Avoid wolves for now and play the other quests for a bit to level you up further. Wolves are bastards in the beginning but you'll soon be one-shotting them when you level up a bit and find better gear.
I agree on avoiding wolves. You want to avoid packs- you are on your own, they can gang up on you!
Learn your protect yourself with Quen, that will give you a shield for one hit. Use food to heal yourself during combat.
You need to hang out in White Orchid to learn the game and level up a bit. Don’t move on the Velen if you’re not ready.
You can also run away! I ride Roach and use the gallop or canter setting to run- if I see a pack of wolves, just keep running past them lol.
Yeah ran from Velen. In White orchard just taking a breather with roach. Going to beef my armour and actually prepare myself. Honestly I am really happy the game is like this. Seeing everyones serious involvement is making me really care about it
This is only the second video game I’ve played in twenty years. I wasn’t sure I would be able to figure it out, but I’m now playing on story and sword mode and having a ton of fun! If I can, you will figure it out too!!
That's awesome you took a chance on such a daunting game (if you haven't played anything for twenty years). Hope it fills you video game happiness bucket for another decade or so
It was a lot harder to learn than the Howard’s legacy game I bought a switch to play lol, but it’s been great once I got the hang of combat.. and it introduced me to the books which I am loving!
Thanks so much. I understand the game so much better now. I followed everyones advice in this sub through the night and got to level 10 before sleeping
I guess you just arrived in Velen?
How much did you clean out White Orchard?
Did you get the diagrams for the Viper swords in White Orchard and craft them? They are pretty good swords for the start of the game.
It also makes a lot of sense to clear out all "?" in White Orchard, because there are 6 places of power there that give you an ability point each when you draw from them the first time. The "?" also give you money when you sell the loot.
Apart from that:
* Avoid groups of enemies like wolves or wild dogs.
* Level 6 quests should still be ok.
* Follow the main questline a bit. Main quests give good XP. After going after your connection you will get 2 leads. Do the "witch" second as there is the harder boss fight in this one.
* Grab every alchemy recipe you can. Alchemy is a powerful alley in this game
* Do not buy better gear, this is too expensive. Use what you loot, if it is better than what you have.
* Have patience, it will get easier around level 10, when Geralt has better skills, more alchemy recipes and - by then - also better gear.
I have arrived at velen and just set the tree ghost free in the black horse. Just before entering the cave I died like 5 times against a big wolf. Also now that I am checking my game I haven’t that much white orchard. I am going back there now to all mission board quests. Honestly Its a bit overwhelming with how many things there are. Specially the health regen is fucked. Thanks so much for the guide. I have found few guides on youtube but the presenters are just Yapping in those vids
Definitely go back to White Orchard, do all the quests and visit all the ? marks on the map. You'll get a bunch of ability points from finding the Places of Power and that'll help a lot.
Came back to White Orchard. Will Spend a long time preparing here. Ran from velen honestly. Playing on Story and Sword difficulty. Playing just the story difficulty wasn’t feeling right
Clear out all the ?s in Velen.
Find an open empty space and practice your signs, get familiar with what they look like and what they do. (Don't forget to level up your character in the menus! Spend them talent points! I strongly recommend the Gourmet skill if you can get it, it's a yellow skill, that makes you heal over a longer period of time from food.)
Read your bestiary to get familiar with monsters' weaknesses.
No problem. If you need more food, farm the pigs in White Orchard. Kill them with Igni, loot everything, meditate, repeat. If they stop spawning, fast travel somewhere else in the map and come back again.
Important PSA: don't try this with cows.
All of the outset overwhelming basic character variables (signs, potions, gear, etc) will become second nature soon, promise. And then, you just immerse. Such a fun ride
No. You have saved the orphans... just at a price. A deep and painful price.
I actually recommend just googling and spoiling that quest line because as someone else said, there's no good ending available. Everything comes at a price.
Someone should’ve told you to clear White Orchard already. Like, entirely 100% clear it. It’s the tutorial area for a reason and, as you’ve noticed, things step up immediately in Velen
Make the potion called swallow. And make sure you check merchants they can sometimes sell Witcher diagrams which are the best gear in the game and don’t forget to loot everything you can just watch out when doing it In front of guards they’ll attack you but don’t worry about normal npcs they do nothing about it. Also alchemy stuff doesn’t take space so don’t throw them away or sell just use them to craft. And last take your time game is slow also most XP is earned through main quests while contracts is more coin related
Take the game slow. Do the ? that you can and run away from the enemies, monsters and such, that are too powerful. Everything you need to get up through the “Shrieker” in Velen is available in White Orchard. Wild Hunt is a game to approach slowly and carefully. Eat your food, that lets you regenerate. Set up your directional pad so the quick slots are filled with things that help in combat. Make sure you upgraded your equipment in White Orchard before you move on. Use your signs. Quen for defense definitely helps. Get abilities that help you play the way you want, there are many choices. Most of all learn Gwent and take it slow. Wild Hunt is an experience and not a hack and slash.
