After hours of play time, you finally reached the boss battle with Imlerith in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. We will help you beat Imlerith with this step-by-step walkthrough, providing tips to easily defeat one of the Wild Hunt’s most vicious tacticians.
The following Act 3 main quests include Bald Mountain, Final Preparations and Blindingly Obvious.
Main Quest: Bald Mountain
Engage Ciri in conversation and then take the road with the lit torches. Eventually you’ll see a man who invites Geralt to eat. Feel free to accept this invitation, then enjoy the chat that follows. Bring up the ceremony, the women coming to the village and the reason the gates are closed.
From here, you should speak to Thecla, then receive permission to climb up the mountain. Take the available path through the town and keep traveling north until Johnny appears. If you chose to take Sarah from the haunted house during the Novigrad Dreaming quest, you will encounter her at this location. Conversely if you left her in the spooky home, you will only see Johnny. Regardless, Geralt and Johnny will discuss continuing the ascent up the mountain, as well as Imlerith from the Wild Hunt.
Walk across the wooden bridge, look right and enter the tent to meet up with Thecla. She decides Ciri may proceed, but not Geralt. No use arguing. You must complete a challenge for Thecla for her to deem Geralt worthy.
Thecla will toss a coin into the water and Geralt must go after it. Although there are Drowners in here, you should have little trouble finding the coin using Geralt’s Witcher Senses. In fact, you will see the coin at a dead end, so nab it and then swim through the tunnel ahead, then travel west to the exit. When you enter the woods be wary of the nearby Fiend. Slaughter the monster, walk up the wood steps and you’ll see Thecla’s tent.
Thecla will now let Geralt continue up the mountain. Return to the wooden bridge, walk up to the petro glyph rock and go east to reach the mountain’s interior. A beast called Fugas will appear and warns Geralt about the coin in his possession. Don’t concern yourself with this nonsense. Kill Fugas and continue.
You are now controlling Ciri. Take the tunnel ahead and you will see an opening in the rocks. Pass through and jump into the water, then travel southwest. Climb out of the pool and onto the bank. Now walk into Crone’s Cavern, discovering three ladies staring into a pot filled with assorted body parts. Engage these women in conversation and then attack until they are no more.
When you regain control of Geralt, continue up Bald Mountain. When you get to the top, walk across the wooden bridge, then take the rocky ledges until you see a fire and Imlerith. Don’t lie about Ciri. Instead, tell him she’s here too.
Boss Fight with Imlerith
The battle against Imlerith is about to begin! We strongly suggest meditating beforehand. In addition, make sure you bring Aard Sign magic, Grapeshot Bombs, Draconid Oil and Golden Oriole Potions to the fight.
Do not take Imlerith lightly. He’s surprisingly agile and won’t hesitate to flatten you. Use potions like Blizzard, Swallow, Full Moon, Owl and Tawny to keep Geralt alive. In addition, dodge his mace attacks because you cannot block them. Ideally you must dodge and then quickly attack. There is a small outside chance you can get in some fast attacks, providing you hit Imlerith as prepares to strike. Otherwise he blocks everything.
If Imlerith teleports around the map he will receive a coat of frost. When this happens use Geralt’s Igni Sign magic to burn off the frost.
Reduce his vitality to 20 percent and he ditches his shield and goes on the offensive. Dodge to avoid his mace and wait for him to launch into an overhead attack. Dodge again and his mace will get stuck, giving you the chance to land one heavy attack before retreating. Repeat this process until you kill Imlerith.
Now that he’s dead, talk to Ciri. She will suggest traveling to Novigrad to meet Triss and Yennefer. Don’t go yet. Instead, rummage through Imlerith’s corpse, take all the loot and make note of the acorn. Eat this and Geralt will receive two more skill points, or hang onto it. There are also two villagers who ask about the acorn, and you have the option of giving it to these people. Totally up to you.
Main Quest: Final Preparations
The outcome of this main quest is heavily dependent upon choices you made earlier in the game. No spoilers here, and unless you intend to revisit an old save file there’s no use going back to change anything. Sit back and enjoy what follows.
Final Preparations is a tracking quest, with the following main quests (Blindingly Obvious, The Great Escape, Payback) a part of this one.
Main Quest: Blindingly Obvious
Go up the steps and then speak with Triss. She wants you to accompany her to the bathhouse. In addition, if you allowed Keira Metz to leave in order to meet up with Radovid while on the For the Advancement of Learning quest, you can now begin the A Final Kindness side quest. That’s cool, but at the moment we need you to head to Passiflora.
