[ACT I] Should I not use Aard?

[ottoline]

[ACT I] Should I not use Aard?

I just finished Chapter 1 last night, and the Beast was ridiculously easy to kill with a single Aard stun. I didn't use any potions or weapon buffs, and I don't even think I had an Aard buff (I may have had one left over from visiting a PoP earlier, but I didn't deliberately time it that way).After reading about other people struggling so much with the Beast, it seems that I missed most of the difficulty of the fight. Will Aard always be this overpowered? For the Beast fight at least, I think it's so overpowered that it's broken.

 

[Edirr]

No, Aard is not overpowered in the sense you are asking. Once you get to the swamps in chapter two, you may just need a bronze talent maxed Aard to get through some situations alive because getting absolutely swarmed is a common occurrence. You need the aard just to buy you enough time to run like a rabbit to get out alive. It is useful to have, but it is not a solution to everything, just like Igni is not. But having points in both of those two signs makes things vastly more easy than relying solely on your sword skills. Besides, you can always opt to not use signs. I like whacking things the old-fashioned way, but I will cheerfully use the signs to get an advantage if things start going south. Which they will in a hurry if you stick your nose in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[silver_gryphon]

I had the same thing - the beast just fell over really easily because I got an aard stun on the first bit, but it hasn't been so accommodating in other playthroughs. What difficulty are you playing on? That may have an impact, although I'm not sure. But don't worry about aard being 'overpowered' - your signs are only overpowered if you make them that way with your talents, but if you did, I personally think you'd struggle Need some sword skills to whack 'em ;D

 

[Corylea.723]

My understanding is that Aard gives you a chance to stun your opponent, but stunning is by no means guaranteed. If you luck out and get a stun on the first Aard of a battle, then yes, it seems amazingly easy. If you Aard something three times with little effect, while it's chewing on you the whole time, well, things are a lot tougher then.

 

[lordofsol]

Killing the Beast is rather easy even without aard. At least on medium setting, which I'm unfortunately playing on. It's just a matter of using the right approach. That is the case with every tough opponent, I suppose.I'm using Aard from time to time just out of fun or to watch those neat finishers, but without a strong urge to use one, safe for when I need to break through a wall.

 

[Edirr]

I never play anything but hard difficulty. The Beast is ridiculously easy if you go and do the Ritual of Magic at a Place of Power at around 20:30 in the evening, then hit the Salamandra hideout. If you have the stun talent and 2nd level Aard with Student and Novice, it's an almost guaranteed instant stun against the Beast, even on hard.Killing it with just potions and sword is much harder but doable even without retreating into the gap between the buildings.

 

[ottoline]

I'm playing on normal/medium...it never even occurred to me to play on hard as I'm not an "advanced" gamer by any means.I realize it's only a chance to stun but I actually killed it twice (thought I missed something with Abigail and reloaded) the same way. One of the tries took two Aard casts to get the stun but it still happened pretty quick.Is there a guide to talent specs or something? So far I have just been winging it but I fear I'll waste points in useless/unnecessary talents.

 

[Edirr]

The ones to avoid are Monster Lore (completely useless), Heavyweight (from Stamina, also completely useless), Buzz from Strength (in my opinion).All of the talents that amount to either "causes more damage when enemy is already dead" (like Sever Sinews from fast steel) or "Geralt gets some minor bonus when he is already dead" (the similar ones from strong steel). Those I would not take until I had everything else alredy.

 

[jariff]

edirr, i beg to differ. monster lore is quite useful at this point, bc it gives you a lot of ingredients you have to get by the hard way otherwise.the beast is easy on normal and medium but not so easy on hard. the aard stun just doesnt work so good there. with ritual of magic powerup it might still be very easy (i dont know). fact is, aard and igni are overpowered.aard in the beginning and igni later on. there is nothing that cannot be totally fried up with igni after having it at level 4

 

[summit]

edirr, i beg to differ. monster lore is quite useful at this point, bc it gives you a lot of ingredients you have to get by the hard way otherwise.

Sorry mate but monster lore is utterly useless. You can get that knowledge from books for FREE in few minutes of playing.

