The Rat

[Polaris849]

The Rat

Greetings - In advance I apologize if this thread already exist. I have a question regarding quest mentioned in Title. I just started Act 2 with FCR mod 1.6a and I have helped squirels in Act 1 and wanted to perform job for Coleman before I visit detective. I have immediate problem to solve this quest as it is impossible to kill 2 Wraiths in that abandoned house (I used my silver sword with Specter oil and playing on hardest difficulty - Witcher). I know this should be really hard difficulty, so my question is what skills I have to acquire to have no big problems to kill Wraiths and maybe Alghouls downstairs too AND @ the same time not to mess with detective. So far I killed them...BUT in a way of game glitch and I would not survive that battle without it. I have Dexterity on full (no gold talents), Stamina full (also no gold talents), Silver Sword strong style Level 2, potions used like Swallow, Blizzard, even classic food and water. I also tried to have info about Wraiths in Bestiary but that is not helping...only to gather remains. Any advice I really appreciate. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Glaroug.531]

That is one of the hardest if not the hardest point for me in FCR 1.6a (expect for when I first fought the Zeugl, I wanted to cry ). Its a very tough battle in the early stages of the game when Geralt is not his most powerful. Dexterity is pretty good, but I generally save that until the end of the game. Strength on the other hand, is very, very useful. A fairly large amount of damage is required to overcome the Wraith's damage threshold. Even with the oil, if Geralt is not hitting hard enough, it will act as if he is missing his attacks.

But, the very best weapon and defense against wraiths is the very, very, very handy Yrden :yes

A solid strategy that works 9/10 times for Wraiths is Strong Style and Yrden (with Blizzard and ideally a fairly high Str skill). In Flash's mod (not sure about vanilla game haven't played it in a couple years), Wraiths are very vulnerable to magic damage, which is what Yrden does. You can go in the house, use Yrden so that its blocking one Wraith and then fight the other one. Then you can finish off the other weakened Wraith. A maxed Yrden will even do quite a number on the King of the Wild Hunt himself.

The Alghoul or Gravier fight downstairs is also very tough. I believe you can hold off until Act 3 to finish the Gravier/Alghoul-Wine quest without messing up any of the mean quests, but with a bit of positioning, you may can do it now. I think the Wraith quest though is only in Act 2, but I'm not sure on that one.

Position Geralt so that he is on the stairs in such a ways as to only allow one Gravier/Alghoul to be able to reach him at one time. This takes advantage of the size of the monsters which can only really attack Geralt in single-file in that narrow space. Use the Strong Style, Blizzard, and place Yrden (the more powerful the better) in front of him. If you have the fear affect on year Group style, use that when necessary if the others get too close. Make sure the keep yourself in a tight position so are only ever fighting one at a time, even if that means cutting off the attack animation in the middle (the damage will still be counted anyway).

I stongly encourage you to level up Yrden. It is incredibly useful throughout the game and the last battle. A fully upgraded Yrden is the best defence and offence against Wraiths, and overall is a great crowd controller for all sorts of monsters :yes Hope its some help

 

[Polaris849]

Thank you very much Glaroug for promising tips & tricks. One last thing I wanted to know is also if I can perform other tasks before I visit detective. Will that not mess up other tasks with investigation? I mean: Should I proceed with tasks which not concern detective quests (Suspect quests)? Problem is that I need to first find Yrden Sign, then I also need to level up for Strength as I have no talents spent on that as I did not needed it in Act 1 (Will try to focus on Strength instead when I play Witcher again IF there will be no other rules for FCR). Anyway thanks again for your comment. I will have to think now how to proceed in this game without triggering detective quests until I have enough talents spent on Strength and Yrden.

 

[Glaroug.531]

The detective quests can be a bit tricky and buggy. I know I've messed it up a couple of times. I think the only real thing you "have" to do in order not the break the quest is to go to the detective's house ...(Raymond, hah forgot his name ) when a little boy tells you to.

If you don't want to advance to chapter 3 too quickly, you can still do detective quests and suspect quests without worrying about triggering the transition, because the event that takes you to Chapter 3 will be very obvious and you can trigger it whenever you are ready. When that moment comes, make sure you have a Spector oil or it can be horrible

The wyverns at the northeast end of the swamp offer great xp and are not too difficult to kill 1 at a time. If you do not use the Ecosystem part of the mod, this area can be very dangerous and frustrating. Wyverns can be fairly easily stunned at half health, and they give good alchemy loot and their meat can be sold to make sort of good money. But if this sort of "grinding" mechanic is to boring or not fun, I wouldn't worry too much. I'd just keep playing as normal and if when you get to that transition point to Chapter 3 you find yourself having trouble rethink your potion, sign and oil combos........ or just kill wyverns in hopes that new silver talent will help

 

[Polaris849]

Thanks a lot again...I wanted also to make a point that I needed this advice only to perform "The Rat" quest and the rest will hopefully be easier...And with your advice I know now where to spend talents although it is not necessary anymore that I already passed that point BUT with that glitch which I used. I already beat this game once but with FCR 1.5 and on Hardcore difficulty. I had no issues there and it was pretty smooth. But now I play with FCR 1.6a and Ecosystem turned ON with hardest difficulty and I think "Wraiths" regeneration rate should be lowered or at least for those specifically 2 of them + 2 Alghouls in the basement. So now I know that in the future I spend my talents for Strength and Stamina instead of Dexterity too much. It was@ this point where I was so frustrated that I thinked to use Potion to lower difficulty but I hate to do that...so far its still with Witcher difficulty....wish me luck

 

[Glaroug.531]

:thumbup: Good luck in your quest good witcher May the difficulty potion never touch you lips.

 

[Polaris849]

Hi...I just couldn't sleep well about this task and wanted to kill those 2 Wraiths in the beginning of Act 2 anyway...and I found a solution. It's a bit...workaround but it worked smoothly 4 me. So here is the solution: 1. Ready your Aard sign Level 1 fully upgraded, 2. Once inside the house, start fighting with one of the 2 Wraiths and try to get as close to any one of the wall (in order to finish him better later). SOMETIMES one of the Wraith stays still and not moving anymore...so in this case you should have 1 Wraith chasing you...in this moment U can dodge him and gain full vitality by circling around the now not moving Wraith in the center. In one particular moment also second Wraith was not moving also (got stuck while I was circling). Point is to try to kill the active Wraith and survive...if successful, then SAVE in the house...U can do that...in this very moment U can load and try to kill the second Wraith as U please. About that wall...The now not passive Wraith was unable to somehow fight be when he was near that wall and I just finished him with no trouble...Quest COMPLETE. KEEP IN MIND THOUGH that I was able to do this trick with wall ONCE. BUT U really can STUN at least 1 of 2 Wraiths to make the battle easier. Hope this helped a little.

UPDATE#1: U can STUN BOTH of them! Just initiate first sword attack and immediately STUN with Aard...repeat for the second one too. Then just move as far away from Wraiths as U can to be able to SAVE in the house. Also w8 for vitality to regenerate and also Endurance. U can then fight one Wraith @ a time - these parts are I think however random if U survive or not, but I recommend to perform combo of Aard and sword fight Strong style and I think it will be a walk in the park. I tried this tactic several times and it worked with no issue! ENJOY

 

[Glaroug.531]

Haha, I know the feeling.

I've not been very successful in the few attempts I've made to stun a wraith but its cool to know it works. I mostly just stick with good old Yrden. But very interesting and very creative use of the mechanics within the house I'll try it myself soon enough as I prepare for the Witcher -> Witcher 2 -> Witcher 3 playthrough as the Feburary draws closer.