Anyone have any experience testing this feature...
seems quite a disadvantage to have to charge up a sign. Are the results worthwhile?
Charging signs (student, apprentice,....)
Charging signs (student, apprentice,....)
Right Speech has four aspects: 1. Not lying, but speaking the truth, 2. Avoiding rude and coarse words, but using gentle speech beneficial to the listener, 3. Not slandering, but promoting friendliness and unity, 4. Avoiding frivolous speech, but saying only what is appropriate and beneficial.
Ok, so when you assign talent points to a sign, you first have to put it Aard level 1, 2, etc. But as you see, you also get the option of putting points in student, apprentice, specialist, etc. You don't have to power-up a sign to use it effectively, but the only way you'll get the benefits listed under the abilities of "student", etc., is to power it up. For example, normal Aard level one is:
Angle 90 Degrees, Sign Intensity +25%, Causes Knockdown
But if you put a point in student and power it up, the effect becomes:
Angle 180 Degrees, Sign Intensity +25%, Causes Knockdown
The endurance cost is the same, and all the other additions to the sign apply as well, but the radius is increased.
With Igni, the power-up effect is to "attack from a distance" which, instead of fanning out flame waves from Geralt, allows you to hurl something more like a fireball at an enemy who's further away. With Axii, the power-up is to cause Fear in addition to the normal Hex effect.
Ok, sorry if you already knew that much. Is it worth it? Yeah, absolutely. Using Aard's power-up handles enemies that are surrounding you better. Using Igni's let's you incinerate a foe sooner, before he can get too close to you. And so on...
The trick is to start powering up before they get close, you'll usually have a few seconds between when a monster starts charging you and when they reach you, so with a bit of practice you'll have the power bar reaching max at just the right moment. Sometimes when you're ambushed, you can jump or roll out of the way to give you a few more seconds to charge up. I've rarely been interrupted while charging a sign, even when I'm mobbed.
I didn't really use Quen as much as I thought I would, and I didn't really put any points into Yrden, so I can't personally say how valuable their power-ups might be.
Angle 90 Degrees, Sign Intensity +25%, Causes Knockdown
But if you put a point in student and power it up, the effect becomes:
Angle 180 Degrees, Sign Intensity +25%, Causes Knockdown
The endurance cost is the same, and all the other additions to the sign apply as well, but the radius is increased.
With Igni, the power-up effect is to "attack from a distance" which, instead of fanning out flame waves from Geralt, allows you to hurl something more like a fireball at an enemy who's further away. With Axii, the power-up is to cause Fear in addition to the normal Hex effect.
Ok, sorry if you already knew that much. Is it worth it? Yeah, absolutely. Using Aard's power-up handles enemies that are surrounding you better. Using Igni's let's you incinerate a foe sooner, before he can get too close to you. And so on...
The trick is to start powering up before they get close, you'll usually have a few seconds between when a monster starts charging you and when they reach you, so with a bit of practice you'll have the power bar reaching max at just the right moment. Sometimes when you're ambushed, you can jump or roll out of the way to give you a few more seconds to charge up. I've rarely been interrupted while charging a sign, even when I'm mobbed.
I didn't really use Quen as much as I thought I would, and I didn't really put any points into Yrden, so I can't personally say how valuable their power-ups might be.
If you work on Igni throughout the game, by the end you can use just it to pretty much toast all enemies. By the time you have it and your intelligence up, you can cast it a good 4 or 5 times, not counting any potions, without having to wait. It'll be a 360 degree circle of doom for all opponents around you, can cause fear, incineration, etc. If you boost up it's chargy thingy, you can actually launch fireballs at the... um, funny looking baddies towards the end of the game, allowing you to at the very least tick them off, at best set them on fire so that by the time they reach you they're almost half gone.
Igni - I don't understand why student says 'attack at a distance' and the same thing is said all the way to master. Does that mean you can shoot farther and further?
Yrden - the basic Yrden attack says it causes pain. student doesn't say what it does in addition to the basic Yrden? Does it increase the damage?
Aard - I'm confused if the sign intensity which is listed for both the basic and the student -> master means that you get the enhanced intensity +25 for say Aard 1 AND student or is the student just listing the effects you already get for basic Aard? That would mean the student -> master only affects the angle?
Quen - I think I understand this. Has anyone tried a boosted Quen and just reduce their life by 25% each time they attack you then let them get down to half life and start whooping on them with your sword?
Aaxi - I understand this one I think. How many people can you fear with Aaxi? Just one like the hex? how does aaxi - fear compare with Igni - fear?
Yrden - the basic Yrden attack says it causes pain. student doesn't say what it does in addition to the basic Yrden? Does it increase the damage?
Aard - I'm confused if the sign intensity which is listed for both the basic and the student -> master means that you get the enhanced intensity +25 for say Aard 1 AND student or is the student just listing the effects you already get for basic Aard? That would mean the student -> master only affects the angle?
Quen - I think I understand this. Has anyone tried a boosted Quen and just reduce their life by 25% each time they attack you then let them get down to half life and start whooping on them with your sword?
Aaxi - I understand this one I think. How many people can you fear with Aaxi? Just one like the hex? how does aaxi - fear compare with Igni - fear?
Right Speech has four aspects: 1. Not lying, but speaking the truth, 2. Avoiding rude and coarse words, but using gentle speech beneficial to the listener, 3. Not slandering, but promoting friendliness and unity, 4. Avoiding frivolous speech, but saying only what is appropriate and beneficial.
It means you can only 'attack at a distance' with whatever level your Igni mastery is at - That is, if you only put a point in 'student' but continue to beef up Igni through levels 2, 3, 4....your powerup is only going to be as strong as your level 1 Igni, since 'student' is at level 1. This is the same for all the sign power-ups.Igni - I don't understand why student says 'attack at a distance' and the same thing is said all the way to master. Does that mean you can shoot farther and further?
The sign intensity bonuses from the power-ups in Aard and Yrden are in addition to the sign intensity granted by the basic levels. So yes, there is more damage in a powered-up Yrden.
Not sure about the other questions, but it seems the chance for causing fear is much higher with Axii than with Igni, at least on individual enemies. If you can only cause fear in one enemy at a time with Axii, then Igni would be better, since any foe you hit with it can be subject to fear (if you have a point in wall of fire, that is).
It's kind of fun when you have Igni up to level five and are blowing away downers in one shot in the swamp in chapter five that are so far away you can barely even see them.
I may regret it when I get to the last boss fights, but I only bothered leveling up Aard and Igni. Both are worth charging up in fights when you have the time to get far enough away from your battle to do it. In the heat of a crazy melee though, short blasts are just fine. For a lot of weak enemies, I use Igni, for strong ones, stun-and-whack with Aard and even the odds as fast as possible.
I may regret it when I get to the last boss fights, but I only bothered leveling up Aard and Igni. Both are worth charging up in fights when you have the time to get far enough away from your battle to do it. In the heat of a crazy melee though, short blasts are just fine. For a lot of weak enemies, I use Igni, for strong ones, stun-and-whack with Aard and even the odds as fast as possible.