Managed to complete that fight (on DM). A few useful tips if anyone needs:

1. Apply vampire oil to the silver sword, naturally.
2. Drink Superior Tawny Owl. Since that part of the story always takes place at night, it should have constant effect eventually without toxicity penalty. As usual, it's great for recharging stamina to bring up Quen as soon as possible (no point using any other signs).
3. Drink Superior Full Moon (+1000 vitality for 180 seconds). This is a very useful potion for this fight, even more than Black Blood. With it being active and full vitality Geralt can survive one bat swarm hit.
4. Regardless of the above, avoid bat swarm attacks at all costs.

The best tactic, when Dettlaff starts summoning bats (you can notice that), run in the opposite direction from him, and wait facing him. When bats are all concentrated around Dettlaff, right away roll to the side. After that they will not change the direction of the attack already and will hit the spot you were at before the roll. But if you roll away too early - bats will hit the place you rolled to, and if you roll too late bats will hit before you'll have a chance to roll, so time the roll at the right moment, that's the key.

After figuring that out the fight was manageable, but they surely demonstrated quite well, why witchers should never take contracts on higher vampires. It was the hardest fight in the game, even worse than living statues in Extreme Cosplay.

Last edited by Shmerl on 2 Jun 2020 at 5:13 pm UTC

Just finished the main story line in Blood and Wine (Triss arrived in the end which was a good surprise). Great story writing in it as usual!

Also, a fitting video for the game finale (they should have added it as an outro):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgqz8Je7P0s

I am on my second playthrough with Death March difficulty. This playthrough I put focus on signs, but I recently grabbed a potion of clearance and redistribute my points differently. This time I used some more points back on melee attributes. I've sadly not mastered the combat yet.

@Shmerl
With you having a high RDNA GPU, are you playing at 1440 or 4K? I'm playing at 1080 and constantly think of how 1440 or 4K would be like with an even better monitor.

Last edited by Linuxwarper on 2 Jun 2020 at 11:59 am UTC

Quoting: Linuxwarper@Shmerl
With you having a high RDNA GPU, are you playing at 1440 or 4K? I'm playing at 1080 and constantly think of how 1440 or 4K would be like with an even better monitor.

I have 2560x1440 / 144 Hz monitor with adaptive sync. 4K is really an overkill if you also want high refresh rate / framerate for smoothness.

With RX 5700 XT, I get around 80+ fps and more in the game on max settings (hairworks disabled).

If you want a good monitor, I recommend [this one](https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27GL850-B-gaming-monitor).

Last edited by Shmerl on 2 Jun 2020 at 3:35 pm UTC

Quoting: ShmerlI have 2560x1440 / 144 Hz monitor with adaptive sync. 4K is really an overkill if you also want high refresh rate / framerate for smoothness.

With RX 5700 XT, I get around 80+ fps and more in the game on max settings (hairworks disabled).

If you want a good monitor, I recommend [this one](https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27GL850-B-gaming-monitor).

It's still a while before I can even consider going for another build, but I plan to upgrade to same as you have now eventually. Unless 4K becomes significantly cheaper. But I played Witcher on a smart tv, and the big screen and nice colors made it look so great, and I already have a decent monitor (1080). But If there's one game I'm eagerly waiting to test out with new specs, it is Witcher. Also I did hear 4K is overkill and that 1080 to 1440 yields more than going from 1080 to 4K? Not to mention it would be difficult to maintain performance on 4K and keep costs down.

4K is just too demanding. High framerate paired with high refresh rate at 2.5K is a better experience I think, than 4K with lower framerate.

Pushing to something above 100 fps (let alone approaching 144 fps) with 4K in TW3 needs some monstrous GPU. Current high end GPUs at least are most optimal for 2560x1440 / 144 Hz. We'll see how RDNA 2 will comapre.

Last edited by Shmerl on 2 Jun 2020 at 10:56 pm UTC

Quoting: Shmerl4K is just too demanding. High framerate paired with high refresh rate at 2.5K is a better experience I think, than 4K with lower framerate.

