Some people get adrenaline from going for a jog, but I felt sick with it after besting Dettlaff in The Witcher 3 for the first time. The high vampire boss fight has been the thorn in my Mastercrafted Wolven Armor since 2021, when I caved and finally bought all of the game's DLC after coming down with COVID. Dettlaff quickly became the cause of all my witchering strife, and the very reason I have opted to just start a new playthrough time and time again rather than put myself through the shame of it. I've spent three years resolutely avoiding that final rendezvous at Tesham Mutna, and for three years, I've lived with my private shame.
This week, I decided that I'm sick of giving up on a game I adore because of my own frustrations. At first I toyed with starting a Blood and Wine-only new game slot, but my abandoned save file from May 2021 taunted me like a playground bully, daring me to finish what I'd started. Imagine my surprise when I loaded back in and realized that maybe Dettlaff wasn't the problem, and my terrible build was.
