For all those who gave up on the game because of the fr*ggin' Kayran, here's a solution:
Go to http://www.witchernexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40# and download the 'god mod'. Once downloaded, go to your witcher 2 folder and into your 'CookedPC' folder and create an 'abilities' folder, where you should copy your downloaded mod.
This basically makes you invincible, and gives your 'Quen' sign 150 mins, so killing the Kayran should be a piece of cake!
It does take away much of the fighting fun, as you kill most enemies in one blow, but it also removes the gritting frustration that overtoook so many of us.
Hope it helps
P.S.: in order to download the said mod you need to register ;o)

That completely and utterly takes the fun out of combat. I suppose if you are that desperate...

Or you can just go to the spot below the stone *thing* whenever you're low on health and wait there to regain some HP.
The Kayran cannot reach you there.
It's easy to find, there's a corpse and crows right next to it.

I swear by the Forefather and First Mother, I am not trolling or trying to get your goat.

But, did you try it on Easy?

I hated that fight on my first Geralt. No way I was gonna do it on normal that early in a new game. My brain wasn't ready yet. But, Easy almost is God Mode.

(I'm not knockin' the mod. Mod to your heart's content. That is what is so great about PCs. And God Mode is very handy for exploring quickly. )

Are people really struggling with this so much? It took me a few deaths to understand whats up.. then I killed it

thats pretty normal for a boss fight imo

There are pages and pages of raging over it. Even from people who love the game.

I don't like the design of that fight, but I got over it. Got over the loathing and the inability to beat it above easy. :P

The art design of the creature itself is cool!

The solution: go play sims.

Seriously?...

*sigh*

This generation of casualfags makes me cry... I am fully on the side of the developers when they said in an interview that they grew up playing oldskool games where games were an actual challenge that required half a brain...

Seriously? Since when have people been this bad at video games?
The Kayran should take 10 deaths at the very most on HARD.
It's a relatively simple fight. Plant a yrden, wait for the tentacle to rise, sidestep, hack trapped tentacle off, repeat 3 times and complete a simple QTE. Might want to use a Quen if youre unsure about dodging the tantrum, but there are areas where you can just stand and none of the attacks after cutting the tentacles will hit you.

And I don't mean to undermine the skills of anyone or insult them, I'm just genuinely suprised that someone could find the Kayran overwhelming. The only thing even remotely difficult about that fight is figuring out what to do after the QTE, since there are no road signs saying "This way Geralt!". I ended up cowering behind the boulder like a sissy for a while till I figured out where to run.

Oh so you've played Call of Duty? Takes about 5 minutes to get bored of!

And yeah, this generation of casualfags want to be called awesome for knowing how to jump over a pit and open a door. After all, it took ALL of their available brain power to make these decisions therefore it's an ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKEDS.

Sad, so sad. I applaud CDPR for taking the stance of 'deal with it' with people complaining about difficulty. Hey, if the game is too hard for them, there's always the homolust sim Dragon Age 2 to go to. Now with 100% more GIGGLESQUEE and nomming ur heds.

Zip up your trousers, boys.

I don't know why you people are raging here. It's a freaking optional mod/cheat. Every game have cheats, you use them or don't use them. Your CHOICE.

As for the Kayran, if it was an actual combat fight [like against Letho] then i would have had a different opinion on needing a cheat to get past it, but this particular fight is already known to be an exercise in frustrating "trial & error" . It's a glorified "quick time event" which , if you've played alot of games, is a gameplay mechanic that is being hated all over these days. Players dislike it, especially when it has nothing to do with the gameplay of your character. It's a cheap cop-out , usually hiding a "lacking" combat system.

Imagine playing some Need for Speed and you worked your arse off for this super car and getting your racing skill just right and then they tell you : "For this final race you don't have a steering wheel anymore , you need to press random buttons for the next 5 minutes while your car is sliding on oil; to win this" I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to cheat out of that race ;) .

I'm just glad someone at CDProjekt also realised QTEs are not exactly a mechanic players enjoy alot and allowed for a setting to turn this off for the most part. Unfortunately the KAyran is a QTE as a whole, so you can't turn it off :(. The good news is, luckily all the other boss fights are nothing like this.

i think that using a god mode eliminates all satisfaction from the achievement and it's better to seek tips than cheats.

the kayran is really easy. pun Quen and ready Yrden. stand right where the kayran is about to land an attack, absorb the attack, place yrden, run away till vigor is regenerated. then do the same again for the most left tentacle. then to the same to the right tentacle. after bridge falls hide behind the pillar. when u feel like it, go left. that's it.

unlike the fight against Letho, which took many tries and a LOT OF LUCK, i dont think i will be willing to fight him again. i am pretty sure that there isnt a fail proof way to kill him. i didnt find a pattern. i just used Aard to prevent him from using his quen and used heavy attacks. but the kayran? that's a really simple boss. a really simple one. there a simple pattern, know what to do. only difficult is figuring this out and understanding where to stand to get hit by each tentacle, and that's not THAT hard.

Why bother with that? The boss is super easy even on hard.

I think they need to make the boss HARDER. There are "safe zones" when the beast go berserk you are 100% safe without any danger of taking damage.

In short:

Go left (or right). Put sign down close to the first tentacle. Dodge to the side. Go forward... Whack it with attacks (you wont need to put signs down twice once on each is all you need.

When the boss go berserk just stand in the area where that tentacle was. Go get coffee while the boss do his animations that dont do anything. Go to the next one and do the same... Repeat. Go to the other side. Repeat. When you are done just wait while it whack the stones... Once it have whacked the closest part to you have to walk up start walking slowly up. Get up press the correct buttons... Win.

Lets be honest... The boss is easy... They need to remove the safe zones. Make more danger. More things to avoid.