Travel with Triss southwest, past St. Gregory’s Bridge to the bathhouse. When you get there, look for Dijkstra’s thugs running away. Head inside to see what the deal is. Now battle Dijkstra’s men.
Travel east and enter the steam bath chamber, then jump into the drained pool. When you reach the cellar, take down two more enemies. Head over to Bart and tell him you’re here for Philippa. Now go north and then east. Pass through the tunnel and go west to discover a chamber, with Philippa on the balcony.
Your goal is to sneak up on Philippa. First she refuses to believe Geralt is here to offer his assistance, so she summons a Golem to make your life difficult. Slay the creature with Sign magic and your sword, then avoid the energy blasts from Philippa.
Kill the Golem and now you can attempt to creep up behind her. Since she relies on sound to see, you should complete this objective so long as you don’t make too much noise. Walk, don’t run, then ascend the stone stairs that lead to the balcony she’s on. Leap across the gap and travel clockwise. When in range, get the jump on her.
Geralt will now talk to Philippa, then Dijkstra appears. Whatever you choose, Triss will still meet Geralt at the Bathhouse, so feel free to act rudely if you wish. If you decided to help assassinate King Radovid, take part in the Reason of State secondary quest.
Main Quest: The Great Escape
While in Novigrad, go to Crippled Kate’s and look for Yennefer at one of the tables. She asks who came up with the idea to slaughter Imlerith, and you’re able to offer whatever response you want. The conversation continues.
When a man enters this place, Geralt asks him a question and the guy takes off. Leave Crippled Kate’s towards the canal and head east. You have to ways to grab this person.
- Trip him up with Aard Sign magic.
- Continue following him and Yennefer will stop the man with magic.
Return to Crippled Kate’s and speak with Faria until he leaves. From here, Yennefer tells Geralt to met her in Oxenfurt. Before doing this, go to Zoltan and talk about the prison break. Providing you helped the mages during Now or Never, Zoltan wants nothing to do with Geralt, but if you left the mages to handle things on their own, he will help out.
Stick near the Pontar river by Oxenfurt and stay on the road. You will walk past the Novigrad Gate and see Yennefer waiting on a bridge. If you’re with Zoltan he’ll have beer.
Yennefer will lead you to a well. Jump into it and accept the item she gives you; activate this device when you locate Margarita.
Swim northeast and enter the old elven sanctuary. Travel southeast to a room where you encounter a Grave Hag. She stands between you and a busted lever. Kill her and be on your way.
Go into the corridor and swim northeast. Now go into the tunnel and head left. Go into the chamber and kill three Drowners, then examine the lever mechanism. This may prove useful.
Pass beneath the arch and go southwest into a room full of water. From here, travel southeast across a bridge. You will now reenter the room with the Grave Hag. Use the mechanism to open the door.
Go left and walk to the brick wall. Select Aard Sign magic to break it to pieces and then jump into the sewer, where you will fight a Necrophage and three Ghouls. The tunnel with the gate dead ends, so go east and then turn northeast. Now go right to step into a grimy tunnel leading to a torture chamber. If Zoltan had the beer this place is empty. If not you must battle two Witch Hunters.
Walk up to the southwestern door and open it, then climb up the wood steps. Go through a door and enter the main prison. Kill the witch hunters (less enemies if Zoltan is around) and proceed through the cell block.
Look for a grate on the floor and examine it. Margarita looks up at Geralt, and if Sile de Tancarville lived in The Witcher 2, she’s in the cell too.
Providing Zoltan helped Geralt, leave through the northeast door and walk up some wood steps. When you exit the prison you will see some intoxicated guards, and Geralt should be able to sneak past these guys. After doing this, walk up the steps leading to the Prison Commander’s Office. Kill the guy and pick up the key. It’s much easier if Zoltan is with you. Otherwise you need to fight a bunch of enemies.
Now that you have the key, go into the prison and free Margarita. Summon Yennefer and she will arrive via portal. When she leaves, return to the courtyard and dispose of any remaining bad guys. If Zoltan is there he will offer you a ride back to Novigrad and this main quest is over. If Zoltan is nowhere to be found, you can leave using a break in the western wall or go back through the sewers and out through the home.
Continue with Payback, Final Preparations and Through Time and Space main quests, then return to Prima’s free The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt walkthrough, where we teach you how to play Gwent and become the ultimate ladies man with our Romance guide.
