Today we’ll look at a powerful Witcher 3: Remastered build that uses the Whirl ability to quickly decimate enemies, whether individually or in groups. This build is designed for Death March difficulty, and will therefore work just as well on lower difficulties, too. 

To fully replicate the build, you’ll need to be fairly late in the game and own the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine DLCs. However, you can work toward completing the build over the course of a playthrough and still get pretty good results along the way. This build is also perfect for New Game Plus, where you can use it to its full potential from the start of a new playthrough. 

Now we’ll look at how this build works and how you can make it for yourself. 

Table of Contents:


How to use this Witcher 3 Whirl Build

Witcher 3 Whirl Animation

This Witcher 3 Whirl Build focuses on high attack power and critical damage, using a mix of red and green perks. We’ll use alchemical decoctions to maximise the build’s potential, incorporating the Euphoria mutation (we’ll explain that more later in the guide). 

We’re using the Feline Armour to increase our combat prowess, but we are not using the Feline Swords. For your Silver Sword, the best option is witcher 3 aerondight icon Aerondight, a special magical sword that becomes more powerful as you level up. 

We’re using three Decoctions to enhance the build’s capability, and you should generally keep them active whenever you are in combat. These decoctions are witcher 3 water hag decoction Water Hag Decoction, witcher 3 ekimmara decoction icon Ekimmara Decoction and witcher 3 wyvern decoction icon Wyvern Decoction. We’ll explain those more later. 

You can also make use of Blade Oils to improve Geralt’s prowess against a particular type of enemy. 

In combat, we primarily use Whirl to unleash a devastating flurry of sword attacks in a 360-degree radius around Geralt. Maintaining the attack requires Stamina and Adrenaline. 

Due to the way this build is set up, this means that Geralt can maintain the Whirl attack as long as we keep hitting enemies, but if you keep whirling without hitting anything, then you can quickly drain all of your stamina and adrenaline, so it takes a little bit of practice to time it correctly. 

You can see how the build works in action in the Gameplay section.


Armour and Weapons for the Witcher 3 Whirl Build

Witcher 3 Whirl Build Armour

For our Witcher 3 Whirl Build, we’re using the Feline Armour. This is a light armour set of Witcher gear which you need to find the diagrams for and craft, and it can be upgraded as you level up. To unlock the full benefits of the Feline Armour (where you get additional set bonuses for wearing a certain number of pieces of the set), it needs to be upgraded 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 piece of armour grants. 

To learn how to obtain Feline Armour, check out our Feline Armour Guide.

For the Silver Sword, you should use witcher 3 aerondight icon Aerondight. This is a unique sword that requires the Blood and Wine DLC. To obtain the sword, you need to complete the quest called “There Can Only Be One”, which you should be able to obtain by checking Notice Boards around Toussaint. Earlier in the game, just use the best silver sword you have available. 

Important Info:

witcher 3 aerondight icon 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 endlessly scale up with Geralt’s level, surpassing all other weapons 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 Feline set to match your armour, or any other Steel Sword you find that has a high damage value and 3 Rune Slots.

Witcher 3 Whirl Build Sword

Weapon and Armour Upgrades

Here are the recommended upgrades for your gear:

witcher 3 grandmaster feline armour Grandmaster Feline Chest Armour – witcher 3 deflection icon 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 upgrade for the Runewright, then talk to him and craft the rune in the Enchanting menu.
  • Alternative – If you haven’t unlocked this rune yet, use witcher 3 greater glyph of quen icon Greater Glyph of Quen in the meantime.

witcher 3 grandmaster feline gauntlets icon Grandmaster Feline Gauntlets, witcher 3 grandmaster feline trousers icon Trousers & witcher 3 grandmaster feline boots icon Boots – witcher 3 greater glyph of quen icon 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 witcher 3 glyph of quen icon Glyph of Quen.
  • Alternative – If you prefer using a sign other than Quen, you can strengthen it with Glyphs for that sign instead.

witcher 3 feline steel sword icon Grandmaster Feline Steel Sword (or another Steel Sword of your choice) & witcher 3 aerondight icon Aerondight – witcher 3 severance icon Severance Runeword

  • Effect – Boosts the range of Whirl by 1.1 yards (about 1 meter)
  • How to Get – Fund the first two upgrades for the Runewright, then talk to him and craft the rune in the Enchanting menu.
  • Alternative – If you can’t get Severance yet, use witcher 3 greater chernobog icon Greater Chernobog Runestones to buff your Attack Power instead, or witcher 3 greater dazhbog icon Greater Dazhbog Runestone to imbue Burning.

