The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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Walked the Path

Walked the Path

Finish the game on the "Death March!" difficulty level.

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How to unlock the Walked the Path achievement in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Definitive Guide

WARNING: spoilers throughout the guide. The first few paragraphs will contain overall tips and will be spoiler free for those who wish for help without spoilers.

Note: I no longer play the Witcher 3 actively, and so I don't actively update this guide to changes, unless a commentator gives new information. I will still help anyone with questions to the best of my ability.

Note: There have been numerous reports across different versions of the game automatically lowering difficulty. Make sure you have an old save just in case, but it appears that you should be able to simply put your difficulty back to Death March. Read the comments for more info.

TL;DR - Use puppet and delusion, plus a lot of skill and dodging. Also, read the guide...

NG+

The majority of this guide is intended for gaining the achievement on your first playthrough (NG). With the release of NG+ as free dlc you can now obtain this achievement using your end-game gear and skills. However, this guide will still provide the necessary information and tips to get through regardless of NG or NG+.

I haven't played NG+ completely, and so cannot comment on whether you should attempt the achievement on NG or NG+, however I imagine it would be easier at the start, but harder at the end (rather than a hard beginning and easy end).

Since your items carry on with you, you can fully prepare with lots of potions, decoctions, armour, and weaponry. I suggest you download the Wolf School free dlc and obtain them, this should make you very powerful.

Here is some information that will be helpful if you intend to do this on NG+:

- When you are starting NG+ you can select the Death March difficulty, the achievement will be valid for this playthrough.
- Enemies are stronger (making the difficulty effectively higher).
- Your items carry on with you (making the difficulty effectively easier during early game).
- You will begin at your character level, unless you are lower than 30, in which case it will bump you up to level 30.
- You will receive a clearing potion, which is used to reset your skills.

Bugs and fixes:

Version 1.07 Fix: Don't worry too much about this bug. You can change your difficulty back to Death March and the achievement should still be valid with that save.

Version 1.07 Major Bug: After the 1.07 patch you may find that your Death March difficulty has been changed to a lower one. Make sure you check which difficulty you are currently on. If it has been lowered then you can reload from a save which is still on Death March and the achievement will still be available from that save.

Version 1.04 Fix: The bug from version 1.03 (puppet and delusion) has been fixed and therefore one can now use both at the same time (as is suggested for this difficulty).

Bug for version 1.03: Puppet and delusion are not working at the same time. If you have put points into delusion (the first axii tree perk) then the primary method below will not work. To fix this you can either wait until the patch (assuming it will fix this) or you can go to Novigrad and purchase a potion of clearance from a merchant in a shop at the square just a little south-east from the Passiflora (next to the notice board). This potion will allow you to respec, and avoid delusion so that puppet will work.

General Tips:

This guide is geared towards helping people who are struggling with this difficulty, remember that what you may find difficult others may not, and vice versa. Therefore, while I try to include everything I think is required, I may have missed something. If I did then please point it out in the comments and I will add it to the guide. Alternatively if you have questions or need specific help you could private message me.

This achievement is gained once the final primary quest is completed, after playing through the entire game on "Death March!" difficulty. This difficulty makes the enemies have insane damage and damage resistance, while reducing your own relatively. This is not as difficult as many my expect because there is a trick that makes the game very easy, regardless of difficulty (not a glitch). However, until you get to the point where you can use it the game can be very hard.

This trick is the alternative axii sign, which affects most opponents (the exceptions are bosses and some enemies much higher level than you), and can be unlocked with 7 character points by getting the puppet perk. Points are gained through leveling up or using a Place of Power (found throughout the world). This alternative axii sign makes enemies your ally. The advantage from this is that enemies will take each other out with their higher attack power, and the last enemy can be killed by you while he is an ally without being able to damage you.

Furthermore, while most are distracted you can clear up enemies quickly using an upgraded aard sign to knock them over and then instant killing them on the ground. This is mainly effective for smaller enemies because aard wont knock down larger ones (it will push them, giving an opportunity for a hit).

Another tip, mainly for early game before you have axii, but also for boss fights; dodging and maintaining quen is a safe way of winning fights, particularly using the alternate quen sign which you can put up just before being hit, and it will absorb heath from the hit. Dodge roll is preferable if you are in a dire condition and need some space, while normal dodging is best for when you want some attacks. Playing defensively and cautiously will often be better in the long run so that you lose less health and manage first time (getting angry or annoyed by a particular fight often makes it harder because you may make more mistakes).

Another is to get yourself to within the recommended level for a quest (the recommended level should turn green), or above it if it is particularly difficult. Enemies which are higher level by five levels have even more damage and damage resistance regardless of your equipment (I tested this with the same equipment). Levelling up is slow at the start. Getting it up is fastest by completing quests and clearing points of interest. Hence, if you find yourself under levelled then go and do secondary quests, or explore.

The final tip is to stock up on potions (swallow, thunderbolt, cat) and food for vitality regeneration. Oils can also increase your damage, but I never used them. If you travel without any vitality restoration sources then you will find yourself with low health and in critical condition for a while if you are on quests. Potions are crafted in the start menu; most ingredients for them can be bought or easily found (just loot everything you see). Food can be found, but if you have the coin it is easier to purchase from shops such as innkeepers. Furthermore, using the Sun and Stars perk is good because it will give constant health regeneration, so this can save using food or potions. Decoctions are also useful because they provide very specific effects. The White Rafford decoction heals you for 50% health instantly. It is sold NE of Oxenfurt by a herbalist.

Spoilers beyond this point!

In order to avoid as many spoilers as I can I will only give details to parts that I think require information on. If there are any particular parts that I miss that anyone needs guidance on then comment. Novigrad and Skellige both have easy quests, especially since at that stage you should be adept in fighting at this difficulty, and you should have good weaponry and armour. Hence, I will not say much for them unless anyone wants a guide for a particular quest there.

When playing as Ciri you will have little trouble; you have health regen, even during combat, also increased base damage (far better than Geralt), and special powers which can be great for crowd control. Be warned: you cannot parry or cast signs. Your dodge is replaced with a spirit dash thing that can allow you to go through enemies.

White Orchard

The objective is to find Yennefer in White Orchard. This is early game and will be the hardest part of the game because you don't have very good equipment, and are without axii. Dealing with groups of enemies at this stage is hard. The best thing you can do is keep dodging and make sure quen is up, getting the occasional quick attack in. Alternatively run and keep casting igni (this takes a while). Exploration and secondary quests during this stage are particularly useful if you are struggling.

You fight a Griffin as a boss, this fight is quite difficult, just shoot the griffin out of the sky, then get a couple of hits on her. If she blocks then roll around her (do not attack her from the front when she does this) and hit her from the back. Apply thunderbolt while you are hitting to maximise its effects. Hide behind nearby trees to get catch a breath if you want to reapply quen. At low health the Griffin will fly away a short distance. The fight there is the same as in the field. Axii can be used to stun the griffin, allowing a couple of extra hits.

Igni is also effective against the griffin because it has a chance to cause burning. If it does cause burning then the damage over time will be significant and gives you a very safe way to deal damage. This method isn't just great for the griffin; this works on a lot of strong enemies and mini-bosses, so if you really struggle with a fight then try just running around and using igni. However, it can take a while, so you will need patience.

Velen

In Velen there will be two questlines: Bloody Baron and Witch/Ladies of the Wood.

The Bloody Baron gives you a few tasks. None of these are too difficult, particularly with the axii trick. I found saving the Botchling to be easier, but a lot of wraiths must be fought. These are hard to fight in groups. Axii will help a lot, even just to remove a threat for a few moments.

