Best Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build - Ursine Armour Build

Welcome to our Ursine Armour Tank Build for The Witcher 3: Remastered. This build combines impressive melee damage with high survivability, making most fights easy, even on Death March difficulty.

This is an ideal build for new players or anyone who wants an easier time in combat.

While completing the build takes a long time, we have included a step-by-step skill progression table so you can start building it from the beginning of your adventure.

Table of Contents:

Witcher 3 Bear Build Overview
Armour and Weapons
- Best Upgrades
Skills and Perks
Mutation
Potions
How to Play the Bear Build

Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build Overview

The Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build uses the Ursine Armour set (also called Bear Armour) to give Geralt insane damage resistance and adrenaline point gain, making combat much more forgiving than usual.

Despite this focus on survivability, the build still packs strong melee damage and can use Whirl to unleash a rapid 360-degree flurry of attacks, or Rend to dish out massive single-target damage.

See how the build works in action in the Gameplay section.

Armour and Weapons for the Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build

For our Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build, we’re using the Ursine Armour. This heavy armour set of Witcher gear requires you to find the diagrams and craft it, and you can upgrade it as you level up. To unlock the full benefits of the Ursine Armour (additional set bonuses for wearing a certain number of pieces), you need to upgrade it to at least Mastercrafted tier. However, these set bonuses are not really important for this build. We’re more interested in the Attack Power each armour piece grants.

For the Silver Sword, you should use Aerondight. This unique sword requires the Blood and Wine DLC. To get the sword, complete the quest “There Can Only Be One”, which you can find by checking Notice Boards around Toussaint. Earlier in the game, just use the best silver sword you have available.

Important Info:

Aerondight is a special weapon in The Witcher 3 that gets stronger the longer a fight goes on. It has the following features, making it better than any other weapon in the game:

Hitting an enemy generates a charge that increases the sword’s damage by 10%. You lose charges when you take damage.
You can hold a maximum of 10 charges; at that point, the sword glows golden, and all blows are guaranteed critical hits.
At 10 charges, a deathblow consumes all 10 charges and permanently increases the sword’s damage by 2.
The permanent damage increase can happen up to 5 times per level (previously passed levels count toward the limit, so you can’t “miss out” on charges).
This means Aerondight can scale indefinitely with Geralt’s level, surpassing every other weapon in the game. This still works if you take the weapon into New Game Plus.

Finally, the Steel Sword is not hugely important. You can use a sword from the Ursine set to match your armour, or any other Steel Sword with high damage and 3 Rune Slots.

Weapon and Armour Upgrades

Here are the recommended upgrades for your gear:

Grandmaster Ursine Chest Armour – Deflection Glyphword

Effect – Deflects arrows and bolts that hit Geralt. Stops you from being countered by ranged enemies while using Whirl.
How to Get – Fund the first Runewright upgrade, then talk to him and craft the rune in the Enchanting menu.
Alternative – If you haven’t unlocked this rune yet, use Greater Glyph of Quen in the meantime.

Grandmaster Ursine Gauntlets, Trousers & Boots – Greater Glyph of Quen (all slots)

Effect – Increases your Quen Sign Intensity, letting you absorb a few hits without stopping your Whirl.
How to Get – Merchants, random loot, monster loot, or crafted by combining 2x Glyph of Quen.
Alternative – If you prefer using a sign other than Quen, you can strengthen it with Glyphs for that sign instead.

Grandmaster Ursine Steel Sword (or another Steel Sword of your choice) & Aerondight – Severance Runeword

Effect – Boosts the range of Whirl by 1.1 yards (about 1 meter)
How to Get – Fund the first two Runewright upgrades, then talk to him and craft the rune in the Enchanting menu.
Alternative – If you can’t get Severance yet, use Greater Chernobog Runestones to buff your Attack Power instead.

You can find the Runewright in the far northeast of the Novigrad and Oxenfurt region, near the Upper Mill Signpost, east of Brunwich village.

Skills and Perks for the Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build

The table below shows the ideal order to unlock Skills for this Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build, so you can start using the build from the moment you begin your adventure. The number in brackets indicates how many skill points to invest in each skill.

