#the details on the quen armor are just so good

[robo-dino-puppy]

hfw: burning shores | aloy 6/?

[straight-outta-kaer-morhen]

Silver & Scars <Chapter 1>

I couldn’t contain my excitement, so I decided to put this up a day early. Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list. 

Trigger Warnings: Violence against kikimores, and semi-descriptive injuries

Chapter 1: The Kikimore Contract

He'd been in the swamps since dawn. He'd tossed a coin to the ferryman who'd brought him across the water to the swamp that laid on the outskirts of Vizima. The royal guard had put a contract on a Kikimore that was killing townsfolk. The monster was inhabiting a cave that held mushrooms Vizima's citizens liked to collect. 

Eskel had found himself trekking through bogs to find the hidden cave the kikimore occupied. He knelt by a fire, busying himself with bombs and potions. There was very little he could do against a queen Kikimore, which he expected was tucked away safely in her cave. Aard would work against the smaller kikimore workers, but the warriors would also be a pain to deal with. 

He set to work brewing insectoid oil. He would need a lot of it to take care of the nest. He brewed several batches of swallow, white honey and White Raffard's Decoction. If potions would do little against the Kikimore queen, healing potions may at least keep him alive long enough to drag himself back to the sorceress's doorstep. She could at least patch him up enough to keep him alive.

He shook the thought away. He couldn't afford any distractions right now. 

The silver blade slid from its sheath with a soft shwink. He popped the cork of the insectoid oil and generously coated the blade. He didn't know when there would be a break long enough for him to recoat the blade, so he hoped that this would do until then. 

He made his way through the swamps, his senses on high alert. There were several corpses he passed that had been picked clean by the kikimores. 

His ears picked up the tud da tud da tud of spindly legs on the spongy earth. He was quick to cast quen throwing out a golden orb. The sharp legs of the kikimore warrior shattered the shield. Eskel was quick to roll to the side of the beast. Slashing out his silver blade he heard a monstrous screech, which he knew would cause the workers to join the fight. 

Vesemir's voice echoed in his head. Always keep moving. A moving target is harder to hit. He threw out Aard knocking a smaller kikimore to the ground. He was quick to deal the killing blow, and leapt out of the way just in time for the larger kikimore to take another swipe at him. 

He could recall Lambert saying heavy attacks were best used on Kikimores, and he was in an open mindset considering the turmoil that was going on around him that he decided to see if there was any truth to the younger Witcher's statement. 

The only problem he realized a second too late, was that heavy attacks tend to slow one down. He felt his flesh tear open as a razor sharp leg swiped at him. 

His blow landed in the kikimore's throat, and it stilled. He pulled the silver blade from its mouth, quickly casting Aard as he spun. Three more kikimore workers were knocked on their backs, and he was quick to slay them. 

He downed some swallow, and with shaking hands he poured more insectoid oil over his blade. He knew the cut would start stinging and aching once the adrenaline wore off. He only hoped that the potion could numb the pain and start the process of healing. 

He collected the few monster parts he needed before continuing towards the cave. He knew there would be at least one more warrior patrolling the swamp, and who knew what lied in the cave. 

He cast quen once more, in the event he was taken by surprise. He couldn't have cast it soon enough when he felt the pressure on the back of his calf, and his shield shattered once more. He took a few quick swings at the kikimore dispersing it. He threw Aard a couple more times as a few other smaller kikimores attacked. 

He was dousing the blade in more insecticide oil when two kikimore warriors crested the hill. He let out an audible "fuck," as they approached.

He rocked to the balls of his feet. Agility was easier when he wasn't caught flat footed. He threw out Quen for good measure, and readied himself for the first strike. 

Both kikimore's threw their legs up in an attempt to impale him. He tucked into a quick roll slashing upwards as he came to his feet. He sidestepped to miss the kikimore's back legs and sent a heavy blow crippling it in the back. He was quick to dodge the other kikimore, but one of the many razor sharp shell teeth left a shallow slice across his thigh. 

With a few more strokes of his sword both beasts were dead. He inspected the wound as he caught his breath. The blood loss seemed to be minor, and the wound he acquired earlier seemed to be seeping blood. His jacket was ruined with soaked blood. By the looks of it, the cut had bled like a bitch.

He downed white honey to clear out the toxins surging through him. He then threw back some more swallow. He inspected the mouth of the cave as he pulled out the one bottle of brown oil he carried. He hadn't bothered brewing another bottle, because he wouldn't have the time to reapply it once he was in the middle of the fight. He set to work coating his blade once more. He moved his bombs to his chest. It was unlikely they would do much damage, but it may slow the queen down enough for him to get a strike or two in. 

He didn't have much of a plan for fighting the beast. All he could do is throw quen signs, try to get an occasional hit in, and run like hell. One swipe from the queen could be lethal even for a mutant like him. 

He took a deep breath as he popped the cork of a cat potion. The potion smelt vile, and it would burn going down. He didn't think on it anymore as he downed the contents. He'd learnt the longer he thought of a potion, the harder it always went down. 

He felt his vision alter. His eyes fluttered irritated at the sudden change of light. He let his eyes adjust a moment, before stepping into the mouth of the cave.