The witch, Keira Metz goes through a big dungeon with you. She isn't much help, in fact I found her to be a nuisance. Care should be taken with the drowners, but if you are stuck just run past them. There is a golem which has basic attacks. When fighting it be wary of its ground stomps. Be even more wary of its charge, but by now you may have realised that rolling/dodging is something you should do if in any doubt.

You will also fight Nithral with Keira, he is a difficult boss at that stage. He becomes invincible and heals himself to full at 2/3 health and 1/3 health. His attacks are easy to dodge and Keira keeps him on lockdown with spells.

The Ladies of the Woods have a lot of drowners. If you have particular trouble with this then get on your horse and swing at them while you ride. When you get to the tree thing you have a decision, I killed it (don't know what the other answer does). If you also decide to kill it then igni will solve your problems.

Novigrad

There is not much to say for Novigrad; the axii trick can be used to easily get through all of the missions without so much as a scratch.

Skellige

These quests are just as easy as Novigrad's. Using axii will get you through the human fighting best. Foglets are quite difficult, but yrden will make them appear and axii as usual will stop them hurting you. If fighting underwater then the crossbow does insane damage for some reason.

Kaer Mohren/Isle of Mists

Kaer Mohren begins with two quests. Going with Lambert takes you through some drowners. Do not go to the child when you hear its screams, you will have to fight foglets. If you fight Old Speartip, then just use axii; it works on him. Also, I suggest not fighting the trolls, this can be done by choosing peaceful options and giving them your swords. Going with Eskel means fighting a forktail. The forktail can be entranced by axii, so it falls prey to that trick.

Before getting to Ciri you should collect everyone who can help you (Brothers in Arms quests) because I think it plays a part in making the fighting easier, also you get an achievement. Also, being level 22 at this point is what you are aiming for.

I suggest you stock up on food, good weapons, and good armour (Master armourer and sword smith). Also get the archgriffin decoction for later.

The Isle of Mists has a lot of harpies and foglets. Harpies are easy to kill. Normal axii them, they will fall to the ground and you can instant kill them. Foglets are difficult, but alt axii will make them easy.

Now you go back to Kaer Mohren. Here you have some choices to make. I chose to have the wall fixed and the traps because these seemed to be the best options. I believe the traps are fire barrels. These can be set alight with igni for amazing damage.

During the fight, you may notice that the hounds cannot be entranced by axii, but the warriors can. This means you should focus on the hounds. When within the castle walls there should be fire barrels to help you, but besides that use the same strategy that you have found when outside the walls.

Bald Mountain

There are two boss fights here:

With Ciri, you will fight the Ladies of the Wood, Their movesets are pretty much just the same as Hags (e.g. Water Hag), so you should be able to beat them without much difficulty.

Use the archgriffin deocoction if you have it (you can make one before the fight if you have the ingredients and diagram. This will make your heavy attacks do 10% of Imlerith's health at the expense of all of your stamina. This means that when it is active quen is not much of an option, however it makes the fight much quicker, and you should be able to dodge through the entire fight as described below, thus not taking hits anyway.

With Geralt you will fight Imlerith, a general in the Wild Hunt. He will be a difficult fight. Of course axii does not affect him, so you must go back to quen and dodge if you don't have the archgriffin decoction active. For the first 2/3 of his health maintain a distance about his club's length from him. This should make him do a lunge attack. As soon as he attacks dodge to the right then dodge back towards him (he will have moved past you) and heavy attack (you can only get one hit in, so you may as well use heavy). Repeat this, with thunderbolt it wont take long. Sometimes he will teleport. If he does then use igni to remove his protective coating.

The second part of the fight is very hard. You may have to do this a couple of times to get used to it. He will have permanent protective coating, so your attacks do little damage, also he teleports behind you repeatedly (sometimes as combos of 3, sometimes 4). Rolling causes him to teleport in front of where you roll sometimes, and you get hit. Therefore dodge and walk away from him, then as soon as he teleports dodge forwards, do this until his club gets stuck, then one heavy hit, and back to dodging. This will take a while but remain cautious and you should be able to do it. If you must then skip attacking him and take the time to compose yourself.

Novigrad (Post-fight)

Here you will do a few quests for your gang.

The space and time quest doesn't have any particularly difficult parts.

The enemies are under the control of Philippa, and as such cannot be affected by axii. So, back to old school quen tactics here. Also, you can avoid fighting Bart. The fire elemental Philippa summons can be easily killed just be using aard to remove the flames, and then it becomes a normal golem fight, which by now you have probably mastered.

When saving the sorceress from the jail, you will have to go into the main courtyard. This is full of enemies who will surround you and archers will also pick you off. You could either draw them back and pick them off where the archers cannot see you, or run past them to the captain (your target) kill him using axii, then run back through. You can also run past them again

Skellige (Post-fight)

There are a few quests here. None are of particular note, because all of them can be completed easily using axii strats or quen and dodge.

I suggest you stock up on food, good weapons, and good armour (Master armourer and sword smith) before proceeding to the final battle.

Final Battles

Caranthir - When fighting as Ciri he will be easy, just keep slashing and dodge when he teleports. A cutscene will occur at 2/3 health. Then Geralt takes over. It is a difficult fight. Caranthir will fire magical projectiles at you. You must dodge these by rolling (I roll into them). When you get to hum you can hit him twice, do two strong attacks for maximum damage. After a few teleports he will summon an ice elemental. Stand with the elemental between you and Caranthir, and he will kindly kill them for you. If he has white frost on him then use igni before doing your two hits. At very low health he will be defeated.

Once you have swum to the surface and a short cut scene, you will be at the start of a path with ships and ice. You can take this opportunity to save, meditate, and apply any character points you have.

Eredin - At first this may appear to be an extremely difficult fight. I found a cheese method for those who just cannot beat him. The method is to stun lock Eredin using axii, a wall, and your sword. When you use alt axii on him he will fall back stunned, hit him once with a heavy attack, and then axii him again immediately. Each alt axii should only take a split second to cast, and your stamina wont go down much. Be careful, when he gets to about 9/10 health he will open a portal. If he is stun locked then weird glitching will happen, so its best to give him a chance. Through the portal, dodge his magic attacks then run to a wall. He should teleport behind you, so just dodge then begin stun locking, repeat until he does another portal. There is no cutscene for this one so run into it yourself. Then you are back on the boat, so proceed to stun lock him to death.

Now you have an easy time ahead of yourself, so enjoy the ending, you've earned it. The achievement will pop once you have reached the end credits.

Credit

Thanks to WulfTek for the griffin fight igni method.
Thanks to Drorelith for the archgriffin decoction method for Imlerith.
Thanks to TheMaize for pointing out the aard sign's usefulness.
Thanks to Yung Darwin and gamerevolution.com for pointing out the bug (1.03).
Thanks to Mr Snuggles 888 for the alternate quen tip and White Rafford Decoction.
Thanks to zedgehog for the 1.04 update information.
Thanks to FindlayFiend for the 1.07 bug, and dlmyers1990 for confirming it.
Thanks to SallyNasty for the 1.07 fix, and ImaginaryRuins for confirming it.
Thanks to all the people who gave info with regard to version bugs, in particular the difficulty reset. Special thanks to NJC Omega for checking and confirming fix information.
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26 May 2015 21:28

