The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis a pinnacle of open-world RPG gaming, said by many to be the crown jewel of the genre. While themain story is linear, there are countless side quests to take on and a number of unique monsters and other foes to discover.
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While some open-world RPGs build immersion partially through random events in the world,The Witcher 3generally has very few chance encounters. It’s a game that breathes life into its world through story and NPC interactions, but there are still some one-off enemies and rare encounters that most players will never experience.
7Hym
A Hym is a specter-type monster inThe Witcher 3: Wild Huntwho is only supposed to appear during two quests in the game. However, some players have reported seeing the spirit in other areas at night, though it’s likely that these players mistook a regular shadow for the Hym.
A hym is a powerful demon that sucks out energy and life from its host, feeding on the host’s guiltand shame over past actions. It appears as a horned tall figure with long claws attached to its body, but it normally can’t be seen except by the victim.
6The Caretaker
The Caretaker is a unique humanoid creature thatalmostlooks like a person – save for having most of its face stitched over. The creature’s mouth is the only thing visible beneath a slab of flesh crudely sewn to its bald head. The creature dons plain garb, and can only be found inThe Witcher 3: Hearts of Stonequest Scenes From A Marriage.
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Despite its relatively weak appearance, the Caretaker is a very tricky foe. The bestiary entry says that Geralt can only wound the monster when it digs into the ground to unleash summoned spirits to its aid, and upon defeat, the player can pick up its shovel as a reward.
5The Level 27 Chort
Back whenThe Witcher 3first launched, a popular way to farm crowns was to kill cows over and over again, so the player could sell their hides for a tidy profit. A patch put into the game turned this lucrativeventure into a difficult challengeby spawning a level 27 Chort whenever the player kills too many cows.
This only happens in White Orchard, and only one can ever spawn in the game. Once defeated, it will never show up again, partially due to another exploit: the Chort would keep respawning, and players would stop farming cows and farm the more valuable Chort Hides instead.
4Basilisks
Basilisks are an extremely rare enemy inThe Witcher 3whoonly show up twicethroughout the entire game – during one of the many specialty Ciri quests and the Dowry quest in Velen. They are basilisk in the traditional sense, appearing as a creature somewhere between a chicken and a lizard with grotesque scaled wings.
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InThe Witcher 3, basilisks are a dying breed – one of the two times the player encounters one it’s already dead – and as a result, there’s a lot of incorrect beliefs about the species. It’s a fast nimble fighter with venomous attacks, and it’s weak against fire-based attacks, like bombs and the Igni sign.
3Succubuses
Succubuses are a type of demon that resemble beautiful humans and lure their victims in with promises of pleasure. There are only a few succubi inThe Witcher 3, and most of them wouldn’t even stand out to players without a discerning eye.
Salma, in Novigrad, is one of these succubi. Geralt will find her in the quest Deadly Delights, in which Salma is accused (rightfully) of killing several Temple Guards. Geralt tracks her down and can either kill her or track her down – she’s a hybrid-type enemy, and the steel sword does a little bitmore damage than the silver oneto her.
2Personified Nightmares
The Cave of Dreamsis an optional questfound towards the end of the game in Ard Skellig. This quest is home to enemies most players have never even heard of: Geralt’s own fears, personified into enemies. One of these dreams is Eredim himself, the King of the Wild Hunt, along with several other apparitions.
It’s a bit like the scene inStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Backwhen Luke has a vision of himself fighting Darth Vader on Dagobah. Geralt doesn’t end up being Eredin, but he does get to face off against this iconic foe long before crossing blades with the real Eredin.
1Dettlaff, the Beast of Beauclair
Dettlaff, the Beast of Beauclair, is among the most powerful vampires in the world ofThe Witcher 3. Many fans consider Dettlaff to be the hardest enemy in the game, as higher vampires tend to be on-par or more skilled than Witchers. In fact, the Witcher School of the Bear was destroyed after failing to complete a vampire contract.
Dettlaff is a primary antagonist through several quests in theBlood and Wineexpansion, where Geralt must locate the serial killer terrorizing the night. He’s only fought once, and players not patient enough to get through the massive campaign ofThe Witcher 3might not ever get toexperience this incredibly difficult unique encounter.
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