Eskel's eyes darted around the tunnel. He could make out silhouettes of stalagmites hanging from the walls. Cat was a useful potion, but Eskel hated when the color was drained from the world and the small details taken away. He had to rely heavily on his hearing, and hope the potion lasted through the fight.

The tunnel sloped down into a wide cavern. Eskel could see a massive spindly silhouette tucked in the corner. He couldn't deny it looked more terrifying in the dark then in broad daylight. It was moments like this that he was thankful for the mutations. The healthy dose of fear that should be pumping through his veins was silenced. Instead he felt a primal need to kill. 

He cast quen as he slowly approached the kikimore. He decided on a heavy blow while he had the chance. If he could sneak up on the monster and weaken it, perhaps the rest of the fight would turn in his favor. 

He drove the silver blade down as deep as he could go. He felt his shield shatter as he was thrown back. He found himself slow to get up when he landed. Half heartedly he chucked a bomb in the direction he assumed the kikimore was in. He heard a screech as he finally got to his feet. He signed quen and took off running. He could hear the tud da tud da tud behind him, as her spindly legs brought her closer to him. He dove to the side bringing his sword up with a swipe landing another blow on it's leg. He felt his shield shatter, and acid spewed on his thigh. "Shit." He cursed stabbing the small kikimore, before slaying its companion. He signed quen again before hucking another bomb at the queen. He hadn't time to drink any white honey as he dove out of the way from a blow from the queen. 

The queen was weakening, and his thigh was burning. A heavy blow or two would finish her off. He cut quick to the side, and brought the silver sweeping across her legs. Black blood poured from the missing limbs, and she released a vile spit of acid. Quen absorbed most of the toxin, in the process of it shattering some spewed across his chest. Eskel was quick to deal the finishing blow. He sent silver straight through her armored skull. The kikimore gave a violent shudder and finally laid still. 

Acidic fumes from his wounds clouded his vision, leaving him gulping for air as the bile rose up his throat. He found himself vomiting into the sand. Tears were leaking out of his burning eyes as he popped the cork on the square vile. Eskel downed the contents of the white honey feeling some of the pain ease. His tearducts opened as they flushed the acidic fumes from his eyes. He wiped at the tear tracks on his cheeks. His chest and thigh felt like hamburger from the acid eating away at his skin.

Dragging himself to his feet he pulled out a torch to see. The cat potion leaving his system as the white honey did its work. He quickly set to work destroying the eggs.. He limped out of the cave. Twilight was fast approaching, and he was in no state to be caught in the swamps at night. 

*

**

She awoke to a pounding on her door. Her dog lept up with a yelp at the intruder at the door. It had been days since she'd last seen the dark haired Witcher. She assumed he'd gone on to the next town in search of contracts and coin. Which is why she was startled to find him leaning against her threshold, looking like he was on death's door.

"Witcher!" She gasped instinctively reaching out to the man to steady him. What she wasn't expecting was for the towering man to practically land in her arms. "Oof," she grunted, digging her heels in to support him. "Let's get you up the stairs." She said guiding him up the narrow stairway. His hand tried to find some support against the wall as she hefted him up the stairs. The man was barely conscious. 

By the smell of him, he'd been in the swamps all day. The Witcher was fighting fatigue, blood loss and pain. He hadn't given much thought past making it to her doorstep. His body finally gave out as he passed out halfway on the bed. She was careful to pull his boots off as she lifted each leg onto the bed. 

His pant leg and flesh had been melted away by the acid. She brought her small hands above the wound concentrating on the incantation she recited. Slowly the acid seemed to disappear, and the skin closed up leaving a few new scars in its wake.

She carefully cut away at his pants. Attempting to persevere his modesty best she could. She couldn't risk any traces of acid transferring from his pants to skin. Besides she mused holding up the shredded pants, there was never a hope of mending them anyways. She tossed them on the fire, and the acidic residue engulfed the pants into flames.

She found another fresh scar, a wound she assumed he acquired earlier in the day. When she went on to inspect his wounds she found some more bubbling skin from the acid that was spewed onto his skin. Stripping him of his jacket and shirt she went to work healing the wound. She threw the jacket in a bin of water, and tossed the shirt in the fire as well. Even the witcher couldn't argue that burning the garments was the safest way to dispose of the acid. She quickly went to work healing the wound and tending to other minor cuts.

The bloodied jacket was calling to her from the wash bin when she finally stepped away from him. She grabbed her laundry soap and set to scrubbing the jacket. 

She was surprised to find the jacket had been lined with a soft buckskin colored leather. She could only guess at when the last time the jacket had been washed. 

In a life that seemed so long ago she had brothers. Brothers who wouldn't have thought to do their laundry or take the occasional bath had her mother not ordered them to do so. Her smile faltered, that had been long ago. Before her father sold her for a pouch of orens to the Aretuza Academy. They had passed many years ago, but heere she was: still young, beautiful, and alone. 

She snapped back to reality as she hung the jacket to dry. The Witcher would be out for the rest of the night, so she took her purse and headed to the local armorer. Feeling a bit of guilt at burning the Witcher's clothes, even if it was unavoidable she would replace them. 

A gruff voice could be heard behind the wooden door as she knocked. No doubt she'd roused the poor man from his sleep. "What do you want?" The dwarf inquired gruffly. 

"I need pants, and a shirt." She made sure to jingle her purse for good measure. The dwarf seemed to perk up at the sound of coin. He nodded, and in a gruff voice said "come in."

