When I first started fighting ghouls in mod. 3.03 I developed my own tactic for fighting them. I call it whack and back. You deliver 3 or 4 blows in strong sword style, then back out fast to avoid the ghoul's blows. It seems to be pretty effective at killing them. After I stole the Igni sign from the crypt (and escaped with my life) it got much easier. When you develope Igni to the point that it is capable of causing fear, it's a really devastating weapon against undead. Any undead suffering from fear can be hacked by sword with immunity. While in fear they try to flee from you and do not fight. This has held true up to Bruxaes and Alps in chapter 4.
Yea, got a lot easier for me too with leveled Igni (although I only took it after clearing the Crypt the first time - first pass, I did it with Aard). I actually used the same tactic - first and second sequence with strong, then back off (or use magic - I always have Tawny Owl on so I try to use Magic as much as possible; "Aard > repeat" works well), use the sequence again, etc. starting with the Ghouls at the edge of my range. I finally cleared the Crypt - cost me 5 Swallows in total (both visits, that is), and I actually did manage to defeat two Ghouls at once (wasn't easy though - I barely was able to coup de grace the other without dying to the other - 3 I never managed in the small quarters of the Crypt). By the time I got up to Ozzrel though, I had full Bronze Igni and the sequence of "1. - 2. Strong - Igni - 1. - 2. Strong" each time it approached worked wonders.I did die a few times before beating him though - the knockdown is basically instadeath as the thing regains insane amounts of HP, you lose tons, are a sitting duck for its next two attacks and with some luck, are bleeding too. I survived the Knockdown twice, but one mistake and it was able to finish me off afterwards - the time I finally beat him, I didn't get knockdowned at all (and beating him only took a little over an hour gametime). Thankfully Ozzrel was alone, so he was beatable - I would've probably needed an extra Swallow and a ton of patience if he had pals. But yea, I didn't end up going for the "cause pain" strategy since I had a standard sword and generally, inflicting Pain was very tough on them. By the time I was able to achieve Pain, I was usually able to just Knockdown - Coup de Grace them (and hope that I get the short animation -.-). That was my toughest fight yet - or tied with the first fight against Barghests at the gates anyways (I hadn't leveled up at all yet at that point so I was low on HP and damage and incineration didn't help at all - Aard finally carried me through in the end after a few tries).Challenging, but completely doable without any level grinding. Just right thus far. Also, I almost have enough money to immediately buy an Excellent Leather Jacket already. Good times. Somehow the dice game feels easier with the patch installed, but maybe it's just me. I've been ripping Odo for every penny he's worth.Also, Ghouls are immune to bleeding, right (would make sense)? I don't think I've ever inflicted it on them with my full Bronze Cut at Jugulars.DanConnors said:
I found Ghouls quite easy using the hints to start with a chain of fast attacks to cause pain. After that, they'll miss you for quite a while. Then it's strong style/Igni till they are at half health and can be knocked down & finished. Ozzrel, on the other hand was a real bad-ass. Guess he's immune to pain. Had to be real defensive there and stay away for most of the time. Was mostly luck when he finally got down (knockdown at more than half health)
For some reason, I wasn't able to make the Ghouls in the Crypt bleed with full Bronze Steel. Well, now that's all past and they're bleeding like they mean it (bought a Red/Red/Blue Meteorite Sword chapter 1 too - really helped for the remainer of the chapter, although the Beast died to 1 Aard with the Knockout booster, Air Blessing and Ritual of Magic converging). Graviers are annoyingly tough though - even with Bleeding, Pain, 1 silver Strong (from Hellhound's Soul - put it into Strong Silver over Strength as I figured I was going to the Crypt), and full Bronze defenses, they still seem to hit pretty accurately, and I'm forced to dance with just a single one. The cellar with 4 Graviers is completely inaccessible for me; I just don't even stand a chance, even at the staircase - maybe once I get Yrden and Quen.
with this mod dexterity is the most important talent in the game. you need high dodge and parry values to be safe. some people prefer to invest in strength and gain more hitpoints but they forget that +5%, +10% to dodge and parry is the same and much more then +5/10% to hp. with 4 points in dexterity and bonuses to dodge and parry, graveirs have 10% chance to hit you with applied pain and bleeding. eventually dexterity is far more then hitpoints because it allows you to have 100% chance to dodge and parry attacks (pain and bleeding is a must). no ammount of hp can give you 100% protection.for early graveir and fledder fights use black blood potions. you can get the recipy from golden oriole book from taler.i usually fight those 4 graveirs when i have 4 dex. there are many ways to win, some people swear for aard, others for group style, others for igni with fear bonus. i'm standing at the top of the stairs, igni and whack them one after another, only 1 graveir can reach me then. applying pain and bleeding is crucial, high dex means 10% chance of being hit and black blood potion means insta-death for graveir if he knocks you down.necrophage oil, swallow and tawny owl is obvious..