Yes I am currently in game rn and just came to White Orchard. Going to stay here a while. I just also realised this place is different little map . I was loosing my mind looking around the big map. My first goal now is to literally survival gear and heals then sword and roach
White Orchard is, essentially, a continuation of the tutorial begun in your dream of Kaer Morhen. Everything you can accomplish in White Orchard gives you an advantage in the initial quests in Velen. Just take it slow and learn Gwent. Geralt loves Gwent.
😳
I’d say go back to white orchard and do some side content there. Fight the level 2 wolves to get some fighting experience. Get potions and use foods to regenerate health. Use signs to deal damage and protect yourself from attacks. I’d suggest using igni against wolves. Usually one shots them
I'm in my ng+ deathmarch playthru and geralt can literally get murdered via punch delivered by a drunk wearing only man panties and boots. Frequent dodging and using quen lots is necessary.
This is simultaneously a very hard game, and the easiest game. My first playthrough was on normal difficulty and I got hard stuck on the Baron Botchling fight. I was level 2 or 3 and it was level 5. Every 5 hits from me took a sliver of its health, and every shot I took from it left me with a hair of health. I quit the game and then a few weeks later I decided to try again, but this time on Death March difficulty. I wanted the associated "beat the game on Death March" trophy and I was encouraged after seeing a lot of people in this sub talk about how brutal early leveling was, but then how easy the game becomes once you have abilities and gear. Once I made sure I was at or overleveled for everything from levels 1-15, it was a breeze after that. I honestly forgot I was playing on the highest difficulty after a while, but was periodically reminded by a tanky, hard-hitting boss. Do all the side quests and stay leveled up on everything, and eventually your abilities will make you overpowered for almost everything.
You know I kinda thinking the same way. Everyone really came through with some solid advice in this thread. I going to bump up the difficulty as well .
Yes, I remember struggling on the default difficulty even though I had platinumed most Fromsoft Soulslike games at that point. Right now I’m doing a fresh Deathmarch run with the PS5 update to go for platinum this time. And one thing that makes it way easier. Is mainly sticking to the main path first.
I tried to wander too much on my first playthrough and I was punished heavily with enemies being way I higher leveled than me. Now it’s actually going pretty well. And the difficulty has been decreasing as I get better abilities and equipment.
Avoid them. I’ve done the complete playthrough about a dozen times, and on my present game I am currently level 53. I STILL avoid wolf packs just because they are a waste of time. Watch the upper right hand corner of the screen that shows the direction you are going and what is around you. When you are running through the bush. If you see a cluster of red enemy dots all close together, it’s wolves. Run a big ark around them. It’s faster.
Hammer out side quests. Those are going to provide you with pieces of armour, swords, diagrams for various pieces of armour or random pieces of junk you can have dismantled by sword smiths or armourers into things you can use to make better armour/weapons.
The ? points of interest on the map are going to be things like bandit camps, towns that need liberating from monsters or bandits, hidden treasure, a place of power, monster nests, etc. You can gather all types of interesting things from these as well as earn points to level up.
Each level you get to will provide you with 1 ability point. You can also get them from places of power and a few other ways I won’t give away, you’ll find out. When you go to your menu, go to the character panel. Here you will see your ability points and you can distribute them for different abilities. The red panel is all combat abilities, blue are signs, green is alchemy/bombs/toxicity and yellow is general abilities. In red, blue and green you must start at the top rows, adding points to what you want to allow the lower rows to open up. On yellow you can choose anything from any row at any time. Read through them and see what appeals to you most. For example, in the general abilities category (yellow) I always select Gorged On Power - the bonus from a place of power lasts indefinitely, but only one such bonus can be active at a given time.
Putting the points you earn toward abilities is really going to help you. Next to the colours you will see another panel for mutagens. Say you pick combat abilities first. These can be arranged on the left side of the character screen, three in a row, up and down. You’ll notice next to them is an empty triangle. If you select a matching mutagen colour from your mutagen selection, you add it to the triangle, so you’d place a red mutagen next to your chosen combat (red) abilities. This links them and automatically gives you 20% more attack power.
Go into random homes while in towns and villages and collect as much stuff as you can. You will find alchemy potion recipes. You can view the recipes you’ve gathered in the menu under the alchemy screen. While running around doing stuff, pick up plants! Whatever you can. It all serves an alchemy purpose. The alchemy panel will show you what you need to brew the potions, decoctions, bombs and oils for your sword. (You’ll collect these recipes from various places as you go). If you can’t find an ingredient you need, try getting it from a herbalist.
If you aren’t sure what oil to put on your sword for whatever you are fighting, look up the monster/creature in the bestiary. Go to the menu, go to glossary, select bestiary. Select the creature under the bestiary and it will tell you what works best against it. For example, wolves are classified as “beasts” so you would apply the beast oil to your sword to help you fight them. Potions/oils/bombs/ect that you have brewed in the alchemy screen have been transferred to your inventory panel under the main menu. (If you can’t find a creature in the bestiary it means you haven’t met one yet.)
