Welcome to my guide for cruising through the Witcher 3 Death March difficulty with ease.

This guide includes build advice which will make the experience much easier. In fact you may find the game to be not much of a challenge once you have acquired core skills, so please consider that following this guide could reduce your enjoyment.

There is no question, I am a min/maxer in the way I play games. I am always looking for the most effective combination of skills/equipment that will produce the most XP/gold/damage. Keep that in mind as you follow along. I don't rely on "skillz". I am not coordinated enough to "git gud" so instead look for core game mechanics that make the game easier.

There are three major topics in this guide:

Mods - I talk through a number of game mods I use to provide quality of life improvements and in a few cases make parts of the game easier (fist fights and the Ciri game play). These are optional, and the rest of the guide will still work, whether or not you use them.

Builds - I go over the core skills that you will need for the walkthrough, and why they synergize well. I also cover the builds I recommend for the early, mid, and late game.

Walkthrough - I will provide a complete walkthrough from your first steps into White Orchard until "Something Ends, Something Begins" when you return to White Orchard. You will find that I make some rather significant side trips at unexpected points in the game. These are done to provide access to core skills or resources that you are now capable of accessing, that will make your character stronger (or even Demi-God status). This walkthrough will skip over many quests and contracts to move forward quickly to important content (e.g. access to Mutations in Blood and Wine), while also making sure that no content is missed. I will recommend doing some quests that have very little reward, simply because if you don't do them in a certain time frame, they won't be available or could fail. For the most part I skip the majority of the side content, and leave it for you to do after defeating Eredin.

Finally, this guide is written specifically for the NextGen update, version 4.0.

Shall we dive in?

I play on a PC, so using mods is pretty easy for me. All of the mods I mention are available on Nexus.

I use a lightly modded game dealing with some annoyances. I try to avoid mods that will significantly affect gameplay, and I especially don't want to use mods that require use of script management tools. All of these mods will work by dropping them into the Mods folder (or the DLC folder) and running the game. You won't need to do anything else.

Map Quest Objectives - This mod will provide quest objectives on your map, allowing you to see what quests are nearby and allow you to select the quest from the map directly.
Link[www.nexusmods.com]

Fast Travel Pack - This mod is set up as a DLC (so goes in the DLC directory) and adds a lot of fast travel points to locations that you return to often, or are a pain to get to in the first place and you don't want to waste a lot of time getting back. Hattori's weapon shop is a good example.
Link[www.nexusmods.com]

Missing Card Tracker - This mod is a better resource for knowing where you can still look for Gwent cards you are missing.
Link[www.nexusmods.com]

Even Cheaper Runewright - Following this guide, you are going to gain access to the Runewright much earlier than the CDPR expected you to. I am going to show you how to farm for as much gold as you need, but the 35,000 gold needed to fully unlock the Runewright is pointless. You can get the gold you need at anytime, but I see no need for you to be wasting time on it. This mod will reduce the total cost for unlocking the Runewright to 3500 gold.
Link[www.nexusmods.com]

Always Full Exp - Following this guide, you are going to be skipping a lot of lower level content and saving it for later. To keep from missing out on that XP once you go back to do the content (possibly after beating the game) a mod that eliminates the XP reduction mechanic is needed. This is optional, but I don't like having to plan for lower level quests when I am focusing on a major story arc.
Link[www.nexusmods.com]

Perks Always Active - This is the first of three mods that are legitimate "cheats". As you reach higher levels there are more skills that you need than you have slots for, even if you unlock all 4 mutation slots. In the perks section (Brown skills) there is one skill that is essential (Cat School Techniques). There are also a lot of skills that are nice to have, but not worth using one of the precious slots. This mod will make the perk skills active without putting them in slots, so you can use that 15% vitality boost or the 60 extra carrying capacity. You can absolutely make these builds work by using a slot for Cat School Techniques and ignoring the rest of the perks. But this mod lets you benefit from those quality of life skills, without giving up the core skills you need.
Link[www.nexusmods.com]

Fair Fist Fights - I really hate the Witcher 3 fist fights. I suck at them and have never gotten the hang of how to win. This mod gives you more health during the fights and lets you use signs. I'll admit that I cheese my way through these fights by casting Aard and they beating on them while on the ground. There are some fights where the signs won't work, like Madman Lugos, but for the most part this mod will let you get through some of the troublesome fights that you are required to win. If you are skilled with the fist fights, you can skip this mod completely.
Link[www.nexusmods.com]

High Level Ciri - Finally there is Ciri. I kind of like playing Ciri, and wish there was a mechanic for leveling a skill tree for her. But on Death March, she is going to be frustrating to play. You will be cruising through content that is 5 levels higher than Geralt, and then hit a Ciri section where she will die over and over. This mod gives Ciri a lot of additional health, which lets you get these sequences over with and get back to Geralt. Again, if you are skilled playing Ciri, you can skip this mod.
Link[www.nexusmods.com]

The late game build that I recommend is a Metamorphosis build. This build is a very powerful all around build that will let you deal with all of the Death March level enemies easily. The Metamorphosis ability will activate a random decoction for 2 minutes, with no toxicity cost, when you activate a status effect against an enemy. Additionally, the effect is affected by the Delayed Recovery skill in the Alchemy branch. As long as you keep your toxicity above 55%, the decotion effect never expires.

The game play tactic is to drink potions before a battle, enter the battle and hit things with status effects (stun, burning, poison, freeze, or knockdown), then keep swinging your sword until everything is dead. If the battle drags on, or you want to keep the effects up for the next battle, just drink more potions to keep toxicity above 55%, and keep going. When you are all done, drink a White Honey to reset to normal.

To make sure that the random decotation is one that will help the fight, and not something useless like a Cockatrice decotation, you will only create 5 decotations, ensuring that the 5 active effects are exactly the ones you want. One caveat is that if you haven't created 5 decotations yet, the game will choose any other decotation to get to 5, whether you have created it or not. There are several good choices here, but the ones I use focus on attacking, since there isn't much need for defense once this build is complete. You will kill things fast enough, and your vitality regeneration will be high enough, that damage reduction isn't really needed in most cases. The five I use are:

Ekimmara - Damage dealt regenerates vitality
Wyvern - Each blow increases attack power
Succubus - Attack power grows during the fight
Water hag - 50% damage increase when vitality is at maximum
Alghoul - 50% adrenaline point gain until hit by enemy

The two skills that are vital to making this build possible are Heightened Tolerance, which is available from the start, and Delayed Recovery which requires 12 points invested in Alchemy. With 3 points in Heightened Tolerance, you can have up to 80% toxicity before you hit the overdose threshold. Delayed Recovery keeps potion effects running until your toxicity falls below 55%. Once you have these two skills available, you will be drinking potions during every battle and enjoying their powerful benefits for the duration.

For attack skills, this build focuses exclusively on fast attacks and critical hits. As I mentioned, I play on a PC and strong attacks are difficult to trigger reliably (unlike just pushing Y on a controller). My play style is to simplify the battle tactics to fast attacks, rolls, and the Aard sign. I will add in the occasional bomb or a crossbow bolt to get something out of the sky. I don't bother with the parry or dodge mechanics, and I also don't bother with some of the gimmick skills like Whirlwind. Going into battle is drink potions, cast a Quen, knock things down with Aard, and swing the sword to activate status effects and get critical hits. It is almost disappointing how short battles are.

Early Game Build

During the first few levels the focus is on the attack skills and getting Delusion to level 3 for the conversation XP opportunities. By using Place of Power bonuses it is easy to have 6 to 10 additional skill points before you have advanced very far in Velen. The problem will be a lack of slots and not having the potions needed. The following skills are my recommendation for where to invest ability points first.

Cat School Techniques - 25% critical hit bonus for each piece of light armor (so 100% bonus)
Muscle Memory (x3) - 30% fast attack bonus
Delusion (x3) - Axii option in conversations
Resolve (x3) - Prevents adrenaline point loss from damage
Precise Blows (x3) - additional 12% critical chance and 75% critical damage bonus

You will be using light armor for the entire game. Even when using the Bear School armor, it will still be light armor thanks to the Runewright Levity modification. Between Cat School Techniques and Precise Blows you will be getting a 175% critical bonus before even considering bonuses that you get from your swords.

Mid Game Build

As you gain levels, you will start to add in the Alchemy skills, which will become valuable as you brew better potions and unlock more slots. Until you unlock Mutations, your primary combat bonuses will come from potions. You will need a total of 34 points for these skills, which is easily achievable by level 15 when you are in Skellige. Invest ability points from leveling and places of power into the following additional skills.

Heightened Tolerance (x3) - 80% overdose threshold
Acquired Tolerance (x3) - Every known formula increases tolerance by 1
Refreshment (x3) - Each potion restores 30% vitality
Endure Pain (x3) - 30% vitality bonus when toxicity is above the safe threshold
Delayed Recovery (x3) - Potion effects remain active until toxicity drops to 55%
Undying (x3) - Vitality reaching 0 will use an adrenaline point to restore 67% of vitality
Razor Focus (x3) - One adrenaline point when entering combat and 30% bonus to adrenaline points from sword blows

Euphoria

Once you have unlocked Mutations, the first build you will target is a Euphoria build. This will be relatively easy to get since it only takes 5 ability points and 5 greater green mutagens (you got one for free in Dr. Moreau's lab). This Mutation gives a .75% damage bonus to your swords for every point of toxicity. Since you are always drinking potions, you will almost always have over a 100% damage bonus. You need a total of 36 ability points for this build. Given that you will have about 20 points from places of power before going to Toussaint, this build will be easily attainable as soon as you leave the lab.

The build uses the following skills:
Cat School Techniques - 25% critical hit bonus for each piece of light armor (so 100% bonus)
Muscle Memory (x3) - 30% fast attack bonus
Resolve (x3) - Prevents adrenaline point loss from damage
Precise Blows (x3) - additional 12% critical chance and 75% critical damage bonus
Undying (x3) - Vitality reaching 0 will use an adrenaline point to restore 67% of vitality
Razor Focus (x3) - One adrenaline point when entering combat and 30% bonus to adrenaline points from sword blows
Heightened Tolerance (x3) - 80% overdose threshold
Acquired Tolerance (x3) - Every known formula increases tolerance by 1 (synergizes well with Euphoria, but you will drop this skill when you move to Metamorphosis)
Refreshment (x3) - Each potion restores 30% vitality
Endure Pain (x3) - 30% vitality bonus when toxicity is above the safe threshold
Delayed Recovery (x3) - Potion effects remain active until toxicity drops to 55%

Metamorphosis

The final build that you will use for the end game and beyond is built around the Metamophosis mutation. This mutation requires a total investment of 22 ability points, 9 greater red mutagens, 6 more greater green mutagens (11 total), and 2 greater blue mutagens. Additionally, you will need a minimum of 35 ability points to fill out the skill tree. Assuming that you pick up 20 points from accessible places of power in White Orchard, Velen, Novigrad, and Skellige, you can also find at least 2 easily accessible places of power in Toussaint. This means you can switch to the build at level 35, which is the same level you need to wield Aerondight.

