Is it normal to get absolutely curbstomped by echinops at first?

[Ninjabutter]

They may not be echinops, might be one of the other varieties. I don't remember, the details are often lost in the PTSD I get when I think of first meeting them. I'm talking about the first angry root-monsters you encounter in the swamps when you initially arrive there.

I've played through the game three times and these things always absolutely murder me when I first get to the swamps. I've read that the torch is the most effective weapon against them at lower levels, since you may not have the necessary Strong stance perks to take them down with a blade, but even with a torch, a Swallow potion going, opening up with a sign attack, having the 50% poison resistance perk, and doing a duck-and-roll on the way in to dodge the first projectile, these monsters just absolutely wreck me. I'm extremely lucky if I can knock one down to half of its health before I have to run away while screaming for mercy and/or apologizing to the plant.

It wouldn't be so frustrating if not for the fact that the "escort Gramps to the shrine" quest is one of the first ones you run into when you enter the swamp village, and doing this will take you across at least a few of these things. If you take the most direct route, you run into like six of them. Even if I take the scenic route and go up around the entire top of the map and come back down into the middle (which avoids most of their spawn locations), and also stay off the roads (since they don't spawn in water most of the time), I still run into a couple of them and have to just run like crazy before they shoot me to death. Sometimes even that doesn't save me; the first shot they fire will occasionally stagger me, causing me to stay in their range a bit longer, take multiple shots, and rapidly turn into a poisoned pincushion.

Am I just arriving at the swamps under-leveled and vulnerable, or is there some trick to killing these stupid things that I'm missing? Since the swamp quests drive you right into them, I assumed it was expected to deal with them at around that level.

[Megiddo]

They're one of the tougher types of creature the Witcher encounters. Hopefully you have Incinerate unlocked for the Igni sign. It's one of the better signs and Incinerate is one of the first things you can unlock for it. It often sets the mobs aflame and does a good deal of damage over time. If you're in the swamp, you should have a silver sword. Open your attack with the Igni sign then use the strong style to finish it. Singles shouldn't be much of an issue doing this, but multiples will always hurt.

[schrödinger's kat.exe]

^ I use the same tactic. Plus I've pressured them to spawns one at a time by approach on extreme angles which can trigger drowners. So I deal with the drowners then approach the plants @ an angle.

[Ninjabutter]

Ah, ok. I do use and love the Igni sign but maybe I just don't have the Ignite option unlocked yet by the time I get there.

[Ninjabutter]

Isn't the trophy one the one that's up by Gramps's hut? If I recall it spawns with like two other basic ones as well. The first time I killed it, I actually did the same thing you just described, except it was my first play through the game and I didn't know to use the torch. I'd cast the shield, run in under its protection, make like two or three swings at the nearest plant, and then cast the shield again and run away. It took like an hour.

[Ninjabutter]

Oh, ok. I must have confused the two.

[.ciri]

Believe it or not the torch is supprisingly effective against these things.

[Ninjabutter]

Yeah, I was surprised how much better it was than either blade at lower levels. I was still getting my butt kicked in the process, but I was at least able to inflict damage a lot faster.

[Radmir Rope]

Use Igni or torch against them, they are vulnerable to fire.

[Qy_digon66]

...

[sensualSNAKE]

Oh man, thx everyone. Ive been struggling for a while. Is it normal that every plant ive run into is a coccacidium? Also, i didnt have incinerate... torch+swallow+blizzard is how i succeeded

[Lautarit0_FlowBakan0$]

xd

[Duuvian]

Blizzard and Swallow potions let me kill the one in the cave that ate the guy. I could take the normal ones out with strong style if they were alone, so I carefully spawned the ones in the cave one at a time and used sandwiches or chicken legs to heal up after the normal ones so I could save the Swallow potion for the tougher one.

I hit swamp and the escort Gramps quest and kind of stalled out when I ran into these remembering the tedious sandwich based healing and considered jumping to Witcher 2 instead of finishing 1 first. I'll go back and try the torch; I didn't go into Igni at all. I think there is still more to do in the city so I'll go back and get points in Igni for these.