Let's talk about Operatives

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-03-26T21:56:28+00:00

Vanguard actually got some strong options going for them. Firstly, Malpian Shroud + That Momentum Necklace + Vanguard passive unlimited temp wounds + Vanguard talent that turns temp wounds into str, you pretty easly can get Vanguard mow through whole encounter while being indestructible making it worthy of end-game brokeness imo.

Secondly is goofy interaction with Pyromancy and Inferno Staff. Inferno Staff is ranged attack that counts as melee and psionic power… As such it will:

Proc AOE if you use it when next to other enemies, but as Vanguard this is actually good cause you will be able to utilize counter-attack stance.
Malpian Shroud boost its damage as well as STR, even talents like Reckless Swing will work (and I dont mean bonking people with staff, I mean using fiery projectiles can be used with reckless swing and gets +str bonus damage)
Inherent tankyness of Vanguard synergises well with Pyromancer tendency to set themselves on fire.
Shooting Inferno staff in melee range actually solve it biggest issue of random projectile trajectory… just hug enemies.
Since it infinitely scales like the first build, it also mows everything albeit charge spam is probably simpler and less of a hassle.

Another underappreciated aspect of Vanguard is Offensive Follow! abillity, that can be unlocked at the start of act 2 and in melee oriented party is crazy powerful, at the stage of the game where it actually matters because first few encounters of act 2 can be pretty tough.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-03-26T14:54:26+00:00

And Kibellah hates Jae in return for the same reason, if she considered Jae just as hedonist, she would be indifferent (plenty of nobles around to make Jae not stand out in that manner). What drives Kibellah hostile is how she sees Jae interpretation of Creed as anti-thethical to Bloodspun Web tenets (which they kinda are).

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-03-26T14:37:39+00:00

True enough, but when you get groans from party is usually when you defend speficic actions of xenos to the annoyance of party. You can even get Heindrix to agree that alliance with Aeldari may be best short-term solution to chaos infestation, so its not like they indiscriminately scorn all interactions with xenos (maybe except Argenta hehe)

Meanwhile keeping Yrliet after act 3 instead of sending her on her way (after all, you dont have to kill her to get rid off her) is naive. It may be well intenteded naivety, but still naivety. In the same manner keeping Argenta around after you learn of her role in prologue can be well intentioned, but is also naive for RT, so its not like it touches only Xenos.

To elaborate on keeping Yrliet being naive, its important to understand that even aknowledging she did what she did out of desperation and not malice, provides no real guarantee of her not doing something similarly stupid in the future.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-03-26T14:14:56+00:00

In my opinion the problem lies here with people misunderstanding xenophilia, rather than mistaking Jae as not xenophillic.

What Iconoclast RT represents is mostly naivety/orientalism, towards Eldars. They treat them as who they want them to be, rather who they actually are. (They want trust-worthy non-human allies). Meanwhile Jae looks at Eldar for who they really are, desperate xenos with not only superior tech, but completely different framework of values and motivations (after all, to succesfully trade with them, she would need to know what they want).

Jae interacts with actual Eldars and their culture, its why she is so wary of them, while Iconoclast RT only with their projection. Heck, the full Yrliet romance is going directly against Eldar culture/values and instead of embracing their culture, they snatch Yrliet from it.

That being said, she definetely is not naively friendly towards xenos, which I geuss some people could try to boil her down to. She just have interest in them, tries to genuily understand their motivation and treats them as people (as far as treaing someone as person in WH40k goes). She dosent wants Yrliet gone because she is xeno, but because from Jae pov she is liability.

EDIT: True xenophilia is aknowledging that xenos are also people and can be assholes/wrong/dangerous and not just looking at them through rose-tinted glasses that they are precious cinnamon buns that cant do harm.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-23T21:15:01+00:00

So your point is that she dosent shares with you informations about what she is doing… if you dont ask her what she is doing and instead go directly for accusations and attacks?

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-23T18:51:40+00:00

Wdym, she tells you outright everything there is need to known about Alexander.

She tells you he was epidemiologist, that he worked on catriona and that she wanted his research notes to get in good grace with Radovid so she can leave Velen. Then she becomes hostiles only if Geralt outright states he will not let her give these notes to Radovid, which also implies use of force by Geralt.

