Hey, don’t know if you know this but they added an option for “quick sign casting” and it makes using signs infinitely better. You hold the sign button then press a specific button on the controller for each sign. Completely eliminates the need to open the wheel constantly to switch signs.
Oh dude you're a legend. Thank you for doing the work for us all. Your videos are going to help me to choose a build for this new update. Find myself visiting your channel daily for new videos and given how many videos you're pumping out I'm never disappointed.
I have a very similar build to this, except favoring Aard over Igni, to take advantage of the `bitter cold` Aard ability. Interestingly, in watching you demonstrate the same basic build but favoring Igni, it works about as well, just slightly different. Obviously the animations are different, you do get the collateral burn effect from igni that you don't get from Aard, but Aard also pushes them and helps keep them off you. It's almost half a dozen of one and six of another, but I think I'm going to try your build and test that a bit more thoroughly.
I think it's pretty extreme to tell people they need to reroll against fire-resistant enemies. I'm on deathmarch and I usually just slot some different skills. Certainly don't pull out a potion of clearance and rework all of my expensive glyphs.
That would be exciting! Have you seen the failed romance scene for both Triss as well as Yen at Kaer Morhen? It will give you a good Idea what happens to Geralt when sorceresses get mad. 😝
@@optimusgrime8265 Yeah i saw that ending in some vids lol. On my first playthrough i knew it wasn't a good idea to "love" both sorceresses. I stuck with triss the whole time.
Excellent presentation of this build. I just finished a fresh start game using almost this identical build and it's fabulous. Took out Dettlaff using nothing but signs and this was my first sign build run.
@@optimusgrime8265 i just finished piercing cold aard yrden igni sign build and it is the most unbalancedly strong thing in the entire game on death march. If built right
I tried a medium version of this exact build im currently level 69 and even that build is so op having said that i had to switch back to a combat alchemy build because it got stale very quickly to just burn down everything:).
Cool build, didn't realize the mutation boost increases all haha. Ty kindly for that. From what I could tell sign intensity from weapons only applies if the weapon is drawn. It also seemed in my test (gotta try again to be sure) that the stam restore doesn't seem to trigger off sign/status kills despite being worded differently to sound as if it does. Gotta test the crit mutation, but the bottom left red/blue one that adds DMG based on your sword is super strong. Just hold the silver sword (highest base DMG) like a wand to focus your magic and melt shit. Currently dumping upscaling mods in to push enemies stats higher because the signs are decimating everything after getting to toussaint/grandmaster gear.
Aard deals a percentage of enemy's current HP as damage instead of a flat amount(because of FCR 3 mod integrated into next gen). The tooltip for it is incorrect. It is very good against high HP bosses. I generally do Aard and instantly Igni on bosses for a ton of damage, or double Aard against Golems.
I consider Ignition unnecessary. It adds no damage, and your sign intensity will light everything on fire anyway, pretty much. It's redundant. Also, building around Aard/Piercing Cold produces a stronger status effect through sign intensity. Your Igni comparison doesn't measure up because you're heavily invested in Igni, not Aard. However, the build is still solid from a skills perspective and gives you plenty of options if you want to change things up. Because Ignition is redundant, this gives you a free Glyphword, or you could simply load multiple Griffin armor chests up with different runes for a quick way to shift power to any sign you like, increasing build variety and staving off staleness. You could even add the Levity glyphword and become a fairly decent swordsman for the low cost of one slot. As this build is capable of self-healing, this would make mixing it up in melee somewhat viable. You would be surprised how much you can do with Griffin armor and some minor swapping. After all, you're melting armor, which means your swords are going to hit really hard once you soften up human enemies. As for runewords, runes, those seem fine, but I think some testing of Replenishment would have been worthwhile. It's a sign-based effect, after all. I've personally never used it, but on a pure signs build, I could see it being really powerful, and with the rebalance, it could be better than it once was, like many of the changes that turned non-viable effects into ones that scale properly with level.
im not so sure about that. when i was fighting toad and the ophiri mage it seems to me the 100% ignite chance isnt 100% while with ignition skill i had far more chance to ignite them. well maybe i had some distorted perception but i wouldnt be surprised if there is some sort of invisible mechanic
@@BuGGyBoBerl With the rebalance, I do believe they scaled back burn chance a bit, so if Igni is all you care about in a sign build, I find nothing wrong with this guide. It does, however, say "Most OP Broken SIGN Build," and to me, that means all signs, being super powerful, not just Igni. There is still plenty of good information in the guide, though.
@@iMzmonkeyMi sure. im no expert by any means nor can i judge this guide. my whole point is just about the ignite chance. i just figured that even though it said 100% burn chance the toad and ophiri mage didnt always catch on fire while if i changed to ignition it was much more reliable. i tried couple of times. that being said, im not 100% sure about that and can be mislead. btw. is piercing cold worth it? i mean if we take a look at enemies who wont freeze and instant die, whats the advantage of the build? the flat damage imo falls off in later stages and the %damage of aard happens with other builds too. (assuming you have the glyph)
@@BuGGyBoBerl Based on what this build shows, I'd say if you made an Aard chest piece to swap in, changing nothing else, with greater runes, it should be decent. I haven't tested this build, as I haven't started my NG+ yet, but there are enemies that are vulnerable to cold, and in those situations, it would be fun to use. From what I have seen, all signs have been changed to prevent damage dropoff. My hope with a sign build is to really mix things up and use everything based on the situation. With the kind of stamina regen we can get now, every sign could be amazing, as long as you lean heavily enough into your damage dealers to not need swords. But if you want to use swords, the Quen sustain would be fun to try, also.
i finished this game so many times, but always witch red, green build. I walways wanted to go blue, but kinda got bored early. Now next gen + couple of mods installed + randomly found your movie - it has to be the time to be Obi Geralt Kenobi
dam thats mental the way they literally melted lol looks really good but iv never liked funneling everything in 1 direction for the very reason u mentioned the stone golems, wild hunt, etc i prefer having a more well rounded build as i lean more to the hybrid type of playstyle but u have given me some good info here that i will try and incorporate so cheers for that
nah the new metamorphasis build centered around delayed recovery is wayyyy more op - infinite stamina infinite signs - all potions active - plus 5 decoctions of your choosing
Can you do some nextgen hybrid build? Thats the most fun for me to mix some options and use whole kit within fight even if not the highest numbers possible. Maybe some griffon/forgotten wolf + euphoria? :) Do you know if sunder armor ability works like a debuff so it could affect also magic defence for signs casted after?
