Wolf/ghoul packs overpower me.

[Velegian]

Wolf/ghoul packs overpower me.

Hey I'm level 2 and playing on normal difficulty. I generally suck at games I play. Recently I've had problems with ghouls and wolves circling me so I can't attack them without getting attacked in my back and leaving me with about 300/3500 health. Are they supposed to be that strong or do I just suck at the game? I don't want to put on easy because I'm sick of people calling me lame and stuff. Any tips on how to beat the starter ennemies?

 

[PPCLI]

I try and roll out of a pack, as if you are surrounded you will die. The trick is to try and escape from the pack and attack them one on one. Use roll and dodge to get you to safety.

 

[Eruvadhor]

Drawing one away from it's pack one at a time, roll in and roll out, or multiple passes on Roach at a gallop may all work for you.

PS: Screw anyone who judges you on how you play your game.

 

[Ccara]

Igni is also very useful against wolves, wild dogs, etc.

 

[Velegian]

Ok thanks guys I'll try to get to safety and kill them one by one. I guess it'll be different from skyrim's button mashing technique

 

[andykww]

When dealing with packs, I prefer not to lock on to a specific enemy. Geralt auto-locks to the nearest enemy like Batman. As long as you're not too far from an enemy, he'll leap over and land a hit.

Don't button mash. If you button mash on a single enemy, another will hit you and stagger you. Roll in, get a couple of fast slashes, then roll out. Keep yourself in a position where the pack is one side of you. Don't get in the middle of them.

Also watch their animations. Usually after a few fast attacks, you can see them rear for an attack, that's when you dodge. There's a dodge-slash rhythm to fighting each enemy. They all have a pattern of some kind.

 

[Eldanon]

Roll when they close in distance, dodge & stike when there is one or two that separated themselves from the rest. Rince & repeat. Oh and yes button mashing will not work very well in Witcher games.

 

[His_Majesty]

Igni works great on wolves. Don't lock. Don't get encircled. Let a wolf charge you, dodge, and start attacking.

 

[RuaridhGoG]

Firstly keep quen up, and if it goes down roll out of the way and stick quen back up, quen is your friend and will save your life to often to not have it up. As for attacking just dodge and fast attack, get in 1-3 attacks (fast attack, i'd only strong attack if your going against one opponent), dodge and always watch your back, when a wolf jumps you've got time to dodge out of the way but don't dodge into it, even dodging on an acute angle to the attacker will make them miss which is cool. I don't normally lock onto any target and mix up who i attack but will keep an eye on one particular monster at a time to focus more on it as your pushing back the tide but also killing monsters as well.

You'll love drowners, nekkers, wraiths and rotfiends.

Those are some monsters whom when in packs are quite difficult. Although i suspect most monsters would be difficult in packs, i'd hate to be attacked by a pack of hags.

Breezed into a bears once, turned out to be two, i ran away. However i bumped into a bear twice my level (12, i was 6) Without quen up it one shotted me so it took a couple of trys but i killed it. Bears have a wider attack ark it seems and dodging doen't seem to always work (bit like the griffon) so taking two of these things on is really tough i've found.

Playing on death march and loving it

 

[Solid_Altair]

Bombs are great against packs, too, to soften them up. Having a clean fight (where you never get hit) against large packs is very hard. DPS is important so that the fight doesn't last too long. And bombarding them at the start helps a lot with that.

 

[guilhermecn]

Use quen. Dance around the pack. Pick the nearest enemy, waits his attack, dodge, quick slash him 1-2 times.
If the others are a bit fair, do some more slashing on this one. If not, roll away. Use grapshot or ign on the pack concentration.
A tip is to keep swallon and Tawy Owl at hand. It will save you. Also, use the appropriate oil.
Do this and you will crush them

 

[Gothfather]

Combined Arms are greater then the sum of it's parts. Start off an attack against a pack with a crossbow strike or a bomb if you don't have a crossbow yet, then as the pack advances on you use a sign attack, then follow up with a sword + oil if you have the right kind. Oil once made never runs out so make sure your weapons are always covered in oil. After a couple of sword strike roll away and try to lure a single enemy towards you to isolate it and kill it. Using signs and sword strikes then rolling away always allows you to maintain the initiative in the fight.

Nothing but offence in combat equals reloading because you died.

 

[BurningVigor]

A lot of people keep using Quen but I feel it's kind of counter productive. Instead of having a shield that eats one hit, I rather use my Sign meter to do damage and stun them. Igni is great as a crowd control and it staggers them so you can continue to combo right after. Or after you thin out the enemies you can use Axii to put one in stun and fight the other one in peace, or just outright kill the stunned victim if your trance meter is up.

 

[Philby]

I think part of the key is being patient and multi-tasking/be aware of what you have available.

I struggle with these groups too, you just have to slow down and not get too over-zealous. throw a bomb, move around a lot, hit and run, use signs. I've found igni is pretty good against dogs and wolves. axii can stun one, yrden can slow them down, etc. have potions going. you can't just charge in and start swinging.

it might sound a lot but when you do get into a battle and you are doing all these things and come out afterwards it does feel satisfyin

 

[Reinmar_Bielawa]

I found the Axii sign very effective in such cases. You can drag each wolf away from group one by one, then use Axii to stun one. Then you can finish each of them with just one blow

 

[kaltorakh]

1. I cast Quen at every oportunity (if they hit you and removed it)
2. Dash a lot, even before you see their attack animation (dashing uses no stamina so do that instead of rolling)


What I do is cast Quen, do 2-4 fast attacks and Dash to a side.
The, if I have been hit I Dash back and recast Quen, if not I repeat the attacks and dash.

 

[Riverstyx]

Having the exploding shield upgrade for Quen helps quite a bit.

 

[kaltorakh]

A lot of people keep using Quen but I feel it's kind of counter productive. Instead of having a shield that eats one hit, I rather use my Sign meter to do damage and stun them. Igni is great as a crowd control and it staggers them so you can continue to combo right after. Or after you thin out the enemies you can use Axii to put one in stun and fight the other one in peace, or just outright kill the stunned victim if your trance meter is up.

That was my plan before playing. But after testing it, I noticed I get hit few times, but for quite a lot. So mitigating that hit and recasting another Quen was the best option for me at the end. Crowd Controling them would be fine, but it's just a chance, while Quen mitigation is guaranteed. And Quen lasts until you are hit, so if you play well, you don't even need to recast until you do a mistake. While CC needs to be recast and hope for it to proc.

 

[andykww]

There's enough flexibility in the combat to develop a preferred play style, whether it be Quen, Ignii, Axii etc. Quen is good to take an extra hit whilst you button-mash one enemy to death and reduce their numbers. Axii can stagger or knock one down so (for some) you can one-hit them. Axii can crowd control those that can set on fire.

 

[Lyca5050]

You can also parry multiple wolf attacks if you get stuck but it will take a toll on your stamina so if you have any tawny owl take that to help, and some swallow for health regen.