"What kind of pants are you wanting?" 

"Something leather, and black. A good fit too." She added. 

"It'll take me a moment to fashion something in your size lassie." He began before she shook her head.

"It's for a man. A large man, around six foot." She said thoughtfully. "And I want a white shirt. Something soft, but sturdy." 

The dwarf raised his eyebrow, "dressing your lover?" A small chuckle escaped his throat. "Woman have to have their hand in everything." 

A blush bloomed on her cheeks, "he isn't a lover."

"Ah, but you're blushing like a maiden." The dwarf said with a shake of his head. "Fret not, your secret is safe with me." He pulled out a shirt and pants. "Have him come back if they don't fit right." She thanked the dwarf before handing over the sum, with a little extra. 

•

••

•

Exhaustion finally hit as she sat by Eskel's side. She reached out to grab his hand. His large palm felt warm in her hands. Her eyes felt heavy as she laid her head on the edge of the bed. (E/c) eyes slowly fluttering shut.

Tag List:

@MishaFaye

[macgyvertape]

Thoughts on W3 New Game +

Been watching someone else play Witcher, and I was like I yes a new WoW xpac just came out but I really like Witcher, and started a fresh playthrough on New Game plus. I haven’t played since summer 2016, so it will be interesting to see how much of the game I remember.

Thoughts so far:

I forgot the game opens with an scene in Kaer Morhen, where you can be a good Dad to Ciri.

NG+ on Sword and Story is just the right difficulty for me. I died a few times mistiming things and not dodging, but usually if I make a mistake it’s recoverable. I’m also avoiding a total yrden turret quen bubble build, and am playing around with more sword skills.

I made sure to import a save with Letho, so I’m excited to see that Dude

edit: rip me, i guess there was a problem, since letho isn’t in the game :(

Now that I’m running the game on a much better computer than I did 1st playthrough, it’s fun to see more details on the character’s faces and expressions.

Future Plans:

I see what people mean about potions and bombs not being viable in NG+ and especially endgame NG+ so I’m gonna look into some mods for that.

I’m going to role play Geralt a bit more boldly this time, since I’m not too worried about making a bad choice.

Not romancing Triss or Yen. REGIS IS THE ONLY ONE FOR  GERALT ME. Seriously he cares so much for Geralt, does so much, and you can see Geralt cares about him.

I’m planning a reverse run: Get the illusion thing from Kiera, go to Novigrad and level there and start a bit of main quest, go to Skellige and do quest, then do Velen last. I wanna see how things change.

I wanna do hearts of stone before endgame of W3, get those different dialogue options.

Ps look at my fancy end game Griffin Armor, i love it and it looks so shiny next to Vesemir.

[avengersohyeah]

Trace

Part 10

Masterlist

Trace Masterlist

A/N : PAr 10 anyone ? is someone even wait for this shits ? Anyway any question just ask me through the ask box.. Love Y’alll

Normal POV

 When Cas saw the words on Dean’s back, he could’ve swore he’d got a heart attack. What he saw is somewhat similar to what he found from the crime scene this morning.

“Remember when I told you I couldn’t find anything this morning?” The brothers nodded “Well.. I missed it..” He took his phone and shows the brothers the exact same words on Dean’s back. “This words craved in one of the mirror in that house, at first I thought it’s not important. But then later I sensed some sort of power coming out of it.”

“And what is that ?” Sam asked

“Time… exists far before God was born, He used his power to form realities, to control them.. and when he did change the reality, there would be a trace somewhere. To mark what has been changed in those realities..”

“So whoever this Time guy he changed me ? in this reality?” Dean said confused.

“I’m afraid yes..”

“But why me? What it has to do with me?”

“That’s what we’re about to find out.” Without warning, Cas places his hand on Dean’s back right where the words were. Then everything goes white, blinding white untill they are forced to close their eyes tight.

 Y/N’s POV

 “I don’t care… I have to bring him back…it’s not supposed to happened.”

“But you have to be sure son… you’re about to change his reality… the one that never lead him to his death, to you…”

“I’ll do anything for him.. father.. tell me how to do it…”

He guide me through the ritual, changing reality, Dean’s reality. To the one when he never met me, to the one where he live and still hunting to save people. By the end of the ritual, Dean’s body disappeared. I began to panicked thingking that something has gone wrong.

“Don’t worry son, it worked.. he’s home now..”

I then broke down right then and there. This is the right thing to do, to save him, the men I love. But it still hurts, knowing that he would never remember me, he would never knew that I’m exsist, he would never knew that I love him, more than anything. But this is the right thing to do. Since when in my life, the right thing to do doesn’t inflict pain to anyone ? Hell even my father left me when I can barely recognize him. it was painfull, it still is now. But I made up my mind, it’s too late to back down, My family is all dead, Cas, Sam and Dean doesn’t even know that I exsist anymore. I have no one now, so there’s nothing to loose.

 I woke up from those memories again, the day when I decided to erase myself from his life. It was the hardest decision in my life, but as my grandpa taught me, I have to fight. Yeah, no mater what kind of choices I have, I have to choose to fight. Years ago I chose to fight to protect my brothers and sisters. And now’s the same, I choose to fight to protect people that I love, my family, my Dean.

