The Witcher 3

[JasonM]

Ok have played some more, and got some tips for you guys struggling on higher (and lower) levels.

Biggest tip, whilst it seems nice and useful to invest in combat skills, they aren't the best possible group to invest in. (There is no level cap, so with long enough grinding and playing you can get every skill...)

If you do want to invest in combat, try to invest in either fast or strong and not both, since the skills only work when they're in a slot it'll be useless to invest in more because it'll hamper you with other skills... Parrying arrows looks interesting, but if you play smart you won't need it. You can either rush archers, shoot them with the x-bow, dodge arrows, or just keep a baddie between you and the archer (if you're lucky they'll shoot their own guy in the back.)

Also, Sun and stars looks tasty because it gives you some regen when you're in the sunlight, but it's generally very minute and a waste of a nice slot. Cat/Griffin/Bear schools are nice, but only later on when you decide on what kind of armor sets you're gonna run with.

Delusion is useful, it was the first thing I maxed out to 3 and I use it in combat to stun baddies (can kill overleveled humans instantly when they're stunned), also since it has effect on conversations I felt it neccesary to take it to not hurt my gameplay.

When it comes to mutagens, they're pretty easy to understand. The specific colour buffs the specific colour. Blue mutagens buff signs, green mutgens buff alchemy, red mutagens buff combat, and so forth. Hold onto the mutagens, because you'll be able to improve mutagens into better ones.

Even though bomb-making and potion making looks like a hassle, the developers have been EXTREMELY generous by making alchemy into a once-and-always kind of affair. Basically once you make a single potion, you'll have that potion for life. Once you run out of the potion, you can meditate and it will replenish it using a bottle of alcohol, one bottle for ALL. Basically if you have all the potions, you can use a single bottle to replenish your entire inventory, that's ridiculously useful, the same goes for the bombs, and oils too.

Finally, Alchemy is OP as fuck. Investing into alchemy can make you into an unstoppable maniac with improved attack power, better healing, and better sign casting... And bombs, well they are ridiculously powerful when used on groups.

Spoilered is a bomb in action...

Skilling up alchemy will make your potions more effective and longer lasting. They will even improve vitality whilst swigging other potions (you'll never need Swallow or food again, really). It will increase your crit chances and attack power the more toxic you are. And it will even make potion effects semi-permanent if you have your toxicity above a certain treshold, that means infinite thunderbolt/swallow/cat etc. when you have downed a bunch.

Skilled enough you won't even have to worry about toxicity anymore, you can spam other potions to get max health back and you'll be a walking deathmachine.

Basically, Alchemy is extremely overpowered and can make the harder difficulties much more manageable. The only downside is that Geralt will look like Sidious on meth after downing half a crate of thunderbolt and blizzard.

On reddit.com/r/Witcher a bunch of guys have set up an alchemy guide that explains more about the ridiculous power you can get through potions, and the way to best set up your character to make sure you turn into a dopefiend monsterkiller.

http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/371pjz/complete_guide_to_alchemy/

[Your Mom]

I wish I could hang out with trolls the whole game. That are my favorite

[apsham]

I hated it when I had to fight one.

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

I kinda did two of the main quests in the wrong order. You're meant to do the Bloody Baron first then Ladies in the Wood. I was like this ending for the quest is a bit shit then realised why.

Also I've been spending most of my time wandering finding all the points of interest. I've got them all on my map but quite a few I haven't gotten the treasure for because there'd be a monster with a much higher level than mine.

I'm at that point now so thanks for the heads-up. I'm also looking at the points of interests in Velen but finding that, aside from bandit camps, the monsters are too strong for me at the minute. A shame because I'd like to explore but I guess it makes you actually kick on with the main story. The moment where I opened up the World Map for Velen and saw the size of it was awesome. Was a real feeling of "ohhhh, now the game has started"

EDIT: That's also a great post, Jason, thanks. I've leveled up my fast attack atm but have generally stayed clear of alchemy, simply because of the amount of ingredients that are lying about. I'll sit and read that guide. I'm barely using anything but the shield in battle but I keep forgetting about the stun move. I'll make sure to pump some points into it and test it out.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Jordan Stiva

[JasonM]

Also a general tip. If you're around level 5 or so, go back to White Orchard and run through all the question marks and sites of interest, and do the quests too. The reason for it is that you can get a lot of skill points for finding and using places of power (they give 1 skill point at first use), and you can find quite a few nice loot stuffs and collection items there. Some stuff is worse than what you might be using at that point, but they're still worth quite a penny and you can get some good money... If you helped Willis the blacksmith you'll get some nice discounts on crafting your stuff with him.

I'm running through White Orchard before I continue with Velen, and I am having a blast because on that map you won't be underleveled when you're 5 or higher. And the stuff you find will help you a lot in getting potions made, and possibly even forging some nice stuff too.

