i tried using axii but it didnt seem to do anything. i can see the lovely effects but the target keeps attacking me. it's behaviour never changes.

am i missing something? am i "clicking the mouse" wrong?

Keep the Q-key pressed until it's finished. It might still fail though.
And yes, making all the spells but one "hit the button and you're done" is counter-intuitive.

oh, you're right :P i saw that it has a long particle effect but didnt htink it was THAT long.
well, problem solved :P
thanks

and it is bloody useless in combat.
the only time you would want to use it is when you have a group of enemies but the time you have to spend to get one enemy under the spell is too long because the rest of he group would be kicking your behind by then

I found it a good opener at the start of the game but once you have a few talent points on the magic tree a better opener is to set everyone on fire.

Well, I'm embarrassed to say that explains why I've been thinking it was always so useless...

A quick tap seems to disorient a shield-carrying enemy long enough for you to roll and backswipe them, but I'd think a Yrden would be more effective for that anyway.

I didn't experiment a lot with it, but I could imagine that using it while Quen is active might be a good idea.

trust me it is not.
you are better off using one of the other signs

You'll need it when you fight King Henselt at Chapter II inside small house.

It's useless to people who don't know how to play the game.

I don't know how to play, and I find it very useful. ;-P

Seriously, I only figured out how to make it take effect on second play Act II. So, this post is really just a bump to help out other slow learners.

(I know I am dense, but I reviewed documentation and journal. I don't see anything that explains it takes more than a tap to grab hold. I thought it just failed an awful lot without the right stats. Would be my only complaint about manual and journal so far, really. Everything else is really well documented through manual, lore or Dandilion's story.)