 Walking through the hall on the outside part of the castle. Taking every detail I could, it’s been few weeks since I arrived, or few days on earth, but I never realized how dreamy this place looked. I looked to the right where the hall is guarded with beautifully craved pillars, and raillings. The sight outside is none other than the most beautiful valley i’ve ever seen. The grass was green, filled with colourful flowers here and there, and few old trees that looks majestic. Now that I think about it again, this looks exactly like in those fantasy movies I watched. While I lost in my train of thoughts, I bumped to something hard, a metal. I looked up to meet a very pissed of expresion from a men that I bumped. I took a step back, and taking in his features. Tall, very tall with dark hair, and the most muscular body i’ve ever seen judging from the size of his arms. The armor he wears, the sword on his hip, and the big shield he carry, i could tell that he’s one of the prime pieces. From which side? Of course from the bad one, it’s all written on his face. But despite of that, I apologized for bumping him, admitting that I was walking without looking. I did it in hope maybe somehow he would see my descency as a men, and wouldn’t snap at me. But boy, I was wrong.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking..” I bowed my head, out of habit in apologizing

“How dare you!..” He paused “Ah.. you’re the king’s son.. no wonder Cosmos was so eager to gring you here. You would be easy to kill, it will destroy Chronos without even need to fight him. Such a clumsy…” His tone dripping poison.

I snaped my head up and glared at him loosing it “Excuse me ? Ha.. me… easy to kill ? wrong guess big guy.. And who are you anyway ? wearing all those tin looking like a trash can blocking ten feet wide hallway..”

To my insult he growled and charging at me. But before he could grab me, a pair of strong hands pulled me to the side. Making him tripped over himself and land on his face, a loud pang was heard through the hallway from the impact of his armor and the floor.

“I guess you’re the clumsy one here Templar..” The voice coming from someone that pulled me.

“you are so dead in the next game Aria…” The men said through gritted teeth after he rushed to his feet, then leave me alone with this girl who just saved me. She turned to me and offer me her hand, I take it “Aria, I’m a pawn for the rook..” I raised my eyebrows and she gets what I’m asking without I voiced it “Hilda… I’m her pawn.”

“Nice to meet you Aria, I’m (Y/N).. bishop of the king I guess?..” I introduced myself

“I know who you are your highness.. anyway, that moron didn’t gave you any trouble before I got here?”

“No..because you saved me..thank you… by the way.. I never saw you since I arrived..”

“Oh about that..” She pulled something from her waist bag, a necklace. With a crystal as the pendant, a clear one with the hint of purple. “King asked me to make this for you.. took me long enough, I have to search for the right materials so I haven’t been around castle for a while” She handed me the necklace with crystal pendant. “It’s charmed necklace, we use it to communicate with eachother and we will be able to find eachother’s location with it. It’s a go to item from Team King..” she grinned at me.

“Thank you..So.. how did you fight in the last game?”

“Pardon ?”

“I mean everyone has a power here, especially those who’s involved in the game. I want to know your power since I heard from Arthur you and Hilda took down half of Cosmos’s army in the last game”

“Well first, that wasn’t an army. The thing is, Bishop of Cosmos has a power to enchance her pawn’s power, and her pawn can multiply himself so they made a clones in a large amount. Besides of that, the bishop is fairly weak so my job was to use my power to sneak around and attack the bishop while Hilda went wild with the clones.”

“And your power is..?”

“I could disappear from anyone’s sight.” She said to the point.

“That’s cool… like a ninja..”

“Thank you your highness.. although I don’t know what is this ninja you are talking about”

I chuckled at that “And that men earlier who was he?”

“Templar? He’s a knight of Cosmos, he’s strong, with a hot body, a face, but all those doesn’t mean a thing because of his attitude..”

I look at her giving her a knowing look “You like him..” I said shortly. She doesn’t deny it, but only smiles shyly. “Well.. that’s cute..ohh how about his pawn?”

“His pawn is ghost horse, you know? The knights have the tendency to make their pawn as their mount so they choosed those with animal forms. It’s the rooks of Cosmos that we really have to be careful of..”

“why is that ?”

“Last game was chaotic, a litteral war. Hilda fight the clones of pawn, while I sneak up to their bishop. Artur and Pegasus fight Templar and his pawn. The King and the Queen were against each other. And our bishop was fighting against quen’s rook. At least that’s what we thought, until the next thing we know bishop killed his own pawn and fight against us.” She took a deep breath and continues “We didn’t know her power, until she controls king’s bishop… Total Control, her power.. she would kill her enemy using her pawn, a voodoo doll. And after that, she put her consiousness into that dead body.”

“Wow..” is only my respond to her explainations

“But we won though, the king and his pawn won against the queen.That ended the game… Didn’t anyone told you?”

“Nah.. maybe because I never asked..and how about the previous bishop?”

To this question she looked down and smiled sadly. “He was a good men. When the king asked us to be his pieces, the bishop is there. He was an angel, a fallen angel that was punished not to be able to reincarnate.”

“Wait angel reincarnate ?” I cut her, because I was sure that angel doesn’t reincarnate. Because that’s what Cas told me.

“Some of them do, he was as ancient as the arcangels. Baraqiel, angel of the raging sky. His pawn was also an angel by the way… Well let’s stop this right here, because I still have some mission the king gave me… See you again your majesty.” With that, she leave me.

