The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt The Complete Edition Guide Episode 1: Main Quests: Hearts Of Stone Scenes From a Marriage

Nightmare In Red

Objectives

Defeat Iris von Everec’s nightmares.

You must face a demonic form of Olgierd known as the Ethereal. Six of these dopplegangers appear in the parlor. All must perish!

Defeating the Ethereals: Attacks from Iris’ Greatest Fear

Strengths: Essentially clones of Olgierd, these demons are fast and relentless. Initially motionless, they wake when you attack each one, so if all the enemies are awoken at the same time they all attack together. The main difference is that these enemies gain Olgierd’s skills as they die. In other words at the beginning of the fight the enemies only have basic sword attacks, when one dies the remaining foes all gain another of Olgierd’s skills, like a shadow dash. As each additional enemy is killed, the rest gain another skill until the last one left has every skill that Olgierd had when you had the option to fight him at the Garin Estate.

Weaknesses: These are the same as Olgierd’s original shortfalls; you can counter and stun the enemies when they are attempting a special attack. The first three clones have so few skills, they are reasonably easy to defeat.

Defeating the Ethereals: The Best Battle Tactics

As all their attacks are the same as Olgierd’s, you should have some familiarity coming into this fight. When battle commences, there are six opponents, but only one is active. Killing that enemy causes another to wake up and attack, and this process repeats until the last wakes and is beaten. However, any idling foe can be awoken at any time if you accidentally. Need more of a challenge? Wake everyone up and slay them all at once!

Plan 1: One at a Time: The easier plan is to keep away from the idling foes, moving to the far end of the arena, and slay each form of Olgierd one at a time, using tried and trusted tactics from the first time you faced him.

Plan 2: All at Once: Throw caution to the wind, and slay all six foes in a crowd by preparing yourself accordingly. You require maximum damage inflicted in the shortest amount of time. Use damage-enhancing potions and decoctions, and use the Whirl Combat skill to great effect here.

Since these enemies only gain skills as the others die, when they are woken up, they are all relatively weak. Use this to your advantage by corralling them in one place and unleashing damage as quickly as possible. A solid whirl attack can take up to four of them out at once. Once fewer of these enemies are in the arena, treat them as single foes and employ original Olgierd-slaying tactics.