White Orchard is newbie area, but it's very useful to get back and go through it and clearing it before continuing on in the main story.

EDIT: For people that are further than me, is there such a thing like a loot bank where you can store your more valuable items? I have a few relic items that are nice, but I'm not using right now, but I don't feel like selling them for a pittance or dismantling them either.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Jasonmufc

[Cactus Drags]

I kinda did two of the main quests in the wrong order. You're meant to do the Bloody Baron first then Ladies in the Wood. I was like this ending for the quest is a bit shit then realised why.

Also I've been spending most of my time wandering finding all the points of interest. I've got them all on my map but quite a few I haven't gotten the treasure for because there'd be a monster with a much higher level than mine.

Does it effect anything or just make less sense storywise? I did thebwitch one first (well,currently on it, got to go to some bog next).

It does seem weird there's no permanent storage, at least early on.

[ZJ Penn]

EDIT: For people that are further than me, is there such a thing like a loot bank where you can store your more valuable items? I have a few relic items that are nice, but I'm not using right now, but I don't feel like selling them for a pittance or dismantling them either.

I'm hoping something like this turns up soon. I have 3 sets of Witcher gear but don't want to get rid as I think I read you can upgrade them down the line.

[Maxx]

I want to like this game so much more than I actually do. I can only seem to play for like 20 minute spurts before losing interest.

I'm stuck on a contract for a big spider thing in a mine, and I can't do any damage to it for some reason.

EDIT: Apparently its a suggested level 33 quest. That explains it.

[DavidMarrio]

I kinda did two of the main quests in the wrong order. You're meant to do the Bloody Baron first then Ladies in the Wood. I was like this ending for the quest is a bit shit then realised why.

Also I've been spending most of my time wandering finding all the points of interest. I've got them all on my map but quite a few I haven't gotten the treasure for because there'd be a monster with a much higher level than mine.

Does it effect anything or just make less sense storywise? I did thebwitch one first (well,currently on it, got to go to some bog next).

It does seem weird there's no permanent storage, at least early on.

It doesn't ruin anything but the choices you make will effect it and it kinda ends up being a bit "Oh you done that did you?"

I think for it playing out as it intended you could do some of the Bloody Baron now then go straight back into doing the quests for the witches cause they tie in then finish the quests for the Bloody Baron.

There was a bit in the Bloody Baron and I was like that was a bit of an anti climax and my friend told me cause I should have done it the other way. You should be fine if you've only done a bit. It wouldn't be a big deal if you done it like I did though.

[Monkey D. Lars]

I'm finally back in the second area. I had to restart because I missed a Gwent card. Still having some trouble at the hardest difficulty and with playing time from tomorrow because well, Elder Scrolls Online.

[Your Mom]

The game just stopped me right as I was about to fight for the first time in seemingly forever and said "Nope fuck that. Need an update!" and now I can't play. What the hell?

[Arjen Robben]

Getting so wound up by this game at the moment.

Playing the Ladies of the Wood mission, and I just cannot kill this fucking werewolf, same process every time I try. I get it's health about half way down and then it goes to start regenerating it's health and from that point on I can't do anything cause it regenerates so quickly that between attacks it's pretty much regained whatever I've just taken off it. Fire doesn't seem to do anything. End up wasting thunderbolt cause it just starts running about and when I get frustrated and attack it it just dodges everything. WHY WON'T YOU FUCKING DIE. Can I just skip it and find the entrance it's guarding and just run down it or something. Doing my head in.

Edit: Turns out I can, just ran around til I saw the entrance and climbed in. Fuck you werewolf.

[ZJ Penn]

I found the cave entrance and then killed the werewolf so you should be able to go round it. I don't even really remember the tactics I used, just make sure you're using oils and things. Maybe use Quen when it starts regenerating and wail on it?

[Your Mom]

I just use that stun thing on everybody now

[apsham]

The "be able to take one hit" sign was a huge help to me as well for tougher fights.

[Mr. X]

The Shrieker fight is really being a pain in the ass for me. Using all the weaknesses the bestiary tells me to use, but he still ends up downing me when I have him 2/3s down.

[Your Mom]

I hate Novigrad so much. So many winding streets and I just keep getting lost

[TKz]

Finally playing on PC, on my GTX 970 I've turned shadows down to medium and getting a mostly solid 60 fps with everything else on high. Any suggestions on healing, what potions and so on do I want to make?

[ZJ Penn]

You should just be crafting everything you can, as mentioned you only need to alchemise them once and they're good for the full game. Specifically you want to keep an eye out for enhanced swallow.

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

OK, I've made it to Skellige, I'm level 21 and have been playing for 25 hours. How much main story is left and can I brute force it at this level? I'm really not sure if I can be bothered to trek through however many sidequests there are here.