Early Game Sign Build - Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Final Build

Sign builds generally excel at crowd control, and damage over time. They achieve this by maximising 2 parameters: Sign Intensity, and Stamina Regeneration. Here is the final setup I have used for this build.

Stats

This build can achieve 152% sign intensity, without using any decoctions. This grants us close to a 100% chance to ignite our enemies with Igni, a high Slowdown% with Yrden, and a high stagger and knockdown chance with Aard.

Additionally, this build has very high stamina regen, especially when using the Tawny Owl potion. 46 stamina / second means we can cast a sign almost once every 2 seconds, which is excellent for this point in the game. 

Gear

The final gear consists of the complete Griffin witcher set, which is the best gear set for a sign build as every piece increases sign intensity by 5%. Infuse the swords with the medium Velez Runestone, while the armor is infused with a Greater Glyph of Yrden, which has a consistent spawn location, and does not require crafting.

Griffin Armor Set - Level 11

Item	Effects
Griffin Armor	+5% Sign intensity +5% Resistance to piercing damage +5% Resistance to bludgeoning damage +10% Resistance to slashing damage +15% Resistance to damage from monsters
Griffin Trousers	+5% Sign intensity +2% Resistance to piercing damage +5% Resistance to slashing damage +7% Resistance to damage from monsters +17% Resistance to elemental damage
Griffin Gauntlets	+5% Sign intensity +1% Resistance to piercing damage +2% Resistance to slashing damage +2% Resistance to damage from monsters +5% Resistance to elemental damage
Griffin Boots	+5% Sign intensity +1% Resistance to piercing damage +1% Resistance to bludgeoning damage +2% Resistance to slashing damage +2% Resistance to damage from monsters

Skills

Generally speaking, Sign builds want to take as many Sign Skills as possible to increase their Stamina Regeneration. This also increases Sign Intensity through the synergy between the blue perks and blue mutagens.

Build Breakdown

This build has a dual focus on Yrden and Igni because between them they cover the widest range of possible enemies and encounters while complimenting each other and our playstyle. That being said, all signs have situational utility and I advise you to experiment with their use, as many enemies have secret interactions with certain signs.

Igni is strong throughout the game and does not require further enhancements, besides increased intensity, to be effective. It has a chance to set enemies on fire which not only deals significant damage over time but also locks the enemy in a burning animation. This effectively removes them from combat for the duration of the burning effect. Just don't attack them with your sword while they burn, as that will end the effect early.

Yrden has a nasty Slowdown effect, making enemies sluggish while within its grasp, giving you more time to regenerate stamina and cast other signs. With Supercharged Glyphs Skill, however, enemies will also continually take damage that scales with our Yrden sign intensity. This means that Yrden has above-par returns on the increases to sign intensity, as enemies will not only take more damage, but the higher Slowdown% will mean that the enemies will have to spend more time within the area of Yrden, causing them to take even more damage.

Next up, Active Quen and Exploding Shield are 2 excellent defensive Skills, both of which are useful in this build. Active Quen enables us to hold the casting key, to maintain a stable forcefield around Geralt. This forcefield will heal us with a fraction of the damage it absorbs. In addition, Exploding Shield will force enemies away from us when we are surrounded, giving us more time to escape, while dealing some damage back to them.

Last but not least, Far-Reaching Aard, and Delusion, are 2 very useful but situational skills that we can incorporate into our build from time to time when the situation calls for it. Delusion is very useful in certain social situations, allowing us to earn extra EXP, skip unnecessary fights, as well as help deal with shielded opponents. Far-reaching Aard on the other hand, is extremely useful in knocking down flying harpies, sirens, and large creatures like Griffins, Basilisks, or Wyverns. Switching out skills to better fit the situation is a core part of the Sign Build experience, and I advise you to experiment with their uses.

Progression

Now that we have looked at the final product, let us dive into how to get to best get to that point.

Skills Order

Gear

While the final build uses Griffin Witcher Armor, we cannot donn it until level 11. This means that we have to find alternatives until then. here are some of the best options that I could find on our journey to the Griffin Witcher Set.

Steel Swords

Silver Swords

There are very few Relic Silver Swords that have guaranteed spawn locations that are both useful and can be found in Velen. Look for a weapon with either increased Igni or Yrden Sign intensity.