 A moment latter I’m already in the practice hall, fighting both Hilda and Arthur. These two never hold back in a fight, I was thrown here and there before I decided to used my power in the battle. But the minute I did, they did too. Hilda make the the gravity works three times on my body, making me hard to move a muscle. Arthur is running for me, with excalibur blazing a green flame, ethernal flame he told me. He was about to slash me with it when I stoped the time, then I used my power to bring the gravity around me to when it was before Hilda used her power. I moved to the other side of the field before the time is moving again. Hilda and Arthur seems shocked at this, because I never once used time pause in front of them. We ended the practice because of my father’s voice.

“How’s your practice going kids?” He asked all of us

Arthur was the first to answer “Impeccable your majesty, the prince has incridible skill in fighting.”

“That’s good, how about you Hilda? Do you think he’s ready for the game?”

“Of course your majesty, He was ready even before we practice with him.” She gave me her side smirk.

“Good, about the game…” He turned to me “Son, you need to find your pawn as soon as possible.”

“Why ?” He never once asked me about this, and now that he did, it means something is up.

“My sister, she’s starting her universe demolition. She destroyed two galaxy without me even knowing. Her pieces worked in the shadows with her this whole time. That’s why..”

“We need to start the game before she destroy another one…” I finished his sentence.

He nodded, and gave me sad smile. It’s still strange to see him, sometime’s awkward, but he never hold back his emotion to show. And by showing emotions means he even cried in front of me. Not the manly crying, but the sobbing childlike cry. That happened the day I came here, we were talking about mom, and he lost it. He then continued to talk “I know it’s hard for you son, but we have to do it, to protect the people we love, to protect the earth where we both find love, to protect home..”

I looked into his eyes. “I promised Dad..” It’s the first time ever I called him that, and he smiled “I promised myself to do so.. Give me a week and I’ll bring my pawn here.”

“Wait.. a week here or a week on earth?” He asked suddenly aware of my request.

  Dean’s POV

 My head is killing me right now. Due to the fact that I was tired, also to the fact that Cas decided to give us this bright light shock wave. I tried to open my eyes, but I can’t. It was bright a moment ago, and the next thing it turned dark. I tried and I tried, but I can’t. My eyes heavy, my whole body feels like it’s never been floowed by blood. I can’t feel anything, I’m numb, I wanted to scream but not a single damn muscle can move. I fight and fight harder, trying to at leat feel something. Then I heard it, a voice, a men’s voice, labored breath, he’s crying ? I can’t hear what he said, then I focused on listening.

“Dean.. wake up… don’t leave me like this… it’s all my fault, you’re not supposed to be dead… Dean…wake up”

Fuck I’m dead? Why am I dead? And who is this men crying? HIs fault? What is he talking about? More and more questions came to my mind. Then like a water poured to the full glass, the memories flooding my head. Months ago a boy came to the Bunker, he has the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. His smiles are so familiar, so heart warming. His laugh brought me mine, his touch on my skin was electrifying. Like that time when I date Cassie, I’m in love? With him? a men? The more and more time I let myself swims in these flood of memories makes my head hurts. Then I heard him again.

“I don’t care…” He paused “If It’s what it takes to bring him back, let it be. He’s dead because he met me, it would be better if he never knew me at all.” He sobbed “Dean, months after my family died, it was you who made me smile for the first time. And before I know it, it was you that makes me smile everyday after that. I know I rarely said this, we are.. rarely said this… but I need you to at least hear it before you couldn’t remember me… I love you Dean Winchester, I’ll always love you…”

To his words, more and more memories coming back. Like a wave on the ocean, the memories came back all at once. Making my body jolted awake, I screamed his name.

Taggs :  @thegreatficmaster @supernaturalimagine @supernaturaldaily @waywardwinterfics @buckyywiththegoodhair @angryschnauzer @mrgrant9559-blog @kaylzjordan @rawritsmeh @supernaturalfanfiction-com @after-avenging-hours @winchesterenthusiast​ @themerlintrashcan​ @wayward-warriors @themorningtrashcan @izzywinchester @avasparks @eve05glee

[vjdarkworld]

The Witcher 3 Quality of Life Tips n Tricks

Tips on everything that is Witcher 3. Whether you are just starting out, OR got through the entire game without learning what the fuck AP is... then this is the place FOR YOU!

Foreword:

This guide goes over various tips that I have curated together to make Geralt receive his butcher title deservingly. This isn’t a tutorial, but more of going over recommendations for character abilities, potions, upgrades, weapons, armor, and wtf AP is. Also explaining the premise of The Witcher series.

I am no Number Crunching expert, I took my 150+ hours of gameplay and looked up other people’s tips and guides to figure out what is the best advice to improve how I play the game. I listed the guides I looked at in end, but spoiler warning since some of those vids show endgame stuff.

Which regarding my guide, there are no story spoilers. The only thing I address is the upgrade paths available through the expansion packs. They really improve the quality of the gameplay once you get to a higher level.

The storytelling of The Witcher is its strong suit, so it’s understandable to kind of not think about the gameplay on a meta level… but it’s sad to see people get frustrated and not get to see the unique stories of the game cus they don’t fully understand Geralt’s POWER.