90 Comments
No, you are placed back into the world as it was before the final quest. I'll add that to the guide.
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By Qozul on 27 May 2015 10:38
One thing I would add about the Imlerith fight is the Archgriffin doctotion. With a heavy attack it takes 10% of the opponents vitality but it consumes any and all stamina. Quen is rather useless cause of his teleporting doesn't give u time to cast it. So to me this is the one boss fight that it seems made for.
I'll be removing my guide now that someone has made up a much better one.
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By Drorelith on 27 May 2015 22:48
Thanks I appreciate that. I'd never used decoctions, but now I wish I had. I will add your info to the guide. With quen, I suppose if you have no stamina from the attack then there wouldn't be time for it.
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By Qozul on 28 May 2015 06:20
Lol, I thought that I was the first to defeat Eredin by axii and Heavy attack spamming. I just can't add any tip from my experience. Axii make this difficulty so easy=)
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By BLACKandBIG on 28 May 2015 23:17
Am I the only one who thought boss battles like Caranthir and Eredin were the easiest part of the game and parts such as running into a Arch Griffin in the middle of Velen to be the hardest?
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By the JeffreyTM on 22 Jul 2015 01:53
Thanks, that is a good alternative method, or even a good combo strategy with axii. I've added it to the guide.
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By Qozul on 29 May 2015 06:51
Good tip for fighting the griffin, if you hit it head on with Igni, it does a large amount of damage over time
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By WulfTek on 30 May 2015 00:00
Thanks, I've added your igni method to the guide.
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By Qozul on 30 May 2015 07:14
Just want to point out that the Survival Instinct ability does not regenerate Vitality. It just gives you +500 maximum Vitality. The ability that regenerates Vitality is called Sun and Stars. As an aside, I found neither of those abilities very useful on Death March.
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By I Ebon Hawk I on 30 May 2015 18:10
Seems like puppet is bugged in version 1.03
http://www.gamerevolution.com/faq/ps4/the-witcher-3-wild-hun...
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By The Reward on 02 Jun 2015 02:01
Thanks, I have updated the guide to address the issue.
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By Qozul on 02 Jun 2015 06:58
I dont know if it had anything to do with my weapon. But for me, dispelling caranthirs shield was a mistake. Aslong as he had his shield up, i automatically did a critical hit, everytime i hit him...so for me atleast, it was better NOT to use igni in that fight
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By TheMaize on 04 Jun 2015 09:55
I'm unsure why that happened for you. As far as I can tell from fighting him a few times it was best to remove his ice armour because attacking him while he had ice armour on dealt significantly less damage (over 50% less).
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By Qozul on 04 Jun 2015 10:36
I just hit Velen and I'm lvl 4 with 10 ability points any suggestions besides Axii which is a given?
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By Lost2Shirts9000 on 04 Jun 2015 23:31
Sun and stars, Quen exploding 3 levels and heavy attack (strength training)
After maxing out heavy attack to 5 Get Focus or Rage from general abilities.
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By The Reward on 04 Jun 2015 23:47
Question about the save files. Say I save, after that I change the difficulty from Death March to a lower difficulty (you get the achievement lock popup), unlock some other achievements and then load my first save again (before I lowered the difficulty), does the Death March achievement stay locked or is it still possible to get?
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By F P Helios on 07 Jun 2015 13:35
For long-term survivability I recommend unlocking and upgrading the Quen alternate sign, active shield, when in use damage is converted into health.
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By Mr Snuggles 888 on 10 Jun 2015 04:24
This guide is a spot on, one last thing I would add is the white raffard's decoction, a potion that heals you instantly by 50%. I believe a herbalist sells it Novingrad, or NW of Oxenfurt, I will try and confirm it's location.
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By Mr Snuggles 888 on 11 Jun 2015 00:54
The herbalist NE of Oxenfurt sells it, not NW. Good luck everyone!
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By Mr Snuggles 888 on 11 Jun 2015 00:58
Undying skill is handy in a jam , saved me a few times from enemies who hit harder that I was expecting or after taking a hit from behind after an enemy in front broke my quen shield.
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By Calex dEUS on 11 Jun 2015 17:55
Now that the 1.04 update is out, I just wanted to confirm that the Delusion and Puppet sign abilities now work together so when both are active and holding the cn_RT to use Puppet and have an enemy fight for you, they will also be stopped in their tracks unable to attack until the casting is complete, perfect combination to sneak so that only the nearest enemy first spots you and take their mind to kill another, back off so when effect wears off they don't see you, rinse and repeat until one left to finish off. Combine with the Quen abilities and you got the perfect combination to also get in there where the action is.
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By zedgehog on 12 Jun 2015 13:07
Thanks for the update zedgehog.
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By Qozul on 12 Jun 2015 13:18
Just wanted to add, for anyone who is daunted by this before starting, there really is no need, Before level 10 or so it is somewhat challenging, but after that it is a breeze; definitely one of the easier max difficulties out there; as to builds, get puppet,upgrade swallow to max and nothing else matters at all....literally, everything else is just your play style. I finished with 15 unspent points. Good luck.
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By Daelus1 on 20 Jun 2015 08:07
To the above I'd also suggest getting the upgraded witcher gear as it becomes relevant. I did it alchemy build in cat gear and was a breeze
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By Ianuvan on 22 Jun 2015 14:35
For those who are having trouble keeping your heath up during the beginning of the game, when you get to Velen go to a town called Downwarren. There are some sheep that infinitely respawn so you can get raw meat to your hearts content. Also you'll get some sheep's skin that you can sell if you are running low on coin.
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By Peregrine Kiwi on 13 Jul 2015 04:46
My difficulty changed also after the patch. Luckily I have one save on death march still but it is from a long way back. Stupid patch.
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By KnightBlue14 on 23 Jul 2015 20:40
Good, thanks for the confirmation, I will add a warning in the guide.
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By Qozul on 24 Jul 2015 01:38
Confirmed that I too have had the patch change my difficulty. I have seen some reports online that you can change it back and continue on and still get the cheevs. will advise.
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By SallyNasty on 24 Jul 2015 19:56
This just happened to me too. I had read that some people's difficulties had been changed, so I would check here and there to make sure it hadn't happened to me.
All was good, until I checked again, and there it is, back on "Just the Story", and no saves to go back to that were still on "Death March".
So there goes that. Goddamn it.
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By Kyle1810 on 26 Jul 2015 06:21
I noticed the difficulty had switched to Just the Story right after the battle of Kaer Morhen. Frustrated at how far back I would have to go to find a save that hadn't switched (non 1.07), I just decided to put the difficulty back to Death March and keep on trucking. I beat the game last night and all difficulty achievements popped. Yah!
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By SallyNasty on 27 Jul 2015 11:23
I had assumed that wouldn't work because when changing the difficulty down it comes up with a warning. If I get any confirmation that this works then I will add it as a fix in the guide, otherwise I'd be too worried that you just got lucky.

Good for you though.
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By Qozul on 27 Jul 2015 12:24
The difficulty-reduce bug hit me; I reset it to Death March!, and today I unlocked this achievement. Thank God.
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By on 08 Aug 2015 09:09
Great. I have updated the guide with this fix.
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By Qozul on 08 Aug 2015 13:17
Now that ng+ is available, someone needs to update this to say if you can play through death march with all your upgrades.
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By IllustriousYeti on 18 Aug 2015 12:57
I have updated the guide to include an NG+ section.
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By Qozul on 18 Aug 2015 14:28
I'm not sure I'm understanding how to use Puppet Axii. If you're fighting a group of enemies, particularly in a confined space, I don't seem to have time to cast it before something that I'm not casting on is beating me down. Am I doing something wrong?
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By XI AlphaMale IX on 26 Sep 2015 13:19
Didn't understand the axii method, tried so hard but in vain to defeat Eredin... He was so powerful that he 2 shot me no matter what my build was... My character is lvl 60 but wasn't strong enough :( I'm pretty frustrated cuz I was so close but kept my save just in case. I reckon my biggest mistake was to try this on a new game+ because everything's significantly harder... Hats off to those who killed Eredin Death March ng+ but I give up for now; hopin' the DLC will ease my frustration...
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By Fleshwrither on 16 Oct 2015 17:58
I failed the mission Gangs of Novigrad, I talked to Roche before talking with Cleaver
This will prevent me from receiving the achievement ?
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By RafaelTurri on 09 Nov 2015 13:06
I don't think that you can fail the main story to an extent that you are unable to continue. As long as you are able to progress the main story then you will be able to finish the game and earn the achievement.