The build uses the following skills:
Cat School Techniques - 25% critical hit bonus for each piece of light armor (so 100% bonus)
Muscle Memory (x3) - 30% fast attack bonus
Resolve (x3) - Prevents adrenaline point loss from damage
Precise Blows (x3) - additional 12% critical chance and 75% critical damage bonus
Undying (x3) - Vitality reaching 0 will use an adrenaline point to restore 67% of vitality
Razor Focus (x3) - One adrenaline point when entering combat and 30% bonus to adrenaline points from sword blows
Any 3 points from the first 3 rows, you can take Whirlwind (x3) if you want, I usually take the Anatomical Knowledge (x3) for crossbow criticals
Crippling Strikes (x1) - Bleeding effect (later you can take this skill to x3 if you want, but you need the skill for the status effect, not for the damage bonus)
Heightened Tolerance (x3) - 80% overdose threshold
Poisoned Blades (x3) - 15% chance of an oiled blade triggering the poison status effect
Tissue Transmutation (x3) - 900 point vitality increase for each active decotion (when all 5 are active this is a 4500 point bonus)
Endure Pain (x3) - 30% vitality bonus when toxicity is above the safe threshold (this is on top of the 4500 bonus, so with all bonuses you will have around 15,000 vitality)
Delayed Recovery (x3) - Potion effects remain active until toxicity drops to 55%

Once you have this build in place, you will be easily able to take on all enemies. Eredin will still be tough because you can't trigger status effects on him (though I have a recommended workaround) and Detlaff is hard because of his three phases. But you will have little difficulty with anything else.

As you move past level 35, I recommend the following additional skills:
Delusion (x3) - You still want to use Axii in conversations
Synergy (x3) - 50% increase in the bonuses provided by mutagens in the bonus slots
Hunter Instinct (x3) - 100% critical hit damage bonus if adrenaline points are at maximum (on top of the >175% bonus you already have)
Killing Spree (x3) - 30% increase to critical chance when toxicity is above 0
Survival Instinct - 15% vitality increase (if you are using the perk mod)
Metabolic Control - 30 point increase in toxicity cap (perk mod)
Adrenaline Burst - 5% increase to adrenaline generation and signs will generate (perk mod)
Focus - Adrenaline points increase sword damage and sign intensity (perk mod)
It is also worth investing in signs to get Magic Trap for enemies (e.g. Specters) where you need Yrden

Prior to beginning you need to download and install the mods you are going to use. While on the Nexus site you can explore for other mods that might be of interest, such as mods that eliminate the water on the lens effect.

Installing the mods is simple. Just unzip the files and copy the directory that starts with mod____ into the Mods directory in the game directory. Anything starting with dlc____ goes in the DLC directory instead. Then start the game and wait for the Red Engine to compile the scripts and the game to start.

On the main menu there are couple options to set. Open Options/Gameplay and turn on Enemy Upscaling. This will cause all random enemies you encounter to be upscaled to your level, without affecting enemies that are at a higher level than you. This is a benefit to both XP gains and looting, since higher level enemies drop higher level loot. You can turn this off without losing your Death March status, if a specific quest is giving you trouble.

Also turn your autosave interval down to 5 minutes or less. There will be times that you do something dumb or get surprised, and this will keep you from having to redo a lot of content.

Going back to the main menu it is time to select New Game/Fresh Start/Death March. Tutorials are optional, I leave them off. But turn on Simulate Witcher 2 Save, which I will walk you through in Vizima.

You now get to watch the opening video of the Battle of White Orchard and the opening sequence in Kaer Morhen. When you have control again go into Options/Gameplay again and set your Gwent difficulty level to what you like. I prefer to use Hard level, but in Vizima it is a good idea to set this to Easy for one game.

You can now do the as much of the Kaer Morhen content you want. I will skip running the walls and the combat tutorial in order to move on to White Orchard quickly.

The first part of the game in White Orchard will likely be the hardest. Simple fights with Drowners will require a few reloads until you get the hang of Death March fights. At this point you have no potions or bombs and are using standard weapons. The most important thing is to keep enemies in front of you. If you end up in a crowd of Drowners, the one behind you will often be able to one hit you.

Use roll back to retreat and keep the entire group ahead of you, and try to focus on killing one enemy at a time. You can also use walls and terrain to keep from having to fight more than one. If you can coax a single enemy to come out and fight you one on one, that will be welcome.

Also remember to do quicksaves before a fight and even after killing a single enemy, by running away to break off the fight. Don't worry, this is not what the entire game will be like, this is just what you need to do to survive the first few encounters.

While in White Orchard the following tasks must be accomplished:
Draw from all 6 places of power
Get the Viper Swords
Equip all light armor
Buy Gwent cards
Complete Missing in Action, On Death's Bed, Precious Cargo, and Twisted Firestarter (these must be completed before taking on the Griffin with Vesemir)

After waking up from your dream, you will have a dialog with Vesemir and then be attacked by Ghouls. Kite on the edge of the battle and let Vesemir draw as much attention as possible, while you work on a single Ghoul at a time. Use Quen and Igni for this fight.

Once the fight is over, loot the bodies and ignore Vesemir. He isn't going anywhere. Instead head north to the battlefield and pick up as much loot as you can carry. Be sure to eat bread and drink water to recover your lost vitality. There are also 3 chests on the south end of the field, at least one of them will hold a alchemy formula and the rest of the loot you will be able to sell for some early crowns.

While in the battlefield there is a group of Ghouls on the north end. Working your way around on the hill will allow you to get to the place of power without fighting the Ghouls. Watch them closely and approach when they are far from the nest. Put this first ability point into Cat School Techniques. As you loot from here on, keep an eye out for light armor and equip it when you find it. You want to be wearing 4 pieces before you get too far into the story.

Once finished with the battlefield head back to Vesemir, who has been patiently waiting, pick up Yennefer's bird skull, and follow him. You will go through a lot of set content that brings you to the Inn. Hang onto all of the loot you picked up until you get the the Nilfgaard Quartermaster later. He will give you a better price, except for any hides you found. Those you sell to the Innkeeper.

While at the Inn buy all the Gwent cards from the Innkeeper, use Axii on the peasants, beat the scholar at Gwent, talk to Gaunter O'Dimm, then go outside for a fist fight. Use Axii for this fight for some XP and to make the odds more even.

Now that you are outside and on your own, fast travel back to the Ford signpost and head east to the ruins on the hill. There is a group of bandits here, defeating them will give you the Viper steel sword diagram. Head back to town and pick up everything on the notice board. Go ahead and start Devil by the Well and go to the marked hut. You can talk to Oldran to start the quest, but the real goal is the chests in the hut. You will find emerald dust, which you need to craft the Viper sword.

Get on Roach and head straight to the Nilfgaard garrison. After talking to the Captain, you can talk to the Quartermaster and have him craft your Viper steel sword, you probably can't equip it yet, but you will soon. Sell the junk you picked up on the battlefield along with any gems you found by looting. You probably want to hang onto crafting supplies like silver ingots, unless you are really short of cash. There are two hidden areas with chests here. First along the broken bridge where you entered, you can jump to the next bridge and find 3 chests. Typically a light armor will be in one. Then in the medical area you can climb over the far wall, the break a wall to the north with Aard. Jump across to get to the chest.

Now head to the herbalist Tomiia. While talking to her be sure to ask about the sick woman Lena and offer to help her. This will start the quest On Death's Bed where you will need to brew a Swallow potion. You are going to use these a lot, so might as well get started. You will need a Drowner brain, and Dwarven spirit. Looting huts will turn up the spirit, but you need to hunt Drowners. You can find some in the swamp west of the Nilfgaard camp and also many along the river. When hunting these you should consider doing saves/reloads. Early in the game you are going to need several Drowner tongues for potions, which are a somewhat rare drop. While you have a source it is worth doing some farming to get these now. Tomiia will also send you for buckthorn which is easy to get. While swimming in the river also loot the chests that are down there. Finally Tomiia sells some recipes and some hard to find ingredients, like water essence. Later on when you are trying to find the ingredients for a potion, you can come back to her for them.

Once you have a Drowner brain (and a few tongues) you can brew the Swallow potion and return to Tomila. Along the way is a place of power nearby that is protected by a single Specter, which you can handle using the Swallow. Tomila will give you enough XP to get to Level 2 allowing you to equip your sword. You should also now brew the necrophage and specter oils and also make your Sanum bomb for clearing nests. You should now have a good starting baseline to begin clearing the sidequests before continuing Beast of White Orchard. While out hunting be sure to pick up and keep any dog tallow or bear fat you find. You are going to need those for potions later. A good first task to do is to get the Viper Silver sword diagram from the graveyard.

After you have done the sidequests, visited the places of power, and cleared the points of interest, it is time to finish up in White Orchard. Return to the Inn and talk to Vesemir, then go with him to fight the Griffin. During this sequence he will give you Thunderbolt and a crossbow. Using the auto aim for the crossbow you can knock the Griffin out of the sky. Using the potions and rolling around behind it will let you make quick work of the beast during both sequences. Once you have the head, go back to the Captain to complete the quest, then back to the Inn for the final fight and the cut scene with Yennefer.

By the time you go back to the Inn you should be level 4 with 9 ability points, both Viper swords made, wearing all light armor, and all of your known bombs and potions made.

Vizima

After more cut scenes, you will be questioned by General Voorhis. Give the following answers:

Let Ayran La Valette live - In Novigrad, Baronesse La Valette will be friendly to you
Left Flotsam with Vernon Roche - Makes getting into the Temerian Commando HQ a bit easier
Saved Triss - Doesn't matter, but come on, she was your love interest in Witcher 2
Sile escaped - Allows Sile to briefly appear later in the game
Ask what happened to Letho - Letho will be alive and enables the Fall of the House of Reardon quest

The rest of Vizima is linear, choose your outfit, learn to bow, have your audience, talk to Yennefer and Ambassador Var Attre. When you have control, be sure to loot everything. You want to be sure to get the bonus swords and armor from the chest in the room where you talk to Yennefer.

After the chamberlain returns your equipment, play gwent with the noble in the courtyard ahead of you. You can turn the gwent difficulty down for this match, since he has a much better deck than you do. But you need the Foltest leader card that he gives as a reward, so it is best to deal with it now.

Once you finish looting the palace in Vizima, you will arrive in Velen at the Hanged Man's Tree. Head on into Mulbryvale and this is where you will take the first detour. From the signpost ride due south to the river, being careful to avoid the small village on the north bank. There are level 12 bandits there you need to avoid. When you are at the river swim out toward the boat on the south bank and loot the Spoils of War chest (key is on the body in the sunken boat). You will get a Moonblade which will be a good silver sword to use until level 7. Run south to Lindenvale to activate its fast travel marker and buy the witcher gear maps from the blacksmith. Also buy the gwent cards from the Innkeeper and the Merchant. Now you can return to Mulbrydale and continue Nilfgaardian Connection. While following the path to the Inn at the Crossroads, you should rescue John Verdun, since this quest can be missed. Now complete Nilgaardian Connection.

Next you will go down most of the Hunting a Witch quest line, leaving Bloody Baron for later. By doing this you get early access to the Eye of Nehaleni and the Magic Lamp. You also have access to Keira Metz alchemy ingredients and formulas. Start by riding from Heatherton to Hangman's Alley and do the quest Lynch Mob, keeping it from being missed. From Hangman's Alley you can ride to Midcopse and go through the process of finding the witch, or you can just ride straight to Keira's place and move the quest along. Finding Keira and talking to her will lead through dialog and cut scenes and eventually you will go together to the mage's hideout, starting Wandering in the Dark.

