Posted by zeroinitiate on May 22, 2015 in Commentary, featured, Guides, PS4 |

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is out. It has four difficulty levels, the toughest of which is called Death March. I had my reservations about choosing that difficulty but said to hell with it and chose it anyway. The game kicked my ass until I learned to kick back. Then it went back and forth until I started getting the upper hand. We’ll see how long that lasts.

What I mean to say is that this is a work-in-progress. The game was just released. I don’t think anyone’s an expert at anything just yet. I don’t know if the things I’ll be writing here are going to be viable at the endgame. What I do know is that these have worked well for me so far. Let’s get started.

Combat Basics

• Save and save often. The game allows manual saving so take advantage of it. Save before every fight.
• There are two ways to avoid getting hit: rolling and dodging/sidestepping. Take the time to master the advantages and differences between the two. Don’t roll when a dodge will do. Don’t just dodge when you really need to get out of harm’s way.
• Rolling covers more ground, allowing you to completely get out of your enemy’s attack range when you need to. Naturally, that works both ways. If it can’t hit you, you can’t hit it either. You’ll need to regain that ground back.
• This is where dodging comes in. It allows you to avoid getting hit while keeping your target within striking distance.
• Stamina does not regenerate when you roll. Rolling costs stamina.
• Most foes dodge or step back when you land a hit or two. When they do, chase them with a forward dodge. It covers more ground than the forward spin light attack that Geralt does.