Objective:
|
Let battle begin! Close the gap between you and Caranthir by dashing forwards, then rolling to the sides to avoid his quintet of icy orbs, or his single projectile thrusts.
Time your rolls to occur just prior to the projectiles striking you. Make brief checks of your minimap when Caranthir teleports, so you can quickly turn to face him.
When he reaches around half his health, he summons a great slab of ice, which transform into an ice elemental. With Igni, talent, good dodge timing, and positioning yourself away from Caranthir so his projectiles actually strike this golem (protecting you in the process!), you’re able to remove these threats.
Caranthir’s projectiles are supplemented by a trio of orbs, one after the other. Roll and dodge them, and when slicing at your foe, make only three or four strikes before backing off, or you may be caught after he teleports and launches projectiles at you.
At around 5-10 percent of his health, Caranthir likely summons another ice elemental. You may be tempted to ignore this foe and concentrate on killing Caranthir, which is a worthwhile plan, as long as you avoid the elemental’s attacks, and a second elemental summoned shortly afterwards.
Killing Caranthir: Battle-Tested Tactics
There are two parts to this fight, beginning with Ciri. Caranthir attempts to engage in melee combat against the swordswoman, but as you are by now very familiar with, she is incredibly skilled and powerful. Rush him down and slash away with her sword.
He teleports when he takes enough damage, usually far enough away from Ciri that she cannot reach him during her lunging sword strikes. You can either sprint over to him to continue the offensive, or use Ciri’s teleport slash to reach him even faster. Beware that Caranthir can also teleport directly behind Ciri for a surprise attack, but this can easily be countered with a fast attack or the teleport slash.
Once you deal enough damage to Caranthir as Ciri, an impressive cutscene plays out, with Ciri ending the spell Caranthir has been maintaining. After more drama unfolds, Geralt arrives to finish off the Wild Hunt sorcerer.
Caranthir steps up his efforts to defend himself with Geralt on the scene. One of his new attacks is to summon five lances of light over his head, and after a short delay he will fire them en masse at the witcher. Should he be struck by this barrage, Geralt will be partially frozen, slowing him down and making it harder to avoid other attacks.
Caranthir can also fire singular bolts of this powerful ice magic in fairly quick succession at Geralt. Roll to evade these targeted spells.
As when he fought Ciri, Caranthir teleports after sustaining damage from Geralt. After teleporting, he will use either version of his ice bolts. Work your way to Caranthir as quickly as possible to attack him, lest he teleports again. Striking him as he is preparing his ice bolts will cancel his attacks.
As you wear Caranthir down, he will begin summoning ice elementals into the arena. He is vulnerable during the summoning, so take that opportunity to hit him as much as possible before switching your focus to the ice elementals. Use Dimeritium Bombs on the elementals to help weaken them, but don’t forget that Caranthir will still be firing his magic at Geralt. You’ll have to be mindful of his attacks, while also dealing with the ice elementals own abilities. Try to get rid of the elementals first before returning your attention to Caranthir. If you allow multiple elementals to be summoned, it will be that much harder to address the sorcerer.
This can be a punishing and long fight to deal with, so stay focused on limiting the amount of harm Geralt endures. Once you do manage to defeat Caranthir, he attempts one last suicidal attack on the witcher, teleporting both himself and Geralt into the waters beneath the ice. Swim for the surface as fast as you can to avoid drowning!
