Fleder

Fleders are lesser vampires with wide, toothy jaws, flat and ugly faces and hairless, often warty bodies. They aren’t very bright. They attack in a mindless rage and use teeth and claws on anything that moves. The bestiary warns that even a lone fleder can take down a trained soldier.

A fleder doesn’t run after its prey so much as pounce on it. It closes distance with fast, deadly dashes, can leap into the air and slam down with a strike that shakes the ground, and it slowly regenerates health as the fight goes on.

Fleders only appear in Toussaint in Blood and Wine. You meet the odd one among the necrophages during La Cage au Fou, many roam the palace grounds in The Night of Long Fangs alongside garkains and bruxae, and one guards the way in What Lies Unseen. A fleder and a garkain also attack near a cave entrance during Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Griffin Gear.

Across the games

In The Witcher, fleders turn up in Act III, when Geralt is working in Vizima‘s Trade Quarter. They are part of a monster contract handed out by Velerad.

Velerad pays for proof that fleders have been killed, and he wants the fangs of three of them. Geralt hunts the fleders, takes their fangs and brings them back to Velerad along with the contract. The city is a little safer afterwards, and Geralt is 250 orens and 5,000 XP richer.

The Fleder Contract (Act III, monster contract)

Combat strategy

Fleders hit hard and come at you fast, so be ready to dodge sideways as soon as one crouches to leap. Most of their damage comes from that leap and the dash, which are meant to knock you over. After a missed lunge you get a short window to punish it. Don’t let the fight drag on, since it regenerates health over time.

In The Night of Long Fangs they show up in many places in the dark, so drinking Superior Tawny Owl at the start helps keep your signs going.