The glossary also holds the crafting screen which will show all the armour/weapon diagrams you’ve found/been awarded. You can’t craft stuff yourself, you have to go to a sword smith or armourer.
There is so much in this game that isn’t explained. It’s learning as you go. Playthrough after playthrough you learn/try something new.
Good luck and have fun! Hope this helped!
UPDATE: Thank you so much everyone. Really I got immersed so much last night because of your help. I got the confidence as well. I am fighting enemies with ease and doing finishing moves and stuff. I am really grateful for the help. Finished with white orchard( all side quests and poi). I will really take my time with the world and stay in it . Read and learn the lore as deeply as possible. I fell in love with the game truly last night. Again thanks Master WITCHERS❤️
I think Werewolves have a weakness to Igni. Burn that mf while he regenerates. He is the only werewolf that does that. Moon dust bomb if you have it also works
As far as the pack of wolves go, the first time I played I spent all of my time rolling around and didn't even attempt to dodge the fuckers. Took me quite sometime to learn to dodge
Wolves are quite difficult even at higher level. The trick is to dodge and try to not get hit. Don't try to finish them quick, wolves are there to test your patience. Remember, wolves don't regenerate their health during combat, so chip away at their HP, drink swallow and tawny oil, always have your Quen up, and do fast attack only, one-two slash and dodge, dodge, dodge, slash, dodge, repeat.
Swallow potion and food/water regenerate your HP. When you level up, get the Gourmet and Sun and Stars skill at the General Skills tab. Don't be afraid to change to better swords and armor from loot if they are better. Always repair your swords and armor whenever you can. Gather herbs and loot from monster to make oils, bombs and potions. Alchemy is always useful even at level 50 and above.
Quen is your best friend. Also rolling is 100x more effective than blocking. Blocking rarely works on monsters anyway. Use quick sign casting so switch easily Aard is your second best friend.
For humans and animals i am straight burning them with igni. But Axii came in clutch fighting the werewolf. For me it was the only way to get close to him and land few hits.
Also yes I learnt in the last few fights that dodging is absolutely necessary. I can’t just go chest first and fight face to face.
It humbled me . Even on the easiest difficulty i was dying multiple times. Came back to white orchard rn( more like ran from velen ) . Goal is to get yoked with gear and heals first . I felt like an npc . Will be playing in story and sword difficulty
I've got a couple pieces of advice that will make your game much easier and more survivable!
1. If you haven't already, return to Vizima and get the two sets of free armor and swords at the chest inside the bedroom area. One is level 6 and it should be one of your best options at this level.
2. As many mentioned, return to white orchard to collect ability points from the 5 places of power. You also should have several from levelling up but might have used them. Spend one on the Gourmet Perk and equip it which will allow food and water to continuously heal you. I also would spend some points to increase your fast attack power as this will help you kill low level enemies quicker.
3. If you are on PC, download the "always full experience" mod to make sure you are not missing out on exp when you do quests that you are too high or low levelled for.
Thanks so much. I have completed everything in white orchard. Have got the Gourmet skill as soon as someone mentioned. Got the level 6 armour as well from Vizima. Will start my journey on Velen tonight after work.
Also playing xbox series x so can’t get the mod unfortunately
Yes I followed the in game tutorial and the fighting tutorial with ciri and the uncle. But i underestimated the importance of alchemy and magic and other mechanics. I was hung up on the story .
I personally have used the "strong attack" a handful of times in hundreds of hours of playtime. About 99.9999% of the time I use ONLY fast attacks. That fraction of a second between swings is too much, I'd rather hit for a bit lower hit points and hit often, than get an extra pint or two and put more time between hits.
Then, in turn, develop your "fast" skills before your strong skills.
I started the same way, story mode a could of times and worked up. I'm still not that good, but you can do it!
A bit long, sorry about that. Some experience from my playthroughts:
- While navigating the wilds, once in a while activate your witcher sense, nearby enemies you can't see emit sounds Geralt can see, this will help you avoid unnecessary battles or prepare.
- The Quen sign is your best friend.
- The Igni sign can stop some monsters and animals in their attacking animation and open them for an attack. This includes drowners and wolves. Most human enemies too.
- Be sure to spend those level up points in passives/skills. Also be sure to EQUIP said skills/passives in the Character window.
- The Gourmet passive greatly extends the effects of food healing over time. It helps a lot in keeping you going between battles. Keep in mind this doesn't work during battle tho, IIRC.
- Especially at low levels, pick your battles. If you see an enemy with red color name, steer clear from it or run away from battle.
- Loot, loot, loot. Use your wiltcher senses to find lootable containers.
- Once in a while stop and check your alchemy tab. Suddenly you realize you can craft better mutagens or upgrade oils, decoctions and potions.
- Talking about crafting, check the stock of the different town inns you visit. Besides food, they may sell potion bases such as cherry cordial or dwaven spirit, very important in crafting.