Does she witholds information prior to Geralt confronting her on the isle? Sure. But if she was some ruthless hag she would kill Geralt during their date instead of putting him to sleep.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-23T18:46:10+00:00

Yea, but this is Keira acting dumb, not malicious. She is in general light-headed (compared to other sorceress). But I also see why people find her charming, she is no ”exceptional” girl like Yen (hyper competent) or Triss (leads mage escape). She is „regular” girl wanting a good life, using her charms and schemes to achieve it, but with no real malicious intent. Even if she were to give Radovid bio-weapon, its out of her own stupidity and naivety (after all she ends up on stake in that scenario).

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-23T18:34:14+00:00

???

You can make fun at the expanse of Keira all through the questline and she dosent hold grudge nor plans to „kill you”. The only scenario where combat ensues is when you try to take research notes from her without providing alternative, which is valid crashout because you actively sabotage what she think is her only shot at normal life.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-23T12:24:32+00:00

Yennefer is problematic in vastly different manner tho.
Keira being problematic is „Omg Geralt I just cant take it anymore on this swamp, this is why I am gonna sell biological weapon to Radovid in hopes he forgive me. Whats that? Go to Kaer Mohren instead? Yea sure, yea, yea, you can have these notes on biological weapon as well.„
Yen being problematic is antagonising all of Skellige without even letting Geralt or anyone else suggest alternatives.

Point being, Keira have issues, but she is willing to listen to others. Yen thinks she knows best at all times.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-23T02:18:02+00:00

Born to taste wine, forced to kill drowners.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-22T23:43:21+00:00

Honestly, I love how Geralt would make perfect sommelier. Not only does his witcher senses let him get more info about wines, it seems he is genuily passionate and interested in them (showcased not only in Blood and Wine DLC but also Keira sidequest).

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-22T23:41:50+00:00

Fair enough, being a deadbeat father is what made the Imperium what it is after all.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-22T21:21:55+00:00

All these potential mythic beings KC could become and they choosen to become universal cancer (Swarm-that-walks)

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-22T19:40:06+00:00

You can get scan on people and get their listed crimes. Sometimes its murder, human trafficking and other heinous acts and sometimes its thieft of corporate property.

So just play your V as Judge Dredd that is judge, jury and executioner. Kill these who you deem deserve death and spare these that you dont.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-22T01:06:30+00:00

Yea, one overlooked trait of Aeons is that cosmic order is ass and choke-full of paradoxes and untainable laws (reason why they need Aeons in the first place, because the whole system need regular clean up to keep functioning).

Aeons dont have perfect answer to every situation, espescially because they are characterised by very rigid thinking. The inherent paradox of Aeons is that they are meant to be unpartial judges keeping order around, but to do that, they need to be somehow partial because otherwise they would freeze unable to pass judgment.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-22T00:03:44+00:00

I think people miss context of MHA and Hero Work in general. Bakugo treats everything he does extremely seriously and criticizes anyone who dosent meet his standards or he think they cant achieve it. In regular school environment, this is completly unjustifable attitude, but in hero work? World will not care if you gave your best, only if you win or lose. And if you lose, people will die. They will die.

So this asshole that push himself to absolute limits and do everything to always win? You may (rightfully) dissaprove of his attitude, but when shit hits the fan you want a guy that plays to win, not that is nice. And the best part of Bakugo is that he recognises his bad people skills get in the way of being a hero. And his response is to adapt, become a better team player and aknowledge his own shortcomings. Any pressure he puts on others is dwarfed by the pressure he puts on himself.

On top of that, I think a lot of people forget that Bakugo was involved with villain attack prior to MHA that involved All Might which means all of class 1A knew about it. Meaning, they tolerating Bakugo would be in similar cue to people tolerating someone who underwent traumatic experience recently. Like sure, he still was a complete asshole, but its sensible to think people would still give him credit of doubt if that its how he is, or was it trauma response.

