Striga

A striga is a person twisted into a monster by a curse, and the most famous one is a king’s daughter. By day she lies hidden in her sarcophagus in some forgotten corner of a crypt. At night she comes out to hunt, and she is fast, strong and savage enough to tear a man apart before he can draw his sword. Necrophages tolerate her, steel barely bothers her, and silver is what hurts. She is also noticeably stronger close to her sarcophagus.

What sets the striga apart from most monsters is that she can be saved. A striga is freed from the curse if someone survives a night by her sarcophagus and keeps her from getting back into it before dawn. Even then the cure isn’t always clean: a lifted curse can come back, which is exactly what happens in The Witcher.

In The Witcher

The striga is the first monster the game shows you. The opening cinematic plays out the night, years before the story, when Geralt fought Princess Adda, daughter of King Foltest, and lifted her curse.

In Act V the curse is back. In Her Highness the Striga, Foltest asks Geralt to cure Adda if he can and kill her only if he must, and to hear out Triss, Velerad and Count de Wett first. The hunt starts in burning Old Vizima, where a soldier at Shani‘s field hospital reports a striga in a tower. It turns out to be a mutant instead, and Kalkstein points Geralt to the chapel in the Vizima Swamp Cemetery. Velerad locks Geralt in the crypt below with the striga until it’s settled.

In the crypt Geralt finds Ostrit‘s journal by the sarcophagus, proof that someone used it to renew the curse on purpose. Geralt can kill the striga or lift the curse by holding out by the sarcophagus until dawn, when Adda turns human again. Velerad then sends him on to the Old Manor, where De Wett turns out to be the one behind the curse and Geralt kills him.

Killing the striga yields a striga heart, used to brew Striga’s Urge. If Geralt saves Adda, Velerad rewards him with the steel sword D’yaebl. Foltest won’t hold it against Geralt if he had to kill his daughter.

In the books

The striga comes from Sapkowski’s short story “The Witcher” in The Last Wish. Foltest’s daughter was born a striga, and Geralt is hired to lift the curse. To do it he has to survive a night in the old palace and keep her out of her sarcophagus until the third crow of the cock.

Combat strategy

In Act V you choose: kill Adda or save her. The striga is fast and hits hard, but she is less tough than she looks, so the kill is not a long fight.

To kill her, use the silver sword in the strong style. Potions are rarely needed.
To save her, stay in the chamber with the sarcophagus and keep both of you alive until dawn. Use signs or the steel sword in the fast style so you don’t kill her, or simply keep running in circles until the candles go out.
Her attacks can blind you, so don’t let her get the jump on you.
Save before you enter the crypt. You can’t leave until the quest is resolved.
If she doesn’t appear, meditate by the nearby campfire until dusk.