This guide explains how to create a powerful Quen tank build in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, making Geralt nearly immortal while reflecting damage back at enemies.
The build has high Sign Intensity, so you can use Igni as a backup against enemies that aren’t vulnerable to reflected Quen damage.
Completing the build requires a high level, but you can easily adapt the gear and abilities at lower levels to start enjoying it early in the game.
Table of Contents:
How to play this Witcher 3 Quen Build
This Witcher 3 Quen Tank build focuses on boosting the Quen sign to some pretty insane levels, letting you heal and deflect loads of damage. When you channel the alternate version of Quen, Geralt will be surrounded by a magic shield that reflects damage back at the attacker and heals Geralt. The more powerful an enemy’s attack, the more value you’ll get from this effect.
Please note that you’ll sometimes need to adapt your approach by falling back on Igni or sword attacks:
- Some enemies don’t do much damage per attack or regenerate health, so defeating them with Quen alone isn’t viable.
- Some enemies, such as Gargoyles, are strong enough to break through your Quen and stun Geralt when the shield breaks.
To handle these situations and keep the build from feeling like a one-trick pony, we added plenty of Sign Intensity so Igni hits hard despite it not being the main focus, and included a couple of red skills so your sword attacks do decent damage.
Thanks to our Griffin Armour, we can buff the effectiveness of both Quen and Igni quite significantly by placing down an Yrden Sign and standing inside it. This also grants us stamina regeneration and sign intensity. This is optional, though; the build still works quite well if you don’t always do this.
To see the build in action, check out the video in the Gameplay section.
Armour and Weapons for the Witcher 3 Quen Build
For this Witcher 3 Quen Tank build, we’ll wear a full set of the Griffin Armour, including the Griffin Silver and Steel Swords. The Griffin Armour unlocks its true potential once upgraded to Mastercrafted and Grandmaster, as it gains additional set bonuses you can activate by wearing all pieces of the set. Here is a guide that explains how to get the Griffin Armour.
This lets you cast a sign for free each time you cast a sign in Standard mode, and it makes your Yrden sign more powerful by increasing its radius and buffing Geralt’s Sign Intensity, Stamina Regeneration, and damage resistance.
To create this Witcher 3 Quen Build, we recommend using Grandmaster Griffin Witcher Gear.
You can craft the basic version of this armour early in the game, but you won’t get access to the fully upgraded version until much later. The basic version is still very strong relative to the enemies you’ll face at that point in the game, even on Death March difficulty. Keep upgrading it when you reach the required level for the next tier, and you’ll stay one step ahead of almost everything the game throws at you.
Weapon and Armour Upgrades
Here are the recommended upgrades for your gear:
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 Quen Build:
The table below shows the ideal order to unlock Skills for this Witcher 3 Quen 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. |
Delusion (x3) |
Unlocks all Axii dialogue options. Skip this if you don’t want to use Axii to manipulate minds in dialogue. |
Exploding Shield (x3) |
Your Quen shield explodes when it breaks, pushing enemies away. |
Active Shield (x3) |
Hold down Quen to channel a protective barrier that heals you when you are attacked. |
Sustained Glyphs (x3) |
Boosts the duration of your Yrden. We will need this later on to buff Aard. |
Supercharged Glyphs (x3) |
Enemies inside your Yrden traps lose HP every second. |
Griffin School Techniques (x3) |
Each piece of Medium Armour equipped boosts your Sign Intensity and Stamina Recovery. |
Catalyst (x1) |
Just take one point to progress down the tree. |
Focus (x3) |
Each adrenaline point boosts your Sign Intensity. |
Domination (x1) |
Just take one point to progress down the skill tree. |
Fortify Signs (x3) |
Increase the duration of Quen, Yrden and Axii. |
Sidestep (x1*) |
A successful dodge or roll reduces the cost of the next sign. Put 1 point until you finish everything else, then upgrade to 3. |
Aftershock (x3) |
Casting any Sign deals magic damage in a small radius. |
Resonance (x3) |
Casting a sign buffs your next three melee attacks. This helps against enemies resistant to Igni. |
Metabolic Control (x1) |
We only need one point to unlock the next skill. |
Synergy (x3) |
Increases the bonus from slotted Mutagens. Slot red & blue skills next to a matching Mutagen! |
To unlock and fully upgrade these skills for your Witcher 3 Quen Build, you need 42 Skill Points. There are two ways to get more skill points: each time you level up, you will receive one, and the first time you interact with a newly discovered Place of Power, you’ll also receive one.
Mutation for the Witcher 3 Quen Build:
For this Witcher 3 Quen Tank build, we’re using the Magic Sensibilities Mutation. Using the Mutations system requires the Blood and Wine DLC, and you need to complete the quest Turn and Face the Strange in order to unlock it.
Magic Sensibilities is the first mutation on the blue line, so it’s easy to get. You just need 2 additional Greater Blue Mutagens and 2 spare skill points to unlock it; then you can activate it.
Magic Sensibilities allows damage dealt by your Signs to deal critical hits. The chance and damage of crits are dictated by your Sign Intensity – we’ve put quite a lot of resources into increasing Sign Intensity with this build, so these should scale up quite nicely. For example, we have a 54% chance to deal an additional 344% damage on our signs, without any additional buffs from potions or other sources.
Another detail is that opponents killed by critical hits from your signs explode, which adds a bit of extra fun to the build.
Potions for the Witcher 3 Quen Build
The following alchemy items are ideal fits for our Witcher 3 Quen Build:
You can only use one Decoction at a time because we haven’t invested in any alchemy skills for this build. An active Decoction also means you won’t be able to drink potions as often because of the high toxicity.
Don’t worry if you don’t have all of these right away. The basic and Enhanced versions of the potions are almost as good as the Superior version.
Gameplay Video of the Quen Build
Below is a gameplay video of this Witcher 3 Quen Build. You can see the build’s self-healing ability and how it can be used to dish out reflective damage, while knocking enemies back and really messing around with them.