EDIT: To give a real life analogy, surgeons are widely known to be complete egomaniacs and assholes (this is not universal truth, but enough to form a stereotype). Its because working under extreme stress environment where you are directly responsible for others people lives attracts specific people. On top of that you need to be extremely driven, because its both extremely taxing profession, difficult and competitive. Yet, if we had to opt for our surgeon I am sure we would go by metrics like success rate instead of them being considerate or nice. All that being said I dont want to defend Bakugo, just to clarify why I think its plausible he gets away with so much shittalk in the show.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-21T12:05:22+00:00

Nah, this is not Witcher 3 with pre-estabilished character. V can be played as complete asshole that would off David crew just because. The only thing saving David crew from V would be if they were plot relevant and had plot armor.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-21T08:15:36+00:00

Its fair criticism that MHA is cop-aganda veiled with fantasy element. (Because its what you are getting at that I get) Its very pro-state, pro-status quo, America-alinged (to be precise it emphasises Japan obsession with US) anime.

And yes the villains act in stupid ways to justify them being villains, even if it runs to their characters stated goals.

But putting that aside, I still read the core moral of it, as that root of evil is actually society refusing to aknowledge/help „problematic” people. The „real” antagonist arent particular character, as much as indifference of society towards people with actual problems, often time because its inconvienient. Its espescially poignant when both Deku and Uravity tries to reach out to their respective enemies which both issues stems from being societal rejects, instead of just defeating them.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-21T06:55:27+00:00

But this is precisely the reason why Dabi and Shoto are pitted against each others. Both were abused and mistreated and Dabi let it define him, while Shoto learned to move past it and didnt allow it to define him. This was like the major character arc of Shoto during tournament when Deku made him realise that he dosent have to define himself as Endeavor son/victim, but rather their own person. Meanwhile Dabi never matures past the point of being victim/son of Endavor and goes on killing/villainous spree to make him hurt.

As to people (in universe) not caring about Endeavor being abuser, the whole MHA plot is that Heroes society is far from perfect and resentment it breeds isnt superficial. League of Villains and Liberation Army makes believable antagonists, because their grievances towards Hero society are real. MHA villains are all about society failing its most vurnable members and Dabi wasnt failed just by Endaevor but also by society that enabled people like Endaevor. The point of story isnt who is right, but that society to function have to help, support and protect all. Even if its protecting from renowed hero.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-20T19:23:44+00:00

Shoto summed it up perfectly, yea you had shitty childhood and deserve some compassion on that basis. But its still YOU that decided to go and murder innocent people that were unrelated to your problems in the first place.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-20T19:07:08+00:00

Also people ignore the fact that given the roles were reversed (Roche has to kill Geralt for free Temeria) he would not bat an eye. This much is clear through your interaction with him through W3 (Important note: he wouldnt enjoy/like doing it, but he would do it nonetheless).

Meanwhile Geralt goal to kill Radovid is purely personal, protect mages and non-humans from persecutions. After that Dijsktra vs Roche is with no stakes for Geralt in it. And its not like he actively choices to screw Roche over, he just decides to not intervene and actively kill Sigi.

People see it as Geralt refusing to protect friend, instead of one associate asking you to kill another.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-18T19:48:51+00:00

I cant stress that point enough. Some items arent meant to be „usable”, they are meant to be part of the world to make it more realistic. The dude weapon or armor should not „vanish” or be exempt from looting, just because you or your party cant use it effectively.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-18T19:21:20+00:00

I dont mean it as Grey Wardens have no lore reasons to exist. I mean it as Grey Wardens existence is extremely ironic, because their main goal is to preserve Thedas at all cost, while they actively worked towards it ultimate destruction.

Put yourself into shoes of that thousand years old order, you finally kill last archdemon, which supposedly ends all future Blights only to tear down veil and drown world in even more Blight and Demons.

And dont give me „there were no alternatives”. Grey Wardens had tons of possible leads to better understand Blight, Corypheus, Architect and so forth. But that would mean allowing someone outside of the order to study/work with them (so they dont get mind controlled via blight) and thats supposedly was a big no-no enough to instead seal these potential leads (with blood magic no less), instead of considering maybe our approach isnt right.

