Creating Your Witcher — The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt The Complete Edition eGuide

The key to creating an entertaining, flexible, and powerful Archetype is to focus on the type of ways you like to survive and fight.

Overall Archetype

If you’re purely interested in using swords (and to a lesser extent, the crossbow), look primarily at Combat Archetypes with a couple of General Abilities. If you enjoy using magic against foes, Signs are the way to go. Should you feel the need to concoct potions, bombs, decoctions, and oils, focus on an Alchemy build. If you’re intending on adventuring at a higher difficulty, pick a Hybrid build where two (or more) Ability branches are chosen.

Statistical Prowess And Complementary Elements

The key to becoming a legend across the Northern Realms is to be very, very good at one particular aspect of fighting. Initially, that’s usually focusing on Fast Attack Abilities to out-perform enemies you fight against. But that is only the beginning! You should read about all the different abilities, and research how they affect each other, and how the vast array of items you gather can also bolster your statistics.

The first step is looking through all the Ability branches to see which abilities add to your Adrenaline: Each Combat Ability gives you a 1% gain no matter what ability it is. Blows landed during combat generate Adrenaline Points and each one increases weapon damage by 10%. Strong Attacks and Battle Trance Abilities are particularly focused on Adrenaline Point (AP) management, and some effects work well with other abilities:

Rend (Combat) has other effects, but it also enables APs to increase total damage by 33-100%.
Deadly Precision(Combat) allows every AP to add 1% to the chance of instantly killing a foe.
Resolve (Combat)lowers AP loss upon taking damage by 20-100%.
Undying (Combat) uses APs to restore Vitality instead of death.
Razor Focus(Combat) gives you an AP for just entering combat, and increases APs generated by sword attacks by 5-25%.
Flood of Anger(Combat) allows you to consume APs to upgrade a Sign to its highest level and increase its intensity

So Rend and Razor Focus seem to be must-haves (and once you spend 20 points on other Abilities in order to unlock it, you should level it up to 5). In the mean-time, you are finding Combat Abilities that complement Adrenaline, or use Adrenaline effectively; such as the Fast Attack and Strong Attack branches. Don’t forget to look over the other Ability branches too. Here are some initial picks (which don’t need to be “unlocked” by purchasing other Abilities first):

Hunter Instinct (Alchemy) allows blades coated with oil (used against an enemy susceptible to the oil) to inflict 20% more critical hit damage, if your APs are at their maximum.
Rage Management (General) allows you to cast Signs using APs if your Stamina levels are too low.
Adrenaline Burst (General) increases AP generation by 5% and using Signs generates APs.
Focus (General) allows APs to increase weapon damage and Sign intensity.
Mutagens (General) allows you to link Abilities from the same branch for extra bonuses.

The next plan is to check A Witcher’s Tools, the comprehensive inventory available in the free eGuide, and find items that also help bolster your Adrenaline, before locating them in your adventuring! The following examples are particularly related to Adrenaline:

Potion: Maribor Forest accelerates the generation of Adrenaline Points by 0.15 with extending durations depending on the quality of the Potion.
Swords: Ursine Steel and Silver Swords both grant you a +5-20% gain in APs, depending on the quality of the weapon.
Armor: Wolven Armor Torso armor grants you +5-20% AP gain, while Boots, Trousers, and Gloves increase Attack power.
Perun Runestones are imbued on your weapons, and give between 2-5% AP gain, so three Greater Perun Runestones grants a single sword with three sockets +15% APs!
Replenisment Runewords allow you to consume an AP after casting a Sign, to charge your sword attack with the power of that Sign.
Elation Runewords give you up to 0.25 Adrenaline Points every time a fatal blow is delivered by the sword this is imbued to.
Placation Runestones cause your APs to decline once they reach maximum level, in return for increased Stamina and Vitality regeneration, and Toxicity decline.

