[Klumpmeister]

What I think I need to improve on is what exactly I need to set my skills too. Do I diversify or just stick with one tree? Any tips with mutagens and what magic spells are good for what scenario?

[SeekersLegacy]

I'm on my first playthrough and I started off with Dark Mode. It is VERY manageable and far from the hardest difficulty you will ever play in a game. Especially if you have the dark armor sets. In fact, getting the dark armor sets each chapter levels the playing field to about the difficulty it would be if you were playing on "Normal" difficulty mode.

Regarding the tree, I can help you. I have the game guide from Prima and they have a build that was used to complete Dark Mode at Prima offices. It went like this. This is also the tree-build I am going with. That's right, no need to throw daggers or use Riposte, like at all.

These are the things Prima unlocked in the tree throughout Dark Mode to win. You can feel free to branch off from this a little if you want. Also, know how on the tree there are multiple levels to one skill? Yeah that's what the numbers to the right mean. the numbers on the left are the character levels obviously.

Level 2. Vigor Regeneration 1

Level 3. Vigor Regeneration 2

4. Hardy 1

5. Parrying 1

6. Fortitude 1

7. Fortitude 2

8. Enhanced Aard Sign 1

9. Enhanced Quen Sign 1

10. Enhanced Quen Sign 2

11. Magical Vigor 1

12. Magical Vigor 2

13. Footwork 1

14. Schemer 1

15. Tough Guy 1

16. Hardy 2

17. Finesse 1

18. Invincible 1

19. Combat Acumen 1

20. Whirlwind 1

21. Whirlwind 2

22. Combat Acumen 2

23. Invincible 2

24. Finesse 1

25. Hardy 2

26. Whirl 1

27. Violence 1

28. Violence 2

29. Whirl 2

30. Tough Guy 2

31. Schemer 2

32. Footwork 2

33. Position 1

34. Position 2

35. Enhanced Aard Sign 2

[SeekersLegacy]

Also I have completed chapter 1 and I have used very little of potions, bombs, traps, enhancements, mutagens, etc. In fact I KNOW that they aren't necessary to complete at least chapter one on Dark Mode IF you take major, major advantage of Quen, like always having it up and ready to go and rolling around in battle and dodging a lot. Some people might disagree about doing this but I survived Chapter 1 fine with hit and run attacks and dodging and using signs, and the dark armor sets make the difficulty feel more like normal difficulty since you can one hit kill some enemies with it. I also did every sidequest in chapter 1 with minimal problems. I had quen up almost constantly though. Be sure to get that to it's third level.

By the end of Chapter One I was level 15 and had five vigor bars and had my Quen at level 3 so I feel that I'm well off right now.

[Jidvei]

The difficulty isn't that high if you use the dark mode armors in each chapter. I planned ahead (checked what ingredients i need to craft them on witcher wiki) and only used them in act 2 and 3. Your best bet is to combine swordsmanship with alchemy. Quen is useless (upgrading it also) and by the time you reach act 2, you will NEVER again use it.

You can see my build at the end of the game in the attachments below. I went with improved mutagens talent at first to get the most out of the damage mutagens i found and then i relearned my talents in act 3. I'm not completely happy with a couple of talents i invested in but this also works like a charm.
http://i.imgur.com/E0cIC.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ixJCD.jpg

[Purpleknight]

@Jidvei
Lol, went I beat Dark Mode I had 60 Max of sword damage. Even though I chose Swordmanship as main tree, I didn't even get the sword damage talent and I think I only had one power mutagen XD

Like your skill tree, but I would change some things in favour to Magic Tree, at least for Aard, Axii and or Quen.

@Klumpmeister
The best thing that I recomend is to focus in the skill tree that you are most confortable with but not stick only at that tree. Every tree have some nice talents that worths its points.

[Ignis]

Hm, are Group Finisher & Heliotrope no longer the destroy everything build?.

[SeekersLegacy]

Really? No response to my build or advice? Awesome, everyone putting an effort into responding to each other but not to me, considering I think I offered up good advice. I'm sorry it's just I was expecting a little input.

[Guy N'wah]

Ignis said:

Hm, are Group Finisher & Heliotrope no longer the destroy everything build?. ›››

Any one of the three: Group Finishers, Heliotrope, or Battle Frenzy. I favor Battle Frenzy over Heliotrope over Group Finishers, but it's more a question of your style than one being better.

You should head for the top of one of the skill trees to get one of these as early as you can.

[Guy N'wah]

SeekersLegacy said:

Really? No response to my build or advice? Awesome, everyone putting an effort into responding to each other but not to me, considering I think I offered up good advice. I'm sorry it's just I was expecting a little input. ›››

OK, I'm on my third Dark Mode, so I can afford to comment. This is nothing like the builds I use, and just copying and tweaking the Prima Guide doesn't hold much interest for me.

But here are some specifics:

Vitality upgrades are not powerful in Dark Mode. Geralt cannot withstand heavy hits from enemies no matter how much you upgrade Vitality. You need to concentrate on ways to do heavy damage fast when you must use your sword, and from safely out of harm's way when you don't have to. Small Vitality upgrades like Hardiness are hardly worthwhile at all.

