Jaskier Babygirl

Paired him with Jaskier because I couldn’t not.

Only one character left and then this witcher series is doneee.

He doesn't wait for Caranthir to come to him, he attacks first to put Caranthir on the defensive. And the thing with reverse grip (thanks to a wonderfully succinct video from David the Arrow Bard) is that it forces the wielder to get in extremely close range with their opponent in order to land any hits

This motherfucker saw that Caranthir was a mage first and foremost, and intentionally wanted to get all up in Caranthir's face so that Caranthir himself would have a harder time using magic and his staff. You can literally see Eskel looking Caranthir up and down to guage his strengths and weaknesses before he runs in to attack

He had to of been banking on the chance that Caranthir's staff was going to be used more as a magic channel than it was a weapon, which I think is why, once Caranthir started parrying and deflecting Eskel's reverse grip hits, Eskel switched his grip to the traditional style

Also of note, Eskel switches from double-handed to single-handed grip, and then back again to double. Perhaps this meant he thought that using Sword and Signs, would be less effective than putting his whole strength behind both hands for just the Sword

And to be very fair, when Eskel was initially all up in his face, Caranthir either couldn't or didn't want to use his magic from the staff, since Eskel was so close and aggressively wailing on him, keeping him too busy to fire off a spell. And the first spell/magic he does use? Is to push Eskel the fuck away from him. Not damage, but space, because this pesky fucking Witcher is not giving him an inch to work with!!! It is only after this point as Eskel gets back to his feet, that Caranthir fully moves from defensive to offensive in his moves!! Fantastic!

Eskel

Eskel casting Igni