Alghoul

An alghoul is what a ghoul becomes after feeding on corpses for long enough: bigger, stronger, differently colored and, most importantly, much smarter. Unlike ordinary ghouls, alghouls can plan, and they often lead packs of their weaker kin.

In a fight an alghoul lets out a piercing scream that stuns its victim and drives nearby ghouls into a frenzy. It throws itself into risky lunges to knock opponents down. When it gets angry, sharp spines rise along its back, and hitting it then gets you hurt. Wounded alghouls can fly into a blind fury, and they regenerate if the fight drags on. They’re found in ghoul nests, on battlefields and around shallow graves.

In The Witcher 3 your first alghouls usually come in Contract: Woodland Beast in Velen. The free DLC contract The Beast of Honorton takes you to the ruined village of Honorton, where alghouls feast among the dead and the trail continues into Where the Cat and Wolf Play…. In Skellige, an alghoul leads ghouls and devourers in For Fame and Glory west of Larvik. At Kaer Morhen, Vesemir falls asleep during Ciri’s lesson on ghouls and alghouls in the opening Kaer Morhen quest.

Across the games

In The Witcher, alghouls turn up in Act II, when Geralt is working in Vizima‘s Temple Quarter. They are tied to one monster contract, posted on behalf of the alchemist Kalkstein.

Kalkstein wants marrow from three alghouls and pays cash for it, and the marrow itself is the proof he asks for. The contract can only be handed in once Geralt’s Bestiary has an entry on alghouls, so it is worth reading up on them before the hunt. With the marrow collected, Geralt returns to Kalkstein, who now has what he needs for a large batch of potions. The job pays 150 orens and 500 to 2,000 XP.

The Alghoul Contract (Act II, monster contract)

Combat strategy

Kill the alghoul first. As long as it’s alive it keeps stunning you and whipping the ghouls into a frenzy, so ignore the small fry until it’s down. The spines are the main thing to watch. Once they’re out, attacking it hurts you, so cast Axii, which calms it and makes the spines go away. Quen also protects you from the spikes. When it goes into a frenzy, get out of the way and strike from behind instead of meeting the charge head-on. Hitting its spines just deflects your damage back at you.