Try going through your quest log and completing some quests, you may end up back on track.
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By Qozul on 09 Nov 2015 16:30
Just to confirm, as you can see on the left, I managed to get the achievement yesterday. This is following my previous post where I noticed my difficulty had turned down to 'Just the Story' with version 1.10 of the game. I played all of the initial Skellige story line without realising this, then turned the difficulty up to 'Death March!' again while on version 1.11 of the game before the battle at Kaer Mohren. All achievements popped at the completion of the game.

I was not hit by this glitch at version 1.07 of the game as I still have a version 1.08 save file on the Death March difficulty.

So to sum up, if you get hit with this, don't worry too much. Just turn the difficulty back up as soon as you notice it and the achievement should popwink
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By NJC Omega on 22 Nov 2015 20:50
Thanks for all this information. I have updated the guide with a note, and of course credit to you at the end :)
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By Qozul on 22 Nov 2015 21:30
I tried the axii route. Didn't work for me. So now I am maxxed on quen and fast attacks and ofc adrenaline generation.
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By Phoenix C64 on 26 Nov 2015 10:17
So you can only get this achievement with ng+ ? For some reason his seems unclear to me
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By Tonicarborist on 06 Jan 2016 20:49
No, you can get it on any playthrough. The guide is mainly focused around getting it on NG (only the small section at the start is dedicated to NG+).
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By Qozul on 06 Jan 2016 22:24
Can anyone definitively say whether it's best to tackle this on the base game, or NG+? I haven't actually started yet. Seeing the pros and cons but no firm preference
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By kintaris on 13 Feb 2016 00:38
Based upon the way I play a lot of games, I would say that if this is your first time playing then just jump straight in with NG, this is because you will quickly become used the difficulty as though it is just normal (I never played any lower difficulty).

This way, if you were having so many problems that you gave up, then you can always lower the difficulty and prepare yourself for getting this on NG+.
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By Qozul on 13 Feb 2016 08:30
Has anyone tried to just raise the difficulty for the final fight and see if it grants the achievement or doesn't it work?
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By Jninja70 on 23 Feb 2016 00:17
I haven't tried, and I doubt it works.
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By Qozul on 23 Feb 2016 12:42
I'm doubtful too but I cant see no harm in trying it, you never know it just might work?
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By Jninja70 on 23 Feb 2016 14:09
I wondered if anybody could help, I'm soon to finish my play through of this game, I want to start heart of stone expansion, does anybody know if I am able to play new game+ after I have completed heart of stone?
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By Tonicarborist on 01 Mar 2016 02:22
"With Ciri, you will fight the Ladies of the Wood, Their movesets are pretty much just the same as Hags (e.g. Water Hag), so you should be able to beat them without much difficulty."

I'm currently at about 5 hours of attempts on this fight. Too much trouble? Hah.
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By Ackis on 08 Apr 2016 21:51
So after putting 250 hours into the game I didnt unlock any of the achievements for beating the game OR defeating Eredin.. I didnt change my difficulty once!
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By Da CheekyBrit on 21 Jun 2016 22:51
Try restarting your console and fighting Eredin again, similar problems have occured with dlc achievements. If this doesn't work then keep your save since it might be a bug that will be fixed.
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By Qozul on 22 Jun 2016 08:29
Beat the game today on Death March difficulty and didnt get the achievement. So i restarted my console, loaded up a save file after i defeated Eredin, finished the game again and boom - achievement popped. Do the same if this happened to you also
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By DoomStriker666 on 05 Jul 2016 20:57
Just an idea but is there a way to force the difficulty changing to "Just the Story"? Or is it just random chance it will change by not closing the game before turning off your Xbox?
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By IsThisDustin on 17 Jul 2016 21:16
Unsure if anyone has asked already but are the dlc required on Deathmarch difficulty for the achievement? Or is it solely main story?
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By Gumby215 on 21 Jul 2016 00:33
You get the achievement solely from the main story, no dlc required.
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By Qozul on 21 Jul 2016 07:16
In "Wandering in the dark", with keira, you can just throw a dimertium bomb to the portals to prevent the hound of the wild hunt from spawning
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By Stahp on 07 Dec 2016 17:55
Extremely frustrated as I just beat the game and didn't get this achievement despite not changing the difficulty throughout my playthroigh at all. Got the achievement for blood and broken bones but not death marchangry
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By iEuannn x on 07 Jan 2017 10:34
I started on Death March, and it randomly dropped down on me too late to use an old save so I continued on. I restored it back to Death March for the final boss battle and all the difficulty achievements popped for me. There is a rumor that the instant on mode with the Xbox may be the culprit on randomly dropping the difficulty, if those want to test their luck. Anyways, the bug still is there and the fix still works. Don't worry about it.
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By dropK1CK ninJA on 24 Jan 2017 13:00
Really don't understand why this wont pop for me. the difficulty hasn't changed once, and every single save is on death march. tried reloading the save at Eredin and just before the end credits, no achievement. Also tried reseting xbox and deleting my profile and restoring it. Any other suggestions?
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By FishyOutOfWater on 03 Jun 2017 11:50
Just got the achievement yesterday - but I got lucky... twice :) During the very last mission I've found out that difficulty has been reset to Just Story. The final battles seemed a bit easier than rest of the game, but didn't occurred to me that a difficulty reset might happened. I reloaded a couple of previous saves, all were reset, even those I was sure were on Death March! Loaded back the most recent save and finished the game with Just Story in settings. Achievement popped :)

So, my idea is, that even if the game resets the difficulty, and not the player, achievement should pop.

Few details: game v1.31, Xbox in preview program, on instant-on.
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By InvasiveMato on 18 Sep 2017 08:59
For those just starting the game, just jump straight into DM. It's not hard at all. I'm already level 22 and I haven't even done half the main quests. Once you start getting better gear and you unlock skill trees, you don't even feel like you're playing on the hardest difficulty.
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By The SCHWARTZ 00 on 14 Jul 2018 05:45
+1 for starting straight on Death March (the game is easy anyway) but if one is doing this in NG+ and has all DLC, there should be super safe strategy. Before you finish the game, make sure you collect Aerondight and enhance whirl on it (make sure you have Whirl and Quen upgrades too). Collect Ursine set and switch it to light armor in Runewright store. You'll retain all damage reduction from Ursine (which you want to keep, as it's those percentages that count, not pure armor). Buy that skill from Cat's school which require Light armor to get massive bonus to Crit hits and you are ready to go. You will need to upgrade your steel swords as your level increases but you should be around level 48 when starting the game, so your sword should be sufficient probably until you return to Novigrad.

If you want to do this on the first playthrough, utilise dodges, rolls and Quen and you shouldn't have any problems.
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By Mikasz on 24 Sep 2018 08:38
I'm just about to start NG+ for this achievement, the guide mentions Wolf dlc to help things along? What dlc pack is that?
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By Zeta Sigh on 15 Dec 2019 08:03
I'm just about to start NG+ for this achievement, the guide mentions Wolf dlc to help things along? What dlc pack is that?
It's the "Scavenger Hunt: Wolf School Gear"
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By StockierHeart on 30 Dec 2019 18:48
Is this stackable with the other difficulty achievement
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By VARNATI0N on 21 Feb 2020 17:36
Yes
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By Zeta Sigh on 22 Feb 2020 17:29
Good guide. One thing that you didn’t mention that has helped me massively early game is the gourmet perk, which heals you continuously for 20 minutes after you consume food or drink. Absurdly OP.
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By liner bronson on 20 May 2020 15:00
Just to be clear: If I start a NG+ on Death March and then after a while of playing I switch over to my original game save (which is only on Normal Difficulty) and continue my post game mop up it would void this achievement on my NG+ play through?
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By AgentOfAbyss on 14 Aug 2020 13:54
The glitch that lowers your difficulty to Just the Story occurs when you fast resume the game. Always quit out the game before you turn your box off.
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By Ultras500 on 06 Jan 2021 17:28
Did this achievement on NG+ today. At first I was afraid that it was glitched despite that other users said that it can be done on NG+:

Finished the story, I even checked the difficulty in the menu to make sure it was still on Death March. After the ending cutscene and cerdits it didn't pop, so I reset the game and loaded the end of the prologue. I got the achievements at the beginning of the ending video. Second time was the charm I guess.