As you can see, learning the items or enchantments to “stack” and utilize together on your character is the key to turning them into a combat or Sign-conjuring machine! Now learn which elements work in conjunction with one another, and you’ll eventually perfect an Archetype that can handle any battle, in any mode of difficulty! Or just build one of the Archetypes built for Death March! Difficulty instead!

Levelling Up

The following Archetypes give you a general selection of armor, weapons, and abilities you should be finding and unlocking by the time you reach certain levels, in order to keep your Archetype on the right path. There’s no need to follow these guidelines exactly; these are just pointers so you understand what you should be gathering, or the general order of ability points spending on during your adventure.

Ability Points

As mentioned earlier, outside of two quests, there are only two ways to acquire Ability Points; by leveling up and by visiting Places of Power. There are 30 Places of Power to locate (though three are only available during the Main Quest, and are therefore important to find during the quests or afterward, and one is in another world, and cannot be returned to!). It is important to read the Places of Power Appendix so you know where all of these monoliths are. Then you should follow the Archetype guidelines and collect these additional points as early as possible, “front-loading” the Abilities you can unlock.

Budget Constraints For Ability Points

It’s important not to waste Ability Points, as you only receive one per level (or for each Place of Power you visit). Therefore, when you’re choosing the initial 12 Abilities to place into each of the four “slots” in the middle of your Character Menu, you should initially focus on 12 Abilities that complement each other (and can be linked by Greater Mutagens for additional bonuses).

Then, you can spend additional points unlocking Mutations, so you can add another four Ability slots bringing the total to 16, as well as unlock a special Mutation effect (from a choice of 12). This takes considerable time, so expect to perform this during a New Game + adventure, during your second visit to each Place of Power, and after completing the Blood and Wine Secondary Quest: Turn and Face the Strange..

However, you are free to purchase more Abilities than you have slots to use. For example, you may wish to keep Axii Delusion off your slots during combat, but place it into a slot when conversing with characters. Or you may have a set of three Aard abilities you use sometimes, and swap between them depending on the enemy. If you tailor your fighting against human-sized foes and monsters differently, you may wish to swap out a few Abilities accordingly.

If all else fails, use a Potion of Clearing and purchase Abilities again, all at once, without making mistakes this time!

Armor Makes The Mutant

Using a particular type of armor (and weaponry) is usually critical to help augment the abilities, glyphs (and runestones), and other enchantments you need to add to maximize the effectiveness of your archetype. For this, the best available armor (and weapons) has been recommended. If you can’t find this equipment, or lack the Level to wear it, find some with a similar weight, or statistics before you graduate to the optimal outfit and armaments. When in doubt, use Witcher gear!

Spending Your Crowns Wisely

It is worth making money in order to unlock advantages such as the Ofieri Runewright, Armorers and Blacksmiths to craft your most impressive gear, and other accouterments the influence an archetype. It costs crowns and time to craft a set of Mastercrafted armor, and Witcher Gear is even more time-consuming to find and build. But the results are well worth it!

Upper Levels And Ng+

Once you reach upper Levels (50+), or you’re starting a New Game +, you should have built your Archetype to the state where it is optimal, and started to unlock Mutations. At this point you can continue to add abilities so you become more and more focused, or change and opt for a different Archetype completely. Starting New Game + is usually a great idea, as you’re able to access all the Places of Power again, adding a potential 30 extra points, as well as slowly gaining experience points and Character Levels.

Last On Your List: Mutations

Remember that the final abilities you crave are the mysterious Mutations; accessed only after completing Blood and Wine: Secondary Quest: Turn and Face the Strange. This eventually increases your total Abilities from 12 to 16, and adds a specific, immensely powerful Mutation you can employ. Each archetype lists 16 Abilities, so you can choose which order the first 12 of them are placed, before the final four are unlocked after Mutations are complete. Fair warning; it takes 55 points (each from raising a level or finding a Place of Power) to unlock all four Ability Slots (so you can activate all 16) as well as researching any of the 12 available Mutations, so expect to start a New Game + and revisit all 30 Places of Power again to bolster your points.