Wandering in the Dark will require exploration, but if you take your time and be careful nothing is particularly dangerous except a Gargoyle in a side room, the battle in the White Frost, and the last battle with Nithral. The White Frost battle is the hardest, try to save your potions for the final portal, since you will likely be getting low on health by then. Nithral is easy to manage since his attack is very slow. Roll in, hit him a few times, then roll out. Don't worry if he heals while you are dealing with the Hounds of the Hunt, you just need to advance the battle through three stages. Once the battle is over, use the Eye on the illusionary wall close to where you entered to find loot including a legendary sword. After everything is looted, go out the far exit and do the Magic Lamp with Keira. There is a puzzle to complete, then a place of power and a golem guarding loot chests. Once finished, exit the dungeon with Keira, and use the boat to fast travel to a harbor near a fast travel post. Go ahead and finish An Invitation from Keira Metz to unlock Tower Full of Mice and see if there are any potions, oils, or bombs her inventory can help you complete. In particular see if she is selling the recipe for Northern Wind, which is the most useful bomb to have.

Now you are going to head to the Pontar crossing to do quests there, before heading across the river to access some content earlier than usual.

Return to the Hanged Man's Tree and ride north to the river. Along the way is a bandit camp with a prisoner that you can clear out to keep it from being a nuisance in the future. Once you reach the river, head across the bridge and talk to the guard. You will do three interrelated quests, Thou Shalt Not Pass, Fake Papers, and Bitter Harvest. Use the following sequence to maximize the rewards for these quests:

Approaching the guard triggers the quest
Ask how to get a pass
Use Axii to get him to tell you where to get a pass
Go back across the bridge and talk to the Shady Merchant
Ask what passes are
Can you go lower?
What kind of work?
Use Axii to get a lower price
Exit the conversation without getting a pass
Go to the battlefield, kill the ghouls, then talk to Albin Hart
Agree to protect the workers
Kill all the waves of monsters that attack, Albin can't die or you fail
Accept reward from Albin
Return to the Shady Merchant and say "I already helped him"
Buy the pass for 25 crowns
Return to the original guard and present the pass
You get XP and are allowed to cross this bridge and the bridge in Oxenfurt

The battle in Bitter Harvest can be tough. When you first arrive there are two level 9 ghouls attacking. Northern Wind works well to lock them down, before hacking them apart. Now you can meditate to regenerate all your potions and bombs. Next, talk to Albin to start the quest. It is easier to stay close to the workers instead of going to the woods to fight, allowing you to switch to new targets easier. Save your potions and bombs, especially Swallow, for the last wave. Between each wave you can save your game. Keep an eye on Albin, since he will try to be a hero and get killed. He must still be alive at the end of the 3rd wave, or Fake Papers will fail and you won't get a pass.

After you complete Thou Shalt Not Pass, cross the rest of the way and call Roach. You are going to be doing a good bit of riding.

Now that you are across the Pontar, you will do some riding to activate fast travel points that you need, as well as get the two places of power that are north of the river. As you stop at locations, be sure to loot everything because you are probably low on cash after visiting to Keira.

Start by riding to Cunny of the Goose to buy gwent cards (Scorch) and check the herbalist for recipes.

Next head to Novigrad and the Gate of the Hierarch to get the travel point close to the stash at Dandelion's Inn. While you are in Novigrad you can read Notice Boards and pick up quests, just be careful to not progress Following the Thread, you will want to save that for later.

Head up to Hierarch Square. You will trigger Pyres of Novigrad, but the quest won't progress until you visit Triss's house. Near the Square is the Kingfisher, 2 blacksmiths, an armorer, Vivalidi's bank, a herbalist, and the book seller. Go ahead and sell all the items you have gathered to this point and do a currency exchange with Vivaldi. While in the book seller go ahead and do Message from an Old Friend.

Go to Temple Isle and to the Temple. Use the place of power next to the Temple and loot the buildings around the Isle as you can. There is an Alchemist in Elector's Square who will have formulas for sale.

Now leave Novigrad and go to the Seven Cats Inn to buy gwent cards and start the Hearts of Stone quests. You can activate Start Up Costs to get the quest marker on your map for the Runewright.

From the Seven Cats you are going to travel about 750 north/northeast to the Isolated Hut. This is the closest safe map marker to the cave you will go to later to get jade for the Runewright.

Head due east to Brunwich and go into the farm where the wedding will be held. Climb into the top floor of the barn and get the cow gwent card. Then ride around the lake to the Upper Mill signpost.

Talk to the runewright and give him the startup costs. You can also find the pickaxe you will need in the barn. You will leave this quest for later when you are a higher level. Talk to the merchant here and buy the gwent cards he sells, as well as anything else that you can use.

The next stop is Martin Feuille's farm, which is about 700 west/southwest of the Upper Mill. You want to trigger the signpost here, then backtrack to the field full of cows. This is where you will make all the money you need. You can kill all the cows in this field in seconds using Igni. About half the cows will drop 2x cow hides, which can be sold to Innkeepers for around 40 crowns each. After killing the cows, you meditate for 1 hour and the cows are back. Rinse and repeat. A full pack of cow hides will net you around 5 or 6 thousand crowns, plenty of money to buy recipes and any good swords you happen to find for sale. You can also fund the runewright here and later upgrades to Grandmaster gear.

From the farm head west to skirt the hill then southwest to Alness. You can see a hill to the southeast that has a place of power on top. After getting your ability point, head south to the Vegelbud Residence signpost.

Heading west/southwest you will find a circus. The merchant here sells gwent cards. Buy all of his cards, then play him to win his Shirru card. At this point your Northern Realms deck should be able to win most matches.

Heading east and slightly south you will find the Temerian Partisan Hideout marker, then continue east to the Est Tayiar marker. While here go ahead down into the cave, use Aard on the wall and get the Feline Silver Sword diagram.

Now head southwest to the Herbalist Hut and see if he has any recipes you need. He will also trigger Practicum in Advanced Alchemy for later when you get to Skellige. You should now have most of the basic potions and oils, and a few of them upgraded. Notice how many drowner tongues are used in the upgrades, I told you, you would need them.

One combat note here, the two best potions you can use are Blizzard and Maribor Forest. You should put these in quick slots along with Swallow for easy access.

South of the Herbalist hut is a quest next to the river, The Most Truest of Basilisks. Save your game before talking to the Beast Tamer. This is actually a Wyvern, and you will have help from the soldiers killing it. If you farm this quest, you will eventually get the Wyvern mutagen. You can also get the mutagen (guaranteed drop) by doing Contract: Patrol Gone Missing, but that is a long trek south to the Nilfgaardian camp.

Next you will ride to Oxenfurt to trigger the signposts there, and also play gwent with Stjepan for his Yennefer card and buy the cards he sells.

The last stop on this trip in the signpost at the Stonecutter's Settlement west of Oxenfurt. This will make it easy to get here when you start Blood and Wine.

Now you will finally get to the Bloody Baron quest. Head to Crow's Perch and do the Baron's quests all the way through Ciri's Room. Then play gwent with the Baron to trigger Velen Players. The Master Armorers quest can be triggered, though you won't complete it for a long time. There is a lot of good loot in the castle. Be sure to climb down into the well to get the witcher diagram and also look for a hidden room above the final courtyard gate. The Crow's Perch two merchants sell gwent cards.

At this point you should be level 7, go ahead and equip the Flowers swords.

Travel to Lindenvale then take the road east. On the road do Hazardous Goods Part 1, since this is an easy quest to miss/fail. From here keep heading east to Toderas and clear out the bandits. This allows the town to reset and produce an Alghoul and Devourers in the future, which you will need for some potions. Toward the south are fields with Nekker nests. Go ahead and clear these now to get the Nekker ingredients you need. Finally head up the hill to Benek and play gwent with the Soothsayer. You should now head to Orenton and Midcopse to finish Velen Players.

Go through the Family Matters quest line now. While rescuing the goat be sure to pick up the Bear School diagram from the bear's cave. Choose how you want to deal with the botching, though I usually turn it into a lubberkin, because it seems to be a redemption story arc. Complete the arc through finding Tamara in Oxenfurt and returning to the Baron.

Next do Ladies of the Wood. There is no ideal way to do these quests, since something bad will happen regardless of your choices. If you have read the book She Who Knows, you get some backstory to understand that the Crones are the daughters of the spirit living under the Whispering Hillock, and the implication is that she is worse than the Crones. The following is the path I follow that seems to be the least bad, but still ends up with Downwarren destroyed.

Go through the quest far enough to get Johnny's voice back.
Go to Downwarren to loot, play gwent, and use the Notice Board.
Go to the Whispering Hillock, kill the werewolf, use the place of power, and agree to help the spirit.
Go find the bones then get a black horse, free the spirit.
Head back to Johnny and take him to the Chapel, he will convince Gran to help you.
Take the knife to Downwarren, tell them the Hillock has been dealt with, get the ear.
You will be returned to the chapel to finish the quest.

While you are in the Downwarren area be sure to go to the place of power on top of the mountain to the northwest. If you descend from the peak toward the southwest carefully (40 SW of place of power) you can find a ledge with an illusion. This leads into a cave with a Ekimmara and witcher diagrams. Be sure to save your game before this fight and reload if you don't get the mutagen. There aren't many opportunities to get it, so take advantage now. The rest of the cave is spectres with some loot chests. This cave system is also accessible from the northwest of the mountain, and there is a signpost there.

Doing these quests in this order you will be told that the spirit saved the children, but when you come back in Return to Crookback Bog, Anna will be alive and the Baron will take her away to find a healer. Overall it feels like a more positive outcome, if you ignore Downwarren being reduced to ash (eye roll), Once you have finished this quest line, go back to the Baron to finish out Ciri's story in Velen and get the Uma reveal.

At this point do Towerful of Mice followed by A Favor for a Friend, but don't select "wait" at the end. Instead exit out of the conversation to keep the quest for much later. There is a slightly different dialog when asking Keira to go to Kehr Morhen if you wait, and this keeps Keira available as a vendor longer. Now do Forefather's Eve through the point of having to find the Pellar's father's body. Go ahead and finish Return to Crookback Bog, and since you are already in the bog you can go finish Forefather's Eve.

You should now be at least Level 11 and can equip the Vixen swords

The last task is to get the last two places of power, one on the far northwest coast and the other at the south end of the map. There are other things to explore at both locations if you want, or you can just get the ability points and move on. This is a good time to make a trip to the farm if you are low on cash, and take a tour of the herbalists and alchemists to see if there are any bomb, oil, or potion recipes you need. You need to play gwent with the Innkeeper at the Crossroads as well. After that it is time to move on to Novigrad.

A note about swords. For the next several levels the best sword for you to use is based on chance. It depends on what diagrams you have found, and what you can find for sale. Later you will use upgraded Ursine swords for their critical damage bonus, but until then it is still possible to find useful swords that you can craft. You want swords that have critical damage bonuses at a minimum, and swords with 50% or 75% bonuses are available at your level. But it is dependent on luck. Steel swords will be easier to find with a bonus than silver swords. It is always worth checking the recipes you find to see if the level and bonuses for the swords makes it worth crafting. If you aren't able to find better, the Feline silver sword will be usable at level 17.

