How to find the rhythm of the attack?

Question

In TW1, I remember, I could somehow time my attacks so that when the blows had a certain rhythm the following hits were more and more devastating.

Is there a method of timing my sword attacks, so that I can reach a deadly combo?

Answer 1

As far as I can tell, there is no timing or rhythm to the attacks in The Witcher 2. There are a couple of skills in your Swordsmanship skill tree (under Character Abilities) that will give you similar qualities to TW1's rhythm system:

Whirl - Unlocks the ability to do damage to many foes. There are two levels. The first allows the other opponents to take 50% of the damage dealt. The second allows for 100% of the damage to be dealt.

Combat Acumen - Unlocks group finishers. This will allow you to deal some pretty hefty damage to a large group of attackers.

Answer 2

I haven't played The Witcher 2 yet but I remember one of the dev or gameplay videos explaining the changes made to the combat system. In TW1 everytime you switched battle stance or if you clicked at the wrong time you lost your combos. However, in TW2 you don't loose your combos if you switch from fast to strong. I don't remember if you have to keep to a certain timing though...

I'll try to find the link to the video when I'm at my computer.

Answer 3

There are certain things you can do that are timing based, like ripostes, but TW2 doesn't seem to work the same way as TW1. Despite being presented in a more actiony setup, it's still fairly similar, just more about real time presses than coordinating and combo-ing via simple clicks and auto attacks.

I will say that it's a bit more tactical than TW1, for instance shield-carrying enemies can be a pain to hit, but if you parry until they attack and then leap left, you can usually get in a heavy attack as they move their shield out to the side further when they attack.

I'm still fairly new to TW2 but I'll post more if I learn more.