So if it is not popping, do not panic and start the game over, just load the ending again, hopefully it will work.
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By MrSparrowIsBack on 20 Jul 2021 19:34
I'm going to confirm again that if the game itself changes the difficulty to "Just the Story" on you, the achievement still unlocks. You don't even have to change it back. My game did it to me shortly after starting. I just kept going and the difficulty achievements all popped at the end, with the difficulty on the easiest setting.
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By GhostJohn325 on 03 May 2022 01:20
Any estimates on how long a purely story NG+ run will take? I took my time with the game so I have no real concept of how long the main quest is in isolation.
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By Trombonafide on 24 May 2022 23:21
My experience playing the next gen update is the auto changing difficulty bug is fixed. Did the entire game on quick resume and never saw it
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By Dan#6251 on 02 Apr 2023 22:19
not sure if the next gen update is to blame but using axii does not work all it does is stun the enemies does not make them attack each other I have puppet skill maxed and equipt on skill tree.
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By Goggs25 on 22 Oct 2023 13:18
Thanks for all these detailed explanations, seems really clear to me now. But since I lost all my patience with this fight, I'll only try this again once I completed Hearts of Stone, to take my mind off to sth else. Anyway ty for your answer, will defo let u know if I'll be able to kill him. Someday.
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By Fleshwrither on 17 Oct 2015 12:10
The aard sign is quite great also, after spending a few points in it.... pushes enemies over, so you can instantkill them by holding X. much easier way to dispose of water hags/ flying enemies.. and other annoying mobs..
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By TheMaize on 29 May 2015 04:02
Thanks for noticing that and pointing it out.

I personally found Sun and Stars to be useful at the start of the game before I got swallow because it was the only way to regenerate health without using my limited resources. However, they certainly became redundant in mid to late game.
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By Qozul on 30 May 2015 18:54
I think so.

Part way through my Death March run I made a new game on the easiest difficulty to check some info for the guide. When I went back to my Death March run I played for a couple of hours and thought I had reached the easy mode of the game. However, I checked the difficulty and I was on the easiest. I reloaded a save that said it was Death March and played through the game again. When I completed the game I got the achievement. Therefore two things:

1. make sure when you go back to Death March that you are actually on Death March (check every so often just to be sure).
2. Yes the achievement will still be valid from the Death March save.
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By Qozul on 07 Jun 2015 16:23
heads up to everyone!!! careful with the newest patch (1.07). I've sunk over 100 hours into this game, playing from the start on death march difficulty. since the patch, I happened to check my difficulty setting and it has been decreased to the easiest setting. make sure to check your difficulty setting regularly!
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By Findlayfiend on 23 Jul 2015 02:18
Are you sure this is because of the patch or because of an alternative reason such as my experience of (pre-patch):

"Part way through my Death March run I made a new game on the easiest difficulty to check some info for the guide. When I went back to my Death March run I played for a couple of hours and thought I had reached the easy mode of the game. However, I checked the difficulty and I was on the easiest."

Confirmation that the patch causes the difficulty to change would be good.
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By Qozul on 23 Jul 2015 07:30
I've been slowly making my way through the game for the past four months doing a few hours a week. I'm just about to go to Kaer Moran and today I kind of felt that the game had been very easy for while. I looked at the difficulty and noticed it had reset to 'Just the story!' angry

I've just checked my saves and the only one which has Death March is from 6 weeks ago in the middle of Novigrad and it is game version 1.08. So disappointed. I think version 1.10 reset my difficulty so I would recommend everyone to check if they haven't done so already. After readying comments here I will try to put the difficulty to Death March and continue on. I will let you know if it works.
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By NJC Omega on 30 Oct 2015 17:31
Ciri's moveset is over-powered, you are capable of simply dodging around and doing high burst damage at any opportunity. Because of this I found it easy and did it first try, so when I was writing the guide I didn't really have much to say, except that I noticed the hags were basically water hags (which is lazy design). I'm sorry about my lack of detail.

Firstly, you have given me no information about what specifically you are having trouble with and so I can't really help you (e.g. was it the entire fight or is there a specific attack the hags do that you find hard?). Often I find a video can help a lot because it shows you a lot more detail than can really be written.

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By Qozul on 09 Apr 2016 08:56
Hello,
I do not know if this will help, but on the Ciri fight with the crones first ignore Brewess the big witch and concentrate on the other slim witches and just keep teleporting. My attack pattern was 3x slash then teleport, rinse and repeat anything more than 3x slashes theyll block it and you will get stunned. mind you they hit real hard. there no point in blocking their attacks so yeah just keep jumping. I was on NG+ Death March Difficulty.
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By on 01 Jun 2016 15:14
I can confirm as of today the game lowers your difficulty at random times. I've been playing on DMarch without problems since patch 1.30 was released around a week ago and suddenly today I felt enemies were easier so I check and the fucking thing was lowered to Easy.

I suggest check that shit every 10 minutes just to be sure and make lots of saves. Also I've been running through the game on DM and it's pretty easy, if you just stick to quests around your level.
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By CRT JEDIMARK on 10 Sep 2016 06:57
Unless there is a specific instance that I didn't find, then you will always have enough time and space at the start to cast puppet, then at that point can dodge to avoid anyone still attacking you, or cast puppet on another person. You should always have room to kite or at least roll, which gives enough time to cast puppet.

These may potentially help you:

Puppet should only take a split second to cast. Hold RT, time will slow, and you can release almost immediately, the puppet will have a white aura at their head, and will start attacking. Generally, puppets and enemies attack each other rather than the enemies going for you.

With confined space, it depends on which specific places. In tunnels such as caves and sewers you can start fights by using puppet when at max distance, then back up as far as you need to if necessary (if you reach the end then roll past the enemies and do the same again), since enemies tend to attack puppets you should get time to cast it again while backing up. In small rooms you need to cast puppet, then kite in circles, casting puppet again (on another target) before the first wears off.

If you need extra time to cast then try using the Yrden sign to hold them back for a second, and as usual puppet should get the attention of the enemies. Although, a normal roll, or even dodge will give enough time and distance easily.

Hope this helps, but if the problem persists you can always pm me with more specific detail, and I can try a more thorough answer.
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By Qozul on 26 Sep 2015 15:11
Previous Comment makes a great point on the Gourmet perk, but it is from blood and wine dlc - but so far (10 levels in) its been pretty easy with that perk, the simple quen and constant healing from gouurmet has allowed me to take a few hits mid fight and play it safe to regain health - way easier than I expected
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By Badman Bradshaw on 12 Jun 2020 06:10
That gourmet perk has made Death March a total breeze. It is an absolute game changer. Now I have more gold than I can spend because I don't need to buy food anymore. I am maybe a little way into Novigrad and level 14, doing all the side quests available has overleveled me early on. I had real trouble with alternate axii, it takes too long to cast and when fighting multiple enemies I would have to stop casting to avoid a hit. I have also had the difficulty glitch, lost a few hours progress so check often and have multiple saves!
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By Ultras500 on 15 Dec 2020 23:57
I can try to explain the axii method again, it's been a while since I did it but I'm sure I remember it well. For this I assume you understand what I mean by "alt axii" (it is explained in the guide).