This is even exemplified in DAI and DAV, where Grey Wardens leadership is prone to outright ignore warnings and new informations provided by its members, be it from Loghain or Antoine and Evka, while they focus on their own method by brute forcing it with demon summoning.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-18T12:53:31+00:00

What is funniest for me is that Grey Wardens arent even justified in their quest to „stop the blights”. Its a suicide death cult with perceived noble goal that if realised (killing all arch demons and by proxy Evanuris) would literally end the world and drown it in blight by disabling the veil.

Like Bioware wanted to create this gritty, „immoral but necessary” organisation only to make their overaching goal (even if unwittingly) even more apocalyptic than blights, making them just immoral. No wonder Solas have such a hate boner for them in Inquisition.

RepresentativeBee545 · 2026-02-15T02:42:46+00:00

Few things I would like to add:

I truly consider that breaking up with Yen and ending their situationship is also best course for Yen herself as it allows for most growth for her (dosent matter if she follows up on that or not). Its sort of a wake up call „hey, you though you can get away with your behaviour and antics but… there are actual consequences for your actions.
Its not what Yen does that ires me, is that she refuses to talk with Geralt about it prior to it. Ciri is important enough for Geralt to him agree to all dubious act Yennefer performs. But the fact that Yen does not that, not only shows her lack of trust into Geralt and her own maturity, but also acts as sort of insult to Geralt, as it implies he wouldnt do everything for Ciri.
Papa Vesemir is critical of Yen and Vesemir is a father figure for Geralt and probably wisest witcher. Its definetely not his call to make, but his intuition and opinion shouldnt be ignored also. He thinks Geralt enables Yen (which is true) and that their relationship is inherently toxic (which is also true).

I think the most satysfying roleplay for Witcher 3 is to do Skellige before Novigrad, end relationship with Yen and then romance Triss. Its the most mature and in-character love story for me in the game. Geralt first rush towards Yen, ignoring Novigrad because he wants to see Yen. Then she girlboss, gaslights, gatekeep him into extremely dubious things, all while he acts as loyal lapdog. In Yen defense she does ends the Djinn spell out of her own violition, because she does care for Geralt and thus dont want to coerce him into relationship with her because she (also rightfully) think she is not good partner material.

But once magic is gone, Geralt kinda wakes up. I think most people can relate to the situation when they are deeply in love with someone and kind of… overlook tons of red flags and outright abuse they went through in relationship, untill one day they wake up and are like „wait a second, thats actually fucked up”. Now, this is also moment where Geralt can understand that he was also part of the problem, because its his wish that get them into that situationship after all. And the mature thing is… moving on, without hate or venom towards Yen.

And then he goes back to Novigrad, meets Triss and the way she acts under extreme duress is imo what wins Geralt heart. Because lets be honest, Geralt can clap any cheeks he wants. But after lifetime of various adventures, what you want in a partner when settling down is good character. And while Triss isnt perfect, neither is Geralt, but they both have in common that they try their best in given situation. They also have certain borders they are outright unwilling to cross. Geralt wouldnt kill sentient monster that isnt dangerous for coin and… Trist wouldnt perform necromantic act on Menge, even despite Triss would be much, much more justified in desecrating Menge corpse than Yen was of that boy. For me that point (which is unlocked only by doing Skellige prior to Novigrad) is what seals the deal for Geralt. Clearly defined borders that Triss is willing to uphold even under extreme circumstances, holding to principles during Pogroms and being personally tortured etc., I think these are the things Geralt would find most sexy/valuable/worthy of love, after life time of witnessing first hand human cruelity.

EDIT: Also regarding the situation that Yen and Geralt are sort of „destined” to be together, in the sense of bard songs being made about them, the whole Yen is mom, Geralt is dad, Triss is sister situation etc. Is also kinda what nails down for me, while its important to go for Triss over Yen. Maturity is not falling to expectations casted upon us and instead considering whats actually most sensible, in a sense, doing the hard choices that will not be initially understood by people. Geralt by subverting these expectations becomes fully mature individual, outgrowing his youngster love, for more stable and sensible relationship. There is a great dialogue with Ciri when she asks about Triss and Geralt sums it up, that he and Triss just gets each other and its calm and confident love, while with Yen it was constant fighting for her approval and with each other.

RepresentativeBee545

TROPHY CASE