The Road that a Witcher walks is not for the feint of heart. Afterall, only those who survive the Trials of the Grass are able to complete their Witcher training. To make matters worse it's an extremely thankless job as humans see Witchers as "monsters" or "mutants". Alas, someone has to kill the griffon in White Orchard, the Drowners in the Novigrad sewers, and rescue the pot for the sweet old lady. Now take all the challenges that Witchers must endure and crank it up to max settings!!! "Someone has to kill the griffon"...There are 4 levels of difficulty you are allowed to choose from when starting a new game, with the hardest being Death March. CDPR was right in choosing such a name for the most brutal Witcher experience. You know how most RPGs will have wolves as starter enemies that you shouldn't be too concerned about? Well...Death March will have you in a panic anytime you hear howling, even with the best gear! Whether it's your first time playing on DM, or you're used to the torture that DM has to offer, here are some helpful tips to surviving Death March to the credits scene. 10/10 Be Prepared To Die...A Lot...There's no dancing around this. You're going to see this screen a lot, and you will need to mentally prepare for this. If it's your first Death March run those Alghouls you fight at the very beginning will wake you up to the reality of how punishing it truly is. Any mob of enemies will have you dancing around, but the ones that you'll get this message from often are wolves, dogs, nekkers, and humans. It can be anger inducing at times, but it's part of the Death March experience. Embracing death is much easier than trying to resist it. Afterall, it will take many Death March runs before you could even hope to attempt a flawless no-death run. 9/10 Don't Be Afraid To Make Tough DecisionsYou will reach certain fights in the game where you're going to make a decision you won't be comfortable with. As most enemies will take you down in two hits you'll need to make some tactical decisions to come out alive. Sometimes street smarts will serve you better than book smarts and simply running away from the fight is the best option. Of course there are some fights you can't run away from and need to get a bit more creative with. In this case you may want to reconsider your build before entering the fight, or make the heart wrenching choice to turn the difficulty down for the fight. Trust me, there are a handful of opponents that will have you rip your hair out and get you to that breaking point where reducing the difficulty is the best option. If you can't get yourself to lower the combat settings, then I strongly suggest saving before the fight (as you should) so that you can have that option of changing your build around to find success. 8/10 Lean Mean Green MachineI have a confession to make: I was one of those people who said, "Pff! Who runs a green build in this game? You don't even need any of these. I want my Igni baby!" And then Death March had smitten me and taught me that the best builds in the game are green heavy builds. Granted you won't need most of the alchemy perks on a normal run, but the higher difficulties will show the vulnerabilities that a combat/magic build has. Don't even think about running a pure build on DM because you will be skipping out of some of the best life-saving perks in the game! Alchemy perks will give you the utility that you'll be abusing in each battle, so don't be afraid to try a combination that works for you! 7/10 Put Quen AwayHear me out! I know this will sound controversial to the majority of the Witcher community, but listen. Quen is not the best sign to main during a Death March run. The prominent disadvantages that Quen has is: it will use up all of your stamina (which you need to dodge and roll), and it's sign intensity does not stack up well once you reach mid-game. Instead I would recommend using Yrden, Axii, and Aard over Quen and Igni. A strong Yrden build will give you both AOE and single target damage, along with a slow that will give you the precious seconds that you need. Axii is broken once you become the Master of Puppets and the game begins to fight for you. Just know that Axii doesn't work on all enemies and may only stun them, while you have to wait for your stamina to regen. Aard is wonderful against human opponents as it will drain their stamina quicker (great against shield wilders), can throw people over ledges to their doom, and when fully upgraded will have a chance to freeze. Quen and Igni just don't have enough juice to keep up the momentum once you reach endgame, or face powerful monsters. 