Witcher 3 How To Increase Skill Slots

Posted on 3/19/202222.08.2017by admin

Final Notes On The Best Skills in Witcher 3. Keep in mind that the activated skills are limited by skill slots. So pick and choose them based on your requirements, playstyle and weaknesses. The Blood and Bone expansion will give Geralt an additional four skill slots. Skills like Survival Instinct and Focus are only good during the earlier.
Skills in the hidden slots are also add synergy bonus to the skill group mutagen just like the skills in the default slots. The hidden slots are distributed equally between the 4 skill groups. To control the synergy bonuses power you may want to place some skills into skill groups with non-matching mutagen color so the skill will be active but.

As it does, it unlocks additional Ability Skills slots back in the Character window. The active mutation is displayed in the right half of the screen, between the 4 columns of abilities you have active. The color of the extra ability you can put in the new extra slot must match the color of the active mutation.

This page contains information on What are Mutagens in the game The Witcher 3. Read on to learn more information on how to use mutagens and its effects.

List of Contents

What are Mutagens

Mutagens are items that you can equip inside the character tab to boost your stats to improve your combat capabilities. The three main stats that can benefit from equipping mutagens are Attack Power, Sign Intensity, and Vitality. These stats can be further improved depending on the rarity of the Mutagen you equip and on the type of the skill you equipped the mutagen with.

How to Use Mutagens

There are four mutagen slots that can be located at the far left and far right side inside the character tab. You can easily distinguish these slots because of their 90° rotation forming the shape of a diamond, making them a little bit different from the skill slots. You can equip mutagens on these slots to gain a small boost on your stats.

Equipping the same colored skill on the skill slot next to the equipped mutagen can further increase the bonus stats that you will receive. Keep this in mind when placing your skills and mutagens in different orders to maximize the bonus effect.

Mutagen Tips

Where to get Mutagens

Mutagens can only be received by killing enemies, looting, and alchemy which makes them really difficult to collect. Try clearing nearby Points of Interests on the map. These locations usually contains enemies that has a good chance of dropping Mutagens.

Mutagen Boost

You can Increase the benefits from mutagens by learning and equipping the skill from the alchemy branch called Synergy. This skill can improve the effects of your mutagens by up to 50%.

The Witcher 3 Related Links

See All Beginner Tips & Guides

Completing the Story
Controls and Techniques	Difficulty Level Differences
Does Dialogue Matter?	How to Fast Travel
Most Important Side Quests for the Story	Romance Guide
List of Endings and How to Get the Best Ending	What is Enemy Upscaling?
Things to Know Before Starting Witcher 3	What is New Game+?
Should You Simulate a Witcher 2 Save File?	Which Version to Buy?

Fighting Like a Pro
Combat Guide and Tips	Sign Tier List
Healing During Battle & Meditation	Is Repairing Weapons and Armor Worth It?
What are Adrenaline Points?	How to Fight on Horseback
How to Fight Underwater	What is Toxicity?
What are Mutations	What are Mutagens

Leveling Up & Getting Beefy
How to Level Up Fast	Place of Power Locations
Best Character Builds	Best Early Game Skills and Builds
Skills Ranking and Tier List	Top Five Best and Most Useful Skills
How to Get Magic Acorn	How to Reset Ability Points
Best Death March Build and Tips for Survival	Max Level and Level Cap for Geralt

Obtaining Weapons & Armor
Best Early Game Weapons and Armor	The Best Weapons, Armor and Equipment Sets
How to Upgrade Weapons and Armor	Most Rewarding Side Quests and Contracts
Witcher Gear Locations	Where to Find Blacksmiths and Armorers?
Which Trophy is the Best?	Best Crossbow and Bolts

Managing Money & Items
Managing Your Inventory	Best and Worst Items to Sell
Where to Sell Junk	Where to Find Ingredients and Crafting Materials
Should You Loot Everything?	How to Dismantle Items
How to Make Money Fast	Can You Cook Food?
What Items to Buy From Shops	-

Just for Fun
List of Hairstyles	Best Looking Armor for Geralt
How to Get Paintings	How to Win Horse Races

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

The Philosophy Behind This Guide

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

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

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

Best Early Skills

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Combat Skills

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Sign Skills

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Alchemy Skills

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

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

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

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

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

Fixative – Blade oils do not wear off.

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

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

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

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

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Final Notes On The Best Skills in Witcher 3

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

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

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

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