Armor

There is plenty of good Medium armor to be found in Velen, though very little of it has reliable spawn locations. Prioritise good resistance to slashing, bludgeoning, and monster damage over armor. 

Level	Item	Information
1	Warrior's Leather Jacket	Can be crafted at the start of the game. Solid Resistances. Direct upgrade over starting gear.
3+	Condottiere's Boots	50-60 Armor Piercing damage. Solid Resistances.. Can be found as random treasure loot.
7	Armor of a Thousand Flowers Set	Solid Resistances. Guaranteed to be found in Vizima. Gloves grant +5% Aard and Igni Sign Intensity. Stylish.
10	Nilfgaardian Armor Set	Excellent Resistances. Can be bought from the Quartermaster at Crow's Perch. Damage resistances exceed those of Griffin armor, against humans. Stylish.

Alchemy

Potion	Information
Petri's Philter	Recipe can be found randomly starting at level 2. +15/20/25% sign intensity. Superior potion special effect allows Signs to always trigger critical effects such as Burning for Igni, Knockdown for Aard, and Stagger for Exploding Shield Quen. Can be sold by random alchemy merchants.
Tawny Owl	Available at game start. Increases how often we can cast signs. More signs, more damage. Superior potion effects enable the potion to last indefinitely between 6 pm and 7 am. Upgrade recipes sold by random alchemy merchants.
Werewolf Decoction	Can be obtained via the Wild at Heart quest. Increases stamina regeneration by 50% on a cloudless night
Foglet Decoction	Can be obtained via "Swamp Thing" Witcher Contract. +25% sign intensity on a cloudy night.

Further Considerations

With all of these elements covered, the early game Sign build is fully assembled. Here are a couple more suggestions that can help take the build to the next level.

Greater Glyphs of Yrden

The Newgen edition of the game added a new quest to eastern Velen called "In the Eternal Fire's Shadow". A plethora of Greater Glyphs of Yrden can be found by progressing through this quest, which can be found in the large spiraling mine called Devil's Pit. These powerful glyphs dot the main progression path of the quest since they were left by the ancient witcher Reynauld, of the School of the Wolf. You can locate these glyphs by their distinguishing bright purple glow that is visible in the environment. These should be plenty to infuse your armor until you reach the Mastercrafted tier.

Farming Mutagens

Here is my mutagen farming guide covering all the mutagen farming spots in the base game.

Future Skills

As we increase our level, and unlock additional skill slots, here are some of the skills we should consider investing in.

Skill	Information
Sustained Glyphs	Increases Sign duration by 10 seconds. Increases the number of alternative mode charges by 9. Longer duration means we have to recast it less often, meaning more casts of Igni. Alternative mode charges become useful later.
Magic Trap	A more offensive version of the sign. Hold the cast button to use. This version regularly zaps the closest enemy, dealing moderate damage until its charges run out. Any projectiles flying through the area are instantly destroyed, giving additional protection.
Shockwave	Aard can now deal damage which scales with sign intensity and enemy current health. Each cast of the sign will inflict damage equal to a certain % of the enemy's current health + a small flat amount. The % of current health lost scales with sign intensity. Very good against large monsters that are immune to burning, such as golems, or gargoyles.
Aard Sweep	Aard now hits in a circle around Geralt. Hold the cast button to use. The chance to knock down enemies is slightly reduced. very useful for crowd control when you are surrounded, or when faced with a multitude of flying opponents.
Quen Discharge	Reflects 30% of the damage that was absorbed by Quen, back at the attacker. Nice tool to use against groups of enemies with active Quen, especially when at low health. Becomes more useful with higher sign intensity.
Adrenaline Burst	General Skill. Increases adrenaline gain by 5%. enables signs to generate adrenaline.
Focus	Adrenaline points now increase Sign Intensity, in addition to Attack Power.

Conclusions

Witcher Signs are powerful tool in Geralt's arsenal. Even though the game does a poor job of explaining the details of how the various skills work, with some experimentation and a little research, Sign builds can become available to any player who enjoys slower, more methodical gameplay. Signs, in my opinion, is the most fun build to fight large groups of high-level humans, and I would frequently anger Redanian and Nilfgaardian guards, just to fight them.