Before you start the main quests, it is best to get a few side quests out of the way. There are a number that can trigger if you just get close to them, and you may be doing another quest when the trigger occurs. Doing these 4 quests will clear the streets for you.

First head to Southern Gate on the east side of the city and do Karmic Justice. After this you should do Racists of Novigrad. To trigger this quest you must first help the ungrateful female elf you can find just north of the Portside Gate inside the walls. Helping her will unlock the second part of this quest which is back on the east side just a bit south of where you did Karmic Justice. After this do A Walk on the Waterfront and then do Warehouse of Woe.

Now you can start the main Novigrad quests by finishing Pyres of Novigrad and progressing through the main quest line. While you are up in Heirarch Square, play gwent with Oliver in the Kingfisher to finish Gwent: Playing Innkeeps, then go to Triss's house.

The storyline is straight forward, except for when you finally head to the Rosemary and Thyme, take a detour to the house just north and do Suspicious Shakedown. If you neglect to do it, this merchant won't be available in Silverton.

Go through Broken Flowers. When you do the sword fight with Rosa var Attre, you must win both fights to be offered Fencing Lessons. At the end of Broken Flowers you should be close to Level 14 if not already there. Buy a Potion of Clearance and respec your character to get Delayed Recovery x3. This skill is going to help you in upcoming fights by keeping potions from expiring. To have enough points, you are going to need to drop Delusion.

Next up is the bathhouse fight. This fight is tough due to not having access to any of your potions or weapons. The easiest way to survive this fight is to wait in the back room and let the others fight for awhile and damage Whoreson's men. After they whittle them down and spread the enemies out, you can come in and take them out one by one. Just don't try to take on a group or let any get behind you, that is certain to get you killed. After the bathhouse it is best to do Count Reuven's Treasure instead of Get Junior. During Get Junior you need Delusion x2, so by doing Reuven's quest now, you can get to Level 15 and put enough points back into Delusion.

Follow the quest until you are taking Triss to the witch hunters. To get the most XP and also please Reuven (resulting in assistance later), make the following choices.

Wanna talk to Menga
Got something to offer Menga
I'll tell your boss, no one else
(follow the guards to Menga)
Fine, take her
Why not.
Got a silver sword on my back. Not enough?
Triss betrayed me first.
I'm looking for this treasure... (this is the critical choice to finding Dikjstra's treasure)
Free my friend Dandelion...

After killing Menga, the witch hunters, and looting the compound, return to Menga's office. The quest line will continue through a cut scene, then after leaving the compound you will be taken to Dijkstra who will be happy about the treasure and will tell you how to find the spy. Go meet the spy, let Triss torture him, and you now know where Dandelion is. Go see Pricilla, then start Get Junior. If you aren't level 15 yet, this is a good time to do Fall of the House of Reardon and tell Letho to go to Kaer Mohren.

Note that when leaving the witch hunter compound, Triss asks you to stop by. This visit is what allows a dialog choice that will start A Matter of Life and Death. Don't start that quest, it will be saved for much later.

Once you have Delusion to level 2, you can do Get Junior. There are many ways to do this quest, but if you want to explore all of the content, and also not fail Gangs of Novigrad, you need to follow these steps.

Go to Junior's hideout on Temple Isle, there is no XP for this and it is optional, but there is loot.
Go to Cleaver and talk to him, don't accept the deal.
Go to the Arena, use Axii to get in. While in the Arena be sure to never ask about Whoreson.
Fight in the Arena all the way through killing Whoreson's men while still in the fighting pit.
On your way up, find the secret room and loot it. Loot the Mysterious Letter but don't read it.
Finish off all of Whoreson's men and loot the rooms on the upper level.
Return to Cleaver and accept the deal.
Go to the casino, but don't talk to Cleaver's men, just walk past them.
Use Axii to get into the casino.
While in the casino be sure to never ask about the owner.
When you come up the stairs, play the guy at the top and win.
Play the guy at the far wall and lose (you don't wager on this match)
Play the guy next to the stairs heading up and win.
Go upstairs and save Rico.
Kill everyone else in the casino and leave.
Talk to Cleaver's dwarves outside.
Return to Cleaver to get your XP and complete Gangs of Novigrad.
Go to the King of Beggars to get the reward.
You can now read the letter you found for the XP bonus.
Go talk to Dijkstra and be directed to Roche.
Go talk to Roche then meet him in Oxenfurt.
Talk to Radovid to learn where Whoreson is.
Go to the house he is hiding in.
Ask the guards about prositutes, then say you are new. (FYI - This is why you can't ask about Whoreson in the arena or casino, this option won't be available)
Go use the secret tunnel to come directly into the house. Be sure to get the enhanced feline trousers diagram while in the sewers.
Kill the guards.
Talk to Whoreson.
After killing Whoreson (Really? There are 6 dead girls in there, you are going to let him live?) go kill the rest of the guards and leave, triggering A Favor for Radovid.

Now is time to finish up Ciri's Novigrad arc. Do The Play's the Thing. Be sure to read your lines before the play and get them right during the play, there is an XP bonus for doing this. Also be sure to cast Abelard. After this do A Poet Under Pressure to find Dandelion and do Breakneck Speed. With Dandelion saved, Blood and Wine is now available to start, although you will need to wait until you are a higher level.

Go to the Golden Sturgeon and give Capt. Wolverstone 1000 crowns to take you to Skellige, and prepare to set off.

After a cutscene you are going to be on deck and fighting pirates. After defeating them the ship is going to wreck and you will next wake up on a beach littered with wreckage. You will meet a local who will be critical of Yennefer, don't get offended or you will have to win a fist fight with him.

Once you are in control, take the time to clean up the beach. There is a lot of loot here. You should also kill the sirens, then clear the nest to spawn an Ekhidna. There is also a place of power here. Finally be sure to look on the other side of the Atropos wreckage for Wolverstone's body. He will have your 1000 crowns on him.

Get on Roach and ride toward Kaer Trolde harbor. A bit past the crossroads signpost you will find a small camp with a merchant (meditate if he isn't there). You can buy maps from him that will open up fast travel points on all of the islands.

Head to Kaer Trolde harbor for the funeral, then follow the quest objectives. Along the way pick up the Skellige gwent quest from the notice board, and take advantage of the herbalist to create new potions. The loot on the beach will have given you a lot of new recipes and it is worthwhile taking the time to get these potions created, even if you need to fast travel to other places to get the ingredients you need for white gull.

Go to the Inn and put on the clothes Yennefer wants (you need the Elegant Skellige Shirt and the breeches that look like they have straps up and down the legs) and head up to the keep (the cool way to do it is to use the elevator). During the feast beat Cerys to Hjalmar's Axe then beat Madman Lugos in a fist fight (beware, he is level 30). Everything should be straight forward from here until you fight the elemental and get the Mask. Choose "Damn, I wanna kiss you, Yen" when prompted, which puts you back in Yennefer's room, where you can make love to her.

Returning to the feast you will go through more cut scenes and dialog, until you are finally in full control with Possession and The Lord of Undvik side quests available. Head to the armorer in the keep and buy the Bear School map. You are going to head off on a detour now, It is time to find your armor.

Start by fast travelling to Urialla Harbor on the most northeast of the islands. If you head northeast from the signpost you will find an arena, you can go through this and use the tunnel out the back to get to the start of the trail up to Ygnvar's Fang. You will need to be careful on this trip, there are some tricky parts. First you will need to defeat a troll, which will give you your first troll liver. Be sure to use it for ogroid oil to make killing more trolls easier. After this you need to run and make a few jumps. You want to get up to the larger area up the trail where you will have more room to fight the sirens. Since you can't jump when fighting, you need to kill them first. Once clear keep jumping on the way up the trail until you reach the ruins.

Go into the ruins. The diagrams are in a chest beyond the bars ahead of you, but you will need to take the long way. Head left and down in the dungeon, kill all the spectres. There is a switch that opens the cell doors. You will find another pit, jump in and kill a few more spectres below. You will be able to find ledges to climb up that will lead you into the room with the diagrams. Approaching the exit will spawn 3 spectres that you need to kill, after that you can open the bars and leave. Continue up the trail jumping from ledge to ledge until you reach the peak. You will find a loot chest and a place of power. Also if you interact with the center post you can get the Trial of Dexterity token, which is needed for another secondary quest.

Next you are going to take a round about route to the ruins where the Ursine silver sword diagram is. Fast travel to Redgill on the east coast of the large center island. From here head south up the stairs and back down the other side. You will see 4 or 5 Drowned Dead here. These are important for the future because they are a 100% guaranteed drop for mutagens, and they will respawn if you fast travel from Skellige and then fast travel back. When the time comes that you need mutagens, this location will be your source.

Now turn back north and head along the coast. You will find a group of Harpies and a few Erynia. These will give you the Erynia eyes you need for hybrid oil. Continue north to the Cyclops and kill it. It is level 30, but using rolls and getting behind it you won't have difficulty. Head into the caves, loot the chests (including witcher gear) and use the place of power.

Next get on Roach and gallop along the coast to the Giant's Toes signpost. To the southwest is a ruin protected by Alghouls. Clearing out this nest will give you the Enhanced Ursine silver sword diagram. Afterwards, head north to the trail, then follow it west to Yustianna's Grotto. This is a cave guarded by a few bandits with 7 loot chests. You can use Axii for some extra XP, then go back in and kill them for the loot. You will find a lot of your missing potion recipes here.

From the Grotto head due west to a ruined gateway. This might be defended by wraiths. You will find the Enhanced Ursine Gauntlet diagram here. Now follow the trail north to the ruins of a fort. This ruin is defended by two gargoyles and an ice elemental, and you will find the Ursine silver sword diagram.

While you are here, slide down the slope to the north, being careful to bear right toward the bottom to avoid a deadly fall. This will get you to the Ancient Crypt signpost that will save you time later when searching for the Sunstone. Fast travel to the Ruined Inn and clear the site. Pick up the Ursine steel sword diagram. You can ignore the crossbow diagram for now, since you can't use it until level 29.

By now you should be level 20, and it is time to activate the Runewright.

You've noticed by now that you are able to hit level 30 monsters very hard, and kill things 10 levels higher than you. Now you are going to do a pretty hard cave much earlier than you are supposed to be able to. You might need to reload a few times while clearing it, but in the end it will be worth the trouble.

After getting the Bear School diagrams, you probably have a lot of loot in you inventory. Head back to Novigrad and sell all your loot, you are going to need a lot of cash soon. You can also visit Keira, the Pellar, and the herbalists to complete any recipes that you are missing. If you are low on the ingredients for White Gull, the innkeepers on Skellige tend to have cheaper prices, and you can also buy gwent cards while there.

