Nekkers


Nekkers can be thought of as land-bound, burrowing drowners. Individually, nekkers are very weak, but they always occur in groups of around half a dozen at the least. A group of nekkers can go from harmless to threatening in a short period of time if they surround you and attack from behind. Much like drowners, they originate in some way from the bodies of the dead. The relationship is less clear, though. It is known only that nekker nests tend to form and thrive near battlefields and other areas that have seen mass die-offs.

Nekkers inhabit dark, humid areas that are neither too wet nor too dry. Favored habitats include forests and caves. You encounter nekkers in the forests and cave areas around Flotsam in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, nekkers lurk in the mines beneath Vergen and in the forests to the north of the city. In Chapter 3, you can encounter nekkers in the forests and caves north of Loc Muinne, but only on Roche’s route.

Nekkers have no immunities or vulnerabilities. You can fight them any way you wish. The most efficient way to fight nekkers is generally to use some bombs or traps for crowd control, then focus on pure damage output once their numbers are whittled down. Nekkers are relatively quick and agile opponents, so light attacks are best for quickly moving from one target to the next. Read the book Nekkers in the Mist to gain knowledge of nekkers.

There are four drops unique to the nekker. All have their uses, but they tend to be relatively limited. Nekker claws in a standard game are used only in crafting the armor of Ysgith, whose diagram you obtain in Chapter 3. If you wish to make this armor, put five nekker claws into storage early in the game (and make sure you kill at least one troll). Otherwise, you can simply sell nekker claws as you obtain them for extra cash. You kill dozens of nekkers in the course of a game and will probably obtain well over a hundred claws.

Nekker eyes are worth keeping on hand until you reach Chapter 3, since you can use them along with drowner brains to craft amethyst dust. Once you reach Chapter 3, you should have a good idea of how much amethyst dust you need to finish the game with, so you can sell off any nekker eyes you’re pretty sure you won’t need.

Always hang on to nekker hearts, as you can use them to craft two very useful items: fury traps, which cast Axii on all opponents within a certain radius when the trap is sprung, and Ysgith runes, which add a valuable damage bonus and a Bleeding critical effect to swords. Nekker hearts are heavy, so keep them in storage until you’re ready to use them in crafting.

Nekker teeth have no useful role in crafting and should always be sold off for orens immediately—unless you’re playing a game on Dark mode. On Dark mode, put at least nine nekker teeth into storage for use in crafting the silver sword Anathema and the steel sword Ultimatum. After that, you can sell the teeth off for much-needed extra cash.

Nekker Warriors

Every large group of nekkers is accompanied by at least a few nekker warriors. These creatures are especially large and brawny nekkers that mark their faces with red clay. They possess more vitality than their smaller kin and hit much harder. They’re also more aggressive than other nekkers, so you often end up forced to engage them when you first encounter a nekker group. Focus on eliminating the weaker nekkers first and saving the other nekkers for last.

Nekker warriors yield one unique drop, in addition to the other drops you usually get for killing nekkers. That drop is warrior nekker blood, which is required in Chapter 3 to complete the quest An Encrypted Manuscript . The game considers this a quest item rather than an alchemy or crafting item, so it has no weight and is worth only 1 oren. Hold on to any warrior nekker blood you happen to acquire throughout the course of the game.