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While some open-world RPGs build immersion partially through random events in the world, The Witcher 3 generally has very few chance encounters. It’s a game that breathes life into its world through story and NPC interactions, but there are still some one-off enemies and rare encounters that most players will never experience.
7 Hym
A Hym is a specter-type monster in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt who is only supposed to appear during two quests in the game. However, some players have reported seeing the spirit in other areas at night, though it’s likely that these players mistook a regular shadow for the Hym.
A hym is a powerful demon that sucks out energy and life from its host, feeding on the host’s guilt and shame over past actions. It appears as a horned tall figure with long claws attached to its body, but it normally can’t be seen except by the victim.
6 The Caretaker
The Caretaker is a unique humanoid creature that almost looks like a person – save for having most of its face stitched over. The creature’s mouth is the only thing visible beneath a slab of flesh crudely sewn to its bald head. The creature dons plain garb, and can only be found in The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone quest Scenes From A Marriage.
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Despite its relatively weak appearance, the Caretaker is a very tricky foe. The bestiary entry says that Geralt can only wound the monster when it digs into the ground to unleash summoned spirits to its aid, and upon defeat, the player can pick up its shovel as a reward.
5 The Level 27 Chort
Back when The Witcher 3 first launched, a popular way to farm crowns was to kill cows over and over again, so the player could sell their hides for a tidy profit. A patch put into the game turned this lucrative venture into a difficult challenge by spawning a level 27 Chort whenever the player kills too many cows.
This only happens in White Orchard, and only one can ever spawn in the game. Once defeated, it will never show up again, partially due to another exploit: the Chort would keep respawning, and players would stop farming cows and farm the more valuable Chort Hides instead.
4 Basilisks
Basilisks are an extremely rare enemy in The Witcher 3 who only show up twice throughout the entire game – during one of the many specialty Ciri quests and the Dowry quest in Velen. They are basilisk in the traditional sense, appearing as a creature somewhere between a chicken and a lizard with grotesque scaled wings.
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In The Witcher 3, basilisks are a dying breed – one of the two times the player encounters one it’s already dead – and as a result, there’s a lot of incorrect beliefs about the species. It’s a fast nimble fighter with venomous attacks, and it’s weak against fire-based attacks, like bombs and the Igni sign.
3 Succubuses
Succubuses are a type of demon that resemble beautiful humans and lure their victims in with promises of pleasure. There are only a few succubi in The Witcher 3, and most of them wouldn’t even stand out to players without a discerning eye.
Salma, in Novigrad, is one of these succubi. Geralt will find her in the quest Deadly Delights, in which Salma is accused (rightfully) of killing several Temple Guards. Geralt tracks her down and can either kill her or track her down – she’s a hybrid-type enemy, and the steel sword does a little bit more damage than the silver one to her.
2 Personified Nightmares
The Cave of Dreams is an optional quest found towards the end of the game in Ard Skellig. This quest is home to enemies most players have never even heard of: Geralt’s own fears, personified into enemies. One of these dreams is Eredim himself, the King of the Wild Hunt, along with several other apparitions.
It’s a bit like the scene in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back when Luke has a vision of himself fighting Darth Vader on Dagobah. Geralt doesn’t end up being Eredin, but he does get to face off against this iconic foe long before crossing blades with the real Eredin.
1 Dettlaff, the Beast of Beauclair
Dettlaff, the Beast of Beauclair, is among the most powerful vampires in the world of The Witcher 3. Many fans consider Dettlaff to be the hardest enemy in the game, as higher vampires tend to be on-par or more skilled than Witchers. In fact, the Witcher School of the Bear was destroyed after failing to complete a vampire contract.
Dettlaff is a primary antagonist through several quests in the Blood and Wine expansion, where Geralt must locate the serial killer terrorizing the night. He’s only fought once, and players not patient enough to get through the massive campaign of The Witcher 3 might not ever get to experience this incredibly difficult unique encounter.
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