Activate the quest Quality has its Price and go back to the Isolated Hut. There are three map markers to the northwest of you, you want to ride to the middle one. Once you get there you will find a cave filled with large level 34 spiders. If you stay near the entrance, bring up all your potions, and use Northern Wind on them, you should be able to take out the group quickly. If you need to retreat outside for a break and to save, you can do so. Once they are dead, if you are feeling confident there is a body with a letter on it that will give you a small quest to collect loot further in the cave. Mine the jade from the center of the first room. This is the item the Runewright needs to get started. Ride to the nearest signpost and fast travel to Upper Mill.

Give the Runewright the jade, then give him the money he needs to upgrade his services. He is now able to put level 3 runes on items. Since he is also a master craftsman, have him make your Ursine armor. Now add the maximum number of sockets to all of these crafted armor pieces. The last step is to have him enchant the Ursine chest piece with Levity. This will require several expensive runes that he sells. You can go back to Martin's Farm and kill cows to generate the cash you will need for all of this.

After finishing with the armor, have him craft the Ursine swords. These won't have the critical damage bonus yet, but the upgraded version of the swords do. You can add sockets to these as well. Since you are spending so much money either buy greater sign recipes or buy the runes directly, and get greater sign runes for the 4 empty armor slots. Then add greater runestones to the swords, my preference is burning. You now have a full set of Ursine armor (with it's excellent defensive bonuses) and swords, fully loaded with runestones, that count as light armor, so you will keep getting the Cat School Techniques 100% critical bonus.

When you upgrade this equipment, all of the slots, enchantments, and runestones will remain on the new piece.

With your new equipment ready to go, it is time to get some more character development out of the way. You are going to head back to Skellige to get the rest of the places of power, get missing ingredients, and collect the rest of the Bear School diagrams that are in the islands.

Fast travel to Harviken on Faroe and go west up the mountain, you will find a place of power there. Next travel to Holmstein's Port on the southwest side of the large island. There is a mountain trail to veers off to the to right when you head north from the upper part of the village. Follow this path up the mountain and you will see a place of power on your left. Jump over to use it.

Right under this is the farting troll cave, with 3 trolls. You can get all the troll livers you will need from them and the Enhanced Ursine Boots diagram here. Go back up to the trail and continue up to the top of the ridge. Crossing the ridge you will come down to the abandoned village of Fornhala. Down in the valley there is a permanently spawning Cockatrice. By fast travelling to another map, you can farm this monster for the stomachs you need. The ruins on the east side of the lake also has a Griffin silver sword diagram and a tunnel with Nekkers in it, if you are missing any for a recipe.

Fast travel to the Grotto on the southeast coast of the large island. In this cave you will need to kill the Grossbart brothers (needed for a side quest) to get the Enhanced Ursine Armor diagram.

Now fast travel to Marlin Coast and get on the boat that is waiting there. The last two diagrams will require sailing to get to them. To the northeast of the dock is an island with a couple Foglets on it. The trousers diagram is in a water filled cave. After this sail north about 900 to Kaer Almhult. Land at the dock on the east side of the island and head up the trail. You will be fighting pirates and dogs all the way up. When you reach the castle, take out the archers first, since they can be very annoying. The Enhanced Ursine steel sword diagram is on the top level. Head to the wall on the west and look for a stairway up into a room. It is a little hard to see. The diagram is in a chest. On the northwest corner is a wall you can jump that will let you down into the lower levels. Clear out the entire castle on all levels, there is a lot of loot here. When you are done, go back to your boat and fast travel back to Marlin Coast. You will want a boat there for Isle of Mists later.

Now is a good time to sell your loot (the Runewright will have a lot of money on him, so is a good one stop location to dump all the weapons and armor) and finish up any potions, oils, or bombs that you can now create. You are going to go back and complete quests that can be missed if you progress too far.

If you go too far into the story, there are a number of quests that will fail or be unavailable. Having upgraded your character it is time to go back into quests and get them out of the way. There are quests to do in Skellige and Novigrad. I'm giving you a recommended order that I find to be efficient, but it isn't the only order.

Fast travel to Redgill and activate Echoes of the Past. Travel south on the coast and kill the Drowned Dead again (for the mutagens), then head west up and over the ridge. Don't worry, you can climb the slope. Before getting too close to Yennifer and Ermion yelling at each other, use the place of power a little north of the Druid's Camp. From here you can head northwest a little into the forest and find a Venomous Arachas. These are the only source for the Arachas Mutagen and it will also have Arachas Venom which you probably still need for upgrading Tawny Owl.

You can now head back to the Druid's Camp and finish Echoes of the Past. Once the quest is complete, tell Yennefer that you will meet her later at Lofoten.

Now you will do a group of quests that are easy to miss, since they become unavailable if you do King's Gambit. First head to Arinbjorn and do Phantom of Eldberg. When you complete this quest you will end up in a fight in the inn. There is no way to save Jorund's life during this fight. The quest Stranger in a Strange Land will now start, when you exit the inn you will confront the father of the men you just killed and be thrown into Madman Lugos dungeon.

While in the dungeon talk to the guard. Don't use Axii here, instead leave the conversation and head to the back to talk to Simun. Agree to his proposal, then head back to the guard to be taken to Lugos. Lugos will "sentence" you, then pay off your fine in exchange for helping his son. This starts The Cave of Dreams, head to the south end of the island, meet with Blueboy and do the quest. After completing this quest, go to the Inn at Kaer Trolde. You will find Simun here looking to collect that favor. Accept the quest to start An Unpaid Debt. It doesn't matter who you side with at the end of this quest. It may take a few days for Simun to show up, so feel free to move on to other quests until he does.

Now you will work on your gwent deck by going through Practicum in Advanced Alchemy. You probably have been buying gwent cards as you visit the Inns, but if you haven't, take a tour of the Inns on the islands to fill out your deck. The Thaler card in Arinbjorn is particularly important. First you need to win Ermion's card. The fastest way to get to him is to go to the Whale Graveyard you passed earlier, then take the trail to the southwest.

After this you want to win the card that Gremist has. Go talk to him and do the quest, getting both the spirit and the pimpernel. You will need to make a decision when getting the pimpernel. On this quest is one of the two Succubus in the game that you can kill for the mutagen. This one is easier to kill, but it is also less "bad" than the one in Novigrad who has actually killed people. Lastly help the druid in Blandare and return to Gremist. Eventually you will be able to talk to gremist again and play him in gwent. You will win the Mysterious Elf spy card. After winning, Gremist will mention you can play Lugos for his Katakan card. Go play him now, since later in the game he will no longer be available. This is as far as you can advance Skellige gwent now, since Crach will not play you until after King's Gambit.

One final quest on Skellige before heading back to Novigrad. Go back to Faroe and do Flesh for Sale, since this can be missed once you do Following the Thread.

Head back to Novigrad and walk past the Rosemary and Thyme. This will trigger A Dangerous Game, go ahead and accept the quest, then go a bit north to trigger A Feast for Crows. Once finished, go through the following quests:

- Contract: Deadly Delights (kill this succubus if you didn't kill the other one)
- Of Swords and Dumplings (When you get the Blade from the Bits remember it will only level if you keep it in your inventory)
- Out on your Arse
- Gwent: Big City Players
- Redania's Most Wanted (only up to killing the Witch Hunters, don't complete yet)
- An Eye for an Eye
- Haunted House
- Fencing Lessons
- Cabaret
- Carnal Sins
- A Dangerous Game (when you bring Zoltan the ledger, play him in gwent to start Gwent: Old Pals / be sure to get the soldier statuette / there is no need to rush while in the sewers, in the next to last room go left instead of right up to Duke and look for a breakable wall, this will lead to a hard to find side quest A Tome Entombed with a Katakan)
- Get the nobleman statuette from the merchant in Gildorf
- See Triss and do the statuette quests (don't start A Matter of Life and Death and I recommend saving Phillipa's crystal for later with Yennifer)
- Go to the village outside the wall to the south and find the unmarked quest Witch Hunter Raids
- Play gwent with Roche
- Do Following the Thread. After the fight with the Ekkimara, don't go with Lambert so you can loot this hide for your cursed oil recipe. Afterwards go see Lambert and continue the quest. When you go to Faroe be sure to fast travel to Harviken to get the dialog with the pirates in Trottheim to trigger. Once the quest is over talk to Lambert before he walks away and play gwent with him.

Now you will start Blood and Wine to get your estate up and running and get access to mutations.

It is time for you to start the Blood and Wine expansion. Even though you are about level 24, you will be able to handle the initial content. You are doing this for a couple reasons:

1) Access to the Corvo Bianco estate. The cellar of the estate will let you convert all those wraith mutagens you have been collecting into regular mutagens. Additionally, you will have access to ingredients that let your convert mutagens into different colors.

2) Access to mutations by doing the Dr. Moreau quest.

3) Access to the mutagen conversion recipes.

4) Getting the Aerondight sword so it is available to you at level 35 (level 33 if you use the Wolven Hour potion you have been carrying)

There are some parts at the beginning that will be slightly challenging, especially the Shaelmar. But your current build and equipment will be able to handle it.

Begin by going to Stonecutter's Settlement and helping the knights defeat the bandits. After going through all of the cut scenes decline the offer to help. This will give you back control and you can make a save here. This way if the content is too much for you, you can reload and start again at this point when you are a higher level. This is also the only chance you have at the Golyat achievement, so if you are trying for that, a save at this point will be helpful.

A note about getting Aerondight. You will need to get proof that you are worthy of the 5 chivalric virtues. In the beginning of the expansion you will have opportunities to prove 3 of them.

- Sparing the Shaelmaar (compassion)
- Guessing "Greenhouse" during the palace garden game (wisdom)
- Tipping the boy who brings Yennefer's letter (generosity)

Once you have full control again, the last 2 can be quickly earned. There are many ways to do this, but the two I find fastest are:

- Do Great Balls of Granite (honor)
- Do the fist fights, where you only have to actually fight twice (valor)

After starting Blood and Wine you will travel to Toussaint and immediately fight a giant. Between the 4 of you he will be easy to bring down by getting behind him and hitting him. If you are trying for that crossbow kill, staying at range and waiting for Golyat to almost be dead is the best approach. The timing to get this shot will be tricky. It might take you multiple tries.

Once Golyat is dead, follow Milton to the river. You will not be able to avoid fighting the necrophages here, so get rid of them first before diving into the river. Following the quest line will eventually bring you to the Corvo Bianco cellar where you will fight the Bruxa. This fight can be a challenge, so a save before entering and using the black blood potion are highly recommended.

Next you will head to the tourney grounds. You will have a chance to visit the blacksmith and armorer, do repairs, and meditate to regenerate potions. When you are ready continue the quest where you will be fighting the Shaelmaar. Don't worry about Palmerin, he can't be killed during this fight. This will be a tedious fight, but winnable. The way to beat the beast is to cast Aard on it, then swing at it until it covers up. Repeat over and over again until you finally whittle it down and beat it. Keep an eye on your toxicity to keep it up, since this fight can take a long time. After beating the Shaelmaar, be sure to show mercy and spare it's life.

Continue the quest to the palace gardens with the Duchess. There is a missable side quest here with a woman on a bridge who lost a ring. You can find it at the very bottom of the stream where it flows into the lake. After doing the hunt you will have to guess the clues for where Milton is hidden. Choose "Greenhouse" for the wisdom virtue.

