This build focuses on the special attack "Rend" and utilising signs for croud control and surviveability. We maintain a lot of Endurance with "Griffin School Techniques" to spam Signs and use our Rend more.

It takes 48 points to build it like that, so it's definitly made for the end portion of the game. It has been proven pretty useful and very fun on Deathmarch difficulty.

Mutagens are self explanatory.



Tier 1

- Strength Training - Strong attack damage increase by 25%.
Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
More damage for Rend.

- Resolve - Adrenaline Point loss upon taking damage is lowered by 100%.
Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
Adrenaline is an important sidenote in this build, losing it is not a good thing.

Tier 2

- Crushing Blows - Increases critical chance of strong attacks by 10% and their damage by 75%.
Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
More crit chance and damage for Rend.

- Fleet Fooded - Damage from hits received while dodging is reduced by 100%.
Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
Strong bonus on our surviveabilty. Especially from enemy aoe's, this will help you prevent damage very often.

(( Alternative - Undying - When Vitality reaches 0, Adrenaline Points (if available) will be consumed to restore Vitality. The amount restored is based on the number of Adrenaline Points used. Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
Excellent for Deathmarch and high Adrenaline builds, very good alternative for Fleet Fooded or Counter Attack. ))


Tier 3

- Rend - Inflicts increased damage in proportion to used Endurance. Ignores enemy defense and increases critical chance by 50%. Adrenaline Points increase the damage for 33%.
Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
The ability this build is centered around. Personally, I like Rend way more than Whirl because it's more reliable. Yet, with high crit chance, Adrenaline Point bonus damage and the right weapons, it's easy to do crits up to 8k or more.

- Counter Attack - After a successful counterattack, the next attack deals +10% per skill level, is a critical and has a chance on knockdown.
Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
Pure gold against human enemies or certain bosses. Counter and do a quick Rend for insane damage.

- Razor Focus - Instanlty gain 1 Adrenaline Point when entering combat. The Adrenaline Points generated by Sword blows are increased by 25%.
Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
Quicker Adrenaline means more damage.

Tier 4

- Sunder Armor - Reduces enemy damage resistance by 25%.
Adrenaline Point gain: +5%
More damage, simple as that.



Tier 1

- Exploding Shield - Quen shield pushes and damages opponents back when it breaks, with a knockdown chance.
Stamina regeneration in combat +1.5/s
In my opinion, Quen is the most useful Sign of them all. Letting it explode can stagger smaller or flying enemies, even bosses sometimes.

- Delusion - Target does not move towards Geralt while he is casting Axii. Axii intensity in dialoge is improved. Casting time reduced, failed Axii stagger the enemy.
Stamina regeneration in combat +1.5/s
Absolute must have. Axii is a great croud control sign and very useful in conversations.

Tier 2

- Active Shield - Alternate Sign Mode: Creates an active shield. Blocking attacks drains stamina. Damage absorbed by the shield restores player Vitality.
Stamina regeneration in combat +1.5/s
Making Quen even more useful. Restoring your own health with enemy attacks, has saved me over the entire game basicly in every fight.



- Griffin School Techniques - Each piece of medium armor increases your Sign intensity by 5% and Endurance regeneration by 5%.
Good little boost on Signs, yet the more important is the Endurance regeneration to use Signs and Rend more. Therefor, we use medium armor of course.

- Use quick attacks to build your Adrenaline faster. Wait for an opening for heavy attacks.

- When the enemy is staggered, try to face his back for a guarenteed crit.

- Rend can be powered by your Endurance to do massive damage. When the enemy is stunned, let your Endurance refill first and charge your attack. However, you don't have to. You can hold the button for just a short time for a very quick Rend to finish off a smaller enemy.

- When fighting humans, try to control the group first, then counter single targets. Rend them down with the extra damage or simply execute them.



- Use all the Signs in your arsenal to control the battlefield. Slow them with Yrden, set them on fire with Igni, push them with Aard and daze them with Axii. Whenever someone is stunned, try to get close for a strong Rend attack.

- Quen is your life ensurance. Use it as often as possible to prevent damage, or heal you mid- or at the end of the fight. The shield burst can also bring down flying enemies.

This is my current stat screen:



- Try to use swords which have a high booster on crit damage, like the bear weapons, to increase the Rend damage potential.

- Medium armor is a must have for this build. The Wolfset is probably best suited, beeing very balanced in Attack and Sign boosters.

- However, if you can enchant your Bearset with "Balance" to make it medium armor... Why not? The Adrenaline bonus with Bear is very useful. Also it looks cooler...

- I enchanted both swords with "Severance" to increase the range of Rend. It's extremly effective. (I would use the first ones... If they weren't bugged.)

- Only use High Glyphs for your other armor parts, Quen is probably the best suited, since strong enemies can cut through it with one hit.

- When it comes to the Mutations which were introduced in "Blood & Wine" - That's entirely up to you. Most of them are very specific and boost a certain playstyle, it's very fun to experiment. I love the Blizzard Aard.

I tinkered and tried different builds for many hours and finally decided to do a guide on the one I liked the most. If you enjoyed this guide, it would make me very happy if you leave a comment and/or a rating. :)

Good hunting!