Thus, this guide is for both complete newbs to Witcher, and people that costed through the main quest and still are completely confused on the gameplay mechanics (like I was lawl). Both shall benefit from understanding the gameplay better, to get to the juicy story bits AND EVEN find some fun in dressing up Geralt and making him POWERFUL AS ALL HELL. Enjoooy.

I HIGHLY Recommend Both Expansion Packs; as they both contain amazing storylines and lots of content, to which some expand the gameplay to improve it substantially. I will talk through this guide assuming you have both.  

Story

First thing a complete newb to the series should know about Witcher 3 is…. The Main Quest, and the context of Geralt’s journey and really the whole world as well only makes sense if you either have played Witcher 1 & 2 OR have read the novels the series is based on.

That’s not to say you can’t just jump in to 3 and coast through it, figuring out the gist of it, you can do that……… but you miss out on the best part of the entire Witcher series…. and that is the storytelling.

Yes, Witcher 1 is janky as fuck, and Witcher 2 is out-dated, buttttt the story continuity, and all the callbacks that Witcher 3 does add to the story and world.

If you are curious as to why The Witcher series is different from all other fantasy RPG worlds is due to it being from Poland. People joke about The Witcher franchise being Poland’s sole entertainment flagship to the entire world, but it kinda is. The whole mythos of the series is based upon old Polish and Pagan mythology and folklore. This edge makes the aesthetic of the medieval fantasy look entirely different than your ordinary Tolkien fantasy that everything else is.

Speaking of edge, did I mention this is Dark Fantasy? Prepare the edge, The Witcher did in fact start out as Pulp Fiction mind you. Everything about The Witcher screams Adult. Of course there’s brutality, but really most games are like that… the difference is the SEX.

Adults have sex, and this aint no Romantic Bioware, no sireeee, this is more akin to …. how most adults have sex. Which is more to just have sex, single fling, casual dating… in fact since witchers shoot blanks they have the stereotype of being promiscuous. But it’s up to the player if Geralt shall succumb to Hook Up Culture, or does get into a monogamous relationship.

One last thing I want to touch on is…. Ok whenever someone is trying to sell the idea of The Witcher to a newb they say “it’s like Game of Thrones: the VIDEOGAME!!” I guess since Game of Thrones and The Witcher are both dark fantasy(cough SEX and fantasy). But when saying that statement it’s undermining The Witcher…  cus the newb is gonna think “oh so The Witcher just copied Game of Thrones and did their own spin on it.. I’ll pass” which just to dispel this:

Not only did The Witcher pulp fiction serial begin before A Song of Ice and Fire novel series did, BUT ALSO Witcher 1 came out before the Game of Thrones TV series began.

Thus, a better way of saying that recommendation is “If you like the dark fantasy aspect of Game of Thrones, then The Witcher series has that and MORE considering it’s an embodiment of Polish folklore and legend.”

Anyyywaysss enough of me trying to hype up the premise of The Witcher, lets get to the GAMEPLAY.

Character

Builds

Of course you design whatever build you want, but for complete newbs it’s hard to know where to start. The freeform unlock progression is daunting, especially when you have no clue what unlocks are good, which are bad, what to invest into, how to even design a build… so I will be going over some of the best and good unlocks that are going to guarantee success for you. Obviously you can experiment with whatever unlocks you want, but it’s frustrating when you start progressing through the game and you feel gimped.

I would like to state though what is potentially the strongest build in the game, and really the most dynamic and fun, and that is the hybrid build. AKA a fusion of combat, signs, and alchemy brought together by a special mutation. What is a mutation you might ask? Well it relates to the last expansion pack of the game, Blood and Wine. I won’t give any details on how it’s acquired and such cus of Spoilers, but I will say what mutation is the best and how it dictates the recommendations I am giving you.

One True Mutation: Euphoria

Again, I’m trying to be as vague as possible the details surround mutations, but there is one that changes the perspective of whole game, and that is Euphoria. What it does is, every point of Toxicity you have will increase your sword damage AND sign intensity. Thus, making an alchemy heavy build including this power up basically makes you powerful at EVERYTHING.

Also, making a hybrid build which incorporates all the abilities is more fun, since your using all the tools that Geralt could possibly do.

Yellow is BEST, Green is Good.

Combat

Best:

Whirl and Rend are really fun and add more depth to the combat. With Whirl, if you hold Quick Attack Geralt will start spinning around doing damage to whoever enters his bubble. Rend is when holding Strong Attack, where Geralt does a charged overhead slash attack that ignores the enemy’s defenses. Both attacks use up stamina by the way. They are fun since it gives you something else to do in the combat rather than dodge, parry, roll, do 3 quick attacks, etc. It’s much more dynamic when you have the options to use these. Whirl helpful for groups of enemies, and Rend for doing massive damage. They are even MORE fun when their distance is upgraded which I will get to later.

Razor Focus is related to Adrenaline Points. It first gives you one free one when entering combat, and increases the gain of AP from sword blows. Thus, the more attacks you do on the enemy, the more AP you get. All around most useful unlock to gain a lot of AP.

Good:

Muscle Memory and Precision Blows obviously are both good if you are going for either Quick Attack build OR just an overall good build. Same thing with Strength Training and Crushing Blows but with Strong Attack. I recommend to get all 4 of them eventually. Since it just overall boosts your attack output, no downside.

