Witcher 3 How To Increase Skill Slots

admin 7/25/2022

You'll need some Witcher 3 tips for this huge open-world. From mastering The Witcher 3 combat system, to exploring its hundreds of missions, contracts, scavenger hunts, and more. In order to activate a skill you must first move it to one of the slots in character window. There are twelve such skills in total. However, at the beginning of the game only one is available and new ones are unlocked as you gain new levels (all slots become available on level 30).

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Beginner’s tips on how to spend your first ability points in the game.

Ability Points are used to boost Geralt's arsenal and skills in The Witcher 3. Knowing which perks to unlock in the early hours of the game can be the difference between feeling like a world-beater and finding yourself constantly dying at the hands of low-level wolves and Drowners. Below is a list of quick tips on how to spend your hard earn points early on in the game.

Don't bother with alchemy

Improving your alchemy doesn't really serve much benefit early on in the game. Considering much of your early focus will be on combat and wanting to improve basic sword and sign skills, trying to upgrade toxicity and bomb-aiming perks doesn't really help. Stick with improving other areas of Geralt's skill set first, then worry about his brewing abilities later.

Try to colour code with Mutagens

Mutagens, when combined with abilities of the same colour, can provide an extra boost to your perks. The first boss in the game, the Griffin, gives you a green Mutagen, which grants +50 health. Alchemy is the matching perk which would be boosted by this Mutagen, but as stated above, alchemy isn't a priority earlier on in the game, so spend your points elsewhere and just take the minor health bump.

Trying to match your perk layouts with matching Mutagens will help further your setup.

Improving the Axii Sign helps outside of combat, too

Upgrading the Delusion perk under the Axii branch will allow you to sway people's minds during conversations. Some NPCs will require at least level one in this perk in order to have Axii cast on them, should you choose to go full Jedi mind trick on them, so this may make your travels easier, too.

Don't spread yourself too thin

Each ability can have around five or so points sunk into it before it is fully mastered. Try not to spread yourself too thin by putting each new ability point earned into a different perk as you won't really feel a big benefit until you add at least the third point into one skill.

Remember, you can only equip three abilities first

To back up the point above, it's worth remembering that you can only equip three abilities at the start of the game. The next three ability slots are unlocked at levels six, eight and 10 respectively, so again: pick a few perks you want to focus on before branching out once you reach higher levels.

Abilities in the General tab are worth investing in early

Sun and Stars (recover health during the day, stamina at night), Survival Instinct (immediate +500 to health) are two great perks to try and get a hold of early, especially if you're having trouble getting to grips with combat. However, if you prefer to have a quick meditation session after fights, then you can hold off on Sun and Stars until a little later on your journey.

The Cat, Bear and Griffin School Techniques perks aren't beneficial while you're constantly changing your armour set. Each perk boosts your light, medium and heavy armour respectively, but because you'll be wearing a combination of all three, these perks don't justify taking up a slot.

You can respec your abilities, eventually

There is a potion sold by few merchants and NPCs in the game that allows you to reset your allocated Skill Points. The Potion of Clearance is a green bottle in a merchant's list of items. It's worth buying this every time you see it available and keeping hold of it until you have a bunch of ability points and are settled on a play style before re-allocating them. The potion is sold by Keira Metz, and is also available from a merchant in Novigrad. There may be more available in the game, too, but we haven't stumbled across these yet.

This concise Witcher 3 best skills & abilities guide will provide you with all the information necessary to maximise on your Witcher 3 build and experience, regardless of the chosen difficulty. However consider the things mentioned below. There are a number of paths in the game that are good in theory but are not as great in practice and this is something to consider.

The Philosophy Behind This Guide

Witcher 3 has offered players many different playstyles and builds. However, there are two concepts players need to understand to experience the game at its full potential. For those that say that the game is all about the story, I say rubbish. The developer hasn’t spent so much resources, making such an intricate combat, alchemy, crafting and enemy system for it to be just about the story. It’s designed much like Dark Souls, and Death March is the best way to fully immerse yourself.

There is only one build type/style that is both challenging and engaging to play. Sign builds aren’t appealing, because Geralt isn’t a wizard nor a mage, but a Witcher. There is a reason why he carries two swords. Shooting a stream of fire out of your hands stops you from using them. Combat & Alchemy on the other hand, both have great potential. And therefore, true Witcher builds are a hybrid, with a major focus on Combat, Alchemy and a minor focus on Signs.

View these builds for information:
Witcher 3 – Combat Alchemy Hybrid Build
Witcher 3 – Ursin Tank Hybrid Build

Best Early Skills

The general skills branch contains the best early game skills, due to their low investment requirements. The first point spent will increase HP by 500 and allow for one or two mistakes at Death March difficulty. You will then need to decide whether you want to take hits and hit hard or avoid hits and hit fast. Don’t forget White Orchard has six Places of Power.

Survival Instinct – Increases player hp by 500 early on, allowing the player to take a few more hits and that’s important in Death March.

Cat School Techniques or the equivalent – One point grants 125% increase in critical hit damage and 25% fast attack damage.

Focus – Increases damage by 15-20% when your adrenaline is full. Though in the earlier levels has very little impact and you’ll find other skills more beneficial. Combines well with adrenaline increasing skills such as Resolve.