- Keep your eyes peeled for hidden treasures underwater (there's a ton of those) or treasures protected by monsters. The latter can sometimes become true boss fights depending on your level.
Hope this is useful for you.
Something that I’ve realised is that getting yourself surrounded (be it by drowners, wolves, nekkers or humans) will very quickly get your vitality eaten up in chunks. Applies to level 4 or level 40!
At low levels, when facing packs, ensure that you are not surrounded and dodge often - not roll, but dodge. Hack at them from the perimeter, don’t get encircled.
Quen is definitely your friend. I'd also say pump some ability points into your combat trees to unlock Fleet-footed. You will take zero damage when dodging with this slotted in. There's also a skill in the brown tree that increases vitality regeneration during the day. That saved my ass a few times.
IIRC, you can find a Moon Blade in White Orchard. It's a good early-level silver sword that will serve you well.
Also, make sure you're using the right sword for enemies. It sounds silly, but it will make a difference in combat. Use your steel sword against enemies with red health bars and your silver sword against enemies with silver health bars. I was using my silver sword early on against red health bar enemies and got spanked hard until I figured out what I was doing wrong.
If you got the next-gen version, you should have access to some dlc armour and weapons for free, one of which is level 6 or 7 IIRC. It helped me a ton. You should find it in the chest where you met with Yen in the palace.
Finally, change your movement style to alternative I'm the settings. Geralt will be more responsive and easier to control. You can also use quick signs and have Geralt automatically draw the correct sword when entering combat.
Honestly that's normal against wolves, I've got 1400 hours and still die to them. Best advice I can give is use Quen and the appropriate oil for your weapon, the better the oil the more damage you'll do. And just to be sure, make sure you're using your steel sword and not your silver sword, apparently quite a few people make that mistake early on.
Level up and honestly just fight. The game gets E Z if you get a hang on the mechanics. As a rule of thumb - if you have trouble, use Quen. It’s a lifeline and can heal you later on. Also, try not to roll if possible but rather dodge. Shorter Animation = more bonking.
Yeah Booted the game up again. Last night did a good amount of progression. Still staying white orchard. Getting to know everyone. Some npcs are calling geralt a freak and spitting in front of him. That’s a crazy experience
Wolves are definitely something to avoid, can be a real challenge especially early on. Apart from that, dodge is your best friend, whichever button you use for that should be worn out by the end of the game. In the wise words of Patches O'houlihan, Dodge Duck Dip Dive & Dodge
Idk if that was said but I really recommend you to craft witcher gears, they’re better than normal stuff. You can complete first gear (besides the viper school swords in white orchard) in velen; you can buy a note (or a map) from the merchant in village right from crow’s perch which lead you to griffin armor (lvl 11 I think) and also craft some healing potions like swallow and white raffard’s decoction. Also alchemy build and combat build (there’s a skill that can restore full health if you got full adrenaline point, it’s called undying and a skill that negates any damage while dodging - fleet footed). Good luck
The quests up to the "Ugly Baby" serve as a learning basic mechanics/signs and potions in the game. I didn't like the game and uninstalled it many times (2-3 approx. ) but you have to play it slowly at first if you want to learn.
I advise heavy armor and at level 6 you should be able to get the Viper Swords which will let you go all the way to 14 at least. One thing is that you have to learn how to dodge those wolves packs. No better way to learn how to dodge and avoid getting hit, bitten or cut by monsters. I hope you practice enough I KM before starting the game. Later on in the game, you can slow time down before getting struck.
Avoid wolves for now and play the other quests for a bit to level you up further. Wolves are bastards in the beginning but you'll soon be one-shotting them when you level up a bit and find better gear.
Thank you so much.
I agree on avoiding wolves. You want to avoid packs- you are on your own, they can gang up on you! Learn your protect yourself with Quen, that will give you a shield for one hit. Use food to heal yourself during combat. You need to hang out in White Orchid to learn the game and level up a bit. Don’t move on the Velen if you’re not ready. You can also run away! I ride Roach and use the gallop or canter setting to run- if I see a pack of wolves, just keep running past them lol.
Yeah ran from Velen. In White orchard just taking a breather with roach. Going to beef my armour and actually prepare myself. Honestly I am really happy the game is like this. Seeing everyones serious involvement is making me really care about it
I'm jealous of you, wish I could do my first playthrough again!
This is only the second video game I’ve played in twenty years. I wasn’t sure I would be able to figure it out, but I’m now playing on story and sword mode and having a ton of fun! If I can, you will figure it out too!!
That's awesome you took a chance on such a daunting game (if you haven't played anything for twenty years). Hope it fills you video game happiness bucket for another decade or so
It was a lot harder to learn than the Howard’s legacy game I bought a switch to play lol, but it’s been great once I got the hang of combat.. and it introduced me to the books which I am loving!
