Best armour and weapons (with expansion pass) and without

[SloKiller25]

i'd like to ask what is the best armour with or without expansion pass and best weapon, because i'm only lvl 8 noob

[Vault Boy]

My favourite is the Grandmaster Ursine Gear , with maxed out Quen

[Umie]

my favorite is also Grandmaster Ursine. not so much for the 6pc bonus, but for the increased adrenaline generation and pure badassness. the 3pc bonus is great. 3 decoction rend/alchemy hybrid build

my second favorite set is Manticore with 4 decoction + Euphoria build. Adrenaline generation isnt nearly as efficient, but you do a flat +50% more damage and u get a 4th decoction.

[Frag Maniac]

How does one acquire or build Grandmaster Ursine armor if I might ask?

And yes, I'm very new to the series and just want to avoid bad choices and wasting time and money.

I'm also looking for a good video guide on the basics.

[StormhawkV]

Some blacksmiths sell maps with the location of witcher gear smithing plans. Get them back to a journeyman blacksmith so he can craft it. Witcher gear can be upgraded if you find additional smithing plans which can also be bought from blacksmiths.

All maps from the same witcher gear set have unique names. The gryphon set for example can be completed by buying "Edwin Greloff's" first, second, third and fourth map. The first witcher gear set is available at level 11.

[Scoppypops]

The diagrams for the grand master gear are part of a quest you get from a smith in Toussaint, who is also the only smith in the game who can craft that level of item. He tells you where to get Wolf, Bear, Griffin, Manticore grand master sets.

Be warned, the grand master sets are really expensive.

I use the feline gear myself, for the stamina regen. I like using signs in combat.

[EdinMG]

I have 2 favs, Grandmaster Wolven armor with Aerondight and Blave swords; and Tesham Mutna (or Hen Gaidth) armor with Tesham Mutna (or Hen Gaidth) and Cantata swords !!! I use a mod to decrease the bonus from 6 to 4, this way I can use any Witcher armor with any silver/steel sword without loosing the full bonus !!!

[Harukage]

All grandmaster witcher gear worth it. Though i prefer wolven and ursine gear myself.
Wolven to throw bombs without delay, and to stack 3 different oils on my swords for large extra poison chance and my pure lazyness ( always a good idea to have venom/beast steel sword and specter/necrophage/whatever silver at your disposal ) .
Ursine i do love for free quen recasts and its greatly increased atack value since i use quen a lot, especially in DLC battles where enemies hit EXTRA hard.

[avil]

I was into cat armor, but in ng+ i felt too squishy, and in HoS expansion you can use runes to make any armor work like light armor, so I switched to ursine and stick to it till the end.

[Rythm]

Armor:
Grandmaster Ursin Armor

Build:
Light Attack Melee Build

Quen/Igni/Axii Build + Secound Life Mutation and you are ready for NG+

Quen > full build

Igni > just to burn enemys or let shield enemys drop their shield

Axii > for dialog options only

Weapons:
Aerondight (its the best silversword in the game)

for Steelsword there is no "best one" i think i like swords with armorpiercing like Manticor or the toussaint steel sword (relic) but you need to choose whats best for you

if you ever plan to play NG+ in deathmarch difficult + enemy scaling Signs will do almost no dmg

[Beltane]

Griffin Armor. Always was into signs ever since Witcher 1. Wolven if i want to mix it all up a bit more. Both look great imho.

[Chef Excellence]

I use the superior feline chest armour, with wolven gauntlets, trousers and boots.

[FrosTytheNoob]

Any will do but be sure to look up what character build suits each gear and in what game mode. In Deathmarch the Griffin and Ursin Armor coupled with the magic build especially with Quen is the best way to go.

Right now I am building the Ursin armor in Deathmarch and just retired my griffin set which was on hard. Later on before I go to the blood and Wine expansion I am deciding to get the Viper armor for a change