Bullvore

The bullvore is a monster in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Its body is a mass of muscle wrapped in tough, elastic skin, topped with a head resembling a buffalo’s, although its jaws hold sharp teeth suited to tearing flesh. When it walks, the ground shakes.

Bullvores are creatures that appeared after the Conjunction of the Spheres. Their chaotic origin shows in the horns and small, barely functional hands that sprout across their bodies. It is a necrophage, a much bigger and far more dangerous relative of the rotfiend. A bullvore prefers its own company, but it likes to show off in front of smaller monsters such as nekkers and rotfiends, and sometimes kills its companions just for the spectacle, for instance by spitting acid on rotfiends until they burst.

In The Witcher 2

Bullvores live in caves and underground passages. In Chapter 2 one lurks in the abandoned mines around Vergen among plenty of rotfiends, and another sits in the rotfiend cave beneath the Kaedweni camp. In Chapter 3 a pair of them lives in the sewers of Loc Muinne.

The bullvore brain is the creature’s only unique drop, and it’s worth taking: you need one for the Chapter 3 quest An Encrypted Manuscript, and it is a good ingredient for high-end potions. A bullvore also leaves necrophage blood, eyes, skin and teeth, plus a bullvore trophy.

Combat strategy

A bullvore is slow but hits like a battering ram, and it heals about as fast as a troll, so don’t give it time to recover. Coat your blade with necrophage oil, stay at its sides or back, and punish it after a charge that misses.

Use necrophage oil. Poison and bleeding oils do nothing against it.
Strong attacks from the side or back are safe, since it turns slowly.
When it starts blocking, roll away: a charge usually follows. If the charge misses, the bullvore is stunned and open to attack.
It is vulnerable to burning and stuns, so Igni and Aard both help.
Keep clear of its vomit, a caustic, poisonous spray it uses at range.