Best remastered builds in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt

Get the best sword and sign builds for Geralt

The best builds in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt focus on a specific playstyle. Your Geralt may favor fast sword attacks that deal amazing critical damage, or he may cast his swords aside and rely on Witcher signs alone. Whichever end of the spectrum you choose, though, some Witcher 3 builds are better than others.

Based on the renewed skill tree system, here are the best remastered builds in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

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The best remastered builds in The Witcher 3

Although The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered made some changes to the combat and ability systems, most gear sets that were good before the remaster should still serve you well. The general rule has remained unchanged: The upgradable Witcher School sets (Wolf School Gear, Cat School Gear, etc.) are the best gear sets in the game. However, since the ability system was overhauled, remaster builds will look a bit different compared to those you may have used in Geralt's original adventure.

The incredibly popular Synergy ability, for example, was nerfed in the remaster; it's now part of the "general" abilities instead of the "alchemy" skill tree, and it only boosts mutagen effects up to 30% instead of 50%. It's still a good ability, but no longer an essential part of every Witcher 3 build.

To help Geralt get up to speed with the new skill trees, here are two of the best Witcher 3 builds in the remastered edition; one for those who favor swordmanship, and one for those who'd rather rely on magic.

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Best sign build in The Witcher 3

• Gear: Griffin armor and weapons
• General abilities: Griffin School Techniques, Elemental Attunement, and Synergy
• Sign abilities: Melt Armor, Exploding Shield, Sustained Glyphs, Magic Trap, Supercharged Glyphs, Catalyst, Fortify Signs, Chain Reaction, Focus, and Aftershock
• Combat abilities: Resolve and Razor Focus
• Mutagens: Blue mutagens only
• Glyphs, runes, and enchantments: Veles runestones, Igni glyphs, Rotation or Ignition enchantments

With the right build, Geralt's signs (magical abilities) become incredibly strong — you'll hardly need that silver sword anymore. As the Griffin School gear increases sign intensity, it's by far the best gear set for a sign-focused build.

Casting signs drains stamina, so there's a limit to how often you can use them. With that in mind, don't spread your skill points across all signs, but focus on Quen (shield), Yrden (magic trap), and Igni (fire damage over time).

The most important general skill is Griffin School Techniques, which improves sign intensity and stamina regeneration, the two most important stats in this build. Eventually, grab Elemental Attunement and Synergy to deal more elemental damage and get mutagen bonuses, respectively. Before you do so, however, be sure to get the most important sign skills in early game: Exploding Shield to defend yourself, and Melt Armor to kill your opponents.

Later on, start upgrading Yrden and add it to your sign rotation; try to trap enemies within the magic field before blasting them with Igni. Upgrade the Catalyst and Fortify signs next, as they allow you to deal even more Igni damage against enemies within the Yrden field, and grant longer Quen protection. In late-game, you should unlock Focus so you can further boost sign intensity based on your adrenaline points. If you have any points left, unlocking adrenaline-boosting combat skills like Resolve is an amazing way to enhance the effects of Focus.

If you've upgraded your Griffin set to grandmaster quality, you can cast a second sign without consuming stamina and increase the size of Yrden traps by 40% — standing within an Yrden field will also improve your attack, decrease incoming damage, and boost stamina regeneration.

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Best sword fighting build in The Witcher 3

• Gear: Feline armor and weapons (Cat School)
• General abilities: Cat School Techniques and Battle Frenzy
• Combat abilities: Muscle Memory, Three Strikes, Razor Focus, Undying, Resolve, Crippling Strike, and Whirl
• Mutagens: Mostly red mutagens to increase attack power, but equip a green mutagen for survivability if needed
• Glyphs, runes, and enchantments: Chernobog runestones, Quen glyphs, Severance and Deflection enchantments

The Cat School armor, also known as the Feline Armor set, is a light armor set that mainly increases attack power. If you'd like to swing swords and deal wild amounts of damage, the Cat School build is for you. While you won't focus on signs, if you do use one, make sure it's Quen (protective shield).

The first non-combat skill you need is Cat School Techniques (general skill tree), as it improves fast attack and critical damage based on the number of light armor pieces you're wearing. Even more important, however, is the connected Battle Frenzy ability, which increases your critical hit chance based on the adrenaline points you've gathered.

Since this build focuses on sword fighting, put most of your skill points in the combat skill tree. Almost every combat skill is useful, but especially the ones that boost fast attacks and adrenaline gain. As it improves your adrenaline generation gained from weapon strikes, Razor Focus is the most important; combined with the Battle Frenzy ability mentioned earlier, it'll ensure a high critical hit chance. Although it consumes adrenaline points, the Whirl attack offers the best way to quickly defeat groups of minor enemies.

At grandmaster level, wearing a full Cat School gear set boosts fast attack damage by 60% for five seconds after using a strong attack. On top of that, rear attacks deal 50% more damage and stun opponents at the cost of one adrenaline point. Be sure to adjust your combat style accordingly; start with a strong attack before unleashing the fast attacks, and try to dodge behind enemies. Note that the full effect (rear damage) isn't absolutely essential for a proper Cat School build, so if you'd like to equip other legendary swords, feel free to do so — just make sure they've got a high critical hit chance.