3. Pick A Levelling-Up Colour & Learn Your Mutagen Bonuses
To the uninitiated, Witcher 3's levelling system is a bit baffling, as you're essentially free to go out into the world and rank up any number of individual skill trees and icons - the rub coming later when you can only equip as many as your level will allow. Depending on whether you pick characters like Warriors and Paladins versus Mages or Thieves will dictate how you'll approach this stuff - but you really want to pick a colour for each quarter of the available board, and attach a specific mutagen for each. See, the mutagens serve to boost the effects of what abilities you've got equipped; something that if you dive into the Alchemy tab and craft some 'Greater' versions of each, will greatly increase the power/effectiveness of everything else. Effects boost depending on colour and the mutagen in any given slot, so say you want a power build; throw any three red power-up abilities into the three requisite primary slots, before applying a mutagen to the secondary gap. This will boost the whole section, giving you large percentage bonuses to everything from vitality to Sign intensity and attack power - perfect for tackling higher level quests you'd otherwise not be prepared for. Bonus tip: All is not lost if you want to re-spec your entire character either; simply buy or brew the Potion of Clearance which will free up all your points and let you put them back wherever you like.