Drowners remain one of the most iconic creatures in The Witcher series. These creatures - green and slimy, with scaly skin and gills - often get associated with drowned people coming back to life. However, as Geralt's encounters with them will prove, Drowners seem to belong to an entirely different species. Regardless, Drowners dwell in bodies of water and often eat people who trespass into their territories. In the first The Witcher game, Drowners prove formidable foes to Geralt. However, players soon have to develop strategies to fight these nocturnal creatures.
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Drowners also return in CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3. Aside from their corpse-like appearance, they retain their signature pack tactics and swift movement. One Drowner might become easy kills for Geralt. However, fighting packs of them can get extremely annoying and exhausting. How exactly should Witchers handle these creatures?
10 Keep Eyes Open
Drowners in The Witcher 3 have a ghastly appearance. They appear as thin creatures with bloated stomachs, grey-toned skin, and white eyes. As such, they're fairly easy to make out in the open, or when nearby light shows the true colors of their surroundings. Unfortunately, Drowners become tricky to deal with at night as they essentially camouflage in swampy and grassy areas.
If players encounter multiple Drowners at once, they should keep track of their number immediately. While the radar might indicate their approximate location, they might get hard to spot especially if the rest of the pack keeps players on their toes.
9 Be Wary Of Water
Drowners love water, and as such hang around near lakes and small bodies of water. Unfortunately, they also use water to their advantage. Some Drowners can actually disappear into it and avoid all attacks. However, the more annoying thing is whenever they pop back out to unleash a surprise attack.
If players see that a Drowner or two is missing from their initial number, they should get away from any body of water immediately. This move lessens their opportunity of making a surprise attack and ruins the "flow" of the player.
8 Pack Tactics Dominate
Geralt may be able to take care of a single Drowner easily. Unfortunately, Drowners often come in packs, which, alongside their speed and agility, make them irritating to deal with. As such, without the right plan, Geralt can easily get overwhelmed by a pack of five Drowners.
However, Drowner pack tactics become generally easy to predict. In essence, Geralt should focus on dodging individual attacks while focusing on finding ways to stun various members of the pack at once. As such, combining Igni and other fire-based effects can easily disrupt pack tactics and leave Geralt with a ton of openings.
7 Take Note Of Attack Patterns
As with most The Witcher 3 monsters, Drowners have a basic set of attacks that they shuffle through in encounters. They might not show all of these attacks at once. However, Geralt might find these attacks easier to counter once he knows what's coming for him.
Drowners have a basic scratch attack that Geralt can easily block and parry. However, what's dangerous is when a Downer unleashes a leaping attack. Unfortunately, Geralt can't block this leap attack and this will stun him instead. Despite the basic nature of these attacks, it's the quick movement of the Drowners that make these a bit difficult to anticipate.
6 Never Stay In Line Of Sight
As mentioned, the Drowner's leap attack serves as their stunning ability. If Geralt gets caught in this stunning attack, it's almost always game over. Instead, players should be wary whenever they're in the line of sight of any Drowner. Their powerful leap attacks always face forward, so the best way to avoid them is to dodge to the left or right.
Likewise, players should take note of where other Drowners are. Sometimes, they resort to surrounding Geralt and leaping from various directions. As such, players should practice dodging multiple times within a few seconds.
5 Bombs Away
Players who died too many times against a Drowner pack might get easily irritated with their group tactics. After all, a guy with a sword can't just slice through five agile critters. However, players may want to try fighting Drowners with long-ranged abilities instead. For instance, various Bombs actually work against Drowners, as this can force them to scatter or take increased damage.
For instance, ordinary Grapeshot Bombs can damage Drowners when hit. Moreover, Dragon's Dream Bombs can lead to quite a nightmare for Drowners when its gas is ignited mid-battle.
4 Strategic With Signs
As with many enemies, Geralt can use his Witcher Signs against Drowners, albeit with varying degrees of accuracy. In general, combative Signs tend to become useless against Drowners given their evasive maneuvers. However, certain Signs, when used in tandem, may be able to incapacitate Drowners. For instance, Geralt can hit dodging Drowners with Aard if they cast this telekinetic Sign while Drowners do their leaping attack. This becomes easily risky, due to the small window this demands.
Likewise, an Yrden trap can immobilize Drowners that enter there. This Sign leaves them open for other combative Signs such as a devastating Igni, or even vicious counterattacks.
3 Fire Is The Cleanser
Players who fight Drowners will soon realize that Drowners become extremely vulnerable against fire. As such, Igni easily becomes a go-to Sign to fight Drowners, especially in packs. A well-placed Igni can stop Drowners from moving as they'll want to put out the flames as soon as possible. This forces them to stay in place, allowing Geralt to handle the other moving Drowners in the area.
Moreover, explosives and fire-based abilities do great in revealing the Drowner's surroundings. This factor will allow players to see clearer at night and fight Drowners on more equal ground.
2 Necrophage Oil For Slicing
When players get an opportunity to fight the Drowners head-on, they should take advantage of their oils. As Drowners are necrophages, the Necrophage Oil works best when fighting against them. After all, the additional 10-percent attack power against them can become a lifesaver in certain situations.
Moreover, Geralt becomes the Drowners' living nightmare once he uses Enhanced Necrophage Oil (+25-percent attack power) or Superior Necrophage Oil (+50-percent attack power). However, players should remember that they should oil up their blades prior to facing the Drowners, as it will be too late to add oil to them once the battle begins.
1 Don't Hesitate To Take Time
Players will likely get frustrated once the battle with a pack of Drowners takes too much time than necessary. However, the fast nature of Drowners makes them extremely hard to hit and attack. As such, if players don't want to use Signs and Bombs, their best option is to try and isolate a Drowner in order to deliver counterattacks to them. However, players shouldn't get too greedy, as focusing on one Drowner too much will leave them open to being surrounded.
Likewise, players who want to end battles quickly should open with a vicious Igni or even fire-based bombs in order to scatter the Drowners and ruin their pack tactics. That way, Geralt can slowly pick them apart and kill them one by one.