How to fight multiple enemies effectively

the-witcher-2

Fighting one tough opponent is no problem. Dodge, attack, dodge, etc. The "automatic aiming" ensures I will always hit when in range. But how are you supposed to fight multiple opponents, surrounding you, striking you from behind?

In other games like Darksiders or Assassin's Creed, you can just press a direction and the protagonist will lash out in that direction. This way you can always attack the enemy who poses the greatest threat.

But in The Witcher 2, you can only ever attack the opponent currently selected, and even when performing a slow attack, wielding the long sword in a wide arc, only the selected opponent will be hit. Sure you can turn the camera to have the game select another foe, but it's extremely "sticky". (I'm playing with Mouse+Keyboard. I also have an Xbox 360 gamepad)

Currently, I run around in circles, wait for the monsters to line up, hit the first one a couple of times, and then run like hell. It's neither fun nor does it feel very heroic.

For instance: How did you fight off the Scoia'Tel that attack while Triss casts her force field (at the beginning)? I don't think I killed a single one of those elves. I was just running/dodging around Triss until we arrived at the village.

Best Answer

I've written up some tips on the Witcher 2 combat on the Gaming.SE blog, here are some tips out of that for dealing with multiple enemies.

Most of the time you will be fighting multiple enemies at the same time. What makes these fights difficult is that you receive doubled damage when hit from behind and that you are staggered for a moment when you’re hit and unable to do anything. The most important thing by far is to never get surrounded! Once you’re surrounded you will take double damage from the enemies behind you and the enemy attacks will stagger you and preventing you from escaping quickly.

You should always stay on the side of the battle if possible, not in the midst of it. Use a light attack from the distance to close in on an enemy, preferable one a bit isolated from the group, and roll away before the other enemies can surround you. Hit and run tactics are very effective in this game.

To fight multiple enemies at the same time you should always open the combat with a sign from a safe distance. Using Axii to turn one enemy to your side is a very good opener, it means you have one less enemy to fight for a short time, and this enemy will distract other enemies and allow you to attack those.

Another very good option is to set one or two Yrden traps to immobilize enemies. Once you immobilized one, you can attack a different enemy without being in danger from the immobilized one.

Once you’ve used your signs and decide to attack with your sword, use the Quen shield on yourself. This means you don’t get vigor regeneration, but it will protect you from damage. Even more important it will prevent you from getting staggered while attacking an enemy, which makes it far easier to roll away after your attack. This sign probably makes the biggest difference in combat, always shield yourself with Quen when you’re attacking.

Using Aard from the sidelines and then leaping in with a light attack is also an alternative. If you get lucky the Aard sign stunned the enemy and you’ll perform a finishing move and instantly kill the enemy.

If all this isn’t enough, you need to be prepared better for the fight. Drink some potions before the fight, you have some Swallow potions from the beginning and you should use them for the difficult fights. Set some traps if possible and throw your bombs or daggers (if you have the required talent). You’re meant to use all these consumables in this game, don’t hoard too much.

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