When the alt axii is used on Eredin he undergoes a knockback animation, during which he simply stumbles backwards, unable to attack you. The knockback lasts just long enough for you to do one heavy attack, then cast alt axii. However, the distance he falls backwards is too large for you to hit him (you would have to walk to him then attack, but this is too long and he will hit you). Hence, you use alt axii on him until he is stumbling back into the wall, this means the distance is not too large and you can heavy attack then alt axii again. Repeat this until he tries to open a portal, then stop.

You will now be in the open area. Use the same method as above, making sure you push him to a wall (this wall is invisible around the edge of the arena) before attacking, keeping him on the wall (if he gets off due to angles then move around him and go perpendicular to the wall again).

I really hope this helps as it is all I can really offer at this point. I did this on ng, but I hope that because he is locked in stun and can't attack you, it shouldn't matter about relative strength.
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By Qozul on 17 Oct 2015 07:36
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Update 2019: I am playing the Game of the Year Edition on Xbox One X and will note differences when I finish the game. Started at level 42. I see others have used the stun-lock option, which I was first to discover; as far as I know. And that is good. Playing a similar build on NG+ as in this 2015 printing. Trying to stay at level or above level for missions and using Gwent for level increases.

I earned this achievement today and I am writing down some tips that helped me complete this achievement. I had 374 hours in the game prior to working on the end story missions in Death March. It took me 32-3 days to finish the main story on easy mode. It took me 12 days to finish Death March. I have average gaming skills but like to play hard mode for the 'cheevos. I started ng+ after finishing the game on story. I wanted to get as many achievements done as possible and see as many game situations as possible before I started a faster run on dm. This way gave me many resources and experiences to use to keep Geralt alive and moving on dm.

Strategy: level up as high as possible before beginning death march mode. Drop trophy items outside the chest at the White Orchard Inn next to the chest. Hopefully, they will be there waiting for you on ng+. I did not know this before I started dm, so I had to do without their bonuses. It is possible they may transfer over if placed in the chest prior to ng+, but do not plan on it. I was near the end of my second run when the latest upgrade was ready. I played off-line because I feared that the newest download would mess with my items in the chest/Geralt. It did! I downloaded it literally just before I went to fight Immerleith. Luckily, I had spare saddles & saddlebags in my chest. I noticed that if I unequipped a sword, it immediately went up several levels and I was unable to re-equip it. Thankfully, I had extra saves and a fast travel post in them. I was level 69 at the end of the dm game. I only did missions I thought were necessary to get my desired ending. However, I ended up with a few failing and that skewed my ending(s). Oh, well.

Be sure to make 2 or 3 saves before you start ng+, as I read that some game saves used for ng+ ended up corrupted. That way, you can reload your ideal endings if your first game was your best run for gwent cards, people alive, towns intact, etc., etc.


********************SPOILER ALERT*********************



Go to Ingvar's Fang, located on An Skellig. It is located northeast of the main land mass, Ard Skellig. In the north easterly end of the island there is a fast travel post and a man sitting on the bench to the right. He offers the quest: The Path of Warriors. Talk to him and accept the quest BUT do NOT finish it. Merely run up the path until you see the 50 point bonus, turn around and go ask him again how to complete the quest. Repeat this as often as you want until you are at the level you want. Yes, a grind but one that does not use up precious resources. Start your death march run whenever. Your success will vary with your specs. No one can tell you how to play. Just do it your way.

I cannot recall which gamer and what website I heard about this. I read hundreds of tips and experiences in my search for completion. Including the ones above, they were a godsend; Thank-you one and all and a thumbs up from me! As soon as I run across the important tip I repeated here, I will list the gamer name...all credit goes to others.

Now to bosses: I was completely unable to stun lock Eredin with axii, or any other spell. I used six slots from the alchemy skill tree to help me to fight every monster and enemy in the middle to end dm game. After about 45 minutes of trying alternate strategies on Eredin and dying just before succeeding, I finally got so frustrated that I slammed him with sword combos and guess what? Yup, I was able to stun lock him with fast sword hits and heavy sword hits, (all maxed including crushing blows), alternating each. Two or three hits on the blue X button and then, one or two hits of heavy with the Xbox One yellow button. He lost all health as long as I pinned him into a corner. I backed off so he could make a portal; as soon as he landed he opened the second portal and we went through and the ending kill animations started. It literally took only a minute(s). (relief)

Good luck to anyone who is working on this achievement. I felt I needed to list my tips before I forgot the details. Use them or ignore them. I am reloading my favorite ending save and heading into the expanded free dlc, and the season pass. :)
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19 Oct 2015 20:55

3 Comments
i got so desspered when i finished the game with bitter end.
doctor suggest me to play again with different ending.cry
now i did it and my issues solved.
just wanted to share it.
smile
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By SoulyTheDude on 18 Mar 2016 18:50
Glad you got the ending you wanted. :)
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By Marine1Ten on 19 Mar 2016 06:50
laugh
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By CanaDa Fwend on 09 Apr 2016 04:38
View all 3 comments Show less comments

Within The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the "Death March!" difficulty level (otherwise known as the "Dark" difficulty from previous games) is the highest and hardest difficulty available. As one could imagine, enemies on "Dearth March!" will have increased health and deal more damage with every hit they land on Geralt. On top of this, as one of the most significant gameplay changes, Geralt's Vitality (or Health) does not regenerate on its own (unless a potion or consumable [water, milk, chicken, etc.] is used) like it would on lower difficulties.

While gameplay style and combat will vary from player to player, there is no "set way" in explaining how to undertake a playthrough on the "Death March!" difficulty. Despite that, here are five general tips to keep in mind that will help throughout the Prologue and Act I, up until about Level 9-10:

  • Invest 1 skill point in the General Tree's "Sun and Stars" skill
    • This will slowly regenerate Vitality during the day outside of combat
    • It will also slowly regenerate Stamina at night during combat
  • Invest 1 skill point in the General Tree's "Survival Instinct" skill
    • This will grant Geralt 500 extra points of Vitality
  • Loot EVERYTHING!
    • This includes plants, consumables (i.e. water, milk, etc.), monster remains, and more
  • Go out of your way to locate all of the Places of Power in White Orchard and Velen as a soon as possible
    • Each Place of Power will grant an additional skill point
  • Visit a Blacksmith or Armorer often to repair your armor and weapons, or buy repair kits when available

Once you reach Level 11-12, and are venturing through and around the Novigrad region, locate the Merchant near the St. Gregory's Bridge fast travel point (northern Novigrad) and purchase a Potion of Clearance. Upon consuming this potion, your skill points will reset and you can reallocate them; at this point, the previously mentioned skills are not necessary whatsoever.

As further aid, here are a few more character-build tips that are sure to help during your playthrough:

  • In the Combat Tree, grab and max out Fast Attack's "Muscle Memory" and "Precise Blows" skills
  • In the Combat Tree, grab and max out Strong Attack's "Strength Training" and "Crushing Blows" skills
  • In the Sign Tree, grab and max out Quen's "Exploding Shield" and "Active Shield" skills
  • In the Sign Tree, grab and max out Axii's "Delusion" and "Puppet" skills
  • In the Alchemy Tree, grab and max out Oil Preparation's "Poisoned Blades" skill
  • In the General Tree, grab the "Cat/Griffen/Bear School Technique" skills
    • Change these skills up from time to time depending on which Witcher Gear Set you're wearing
  • Refer to the "Useful Links" section of the roadmap above and visit PowerPyx's video guide playlist for the Witcher Gear Sets
    • These unique sets of armor and weapons are the most powerful gear in the game
  • Focus on using Thunderbolt, Swallow, and Blizzard (and their upgrades) as your main potions
  • Focus on using Dancing Star, Samum, and Northern Wind (and their upgrades) as your main bombs
  • Don't forget to consult the Bestiary and apply oil to your swords before facing monsters

With all of these tips in mind, players will find that "Death March!" begins to feel quite manageable at around Level 12 or so, and then very easy at around Level 15-16. Just remember to save often, keep multiple save files as backup in case you fail a quest, and collect those Witcher Gear Sets as early as you can!

