Katakan

A Katakan is a type of vampire usually classified as higher ones, however sometimes experts on the field of monsters like Geralt will classify them as lesser ones. The reasoning is possibly the age of the katakan itself, meaning that ancient ones are rated as higher ones and young ones as lesser ones.

They even tend to be more humanoid and display obvious intelligence, to the point that some ancient ones are capable disguising themselves and practically act as normal humans do. An example of this is Hubert Rejk, who 200 years before facing Geralt, had already faced and possibly killed another Witcher.

During a post-mortem autopsy examination, executed by Eskel and supervised by Geralt, it is revealed that the claws of a Katakan continue to grow during all its life, allowing a monsters expert to approximately calculate the age of the creature.

Bestiary entry

 * Melitele, Great Mother, protect us from evil, from unclean devils and foul demons, and most of all from the clutches of katakans and nekurats...
 * — fragment of a prayer


 * Katakans and their more dangerous kin, nekurats, are the embodiments of human fear. They hide in the shadows. They feed on blood. They resemble enormous bats — though with long fangs and even longer talons. And, as if that weren't terror enough, they can turn invisible, waiting unseen while dread of their unpreventable attack overwhelms their victim.

Combat Tactics
Katakans are notably smarter and more powerful than ekimmaras. Their power only increases at night, and so a witcher should take additional precautions if they hunt one at those late hours. Alternatively, the witcher should wait for daylight, so the katakan’s natural regeneration is impaired. Yrden is one of the most valuable tools when hunting a katakan, undoing its invisibility, allowing a witcher to feed them a silver sword.

Another way to draw out a katakan from invisibility is through the use of Igni, fire-starting bombs, and Moon Dust. One should remember that the Katakan is far more likely to damage the Witcher then the Witcher is to damage him, so having Black Blood handy is just the thing to return the favor.

Associated quests

 * Now or Never
 * La Cage au Fou