I'm reading a Character Build FAQ which attempts to explain things without spoilers or gamestyles.
In that FAQ, Arrow Redirection 2 & Dagger throwing are mentioned as ways to kill enemies at range; and Bombs are somehow implicated as being wasteful or inferior. (Crafted daggers are less wasteful/costly than free bombs?)
Considering getting Impregnation pretty much includes improved bombs, I don't understand why the FAQ's author discounts bombs.

Anyways, my question has to do with ranged enemies and ranges... do daggers have a longer range than bombs, and is there any normal situation where Geralt would be ill advised, or would find it impossible, to just run up and hit the enemy?

Also, my 19th level Geralt (Parrying 2 Riposte 2) has never sucessfully Riposted, and only Parry's about 25% of the blows being rained down upon him (for some reason he is always staggering/dieing instead of hitting/parrying).
Is there some trick to Parrying/Riposte-ing I should know (no special hit-now icon has ever appeared), or is this just a waste of talents?

PS: After investing 12 talents in the Training Tree before anything else, by level 19 I realized I had a non-viable character build.
In my opinion this game took everything that didn't work, and therefore didn't make it into the first Witcher game, and incorporated those ridiculous ideas into Witcher 2. I'm just trying to find out which ridiculous ideas are the least unworkable so I can play this game through once.
{Playing on a PC, so 3 of the 16 combat keys are controlled by my mouse and the other 13 by my left hand... difficult to watch the keyboard to ensure I'm hitting the correct key while also watching the screen in order to figure out what key I need to press next.}
I've never appreciated real-time-combat games that expect a player to:
1. select hand
2. select container
3. select weapon/object/spell
4. select several components/runes?
5. scroll or keystroke through possible alternative actions
6. perform action
In my opinion, real-time-combat shouldn't include four or more (0.75 sec) steps to perform a 0.5 sec action.

This game isn't all-bad, and I am enjoying it to some extent. But I couldn't recommend it.

?

https://youtu.be/j-MABMum0GQ

There's no trick. It's the same gameplay mechanic as described in the tutorial. And it works well:

https://youtu.be/R1dcqpYgmks

Thank you for the videos, but I couldn't see what keys the player was using to get a 100% block rate, nor what special keys needed to be pressed in order to get that attack icon (the manual says it will be there, but it isn't).

I cannot state how many times Geralt has died while trying to block, or redirect arrows, so my question still stands.
(Could this be a non-default key issue?)

As for the non-icon issue, do I have to use some special Nvidea game specific driver to get the expected results?
(I sometimes get lucky and successfully Parry/Riposte, but it's luck and not consistant or because of visual clues.)

PS: My frustration with this game may be reflected in both my questions and responses. I apologize if I seem (or am) offensive.

I use the default BLOCK key "E". If I want to use RIPOSTE then I press and hold "E". When the opponent tries to attack the Riposte symbol shows up automatically.

I don't know anything about throwing daggers or arrow deflection. My Geralt is a sword artist with a limited range of magical abilities. When fighting groups he kills the ranged fighters first. And he likes bombs.

You have lost many talent points when you invested 12 points in the training branch...

About combat... After re-reading the manual and the FAQ, I realized a level 2 Parry (50% damage reduction) and a low vigor = no defence = death or severe injury. Even at full vigor, a 50% chance to parry are not the kind of odds one should bet their life on. Ergo, time to change my combat strategy and talent allocation strategy.

But thank you for saying you use bombs and not daggers. I didn't want to get to level 19 again only to find out that level 2 arrow redirection or any level of dagger throwing were critically important in a character build.

(Right now I'm back in the Prologue and am about to switch from hard to easy so I can get Foltest across the bridge and away from the dragon's breath.)

If you disable "Difficult QTEs" instead (Options -> Gameplay -> Difficult QTEs) you should be able to manage it without switching the DL:

https://youtu.be/JX0_We4KwN4

Thanks(?). Somehow I keep missing the explanation of what that acronym stands for, so I don't understand why I should do it. But if I did do it, that would make all Boss fights easier, right?

QTE: Quicktime Event.

You will encounter them more often in this game (fistfights, boss fights, loading ballistae, opening gates etc.). But you can change the setting at any time.

And yes: It makes Geralt's life easier if you disable them. Nevertheless it's of course more challenging (and satisfying) when you have them activated.

DL: Difficulty Level