Skill	Explanation
Muscle Memory (x3)	Gives a helpful early-game buff to your fast attack damage, triggered by dodging.
Three Strikes (x3)	Your third fast or strong attack boosts the damage of the next attack of the same type.
Strength Training (x3)	Fast attacks increase the next strong attack’s damage.
Crushing Blow (x3)	Strong attacks have a chance to increase the damage of the next strong attack.
Sunder Armour (x3)	Strong attacks reduce enemy damage resistance by 10%, stacking up to three times.
Razor Focus (x3)	Gain an Adrenaline Point on entering combat. Increases the amount of Adrenaline gained from weapon strikes.
Rend (x3)	Hold down the strong attack button to make a special attack, converting Geralt’s stamina into huge bonus damage. Charge longer to use more stamina.
Undying (x1)	Just take 1 point to progress the skill tree.
Fleet-Footed (x1)	Just take 1 point to progress the skill tree.
Whirl (x3)	Hold the fast attack button to make a continuous whirling attack, hitting all enemies in a 360-degree radius.
Arrow Deflection (x1)	Just take 1 point to progress the skill tree.
Resolve (x3)	Reduces Adrenaline Point loss when taking damage.
Bear School Techniques (x3)	Each piece of Heavy Armour increases your Maximum Vitality and Strong Attack Damage.
Anger Management (x1)	Just take 1 point to progress the skill tree.
Synergy (x3)	Increases the bonus from slotted Mutagens.
Metabolic Control (x3)	Increases maximum Toxicity.
Refreshment (x1)	Just take 1 point to progress the skill tree.
Pyrotechnics (x1)	Just take 1 point to progress the skill tree.
Protective Coating (x3)	Gain damage resistance against the enemy type targeted by your applied blade oil.
Hunter Instinct (x3)	At maximum Adrenaline, gain extra critical damage against the enemy type targeted by your applied blade oil.
Acquired Tolerance (x3)	Each learned alchemical recipe increases maximum Toxicity.
Tissue Transmutation (x3)	Active decoctions increase maximum Vitality for their duration.

There are two ways to get more skill points: you receive one each time you level up, and one when you first interact with a newly discovered Place of Power.

Important: Remember to slot your skills to enable them! You’ll unlock more slots as you level up. When you can, rearrange your skills so they are all slotted next to a matching mutagen for an extra stat bonus (applies only to red, blue, and green skills).

Mutation for the Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build

For this Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build, we’re using the Mutated Skin Mutation. Our build quickly amasses full Adrenaline Points, giving you a massive 45% damage resistance.

Combined with the damage resistance from Ursine Armour and skills like Protective Coating, Geralt will have very high damage resistance and lose only a sliver of health from most enemy attacks, even on Death March.

If you prefer a more aggressive playstyle, you can use the Euphoria Mutation instead, which boosts all of Geralt’s damage output based on current Toxicity.

Potions for the Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build

This Witcher 3: Remastered Ursine Armour Build has decent toxicity tolerance thanks to the Metabolic Control and Acquired Tolerance skills, so it’s worth keeping one or two decoctions active and using potions to buff Geralt. Here are some of the best options.

Ekimmara Decoction

Each blow landed regenerates Vitality.
Found in a chest on the riverbank south of the Ransacked Village in White Orchard.

Water Hag Decoction

Damage dealt is increased by 50% when Vitality is at maximum.
You can find the recipe randomly in loot, or purchase it from Herbalist merchants.

Superior Swallow

Heals Geralt over time.
You can find the recipe randomly in loot, or purchase it from Herbalist or Alchemist merchants.

Superior Tawny Owl

Greatly increases Geralt’s stamina recovery.
You can find the recipe randomly in loot, or purchase it from Herbalist merchants.

Superior White Raffard’s Decoction

Immediately heals a portion of health.
Despite its name, this behaves as a potion rather than a decoction.
You can find the recipe randomly in loot, or purchase it from Herbalist merchants.

Superior Thunderbolt

Boosts Geralt’s damage output for a short time.
Especially good to use before a fully charged Rend attack.
You can find the recipe randomly in loot, or purchase it from Herbalist merchants.

Earlier in your playthrough, you’ll have less Toxicity tolerance, so you can only drink one decoction or 2-3 potions before losing health. I recommend prioritising Tawny Owl (in your inventory at game start, very underrated!) and Swallow early on.

How to Play the Witcher 3 Bear Tank Build

The ideal approach depends on how far you are in the game. Here are some general tips for both the early and late game:

Early Game

Potions – Craft the Swallow Potion as early as possible (farm Drowner Brains in the swamps in northern White Orchard) and use the Tawny Owl potion to improve stamina regen.
Gear – Geralt’s starting gear is quite weak. Save up gold to buy the Temerian Armour set from Bram in White Orchard, and craft the Viper swords. Fully exploring White Orchard will make the second part of the game much easier!
Attacks – Chain sword attacks together and use dodges to activate the damage bonuses from your combat skills.
Signs – If you struggle early on, use the Quen sign to protect yourself from one hit. Tawny Owl helps you use it much more often.
Bestiary – Always read the Bestiary to see what enemies are weak against. For example, fighting Foglets is much easier with Aard, and Yrden hinders Wraiths.

Mid to Late Game

Potions – By now, you should be able to use at least one of the Decoctions mentioned earlier in the guide. Using alchemy will make the game significantly easier.
Gear – Craft and equip the basic Ursine Armour at Level 20. Upgrade it as you reach the required levels for higher tiers, up to the Grandmaster version.
Attacks – Whirl and Rend are your friends at higher levels. Whirl is especially powerful once you unlock the Severance Runeword, and Rend can one-shot some monsters if you stack a couple of damage buffs and spend a full stamina bar charging it.
Signs – The approach to signs never really changes for this build. Quen is the go-to, but use the others to exploit specific enemy weaknesses.