Upon completing the final main quest in the game, "Something Ends, Something Begins," this achievement will finally unlock.

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This is the hardest difficulty available. One of the biggest changes from this difficulty from the others, is your vitality does not regenerate when you meditate. It does regenerate at a very slow rate on its own, but you are much better off to use any consumables to help speed up the process as you'll be waiting forever. There are a few skill points you should invest in:

  • Sun and Stars - Increases the Vitality regeneration rate during the day and Stamina regeneration during the night.
  • Survival Instinct - Increases Vitality by 500 points.

All other skill points are up to your play style and how you want to build them. Any build works, but if you want to be cheap and basically become invulnerable, here's what you should invest in and max out:

  • Muscle Memory - Increases fast attack damage +5% and adrenaline point gain +1% each level.
  • Arrow Deflection - Deflect arrows while parrying. Adrenaline Point gain: +1% each level.
  • Rage Management - If your current Stamina level is too low, Signs can be cast using Adrenaline Points.

This set up will basically allow you to constantly cast Quen, so you will always be able to absorb a blow to you and you'll practically never take any damage just as long as you remember to cast it.

Here are some other tips to help you through Death March:

  • Loot everything - You get money, crafting materials, schematics....everything!
  • Dodge, parry, use oils and potions - If you do not prepare and try to face roll everything, you're going to have a bad time during battle. It's easy enough to look up the monsters to see their weaknesses. Use it to your advantage.
  • Explore - This is how you find good things to loot, plus some additional side quests that won't show up on your map for extra experience.
  • Complete the Witcher Gear Sets - Well worth it, the best gear you can get. Each set is geared towards a different tree:
    • Feline Set (Light) = Combat
    • Griffin Set (Medium) = Signs
    • Ursine (Heavy) = Defense
    • Wolf (Medium) = Balance of all 3 (DLC only)
  • Get the skill for your Gear Set - Whichever set you go with, get the skill to go with it in the General Tree.

Once you get the hang of the combat system and you get a feel for the way you play, it is not that hard. Just follow the tips above and you should do fine. Once you complete the final main quest, "Something Ends, Something Begins", the trophy will unlock.

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If you like RPGs, then you need to play right away at this difficulty level. Achieving trophies can be done at any time (but cannot be switched while passing the game - because this trophy will not be released and you will have to start over).

Here are some tips from me personally that help me a lot and I don’t often see a beautiful reload screen (Hello BloodBorne and Dark Souls )

Here the full potential of the game is revealed, the enemies become smarter, they don’t foolishly attack the ram, and only at this level of difficulty you need to fully use all the witcher’s potential and all the tricks to kill the motley evil spirits and servants.

- Read books to increase your knowledge of the bestiary (there is help on how to fight better, and even sometimes tactics). Otherwise, you will be very surprised, after meeting with the “Rotfiend”, you will not yet understand his trick.

- Use your witcher senses before the battle to assess the situation, namely the number of opponents on the battlefield. Sound vibrations give a great idea of ​​this.

- Invent various bombs, oils, traps, baits. Use runes and special equipment wisely (fortunately, the developers have combined the horse interface with Geralt). But remember that you won’t be able to pour oil on your sword during a fight...

- Approach wisely with the type of skills for a particular case - depending on the enemy. Combining mutagens and skills will never forgive your life, but remember that you won’t be able to change anything during the battle!

- Use elixirs specifically, you can’t carry them around too much, and you won’t be able to replenish them during battle!

- Set fire, inflict bleeding wounds, poison, exhaust the enemy. If the enemy is exhausted, the critical strike percentage increases (if you hit a critical hit well, you can kill even a completely living enemy by stupidly cutting something off), but he will not be able to block or dodge.

- Remember that the bestiary can replenish health using its skills or the surrounding area (ghouls in the swamps, for example, constantly restore life)

- It is best to wear several sets of underwear, so to speak. A heavy armored person will not always help in the fight. Depending on who you go to.

- Use the environment wisely: barrels, gas, flammable objects, as well as the landscape!

- Use of signs, as well as auxiliary weapons. The crossbow is a very cunning thing, although not very powerful. During the battle, after using the sign, your stamina is restored - running, rolling, frequent rebounding slows down recovery!

- Use rolls and dodges wisely, you can accidentally catch someone else, and then it will become very tight. Look around, the enemy can call for help, which will jump out from any direction! As Muhammad Ali said, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

- If you cannot defeat the enemy group, look around the area, perhaps there is an enemy nearby who is in a different social group. And not only will they fight with you, but at the same time they will deal with each other, making your battle not much easier, but at the same time very spectacular!

- Block is not always good, even though it often saves 100% without spending HP. But two simultaneous blows from behind and in front cannot be repelled, and if you consider that the box is the most favorite tactic of the servants... Also, if there is a strong pressure, they can break through the block, impose a couple of negative effects, and goodness is gone. The enemy needs to be kept at a distance, constantly defending in a variety of ways, as they begin to understand how you defend and try to keep you under constant pressure with their attack.

- On Roach, it’s very good to fly into the camps of robbers, while they come to their senses, you can mow down a couple of extra heads and remove the archers.

- If you are not confident in your abilities, save manually more often; there is an auto save, but they are often at a great distance. You can kill a horde of evil spirits, and then make a stupid mistake and start all over again!

Your key to success is constant experimentation: I went with the original sword for a very long time, simply because it penetrates armor 75% more successfully - and against local servants this is very important!
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22 May 2015 01:00

23 Comments
In the early stages of the game, I strongly recommend paying attention to the Axiy sign in mode 2, you can get it quite quickly, and its presence will significantly simplify the passage. Firstly, this sign will make life much easier when encountering clusters of enemies, but secondly, it will help with some bosses and orders, since it affects many (except for elementals and golems). Why jump around cyclops, wyverns, basilisks, if you can subdue them and slaughter them with impunity?
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By MaouShado on 30 May 2015 07:40
By the way, at this level of difficulty your best assistant is the Quen sign; it can help you fight off even a fatal blow, giving you a chance to survive.
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By Lemars on 26 May 2015 05:08
I advise you, as soon as you have a skill point, study the “Gourmet” ability for it; it is located in the skill column tinted brown, this ability extends the effect of the food eaten by as much as 20 minutes, and this is a kind of endless health regen, it helps a lot on this difficulty.
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By borogoz on 14 Mar 2019 22:09
To make Herald practically a GOD, I can recommend the “Whirlwind” skill (you will need 21 skill points) and a decoction of Echidna - it lasts for 30 minutes (actions that reduce energy, restore health). The point is that during a whirlwind, energy and adrenaline are spent, which allows you to be treated accordingly, plus the fact that the skill also works outside of combat, which you can actively USE. Oh yes, I almost forgot with a Whirlwind, lives are restored very quickly, how quickly... There were “0” lives, I spun around for about a second and voila - max health.)))))

