The Witcher 3: Every Type Of Ogroid And How To Beat Them (2024)

This article is part of a directory: The Witcher 3: Full Guide and Walkthrough

In the early days of gaming, RPGs (and games in general) had a relatively short storyline, reaching a five to ten hours max. But, nowadays, RPGs are known to be one of the lengthiest game genres in the gaming community, many lasting over 100 hours to beat. And it's not because they're stuffed with repetitive quests or enemies, but rather, they have deep lore and a sophisticated storyline.

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A general agreement among gamers is that The Witcher 3 is among the best RPGs of all time since it tells a captivating story while delivering plenty of content to explore. Furthermore, The Witcher 3 features an extensive Bestiary with hundreds of beasts. And one type of beast players will want to know more about are the harrowing Ogroids.

Nekker

Spawn Locations:

• Velen
• White Orchard
• Skellige
• Toussaint

Players may recall fighting Nekkers in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, especially during The Nekker Contract in Flotsam Forests. Nekkers aren't like ordinary Ogroids since they are fast and agile, unlike their heavy-weight counterparts. A lone Nekker will never attack a player since they usually hunt in large groups (during the night players can expect groups of up to 10).

Nekkers tend to burrow underground while attacking, making way for devasting surprise attacks. While players can fight them head-on, the best tactic to defeat Nekkers (especially groups) is using Northern Wind or Dancing Star bombs. Furthermore, players must destroy the nest to stop the Nekkers from spawning. Other than the default Nekkers, there are three variations of Nekkers: Hagubman, Nekker Warrior, and Phooca.

Rock Troll

Spawn Locations:

• Novigrad
• Kaer Morhen valley
• Skellige
• Velen
• Toussaint

Players will come across Rock Trolls throughout the campaign and some side quests, like Wine Wars: Coronata quest. And despite their ability to use Common Speech, they are unpredictable and will attack with extreme brute strength. Players will have to fight Rock Trolls head-on since running away will only cause them to hurl large boulders at the player. On top of that, players can't parry the attacks of Rock Trolls due to their massive rock-like arms.

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So, the best strategy to defeat a Rock Troll is to attack it repeatedly while using the Protective Sign, Quen. Fortunately, a Rock Troll's attack is sluggish, giving players ample time to dodge. Players should keep in mind that some Rock Trolls (Wham-a-Wham, Bart, etc.) can be reasoned with, avoiding a needless and tiresome fight. Ice Trolls are a variation of Rock Trolls, but are far more violent than most Ogroids.

Ice Giant

Spawn Location:

• Skellige

Ice Giants are quite rare to encounter in The Witcher 3, but several of them can be found within Skellige. While Ice Giants are slow, their long arms can easily reach a player trying to dodge an attack, and that's before they bring out their improvised anchor weapon. Furthermore, every step an Ice Giant takes causes damage, so players need to be quick on their feet if they want to win.

The best Sign to use while fighting an Ice Giant is Yrden since it slows them down and makes them susceptible to status ailments, like Ignite. Once slowed down, players can use Ignis to ignite the Ice Giant and then launch a flurry of fast attacks before Yrden wears off. Two notable Ice Giants players will confront are Jotunn and Myrhyff, both more powerful than conventional Ice Giants.

Cloud Giant

Spawn Location:

• Land of a Thousand Fables
• Cloud Giant's Castle

As players can expect, Cloud Giants are massive Ogroids that can remove a significant chunk of HP in a single blow. To make matters worse, Cloud Giants can leap high into the air, briefly disappearing from the player's view, and suddenly come crashing down, causing deadly AOE damage. So, the only way players will win this battle is by timing every dodge and using Quen to add an extra layer of protection.

But players can instantly kill a Cloud Giant with a single bolt to the eye, regardless of how much HP it has left. To pull this off, players must use the Lightning Reflexes ability to slow down time. And to make the fight even easier, players can use Northern Wind to freeze it. Players will encounter a "smaller" variation of a Cloud Giant (Goylat) during the second main quest of Blood and Wine, The Beast of Toussaint.

Cyclops

Spawn Locations:

• Kaer Morhen
• Skellige
• Velen

The final Ogroids in The Witcher's 3 Bestiary are Cyclopes and will prove challenging to fight, no matter the experience. Because of their extra long arms, Cyclopes can easily catch a fleeing (or dodging) Witcher, meaning fighting them is the only logical option. On top of that, Cyclops' attacks cannot be parried or blocked, so players will have to rely once again on quick footwork.

But, the worse attack is what some gamers called "Wild Rush," in which the Cyclops charges the player while flailing its arms. Players can try to dodge this attack, but the Cyclops can instantly change direction, meaning dodging is useless. The most effective method to bring down a Cyclops is using Yrden to slow it down and heal as much as possible.

The Witcher 3 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch.

More: The Witcher 3: Full Guide and Walkthrough