In contrast, Vigor is very powerful. Vigor lets you cast spells, parry and riposte, and affects damage you do. Taking both levels of Fortitude, to get that third Vigor point, should be an early goal. You can do so as early as level 5.

Unless your Geralt leads an unexciting life, he will be tired of being backstabbed by the time the Swordsmanship tree opens. One or both levels of Position should be another early objective. I usually take one level each of Position, Riposte, and Footwork early. I can't see ever leaving these skills until late in the game, the way your Prima build does.

Some other very beneficial skills you can get at early levels and are useful no matter what tree you emphasize are:

Both levels of Enhanced Aard. Area-effect Aard is one of the best crowd control methods in the game. You can get it very early and make good use of it in all three Acts; why put it off until late?

One or both levels of Alchemist. Bombs and traps are how you hurt tough enemies without getting up close, personal, and too soon dead. Because damage you do is reduced by their armor, enhanced damage does disproportionately more damage. I cannot understand why the Prima build omits this.

Beyond these, it's your preference. You want to choose a tree and climb it early. The Prima build you used is clearly climbing the Swordsmanship tree, but it does so in a peculiar way. It leaves the most powerful low-level skill, Whirl, until late and climbs the tree through the weak defensive Tough Guy and Schemer skills.

[Yellow®]

i have completed dark mode twice both times ignored all the new armours and dark related items, and had my Geral focused mainly in Swordmanship tree:
-1st time with some few points into the others trees.
-2nd time(after EE) pure trainign tree and sowrdship and i have to say its not so hard, after EE i find it even easier than before...

ofcourse i have done 4 full playtroughts in total and another bunch of partial ones so am kinda used to the game mechanics, i recomend u to do at least 1-2 playtroughts on normal/hard before trying out dark mode.

[steelbom]

I'm playing Dark Mode without Quen, and I'm wearing my Raven Armour, Moon Blade, and Mahakam Rune Sihil. I wonder if I can finish the game with those? (They're pretty weak, lol.) I'm playing as an Alchemist

The swordsman path is the easiest on Dark Mode, I reckon. Perhaps the Mages path, and max Quen as much as you can lol.

[BlavikensButcher]

Guy N said:

Vitality upgrades are not powerful in Dark Mode. Geralt cannot withstand heavy hits from enemies no matter how much you upgrade Vitality. You need to concentrate on ways to do heavy damage fast when you must use your sword, and from safely out of harm's way when you don't have to. Small Vitality upgrades like Hardiness are hardly worthwhile at all.
›››

EDIT: Sorry for massive necro. I didn't see the date on the last post.

Eh, I'm not sure about that. On my Insane run, I realized that I had no idea how to fight the last boss competently. Late in the game, I took a bunch of vitality upgrades, and drank White Raffard's Decoction before the fight. I walked into it with 1200 vitality. The boss couldn't even take a fourth of my health per hit.

[Guy N'wah]

BlavikensButcher said:

EDIT: Sorry for massive necro. I didn't see the date on the last post.

Eh, I'm not sure about that. On my Insane run, I realized that I had no idea how to fight the last boss competently. Late in the game, I took a bunch of vitality upgrades, and drank White Raffard's Decoction before the fight. I walked into it with 1200 vitality. The boss couldn't even take a fourth of my health per hit. ›››

Dark mode enemies hit a LOT harder than Insane mode. In Dark mode, the Dragon will hit for more than 1000. That's why I say Vitality upgrades are not as useful in Dark mode, and I focus on doing unto others before they do you in Dark mode.

[SlimeDynamiteD]

I (for some reason) can't upgrade my abilities in both Hard & Dark Mode, I have to switch to Normal mode, then upgrade my abilities and then switch back to Hard mode, tried it on Dark Mode but of course once you change it to normal mode to do your abilities you can't got back to Dark Mode.
Which was kind of disappointing tbh.

Is it just me who has this problem? o.o

[dragonbird]

In Hard and Dark Mode, you need to use the Character option in the Meditation menu to upgrade your abilities.
By design - the easier modes allow you to upgrade during combat, the harder ones don't.

[BlavikensButcher]

Guy N said:

Dark mode enemies hit a LOT harder than Insane mode. In Dark mode, the Dragon will hit for more than 1000. That's why I say Vitality upgrades are not as useful in Dark mode, and I focus on doing unto others before they do you in Dark mode. ›››

Jesus Christ what the hell? You might as well just chug down Thunderbolts. You're gonna be one-shot anyway. I can just imagine if Dark and Insane were combined. The Dragon hits for more than 1k and if you die you have to start over.

[Guy N'wah]

BlavikensButcher said:

Jesus Christ what the hell? You might as well just chug down Thunderbolts. You're gonna be one-shot anyway. I can just imagine if Dark and Insane were combined. The Dragon hits for more than 1k and if you die you have to start over. ›››

That's about right: skill-enhanced Thunderbolt is very powerful in Dark mode boss fights, because whether or not your Vitality is gimped, you're going down if you take one or two hits, and you need to put your preparation and tactics into winning fights quickly.

[SlimeDynamiteD]

dragonbird said:

In Hard and Dark Mode, you need to use the Character option in the Meditation menu to upgrade your abilities.
By design - the easier modes allow you to upgrade during combat, the harder ones don't. ›››

Well, that makes sense, thank you ever so kindly