The Arachas is another creature that returns to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from the past games in the franchise. It looks like a cross between a spider and a crab with an armored back and the ability to shoot spider webs.
The Arachas are probably one of the most venomous creatures in The Witcher 3 bestiary. If you get hit, you will start taking poison damage over time. You are recommended to flee if you encounter two of them at the same time.
The following guide will tell you their weaknesses, weak spots, and how to evade their attacks to kill them in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Where to find Arachas
The Arachas has adapted to a damp climate over the course of decades. Hence, you have a higher chance of finding them in the woodlands, swamps, and mossy forested areas across Novigrad and Skellige.
This is largely because Arachas’ can use the forest undergrowth to camouflage itself to look like part of the environment. Secondly, it uses hollow tree trunks as armor to cover its abdomen.
Arachas are pretty common to come by in The Witcher 3. You can also pick the Missing Brother contract to encounter a more powerful variant called Harrisi.
How to kill Arachas
Arachas are highly venomous creatures. If you stay in melee range, you are at risk of getting poisoned by their pincer attacks.
However, keeping your distance will cause the Arachas to shoot a web that traps you in the same spot for a few seconds. If you do not free yourself quickly enough, the Arachas will charge you to do damage.
The first thing you need here is the Golden Oriole potion to make yourself immune to its poison. This will ensure that you do not take damage over time from its poisonous pincer attacks or its poisonous projectiles.
| Potion | Effects | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Oriole | Immunity against poisons and removal of poison from the bloodstream. | 1x Dwarven Spirit, 4x Blowball, 1x Light Essence |
| Enhanced Golden Oriole | Immunity against poisons and removal of poison from the bloodstream for an extended time. | 1x Golden Oriole, 1x Alcohest, 6x Blowball, 1x Celandine, 2x Light Essence |
| Superior Golden Oriole | Immunity against poisons and removal of poison from the bloodstream for an extended time. The poison will heal your health instead of causing any damage. | 1x Enhanced Golden Oriole, 1x White Gull, 4x Blowball, 4x Celandine, 1x Han Fiber, 1x Ranogrin, 1x Quebrith |
When dealing damage to the creature, you need to use your silver sword. Secondly, you need to attack it from behind. Its abdomen sack is its weak point, so attacking blindly from the front is useless. You need to dodge or roll behind it to hack away at its abdomen’s weak spot.
You can increase your damage by applying some Insectoid oil. This is important to have if you are fighting two Arachas’ at the same time.
| Oil | Effects | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| Insectoid Oil | +10 attack power against Arachas | 1x Dog Tallow, 4x Ranogrin |
| Enhanced Insectoid Oil | +25 attack power against Arachas | 1x Insectoid Oil,1x Bear Fat, 1x Endrega Heart, 1x Puffball, 1x Ranogrin, 1x Hornwort, 1x Honeysuckle |
| Superior Insectoid Oil | +50 attack power against Arachas | 1x Enhanced Insectoid Oil, 1x Alchemy Paste, 1x Endrega Heart, 1x Puffball, 1x Hornwort, 1x Bloodmoss, 1x Hydragenum |
Take note that you cannot flip over an Arachas like Shaelmaar to expose its weak spot. Aard will do nothing here. You can, however, use Igni to temporarily daze the creature to get a few hits in.
You can also use Yrden to slow the creature down to allow you to get behind it. Axii does the same job as Yrden if you are finding it difficult to flank the Arachas.
Arachas types and variations
There are a total of three types of Arachas in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. There are the Armored Arachas that take more damage to take down. There are also Venomous Arachas that do more poison damage to you than the normal variant.
Finally, there is Harrisi, a unique and more powerful Arachas that is located in an abandoned mine in Velen. It does a lot of damage but not as much poisonous damage as the Venemous variant.
All of them, however, can be killed using the same strategy as mentioned above. Just keep in mind that when you encounter Venomous Arachas, you will need a Golden Oriole potion, especially if you are playing on Death March difficulty.
