Aard can stun people but it is not that reliable at the start.It's good regardless of your build, but there are a number of sections where you're playing a different character, and Riposte is the only Witcher skill you have that carries over. Get the Riposte skill in the Swordmanship tree.Blocking is not that useful compared to dodging at the beginning. Blocking uses Vigor (stamina) the same as Signs (spells), so if you have no Vigor you cannot block. It is easier to block slow opponents, but they can still damage you (the block just reduces damage). You can do a lot of damage if you attack someone from behind or the side, and the same applies when they attack you. Quick hits even work on armored guys: if you try to take someone down just using heavy hits then they will usually counter you. You should favor the quick hit early on, but a good way to take someone down quickly is to do a couple of quick hits followed by a heavy hit. Left-click is a quick strike and right-click is a heavy blow.If you are in an enclosed area it may be hard to find space, but just keep moving. If you are getting closed in then run away a bit.

Don't be afraid to do a strategic retreat: attack, roll away, attack - etc. You will get murdered if you leap into the middle of a group of guys, which is all too easy to do early on.You should also do the flashback sequences in the Prologue in order, from top to bottom (during Roche’s interrogation). The Enhanced Edition of the game added a much needed tutorial for controls and combat options.You can also access these storage chests by talking to an innkeeper. In Flotsam (Act 1) you can find it in the basement of the inn. There is an infinite storage chest that is available in every act.This feels better than hoarding everything to sell it later and/or getting a mod that removes item weight from the game. With this mod merchants will buy things from you at 1/5 of their selling price, by default it’s 1/24. A highly recommended mod is Better Shop Sale Prices.With the Steam version, disable Steam Cloud, otherwise it'll put all those deleted saves right back.

Don't do it in-game, find the proper folder on your hard drive instead. At some point in Act 2 it's probably wise to delete some of them to make loading times quicker.

The game creates a new save whenever it saves, it never overwrites old ones.Any imported items start in your inventory, they are not automatically equipped. The items imported are not that much better than what you start with by default. If you have a Witcher 1 save then it imports some Orens (gold) and items, plus it may have minor dialogue influences.

The witcher 2 tutorial