Hey man, planning to make this build. Does the Rejuvenation on the Steel sword also apply when using the Silver Sword? Might be a dumb question tbh. Either way build looks amazing, new to the Witcher game and your stuff has been the best I've found here on YT.
I like the original control scheme better. Sort of like how fighting game pros prefer arcade sticks. I find it more precise, plus manually changing slows time.
You can use piercing cold so that you have both aard and igni for damaging spells cause if you use magic sensibilities or conductors of magic aard does almost zero damage. I know you will say that you lose the critical damage from sensibilities but you still have a second damaging spell.
Also try conductors build its good and scales with 50% of weapons damage plus your sign intensity that way you can experiment with 50% sword 50% sign build cause like you said signs are not always effective 😉
@@thanasiskoutsogkilas6199 is there a good place where I can learn about this build. I also don't just like relying on one spell so this would be great even if it isn't as strong as a purr igni build.
@@thanasiskoutsogkilas6199 how do you get piercing cold unlocked. I’m only level 20, I’m almost maxed out in igni, now I’m doing the same with aard but I don’t understand
@@Mcjesus97 blood and wine dlc. Go to the capital area in toussaint and a kid will give you a letter about a professor who studied witcher mutations, follow that quest and you'll unlock the mutations skill tree. It's good to do early on but bear in mind most of the enemies in toussaint will one shot you if you're going there at a low level.
Yeah it's still the case, that's why I don't hit them, igni them then focus on others, but with this build it ignites everything, so just sit back and igni.
It’s a shame it’s so slow for the first few levels. I think with the reduced stamina regain from signs even slower at the start? Still I always end up going signs, nice to know it’s stronger in the later game.
Yeah stamina is a pain early on, medium armor and griffin school technique can make it much better very early, but sword use is necessary whereas late game you don't even need to draw a sword.
3:02 I discovered yrden build, cast yrden glyph that zaps Targets, then cast yrden again because this makes those zaps explosive from the blood and wine mutation upgrade "magic sensibilities" finally aard shock wave. I've one shot entire groups
Super curious about this build - I'm at the beginning of a next-gen campaign. I finished a 400-hour playthrough with a sign-based build back in 2016. For the most part I was hell on wheels, but in late-game and DLC boss fights I fell flat on my face - I remember this one Wild Hunt lieutenant that forced me to backtrack, rebuild AND learn all the sword skills I'd pretty much ignored until then. I love playing RPGs as some sort of mage, so I'm wondering if I could get it to work this time. P.S. Can't remember what the Boss's name was, but we squared off in a sort of ring, where I just got killed and killed and killed and killed. Took me days to get past him!
I have not tested this on hellmarch, but on normal difficulty I noticed Igni secondary mode (fire stream) did a significant amount of damage to gargoyles and golems. Standard blast did almost nothing, but maybe check if stream works instead of respecing/rune on the resistant folks?
Hey, I know I’m very late but I have a question about the Yrden sign. Even while having all upgrades regarding Yrden equipped, the range of the sign is smaller and it looks decently different than the Yrden on your video. Do you have any idea why this happens?😢
Your control forgotten wolf set build is better tho right? I've been looking for a griffin set build. Is this the utmost potential with this set? 🤔 basically yrden and igni? And what would u say is the best build in the game right now? I'm kinda looking for a jack of all trades build that uses sword play mixed in with signs and potions/oils.
Wow, I didn't know that the next-gen update made the sign build this good. Thanks for the video! I'm running an Axii build but I think I'll have to reallocate my points to have even more sign intensity. Is this the new maximum intensity? Or can it go even higher?
I'm aiming to get the highest sign intensity possible. For role playing purposes... I'm going with Axii mainly, I rarely use anything else besides Yrden. I've tried a few builds but I still find that Euphoria can get Geralt to the highest numbers. I'd be the first to like your video if you made one about 'max sign intensity' :) thanks for the answer btw!
What makes the Igni stay on the ground? Is it something to do with your armor? I'm not far in yet only just now going to Skellige for the first time after doing all the side missions I had in Velen / Novigrad
Isn't the pyromaniac skill worthless with that much sign intensity? I can't seem to find a good answer online, but if I'm at 100% burn chance with igni from sign intensity, does it actually do anything?
I wonder if piercing cold would be any good with the new Witcher set. The damage bonus to aard would have to be better than the Griffin's 100% sign intensity within yrden bc if it's not, why would I put on gear that only buffs one sign when I could use the Griffin to buff all?
I really like the fireteam ability, its just a pity it isn't that good, i tried making a signs build for my fresh start character, ive just forgotten how bad resource management is early on, so i ended up going full combat again, but i will definitely try this on new game plus looks fun.
@@optimusgrime8265is melt armor worth using ?? ive been getting conflicting answers so far, everyone has an opinion but nobody seems to have an answer.
@@unknownoperator8605 I use all of the igni abilities except the secondary mode. Wether or not it truly applies the effect is case by case so you can replace it but I dont.
@@unknownoperator8605 yeah of course, armored enemies make you deal alot less damage, but igni reduced armor by 25%, that's a 25% damage boost for swords.
@@optimusgrime8265 I'm just dubious as to the worth of this runeword but you seem to know better so I'd love to hear more on it's actual benefit, I mean with such a heavy sign build don't you already have an insane stamina regen to justify it ( I'd just use G.velen runes or even something like dumplings lol)? Also the "fatal blow" part of it, doesn't this mean you need to be actually hitting stuff? which seems kinda pointless when everything dies with Ingi or whatever from range. But maybe I'm missing something here.
@@MrDigitop well not every situation is the same and you have to use a sword on occasion, also they nerfed food into the ground so dumplings are pointless. Also it's really a matter of personal preference, if something works better for you use that instead
It's weird, go into display settings and then hud, and about halfway down the massive list should be a "show all damage numbers" option on the list. It does seem somewhat needlessly hidden. Hope that helps.