Next will be one of the coolest cutscenes ever with you chasing Detlaff. After a lot of talking and some fighting (which you can't win) Detlaff will flee and you will meet Regis. Finish the quest and leave the warehouse. Head up into Beauclair toward the central square where the bank is (you can convert coins here). You will be approached by a boy with a letter, be sure to tip him for the generosity virtue. This letter will trigger the Mutations quest.

Now return to Corvo Bianco and begin the process of upgrading the house. You are going to need to do the general renovations on the house, and get the grindstone and armorer's table for the grounds. After a few days these will be complete and you will be told to check out the cellar. Using Aard on the wall will reveal an alchemist lab that you can use to convert the monster mutagens into general ones you can use. You will probably have enough to make 4 or 5 greater green mutagens. Upgrade the garden now to grow the special herbs needed to convert mutagens. A quick note about the garden, the herbs regrow based on how much actual time is spent in Toussaint. So meditating or fast travel will not respawn the herbs. If you just park your character in the garden, don't pause the game, and go do something else. When you return to your computer, the herbs will be back. A tip, if you are short on funds, the houses in Beauclair have a lot of loot that you can sell.

Back in town, the Perfumary will sell the conversion recipes. This merchant also sells the advanced ingredients, so you don't need to keep making White Gull. He will probably be selling any recipes you are still missing. You will want to find Lazare Lafargue's workshop to start the Grandmaster armor quests. He is a good vendor to use for selling arms and armor, plus is a Master craftsman able to produce both swords and armor. There is a notice board near the bank that starts a lot of the critical quest you are going to need, so pick up all the notices here.

Now it is time to do Turn and Face the Strange, the quest for mutations. The quest is pretty straight forward. Begin in the cemetery. It doesn't take long before you need to consult the map Yennefer sent you. The entrance is a portal that is underwater in the southern end of the lake. After entering you first need to get past spike traps. There is no trick for these, just good timing and jumping to get past. You will probably have a few reloads before you are through. From here you will continue until you are trapped with two guardian panthers. Be sure to have your potions up and specter oil on for this fight. Northern wind is also a good idea. Further on is another guardian, then a puzzle for opening a door. Past this door you will have to kill a gargoyle, which will drop a paw you use to activate the portals. The last step is getting through the correct 3 portals. The statue is always looking at the correct one, the one you have to climb the most to use is going to be correct.

Now you are in the laboratory. Watch all the recordings and loot the room. Eventually you will find you need to get centipede eggs. Going into the tunnels will bring you to two rooms. The first room has two centipedes and the second room has one. You will absolutely need to use Yrden to lock them in place to hit them. You can only damage them from the front. These can be tough at your level so be sure to save before taking them on. Once you collect the eggs that are in the far corner of the second room, you can go back to the lab and use the machine to enable mutations.

At this point you should have enough greater green mutagens to activate Euphoria. Use a potion of clearance to give you back ability points, then research Toxic Blood followed by Euphoria. Follow the build portion of this guide for ability selection.

Before you leave Toussaint, you are going to get Aerondight so you have it when you are ready. Head back to Beauclair and do Great Balls of Granite. Remember to use Axii during this quest. After finishing you are going to do the fist fights. First fight is with Mancomb, who you can beat by making the correct dialog choices. Second fight is with Stillwaters, which is a traditional fist fight. The third is with Colossus, which you can win by parrying 3 times in a row. Once all three are defeated you get to fight Maestro. This is a regular fist fight, but you have to fight drunk for an extra challenge, the Undying skill helps a lot. Once you have beaten Maestro, you will have demonstrated all five virtues.

Activate the quest There Can Only be One, and ride to the island. In the center of the island is hermit you will challenge. When you are ready, begin the fight. The visuals for this fight are pretty spectacular. Once you have defeated the hermit, the Lady of the Lake will give you Aerondight. You won't be able to wield it yet, but take it to the Runewright and add 3 slots to the sword so it is ready. You should also work on finding 3 greater runestones for it. I recommend either burning or stun. When you get to level 33, you can use the Wolven Hour potion to equip the sword, but watch out for quests that force you to unequip items.

You are now done with Toussaint for awhile, other than going back to Corvo Bianco as needed. The merchants are also worth visiting since they give better prices and carry useful items. The Innkeepers sometimes sell gwent cards that you have to play for in the base game.

As a final bit of cleanup, you are going back to Velen to get the rest of the Bear School upgrade diagrams. First get the armor diagrams that are in the troll cave north of the Hanged Man Tree. You have to kill the Nekkers outside, but you don't have to go all the way into the cave. Since you will be back to this cave later, just get the diagrams and leave. Next head to Crookback Bog, two of the diagrams are there. One is in a ruin east of the chapel. For the other you will need to do Contract: Swamp Thing. The diagram is in the Foglet's lair.

The final diagrams are a bit of a slog. One is on the coast of the southern section of Velen. After you turn in the Swamp Thing trophy, there is a boat near you that you can take to get down to the diagram. It is on a small island with a Drowner nest. The other diagrams are far to the south. You can use the boat to fast travel to a harbor, then fast travel to the furtherest south marker you've found, either Ancient Oak or Crossroads. Head south from there to find the ruins. While here there is an easter egg quest that doesn't yield any loot, just endless specters until you escape. There is a tie in with Cyberpunk 2077. You can look it up online.

Now that you are fully equipped, you are going to head back to Skellige and continue the main quests.

It is time for you to finish up the major quests in Skellige. Fast travel to Svorlog and do Possession. While you are at the old house, you can climb the rocks to the southwest and climb over the house to access the path up to the place of power. Once Possession is complete, do Contract: Here Comes the Groom since you need to go get the Ursine crossbow anyway. There is a bandit camp on the way with a Wolf School diagram, as well.

Next you will do The Lord of Undvik. You already skipped the start of this quest when you fast traveled to Marlin Coast, but if you want more backstory, go the the Inn at Kaer Trolde and ask people there about Undvik. Next fast travel to Marlin Coast and follow the quest markers. Eventually you will get a cut scene with the giant and sirens. After this scene ends head toward the water (away from the ship) and look on the left for nails. This should give you all you need to complete the quest for Octo in the boat. Kill off the sirens, climb into the boat, go through the dialog for an XP bonus. You will then follow the trail to find the remains of Hjalmar's disaster of an expedition.

At the ruined guard tower you can either follow the footprints or the boat trail. Follow the footprints. When you find the body, nearby you will also find a hornwall horn, which is useful for getting Sirens to fall to the ground. Inside the cave are a few ice trolls, then you will find a group that you play a riddle game with to release Folan. You will go outside the cave and Folan will accompany you. Now head up to the lake, eventually you will find a ruined town. While the next section can be skipped by just crossing the lake, there is a good bit of loot available in the upcoming caves, so it's worthwhile to follow the quest markers.

There are two large caverns to explore, the first you jump into immediately. After some climbing you will see a small ravine to the right with some loot to pick up and a chest on the outside ledge. Coming back to the trail you started on, immediately ahead is a tree circled by Harpies. After killing them look to the right for a ladder down into the second large cave you can loot. When done come back up and climb the ladders up on the other side into some mine shafts. In the mine shafts you will face Devourers, Golden Oriole is a good choice. There are loot chests at the ends of every shaft.

Leaving the mines, to the left is the forge where you will find the tools you need to finally finish the Master Armorer quest. Then ahead is the Giant's "refrigerator" with 3 more Devourers in a side room. Once this room is clear you can put away your sword until you find Hjalmar. Follow the trails, the one to the left leads back to the lake and a bit more loot. Keep following until the trails merge again, then the village ahead you will find Hjalmar. You will need to fight Sirens then trigger a cut scene. Afterwards you can loot the village. Eventually Hjalmar will move ahead to wait for you. There is a witcher diagram in the ruins ahead, and there is a minor quest you can do by finding a note on a body near the sign post. Once done with the village, go find Hjalmar and Folan to open the Giant's lair.

Inside the lair you will find Vigi the Loon. If you don't rescue him, he will be killed in the next battle. To get the key move carefully to avoid areas with snow that will wake the Giant. If you wake the Giant, Vigi will die. Once you release Vigi, he will attack the Giant and you all get to fight him.

Once the Giant is dead, don't go with Hjalmar to the port. Instead look around so you can loot the corpse and find a couple chests. When done, go back to the village and fast travel to Marlin Coast. This will end The Lord of Undvik.

Before moving on to King's Gambit, you can finish up Master Armorer for some extra XP. Besides you are probably carrying a lot of loot and should sell it. Head back to Crow's Perch and give Fergus the tools. You will then need to go kill the Archgriffin, loot the acid, and come back to Crow's Perch for the bounty and then to complete the armor quest. Yoana will now be available as a Master Armorer and vendor.

Select King's Gambit and head to Kaer Trolde. When you enter the feast, there is a series of fist fights available with the Vildkaarl. The first fight will win you Hjalmar's steel sword and 100 XP, and then you can do 3 more fights for 50 XP. When finished find Crache and continue the quest. After the massacre, side with Cerys to help her. This choice gives access to a place of power, which you don't get if you help Hjalmar. Chase Arnvald and either knock him from his horse or stay close enough to get to the beach with him, and kill the fighters that are double crossing him. After this, you will move through the rest of the quest and on to the Coronation quest.

There isn't much you can do during Coronation, except talk to people. Lugos is livid during the ceremony, which will have consequences later. At this point you will finally be able to play gwent with Crach, which will lead to completing Gwent: Skellige Players.

You will now be at least Level 30 and can upgrade to the Superior Ursine equipment. The swords in particular will be improved to a 50% critical hit bonus. If you haven't found one yet, or crafted one, keep an eye out for Nilfgaardian Guardman's gauntlets that have two sockets and a 50% critical damage bonus.

It's time to finish out the main quests in Skellige. Head to the beach south of Lofoten to meet Yennefer and go through the Missing Persons followed by Nameless quests. There are two quests that are done in Freya's Garden, Nameless and In Wolf's Clothing. It is possible to do them both at the same time, in which case you can start the second quest in Larvik. It can be a bit confusing though, so I am assuming you are only doing Nameless right now, and will do In Wolf's Clothing sometime later. Nameless is relatively simple if you don't worry about the building and other part that are there for the other quest. Just follow the blood trail in a loop back to where you started, then head into the back part of the garden. Open the middle sluice, continue until you reach the hole in the ground and jump down. Once you find the body, the dialog choices will take you to The Calm Before the Storm.

The Ciri quest is straightforward, complete it and Yennefer will ask you to meet her in Larvik to do The Last Wish. Go ahead and meet her now and complete this quest. This is a major romance option for you to either commit to Yennefer or break up with her.

After Last Wish you will return to the Kaer Trolde Inn with Yennefer and you will have a chance to talk to her. You can give her the bird skull you have been carrying from the beginning and also ask her about Phillipa's megascope crystal. Don't let her keep it, since you are going to give it to Radovid despite her objections.

After this you are done with Skellige until Isle of Mists, and will go back to Novigrad.

Before getting into the final Novigrad quests, a word about your equipment. At some point in the next three quests, you are going to hit to Level 33, it is important that you don't use your Wolven Hour potion until after A Matter of Life and Death. During the party at the Vegelbud residence you will have to wear fancy clothes and unequip your weapons. After this quest is complete, you can use Wolven Hour to equip the mastercrafted Ursine armor and steel sword (level 34) and Aerondight (level 35). Also know that High Stakes and Ugly baby will also force you to unequip items. While Wolven Hour looks like a great option, it is easy to get caught (literally) with your pants down.