 

[Gamewidow]

you can get the information for free, but you get it much sooner if you get Monster Lore early eace:

 

[Edirr]

Jariff, as I have repeatedly said, Aard boosted by Ritual of Magic will stun the Beast easily on hard difficulty. I ran the fight something like five times. Twice it was stunned on the second try, three times with the first. I have never had either sign at greater than lv 2, but I've not played the game that far.

you can get the information for free, but you get it much sooner if you get Monster Lore early eace:

True. And then you can't use that talent for something far more useful. Ghoul and graveir for the price of a few beers with the drunk. Swamp monsters from the book in one of the huts. Barghets you have to buy, and that's just 50 orens. A bronze talent is worth far more than that.

 

[Gamewidow]

ah, but selling all those barghest skulls early is a great financial boon -- but to each his own eace:

 

[Edirr]

ah, but selling all those barghest skulls early is a great financial boon -- but to each his own eace:

You don't need the barghest entry to get the skulls. You need it to get the ingredient entries on death dust, ectoplasm and beast fangs, but the skulls are found regardless. Just like fleder fangs before you have the fleder entry.I should know, I just played through chapter 1 and I was getting skulls from the barghests I killed immediately upon arriving on the outskirts, with no monster entries besides the frightener in my journal.

 

[Gamewidow]

you're right there ... but i'm pretty damned sure i've played this game more times than you

 

[mardana]

@OttolineActually, I think you just got lucky. If you read in your journal, I think it says the beast is resilient to knockdown and stun attempts (AARD) . Your not playing on EASY difficulty level are you? Anywho, most of my first attempts I had tried using aard with no success--it just delayed it's attack a little--although I had not been putting any talent points in magic yet. I found it pretty easy though when I figured out to use the spectre oil blade coating first.@Game Widow :wave:Have you still only played game 30 times or are you working on playing it through again?

 

[Edirr]

you're right there ... but i'm pretty damned sure i've played this game more times than you

You have indeed.

 

[Gamewidow]

@mardana, i have not yet completed my 30th run ... i'm trying to get my module finished for the contest so that is seriously cutting into my play time -- but i will indeed finish and i have at least 2 more runs planned

 

[asai]

with the beast fight, some people are having difficulties and i do really think that it is a level thing. The game does not really tell you what level you are so if you do not pay attention you may try and fight the beast at too small of a level. I am currently in act 1 and am level 9, all i have left is the salamandria hideout quest.I intend to gamble some more and fist fight everybody then, I will meditate by the water front and start there killing what spawns and then running throught the village and possibly a crypt run to get my level up before i attempt this quest. I wouold like to be level 10 or even 11 before i try that quest. i always try and level up as much as possible before moving to the next area, i find it is easier if you start a new zone and are on level or bigger than what is out there. So my plan is to level up as much as i can in act 1 before i do the beast quest, and will do as many night raids untill i am satisfied or i notice that i am not making much progress for the time then i will move on. This game is a great experience and i after having played through it twice in may, and am now back to it and intend to wring as much out of it as i can and enjoy the journey and not worrying about the destination.Asai

 

[Edirr]

with the beast fight, some people are having difficulties and i do really think that it is a level thing. The game does not really tell you what level you are so if you do not pay attention you may try and fight the beast at too small of a level. I am currently in act 1 and am level 9, all i have left is the salamandria hideout quest.I intend to gamble some more and fist fight everybody then, I will meditate by the water front and start there killing what spawns and then running throught the village and possibly a crypt run to get my level up before i attempt this quest. I wouold like to be level 10 or even 11 before i try that quest. i always try and level up as much as possible before moving to the next area, i find it is easier if you start a new zone and are on level or bigger than what is out there. So my plan is to level up as much as i can in act 1 before i do the beast quest, and will do as many night raids untill i am satisfied or i notice that i am not making much progress for the time then i will move on. This game is a great experience and i after having played through it twice in may, and am now back to it and intend to wring as much out of it as i can and enjoy the journey and not worrying about the destination.Asai

If you're only at level 9 after having done all side quests and just have the main ones left, 10 is the best you can do and even that's a reach. You'll be whacking echinops in the cave till you're blue in the face if you want to reach level 11, but it's pointless. You can get to 11 AFTER you've killed the Beast, because you get that much XP from finishing the main quests that if you already had a good buffer, you'll hit 11 as soon as you look at a drowner harshly. As far as the Beast goes, it's killable on level 7 just as easily as on level 10. I had 9 unused talents when I went to the Beast fight, which is exactly the difference between levels 7 and 10 (except you get 15 less XP per monster at level 10) and it died instantly to a ritual boosted Aard + finishing move.