I'm using cat + griffin just to make this build less op tbh, and to use melee combat a bit, I like the mage style gameplay,but I'll do that more if Witcher Jerome get's his own game ,one can only dream :D
I have only one socket on gloves trousers and boots cant add more at runemasters? I have masters griffin not grand master set. Please respond thank you 😊
@@optimusgrime8265 Will Static Dischrage at least damage last boss (Eredin) more than before? I heard it does % HP dmg now. " "Static Discharge skill now removes a portion of enemy's current health instead of dealing very low flat damage. Damage depends on Sign intensity and can vary between 2% (lowest possible) and 10% or more of current enemy health per cast on maxed out Signs build. This makes casting Aard with Static Discharge a very good idea against tanky enemies, especially at the beginning of combat. Vanilla damage of Static Discharge was extremely low, so investing in this skill was a waste."
i know this is a year old but why not just make extra sets of armor one for each type of signs so you dont have to spend the 12k or more coins on changing the glyphs around to suit your needs
Had like 500k gold so it was never an issue, nothing to stop you doing it your way, just never needed to myself. Necessity is the mother of invention as the saying goes.
If you have an enchantment on one sword like the silver and not the steel sword will the enchantment work when the silver sword is sheathed and using the steel??
Depends, some yes and some no, if the ability only works in combat then generally speaking you need that particular sword out in order to recieve the bonus. Alternatively some effect combat even while sheathed. Unfortunately because of invisible skill and stat limits, it's even harder to tell most of the time, for example if you use tawny owl, a stamina decoction, griffin school and the stamina enchantment all at the same time, the stamina gauge won't recieve the full increase regardless. Since there is no way to tell which is working and what is not, it's better to just use them all so if one doesn't work, one of the others will.
Nice build. My first playthrough was with a sign build but it was too weak for new game plus. I changed it for combat/alchemy Euphoria unlimited whirl build and it is much more fun. I'm on new (ng+) playthrough lvl 100 more than half game to go and I don't know what to do with leftover points. I can basically do 2 builds at once but what for... Weird change.
@@optimusgrime8265 it's actually very useful because it would take almost endgame to finish a build, but now you can make a proper build once you get to skellige around level 18-22.
Really depends on your preference, this is really signs only, conductor builds are to boost signs based off of sword damage, so you would go for a different balance overall. But if I'm being honest, just burning everything gets old fast. So go with conductor or euphoria maybe even cat's eyes if you like to mix it up a bit.
It's pretty similar, I'm not sure which would do more damage, but the conductors of magic adds half your sword damage to your signs. I'm pretty sure this bonus is boosted by sign intensity. So I think conductors of magic would be more powerful, but I'm not sure if critical damage applies to burn. I'm using Conductors of Magic in my first playthrough in Blood and Wine, but I haven't updated yet. Your Igni sign damage is really good since you can cast it twice with the Griffin set. If you're focused on sign damage it's usually better to keep your silver sword out since they have higher damage by a fair amount
In a old gen I tried using griffin build but opening wheel signs all the time bored me a lot. In this new gen, it should be efficient surely. I'm trying to combine Ign and Quen. Of course all others signs have improved too. Besides I'm using fast and strong attack instead nothing. While the foes are burning I go and execute them. Works well with monsters and specters. Not only flesh foes. Noonwraith portion is always welcome.
I'm not sure if it's that much more powerful than before, but i have noticed improvements, even though i'm still in early game with the base Griffin set. Alternate Yrden is a good example, in the old version it did a lot less damage and wasn't particularly useful for anything else other than giving safe space from archers and staggering melee enemies, even with grandmaster bonuses later in B&W, but now i'm actually killing things. There are downsides early game however, particularly with Igni sign, the scaling is far lower so most of the time you don't light enemies on fire until you get A LOT of intensity later. I'm lvl 13 and still don't have 100%. Also, when it comes to elementals, golems...quen sign with damage reflect skills used to work decently, wonder how it works now, haven't tried. P.S. Btw, do you petri's philter is any inferior to tawny?
Well this is mostly a ng+ build so many issues you mention can be avoided by rerolling, however first run go with superior petri to guarantee burn, and instead of enchanting use 9 greater glyph of igni and there should be no issues whatsoever. I mentioned several times the build is useless against enemies invulnerable to igni, so bombs, exploding bolts, oil and sword will need to pick up the slack, if that's not enough, you gotta reroll.
keep an eye on blue and yellow swords. I found a level 7 blue silver sword with 50% sign intensity in a merchants inventory. I'm not sure but I think this has to be new. It has been a long time since I played the witcher 3 so I can't say for sure. But 50% is more than the whole griffen set at that level.
doersn anyone know if they fixed the sign intensity rocks on swords since even if im equiping griffin swords it doesnt increase my sign intensity same for axii aard yerden gliphs on armour i added +50 to axii and enemies stay stunned for the same duration
Unfortunately there are invisible skill caps for all stats and abilities, igni seems to have the highest, but since it's invisible, despite what the screen says, no way of telling what each limit actually is, I noticed this primarily with stamina gain.
I always veer off into alchemy. In any fantasy game. Signs look fun. I love Yrden. A shame Aard just pushes things around, I wanna see Fus Ro Aard levels of damage and rag doll. I’ve always used Igni as a second more dangerous Aard as I’ve never specced into signs before. I am curious how you got so much cash? My Geralt is never broke but far from as rich as yours.
Just farm the Hanse bases with enemy scaling on and sell all the swords, you can make 100K easily within an hour. More the higher your level. In NG+ with enemy scaling you can make even more money. Selling even the most basic swords are worth a lot at higher levels.
It’s a lil disappointing how they nerfed Aard in the update. My first play through I had so much fun with the piercing cold aard sweep combo. On normal difficulty it would basically insta kill every enemy in the vicinity
I get this comment a lot, usually it is just there to increase the sign intensity % from greater mutagen. You are correct, effectually it is redundant, replace it with whatever you like.
Shame I'll never get to try this because I absolutely detest the look of the Griffin armor. I know it's proper armor blah blah blah, but the bloated torso is just a complete no-go for me. I'll just stick to Wolf armor like I almost always do... Won't be as strong, but I can at least look at Geralt without want to dry heave. Great video.
You can still do this build a little bit rounded meaning still a sign build but with all signs receiving buffs and such of course this build in what's it does which is concentrated in one sign " build in igni" is gonna be insanely powerful for anything weak to it, but you can still do a build like this without being broken and more balance so all sign takes advantage of it of course if you like one sign more than other you can invest more in that sign but the others will be effective as well
Imo, igni is where it's at dps wise, for crowd control you can use yrden and quen for defense. But I think it's better to build a combat/igni build rather than just overall spells. You will have a better character for boss fights, whereas full signs build is really only good against non-boss enemies.
