The Witcher 2 Walkthrough Part 48: Enter the Dragon

Just as with the previous guide, this guide is for an end-game mission and thus contains heavy spoilers. The spoilers make up the majority of the quest, so if you have yet to beat this and you would like to keep some of the story details under wraps, it might be best to simply try to beat the mission yourself. If you want strategies for the boss battle against the dragon, skip down to the Boss Battle: Dragon section, which will be free of spoilers.

After the peace summit goes horribly wrong, you will have to face Sile and the dragon up on the tower. With Saskia under Philippa and Sile’s control, she is a threat to everyone around you as long as she remains in her dragon form. Because of this, you will have to scale the tower and kill her. If you were able to loot the chest from Philippa’s house, though, you may not necessarily have to kill her. You will still have to fight her, though. Remember, the dagger must be plunged directly into the dragon’s heart in order to break the spell.

You will begin the quest in the ruins of the peace summit, surrounded by fires and dead soldiers. You will only be able to follow one path safely through the fire, so find it and follow it to reach the stairs. Climb the stairs and run across to the tower on the other side. The stairway will begin to collapse beneath you as you run, so go forward as fast as you can to avoid falling to your death. The dragon will soon take notice of you and attack. Keep moving to avoid all of the dragon’s attacks. Sile will attempt to make you turn back, but to no avail. Once you reach the top floor, you will find Sile about to give up on you and teleport away to safety. Stop her from escaping. Sile, trapped, will explain to you the role that the Lodge played in the assassinations of the Kings. She will say that they were not meant to kill Foltest or Henselt specifically, but just Demavend. She will also shed some more light on the relationship between Letho and the Lodge. Finally, as her final plea, Sile will tell you that Nilfgaard has been steadily advancing upon the Northern countries, and that war is almost inevitable at this point.

At this point, you may either remove a diamond from Sile’s megascope, or simply let it go. It is best to know the consequences of this decision before deciding upon one of the options. If you do not take out one of the diamonds, you will actually be condemning Sile to death. The diamond in question will be damaged, and when used for teleporting, it will actually make Sile explode. If you do decided to save Sile by removing the diamond, she will repay you by telling you that Yennefer is in Nilfgaard. She will then teleport out, despite the fact that you took one of the diamonds from her megascope to prevent just this from happening. Either way, this decision will lead into a boss battle against the dragon, who you will have learned is actually named Saesenthessis.

Boss Battle: Dragon (Saesenthessis)

There will be several stages to this final battle. The first will see you fighting on the lower floor, where Sile was. Watch out for both of the dragon’s main attacks. The first of these is a melee swipe that will send you sprawling to the ground with its vast power. The second is a flume a fire that shoots out from the dragon’s mouth. Cast Quen on yourself so that you will be sielded from these attacks, then enter the battle and attack the dragon. The best time to hit it is when it is breathing fire, as it will not be able to counter you with a melee swipe until it finishes breathing fire everywhere. Keep hitting the dragon until its health reaches halfway down. This will trigger the second phase of the battle. The dragon will fly away and destroy part of the tower. You will have to head up to the top of the tower to continue the battle. A chunk of the tower’s wall will collapse, forming a makeshift walkway up to the top level. Climb up here to begin the second phase of the battle. The dragon will have similar attacks during this phase, so simply keep up the same strategy that you used before. Cast Quen on yourself, and drink potions before climbing to the top if you think that they will be necessary. The only additional attack that the dragon will have is a flying attack. At certain points in the battle, the dragon will fly above you and shoot floames down onto the tower. The only way to avoid this is to run right beneath the dragon, under its wings. When it finishes breathing fire, there will be a short pause where you can score a free heavy attack before the dragon begins to move again.

Keep attacking the dragon until the rest of its health is gone. This will initiate a series of Quick Time Events. The first press needed will be the left mouse, just as you are jumping onto the dragon. Next, be ready to right click when you begin to flying around on the dragon’s back. This will cause you to crash, and the dragon will be impaled on a tree nearby.

If you have Philippa’s dagger, Geralt will take this opportunity to stab it into the dragon’s heart. Saskia will be freed of her curse, just as Philippa said, and she will return to her human form safe and sound. Talk with her to end Act 3. The only remaining thing to do is confront Letho in a brief epilogue. If you didn’t get the dagger, you can choose to either finish the dragon off or let it go. It will still be under Philippa’s control if you let it go, though.