Rune stones in The Witcher 3

Have you heard of geomancy or rune-making?

They say that a word can hurt. Many northerners would categorically disagree with this statement - a sword, battle axe, mallet, hammer, ax, arrow or crossbow bolt, magic charge or fisstech used in excessive quantities can injure. But for a traveler from distant Ophir, who has mastered the knowledge of magical runes, there is nothing strange in this. With the release of the add-on " Stone hearts"The gray-haired witcher of the Wolf school, Geralt from Rivia, had the opportunity not only to meet with the overseas rune master, but also to use his services for enchanting weapons and armor, which will be discussed in this guide

Enchantment: starting capital

Ophir camp at the Upper Mill

Having found himself during his wanderings at the Seven Cats inn, located near Novigrad, and having examined the notice board, the monster slayer could have learned about the arrival in the local region of an Ophir wizard who could improve the witcher's uniform with the help of magic. The sorcerer lives near the village of Bronovitsy, in a camp near the Upper Mill. Players who have already managed to hunt for Ophir armor, weapons and horse harnesses will be very familiar with this place.

I am a scientist and an artist. A bit of a craftsman, and a bit of a magician

Go inside the tent and talk to the man blithely praying to his gods inside. The Ophir will politely greet Geralt, while glorifying the “eternal work of creating the world.” The witcher will hasten to convince the overseas guest that there is nothing to glorify in this world, while upsetting the sorcerer with a display of typical northern hospitality. Undoubtedly, the mentality of the inhabitants of Ophir and the Kingdoms of the North is categorically different from each other due to too great a difference in the philosophy and culture of these peoples. And if we know the morals of the inhabitants of the North from the literary “Saga of the Witcher and the Witcher” and the game series, then a little information about Ophir can be learned from the story of the rune master. The peoples inhabiting the territory of these distant lands have several gods. Where the rune master himself comes from, it is customary to believe in the One God, whose words are capable of endowing a person or objects with unknown power and energy. That is why the Ophirite was always interested in the possibility of using these words, which were reflected in geomancy, or rune-making. Unfortunately, at the moment, the rune master is tied hand and foot, because the ship on which he sailed sank on the open sea, along with the tools necessary to create runic glyphs and finances. It will no longer be possible to return them from the bottom, but absolutely all the lost goods can be acquired again... For just a measly 5,000 Novigrad crowns. If Geralt has such a sum in his wallet, he will be able to invest it in the activities of a rune master; if not, then the monster slayer will have to go in search of income and return to the artisan magician later.

Enchantment: Pay for Quality

Jade deposits northeast of Novigrad

However, gold alone is not enough to work as a rune master. He will also need jade stone, and the great honor of obtaining it, of course, will fall to Geralt. Pick up the pick from the barn of a small hut nearby and head northeast of Novigrad. The Witcher knows of three places where the necessary pebble can be obtained. The first is located near the Velen analogue of Stonehenge, but alas, it is not enough. It is noteworthy that on one of the large stones, laid out in the shape of a peculiar arch, there is an example of medieval graffiti depicting the hanging of a witch. A very progressive execution for that era, especially considering the love of the inquisitors in the person of the Witch Hunters, it is significant to burn sorceresses alive. The next supposed jade deposit is located nearby, but again by: mining stone from here is a waste of time. There is only one thing left - to climb into the gloomy cave Poisonous Vylom, teeming with arachnomorphs greedy for human flesh... Eh, why does it always have to be some kind of monsters or thugs hostile to the witcher, and not harmless little animals?

An arachnophobe's worst nightmare

Arachnomorphs are arachnid monsters belonging to the “insectoid” class. Therefore, anti-insectoid oil applied to a silver sword works well in battle with them. In addition, arachnomorphs are sensitive to fire, which means it is worth paying special attention to the witcher's Igni sign, the "Dragon's Dream" and "Dancing Star" bombs. It is worth noting that there is no need to completely clear the cave - it is enough to deal with the arachnomorphs in the first “room”. Having hidden his trusty blade in its sheath, Geralt will discover jade deposits in the center of this very room and, with the help of a pick, will extract the gem. Before returning to the rune master, the witcher can complete the secondary task “Sentenced to Drakenborg,” but that’s a completely different story. Once again at the Upper Mill, the gray-haired monster killer will find the artisan at work. Give him the jade you found, listen to sincere gratitude and complete the task.