@@ArthaxtaDaVince777 in my experience I focus more on igni having said that not every enemy is weak to igni so even though my primary dealing damage sign is igni I try my best to balance the others that way I don't have to respect unless I want to! The only sign imo that you don't have to put points in is the shield that thing is overpower anyway and I notice that if you move well enough to not get hit you can do with the default one
This makes the same mistake as the other Sign build videos... only showing the convenient enemies (typically humans) and not enough variety of monsters or monster bosses and examples of tactics against them. Can you do another video on bosses (or mini-bosses) and different types of monsters where Igni is less viable?
Hey, don’t know if you know this but they added an option for “quick sign casting” and it makes using signs infinitely better. You hold the sign button then press a specific button on the controller for each sign. Completely eliminates the need to open the wheel constantly to switch signs.
I know, I like the time slow mechanics for the wheel, let's you plan action in advance
I prefer normal cause I just spam igni…
@@charlestalbotrice2007 That's what makes more options a good thing, everyone can hopefully find something that suits them best.
@@optimusgrime8265 hey man, how did you get your Yrden and Igni to look like that? My game isn’t as detailed
@@thomasdwalker9696 easy: up down up down left right left right select start
Geralt committing war crimes.
lmao
Acting like Putin out here 😂
War Grimes.
He paid for those women fair and square
@@PaNDaSNiP3Rand Zelenskyy and the Biden Regime
Oh dude you're a legend. Thank you for doing the work for us all. Your videos are going to help me to choose a build for this new update. Find myself visiting your channel daily for new videos and given how many videos you're pumping out I'm never disappointed.
Thank you I hope you find something useful
wow, I actually didn't know the Sign build was getting buffed on this update. I just went for it to change my playstyle and it's so much fun.
Yeah, now that the yrden abilities actually work, it can be quite fun.
Try a Yrden Trap (alternate sign) + Entanglement Rune build with griffin grandmaster gear. It's pretty wicked.
I have a very similar build to this, except favoring Aard over Igni, to take advantage of the `bitter cold` Aard ability. Interestingly, in watching you demonstrate the same basic build but favoring Igni, it works about as well, just slightly different. Obviously the animations are different, you do get the collateral burn effect from igni that you don't get from Aard, but Aard also pushes them and helps keep them off you. It's almost half a dozen of one and six of another, but I think I'm going to try your build and test that a bit more thoroughly.
I think it's pretty extreme to tell people they need to reroll against fire-resistant enemies. I'm on deathmarch and I usually just slot some different skills. Certainly don't pull out a potion of clearance and rework all of my expensive glyphs.
You don't need to reroll. Just get the red footwork upgrade and you can i-frame a sword fight like its darksouls.
@@aresix8239 I mean, the 5 Yrden skills and an oiled-up sword can carry almost any fight.
Fantastic work! Made my *'beyblade goes brrrrr'* brain actually enjoy a sign build!
Build into crit and adrenaline you can just spam redicilous op damage,also they are affected by igni just not as much but I use both yrden and igni.
Do whatever makes YOU happy bro that's the most important thing
Bro thanks so much for this fun build. Did this on ng+ and with quick cast now i feel like i could take on triss and yen in a magic battle.
That would be exciting! Have you seen the failed romance scene for both Triss as well as Yen at Kaer Morhen? It will give you a good Idea what happens to Geralt when sorceresses get mad. 😝
@@optimusgrime8265 Yeah i saw that ending in some vids lol. On my first playthrough i knew it wasn't a good idea to "love" both sorceresses. I stuck with triss the whole time.
@@optimusgrime8265 I also noticed i had a tougher time during fistfights with this build. Took me so many tries with the troll champion in skellige.
@@mac-ec8do Yeah, critical melee abilities affect unarmed combat. If you pump crit you can punch him to death in 3 or 4 hits.
Sign Geralt: Y'know, I'm somewhat of a sorceress myself ;]
lol
Completely agree, you want ignition, not eruption, not the other one!
lol at this point it doesn't matter but you do you.
Excellent presentation of this build. I just finished a fresh start game using almost this identical build and it's fabulous. Took out Dettlaff using nothing but signs and this was my first sign build run.
A sign playthrough can be a bit rough starting out but very fun once it all comes together
@@optimusgrime8265 id alchemy stronger than this? I never played sign build. only alchemy on death march before
@@ReverseGuy Far weaker than a good metamorphosis or euphoria build sadly.
@@optimusgrime8265 i just finished piercing cold aard yrden igni sign build and it is the most unbalancedly strong thing in the entire game on death march. If built right
I tried a medium version of this exact build im currently level 69 and even that build is so op having said that i had to switch back to a combat alchemy build because it got stale very quickly to just burn down everything:).
Cool build, didn't realize the mutation boost increases all haha. Ty kindly for that.
From what I could tell sign intensity from weapons only applies if the weapon is drawn. It also seemed in my test (gotta try again to be sure) that the stam restore doesn't seem to trigger off sign/status kills despite being worded differently to sound as if it does.
Gotta test the crit mutation, but the bottom left red/blue one that adds DMG based on your sword is super strong. Just hold the silver sword (highest base DMG) like a wand to focus your magic and melt shit.
Currently dumping upscaling mods in to push enemies stats higher because the signs are decimating everything after getting to toussaint/grandmaster gear.
Aard deals a percentage of enemy's current HP as damage instead of a flat amount(because of FCR 3 mod integrated into next gen). The tooltip for it is incorrect. It is very good against high HP bosses. I generally do Aard and instantly Igni on bosses for a ton of damage, or double Aard against Golems.
Ignited enemies also receive damage percentage wise. I was killing level 35 nekkers in seconds at level 12 using igni. Can you ignite bosses tho?
@@ArthaxtaDaVince777 Human bosses, Cyclops, Prince Toad and many other bosses can be ignited.
@@memelordozai8553 can you ignite detlaf?
Does this allow you to take on bosses that were immune to signs like Imlerith?