6/10 Take Preparation SeriouslyYou can get away with hot dogging on normal combat settings, but once you've entered Death March you can throw all of that right out the window. You should not only read your bestiary, but study enemy attack patterns as well. There's no reason to not be using an oil on your blade at any given time. Who wants to give up free damage? Be sure that when using decoctions and potions you're using a combination that will help you for a specific area with a common enemy type. Stock up on herbs, food, and crafting materials as much as possible so that if you need to whip up something in a pinch you won't be kicking yourself for it. And no matter what, ALWAYS save your game before every fight. You get one or two hits before you go down and you don't want to become comfortable while fighting. That's how many death screens have reared their ugly heads. 5/10 Play Some GwentUnless you're a masochist, you'll get burnt out from fighting for your life every 2 feet you travel. So take some time to wind down in the cities and villages and catch up on some Gwent. If you're not far in the story you may pick up on some narrative hints during your Gwent games. Collecting every card and mastering each deck is one of the best moments of fun that the game has to offer. So grab a drink (and snack if you wish) and bet a bit of coin on those Gwent games. If you're good it's a fun way to make some extra side money without needing to dread over witcher contracts. 4/10 Do Your Witcher Contracts & Treasure HuntsTo start off contracts and treasure hunts are a good source of experience points without having to slog through lengthy questlines. Just be prepared to whistle for Roach a lot because you'll be doing some traveling. If you're on a fresh game focus on the contracts with trophies that grant extra experience from human and monster kills first. For NG+ players you can be a bit more selective with your contracts and home in on the ones with more unique trophy effects like +10% chance to dismember. If you come across a treasure hunt, or start your witcher gear hunts, do them as soon as they become available in your journal. The rewards are usually worthwhile, wither it's for swapping out gear or selling for a decent amount of coin. You're witcher gear should be top priority and should be completed if you can access the necessary area. You should have all of the witcher gear by Blood and Wine as you may be swapping out gear based on the activity you're doing. 3/10 Learn How To Parry & CounterDodging and rolling around in mud will only get you so far. If you are in a tight spot (literally), or you're facing against humans becoming privy with parrying and counter attacking will be a game changer. Parrying and counter attacks cost less stamina and don't drain your adrenaline bar. This is an absolute win as you can still be able to dodge and roll if you need to while keeping your guard up. A perfectly timed parry will trigger a counterattack that activates a short animation to guarantee a stun, or a decapitation if the enemy's health is low enough and you're in range. Monsters cannot be parried, but some can be counter attacked during certain actions. This is probably the best skill you could ever use so it is worth investing the time to master it. 2/10 Use Your Crossbow & BombsWhen it comes to mob packs and flying enemies' range is going to be your friend most of the time. Crossbows let you take out enemies that most of your attacks won't reach and is a good way to ground flying hazards. Basic bolts also have unlimited use, so it's always good have if you need to save your stamina and adrenaline. Bombs are going to be your best tool during a Death March run as not only can you heavily invest in their utility, but you can also pull off some good combos with them. A classic use of bombs is to pair Devil's Puffball with Golden Oriole to have a steady stream of vitality regen. Another combo you can use is Dragon's Dream on explosive barrels to have the biggest explosions you'll ever see. Just make sure you're not caught up in the fireworks. Blizzard can be a life saver if you're caught up in a group you're having trouble dealing with or running away from. The possibilies with bombs are nearly endless. 1/10 Pay Attention To Your BuildUnlike lower difficulty levels Death March is more rewarding for more curated builds. You can be the Demoman of your dreams, a Pyrotechnic maniac, or the use the most Axii gimmic cheating build ever. The attention to detail in your build is going to pay off if you stack your cards right, even more so on NG+. Simply bumping up in gear because you get 12 more defense points won't cut it. It's recommended to have enough points to interchange two different builds together even if you're using a hybrid build. Upgrading your builds with the Runewrite Master and the Mutagen machine (dlc exclusives) is going to help you create the pinnacle Geralt you could ever craft. Find what works for you and run with it!
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AuthorThe Sin City Demon that's Hellbent on becoming your favorite FF14 Content Creator. Archives
May 2024
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