I recommend Sunder Armor but not Crippling Strikes. Sunder Armor is beneficial for breaking down enemies defenses so it’s good. But Crippling Strikes is outclassed by another skill in Alchemy, Poisoned Blades which I will get to.

Deadly Precision is a fun one. AP add a small chance of causing an insta-kill on an enemy. If you’re crazy about the AP than of course get this.

Signs 

Best:

Delusion gives Geralt that “these aren’t the druids you’re looking for” jedi mindtricks. Basically, it would be your Charisma or Speech stat in other games. It gives more dialogue options for Geralt to be more Peaceful, rather than having to get into fights all the time. I highly recommend to equip it while doing quests.

Quen is pretty much everyone best friend, so Exploding Shield is a no-brainer to have.

Aard Sweep is part of the alternate modes for the signs. Why I chose this one over the rest is cus it’s the most helpful. This allows you to stagger a crowd of enemies and even bigger monsters. So it’s a safe bet to get it.

Good:  

As I was saying about the alternative modes… really all of them can be useful depending on what the enemy is weak too of course, but there’s two that I think are good.

Magic Trap shoots a laser out at enemies that slows em down and hurts them. Obviously useful for specters, but also helpful for slowly down enemies in general since it has a longer range than regular Yrden circle. Also, with certain upgrades it can become even more useful which I will explain later…

Puppet is kinda bad on its own, but there’s a certain upgrade thing I must explain later… lots of explaining laters but trust me.

Alchemy

Best:

Any witcher should have Acquired Tolerance equipped. It increases your maximum Toxicity level so you can chug more potions and decoctions. Which means you can experiment more with them, have some crazy combinations with em, and this goes hand in hand with Euphoria. Since Euphoria means more toxicity is more damage. It’s an all-around amazing ability to have.

Synergy increases the power that a mutagen gives, up to 50% when maxed out. No matter the mutagen either, but for example if you stacked up on red mutagens your damage output would be doubled soooo really helpful.

Hunter Instinct and Killing Spree go hand in hand. Hunter Instinct increases critical hit damage, based upon the oil your using against and if your adrenaline points are maxed out, and Killing Spree increases critical hit chance if your drunk off that toxicity. Combined your gonna be SLICING out that critical hits.

Good:

Heightened Tolerance is very nice for chugging potions. Though, the way it works apparently is a bit confusing. It seems like what it does is prevents the effects of overdosing, aka loss of HP and AP, so it’s quite beneficial for Euphoria. But some say it doesn’t do that, I still highly recommend getting it.

Poisoned Blades is better than Crippling Strikes cus it scales based upon the tier of oil it is. Higher level means better chance of hitting. Thus should theoretically should hit more than the bleeding one.  

Protective Coating is obviously good if you want to be more tanky.

Tissue Transmutation, Endure Pain, and Refreshment all increase max Vitality. So if you want to have a lot of health, like if you want to be tanky, then GET THAT HP with THESE!

General

Best:

Rage Management allows you to use AP for Sign usage instead of stamina. If you combine this with Razor Focus you basically don’t really need stamina at all, you can just use all that AP you got on Signs. It really adds to the gameplay that you can use a sign with AP and since you still have stamina you can use Whirl/Rend to combo, totally makes the game more dynamic with what you can do with this simple unlock.

Gourmet makes food actually useful. The effects of food lasting 20 minutes instead of like a couple seconds means you don’t need to waste all the food you have in one single combat encounter ;;; P. Highly recommend. I imagine too if you’re on higher difficulties than this’ll be helpful since you can’t meditate to insta-heal.

Cat School Techniques adds 25% critical hit damage for every light armor piece you have, meaning 100% (and some have reported more, unless that depends on the patch) for full armor set. THAT DAMAGE OUTPUT BOY. And putting that together with the other critical hit abilities, it just stacks up that CR1TIKAL HITS BAY BAY.

 Good:

The other armor set boosts, Griffin School Techniques and Bear School Techniques I guess are fine if you are using the respective armors. Probably not as much of a return as the Cat one, but still a nice 20% boost of Sign Intensity or Vitality if you want. Probably best used at lower level and replaced later.  

Quests  

Priority of Quests go like this:

Quests below your level

Quests at your Level

Main Quest

Quests above your Level

The reason is because you get the most XP out of Quests done at around your Level, so you should get done with the low level quests first to get them out of your way, and then to the quests at your level, and tackle the quests above your level probably later once you gotten through more of Main Quest stuff. Cus if you progress through the Main Quest you will probably gain some more levels anyways.

Alchemy

Pick up EVERYTHING from enemies. Collect as much as possible, so you can start making alchemy recipes as soon as possible.

Don’t sweat it on buying recipes, look around first before putting out the cash on em. But I do recommend getting the base level Oils if you see them for sale. As well as any other base level alchemy recipe so you can start leveling them up with the higher levels you acquire by exploration.

OILS are so important. Try to upgrade them as soon as you can if you have the recipe. It helps so much with doing damage to enemies.

Potions:

This is just a highlight of potions, don’t be afraid to experiment of course. But these are some guaranteed goodies.

Blizzard – Gives you Bayonetta Witchtime. After killing an enemy, time slows down. Extremely helpful for groups of enemies, especially if the enemies have very quick attacks.