After leaving Skellige, head to Oxenfurt and give the megascope crystal to Radovid. This will complete Rediania's Most Wanted, which is one of the three quests needed to trigger Reason of State (the others being Eye for an Eye and A Deadly Plot that comes later).

Head to Triss's house in Novigrad and start A Matter of Life and Death. After going through the search for the valet and a small fight, you will end up with an invitation to the party. You will have to go buy masks and also wear fancy clothes. If you saved a set from your audience with the Emperor, you can wear those. Once you are dressed and have given Triss her mask, you will go to the party.

Avoid getting into a fight with the rude man at the start for some XP, then talk to Moritz to enable a later quest. During the party be sure to play (and win) in the gwent tournament. This is the only way to get these cards, including the Dandelion card. While here you can also talk to Dijkstra, Voorhis, and Louisa La Valette for some extra dialog. Continuing the quest, you get the chance to kiss Triss. This will have no negative effect on your relationship with Yennefer. After this you need to win a fist fight, then go to the stables. The quest will end and you move on to Now or Never.

Before you do Now of Never, head to the Glory Gate and attack the guards lighting the pyre to save Moritz. Then go to Triss's house. Don't interfere in her argument, then decide if you are going to save the missing mages or not. If you choose to do so, Oliver at the Kingfisher is going to die, so there is no way to save everyone. But there is more XP for saving the mages. The quest is straight forward from here, though you will have to kill a Katakan in the sewers. Once you arrive at the docks you can either let Triss go or ask her to stay. If she stays this will trigger the romance with Triss. Beware that there are consequences for romancing both Yennefer and Triss.

Once the mages sail away you will talk to Dijkstra to trigger A Deadly Plot. Go to the Passiflora and agree to help in the assassination. You will be sent to meet Gregor and then on to locate Thaler. Following the trail from his wagon will lead you to the trolls that captured Thaler to make shoes for them. With some talking you can get out without a fight, then follow Thaler back to his wagon. After the quest ends you can talk to him again to play him in gwent, which will complete Gwent: Old Pals.

It is optional, but this is a good time to do High Stakes. During the gwent tournament the hardest part is beating Sasha. She has a very strong Nilfgaard deck and plays spies to great effect. While your Northern Realms deck is probably good enough to beat her most of the time, if you have been gathering gwent cards a more effective strategy is a Monsters deck with the Eredin the Treacherous leader that doubles the value of spies. Use a deck that has all the summon cards you have, 3 Scorch, and 3 Commander's Horns. Don't put any decoys in your deck. Then let her play her spies onto your board, but never play any onto hers.

At the end of High Stakes you will have an opportunity for a one night stand with Sasha. This will not affect your relationship with Triss or Yennefer, however it will remove all your equipment so again if you aren't yet level 35 it is best to wait until this quest is over before using Wolven Hour, or do it later.

The next main quest is Ugly Baby, however it also will automatically unequip your swords when you are forced to visit the Emporer. All in all if you have used Wolven Hour at this point, and aren't Level 35 yet, you are best served by getting more ability points in Toussaint and farming for mutagens in Redgill, until you are 35. You can then move on to Ugly Baby and Kaer Morhen.

Finally it is time to return to Kaer Morhen. Go to Crow's Nest and get Uma. You will be forced to visit the Emperor first, but eventually, you get to continue your journey, and will end up in the lower courtyard. The following is the most efficient way I have found to get through the content.

Turn around and head back out and do To Bait a Forktail. Once complete, return to the castle. If you want to get the Wolf School gear, you can head up to the watch tower first then head to the Bastion for the quest there. Or you can leave all of this for later. The one quest you do need to do before the Battle for Kaer Morhen is Berengar's Blade, since it involves talking to Vesemir.

Going into the keep, you can pick up Triss's earring next to the bed Yennefer threw out the window. You will be able to give it to her later, though it is just a visual easter egg. Heading inside, talk to Lambert and do The Final Trial. On the way to find the missing boat, save your game before fighting the Drowners. If you don't have a Water Hag mutagen yet, this is a chance to get one. Just reload the fight until she drops it. You should have no trouble with Speartip. Be sure to use the place of power on the way up. Resolve the trolls peacefully and after the quest is complete you will be able to loot their cave without them attacking. If you choose to get Wolf diagrams, there are two out at this end of the map that you can get by going back down through the caves then crossing the river.

Next talk to Yennefer and do Disturbance. The source of interference is right next to Vesemir and Uma. Report back to Yennefer and No Place Like Home will start.

There is a lot of dialog in this quest, and it is all optional, but there are many humorous parts in addition to making love to Yennefer again. It is worth it to go through the entire dialog line. Once you wake up, Va Fail, Elaine will start, which is straight forward.

Having now lifted the curse, you will start all of the Brothers in Arms quests. Just visit everyone you are told to visit and either they will agree to go to Kaer Morhen or provide assistance, except for the Emperor. While there you should loot his office, just because you can. This is a good time to stock up on anything you need or finish any preparation you want. Many of the upcoming quests do not offer an opportunity to visit vendors or get to your stash.

This is the time to finally finish A Favor for a Friend. Return to Keira Metz and select the dialog to wait. After a race with her you will have dinner, then have an opportunity to be a "friend with benefits". If you choose to have a tryst with her, it won't affect any other relationships. If you choose to remain faithful to your love interest, the quest will continue the same. You will wake up and she has headed to Fyke Isle. Swim over and confront her coming out of the tower. You will be able to convince her to go to Kaer Morhen. There is unique dialog for waiting until now to complete this quest, which I prefer. There is another quest A Final Kindness that is available later if you let Kiera go to Radovid, but as you can guess the consequences for Kiera are bad.

You can now do Isle of Mists. There shouldn't be any quests that fail, or any content that is no longer available. Before you start, this is a good time to switch your build to Metamorphosis. You are above level 35 and have enough ability points to finish the build. If you are missing any, there are still at least 2 places of power in Toussaint that are easy to get to (not that you can't handle anything in Blood and Wine right now). If you still need mutagens, you can visit Redgill until you have enough. You should also have everything you need for your 5 decotations.

If you are close to level 40, it is worth it to go back to Toussaint and complete the Grandmaster Ursine gear. Optionally, you can also get the Manticore gear for the overdose threshold bonus and critical bonuses. The ideal armor setup in this case is Ursine armor, Nilfgaardian gauntlets, and Manticore trousers and boots. The downside is you won't get the quen spell bonus, though it is hardly needed at this point.

Winter's Blade that Crach gives you is a very good sword, and an option to consider. With freeze runestones in it, it will trigger the freeze status effect on a regular basis. Like Blade from the Bits, it also levels with you, so keep it in your inventory. However, the the Grandmaster Ursine steel sword, with the 75% critical damage bonus, is going to be a better sword until your level is in the 50s.

Head to the Marlin Coast in Skellige. Remember that boat I had you leave here? Now is the time to use it. Follow the map marker to sail through the giant arch to trigger the trip to Isle of Mists. Then follow the firefly to the dock and keep following to the hut. You aren't going to have any difficulty on this island, despite how creepy the atmosphere is. The dwarves want you to rescue three of their party. You will only be able to bring one back alive though. This will lead to a long cut scene and the opportunity to get Ciri's version of events leading to this point.

Once you leave, the Wild Hunt will arrive and you and Ciri will teleport directly to Kaer Morhen. You will have an awkward moment with Yennefer and Triss, then head to the Keep talking to everyone you recruited. Once at the Keep you will trigger the meeting where you make plans for the upcoming battle. The options given don't make much of a difference. I like to choose more swords to get the Rose of Shaerrawed for display at Corvo Bianco, which gives more enemies to fight (and more XP). But the sword isn't going to be exciting. I also choose the potion option because the exploding trap option tends to hurt you more than the Hunt.

The battle itself is very linear and what to do next will always be obvious. There are a few places where you can get yourself killed if you aren't careful, such as getting hit by one of Triss's fireballs while riding back to the keep, or not getting back into the keep fast enough after closing the gate (the White Frost will kill you).

No matter what you do, you are going to lose the battle, so just enjoy a very well made extended cut scene. The visuals in this battle and the overall design are spectacular. Watching Geralt and Lambert fighting the Wild Hunt together is my favorite scene in the entire game.

Eventually you will get to the end of the battle where Vesemir is killed and Ciri saves everyone. Afterwards is Vesemir's funeral, and the start of Blood on the Battlefield.

The next scene will be a frustrated Ciri after lessons with Avalac'h. This is the first of several important choices that determine if Ciri will live or die at the end of the game. You must make at least 3 positive choices to allow her to survive. In this case you can lift her spirits by having a snowball fight with her.

After the snowball fight, Ciri will wake you early in the morning wanting to go to Bald Mountain to kill Imlerith. At this point you have a timed choice to make to either go straight there or go visit the Emperor first. If you want the Empress ending, you must choose to visit. While there you will have another positive/negative choice to make. If you refuse his payment, this will count as a positive choice towards allowing Ciri to survive. Note that if you chose to not visit the Emperor, you will still be able to get the ending where Ciri survives.

The Bald Mountain quest is linear, just keep following the path and do what the game tells you to do. Eventually you will begin the first of two major fights. Ciri will have to take on all three of the crones. This fight is much harder than the fight with Imlerith (I think it is the hardest in the game, other than Detlaff). The trick is to try to focus on one of the crones at a time, and keep kiting on the edge of the battle, then blink in, hit a few times and blink out. Keep an eye out for Weavress turning into ravens to fly at you, she is the most dangerous of the three. Once the crones are beaten, and Weavress escapes, you will switch to Geralt.

Geralt will climb the path to the peak. Be sure to use the place of power here, this will be your only chance to get to this one. You will get to the top where Imlerith is carousing with Succubi. This fight will not be too tough, just keep rolling in and getting critical hits on him. After the fight Ciri arrives. When she offers to leave, be sure to say you want to stay a bit. This gives you control again and lets you loot Imlerith's body. You will find a magic acorn that you can eat for 2 ability points. After this you can talk to Ciri and transport to Novigrad to begin Final Preparations.

If you want, it is possible to loot Fugas and the Crones by going the opposite way once you get control of Geralt after Ciri's fight with the Crones, and working your way back up the mountain and through the gates. But it is a good bit of work for not a lot of reward.

Returning to Dandelion's tavern, you are greeted by Zoltan and Dandelion, and Ciri heads to her room after asking you to meet her later in Gildorf. You now have control of Geralt again and can go sell loot and use your bed at Corvo Bianco. If you didn't do it before, you should definitely upgrade to Grandmaster gear now. You are getting ready for the final quests and want to be using Metamorphosis, your final build, and the best equipment.

When ready go see Triss to start Blindingly Obvious. You will both go to the Bathhouse and you follow Philippa into the sewers where you eventually convince her you aren't trying to hurt her. After this is a critical decision with Dijkstra. Fighting him at this point will guarantee that Radovid will win the war and the Witch Hunters will descend on White Orchard in the final quest. However, if you tell him you need Philippa and bribe him with the Emperor's plans it will trigger Reason of State where Radovid will be assassinated (assuming you completed An Eye for and Eye, Redania's Most Wanted, and A Deadly Plot). When the quest is over, go see Triss again and give her her earring.