Pushing to something above 100 fps (let alone approaching 144 fps) with 4K in TW3 needs some monstrous GPU. Current high end GPUs at least are most optimal for 2560x1440 / 144 Hz. We'll see how RDNA 2 will comapre.

I was thinking of 4K60, but I heard going from 1080 to 1440 is more impactful than going from 1440 to 4k. And I do want to have high refresh rate monitor for my next setup.

Quoting: LinuxwarperI was thinking of 4K60, but I heard going from 1080 to 1440 is more impactful than going from 1440 to 4k. And I do want to have high refresh rate monitor for my next setup.

I'd say going from 60 Hz to 144 Hz monitor is more impactful than simply increasing resolution. Refresh rate > resolution value wise (at least until certain degree).

I.e. I consider 2560x1440 144 Hz better for gaming than 3840×2160 60 Hz.

Good site on the related topics: https://blurbusters.com

Last edited by Shmerl on 2 Jun 2020 at 11:54 pm UTC

Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: LinuxwarperI was thinking of 4K60, but I heard going from 1080 to 1440 is more impactful than going from 1440 to 4k. And I do want to have high refresh rate monitor for my next setup.

I'd say going from 60 Hz to 144 Hz monitor is more impactful than simply increasing resolution. Refresh rate > resolution value wise (at least until certain degree).

I.e. I consider 2560x1440 144 Hz better for gaming than 3840×2160 60 Hz.

Good site on the related topics: https://blurbusters.com

Reassuring to know you also think that:) I've bookedmarked site for now. If you want another resource too (for monitors), I highly recommend: https://pcmonitors.info/. I only mention it because the admin does great work and he should get more traffic to his site.

I laughed during this cutscene :D

Fun mission, with the latest fashion :P

(The birds flying above are already planning their next nest)

I feel as awkward as Geralt is whenever he's donning a doublet:dizzy:

Quoting: LinuxwarperI feel as awkward as Geralt is whenever he's donning a doublet:dizzy:

Instead of a doublet, I used [ornate robe](https://witcher.gamepedia.com/Ornate_robe_(relic)) (from Von Everec estate) for the Mandragora society event, and Anna Henrietta made an interesting comment that it's very fitting but stands out as unique in Beauclair.

Last edited by Shmerl on 3 Jun 2020 at 5:19 pm UTC

Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: LinuxwarperI feel as awkward as Geralt is whenever he's donning a doublet:dizzy:

Instead of a doublet, I used [ornate robe](https://witcher.gamepedia.com/Ornate_robe_(relic)) (from Von Everec estate) for the Mandragora society event, and Anna Henrietta made an interesting comment that it's very fitting but stands out as unique in Beauclair.

Did exactly the same. This robe looks awesome on Geralt. And I tried a different mask each time to see if one of them will trigger an equivalent remark. I already tried the wolf mask from "A Matter of Life and Death" and the last time it was the mask from "Extreme Cosplay". Aside from "This mask is not adquate", no luck... Yet.

Last edited by Mohandevir on 3 Jun 2020 at 6:07 pm UTC

Yeah, I think no matter what mask you choose, she'll give you a special event mask. I tried one from Tesham Mutna too.

Last edited by Shmerl on 3 Jun 2020 at 6:16 pm UTC

The most fitting mask is the one Dijstra wore :) Always makes me laugh.

Quoting: ShmerlInstead of a doublet, I used [ornate robe](https://witcher.gamepedia.com/Ornate_robe_(relic)) (from Von Everec estate) for the Mandragora society event, and Anna Henrietta made an interesting comment that it's very fitting but stands out as unique in Beauclair.

It looks good, and it would be convenient if Geralt decided to become a Eternal Fire pre-cher:P

I tried Signs on the bird but nothing manages to free him from the bug.

Not far into the game, decided to play through Witcher 2 first, just wanted to show off...

That's a very wide screen :)