It's a real pity Bombs require a silver talent even though there're formulae available already in chapter Iflashintheflesh said:
I guess that's why they aren't used as much. I'm making it a point to try to use everything I didn't use in my first playthrough in this game (meteorite & rune swords; Harvall was just better and I got Aerondright before I got enough runes - bombs; never needed them and using them was just too much of a hassle - most potions; mostly just swallow with some tawny owl and blizzard thrown in - Quen & Yrden; Igni was enough - combat style comboes & critical effects; I mostly just defaulted to one combat style for each types of opponents, and didn't pay attention to effects). That's why I love this mod - it gives me an excuse to use all the untapped potential in the game.The battle with Ozrel in the crypt (chapter 1) is easy once you understand that, for some reason, he will not persue you far into the initial entryway. So all you have to do is fall back fighting, and when he turns to leave clobber him from behind with backstabs and Igni blasts. Five minutes and he was destroyed. My question concerns the crypt in the sewers in the Temple Quarter where the con artist sends you. This is a fantastically productive "GRIND" area, since there are always about 6 Graviers patrolling the area. Only problem is that after killing somewhere between 50 and a hundred of them (at 450-500 Xp per pop) the area goes a little wierd. After each kill the game suddenly goes into slow motion. This can be difficult if you are fighting 3 or 4 beasts at a time. In addition the Gravier corpses don't produce remains after you whack them. I know it's not a problem with my computer, since all other battles play out without this problem. So, I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this, and what the explanition is.
yes. i noticed the same problem. i have no idea what is causing it and i just thought i'm running out of RAM. have you tried restarting the game? i didn't, maybe it'll help. if not, the only reasonable explanation is that the game remembers every kill, every dead graveir model or something and the ammount of accumulated data eventually starts lagging the game.
The Ghoul-tactic you used also works on Ozzrel. You just have to be extra careful, 'cause he hits really hard, and if you get knocked down, he'll heal like ½ his HP. But the sequence of Strong "1. - 2. - pull" and "1. - 2. - Igni - 1. - 2. - pull" when with enough mana works just fine.Also, that Con Artist's Crypt was insane. I seriously wasn't able to beat more than one Gravier at a time, so I had to pull them to a side alleyway to beat 'em up one by one. Maybe I should go learn Yrden... Anyways, I'll try the Spider Cultists first now that I'm there. At least I've got the RRB meteor sword (I was almost thinking of using BBB for this though) and Crinford Oil. I intent on Group Style-inflicting status on all HumansDanConnors said:
First time I visited the "Gravier Pit" one at a time was all I could manage. But the better fighter you become the more you can tackle. Before the end of the chapter I could pretty easily take on 4 at a time. I just had to make sure before dropping one that I had 20 or so feet of corridor to retreat down (due to the game slowing to a crawl after each kill). My computer's a quad core with 4 Gbytes of RAM, so I don't think a RAM shortage is the problem. I have restarted the game while in the crypt, but it seems to have no effect. At least I am getting the XP for the Graviers, and that's the important thing. As a grind area this crypt is great. The Graviers come from different directions each time you go down. Plus it's a pretty good sized dungeon area, which keeps you from getting bored as you sop up 2 to 3 thousand Xp per descent.
You definitely should: it's an absolute life-saver using this mod imo, for it's crows-controlling function.Elealar said:
Yea, I've been pushing away the obligatory swamp-trip for as long as possible (since I absolutely hate that place and all the drowners one has to kill to go anywhere - they are worth nothing and still require Aard or two Fast Silver serieses to kill), but with the Cult and the Con Artist's crypt done and myself unable to beat the Gravier cellar, it's pretty much Cemetary or Swamp. Since I have to make a couple of runs to the Swamp anyways, I suppose now would be as good a time as any. Btw, after reading in walkthrough how the Cult should be difficult and you should push it to Chapter III, I was disappointed to figure out that they're about as tough as Drowners.Fiskrens said:
I just had to post this. I finally beat the Gravier cellar. I didn't even need Swallow to do it. I drank Black Blood for the Fleder on the streets (it surprised me at an inopportune moment), got damn poisoned (so bad that my movement slowed down; I had had a busy night), almost died but the Fleder drank itself to death first. I went to Vivaldi's to sleep and decided to give the Graviers a try with Black Blood and Tawny Owl still in effect. Soo, few Yrdens and Ignis later, I was knocked down on the stairs and a Gravier came to feed one me. Obviously it died. For some reason, Geralt kept laying on there. So all 3 of the remaining Graviers walked over one by one and obligingly drank the last drop of blood they'll ever taste, oblivious of the poison that quickly circulated their systems and ended their undeath. And after an eternity, Geralt finally saw fit to stand up again and lo and behold, 4 dead Graviers, one live Geralt!Morale of the story: If you can't beat them, feed them!
Lucky you - I just tried that place and realised that I was chanceless at my current level, even with Black Blood. One or two died by feeding on me, but when one hit from any other slashed away around 1/5 of my health, I realised I needed few more levels.Any possibility to add a "play dead" feature to this batch of mods?