Wolf Path - Dance of Swords

When you know about something, it stops being a nightmare. When you know how to fight something, it stops being

so threatening.

--Uncle VesemirThis is an overhaul mod that aims to make the combat, stamina, and alchemy systems harsher, forcing players to be more measured, tactical, and reliant on preparation.

PHILOSOPHY

Every action has weight: Attacking, dodging, or casting a sign drains stamina. You must pace yourself, observe the enemy, and commit when the moment is right.

Preparation matters: Certain potions and perks can make your stamina regeneration faster.

Geralt is a witcher, not a wizard: Signs are tools, not superpowers. Swordsmanship is the primary weapon of a witcher; therefore, alternative combat styles (Whirl, Rend, arrow deflection) are active from the beginning at the cost of additional stamina. Alternative signs have been disabled. The idea behind it is simple: Witchers shouldn’t have magical powers that surpass mages.

SWORD PLAY

Each strike, dodge and roll now drains stamina, forcing your strikes to be correctly paced. The mechanics are simple; each strike costs some stamina (100 is the maximum stamina), and with each strike comes a delay, meaning that the engine will wait x seconds before it starts to regenerate the lost stamina.

Light Attack / 12 / 1. 2s

Heavy Attack / 17 / 1. 7s

Dodge / 7 / 0. 8s

Roll / 9 / 1. 0s

A counterbalance has been applied to reduce the stamina costs needed to act:

Fleet Footed skill active / 2 / N/A

Any Witcher school technique skill active / 2 / N/A

When drank tawny owl potion / 2 / 0. 2

The idea that Geralt need to unlock skills like Rend and Whirl was always annoying to me and did not make sense since Geralt is an old veteran at the point of Witcher 3. Therefore, the following was adjusted:

Rend & Whirl attack types were unlocked from the get-go, costing additional stamina if the skill was not yet unlocked.

The arrow parry skill has also been unlocked; however, the arrow deflection to the target has been disabled, meaning you cannot use that in the game anymore.