KCD2 is a massive open-world RPG full of things to do. With how many choices the game puts in front of you, it can sometimes be difficult to settle on a decision, especially when it comes to the build you use to create your version of Henry. Thankfully, almost everything is viable, which means you can put together creative builds that let you roleplay as totally different types of Henry. One of our favorite builds is the warrior merchant. This build lets you accumulate tons of coin via alchemy, while still being a dominant force on the battlefield. Here’s how to make a warrior merchant and destroy every soldier and trader who crosses your path in KCD2.

Player Skills

As you level up your warrior merchant version of Henry, there are several important skills to pick up to really make this build sing. Below, we’ll focus on those skills, but keep in mind that you’ll also earn skill points in some of the other trees by playing normally. If it’s not listed below, your skill choices don’t really matter for the build, so you’re free to pick whatever you want. With that in mind, here are the skills you’ll want to target for the warrior merchant build.

Main Level Skills

• Charming Man - This skill lets you gain reputation quicker, making trading and haggling a bit easier. That means more money in your pocket from alchemy.
• Memorable - Any reputation change (good or bad) spreads further across the map, making it easier to build a good reputation with Charming Man.
• Undaunted Cavalier - If you keep your Charisma over 20, your armor rating goes up by 15. Doing so should be relatively easy with this build.
• Local Hero - You get a slight bonus to Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Speech if you’re in an area where you have a good reputation. This partners with Charming Man to boost your combat abilities around the map.
• Blood of Siegfried - Your armor gets a permanent upgrade, making it even tougher to take you down.
• Well-Built - This improves your carrying capacity as you put points into strength. This isn’t a must-have, but more carrying capacity is always good for a traveling merchant.

Strength

• Pack Mule and Strong as a Bull - If you need more carrying capacity, these are the strength skills to grab.

Agility

• Finesse 1 & 2 - This build uses swords, so you’ll want these two base upgrades to your slashing damage

Vitality

• Well-Dressed - You’ll gett dirty more slowly, which means you won't have to deal with the negative effects as often.
• Creative Soul - Your energy slowly replenishes while doing alchemy. You’re going to be doing a lot of it, so you might as well grab this for the bonus.
• Red Mist - When your health goes below 25, you’ll get a boost to your strength and agility. If you’re struggling to stay alive, consider grabbing this one.

Speech

• Adept of the Mystic Arts - When buying and selling potions, herbs, recipes, books, and alchemy-related related, you’ll pay 10% better prices. Again, you’re going to be doing this all the time, so make your life much richer with this perk.
• Silver Tongue - This makes it easier to haggle with NPCs. Once you get this, you’ll be able to sell your wares for an even higher price.
• Battle Cry and Dreaded Warrior - Both of these skills have two levels to them, so you’ll need to use four skill points to fully flesh this part of the build out. Thankfully, it’s worth it because each time you do a Battle Cry, you’ll get a combat boost and decrease your enemy’s morale, making it more likely that they’ll turn tail and run from the fight.

Alchemy

• Secret of Equilibrium 1 & 2 - This makes brewing potions much easier. You won’t have to worry about mistakes nearly as much, so you’ll be brewing things quicker. Plus, you’re more likely to get better quality potions.
• Potion Seller - When you sell a potion, you’ll earn 30% more money. That will add up quickly.
• Water of Life - Healing potions heal you 25% faster. This doesn’t help you make money, but you’ll stay alive much longer in combat.
• Secret of Secrets - If you perfectly brew a potion, it will be of exceptional quality. That makes them much more powerful and expensive.

Houndmaster

• Charming Companion - When Mutt is with you, you’ll get a charisma boost. This is definitely a “nice-to-have” and not required, though every little bit helps.

Scholarship

• Wonders of Nature - Your alchemy skill improves 20% faster.
• Liberal Arts - Grab this to unlock a more important skill further down the tree.
• Fundamentals of Medicine 1 & 2 - The first level of this skill doesn’t affect your alchemy, but level two makes healing potions much stronger. When combined with Water of Life from the alchemy tree, you’ll be very difficult to take down in combat.

Survival

• On the Poacher’s Trail - You can sell herbs for double the price. You’ll mostly want to turn herbs into potions, but if you need some quick cash, this makes that a little easier.
• Flower Power - If you have more than 30 herbs (fresh or dried) in your inventory, you’ll have a charisma boost. You’ll almost always have this bonus because you’ll constantly be collecting herbs for potion-brewing.
• Leg Day - Any time you collect herbs, you’ll gain some experience in strength. This feeds directly into your combat abilities, so you’ll want this skill.
• Lucky Find - Every time you collect herbs, you have a chance to find an additional herb or a small treasure.
• Leshy 1 & 2 - This skill makes you much harderier while exploring a forest. Since you’ll be in the forest so much to find herbs, this is an easy recommendation.
• Wild Man - Essentially, this skill activates Leshy more often. If you have Leshy, you need this.

