@Apollonius said:
I've heard of the PC controls for Witcher 1 and 2. They sound awful. Even with Witcher 3, I have it hooked up to an XBox 360 controller. It's still clunky and has weird UI design choices. The worst part of it is having to relearn how to play a different RPG because invariably all of them have different means of attack.
Does anyone actually use strong attack? Fast attack + roll + quen or axii is pretty much my mainstay. Igni and Aard are pretty damn useless or situational at best, and I've only seen a difference in yrden for wraiths. Am I missing something with these? Or are they as useless as half of the potions I can make?
From my experience with the game your questions on Strong Attack and Fast Attack are really based on a few variables:
- Difficulty
- Build
- Gear
- Playstyle
If you're playing on any setting other than Death March then yes you will have to use Strong Attack. It is the only attack that's worth using when you're fighting high armor enemies such as Giants, Cyclopes, Trolls, and some human enemies and definitely some bosses.
On Death March you're going to find yourself learning which attack style is actually best for which creatures and at which point in time. For instance, if you try to Fast Attack your way through an Alghoul you'll do more damage to yourself than it because of the spikes. The strategy for this creature is to hit it with Axii so the spikes retract, get in one or two Strong Attacks, and then bounce out of the way when it claws at you, then roll for the subsequent leap attack. On lower difficulty settings you can probably pop a Swallow and Fast Attack your way through the spike damage. Aard is good for staggering the large brute creatures like Giants when they start to charge letting you roll behind them and get in a couple of critical Strong Attacks.
If your build is based around Strong Attacking you'll find it more valuable to use it more and if you're not playing on Death March the Witcher Bear School Armor and maxed Strong Attack tree is the highest DPS you can get (The caveat on this is I have not tried the Wolf School Witcher Gear yet to find out if it does better). If your build is focused on purely Fast Attack then the Feline School is best and you want to focus on the benefits of light armor - in this build you probably want to take skills deep into the Battle Trance tree for increased damage based upon your Adrenalin, and put points into the Signs you use the most - which it sounds like in your case is Quen and Axii. Gear bonuses are a whole conversation on their own but what you focus on also matters and goes to your playstyle. If you go for Stun or Knockback effects you will find yourself performing finishers more which eats up Adrenalin and Stamina so those kinds of runes are best in Light Armor where your regen is the highest. Effects such as bleeding and poison are great runes for your silver sword and benefit a Strong Attack playstyle the most. And then the Armor, Frost, and Sign Intensity Runes are good for any combat playstyle.
Next how you play the game is a consideration. If you're level 15 and you look at that level 20 critter guarding the treasure at the unknown point you've just made it out to - do you challenge it or wait until you are close to its level or overlevel and return? Being skilled at the dodge and the roll means it is entirely possible with wise Sign use to challenge creatures above your level - if you have experience fighting them. Always save your game before trying.
Lastly all of the Signs are situational and are also based on playstyle. But you are right, they are not all created equal, and some of the skills in the Sign trees are pretty useless and can be ignored. In fact, with the exception of Igni, all of the third and fourth tier Sign abilities can be skipped in my opinion.
If you want a Sign to do DPS with Ignii is the way to go - and just about every creature except the Fire Elementals, can be set on fire for a length of time. Smaller creatures like Nekkers and Drowners will actually spend about 5-10 seconds out of combat as they burn, and you can use Ignii to DOT DPS creatures like Rotfiends down to explosion without having to risk a bad roll out of the way. I don't know about other difficulties but one Rotfiend exploding on you in Death March murders you. And can do so even through Quen.
Yrden is great when you're facing a fast attacking enemy and you want to slow them down, or deny a magic using enemy the use of magic like Leshenn - or make creatures like Wraiths and Foglets easier to hit for damage with your silver sword.
Axii unlocks dialogue options and lets you stun an opponent. I used this fairly often on two-handed weapon users and the humans using sword and shield - this would let me auto-finisher on them and cause the other humans to flee for a few seconds.
Aard is a knock down and can interrupt charges or be a good clench use to get out of being surrounded - the second tier lets you throw enemies off ledges. I would use this when engaging bandits to knock down the first line and then rush the archers. Archers are a pain in the ass.
Quen, is the most useful sign and the one I used most. It is entirely possible though to beat the game without using it and the more experienced you get with the dodge and the roll means you can find yourself relying upon it less. Although it is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary to use this when fighting Imlerith.
Finally as to potions. I think the time lengths on them need tweaked upwards to make them more valuable otherwise I did not use many of the combat potions but I did use the oils quite a bit since they often had a six minute timer on them. And the 15 minute armor and weapon buff from the blacksmith tools in the villages are always worthwhile.
And of course this is all based on my ridiculous amount of hours in the game and my own experience with playing with the trees. There's lots of build guides out there and some Youtube videos that have theorycrafting done on the Fast vs Strong Attack playstyles; if the min/maxing of your Geralt is important I would recommend searching some of these out.
