Geralt's Quest: A Cut Above the Rest

You control Geralt. Follow the path up Bald Mountain. The area is blasted and dead, with only a massive gnarled tree dominating the peak. Take the wooden bridge, and climb the series of rock ledges lead up to a large bonfire, and a confrontation with evil.

As his succubi slink away, Imlerith asks where Ciri is.

• You can lie (which Imlerith sees through immediately).
• You can admit she is here (angering Imlerith who demands to see her).

Defeating Imerith of the Wild Hunt

Combat now begins. Imlerith’s heavy armor, war mace, and shield all serve to make him look intimidating and slow. That illusion should be forgotten as soon as the monstrous Wild Hunt commander teleports behind Geralt at the start of the fight and swings for his head with that massive mace. As soon as you can, make use of any potions that can boost your survivability, Tawny Owl, Swallow, Full Moon, and Blizzard are all good choices. Players confident in their ability to keep damage to a minimum can imbibe Thunderbolt to make each strike count.

The mace cannot be parried or countered, only dodged or rolled away from. Stay relatively close to Imlerith, dodging his swipes and jabs of the mace. The goal initially is to flank him so you can strike at the huntsman behind the shield.

Imlerith’s shield stops everything you can throw at it, bombs, explosive bolts, even Signs. He will occasionally use the shield in the middle of melee combinations to knock Geralt to the ground.

Attacking Imlerith is about taking advantage of openings. You can either evade, then strike, or you can catch him in between his own attacks with a fast attack of your own. The latter strategy can go very poorly if your timing is at all off.

When Imlerith teleports, he gains a frost coating and aura on his armor. You can burn that off with Igni.

Repeated strikes against his shield causes it to warp and bend, eventually making it possible to knock it aside and possible leave an opening for an attack.

At roughly 20 percent of his Vitality, Imlerith throws down his shield in a fury, abandoning defense for an all out assault. He begins swinging the mace wildly, interspersing his attacks with teleports behind Geralt. Again, do not attempt to parry or counter these attacks.

In this final phase of the fight, focus on dodging and rolling to keep Geralt out of harm, until Imlerith takes a massive overhead swing that gets the mace stuck in the ground. That is the opening to score a heavy strike on the general. He recovers the instant you strike him, so be prepared to evade another attack from behind when he teleports.

Above all else, remain patient. Imlerith cannot be interrupted from his furious swipes and teleports in the final phase, so wait for him to make himself vulnerable before attacking.

End: Complements, Contemplation, and the Acorn

Ciri joins you on a bluff overlooking Velen. With two witches dead, Ciri is disappointed that the third escaped. You can praise her or tell her she avenged Vesemir, or let her know how lucky you both were. You both sit quietly, Geralt contemplating what to tell Yennefer. Ciri wonders if the other sorceresses have been found. They should join Yen and Triss in Novigrad.

Remark “yeah, let’s go”, and set off now. You immediately meet two villagers on the descent.

Tell her “not quite yet”, and you are able to walk around Bald Mountain, and search Imlerith’s corpse. Aside from the following, you uncover a strange acorn. If you’ve been listening to the villagers, this seems to be an important seed (especially as the ancient oak atop the mountain is now dead).

As you descend, two villagers stop and ask you about the acorn. You can:

Tell them you don’t know or will have to live without the acorns (the only option if you didn’t search Imlerith’s corpse.

Give them the acorn, with your blessing, so another sacred tree may grow.

Keep the acorn, and eat it yourself to obtain two additional Skill Points.

The quest then concludes.