@@organicmechanic2477 He is immune to effects but still takes damage from Aard
I consider Ignition unnecessary. It adds no damage, and your sign intensity will light everything on fire anyway, pretty much. It's redundant. Also, building around Aard/Piercing Cold produces a stronger status effect through sign intensity. Your Igni comparison doesn't measure up because you're heavily invested in Igni, not Aard. However, the build is still solid from a skills perspective and gives you plenty of options if you want to change things up. Because Ignition is redundant, this gives you a free Glyphword, or you could simply load multiple Griffin armor chests up with different runes for a quick way to shift power to any sign you like, increasing build variety and staving off staleness. You could even add the Levity glyphword and become a fairly decent swordsman for the low cost of one slot. As this build is capable of self-healing, this would make mixing it up in melee somewhat viable. You would be surprised how much you can do with Griffin armor and some minor swapping. After all, you're melting armor, which means your swords are going to hit really hard once you soften up human enemies. As for runewords, runes, those seem fine, but I think some testing of Replenishment would have been worthwhile. It's a sign-based effect, after all. I've personally never used it, but on a pure signs build, I could see it being really powerful, and with the rebalance, it could be better than it once was, like many of the changes that turned non-viable effects into ones that scale properly with level.
im not so sure about that. when i was fighting toad and the ophiri mage it seems to me the 100% ignite chance isnt 100% while with ignition skill i had far more chance to ignite them. well maybe i had some distorted perception but i wouldnt be surprised if there is some sort of invisible mechanic
@@BuGGyBoBerl With the rebalance, I do believe they scaled back burn chance a bit, so if Igni is all you care about in a sign build, I find nothing wrong with this guide. It does, however, say "Most OP Broken SIGN Build," and to me, that means all signs, being super powerful, not just Igni. There is still plenty of good information in the guide, though.
@@iMzmonkeyMi sure. im no expert by any means nor can i judge this guide. my whole point is just about the ignite chance. i just figured that even though it said 100% burn chance the toad and ophiri mage didnt always catch on fire while if i changed to ignition it was much more reliable. i tried couple of times.
that being said, im not 100% sure about that and can be mislead.
btw. is piercing cold worth it? i mean if we take a look at enemies who wont freeze and instant die, whats the advantage of the build? the flat damage imo falls off in later stages and the %damage of aard happens with other builds too. (assuming you have the glyph)
@@BuGGyBoBerl Based on what this build shows, I'd say if you made an Aard chest piece to swap in, changing nothing else, with greater runes, it should be decent. I haven't tested this build, as I haven't started my NG+ yet, but there are enemies that are vulnerable to cold, and in those situations, it would be fun to use. From what I have seen, all signs have been changed to prevent damage dropoff. My hope with a sign build is to really mix things up and use everything based on the situation. With the kind of stamina regen we can get now, every sign could be amazing, as long as you lean heavily enough into your damage dealers to not need swords. But if you want to use swords, the Quen sustain would be fun to try, also.
i finished this game so many times, but always witch red, green build. I walways wanted to go blue, but kinda got bored early. Now next gen + couple of mods installed + randomly found your movie - it has to be the time to be Obi Geralt Kenobi
dam thats mental the way they literally melted lol looks really good but iv never liked funneling everything in 1 direction for the very reason u mentioned the stone golems, wild hunt, etc i prefer having a more well rounded build as i lean more to the hybrid type of playstyle but u have given me some good info here that i will try and incorporate so cheers for that
im having fun with piercing cold ng+ deathmarch
Another question. Magic Sensibilities over Conductors of Magic? Wondered what your thinking was there? Greater damage overall?
I watched this video out of curiosity and realized that we have the same build
nah the new metamorphasis build centered around delayed recovery is wayyyy more op - infinite stamina infinite signs - all potions active - plus 5 decoctions of your choosing
Link?
@@coin777 channel is Phoenix237
Nah bruh, boring af build, turns the game into easy mode. Only scrubs play on Euphoria or Metamorphosis. This sign build is actually fun and solid.
Can you do some nextgen hybrid build? Thats the most fun for me to mix some options and use whole kit within fight even if not the highest numbers possible. Maybe some griffon/forgotten wolf + euphoria? :) Do you know if sunder armor ability works like a debuff so it could affect also magic defence for signs casted after?
Already got those up on the channel bro!
Can you make a OP wolven build next gen update ?
Just posted both, regular and forgotten
Hey man, planning to make this build. Does the Rejuvenation on the Steel sword also apply when using the Silver Sword? Might be a dumb question tbh. Either way build looks amazing, new to the Witcher game and your stuff has been the best I've found here on YT.
Thanks man. It only affects the sword it's on, some affect everything though like the one for grindstone.
Why aren’t you using quick casting? It makes combat so much smoother
I like the original control scheme better. Sort of like how fighting game pros prefer arcade sticks. I find it more precise, plus manually changing slows time.
*Both are really good builds, the 2 that I most use*
Why does your menu look so much nicer than mine, I’m on p5
You can use piercing cold so that you have both aard and igni for damaging spells cause if you use magic sensibilities or conductors of magic aard does almost zero damage. I know you will say that you lose the critical damage from sensibilities but you still have a second damaging spell.
Also try conductors build its good and scales with 50% of weapons damage plus your sign intensity that way you can experiment with 50% sword 50% sign build cause like you said signs are not always effective 😉
@@thanasiskoutsogkilas6199 is there a good place where I can learn about this build. I also don't just like relying on one spell so this would be great even if it isn't as strong as a purr igni build.
@@VirgoVyrus the only way to do good damage with the Aard sign is to use the piercing cold. That way you do damage with aard plus the other signs
@@thanasiskoutsogkilas6199 how do you get piercing cold unlocked. I’m only level 20, I’m almost maxed out in igni, now I’m doing the same with aard but I don’t understand
@@Mcjesus97 blood and wine dlc. Go to the capital area in toussaint and a kid will give you a letter about a professor who studied witcher mutations, follow that quest and you'll unlock the mutations skill tree. It's good to do early on but bear in mind most of the enemies in toussaint will one shot you if you're going there at a low level.
Before the update Igni DOT damage was always stopped by enemies being hit, especially allies. Is this still the case? Found it so annoying.
Yeah it's still the case, that's why I don't hit them, igni them then focus on others, but with this build it ignites everything, so just sit back and igni.
How do you get lightning and fire comming from the signs I know it's a year later but where to put the points
It’s a shame it’s so slow for the first few levels. I think with the reduced stamina regain from signs even slower at the start? Still I always end up going signs, nice to know it’s stronger in the later game.
Yeah stamina is a pain early on, medium armor and griffin school technique can make it much better very early, but sword use is necessary whereas late game you don't even need to draw a sword.