Combat Skills

Before diving into our recommended combat skills, it’s worth noting that we’re using a sword and shield. If you want to use a different weapon type for your merchant warrior, focus on that skill tree instead. You’ll also want to check through the Strength and Agility skill trees and make sure any bonuses you get from slashing are changed to your weapon type. Here are the skills we used to put the “warrior” into our warrior merchant:

Warfare

• Riposte - This must-have early skill lets you dispatch weaker enemies quickly and turn the tide against a master swordsman by giving you a way to immediately attack after a perfect block.
• Steadfast - Since we’re using a shield, you’ll want this skill to make blocks cost 20% less stamina.
• Against All Odds - Fighting against groups of enemies is tough in KCD2, but this makes it easier by giving you a boost to strength, agility, and warfare when going up against superior numbers.
• Rock Solid - As a shield user, you don’t need to dart around the battlefield. This skill gives you an armor boost if you don’t sprint or dodge in combat.
• Unbreakable - This skill partners with Against All Odds to make fighting against several enemies at once easier. With Unbreakable, your stamina will recover much faster against superior numbers.
• Knight in Shining Armor - When you wear plate armor, you’ll gain a moderate charisma boost.
• One Man Army - This is the final skill that helps against overwhelming numbers. One Man Army gives you a 10% damage boost when fighting several foes at once.

Swords

• Opening Strike 1 & 2 - When you successfully hit an opponent in an area they aren’t blocking, it’ll be more difficult for them to block subsequent strikes. This makes chaining together combos much easier.
• Showtime - Using this, you’ll regain stamina after successfully performing a sword combo or master strike. That means you can attack again much quicker.
• Tendon Slicer - This also boosts the powers of combos because each successful one reduces your opponent’s agility and strength.
• Whirlwind - When you use a short sword (which we’d recommend), you’ll have higher defense. Attacks and blocks also cost less stamina, keeping you active in combat longer.
• Magister Dimicator - When you successfully perform a combo, your swordsmanship skill gets a boost, making it even easier to perform subsequent attacks.
• Slice and Dice - Each attack dealt in an unbroken series deals more damage, making combos even more deadly.

Combos

While we’re talking about your weapon skills, it’s important to note that you’ll learn most sword combos from Master Tomcat, who you can find in the Trosky region. You’ll want to pay particular attention to the Mittelhaw High and Knee Strike combos if you’re sticking with us and using a sword and shield.

Gear

You have plenty of armor, weapons, and accessories at your fingertips to make a warrior merchant into KCD2; however, we’ve put together a solid set of late-game equipment that you can work toward. Here’s what our warrior merchant is rocking in KCD2:

Armor

• Head - Nobleman’s hat and Noble’s hood
• Body - Noble gambeson, Hauberk long, Milanese cuirass, Ornate waffenrock Noble’s belt, and Hunter’s pouch
• Arms - Nuremberg gauntlets and Nuremberg plate sleeves
• Legs - Padded chausses, Noble’s plate legs, and Rowel spurs
• Jewellery - Leminger’s spectacles and Solid gold ring

This outfit mixes plate armor with a more sophisticated look up top. Since you’re not wearing a helmet, you’ll need to watch out for attacks to your noggin, but the fancy hat and spectacles help sell the fantasy that your skill in the alchemy booth does as much for your prowess as your ability on the battlefield. If you need added protection, consider switching out the Nobleman’s hat for a Noble’s bascinet.

Weapon

• Sword - Peter of Suchotlesky’s sword
• Shield - Lord of Suchotlesky Heater Shield

You earn Peter of Suchotlesky’s sword by completing the side quest Ransom. This quest is given to you by Jan of Suchotlesky, whom you can find by way of a random ambush in Kuttenberg. You can also pick up the shield during this quest. It’s found in a chest on the wagon next to Peter’s corpse.

With this combo of gear, you should maximize most of your chosen skills, helping make this build even more viable as a fighter and goods-seller. You can tweak to your specifications (especially when it comes to your main weapon), but this is a great foundation to create your build around.

That wraps up the warrior merchant build for Henry in KCD2. Using this, you can fulfill your dreams of being an alchemist who isn’t afraid of a sword fight. Plus, you’ll quickly be rich beyond your wildest dreams, making most challenges relatively trivial.