Good signs build?

[Quitch]

I've just finished the game on hard. I focused on the swordsmanship path with a side order of Quen. I focused my build on maximising my damage (including maximising my vigor to reduce the impact of Quen), and relied on Quen to keep my health up.

Worked out reasonably well, with act 2 onwards being reasonably easy, apart from the odd difficulty spike (the end dragon fight took a few tries), and I couldn't beat the respec guardian. These spikes mean I don't think I'll tackle insane just yet.

I took Roche's path but want to try Iorveth. No point doing the same build again, I want to try something else and I can't see a lot of appeal on the alchemy route, but signs might be doable.

Should I slowly maximise each point on the path, or should I rush for adrenaline at the end? I was thinking I'd start out with Aard and maxing my sword damage, then head for the time slowing ability near the end. In my first run I barely used anything that wasn't Quen. I tried a little Aard at the start because it had been my go to sign in Witcher 1, but was disappointed with it. I'm thinking now I understand the combat system better maybe I can make signs work.

Is it worth picking up the two vitality bonuses on the alchemy path?

[Lorska]

there are generally two builds that are considerd good, the swordsman signs and the swordsman alchemy build

the reason is that both sign and alchemy have their utility further down the tree, so you need a lot of points for any good benefit, while sword utility is more consistent throughout it.

for the alchemy tree you should consider the following: you want impregnation - the skill that improves mutagens - and the mutagen skills i.e. the few last ones. whis is a very bad combination with sign heavy build that requires you to max out skills before going down the tree and picking up the mutagen skills.

iorveth path was more fun for me, it's also better for experienced players because of the xp distribution in chapter 2.

going sowrd+alchemy is a pure sword focus build that increases damage to ludicrous amounts (yes this can kill humanoids while they block your attacks with one hit). tbh due to it's nature I'd only recommend it for an insane run, because everything else would be overkill (those upgraded mutages are always active btw even when you have out of character battles like in the ghost battle).
if you wanna do a very spell focused build, I'd recommend you pick up the bare necessary sword utility (dodge, what else), focus on your signs and maybe go into alchemy in the end, probably only going for the impregnation talent to give yourself the endgame edge.

your skill distribution may be very loose when it comes to almost any build, I think the sword/alchemy route is the only one that uses every point effectively (to do more damage) and thus very strict in what you take and what not. apart from that one all (not pure alchemy) builds are almost on the same level of strength,utility and viability, so just test things out if you like.

[Quitch]

Thanks for the tips.

Are the dodge upgrades worth it? I never picked any up until right neat the end on my sword build when I went with one. While I thought the first upgrade might be useful, I preferred to not put myself too far away so that as they swung and missed I could do a power blow to the back, which the upgrade would position me too far away to do, Certainly didn't seem essential.

[Death_Spade67]

Dodge Is Is Important... Well When Facing A Melee Foe, Dodging Away From Them Will Result Great Damage To You On Hard Mode And So On, But Missile Attacks, Like Fireballs, Magic That Causes Splash Damage, It Is Very Helpful, You Can Also Use It As An Alternative To Running... :D

[Quitch]

Maybe I'll try those upgrades then, didn't find it necessary to avoid any of that stuff before though.

[Lorska]

dodge is the easy way out for most enemies, as you have a very powerful spinning attack gap closer, a good distance is quite nice. I think dodge 1 is almost necessary when facing multiple humanoids and hard hitting medium speed enemies like wraiths. dodge 2 is there to make it even easier, it's less forgiving and generally not needed. the only enemy in the game where dodge 1 is not enough to get away from is the very last boss, and only if he lunges and you are right in his face.
so no, the second one is not needed. mind that you want to keep your distance with a sign heavy build, so it actually makes alot more sense if you bombard the enemies from far away^^