P.S. It also works well with other skills, for example regular quen, aard, axii, igni, yrden, but not as effectively as whirlwind, in the end we get that this potion allows you to replace an alternative quen.
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By Svobodovets_ on 12 Jul 2015 18:56
Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by Igni. I improved it only as a supplement to Quen, but in the end I almost never use Quen. Igni sets fire to and stuns most enemies, and while they burn and flap their arms helplessly, your energy is restored and you can use it again. Honestly, I go through contracts a dozen levels higher than mine and kill opponents with a few volleys of this Sign's alt mode. I don’t know if this will be fixed, but sometimes I even go into the settings to make sure that I’m not playing on easy =)
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By misakin on 31 May 2015 16:53
And if you’re too lazy to start just a regular new game, then you can select “Only hearts of stone” or “Only blood and wine” in the main menu, make a manual save there and, using this save, immediately start a New Game+ on the “death” difficulty and have level 34 from the beginning of the game
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By demon051084 on 19 Jan 2019 09:53
Started a new game +
The first corpse eaters are already lvl 37. it was necessary to immediately pass on the difficult one
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By Fanat_de_Vigor on 10 Feb 2016 08:38
It goes through in an elementary way. I advise you to upgrade your swordsman skills, use Quen more often and collect cat armor. With this build you can kill opponents who are 5-7 levels higher than you. THE MAIN THING is to learn how to dodge and counterattack correctly.
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By AlexGonzo on 23 Apr 2017 14:03
I don’t know why everyone writes about the fact that you need to really make oils, decoctions, bombs, etc.
I easily beat the game on this difficulty level, just using and then pumping in quen. Seriously, it's enough to hit the dodge button perfectly and don't forget about quen
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By Parnishka3_0 on 02 Jun 2021 12:32
Who has difficulty killing a griffin on the "To the Death" difficulty? Here's a video on how to kill without leveling up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLwIpdnjvRQ
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By dimonrussak on 07 Mar 2016 21:48
I completed the game first to the standards, and then again “to death”. There was no difficulty, so start immediately “to death”! Quen, Aksiy - the rest of the signs are not particularly necessary. At first, without upgraded skills, it’s more difficult at any level, and then it’s easier, that is, take on quests comparable to your level at an early stage of the game.
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By Delus17 on 07 Oct 2018 09:10
Actually, if it’s difficult on the first playthrough, then you can really just go through NG+, which is much easier. We'll upgrade the main branches of alchemy and you'll be able to even roll your head around the gamepad.
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By DominicS on 03 Dec 2017 05:37
You should monitor the state of psn, I went to the last battle during the January shutdown, as it turned out later, in the end I had to start ng+, since not a single achievement was counted at that time.
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By TheGreenDogs on 10 Mar 2018 21:28
When playing on NG+, my recommendations: get “arondite” from the blood and wine add-on, enchant it to increase the range of the whirlwind (2nd level of enchantment for the rune master), from the skills you must have a whirlwind, and from the Quen signs with repulsion when hit - it will help you out more than once scrape. Yes, and farm big red mutagens to pump up mutations in advance, otherwise in NG+ I almost never came across them in the main plot.
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By AraimRenmazuo on 04 Sep 2022 12:12
The “To Death” level does not pose any difficulty; difficulties may arise only at first. And so I calmly completed tasks with a higher recommended level.
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By SySExile on 22 Jul 2019 07:45
In the gameplay settings you can enable automatic application of oils. Very comfortably. The oil itself is applied (if available, of course) to the desired type of enemy, even during battle.
But for the "Equal Chances" trophy, you need to turn it off.
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By Tonypan on 31 Mar 2024 15:31
To everything listed above, I’ll add that first of all (once you reach level 7-8) you need to collect witcher equipment schemes (it’s better to start with a griffin , he’s right at level 8) and slowly modify it, then you can move on to the Bear , but this is your personal choice. The main thing is to constantly improve this set and do not change it, because it gives significant bonuses when fighting monsters. In addition, if you don’t know what type of enemies awaits you, lubricate the silver sword with anti-corpse-eater oil (the most common enemy in the game), as well as the iron dream with corpse poison. ( Location of all sets of witcher equipment + all modifications of this equipment (video guide)).
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By ApxahgelDaniil on 27 May 2015 14:53
Immediately play on the maximum difficulty level "to death!" At first I played for the “story and fighting”, played 200 hours and only then went to get the platinum because of the “witcher on the highway”. I can say that the differences are simply minimal. Headlong, I rushed through the maximum difficulty level, skipping absolutely ALL additional quests (except those that would later help in Kaer Morhen), just to complete the game faster. By the end of the game, I collected the maximum cat set + leveled up the alchemy branch and finished the game with level 28 again, disappointed that I had to spend another ~30 hours on finishing. I’ll write about those who talk about: tactics, studying, traps, bombs, etc. . d. - it's all just funny. Only towards the end of the game I began to use a decoction of echidna and griffin (which we get at the beginning of the game), occasionally smeared weapons with oil for + 10% and with my specialization I am an alchemist (well, very lazy, I didn’t even get enough for potions ) simply killed everyone and everything, spamming a quick attack and dodging with the grace of a broken stool. Don't waste time on all this husk, just kill the mobs and you will be happy.
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By Bev on 19 Jul 2015 12:50
Play immediately at the “To Death” level, the only difference is that the opponents have a little more lives and kill with 2-4 hits, but this is if you are a fencer. If you want to complete the game without straining, download alchemy and magic. The Igni sign kills everyone and everything except golems, almost all orders are completed in no time, which gives a lot of experience, ingredients and money. The main thing is that the enemy is not much higher levels, otherwise Igni will not cause combustion, and this is the main killing force. From decoctions of masthevs Echidna and Archgriffin. All other difficulty levels will not bring you pleasure from passing.
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By dr4louft on 04 Jan 2016 16:19
Completed the main and stone hearts. I started a new plus, it got crazy to say the least. A pack of Neckers becomes a serious problem. I have no desire to swing my sword again. Conclusion: I sat down to play and bet immediately on death, they wrote about it at the top. If you ignored it or have already passed it, here’s some advice. Of all the characters, only “quen” is needed; the rest is almost pointless to use. It needs to be developed, the “explosive quen” ability returns 25% of the absorbed damage back. In the alchemy branch, develop the “synergy” ability. In the selection of weapons and in the fencing branch, the emphasis is on critical hits. Having reached Eredin, I encountered a problem: the energy was restored too slowly. Therefore, he drank a decoction of the ancient goblin, tawny owl and thunder. Things went like clockwork.
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By Dzjasin on 05 Jul 2016 00:20
Thaler can only be skipped if, after killing Radovid, you chose Dijkstra's side and thereby kill Thaler and Roche. I chose Roche, and after completing the entire plot, you can safely find Thaler in the Seven Cats tavern and play with him, most importantly taking the Old Friends quest
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By Terracotta on 14 Oct 2019 19:56
For those who have completed the game on another difficulty lower than this one, it is possible to start a New Game +
and go through it on "Death to Death" difficulty with all the equipment and skills that you have left after the first playthrough There is a free add-on in the PS Store called New Game +, download and install it. After that, go to the main menu, don’t be alarmed, there won’t be a line New Game +, but there will be just a New Game, go there, select New Game + and save from where to pull up equipment and skills.
It’s better to immediately make a save after the first playthrough and select it.
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By Drusa80 on 04 Sep 2015 11:21
If you have completed the game and all the DLC, you can safely start a new game+ and not listen to that hint where they wrote that it is much more difficult. I've never seen such an "easy" before. Let me explain the situation - you are pumped up, you have all the skills necessary for your playing style. You have already crafted all possible oils and bombs for yourself. Upgrade your defense sign and walk around like an unkillable terminator. Any boss can be picked in 2 minutes on the first try.
One piece of advice - before starting NG+, go to the second dls and get the sword from the lake from there (which is given for good deeds). This sword is pumped up and can not be changed during the entire passage of the game (which is what I did). In the end, I completed this difficulty in about 20 hours without changing my clothes or swords. I repeat, I didn’t even expect such an “easy-peasy” passage
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By YuriStXb on 15 Jun 2016 18:17
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If someone thinks that in this difficulty there is only one life like in the second part, then this is not so, it’s just that the difficulty is high, you can die and be reborn endlessly.
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20 May 2015 11:00