With The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt‘s next-gen update finally out for the latest consoles and PC-gaming hardware, many players are undoubtedly now shaping their Geralt of Rivia to brave the lands of The Continent. Among other things, the game has been praised for its depth in role-playing, and part of that is thanks to the various skills players can unlock for the titular monster hunter.
The game has various skills that benefit a variety of builds, from fast and light to heavy and hard-hitting. Abilities such as Muscle Memory will be great for the former. Meanwhile, Strong Back will be essential to efficiently travel across the open worlds.
Another one of the most useful combat-oriented skills in The Witcher 3 is Fleet-Footed. This ability reduces the amount of damage Geralt takes when dodging. Dodge rolls and pivots aren’t always perfectly executed, so having this skill enabled is an excellent insurance policy to avoid getting backed up into a corner.
The entry buff reduces damage by 20%, but by its fifth and final upgrade, damage while dodging is eliminated entirely. This skill also grants incremental Andrenaline Point gains with each rank.
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Muscle Memory
For those keen on equipping Geralt with The Witcher 3‘s corresponding “lighter” swords, the Muscle Memory skill is crucial. This skill is fairly straightforward in what it does, but no less beneficial, as it increases the amount of damage Geralt inflicts using fast attacks starting at 5% at its first level and ending at 25% once fully upgraded.
Likewise, each upgrade also increases Adrenaline Point gain from 1% to 5%. Effectively the ideal Combat Skill for Feline Armor builds, this will significantly raise the DPS (damage per second) players will be able to deal out.
Strength Training
Conversely, Strength Training is a Combat skill for players that give Geralt The Witcher 3‘s heaviest gear sets. As one would expect, this skill increases the amount of damage inflicted by heavy attacks. But like Muscle Memory before it, Strength Training raises the percentage gains at the same rates for both damage and Adrenaline Points.
Having Geralt wear armor like the Ursine set will go well with this skill once fully upgraded, as the raw damage output and bonuses to things like critical strikes will allow players to deal heavy physical punishment to humanoids and monsters alike.
Delusion
For a skill that has impressive benefits both in and out of combat, players will get great mileage out of Delusion. As the name suggests, this ability gets the best out of Geralt’s Axii Sign magic, and its boons depend on the situation the witcher finds himself in.
Delusion has three ranks, with each successive upgrade preventing enemies from attacking Geralt when casting Axii and reducing the time needed for it to recharge. Likewise, it increases the effectiveness of Axii manipulating characters in dialogue sequences and opening up new dialogue paths.
Strong Back
Unless players decide to incorporate mods that take out this mechanic altogether, Strong Back is highly recommended when exploring. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt boasts one of the best open worlds in gaming, but that’s meaningless if players don’t use this skill so Geralt doesn’t quickly become over-encumbered.
Some fans argue this feature adds to the immersion in an open-world RPG, while others find it to be a nuisance. Regardless, if players play the game without mods, then the +60 in inventory weight will be most welcome, at least until Geralt finds a stash to store items.
Gourmet
Once players get just far enough into the game, finding food as loot items becomes incredibly easy. They’re practically scattered around the world, however, the opening hours make food items somewhat few and far between.
These are useful as auxiliary health-restoring items to have outside The Witcher 3‘s staple potions like the Swallow, and the Gourmet skill extends the duration of food effects to 20 real-world minutes. This is a convenient skill to have and treat as a semi-passive vitality buff while adventuring and fighting.
Whirl
One of the most famous combat skills in the game, Whirl is a skill that is excellent for cutting down enemies. More specifically, it’s great for crowd-control situations where Geralt needs to take on large groups of enemies at once.
Whirl is a physical combat attack where Geralt spins with his sword to eviscerate surrounding enemies with devastating damage. The cost comes with, however, is that it consumes both Stamina and Adrenaline. Even so, each upgrade reduces the amount of both that it consumes and increases Adrenaline Point gains incrementally.
Melt Armor
Igni is another popularly used Sign in The Witcher 3, as the ability to cast fire from Geralt’s hand is a fantastic ranged weapon to have. Of course, there are skills to help bolster its usefulness in battle, and Melt Armor is a quintessential one.
Melt Armor grants damage inflicted by Igni to permanently damage the armor of enemies, scales with other Sign Intensity bonuses, and reduces the amount of time needed for Igni to recharge. It’s a useful magically offensive skill, and its effects improve across the board with each of its five successive ranks.
Resolve
Adrenaline Points are a constant mechanic in play when fighting with humanoids and/or monsters. Every time Geralt lands a successful strike, whether it’s from melee hits, Signs, or crossbow bolts, he gains these points that increase their damage output by 10% per Point.
That’s what makes Resolve such a worthwhile skill to invest in, as it mitigates the amount of Adrenaline Geralt loses when taking a hit (20% to 100%). At the same time, it increases Adrenaline Point gains with each upgrade (1% to 5%).
Undying
Serving as an ace up players’ sleeves for Geralt in the game, Undying is a superb skill to unlock, especially for those that look to play The Witcher 3 on the toughest difficulty settings. Adrenaline Points are useful to make Geralt’s damage output as potent as possible in combat, but Undying allows for an alternative, life-saving use (literally).
If Geralt’s health gets taken down to zero, an Adrenaline Point will immediately be consumed to restore a percentage of his health. And by the time it’s fully upgraded, Undying will restore Geralt’s full health upon near death.