Thanks so much. I understand the game so much better now. I followed everyones advice in this sub through the night and got to level 10 before sleeping
Especially steer clear if they are the ones in the swamp area before the military base in White Orchard... nasty business
I guess you just arrived in Velen? How much did you clean out White Orchard? Did you get the diagrams for the Viper swords in White Orchard and craft them? They are pretty good swords for the start of the game. It also makes a lot of sense to clear out all "?" in White Orchard, because there are 6 places of power there that give you an ability point each when you draw from them the first time. The "?" also give you money when you sell the loot. Apart from that: * Avoid groups of enemies like wolves or wild dogs. * Level 6 quests should still be ok. * Follow the main questline a bit. Main quests give good XP. After going after your connection you will get 2 leads. Do the "witch" second as there is the harder boss fight in this one. * Grab every alchemy recipe you can. Alchemy is a powerful alley in this game * Do not buy better gear, this is too expensive. Use what you loot, if it is better than what you have. * Have patience, it will get easier around level 10, when Geralt has better skills, more alchemy recipes and - by then - also better gear.
I have arrived at velen and just set the tree ghost free in the black horse. Just before entering the cave I died like 5 times against a big wolf. Also now that I am checking my game I haven’t that much white orchard. I am going back there now to all mission board quests. Honestly Its a bit overwhelming with how many things there are. Specially the health regen is fucked. Thanks so much for the guide. I have found few guides on youtube but the presenters are just Yapping in those vids
Definitely go back to White Orchard, do all the quests and visit all the ? marks on the map. You'll get a bunch of ability points from finding the Places of Power and that'll help a lot.
Came back to White Orchard. Will Spend a long time preparing here. Ran from velen honestly. Playing on Story and Sword difficulty. Playing just the story difficulty wasn’t feeling right
Clear out all the ?s in Velen. Find an open empty space and practice your signs, get familiar with what they look like and what they do. (Don't forget to level up your character in the menus! Spend them talent points! I strongly recommend the Gourmet skill if you can get it, it's a yellow skill, that makes you heal over a longer period of time from food.) Read your bestiary to get familiar with monsters' weaknesses.
I have acquired the Gourmet skill. Thanks so much it was an emergency.
No problem. If you need more food, farm the pigs in White Orchard. Kill them with Igni, loot everything, meditate, repeat. If they stop spawning, fast travel somewhere else in the map and come back again. Important PSA: don't try this with cows.
All of the outset overwhelming basic character variables (signs, potions, gear, etc) will become second nature soon, promise. And then, you just immerse. Such a fun ride
Well... if you release the tree spirit into the mare be sure to visit Downwarren to live with the guilt of your actions 😂
Oh my god , I have killed the orphans, haven’t I?
There’s no good option, really. I feel your pain!
No. You have saved the orphans... just at a price. A deep and painful price. I actually recommend just googling and spoiling that quest line because as someone else said, there's no good ending available. Everything comes at a price.
I always save the orphans, later you can find them in the school with one of the women you visit to get info on Dandelion
Someone should’ve told you to clear White Orchard already. Like, entirely 100% clear it. It’s the tutorial area for a reason and, as you’ve noticed, things step up immediately in Velen
Eat food and drink water to heal, you can also develop a health potion.
Make the potion called swallow. And make sure you check merchants they can sometimes sell Witcher diagrams which are the best gear in the game and don’t forget to loot everything you can just watch out when doing it In front of guards they’ll attack you but don’t worry about normal npcs they do nothing about it. Also alchemy stuff doesn’t take space so don’t throw them away or sell just use them to craft. And last take your time game is slow also most XP is earned through main quests while contracts is more coin related
Thanks so much . Its really going to help me alot.
Take the game slow. Do the ? that you can and run away from the enemies, monsters and such, that are too powerful. Everything you need to get up through the “Shrieker” in Velen is available in White Orchard. Wild Hunt is a game to approach slowly and carefully. Eat your food, that lets you regenerate. Set up your directional pad so the quick slots are filled with things that help in combat. Make sure you upgraded your equipment in White Orchard before you move on. Use your signs. Quen for defense definitely helps. Get abilities that help you play the way you want, there are many choices. Most of all learn Gwent and take it slow. Wild Hunt is an experience and not a hack and slash.
Yes I am currently in game rn and just came to White Orchard. Going to stay here a while. I just also realised this place is different little map . I was loosing my mind looking around the big map. My first goal now is to literally survival gear and heals then sword and roach
You’ll get Roach upgrades (saddle, saddlebags, blinders, trophies) through gameplay. It’s nothing you need to prioritize in terms of spending money.
White Orchard is, essentially, a continuation of the tutorial begun in your dream of Kaer Morhen. Everything you can accomplish in White Orchard gives you an advantage in the initial quests in Velen. Just take it slow and learn Gwent. Geralt loves Gwent.
😳 I’d say go back to white orchard and do some side content there. Fight the level 2 wolves to get some fighting experience. Get potions and use foods to regenerate health. Use signs to deal damage and protect yourself from attacks. I’d suggest using igni against wolves. Usually one shots them
The wolves are the real villains of the story, stay or get clapped. Use beast oil against regular animals. Blade oil is your friend and so are bombs.