Next do Reason of State, where you will determine who wins the war, and Ciri's fate if she survives. Head to the warehouse and follow the quest line. Before boarding Radovid's ship, be sure to unequip your swords. In the next scene, Radovid is going to order you killed and will have to fight a few guards without your swords until Roche shows up. By unequiping, you can immediately reequip at the start of the fight. Fight all of Radovid's men down to the end of Temple Bridge, which will trigger a cut scene where Philippa kills Radovid.

After this scene you will gather back at the theater. Here Dijkstra will betray Roche, Ves, and Thaler. You need to decide if you will kill Dijkstra and his men, or leave, which will condemn the others to death. There are serious consequences to this decision. If you visited the Emperor with Ciri and want the Empress ending, you must kill Dijkstra. This means that Nilfgaard will win the war and Ciri will join her father in ruling the empire. If you took Ciri to see the Emperor and want the Witcher ending, you need to leave and let Dijkstra kill the others. This will mean Dijkstra will become the ruler of the North after defeating Nilfgaard. If you didn't take Ciri to see the Emperor, then you will get the Witcher ending regardless, but who survives this choice will end up winning the war, Dijkstra or Nilfgaard. For this walk through I assume you did not take Ciri to Vizima and Dijkstra is killed. After all Roche and Ves came to Kaer Morhen, while Dijkstra contributed less than the cost of a sword at a blacksmith. A shame, I really like the Dijkstra character.

Next head to Crippled Kate's and talk to Yennefer to start The Great Escape. When you chase Abbe, use Aard to knock him down quickly. You can't fail this part, but this will end it faster. Don't bother with the optional objective of going to Zoltan, he will turn you down. Instead head straight to Oxenfurt to meet Yennefer. Follow her, then jump into the well. In the ruins you will need to kill a Grave Hag and find a lever to open the door. Then follow the sewers into the basement of the dungeon. Once the dungeon is clear, you will have a cut scene with Margarita, and Sile is there as well. You need to head upstairs and get the key. Just kill all the guards, and get the key. Back downstairs release all the other prisoners before Margarita. There is no reward for this, but it is a nice thing to do. When you release Margarita, Yennefer will arrive to take her out. Then Sile will ask you to put her out of her misery, the scene will end with you drawing your sword. Now leave the prison either through the sewers or use the broken section of the walls upstairs.

Next meet Ciri in the market in Gildorf to start Payback. At the start of the quest tell Ciri Whoreson is dead, or some following dialog won't make sense. When you reach the house, Axii can be used for some extra XP. Head upstairs to learn about the new Whoreson, then follow Ciri to the Golden Sturgeon. After this you will follow her to group of elves outside the city. A horse race will take place, then later you can help steal horses. When stealing the horses the trick to not wake the guard is to climb down the ladder to the ground floor, walk over and take the keys, then open the door with the keys. If you wait a few moments, a cut scene will automatically trigger of you escaping on horseback.

Now return to Dandelion's and head upstairs. Ciri has been asked to talk to the Sorceresses. This is another critical end game choice. If you allow her to go in on her own to face them, it will be a positive point that contributes to her survival.

Next head in to talk to Avallac'h. This will start Through Time and Space. You will head to the house where Corine and Sarah live and use the portal in the basement. The next worlds you visit won't be terribly difficult. You will have to fight giant crabs on the first world, which will be easy for you. On the second world you will need to move from safe area to safe area to recover your breath. Be sure to go to the place of power along the way. The third world swim straight into the portal ahead. The fourth world you get to really experience the White Frost. This world is easy to get through by getting indoors and lighting fires to recover vitality. When you get close to the lighthouse, run straight in, there is only a book up in the lighthouse. The final world is Tir na Lia where you will meet Ge'els. If you want a photo of his odd painting of the naked elf, head all the way to the right behind him and go into photo mode. Return with him to the tavern and the dreaming will occur, this completes the quest.

With all of the quests finished, you can head to the harbor and sail with everyone to Skellige.

Now that you are in Skellige, there is another set of quests to complete before you are ready for the final battle. Start with the Sunstone. Leave the boat and head up the stairs to talk to Crach. He will tell you that Ermion is talking to Madman Lugos. Fast travel to Kaer Muire and head up into the Keep. This will trigger a fight, kill everyone. Afterwards meet Ermion on the road north of the town. He will give you two leads for finding the Sunstone. The easiest is the Skald. Go to Arinbjorn and meet with Eyvind. Tell him you are writing an adventure novel, and he will tell you where the ruins are. head back to the harbor and talk with Yennefer and Philippa. Ciri and Yennefer are heading to Avallac'h's lab, but Philippa will go with you to the ruins. You can fast travel to them, since you unlocked the signpost earlier.

Inside the ruins are a variety of monsters and elven ghosts, you should have little difficulty with any of them. Be sure to use the place of power. When you reach the large room with the mirrors, the correct order is the mirror on the left, then the one on the right, and lastly the one on the far wall. This will reveal the Sunstone. Philippa will fly out, but you will need to climb up out of the mountain, killing more ghosts. Once you reach the top, check your map, there is a village southeast of you with a signpost.

Next you are going to rescue Fringilla. Despite Triss's disparaging remarks when you arrived in Skellige, swimming to the ship with swords on your back is exactly what you will do. Fast travel to the Marlin Coast and head over to the nearest point to dive in. Drink a Killer Whale and get in the water. Simply swim underwater until you get to the ship. Climb up the anchor and the cut scene will play, Fringila has been rescued.

Time for the last two preparation quests. Child of the Elder Blood is active. Go to the fast travel point that is open and go inside. The only battle you will have is a golem at the start. After this the quest is exploration and backstory. At the end of the dialog with the female elf, if you select "go for it" as a dialog, you and Ciri will trash the lab. This is another positive point toward Ciri's survival.

Immediately after leaving the lab, Skjall's Grave becomes available. If you go with Ciri to Hindarsfjall and help her bury Skjall this will be another positive point. You will have a total of at least 4 positive points (5 if you are doing Empress ending), which will allow Ciri to survive.

You are now ready to move on to the final battle.

Tell Avallac'h you are ready to go. The next cut scenes will be on the Marlin Coast, with Avallac'h explaining his plan, and some final chances to say nice things to Ciri and Yennefer. Once you have control again, you can head down to the sign post.

Fast travel to Corvo Bianco and use the bed to give yourself full potions and the vitality bonus. Also use the armor table and grindstone. If you want to sell things in town first, this a good time to do so. You should also make sure everything is repaired. You will not have access to merchants again until after the epilogue.

When ready return to the Marlin Coast and talk to Avallac'h. This will start the final battle On Thin Ice.

The quest starts with a very long and well done cut scene. Before Geralt can even start, he is trapped by Caranthir. When you are finally in control, you are playing as Ciri. Use her blink ability to move forward, but don't keep killing enemies, they keep respawning. Move forward to get into the ice plain where you start fighting Caranthir. Just keep blinking through him and attacking until you damage him enough to start the cut scene fight. This is also a classic scene, so enjoy.

Once Ciri destroys the staff, the spell is broken, allowing Geralt to thaw out. Ciri will teleport out and you are now controlling Geralt to finish Caranthir. Drink your potions to get your toxicity up. You are going to try to keep it up through the rest of the quest. Caranthir will summon an Ice Elemental, which you should kill to activate a decotions. Caranthir himself is hard to get a status effect on, so you are starting with only potions and your sword.

Once you have Aerondight up to full power, it won't take long to kill Caranthir. He will grab you and teleport you underwater. Swim to the surface quickly. This will trigger another cut scene where you see Ciri about to be caught by the Wild Hunt, but Crach's longship sails through to cut them off and save her. She will teleport away.

You are now back in control. You are going to be fighting Hunt Warriors and Hounds down an ice path, passing people you know on the way. During this section, you can get all your decotions active, so make sure you get status effects and keep your toxicity level up. You are going to want these active when you get to Eredin, since he is impossible to get a status effect on.

Next will be a cut scene where Eredin kills Crach, and then it is finally time for the main event. You should enter the fight with all decotations active. The one potion you should look to make sure is active is blizzard. If it isn't up, when your toxicity drops enough, be sure to drink it. The time slow effect is going to help you.

This fight is in three parts. You will first fight him on the ship. After enough damage he will teleport you to a mountain peak, then after enough damage he will portal back to the ship where you can kill him. He has a range of different magic attacks, but just keep Quen up, keep rolling into him, and keep swinging. Again, if you can get Aerondight up to 10 charges, he will take a lot of damage.

After you defeat him, before he dies he reveals that Avallac'h has taken Ciri. Hounds of the Hunt arrive, but before they can attack you, Yennefer opens a portal and pulls you through it. The quest Tedd Deireadh, the Final Age is now started. You are near the ship from earlier when you did Lord of Undvik, and the Conjunction of Spheres has begun. You will race with Yennefer past the ship and up to mount horses, then ride toward the tower. Be careful to avoid the fireballs during this run, they are more dangerous than Eredin was. Yennefer's horse will take an erratic path, so you can really just ride toward the quest mark and let her follow.

One thing you can do now is jump off your horse and start killing monsters. With blizzard active you will be able to keep up with Yennefer while she rides. Kill a dozen Ice Giants or so, then follow her until she dismounts. You are going to travel through the White Frost now, and it will be a bit like the earlier battle with Kiera. Two Hounds will attack you, you need to stay close to Yennefer to keep from being damaged by the White Frost.

At the end of the path, Yennefer will break through the barrier and let you get inside, but only you can get through. You are now safe from the White Frost and can go to the tower to confront Avallac'h. When you get there, the dialog will reveal that this was all Ciri's idea and she is going to stop the White Frost. There is nothing you can do to stop her, so wish her good luck.

She will enter the tower, and flashbacks to the positive choices you made earlier will play.

Something Ends, Something Begins will start now. You will visit the Emperor one last time to inform him that Ciri died fighting the White Frost. He will not be happy, but will let you leave. You are instructed to never return.

In the next scene you are back in White Orchard. Nilfgaard is pulling out of Termeria, so ride to the former base to meet Master Ort. A few hours later he will arrive and give you the sword Zireael that your ordered. It is a level 1 sword that you will wish you had the last time you were in White Orchard.

Mount Roach and ride east through the swamp, past the barrels. At the next intersection turn right and ride down the road until you meet the dwarf. These are the same dwarves that abandoned you on the Isle of Mists. After some dialog, you will be able to get some compensation from them. After this, ride to the Inn where you will meet Ciri and give her her new sword.

The credits will now roll and you will learn the aftermath of the war and your future.

You will next restart at Kaer Morhen, where you will be able to pursue any other quests and content you like. Congratulations, you have now earned the Walked the Path achievement.

I recommend that you make a save here. You can use this for a New Game+ start, if you want to do all the base content with the Metamorphosis build and Aerondight. or you can move on to Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. You are about Level 50 now with all of the skills and equipment you need. If you do start New Game+, you will get to Level 100 pretty quickly, so it might be more satisfying to keep playing from this point on.