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 Whirl Build

Witcher 3 Whirl Build Skills

The table below shows the ideal order to unlock Skills for this Witcher 3 Whirl 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
witcher 3 muscle memory

Muscle Memory (x3)

Gives a helpful early-game buff to your fast attack damage, triggered by dodging.
witcher 3 three strikes

Three Strikes (x3)

Your third fast or strong attack boosts the damage of the next attack of the same type.
witcher 3 undying

Undying (x1)

Consume your adrenaline points to heal instead of dying. Only 1 point to progress down the tree.
witcher 3 fleet footed

Fleet-Footed (x1)

Reduces damage taken while dodging. Only 1 point needed.
witcher 3 whirl

Whirl (x3)

Hold the fast attack button to perform a continuous spinning attack that hits all nearby foes.
witcher 3 rend

Rend (x3)

Hold the heavy attack button to perform a mighty attack that converts remaining stamina into extra damage.
witcher 3 cat school techniques

Cat School Techniques (x3)

Each piece of Light Armour critical hit damage and fast attack damage.
witcher 3 resolve

Battle Frenzy (x3)

Increases critical hit chance per Adrenaline Point.
witcher 3 refreshment

Refreshment (x1)

Each potion dose heals 10% vitality. Only 1 point needed.
witcher 3 hunter instinct

Hunter Instinct (x3)

At maximum Adrenaline Points, increase critical damage against the enemy type targeted by your active blade oil.
witcher 3 acquired tolerance

Acquired Tolerance (x3)

Each learned alchemical recipe increases maximum toxicity.
witcher 3 tissue transmutation

Tissue Transmutation (x3)

Each active mutagen decoction increases your maximum Vitality.
witcher 3 high tolerance

High Tolerance (x3)

Above 80% Toxicity, you take more damage from enemies, but your Critical Hit damage increases by your current toxicity amount.
witcher 3 crippling strike

Crippling Strike (x3)

Critical Hits from fast attacks cripple enemies, increasing their damage taken.
witcher 3 griffin school techniques

Griffin School Techniques (x1)

We only need one point to unlock the next skill.
witcher 3 metabolic contro

Metabolic Control (x1)

We only need one point to unlock the next skill.
witcher 3 tissue transmutation

Synergy (x3)

Increases the bonus from slotted Mutagens. Slot red & green skills next to a matching Mutagen!

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. 

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


Mutation for the Witcher 3 Whirl Build

Witcher 3 Whirl Build Mutations

For this Witcher 3 Whirl Build, we’re using the Euphoria Mutation. This is probably the most overpowered mutation in the game, giving us a flat percentage damage boost to all of our sword and sign attacks based on our Toxicity level. 

This synergises well with our build since we purchased quite a few green Perks to increase our Toxicity limit. The best way to maintain a high toxicity level for a long time is to consume several Decoctions, since the toxicity from these doesn’t decay until the potion duration expires. 

Euphoria is the second mutation on the Green line, so in total you’ll need 6 spare skill points and 6 spare Greater Green Mutagens to access it. To unlock the Mutation system in The Witcher 3, you need to complete the quest called Turn and Face the Strange, which is part of the Blood and Wine DLC.


Potions for the Witcher 3 Whirl Build

For this Witcher 3 Whirl Build, we generally want to keep our Toxicity level high to make use of the Euphoria mutation. Therefore, we’ve selected three* decoctions that we almost always keep active. These are:

witcher 3 wyvern decoction icon Wyvern Decoction  

  • Each blow landed increases attack power by 1% until you take damage.
  • You can find the recipe randomly in loot. 

witcher 3 ekimmara decoction icon Ekimmara Decoction 

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

witcher 3 water hag decoction 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.

Keeping these decoctions active at all times gives us a big damage boost thanks to the Euphoria mutation, plus extra damage bonuses from the potions themselves and passive healing whenever we dish out damage to enemies. 

You can also add other potions, such as witcher 3 swallow icon Superior Swallow for healing, witcher 3 thunderbolt icon Superior Thunderbolt for a bigger temporary damage boost, or witcher 3 tawny owl icon Superior Tawny Owl for increased stamina regeneration. Be careful not to push your Toxicity too high, though, or you will take damage over time until the extra toxicity decays. Don’t stress too much about upgrading to the Superior potions; while they are worth making when you can, the basic and enhanced versions are still decent.

*Note that maximum toxicity got nerfed a bit in the Witcher 3: Remastered. Depending on how many alchemy recipes you have learned, you might need to drop the number of active decoctions to two. In this case, leave out the Wyvern Decoction. Water Hag gives you a flat 50% damage buff at full HP, while Wyvern requires Geralt to land 50 consecutive hits without taking any damage to reach the same buff.


Whirl Build Gameplay Video

Here is a gameplay video of the Witcher 3 Whirl Build. You can see the build’s overpowered damage potential against a variety of targets, as well as how you can passively heal during combat thanks to the Decoctions used in this build.


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