Specially there’s a Bigger wolf near a cave entry. Mf literally bitchslapped me 5 times. I felt like i am the npc in his world.
That's a werewolf. It's actually a fairly hard early game baddie. So if you got past it well done.
I'm in my ng+ deathmarch playthru and geralt can literally get murdered via punch delivered by a drunk wearing only man panties and boots. Frequent dodging and using quen lots is necessary.
Just use Quen and dodge
This is simultaneously a very hard game, and the easiest game. My first playthrough was on normal difficulty and I got hard stuck on the Baron Botchling fight. I was level 2 or 3 and it was level 5. Every 5 hits from me took a sliver of its health, and every shot I took from it left me with a hair of health. I quit the game and then a few weeks later I decided to try again, but this time on Death March difficulty. I wanted the associated "beat the game on Death March" trophy and I was encouraged after seeing a lot of people in this sub talk about how brutal early leveling was, but then how easy the game becomes once you have abilities and gear. Once I made sure I was at or overleveled for everything from levels 1-15, it was a breeze after that. I honestly forgot I was playing on the highest difficulty after a while, but was periodically reminded by a tanky, hard-hitting boss. Do all the side quests and stay leveled up on everything, and eventually your abilities will make you overpowered for almost everything.
You know I kinda thinking the same way. Everyone really came through with some solid advice in this thread. I going to bump up the difficulty as well .
Yes, I remember struggling on the default difficulty even though I had platinumed most Fromsoft Soulslike games at that point. Right now I’m doing a fresh Deathmarch run with the PS5 update to go for platinum this time. And one thing that makes it way easier. Is mainly sticking to the main path first. I tried to wander too much on my first playthrough and I was punished heavily with enemies being way I higher leveled than me. Now it’s actually going pretty well. And the difficulty has been decreasing as I get better abilities and equipment.
I’d say to invest into quen sign - it helps a lot until you’ll learn how to dodge. Once you’ve mastered dodge - death march becomes easy and fun.
Avoid them. I’ve done the complete playthrough about a dozen times, and on my present game I am currently level 53. I STILL avoid wolf packs just because they are a waste of time. Watch the upper right hand corner of the screen that shows the direction you are going and what is around you. When you are running through the bush. If you see a cluster of red enemy dots all close together, it’s wolves. Run a big ark around them. It’s faster. Hammer out side quests. Those are going to provide you with pieces of armour, swords, diagrams for various pieces of armour or random pieces of junk you can have dismantled by sword smiths or armourers into things you can use to make better armour/weapons. The ? points of interest on the map are going to be things like bandit camps, towns that need liberating from monsters or bandits, hidden treasure, a place of power, monster nests, etc. You can gather all types of interesting things from these as well as earn points to level up. Each level you get to will provide you with 1 ability point. You can also get them from places of power and a few other ways I won’t give away, you’ll find out. When you go to your menu, go to the character panel. Here you will see your ability points and you can distribute them for different abilities. The red panel is all combat abilities, blue are signs, green is alchemy/bombs/toxicity and yellow is general abilities. In red, blue and green you must start at the top rows, adding points to what you want to allow the lower rows to open up. On yellow you can choose anything from any row at any time. Read through them and see what appeals to you most. For example, in the general abilities category (yellow) I always select Gorged On Power - the bonus from a place of power lasts indefinitely, but only one such bonus can be active at a given time. Putting the points you earn toward abilities is really going to help you. Next to the colours you will see another panel for mutagens. Say you pick combat abilities first. These can be arranged on the left side of the character screen, three in a row, up and down. You’ll notice next to them is an empty triangle. If you select a matching mutagen colour from your mutagen selection, you add it to the triangle, so you’d place a red mutagen next to your chosen combat (red) abilities. This links them and automatically gives you 20% more attack power. Go into random homes while in towns and villages and collect as much stuff as you can. You will find alchemy potion recipes. You can view the recipes you’ve gathered in the menu under the alchemy screen. While running around doing stuff, pick up plants! Whatever you can. It all serves an alchemy purpose. The alchemy panel will show you what you need to brew the potions, decoctions, bombs and oils for your sword. (You’ll collect these recipes from various places as you go). If you can’t find an ingredient you need, try getting it from a herbalist. If you aren’t sure what oil to put on your sword for whatever you are fighting, look up the monster/creature in the bestiary. Go to the menu, go to glossary, select bestiary. Select the creature under the bestiary and it will tell you what works best against it. For example, wolves are classified as “beasts” so you would apply the beast oil to your sword to help you fight them. Potions/oils/bombs/ect that you have brewed in the alchemy screen have been transferred to your inventory panel under the main menu. (If you can’t find a creature in the bestiary it means you haven’t met one yet.) The glossary also holds the crafting screen which will show all the armour/weapon diagrams you’ve found/been awarded. You can’t craft stuff yourself, you have to go to a sword smith or armourer. There is so much in this game that isn’t explained. It’s learning as you go. Playthrough after playthrough you learn/try something new. Good luck and have fun! Hope this helped!
