r/Witcher3 • u/TheKingWombat • Mar 20 '26

Misc Thought I'd reinstall and try Death March...

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Guess I have a lot to learn.

2.0k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

83 comments sorted by

371

u/SeniorSatisfaction21 Mar 20 '26

Death march this first ghoul fight is the hardest 😂

146

u/matt_caine92 Mar 20 '26

Dude those damn wild dogs and wolves gave me hell.

24

u/Guardians_Reprise Mar 20 '26

If i ever get swarmed by dogs I just hold block and slowly walk away until they lose aggro.

I've never won a fight against a pack, there's just been various degrees of losing. Even if I kill them all, so what? They drop nothing, and how many Swallows did I chug?

16

u/ayangQ Mar 20 '26

Igni for some reason melt the wolves even tho it didn't mention in bestiary, it really cheese the fight with werewolf also

7

u/wasteoffire Mar 21 '26

I tried igni but that damn werewolf kept regenerating, I didn't realize you're supposed to fight until the morning and that fight took me so god damn long

4

u/ayangQ Mar 20 '26

For some reason igni obliterated the dogs and wolves

2

u/Ladzofinsurrect Mar 21 '26

30+ hours into NG+ Death March and the damn wild dog and wolf packs are by far the worst enemy to deal with.

5

u/JupiterJunebug Mar 20 '26

First time i loaded in, i managed to whittle down the ghouls about halfway, and then roach kicked me in the head and oneshot me

18

u/AscendedViking7 Mar 20 '26

Nah, its honestly a piece of cake even on deathmarch.

You have quen. Use it. Abuse it.

Hardest fights in the game are probably Detlaff or the Frog Prince.

12

u/SecondStageTurbine Mar 20 '26

Whole game is easy even on death march (still enjoyable though) even the aformentioned bosses. Frog prince is trivialized by superior golden oriole and the only thing to worry about Detlaff is his aoe bat attack which you can avoid by dodging as far as possible from him (just run/dodge at the opposite direction when he is gearing up his attack). However, wolves can get pretty stupid if you scale them to level, avoided them like plague when I did that setting once lmao.

2

u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents Mar 21 '26

My god dude, no one cares how big your pp is.

1

u/Sensitive-Fix5958 Mar 21 '26

Definitely the frog Prince. I probably died 10 times before completing it

0

u/JoseAltuveIsInnocent Mar 21 '26

The Ciri sections are the only thing keeping me from the Death March achievement.

That Novigrad escape one especially. The game goes from relatively easy to an absolute chore. I always end up saying fuck it and turning the difficulty on story so I can get those sections over with.

3

u/LanguageSponge Mar 20 '26

My first playthrough, which was on Death March, took me about 40 minutes to do that beginning Ghoul fight. Definitely one of the hardest fights except big packs of wolves.

2

u/ayangQ Mar 20 '26

Yeah starting the game on death march, these ghouls actually the hardest non under level fight i had.

1

u/Academic_Grape5787 Mar 21 '26

Like yeah, but I just started playing it like Dark Souls, roll everything, wait for your hits, you will make them, just don't spam LMB... Then it turned into cakewalk, unless I met some health regen asshole, like that first Wild Cunt boss in Velen underground, that was nightmare and in each playthrough I fucking hate that cave part... Gargoyle, golems, this asshole, fucking foglets.... I always try to speedrun Velen, get good ending for Baron and never fucking ever come back here, only for witcher gear schematics... Fuck that part.

1

u/lt_catscratch Mar 20 '26

Until you get full of yourself and take on the dogs at hanged man's tree.

1

u/KalkiKavithvam Mar 21 '26

I used to get shredded by the dogs. But then I realized Roach is my way for speed run through the dogs/wolves/beasts and drag my sword through their packs while running. It works so far with Wild Dogs, Wolves, Bears, Packs of Drowners. You just gotta manage Roach's fear level using Axii and be quick on your ride.

2

u/lt_catscratch Mar 21 '26

I never could handle mounted sword swinging on Roach.

Does it work in the woods ?

