Witches of Hemwick Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hemwick Charnel Lane

The fight takes place inside the Witch's Abode, which is just a small, mostly ruined structure. As with all bosses, the player receives one Insight upon encountering it for the very first time, then another three Insight for defeating it.

Answer: No

The Witches of Hemwick in general are extremely passive. They actually do not have any melee maneuvers whatsoever, apart from a single grab attack which cannot be parried. Outside of the grab, they are capable of using two different projectiles which, again, cannot be parried.

It is possible, easy even, to backstab and subsequently land a visceral attack. But, unless using a Bloodtinge build or one of the Cannons, there really isn't any use for a gun fighting the Witch of Hemwick.

Answer: Eyes

The lore behind the Witches of Hemwick, is that they are women who have aspired to collect as many eyeballs as they can for use in arcane rituals. Hemwick Charnel Lane is filled to the brim with corpses, some impaled with stakes, some left on the ground for rabid dogs to tear apart, but plenty still with usable eyes for the Witches yet.

In this game, there is essentially a bizarre, somewhat hidden binary conflict between those who indulge in blood (Healing Church) and those who prefer eyes (Byrgenwerth Scholars, anyone outside of the church in theory). Although the Witches do not have a distinct, explicit connection to Byrgenwerth, they clearly prefer the usage of eyes to blood.

Answer: Two

Uniquely, there won't immediately be a second large boss health bar for the second Witch when it shows up. The second Witch will appear very soon after the fight begins, but it only gains the standard boss health bar after the first Witch falls to half health or less.

The player can still find, attack and even damage the witch. The telltale sign that they are attacking the second witch is that the first witch's boss health bar is unaffected despite the player clearly attacking a witch. The attacks still count, and will be reflected when the second witch's health bar appears. But it is very likely to cause confusion with newer players.

Answer: Having no Insight whatsoever

If the player has absolutely zero Insight whatsoever, it becomes impossible for the Witches to summon any Mad Ones at all, simplifying the fight. That said, this cannot be done on the player's very first attempt at the boss, as simply encountering the boss immediately grants one Insight. So, the player would have to begin the fight with the Witches, leave or die, go and spend all of their Insight, and they could then return to a Mad One-free boss fight.

The Mad Ones are very slow, passive and generally even docile. It is not worth the effort to make sure they cannot appear in this fight, as they simply don't pose much of a threat.

If the player has even one Insight, the Witches will constantly re-summon the Mad Ones when they are killed. So the best course of action is to ignore the Mad Ones outright and simply focus on their masters. Once the Witches are slain, the Mad Ones die with them automatically.

Answer: Any alive Witches can resurrect dead ones

Once one of the Witches is slain, the player is essentially placed on a timer. After twenty five seconds, the remaining Witch will resurrect the other and restore it to half health. The resurrection animation and maneuver cannot be interrupted in anyway other than death once it begins.

Answer: No

Mechanically, it would be very difficult to properly balance an NPC to assist the player here. The Witches spend most of this fight entirely invisible, and the player is meant to carefully manage their healthbars in an attempt to kill them within close timeframes of one another. An NPC simply wouldn't work for this, as they would not be impacted by the Witches' invisibility, and they would also likely just aimlessly attack the Witches, which could very easily greatly hinder the player.

Answer: Optional

There is massive incentive to doing this fight, but if the player's sole and only objective is getting to the end credits screen, this fight is optional for achieving that purpose.

Answer: Bloodshot Eyeballs

Four Bloodshot Eyeballs, to be exact, are dropped by this boss on defeat. As well, further Bloodshot Eyeballs will now be available for purchase out of the Insight Shop in the Hunter's Dream, available at a price of two Insight apiece.

Bloodshot Eyeballs are a necessary component for accessing the Hintertomb Chalice Dungeons in their entirety, including the Upper, Lower and even the Sinister versions. Although the player needs far more than just four to access the entirety of Hintertomb, four is still enough to access the earlygoings of Hintertomb, where more could potentially be looted.

Answer: Rotted

Although it is never guaranteed, a Witch of Hemwick becomes an Uncommon enemy under any Chalice Dungeon which has had the Rotted rite applied to it. In order to perform this rite, along with the usual materials for a given chalice, the player will now need to include either an Inflicted Organ or a Yellow Backbone. Generally, the former would be for earlier Chalice Dungeons, while the latter would be for later ones.

As a regular enemy, the Witch of Hemwick can summon Mad Ones. Unlike the boss version, these Mad Ones will always appear regardless of how much Insight the player has. The Witch can summon up to three at one time, which is also up from the two that the boss version is limited to.