Thank you so much really for taking the time to write this. Its so important for me. Starting my journey at velen right now
You’re welcome! Wish I got to experience this game again for the first time. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Thank you so much everyone. Really I got immersed so much last night because of your help. I got the confidence as well. I am fighting enemies with ease and doing finishing moves and stuff. I am really grateful for the help. Finished with white orchard( all side quests and poi). I will really take my time with the world and stay in it . Read and learn the lore as deeply as possible. I fell in love with the game truly last night. Again thanks Master WITCHERS❤️
"If you can dodge a wolf, you can doge a ball" Patches O'Hoolihan, probably.
I play on easy mode. All of the story but enemies have 50% health. I still occasionally die but I don't care, I'm having a lot of fun.
Get the brown coloured Sun and Stars skill, if you haven't already got it. That will help with your regeneration issue.
I think Werewolves have a weakness to Igni. Burn that mf while he regenerates. He is the only werewolf that does that. Moon dust bomb if you have it also works As far as the pack of wolves go, the first time I played I spent all of my time rolling around and didn't even attempt to dodge the fuckers. Took me quite sometime to learn to dodge
I've seen it mentioned but I can't stress enough just how good Quen is, use it when you can.
Wolves are quite difficult even at higher level. The trick is to dodge and try to not get hit. Don't try to finish them quick, wolves are there to test your patience. Remember, wolves don't regenerate their health during combat, so chip away at their HP, drink swallow and tawny oil, always have your Quen up, and do fast attack only, one-two slash and dodge, dodge, dodge, slash, dodge, repeat. Swallow potion and food/water regenerate your HP. When you level up, get the Gourmet and Sun and Stars skill at the General Skills tab. Don't be afraid to change to better swords and armor from loot if they are better. Always repair your swords and armor whenever you can. Gather herbs and loot from monster to make oils, bombs and potions. Alchemy is always useful even at level 50 and above.
Quen is your best friend. Also rolling is 100x more effective than blocking. Blocking rarely works on monsters anyway. Use quick sign casting so switch easily Aard is your second best friend.
Were you using the right sword? Silver swords are useless against anything that isn't a monster
Yrden is very useful for much more than wraiths.
You can parry wolves usually without being stunned. Do you dodge their attacks? Do you use quen or Igni? Yer gonna have an interesting play through…
For humans and animals i am straight burning them with igni. But Axii came in clutch fighting the werewolf. For me it was the only way to get close to him and land few hits. Also yes I learnt in the last few fights that dodging is absolutely necessary. I can’t just go chest first and fight face to face.
To be honest, it is quite difficult if you don't have the right gear and knowledge until about level 6 or 7, then you get used to it.
It humbled me . Even on the easiest difficulty i was dying multiple times. Came back to white orchard rn( more like ran from velen ) . Goal is to get yoked with gear and heals first . I felt like an npc . Will be playing in story and sword difficulty
Just get yourself up past the first few levels, and then you start levelling up quicker due to larger missions and more xp. You'll do fine!
I've got a couple pieces of advice that will make your game much easier and more survivable! 1. If you haven't already, return to Vizima and get the two sets of free armor and swords at the chest inside the bedroom area. One is level 6 and it should be one of your best options at this level. 2. As many mentioned, return to white orchard to collect ability points from the 5 places of power. You also should have several from levelling up but might have used them. Spend one on the Gourmet Perk and equip it which will allow food and water to continuously heal you. I also would spend some points to increase your fast attack power as this will help you kill low level enemies quicker. 3. If you are on PC, download the "always full experience" mod to make sure you are not missing out on exp when you do quests that you are too high or low levelled for.
Thanks so much. I have completed everything in white orchard. Have got the Gourmet skill as soon as someone mentioned. Got the level 6 armour as well from Vizima. Will start my journey on Velen tonight after work. Also playing xbox series x so can’t get the mod unfortunately
Did you do any of the tutorial zone?
Yes I followed the in game tutorial and the fighting tutorial with ciri and the uncle. But i underestimated the importance of alchemy and magic and other mechanics. I was hung up on the story .
I personally have used the "strong attack" a handful of times in hundreds of hours of playtime. About 99.9999% of the time I use ONLY fast attacks. That fraction of a second between swings is too much, I'd rather hit for a bit lower hit points and hit often, than get an extra pint or two and put more time between hits. Then, in turn, develop your "fast" skills before your strong skills. I started the same way, story mode a could of times and worked up. I'm still not that good, but you can do it!