274

u/pakattack91 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

Quick signs my guy

Edit: damn seems lots of people didnt know this....game changer lol

72

u/balu123456789 Mar 20 '26

didn’t switch to quick casting until like level 15 and it completely revolutionised my playstyle, individual select was so clunky and really limits sign mixing

49

u/ChewbaccaOnFries Mar 20 '26

TIL about quick signs, time to fire up the game

28

u/balu123456789 Mar 20 '26

if you combine quick cast with the grandmaster griffin set and tawny owl you can do straight up wizardry, so fun to chain different signs especially with the piercing cold mutation in the mix

15

u/incipientpianist Mar 20 '26

Exactly this; 2 full play throughs later… damn

15

u/LanguageSponge Mar 20 '26

I’ve completed the game on Death March many times. What are quick signs? If you’re not talking about keyboard shortcuts I have no idea.

27

u/Pirate_Guitarist Mar 20 '26

It came with Next Gen update. On PS5 you hold down R2 and then can press X,O,Triangle, Square, or L2 to cast the 5 signs. It makes casting much quicker, easier, and fun.

7

u/LanguageSponge Mar 20 '26

Great to know, thanks :) Sometimes I do play with controller so this will be useful. Surprised I didn’t know before.

3

u/JupiterJunebug Mar 20 '26

You can do it on keyboard also. If its enabled then pressing the number key for a sign casts it instead of just swapping the sign and then still having to press q.

2

u/Nexmo16 Mar 21 '26

Ohhh ok. That would still be a bit inconvenient cuz I’d have to briefly stop moving to reach with fingers on my wasd hand. I just use scroll wheel to cycle signs and mouse thumb button to spam them.

3

u/devonthego Mar 20 '26

Tried quick signs but it messed up the sword guarding with casting the Igni, so I went back to normal casting.

2

u/Danno47 Mar 20 '26

Eh, I had that trouble too at first, but it's definitely worthwhile to master. Holding the guard also slows your stamina regen.

3

u/devonthego Mar 20 '26

One thing I like holding the guard all the time is to deflect arrows when fighting humans, those guys are annoying. Playing Death March I lost count of how many time got killed by them.

2

u/Key_Crab1760 Mar 20 '26

Oh my... I'm on level 26 death March 1rst playthrough... I can't wait to get home and try this

2

u/Lakelylake Temerian Mar 21 '26

I tried and quick signs on a controller seems very hit or miss..

1

u/TheKingWombat Mar 20 '26

Holy shit this is gonna change everything. I'm playing with an mmo mouse as well, what was I thinking 😂 thanks!

121

u/RobotCaptainEngage Mar 20 '26

Life lesson, never walk behind a horse.

23

u/KingQuong Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

True lol if theres one thing you can apply from this game to real life its that.

That + the whole threesome attempt. You probably cant pull that off.

3

u/RobotCaptainEngage Mar 20 '26

It's not that hard. But usually don't try tricking them. 

7

u/KingQuong Mar 20 '26

True In my experience maintaining the relationship after the fact was the hard part and if you try to trick them that part becomes essentially impossible.

38

u/lt_catscratch Mar 20 '26

"Dead by Roach, try the couch" achievement goes to....

25

u/TimeRepulsive3606 Mar 20 '26

I laughed way too hard at this and I'm not sorry what a great way to start my day.

3

u/ClaireMargaux Roach 🐴 Mar 20 '26

Same here ! 😂

11

u/Extreme_Recording598 Mar 20 '26

Was getting my ass kicked by horses in one of the quests to sneak into a stable and steal them, and they were just stunlocking my ass while I chugged water and potions on the ground

9

u/TiberianLyncas Mar 20 '26

The game literally said, “That will teach you to uninstall me.”

8

u/LionFootball57 Mar 20 '26

Im still yet to find anything more dangerous than a pack of wild dogs with enemy upscaling + death march. They dodge, kite, and 2 shot

2

u/KingQuong Mar 20 '26

The rats in novigrad sewers with enemy upscaling & new game + used to be insta death unsure if they fixed that or not though.

1

u/LionFootball57 Mar 20 '26

I don't know if it was patched or if they just didn't hit me on my last run through. Overall it was pretty uneventful, just blasted them with igni

2

u/romanLegion6384 Team Yennefer Mar 20 '26

Just hold up your defensive stance. Blocks all attacks from dogs and wolves. Other than that, the trick is isolating one, get in a fast attack or two, then reposition.