Archetype Specifics: Building A Better Archetype

The following archetypes offer you a great range of possible ways to augment Geralt as your adventure continues. All are primarily focused on the Character Menu, where your abilities are unlocked. Archetypes are divided into four main groups:

Combat Related: Emphasis on the (red) Combat Branch of Ability Tree.

Signs Related: Emphasis on the (blue) Signs Branch of Ability Tree.

Alchemy Related: Emphasis on the (green) Alchemy Branch of Ability Tree.

Hybrids: Elements from all four main branches of the Ability Tree, including the (yellow) General Branch of Ability Tree.

The Recommended Abilities Chart

Each Archetype has a chart showing the following information:

Ability Tree: The number of recommended abilities for each of the four Branches of the Ability Tree.
Points to Unlock: How many ability points must have been spent to unlock the ability. These range from 0-30.
Levels: How many levels the recommended ability has. These range from 0-5. The chart always recommends the maximum ability, but you can purchase the ability levels in any order you like.
Branch and Ability Name: Which of the five sections of a particular branch the ability is from, and its name. These are listed as they appear left to right on your Character Menu.
Total Ability Points Needed: This number shows how many ability points are needed to reach the maximum level in all 12 of the recommended abilities (essentially, how many Levels you need to raise your character, minus any Places of Power you interact with). A second, asterisked number indicates the four additional abilities you may wish to unlock after the first 12, once Blood and Wine Mutations are active. If a third number appears, these indicate abilities that should be unlocked in order to reach a more important, recommended Ability.

The Recommended Equipment And Enhancements

After the ability chart is a list of important equipment and enhancements, along with the recommended specific item to further improve the Archetype. These are elements that increase the potency of the Archetype and offer incredible “stacking” bonuses (that are added on top of other bonuses) to turn Geralt into an almost unstoppable killing machine. Every element is battle-tested and approved, from the types of Bombs to lob to the Runewords your swords should be inscribed with.

General Advice

After the list is some general advice regarding why specific elements were chosen for the archetype. An explanation of what this archetype’s main reason for existing is (to have the best damage per second, for example), and how the various items and enhancements work together, are explained.

What’s The Point Of It All?

Just how many Ability Points is it possible to acquire? The answer may surprise you!

Points for Leveling Up: 99 (you receive 1 point each time you reach a new level, starting at Level 2, and ending at Level 100).

Points for visiting Places of Power: 30 (you receive 1 point for each Place of Power you examine).

Points for visiting Places of Power in New Game +: 30 (when you begin New Game +, you can revisit all 30 Places of Power once again).

Points for completing quests: 3 (You receive 2 skill points for eating the acorn lying under the tree during Main Quest: Bald Mountain. You receive 1 point obtaining the golden egg, laid by the Golden Goose, during Blood and Wine: Secondary Quest: Duck, Duck, Goosed!).

Points for completing quests in New Game +: 3 (you can complete both the quests again in New Game + and claim the three ability points a second time).

Total Points available: 164 (assuming you complete all tasks listed previously).

Points needed to unlock all Combat Branch Abilities: 91.

Points needed to unlock all Signs Branch Abilities: 79.

Points needed to unlock all Alchemy Branch Abilities: 90.

Points needed to unlock all General Branch Abilities: 20.

Total Points (known as Research Points) needed to unlock all 12 Blood and Wine Mutations: 55

Total Points to unlock everything: 335.

As you cannot ever hope to unlock every single Ability and Blood and Wine Mutations, simply focus on those abilities of particular interest to you that work in conjunction with other abilities, with specializations that benefit you the most.

Finally, remember that some Ability points are easier to come by than others. For example, there are six Places of Power in White Orchard alone, so it is helpful that you locate these monoliths as early as possible, as long as you aren’t placing yourself in too much danger. Need to know where all the Places of Power are? Consult the appendix.