Botchling

Botchling

Species	Cursed Ones
DLC	Base game
Oil	Cursed Oil
Signs	Axii
Location	Velen

The Botchling is one of the Cursed Ones. It is born from a dead, unwanted baby that was thrown away with no proper burial. The Botchling of the main story lurks near Crow's Perch in Velen, early in the game.

Lore

Witchers count the Botchling among the most repulsive creatures they will ever meet. It looks like a half-rotten fetus. Its unformed flesh is twisted by hate, fear and malice. Lambert of the Wolf School once said that calling a botchling ugly is true, but it hardly tells the whole story.

The creature feeds on the blood of pregnant women. A mad hunger drives it, and the victim usually dies. Its curse can still be lifted. A Botchling can be turned into a Lubberkin, a guardian spirit of the hearth. The Lubberkin then watches over the family it never knew, in the house it could never call home.

The Botchling of the main story began as the child of Baron Phillip Strenger and his wife Anna. Anna was pregnant and lost the baby after the abuse she suffered at the Baron's hands. The Baron buried the stillborn child in secret. That hidden grave turned the child into a Botchling.

Behaviour

A Botchling leaves its lair at night. It creeps to the bedside of an expectant mother and drains her strength while she sleeps. It takes the strength of her unborn child as well. The woman first has troubling dreams. Then come fever, delirium and a general weakness of the body. After a few such nights she is too weak to defend herself. Then the Botchling attacks openly. It sinks its long, sharp fangs into her and drinks her blood until mother and child die together.

Weaknesses

Coat the silver sword with Cursed Oil. Keep the Axii Sign ready, because the Botchling is weak to it.

A Botchling stands about a foot and a half tall. When it feels threatened and is full of blood, it changes form. It grows into a deformed man that walks hunched over, like an ape, on its forearms. In that form it is stronger and fiercer. It throws itself into close combat, biting with its teeth and slashing with sharp claws. Keep moving and strike after each lunge.

Botchling Map Location and Quest Guide

Search the Baron's chamber in Crow's Perch with Witcher Senses.
Follow the scent of spilled wine to the talisman hidden under a floorboard on the stairs.
Show the talisman to the Baron, then ride to the Pellar's hut near Blackbough.
Deal with the Baron's men waiting outside the hut and talk to the Pellar.
Find the Pellar's goat and bring it back to him.
Return to Crow's Perch and confront the Baron.
Follow the Baron to the grave at midnight and choose to lift the curse or kill the Botchling.
To lift the curse, protect the Baron from the wraiths and cast Axii on the Botchling after each attack.
Watch the naming at the castle threshold, then follow the Lubberkin to the fisherman's hut.

Map credit by Map Genie.

Contracts and Quests

Quest	Quest Giver	Location	Reward
Family Matters	Phillip Strenger	Velen	1000 XP

The Botchling is part of Family Matters, a main quest in Velen. Baron Phillip Strenger of Crow's Perch will only share news of Ciri once his missing wife and daughter are found. A talisman hidden in the castle leads to the Pellar, who lives near Blackbough. After his lost goat is returned, the Pellar reveals that Anna miscarried.

Back at Crow's Perch, the Baron admits the truth and shows the grave at midnight. The Botchling appears there, and a timed choice follows: lift the curse or kill the creature. To lift the curse, the Baron carries the Botchling back to the castle. Wraiths attack on the way, and the Botchling has to be calmed with Axii after each fight. At the castle threshold the Baron names the child, and the curse is lifted.

The spirit that rises from that grave is a Lubberkin. It leads the way to a smokehouse, then to the torn body of Anna's horse, and finally to a fisherman's hut. The people there explain that a beast attacked Anna on the road. Her daughter Tamara is safe in Oxenfurt.

Drops

Name	Image
Lesser Blue Mutagen
Lesser Green Mutagen
Lesser Red Mutagen
Monster Blood
Monster Bone	-
Monster Brain
Monster Ear
Monster Eye
Monster Heart
Monster Saliva
Monster Tongue
Monster Tooth
Necrophage Hide	-
Rotting Flesh
Necrophage Skin
Rotting Meat	-

All Monster Categories

All Cursed Ones

Name	Image	Variant of	Oil	Signs	Bombs	Location	DLC
Archespore		-	Cursed Oil	Aard Igni	-	Toussaint	Blood and Wine
Berserker		-	Cursed Oil	Quen Igni	Devil's Puffball	Skellige Kaer Morhen	Base game
Botchling		-	Cursed Oil	Axii	-	Velen	Base game
Lubberkin	-	-	-	-	-	-	Base game
The Toad Prince		-	Cursed Oil	Yrden Igni	Northern Wind	Oxenfurt	Hearts of Stone
Ulfhedinn		Werewolf	Cursed Oil	Igni	Moon Dust Devil's Puffball	Skellige	Base game
Werewolf		-	Cursed Oil	Igni	Moon Dust Devil's Puffball	Velen Skellige Toussaint	Base game