Drowned dead

Drowned dead (Polish: Topielec), is a more dangerous drowner variant. Like their cousins, they are found in and around bodies of water. It's commonly believed that drowners and drowned dead are criminals who met their ends by drowning, but this is false. In actuality, they're post-Conjunction creatures, making them entirely separate entities from humans and non-humans.

The Witcher

Drowned dead
Information
Class	Necrophage
Occurrence	The drowned dead are creatures of the night; they appear on the banks of ponds, lakes and rivers
Immunity	Immune to bleeding, blinding and poison attempts; they are fearless, immune to stun attempts and the Axii sign
Susceptibility	Sensitive to silver and susceptible to knockdown attempts; the Fast Style is most efficient against the drowned dead; experienced witchers use the Group Style while fighting multiple drowned dead
Tactics	These creatures poison their victims with cadaverine; they often attack as a group
Alchemy	Cadaverine Ginatz's Acid drowned dead tongue

Notable drowned dead

• Nadir, a trophy quest in the Outskirts of Vizima.
• Zephyr, a former thief featured in a secondary quest in Chapter IV of The Witcher.

Journal Bestiary entry

Particularly strong and dangerous drowners are known as the drowned dead. Simple people see no difference between the drowner and the drowned dead – encountering either of them is equally deadly. We might suppose, though, that the most gloomy legends concern the drowned dead rather than drowners.

Location

• Swamp
• Swamp cemetery
• Vizima cemetery

Source

• Swamp Monsters
• In Chapter II, Shani will give Geralt this bestiary entry if he asks her for a monster anatomy lesson after delivering five Celandine during the Old Friend of Mine quest. Depending on the circumstances, Shani will either give this entry or a fleder entry (and their alchemies), but these seem to be mutually exclusive.
• Side Effects premium module: The Book of Drowned Dead

Notes

• Their remains will not contain their tongues until you have this bestiary entry in your journal.
• An old townswoman in Chapter I will tell Geralt a tale of Drowned Dead in exchange for food. However, the conversation gives a journal entry for Drowners, not Drowned Dead.
• A drowned dead has about twice the amount of hit points of a regular drowner; 50 instead of 25.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Drowned dead return in The Witcher 2, however they are very rare and usually appear only at night near the site of Sabrina Glevissig's execution or near the bandit hideout. They are also classified as a subspecies of drowners. Drowned dead cease giving XP when killed from Level 15 onwards.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Drowned dead return in the third installment. They look largely the same in appearance with their counterparts in the second game and usually appear among five or more drowners.

They are found in Kaer Morhen valley, Novigrad, Skellige, and Velen.

The Witcher: Monster Slayer

In addition to the drowned dead, which is a rare monster, there is also its stronger, legendary variant - the Water Devil. It differs in appearance from the drowned dead by body coloring and fins on its head. Both monsters are vulnerable to steel and fire and are found in wetlands.

Trivia

• The original name of the creature, Topielec, is a Polish word for kelpie.

Gallery

Drowned dead in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Render of drowned dead from TW2

Drowned dead in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

A drowned dead trophy in The Witcher: Monster Slayer bestiary

A water devil trophy in The Witcher: Monster Slayer bestiary