Archetype 9: Plague Wind

(* Additional Abilities as 16 Slots are unlocked through Mutations)

(** These Abilities are optional, and the Signs-related ones can be swapped into your Signs slots if Aard isn’t helpful in battle, or you have a Mutation that doesn’t accept an Attribute type))

Armor: Viper Armor

Swords: Viper Venomous Steel Sword, Viper Venomous Silver Sword

Crossbow: Any

Bombs: Devil’s Puffball, Northern Wind, Samum

Potions: Maribor Forest, Petri’s Philter, Tawny Owl, Thunderbolt

Decoctions: Doppler, Ekhidna, Ekimmara, Katakan

Glyphs: Aard, Quen

Runestones: Morana, Veles, Zoria

Glyphwords: Depletion, Protection, Rotation

Runewords: Preservation, Replenishment, Severance

Mutations: Toxic Blood (2 Research Points), Piercing Cold (5 Research Points)

This Archetype focuses on the knowledge of correct oils to coat already-potent blades, to ensure every foe you face is poisoned and comes to a most unpleasant end on the battlefield. Though it doesn’t damage as significantly as other builds, this is a true hybrid of the three main ability branches, and is more subtle, forcing you to take more time and tactical forethought before committing to combat. With this in mind, any improvements and abilities are focused on poison and attack damage.

The fabled Viper Armor, which offers substantial resistance to every type of enemy attack, is an excellent choice (though New Moon is another favorite). Viper Armor is Medium weight, allowing your Griffin School Techniques (Sign intensity and Stamina regeneration bonuses) to stack to an impressive degree. But the real potential are the two Viper Venomous Swords, both offering large Aard Intensity bonuses (which is why this Sign is your main focus outside of swordplay), as well as increased critical hit opportunities, and a 15 percent chance to poison. Take this sword into combat, but not before coating your weapon with an oil the enemy you are about to face is susceptible to, and the true power of this archetype is revealed.

Beginning with Alchemy, your focus is augmenting the poison potential of your blades still further. Poisoned Blades offers immense potential of inflicting poison damage for each oil-coated sword strike (up the level of oil used for almost certain poison damage). Protective Coating grants you damage resistance against the monster the oil is targeting, and Fixative gives you almost limitless oil. When partnered with a group of three Fast Attacks (including Whirl), the opportunity for poison damage is constant and mostly assured. Then think about adding Refreshment and Acquired Tolerance to up the potions and decoctions you’re taking. But this is only half the battle.

The bolstering of your Aard abilities, plus the buffs of Focus, Griffin School Techniques, and your Viper blades, mean you can keep multiple foes off-balance, on their back, or away from the main enemies in crowded battles. Slay foes on the ground easily, and for foes that Aard isn’t as helpful to use against, switch to Igni, along with an active shield. If you’re having trouble losing Adrenaline, employ Resolve (AP loss when struck by a foe is lowered) and use the General Focus Ability for extra weapon damage and Sign intensity when you have more Adrenaline Points.

Choose any crossbow you wish; compare statistics and pick the one most potent. Oils are all dependent on the combat situation, so read up on the beasts you’re about to face (using the guide Bestiary) and prepare your Oils accordingly. Bombs are more important than you’d think; with an assassin-style, the Devil’s Puffball (with its poison cloud) fits the style of combat, and Northern Wind freezes foes, which is helpful if you’re employing flank or rear attacks.

As your potions are extra-potent, and you have extra tolerance, multiple buffs are possible. Maribor Forest helps to keep your Adrenaline up. Petri’s Philter increases your Sign Intensity; good for augmenting both Aard to nullify even more foes, or to bolster the Signs you haven’t placed many points into (such as Yrden). Tawny Owl and Thunderbolt potions are obvious help to Stamina and Attack power respectively.

Swig down a couple of decoctions, too: Help your criticals with Katakan. Regenerate your Vitality each time you damage a foe with Ekimmara (which is amazingly helpful during Whirl attacks!). Ekhidna also helps restore Vitality, any time you use Stamina. Doppler decoctions increase your critical hits when attacking from behind; roll and dodge around a foe you’ve already staggered with Aard and slay them!

When you’re imbuing armor with Glyphs, the tendency is toward Quen. While this is recommended, also test out Aard, and see how this affects your Sign attacks in combat. Regarding Runestones, Veles is always helpful at improving your Sign intensity, but for true assassin professionals, adding Morana (increasing the chance to poison) stacks well with your swords and Alchemy abilities. Otherwise, choose Runestones from combat builds.

When the Runewright has been financed, Protection (automatic Quen) is the obvious choice. But consider Rotation. Igni strikes everyone in 360 degrees, but without burning, which is exceptional for crowd control and your fast attacks put out the flames of the foe you’re striking anyway. Depletion is also a worthy choice; halving a foe’s Stamina with any Aard attack is incredibly potent as you’ve invested heavily in this Sign. For Runewords, Replenishment is amazing, as this effectively echoes any Sign attack you might make. Preservation (giving you permanent Armorer’s Table and Grindstone bonuses) keeps you and your blades looking sharp, and Severance is worth a look if you’re always using Whirl and need the extra range.

When choosing a Mutation, the seldom-used Piercing Cold suddenly becomes both amusingly entertaining and imperative to try! Any foes knocked down are shattered into pieces (and die), while those not knocked down are frozen in place, and ripe for a poisoning or rear strike! A less potent, but more measured mutation is Toxic Blood. If you’re struck, the foe is damaged, and due to your expected high Toxicity, and the fact the foe’s damage scales with it, you can drop foes after they strike you, though you risk huge damage loss on higher difficulty levels.