Thunderbolt – Damage boost, which is always nice.

Swallow – Vitality regeneration boost, for that HP.

Tawny Owl – Stamina regen boost, for those Signs and ROLLS.

Black Blood – Makes vampires get knocked back once hitting Geralt. Very helpful for a certain DLC…

Killer Whale – Gives you more breath while underwater, and ability to see better. Very nice to have for deep sea diving quests!

Maribor Forest – Increases AP generation, must have for maximizing AP growth!

Cat – Ability to see in dark.

White Honey – Clears out all the potion effect you have going, very helpful for ending the Cat potion once you’re out of a cave.

White Raffard’s Decoction– Restores a lot of vitality immediately. If HP regen isn’t your thing…

Golden Oriole – Immunity to poison, and when leveled up all the way, you get healed from poison.

Decoctions:

Werewolf – Running and jumping don’t use Stamina, so you can run wild, BROTHER.

Succubus – Attack power increases over the course of the battle, really maxxing out your POWER.

Ekimmara – Doing damage to enemies heals you. It’s especially helpful if you want to be on the offense instead of tank, you can now kinda tank hits when your wailing on people.

Fiend – If you ever accidentally go over carrying weight, than this is helpful in a pinch so you can race to storage, or

Bombs:

At early levels the damage that bombs do is more helpful, but once you get to a higher level they stop being extremely useful. Always refer to Bestiary to see what bombs are helpful for what enemies.

Runewright

A new upgrade system added via one of the expansion packs. This be an expensive investment to unlock, mind you!

It’s split into 3 levels, and it gets more and more expensive to unlock higher you go. Though…… the upgrades in the 3rd tier aren’t fully worth it. I recommend upgrading up to 2nd tier and waiting till ya get the money for 3.

Best:

Severance(lvl2) – extending the distance of Rend and Whirl. Beforehand the attacks would kinda miss if you weren’t directly in front of your enemy…. But now you can wheel and deal these attacks from a bit of a range. This turns Whirl into a blender, whirling through a massive group of enemies with ease. Or rend a sniper rifle, frickin’ sniping enemies if they try to dodge away from ya. It just makes the swordplay so much more fun.

Heft(lvl1), Balance(lvl2), Levity(lvl3) – aka Changing the armor to light/medium/heavy – Obviously really useful since your armor isn’t bound by armor class anymore. Both helpful for people using whatever armor they want for any certain build, but also people that want to do some Fashion and dress up Geralt and not need to worry about whatever armor class the assorted pieces are.

Good:

Beguilement(lvl2) and it’s upgrade Possession(lvl3) make Axii’s have potential. Nothing OP, but it makes Axii actually fun to use.

Ignition(lvl1) – after igniting someone, there’s a 25% chance that another enemy nearby will be set on fire as well. Nice addition to igni’s arsenal.

Armor and Weapons

Keep in mind that light, medium, and heavy armors have unique attributes.

Light increases crit and Quick Attack

Medium increases Sign and Stamina regen

Heavy increases max vitality and Strong Attack

Witcher gear gets special abilities once fully upgraded, so keep that in mind when figuring out which ones you wanna max out. Also maybe look up what the grandmaster sets look like to see which ones look the coolest to you.

Basically when your starting out you should just look for whatever armor and weapons have highest numbers.

Try not to buy anything, cus you will get some epic loot from doing quests and exploring. Also, schematics too for making epic loot. So only buy if you have the cash, but don’t buy anything too expensive.

And then of course once you’re a higher level then you will be looking to get grandmaster witcher gear and relic level loot.

Also the best silver sword is available via a quest in one of the expansions FYI!!

Adrenaline Points

This is the 3 red bars next to your stamina bar. Honestly, I had no idea what this did even after beating the main quest, most of the side quests, and both DLCs. But… it really helps knowing what the fuck this is.

Basically, think of it as a multiplier. Ala a damage multiplier but more complicated than that.

What the multiplier does is:

Increases damage

Increases sign intensity

And who knows what else. I’m still not sure of its full extent. But those two are the major key.

You gain AP by doing actions, by attacking and hitting the enemies and parrying for example. You lose AP by getting hit by the enemy.

Thus, you want to try and not get hit as you gain AP so then you can do massive damage later on in the fight.

Misc

Sign intensity effects stuff like if igni will set someone on fire for example.

Always refer to the Bestiary!!! So you know what Oils and bombs to use. Of course don’t be afraid to experiment with potions and other bombs, but use the Bestiary article for a reference.

Meditation heals you if you aren’t on the harder difficulties. Though it also clears you of all effects. BUT it also refills your potions.

Potions are auto refilled once you sleep or meditate if you have alcohol on hand. 

Reference

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHbd6ZTHjLo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc5hIUqkOMU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9hDNpmHzWU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWgwjZ0ju68

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ATkGx0iFUE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WFkCGcLQMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKRS0LD-11k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCctUGAr57A

Links:

http://guides.gamepressure.com/thewitcher3/guide.asp?ID=30859

https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/3864rg/80_hours_in_and_i_still_dont_know_how_adrenaline/

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/702760-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/73210492

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/702760-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/73952691?page=1

https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/6az8wd/overdose_threshold_decoction_toxicity_endure_pain/

 Hope this guide will help some poor soul out there..... Good luck on the path Witcher.....