Dude is hard. How did some of ya'll beat him? Tactics?

It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure I just kept using the trap sign while hitting him from behind.

Use the shield(quen) sign a bunch and watch his pattern. You'll get frustrated because you can't do a lot of damage to him but if you play extremely safely, you will do fine. You will die if you try to go in for too much damage. It may take you a couple of tries to get his pattern down.

Grenades, queen sign and a lot of rolling around, put some oil with a bleeding/poison effect.

the most important thing is to not be greedy, take a couple of slashes, throw a grenade and roll around some more. good luck

Yeah this is one where you need to settle for small amounts of damage and be patient.

I remember having a real bitch of a time fighting this dude. The first time I fought him, I knocked it down to easy and it was... well, pretty easy. The second time I fought him (as in, the second time I decided I'd play through the game, not the second time you fight him), I beat him on Normal but I don't exactly remember how I did it. Careful use of magic and boatloads of patience are the two things I remember learning from it, though.

EDIT: Worth noting that I thought this was a terrible boss fight both times. It's just a ridiculous difficulty spike in a game already full of annoying difficulty spikes. Plus it's in a small space. Plus you spend a lot of time rolling and it just starts to feel silly and bland by the time you get him down to half health.

All I remember is that it took a while, just got in a couple hits and then back away. Rinse, repeat

This was the point when I realized I have to restart and spec in swords :P.

The cheesiest way is just spam Aard but you can do it with Yrden as well.

@atlfalconsfan: I didn't even fight him, and it was kind of disappointing. I didn't feel like playing it again.

I remember using Aard a bunch, and this was the fight where I learned that using the Quen spell keeps your vigor from regenerating. So I started using that more strategically, instead of freaking out and using it as soon as I got hit.

Watch his pattern, use Aard when you have an opening

Quen, Quen and quen again. Or place a dozen traps where he spawns and 1 hit him.

git gud

That stun trap plus the spell that gives you a protective shield are are gonna be your friend in this fight.

Yeah, this fight was a bitch. He hits like a truck and if he places a status effect on you you're basically dead. Plus, the cut scene before hand really works wonders at taking the timer right off any potions you might be using.

I seem to remember cheesing my way through him by chucking a million of the really basic stun grenades (Samnum? Samum? Something like that) at him. They do virtually no damage individually, but they do put him in stun lock, so you can eventually whittle him down over time.

This is the worst fight in the game by far. Everyone else has already said my two strategies, which is traps and grenades or Aard. Seriously just be patient though. It gets better.

I remember him having really easy patterns but loads of hp so just take your time and wear him down.

spell spell hit roll