Final Tips

If you have a strong build and get good equipment, you should have no trouble handling Arena mode on the difficulty of your choice. The only way you can really fail is if you employ bad tactics or let the enemies overwhelm you. The final bits of advice we can offer you for getting through Arena mode are these tips. If you start struggling in Arena mode and you can’t figure out why you’re losing, read these and see if they help you figure out what you should be doing differently.