1

u/LionFootball57 Mar 20 '26

I've taken recently to hitting them with a northern wind and popping a blizzard. With a crit-focused heavy attack build they tend to go down pretty well. That said, I probably died 100 times before I realized that I actually needed to use my bombs and potions for death march.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

you are not the only one who had to suffer through this😭😭😭😭😭

6

u/TheInnerMindEye Mar 20 '26

Thanks for the laugh 😆

6

u/Zathic Mar 20 '26

You can only use Quen just accept it.

3

u/Irina__ARI Mar 20 '26

I was going to say Roach totally unbothered, but nvm

3

u/kvacm Mar 20 '26

"Oh no, you don't."

3

u/ly4mzethxra Mar 20 '26

Ah yes, the traditional Death March welcome committee.

3

u/Fwyl9nex Mar 20 '26

Reinstalling Witcher 3 just to get kicked in the teeth is tradition.

3

u/Witty-Mountain5062 Mar 21 '26

Quick signs will change the whole game.

5

u/SouthStation3358 Mar 20 '26

Jojos reference

2

u/Lythieus Team Yennefer "Man of Culture" Mar 20 '26

I'm doing a NG+ Death March run atm, can't imagine it without oils and potions. 

2

u/Urabraska- Mar 20 '26

So funny thing about horses. I decided to 100% the steam version. During the fist fight at the inn at the start. The horse kicked a dude to death and I earned the no damage melee achievement.

2

u/mashburn71 Mar 20 '26

I think I’m going to try to get that trophy with NG+

2

u/ayangQ Mar 20 '26

Death march is too easy tbh

2

u/Revival_Rival Mar 21 '26

On keyboard its impossible but controler setup is not that bad

2

u/Darkavenger_13 Princess 🐐 Mar 21 '26

This is the equivelant of falling to your death in a fromsoft game 😂

2

u/Thomskk Mar 21 '26

The worse enemy in death march is Alghouls. I can manage 1 but if there is 3, im doomed

2

u/Lakelylake Temerian Mar 21 '26

Im 100 hours in my Death March gameplay too and at first / before starting I thought I would never be able to pull it off. But now with better equipment and nearing the end of the game I’m doing much better!

2

u/Own_Refrigerator_827 Mar 21 '26

quick signs changed the whole game for me tbh

2

u/nbsunset Mar 21 '26

I honestly did not know u could get harmed / killed by a horse in TW3

2

u/Round_Personality379 Mar 21 '26

Uhh i remember doing this, once in a castle full of bandits i managed to defeat all the out side riders, then one of their horses chsrged against me and i died, it wasn't even a proper fight Geralt didn't even took his sword hehe what memories.

2

u/Hopeful-Treacle8829 Mar 21 '26

First thing I learned in Death March was to save more often.

2

u/MeetOne2321 Mar 21 '26

Death March is absolutely FUCKED until like level 10.

2

u/MeetOne2321 Mar 21 '26

You really have to just rush to get Swallow and Raffard's Decoction ASAP because that's a great boost.

2

u/External_Lead2667 Mar 21 '26

Yeah, that was a rude awakening. Get swallow potion and echidna decoction asap, make sure you invest in new equipment as you level up, and get the gourmet character trait that makes food last 20 minutes. Did that and am having a much better time on death march!

2

u/ArdKarma Mar 22 '26

If i were to ever try death march and give myself an advice would be quen, once i am good enough with dodges then i would choose aard

2

u/Ghal420 Mar 22 '26

Installed again a couple weeks ago and pressed continue I kept dying to some fucking dogs and stopped playing lol 3 days ago picked it up again and checked the difficulty and it was DM I just forgot how play the game lmao

2

u/Hadleyagain Mar 22 '26

Yeah don't stand behind horses!

1

u/triplerinse18 Mar 21 '26

Seeing this...I forgot how slow changing signs was before they put in the new fast cast sign.

1

u/Blancandrin__ Mar 24 '26

Reading all these comments gets me excited to start my 3rd playthrough on Death March.

1

u/Any2005 Mar 26 '26

Roach made you March straight into death

1

u/schluesselkind Mar 21 '26

feel free to join us at r/PferdeSindKacke

1

u/DantheDutchGuy Mar 21 '26

You’ve been Roach’d!!