I’d just put points in the combat tree until I can use the Griffin set at level 12, then buy a skills reset potion from Keira Metz.
3:02 I discovered yrden build, cast yrden glyph that zaps Targets, then cast yrden again because this makes those zaps explosive from the blood and wine mutation upgrade "magic sensibilities" finally aard shock wave. I've one shot entire groups
Super curious about this build - I'm at the beginning of a next-gen campaign. I finished a 400-hour playthrough with a sign-based build back in 2016. For the most part I was hell on wheels, but in late-game and DLC boss fights I fell flat on my face - I remember this one Wild Hunt lieutenant that forced me to backtrack, rebuild AND learn all the sword skills I'd pretty much ignored until then. I love playing RPGs as some sort of mage, so I'm wondering if I could get it to work this time.
P.S. Can't remember what the Boss's name was, but we squared off in a sort of ring, where I just got killed and killed and killed and killed. Took me days to get past him!
Imlerith, yeah he has insane magic resist, you can kill him with a sign build it just takes what feels like an eternity.
@@optimusgrime8265 is it possible to get the 4 extra slots in main game?
@@ArthaxtaDaVince777 No, it's only in dlc
@@optimusgrime8265 no I mean without new game
@@ArthaxtaDaVince777 should be if I understand what you are asking me
I'm confused if your going to use rejuvenation why are you using gryphon you get great samina and free spells with gryphon already.
Overkill X 100 is how I roll
I have not tested this on hellmarch, but on normal difficulty I noticed Igni secondary mode (fire stream) did a significant amount of damage to gargoyles and golems. Standard blast did almost nothing, but maybe check if stream works instead of respecing/rune on the resistant folks?
Sounds like they changed it. At least on pc, good info
hey im pretty new to the game and wanted to use this build. is ng+ necessary for the build?
No, it rescales the whole game when you beat it. You may not have as many points but something similar should be possible around level 45
Hey, I know I’m very late but I have a question about the Yrden sign. Even while having all upgrades regarding Yrden equipped, the range of the sign is smaller and it looks decently different than the Yrden on your video. Do you have any idea why this happens?😢
Either you don't have the same armor bonuses or you are using an enchantment? Only things that come to mind.
Does rejuvenation work when using the other sword?
Your control forgotten wolf set build is better tho right? I've been looking for a griffin set build. Is this the utmost potential with this set? 🤔 basically yrden and igni? And what would u say is the best build in the game right now? I'm kinda looking for a jack of all trades build that uses sword play mixed in with signs and potions/oils.
There are many other builds I personally consider much better.
interesting build! will look forward to working on it for my new run.
Love the build. One question: why Ignition and not Rotation?
Just a preference early on, but completely interchangeable, or even replaceable.
@@optimusgrime8265 thanks, appreciate it :)
Wow, I didn't know that the next-gen update made the sign build this good. Thanks for the video! I'm running an Axii build but I think I'll have to reallocate my points to have even more sign intensity. Is this the new maximum intensity? Or can it go even higher?
You can push it slightly higher with decoction but since we have no toxicity resistance, it's more trouble than it's worth.
I'm aiming to get the highest sign intensity possible. For role playing purposes... I'm going with Axii mainly, I rarely use anything else besides Yrden. I've tried a few builds but I still find that Euphoria can get Geralt to the highest numbers. I'd be the first to like your video if you made one about 'max sign intensity' :) thanks for the answer btw!
What makes the Igni stay on the ground? Is it something to do with your armor? I'm not far in yet only just now going to Skellige for the first time after doing all the side missions I had in Velen / Novigrad
It's an enchantment. You will gain the ability to enchant weapons and armor around level 35'ish.
Isn't the pyromaniac skill worthless with that much sign intensity? I can't seem to find a good answer online, but if I'm at 100% burn chance with igni from sign intensity, does it actually do anything?
Yes it contributes to the sign intensity from mutagen, if you don't value it use a different ability
How do you get that middle mutagen slot to open? I’ve seen a few videos with it but I’m currently playing and don’t see that on my end
you need the Heart of Stone expansion
@@bahn67 false. Blood and wine dlc has a mutagen quest that unlock the mutator slot and the skill slots.
@@Stoney97 yeah. I got confused
I wonder if piercing cold would be any good with the new Witcher set. The damage bonus to aard would have to be better than the Griffin's 100% sign intensity within yrden bc if it's not, why would I put on gear that only buffs one sign when I could use the Griffin to buff all?
Not sure, I rarely ever use ard
Piercing Cold with Forgotten Wolven Set is pretty good. Increased damage with both + some sign intensity is very fun
@@dustythetvheadman3620 Didn't even know they added a set, looks like a new build video is in order. I'll give it a whirl.
I really like the fireteam ability, its just a pity it isn't that good, i tried making a signs build for my fresh start character, ive just forgotten how bad resource management is early on, so i ended up going full combat again, but i will definitely try this on new game plus looks fun.
Yeah man signs are really hard to get going but they can be useful with a mountain effort. It's fun just to melt things with fire.
@@optimusgrime8265is melt armor worth using ?? ive been getting conflicting answers so far, everyone has an opinion but nobody seems to have an answer.
@@unknownoperator8605 I use all of the igni abilities except the secondary mode. Wether or not it truly applies the effect is case by case so you can replace it but I dont.
@@unknownoperator8605 yeah of course, armored enemies make you deal alot less damage, but igni reduced armor by 25%, that's a 25% damage boost for swords.
Does the Rejuvenation runeword works for both swords? I'm assuming not but just curious.
You can put it on both if you wanted, but I usually don't
@@optimusgrime8265 I'm just dubious as to the worth of this runeword but you seem to know better so I'd love to hear more on it's actual benefit, I mean with such a heavy sign build don't you already have an insane stamina regen to justify it ( I'd just use G.velen runes or even something like dumplings lol)?
Also the "fatal blow" part of it, doesn't this mean you need to be actually hitting stuff? which seems kinda pointless when everything dies with Ingi or whatever from range. But maybe I'm missing something here.
@@MrDigitop well not every situation is the same and you have to use a sword on occasion, also they nerfed food into the ground so dumplings are pointless. Also it's really a matter of personal preference, if something works better for you use that instead
Quen absorb/ etc is op even on highest difficulty
Yeah man but not as good for setting things on fire lol
@@optimusgrime8265can't go wrong with dragon breath onto a poor fool on fire 🎉
An Aard and Yrden build would actually mesh really well with the new Forgotten Wolf armor set as well
Ya man, there's already a broken piercing cold, forgotten wolven build up. It's op as it gets.
