Draug

The draug is the stuff of old legends and heroic ballads, the enemy a hero has to face to rescue a loved one from the underworld or to avenge a murdered father. Poets love it as a villain for good reasons. It is a wraith, so it fits any grim tale of curses and vengeance from beyond the grave. Nobody knows what it really looks like, so every storyteller can describe it as he pleases. And it is mighty: a prince of the damned, at the head of an army of the dead.

That army is the real problem. A draug rarely has to fight in person, because wraiths, revenants and other restless spirits do its bidding without question, and a witcher usually has to cut through them before he even reaches it. It is immensely strong, feels no pain and knows no fear, and the usual witcher tricks work poorly against it.

In The Witcher 2

In Chapter 2 the draug is the power behind the cursed mist over the Pontar Battlefield near Vergen, where the wraiths of Kaedweni and Aedirnian soldiers fight the same old battle over and over. The mist is tied to the blood curse of Sabrina Glevissig, and at its heart the vengeful spirit of Vandergrift, the Kaedweni general who led his troops on that field, has taken the draug’s shape. Its soldiers are the draugirs, wraith warriors summoned by its will.

Geralt faces it at the end of The Eternal Battle. First he has to collect four relics that stand for the essence of war: Death Symbolized (the standard of the Dun Banner), Hatred Symbolized (Vandergrift’s own sword), Courage Symbolized and Faith Symbolized. On Iorveth‘s path Philippa Eilhart guides the ritual, on Roche‘s path it is Dethmold, and there Geralt also has to deal with Sabrina’s curse together with Henselt. Inside the mist he relives the battle in several roles before the draug itself steps in.

Beating it breaks the curse and clears the mist. Geralt collapses and sleeps for days, waking up either in Philippa’s house in Vergen or in the camp followers’ brothel, depending on the path, just as Henselt’s army moves on Vergen. The draug drops the Draug Trophy and the unique materials for Draug Armor, which are collected automatically in the Enhanced Edition.

Good to know

The Draug Armor diagram is sold by Lasota in the Kaedweni camp and by Mael in Vergen. Buy it before you enter the mist.
The draug also turns up in The Witcher 3 as a Monsters hero card in Gwent: Draug.

Combat strategy

The draug hits hard and its blows can’t be parried, so this fight is all about dodging and punishing it from behind. Besides its health bar it has a shield bar, and attacks from the front have to wear that down before they hurt it.

Roll away from its sword sweeps and its charge. When a charge ends, run in behind it: attacks from the rear go straight to its health.
Use strong attacks. Fast attacks barely scratch it.
When it shouts for archers, get behind rocks until the flaming arrows stop.
When it calls the trebuchets, step out of the red circles before the fireballs land.
Keep away from the whirlwind attack.
Yrden or Aard can stun it for a moment, but it resists signs well, so don’t rely on them.
Specter oil on the silver sword speeds things up.