Against monsters I usually use dodge (press O as they are about to strike).
Honestly haven't tried parrying, normally parry against humans. Will give it a try tonight and see how parrying against monsters go. I guess it should work the same.

I'm assuming it might be slightly harder to execute a parry against a monster vs humans because against humans, it is obvious when they are about to strike with their weapon. Against monsters, slightly harder to spot.

This post has been edited by East_Bound: May 26 2015, 04:37 PM

You can regain health by :

1. Meditating (but not available in the higher difficulties)
2. SWALLOW POTION to regen health over time and one more for instant recovery (can't remember the name)
3. Also if you level your QUEN sign up, there is a point where the shield absorbs damage and turns it into health.

This post has been edited by East_Bound: May 31 2015, 03:35 PM

Checkout this XP farming tactic which kills respawning cyclops.
I will try it later myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn-MFKvlJ5M

Well at the 2 highest difficulty levels you can't just spam fast and heavy attacks. Dodge and counter is your best friend :)You'll find most if not all enemies attack using a fixed rhythm. So it could be attack, attack, dodge or roll,rinse and repeat (often running away sometimes to avoid being swarmed).

How you like to play the game is up to you but for me, I went for Signs with my skill points and Griffin armour set. At mid to higher levels, Igni, Quen and Axii with the Stamina regeneration boost that you get, doesn't make it a fair fight even on Death March.

IGNI : when you can use it to shoot a steady stream is very useful against humans. Sometimes I don't even need to use my sword as they are usually flailing around while taking burn damage to attack. Also good against selected monsters.

QUEN : Helps recover health quickly during a fight and provide a shield.

AXii : Mind control is always good

Quests and the storyline are half the fun so try to do as many as possible

This post has been edited by East_Bound: Jul 21 2015, 12:04 PM

Perhaps the lesson here is not to buy blockbuster releases on day 1 and let the developers work out the problems first.