@@optimusgrime8265 which one would you reckon is better? this build or the forgotten wolven set one?
@@zuituit simply because it's more useful, the wolven.
What should I do at the start for an early version of this or what to get furst
How is he able to keep spamming his signs? Which ability is it i need ittt.
@RPGbuildjunkie how do u have the damage numbers on i cant see how to turn them on in my game
It's weird, go into display settings and then hud, and about halfway down the massive list should be a "show all damage numbers" option on the list. It does seem somewhat needlessly hidden. Hope that helps.
I'm using cat + griffin just to make this build less op tbh, and to use melee combat a bit, I like the mage style gameplay,but I'll do that more if Witcher Jerome get's his own game ,one can only dream :D
How do you get the sign effects to looks so good?!
The latest patch apparently upgraded the visuals a bit
@@optimusgrime8265 Weird, I don't get the same effects. Is it something that comes with your skills or armor?
@@heinzaballoo3278 probably, it's been a long time since I played, cant remember tbh
@@optimusgrime8265 Ah, fair enough.
Thanks for responding!
doesn't rotation pretty much do the same thing as ignition? They both light up multiple people at once
I find ignition more valuable early before you max out igni, and changing is really just a matter of personal taste
Is this a good death March build?
I'd say mid at best
I have only one socket on gloves trousers and boots cant add more at runemasters? I have masters griffin not grand master set. Please respond thank you 😊
You can only add sockets to weapons and chest armor if I remember correctly
@@optimusgrime8265 ok thanks 👍 great video btw
@@nickmalfoy8700 thanks! Glad I could help.
How did you get a third skill slot? My build has 12 slots yours has 16 and that big blue thing in the middle pulsating
49 skill points. It's kind of meant to be a NG+ thing.
Blood and wine dlc, mutagen quest.
I remember in vanilla some bosses were near immune to signs. Even the last boss. Is this still the case?
Same deal pretty much but you could swap to aard and piercing cold, it will kill detlaff in a few seconds lol
@@optimusgrime8265 Will Static Dischrage at least damage last boss (Eredin) more than before? I heard it does % HP dmg now. "
"Static Discharge skill now removes a portion of enemy's current health instead of dealing very low flat damage. Damage depends on Sign intensity and can vary between 2% (lowest possible) and 10% or more of current enemy health per cast on maxed out Signs build. This makes casting Aard with Static Discharge a very good idea against tanky enemies, especially at the beginning of combat. Vanilla damage of Static Discharge was extremely low, so investing in this skill was a waste."
@@organicmechanic2477 Not sure, haven't tested it on any wild hunt, everything is dead on this file.
So wat to do when fire resistance enemies show up
how does your ignition have a 100% chance to ignite other enemies? mine is only a 25% chance
am i missing something ? :(
The ability in your fire sign tree that guarantees burning, or one of the runesmith enchantments will fix that
can i use this same build with offeiri and tlareg sword and armor ? they have fire stats on them
Well yeah you can use anything you want but it probably won't be as effective
i know this is a year old but why not just make extra sets of armor one for each type of signs so you dont have to spend the 12k or more coins on changing the glyphs around to suit your needs
Had like 500k gold so it was never an issue, nothing to stop you doing it your way, just never needed to myself. Necessity is the mother of invention as the saying goes.
If you have an enchantment on one sword like the silver and not the steel sword will the enchantment work when the silver sword is sheathed and using the steel??
Depends, some yes and some no, if the ability only works in combat then generally speaking you need that particular sword out in order to recieve the bonus. Alternatively some effect combat even while sheathed. Unfortunately because of invisible skill and stat limits, it's even harder to tell most of the time, for example if you use tawny owl, a stamina decoction, griffin school and the stamina enchantment all at the same time, the stamina gauge won't recieve the full increase regardless. Since there is no way to tell which is working and what is not, it's better to just use them all so if one doesn't work, one of the others will.
Damn I didn’t know signs could get this powerful
Yeah they start out pretty slow, but are really good later on
why don't you use sword while using signs? Griffin sword increase sign intensity.
Because it's funny to me
Nice build. My first playthrough was with a sign build but it was too weak for new game plus. I changed it for combat/alchemy Euphoria unlimited whirl build and it is much more fun.
I'm on new (ng+) playthrough lvl 100 more than half game to go and I don't know what to do with leftover points. I can basically do 2 builds at once but what for... Weird change.
Yeah, it's so you can finish a build early, but just another needless change
@@optimusgrime8265 it's actually very useful because it would take almost endgame to finish a build, but now you can make a proper build once you get to skellige around level 18-22.
@@ArthaxtaDaVince777 the problem is I can't make build I used to play
alchemist build please
How would you rate conductor of magic build in comparison to this?
Really depends on your preference, this is really signs only, conductor builds are to boost signs based off of sword damage, so you would go for a different balance overall. But if I'm being honest, just burning everything gets old fast. So go with conductor or euphoria maybe even cat's eyes if you like to mix it up a bit.
It's pretty similar, I'm not sure which would do more damage, but the conductors of magic adds half your sword damage to your signs. I'm pretty sure this bonus is boosted by sign intensity. So I think conductors of magic would be more powerful, but I'm not sure if critical damage applies to burn. I'm using Conductors of Magic in my first playthrough in Blood and Wine, but I haven't updated yet. Your Igni sign damage is really good since you can cast it twice with the Griffin set. If you're focused on sign damage it's usually better to keep your silver sword out since they have higher damage by a fair amount
How do you do that thing where the sign symbol is cast on the ground?
Use the purple sign, it won't last long at first but it gets strong really quickly.
The screaming at the begginign is funny!
lol yeah
03:15, very good PSA. super important to remember when "build shopping"
Yeah man, sometimes I say the wrong thing but it's never intentional, I feel half or more make videos for games they don't even like
In a old gen I tried using griffin build but opening wheel signs all the time bored me a lot. In this new gen, it should be efficient surely. I'm trying to combine Ign and Quen. Of course all others signs have improved too. Besides I'm using fast and strong attack instead nothing. While the foes are burning I go and execute them. Works well with monsters and specters. Not only flesh foes. Noonwraith portion is always welcome.
