How to defeat The Caretaker in The Witcher 3

This guide will show you how to defeat The Caretaker in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt: preparation tips, fight mechanics, and rewards for taking down the monster!

The Caretaker is one of the boss fights in the “Scenes from a marriage” quest. This is part of the Hearts of Stone expansion. The quest and the boss are recommended for level 35 or higher. If you use this guide, you may be able to defeat the boss at a much lower level, it would just be a bit slower.

This enemy might not look like much but it can be incredibly frustrating if you’re not prepared to deal with it. This guide will cover everything you need to know so that you don’t get stuck even when playing on Death March.

How to prepare for the Caretaker fight

At this point in the game, boss fights are more serious, and having fancy feet won’t be enough to defeat the more powerful enemies. Bringing a good armor set, a silver sword with proper oil, and combining the right decoctions and potions is key if you want to avoid getting stuck in these fights. Especially if you play on the higher difficulties.

In case you need a reference, here’s what I recommend to beat this fight in Death March difficulty:

The Mastercrafted Wolven Armor Set and Silver Sword are always a safe bet. It’s up to you to build your Geralt however you wish. The Wolven set is the most versatile of all. It provides balanced bonuses and boosts multiple interchangeable and even mixed playstyles.

The Caretaker is a relict, Relict Oil is going to prove extremely useful against it.

The Ekhidna Decoction allows Geralt to recover Vitality when performing actions that consume Stamina.

Having the Archgriffin Decoction will make strong attacks consume all Stamina (if available) and reduce 5% of the target’s Vitality after normal damage is calculated.

The two decoctions combined will make your strong attacks deal an increased amount of damage while also restoring some of your Vitality.

Fight Mechanics and Recommendations

The Caretaker is an enemy that moves slowly but hits really hard. His most powerful moves are easy to dodge and predict but what makes him a challenging boss are his insane HP regeneration capabilities.

Quen is your best friend in this boss fight. The enemy heals only when dealing damage so if you have Quen’s shield his health bar won’t recover after hitting you.

Blocking or parrying some of the weaker strikes is possible but I consider that this comes with great risk, sidesteping or rolling out is a safer tactic.

As soon as you get close to him, the Caretaker will try to hit you with powerful strikes. He can attempt to hit you up to five times in a row. Just like with every other of the Caretaker’s attacks, he will heal every time he lands a hit on you.

You can dodge this movement by staying close to the Caretaker and sidestepping at the right moment or simply rolling out of his range.

If you end up in front of him there’s a good chance that he’s going to hit the ground with its shovel. This is an area attack that deals a lot f damage, but its animation is slow so it shouldn’t be a problem to dodge by rolling out. You will identify this movement by watching how both the shovel and the ground start glowing blue.

Once it hits the ground, the shovel will get stuck for a few seconds. Now it’s time to hit him as much as you can, but don’t overdo it. Two or three hits is the limit before you have to move away.

Despite having a blind spot, this boss can defend himself when being hit from behind. A blue circle will appear around the Caretaker and you will be knocked back after a few seconds. Remember that all abilities or hits that you receive will heal the boss.

If you need to recover Stamina or Vitality get as far as you can from the Caretaker but never lose sight of him. The only way he can get close is by charging at you.

It is easy to dodge but if he manages to hit you, your health bar will drop significantly. The Caretaker will have to regain his breath after doing this. Use this time how you see fit.

Be mindful of your surroundings so you have plenty of room to sidestep or roll out.

When the Caretaker’s health drops to a certain level, he will summon phantoms. They aren’t hostile to you and move very slowly but you must destroy them as soon as possible.

These phantoms were summoned with the only purpose of restoring the Caretaker’s health. Destroy them before they can reach their summoner, it only takes one hit to do so.

The first time the boss will only summon a few of them but as the fight progresses this number is going to increase considerably. Between the darkness, bushes, and other objects it might be hard to distinguish some of these phantoms, look at the mini-map so you can locate them before it’s too late.

Here’s a small summary of the most important things you should remember:

• Every time the Caretaker hits you his health bar will restore.
• Use Quen as much as possible.
• Sidestep or roll out.
• Hit him from behind when he can’t move.
• Destroy all the phantoms before they can reach the Caretaker.

After you defeat the Caretaker, you can loot The Caretaker’s spade. It will be right next to his body. The shovel that was used against you, can now become your new weapon. It’s not too bad. The shover requires level 34 to wield.

I hope you found this guide to the Caretaker boss encounter from Hearts of Stone helpful! Good luck on the path, witcher!