Adrenaline Burst – Increases your adrenaline gain, while allowing Signs to now give you adrenaline too, diversifying your gains.

Note: Sun and Stars is often recommended, but you are unlikely to actually find a slot for it. So save yourself that extra point and invest it into the combat tree.

Best Combat Skills

Building out the combat branch should be the main focus in the earlier levels. As this path will give you the most advantage and survivability based on your early strengths & resources. Knowing when and how to sidestep, roll, parry and hit are the fundamental elements of the combat system and you’ll need to be getting better at it as you level and grow stronger.

Muscle Memory/Strength Training – Increase the attack damage of either strike by 25%

Resolve – At max level no adrenaline is lost when hit, 100% reduction.

Precision Blow/Crushing Blow – Increase the critical hit chance of attacks by 10% and critical hit damage by 75% for either strike type.

Undying – Saves the players life when vitality reaches 0, by using current adrenaline points to restore a certain percentage of their vitality.

Fleet Footed – Allows the player to negate 100% of the potential damage when dodging. This and Undying makes Death March far less punishing.

Whirl/Rend – Whirl is an OP area of effect strike, while Rend is a single target attack that ignores enemy armour and increased critical hit chance by 50%.

Razor Focus – Instantly gives you 1 point of adrenaline when you enter combat and increase the adrenaline gain of your sword strikes by 25% (when maxed).

Crippling Strike/Sunder Armour – Applies a bleed (damage over time effect) that reduces enemy vitality by 125 points per second for five seconds on fast attacks. Alternatively reduce enemy damage resistance by 25% with strong attacks.

Deadly Precision – At full adrenaline the player has a 6% chance of instantly killing their enemy.

Crippling Shot – Disables the enemies special ability for 25 seconds when a critical hit is made, using the crossbow. Requires investment in skills like Anatomical Knowledge for maximum utility.

Note: Arrow Deflection is often recommended, but I find it unnecessary when you can sidestep or use your Active Shield. But treat yourself if you get off on instant killing archers with parry skills. Flood of Anger is not recommended as it will counter Undying. With 42 skill points invested into the tree you gain 162% increase in adrenaline point gain.

Best Sign Skills

Signs are a key ingredient in surviving and playing on Death March difficulty. However, the most used skills will be Quen and Axii. Leveling up Axii first will give you the dialog advantage which will save you much in the long run so level it up early on, as soon as you can afford to. Follow this by maxing the second Quen skill upgrade Active Shield and you’re all good.

Delusion – Dialog advantage and reduces Axii cast time and staggers opponent if Axii fails.

Exploding Shield – Quen shield pushes opponents back when it breaks. Good tactical skill to have in combat based builds.

Active Shield – Surrounds the player with a force field that can absorbs damage to restore vitality. Can also be used against projectiles.

Melt Armour – Permanently weakens enemy Armor based on your Sign intensity. Maximising at 75% Sign Intensity.

Sustained Glyphs – Increases Yrden duration by 10 seconds and allows the casting of two simultaneous Yrdens.

Note: Instead of placing three points into the first Quen skill Exploding Shield, you can put two into the Sustained Glyphs and the remaining one into Far-Reaching Yard or Melt Armour. Will likely only slot two skills from this tree as you progress.

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Best Alchemy Skills

Alchemy is a whole other beast and adds a lot of power in the mid to end game period. When playing Death March you will be relying a lot on oils, bombs and potions and the advantages that this skill tree affords you are unbeatable. However, there are only three to four skills that are of the highest importance and the general potion duration time bonus.

Poisoned Blades – Oil applied to the blades gives a 15% chance of poisoning the target on each hit. The chance is greater the higher the level of Oil used.

Acquired Tolerance – Increases maximum Toxicity by 1 for every level 1, 2 and 3 alchemy formula that the player knows.

Frenzy – If potion toxicity is above 0, time automatically slows when an enemy is about to perform a counter attack.

Protective Coating – Adds 25% protection from the monster type the oil applied to weapons targets.

Fixative – Blade oils do not wear off.

Synergy – Increases the mutagen placement bonus by 50%. This is the most vital skill in the alchemy tree.

Hunter Instinct – At maximum adrenaline, critical hit damage against enemies based on oil application is increased by 100%.

Killing Spree – If potion toxicity is above 0, each opponent killed increases the chance for a critical hit by 50%.

Note: The Potion Duration Time Bonus cap is unknown (if any). However, by just having Acquired Tolerance maxed out you receive 15%, which really helps in Swallow use & management. In theory, you should experience a 170% increase in Potion Duration Time with 34 points invest into the Alchemy tree.
Delayed Recovery is not recommended here because it takes the fun out of the game, requires too much micro management and makes Geralt look disturbing.

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Final Notes On The Best Skills in Witcher 3

Keep in mind that the activated skills are limited by skill slots. So pick and choose them based on your requirements, playstyle and weaknesses. The Blood and Bone expansion will give Geralt an additional four skill slots. Skills like Survival Instinct and Focus are only good during the earlier levels and should be discarded later on. Furthermore, skills such as Sustained Glyphs, Deadly Precision and Crippling Shot are luxuries and you can do without them.

Looking for the best builds?
Try the Combat Alchemy Hybrid Build & the Ursine Tank Hybrid Build

Changelog: 16/10/2020 - expanded on some points and added new links & social image.

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