U think they will patch that to weaken it? They sometime do it in games so they can either balance game or make enemies constant damage sponges :D
No I don't think so.
Subscribed and liked!
I feel like it'd be easier to just farm out several sets of that gear so you don't have to reslot it
I'm not sure if it's that much more powerful than before, but i have noticed improvements, even though i'm still in early game with the base Griffin set. Alternate Yrden is a good example, in the old version it did a lot less damage and wasn't particularly useful for anything else other than giving safe space from archers and staggering melee enemies, even with grandmaster bonuses later in B&W, but now i'm actually killing things. There are downsides early game however, particularly with Igni sign, the scaling is far lower so most of the time you don't light enemies on fire until you get A LOT of intensity later. I'm lvl 13 and still don't have 100%.
Also, when it comes to elementals, golems...quen sign with damage reflect skills used to work decently, wonder how it works now, haven't tried.
P.S. Btw, do you petri's philter is any inferior to tawny?
Well this is mostly a ng+ build so many issues you mention can be avoided by rerolling, however first run go with superior petri to guarantee burn, and instead of enchanting use 9 greater glyph of igni and there should be no issues whatsoever. I mentioned several times the build is useless against enemies invulnerable to igni, so bombs, exploding bolts, oil and sword will need to pick up the slack, if that's not enough, you gotta reroll.
keep an eye on blue and yellow swords. I found a level 7 blue silver sword with 50% sign intensity in a merchants inventory. I'm not sure but I think this has to be new. It has been a long time since I played the witcher 3 so I can't say for sure. But 50% is more than the whole griffen set at that level.
@@THEmobius77 Yeah if you start fresh or craft from scratch there are some ridiculous new stats
doersn anyone know if they fixed the sign intensity rocks on swords since even if im equiping griffin swords it doesnt increase my sign intensity same for axii aard yerden gliphs on armour i added +50 to axii and enemies stay stunned for the same duration
Unfortunately there are invisible skill caps for all stats and abilities, igni seems to have the highest, but since it's invisible, despite what the screen says, no way of telling what each limit actually is, I noticed this primarily with stamina gain.
I always veer off into alchemy. In any fantasy game. Signs look fun. I love Yrden. A shame Aard just pushes things around, I wanna see Fus Ro Aard levels of damage and rag doll. I’ve always used Igni as a second more dangerous Aard as I’ve never specced into signs before. I am curious how you got so much cash? My Geralt is never broke but far from as rich as yours.
Just farm the Hanse bases with enemy scaling on and sell all the swords, you can make 100K easily within an hour. More the higher your level. In NG+ with enemy scaling you can make even more money. Selling even the most basic swords are worth a lot at higher levels.
Cows 😉😁
@@shalimarharper7545 a man of culture...
Next gem update in a nutshell: fire and sword builds.
Bro use alternate cast mode looks so much harder to play than it actually is. Build is great and w alt mode casting is a sinch
Why not just use rotation on the armor instead? Then everyone around you gets lit up
Cause you'd have to be surrounded first
It’s a lil disappointing how they nerfed Aard in the update. My first play through I had so much fun with the piercing cold aard sweep combo. On normal difficulty it would basically insta kill every enemy in the vicinity
lol yeah, it's still pretty busted, if you love that build peep my forgotten wolf video, it's all about piercing cold.
Nice build, but I think you don't need the pyromanian skill, as you already have 100% chance of burning, because of the high sign intensity.
I get this comment a lot, usually it is just there to increase the sign intensity % from greater mutagen. You are correct, effectually it is redundant, replace it with whatever you like.
good stuff love your builds keep it up
Cool man thanks
@@Tobykanobi1 ya bro roast them redanian piglets
Plz give me your save game?
Just go with Arrd no enemy is immune to it and if they are they still die with a piercing cold build plus Yrdn
Shame I'll never get to try this because I absolutely detest the look of the Griffin armor. I know it's proper armor blah blah blah, but the bloated torso is just a complete no-go for me. I'll just stick to Wolf armor like I almost always do... Won't be as strong, but I can at least look at Geralt without want to dry heave.
Great video.
Yeah it's very ugly lol, I don't like using it either.
It actually looks pretty good in white or brown
if your game is on pc you can mod the griffin set to look much better.
@@AsianBinLaden no shit
Omg finally someone with some awesome tactical mind.
Could you in some kind of way share screenshots of the built? 😊
You can still do this build a little bit rounded meaning still a sign build but with all signs receiving buffs and such of course this build in what's it does which is concentrated in one sign " build in igni" is gonna be insanely powerful for anything weak to it, but you can still do a build like this without being broken and more balance so all sign takes advantage of it of course if you like one sign more than other you can invest more in that sign but the others will be effective as well
Imo, igni is where it's at dps wise, for crowd control you can use yrden and quen for defense. But I think it's better to build a combat/igni build rather than just overall spells. You will have a better character for boss fights, whereas full signs build is really only good against non-boss enemies.
@@ArthaxtaDaVince777 in my experience I focus more on igni having said that not every enemy is weak to igni so even though my primary dealing damage sign is igni I try my best to balance the others that way I don't have to respect unless I want to! The only sign imo that you don't have to put points in is the shield that thing is overpower anyway and I notice that if you move well enough to not get hit you can do with the default one
Notha drifta in from temeria
"Gods! The Reaper come for me!"
Thanks that cheered me up 😃
@@optimusgrime8265thank you for the OP build bro!
It's a shame Griffin armor looks the way it does.. Yuck. Nice build though as usual.
Yeah, no matter what color you dye it, still quite ugly. Wish they had a true black shader.
Should've tested aard with far reaching aard
That's far better on a Forgotten Wolven piercing cold build.
This makes the same mistake as the other Sign build videos... only showing the convenient enemies (typically humans) and not enough variety of monsters or monster bosses and examples of tactics against them. Can you do another video on bosses (or mini-bosses) and different types of monsters where Igni is less viable?
Did you not hear wtf he said in the beginning of the video lmaoooo
@@ralphiepina0 Seriously, they ignore shit just to argue.
Everything in the game is dead already, and no I'm not playing 40 hours just to show you what I already discussed several times in the video.
But then... the fire nation attacked...
meh why can't we throw fireballs,, well time for exploding bolts.
The most op broken sign build = just slotting every single sign skill lmao
Every single one right? Don't get jelly, make your own video, make a better sign build.