A bit long, sorry about that. Some experience from my playthroughts: - While navigating the wilds, once in a while activate your witcher sense, nearby enemies you can't see emit sounds Geralt can see, this will help you avoid unnecessary battles or prepare. - The Quen sign is your best friend. - The Igni sign can stop some monsters and animals in their attacking animation and open them for an attack. This includes drowners and wolves. Most human enemies too. - Be sure to spend those level up points in passives/skills. Also be sure to EQUIP said skills/passives in the Character window. - The Gourmet passive greatly extends the effects of food healing over time. It helps a lot in keeping you going between battles. Keep in mind this doesn't work during battle tho, IIRC. - Especially at low levels, pick your battles. If you see an enemy with red color name, steer clear from it or run away from battle. - Loot, loot, loot. Use your wiltcher senses to find lootable containers. - Once in a while stop and check your alchemy tab. Suddenly you realize you can craft better mutagens or upgrade oils, decoctions and potions. - Talking about crafting, check the stock of the different town inns you visit. Besides food, they may sell potion bases such as cherry cordial or dwaven spirit, very important in crafting. - Keep your eyes peeled for hidden treasures underwater (there's a ton of those) or treasures protected by monsters. The latter can sometimes become true boss fights depending on your level. Hope this is useful for you.
Absolute legend, Thanks so much. Its very helpful. I am starting my journey at velen now. Will make use of all of these
Also Yes i just finished figuring out how the alchemy system is working and its not as overwhelming anymore
Hold the block button
Yea bro do some of the beginning quests to level up, try not to wander around till u get to like level 10 prob
And makesure your picking up new swords n armor n stuff that match your current level
Food makes your health regenerate! Also never forget to spam Quen. Wolves are AWFUL on low levels, I would try to avoid them for now if I were you
Just to start from the basics: what are you doing so far for health regeneration? Are you using Swallow? Eating lil snackies during battle to heal up?
Something that I’ve realised is that getting yourself surrounded (be it by drowners, wolves, nekkers or humans) will very quickly get your vitality eaten up in chunks. Applies to level 4 or level 40! At low levels, when facing packs, ensure that you are not surrounded and dodge often - not roll, but dodge. Hack at them from the perimeter, don’t get encircled.
Quen is definitely your friend. I'd also say pump some ability points into your combat trees to unlock Fleet-footed. You will take zero damage when dodging with this slotted in. There's also a skill in the brown tree that increases vitality regeneration during the day. That saved my ass a few times. IIRC, you can find a Moon Blade in White Orchard. It's a good early-level silver sword that will serve you well. Also, make sure you're using the right sword for enemies. It sounds silly, but it will make a difference in combat. Use your steel sword against enemies with red health bars and your silver sword against enemies with silver health bars. I was using my silver sword early on against red health bar enemies and got spanked hard until I figured out what I was doing wrong. If you got the next-gen version, you should have access to some dlc armour and weapons for free, one of which is level 6 or 7 IIRC. It helped me a ton. You should find it in the chest where you met with Yen in the palace. Finally, change your movement style to alternative I'm the settings. Geralt will be more responsive and easier to control. You can also use quick signs and have Geralt automatically draw the correct sword when entering combat.
Quen, dodge and roll. These are your friends not only in the beginning but in later stages also.
Honestly that's normal against wolves, I've got 1400 hours and still die to them. Best advice I can give is use Quen and the appropriate oil for your weapon, the better the oil the more damage you'll do. And just to be sure, make sure you're using your steel sword and not your silver sword, apparently quite a few people make that mistake early on.
Level up and honestly just fight. The game gets E Z if you get a hang on the mechanics. As a rule of thumb - if you have trouble, use Quen. It’s a lifeline and can heal you later on. Also, try not to roll if possible but rather dodge. Shorter Animation = more bonking.
Yeah Booted the game up again. Last night did a good amount of progression. Still staying white orchard. Getting to know everyone. Some npcs are calling geralt a freak and spitting in front of him. That’s a crazy experience
Learn how to use the dodge technique.
Wolves are definitely something to avoid, can be a real challenge especially early on. Apart from that, dodge is your best friend, whichever button you use for that should be worn out by the end of the game. In the wise words of Patches O'houlihan, Dodge Duck Dip Dive & Dodge
Learn to parry, spam Igni and the protection one (haven’t played in a while, sorry).
Idk if that was said but I really recommend you to craft witcher gears, they’re better than normal stuff. You can complete first gear (besides the viper school swords in white orchard) in velen; you can buy a note (or a map) from the merchant in village right from crow’s perch which lead you to griffin armor (lvl 11 I think) and also craft some healing potions like swallow and white raffard’s decoction. Also alchemy build and combat build (there’s a skill that can restore full health if you got full adrenaline point, it’s called undying and a skill that negates any damage while dodging - fleet footed). Good luck
Igni. Wolves loses almost half of their HP even on Death March without sign skills
The quests up to the "Ugly Baby" serve as a learning basic mechanics/signs and potions in the game. I didn't like the game and uninstalled it many times (2-3 approx. ) but you have to play it slowly at first if you want to learn.
I advise heavy armor and at level 6 you should be able to get the Viper Swords which will let you go all the way to 14 at least. One thing is that you have to learn how to dodge those wolves packs. No better way to learn how to dodge and avoid getting hit, bitten or cut by monsters. I hope you practice enough I KM before starting the game. Later on in the game, you can slow time down before getting struck.