Level 1 Words of Power

First level workshop

Now get ready to receive the reward for your work and investment - the opportunity to improve your weapons and armor with runic words of power. Level 1 upgrades become available immediately after completing the quest "Enchantment: Pay for Quality", along with a small runemaster shop. At this stage, the assortment of Ophir is limited and consists of small rune glyphs, as well as recipes for their creation. Such glyphs are necessary for enchanting objects, and it is the words of power of the first level that we will now consider.

Weapon upgrades

• Calm. To create this magical word of power and apply it to a weapon, the rune master will have to combine the small runestones Devan, Maren and Stribog. If the adrenaline scale reaches its maximum, the witcher will sacrifice it in order to accelerate the restoration of health and energy, as well as reduce the level of intoxication. Highly recommended for players relying on the Alchemist skill line, which can effectively compensate for the reduction in damage after depleting the adrenaline gauge with the Witcher Elixir Thunder.
• Vareniki. One of the funniest, according to the author of the guide, joke from the developers in the entire game. The fact is that to create a magic word you need the rune stones Pie and Curd. There are no such stones in the rune master's shop, nor are there any recipes for them. You can find them only during the clearing of the camps of the “red knights”, and along with the recipe for the Pie in the container there will be one dumpling, and next to the Curd there will be cow’s milk, which are the direct components for making rune stones. The owner of a weapon enchanted with this word restores twice as much health when eating food, but all food tastes like dumplings. This is probably a nod to the master gunsmith Eivar Hattori, who retired from his craft and began selling delicacies made from dough and cottage cheese.
• Consolidation. This word combines the small rune stones Svarog, Devan and Maren, and consolidates the effects of using a sharpener and a workbench, which increase the base indicators of weapons and armor, respectively, and under normal conditions last for 15 minutes of real time.

Armor upgrades

• Usurpation. By combining the small glyphs of binding, enhancement and Axii, Geralt will acquire the ability to transfer the effect of the witcher sign Axii from one enemy to another in the event of the death of the first. This applies to both the normal mode of the sign, which stuns enemies, and the alternative mode, which forces the enemy to temporarily go over to the side of the gray-haired one and fight against his comrades.
• Reflection. To create this magic word, you need to combine the small glyphs of Aard, defense and improvement. In this case, all enemy arrows flying at the witcher will bounce off the armor without causing any damage. An excellent analogue to the skill from the defense branch "Reflecting Arrows".
• Burning. This word requires the combination of the small glyphs Igni, Yrden and defense. If you set an enemy on fire with an Igni sign or a Dancing Star bomb, then with a 25% chance the fire will spread from the burning enemy to an adjacent one standing within a radius of two meters. The word "Burning" works very well in confined spaces such as caves or houses.
• Heaviness. To create a magic word, you will have to combine the small glyphs of Quen, recovery and improvement. By wearing at least one piece of armor that has this enchantment, Geralt will “deceive” the game and force it to regard even light armor as heavy. On the one hand, heavy armor guarantees increased survivability, but on the other hand, it slows down the rate of energy recovery.
• Exhaustion. If you sacrifice the minor glyphs of Aard, Axia and enhancements, each time you successfully use the Aard sign, half of the enemy's stamina bar will be taken away. However, do not forget that only people have such a scale and this word will not be of any use in the battle with monsters.

  Level 2 Words of Power

Second level workshop

To gain access to more advanced improvements, you will have to fork out as much as 10,000 Novigrad crowns. In return, the rune master will be able to provide the witcher with new runestones and glyphs, which he will happily sell, and will also offer to enchant Geralt’s equipment with magic words of level two power.

Weapon upgrades

• Triumph. To obtain this rune word, you need to combine the rune stones Dazhdbog, Veles and Devan. As a result of enchanting the witcher's blade with this word, each fatal blow to the enemy will increase the adrenaline level by 0.1-0.25 scale.
• Update. Combining the rune stones Perun, Svarog and Stribog will allow you to restore a quarter of the energy scale after each fatal blow to the enemy.
• dissection. Rune stones Zorya, Veles and Perun, after connecting, will increase the radius of the whirlwind and rupture. Whirlwind is a special attack and character skill of the same name, designed for combat against several opponents. Rip is also a special skill that allows you to unleash an incredibly powerful but slow attack at the expense of depleting your stamina bar.

Armor upgrades

• Shield. To create, you must use the glyphs of Quen, Yrden and defense. Then, at the beginning of each battle, the witcher will apply the protective Quen sign to himself without spending any stamina level. An incredibly useful improvement at absolutely all stages of the game and for all Witcher builds.
• Balance. By combining the glyphs of Axia, recovery and improvement, and then donning enchanted armor, Geralt will automatically turn all pieces of armor into medium armor. They protect worse than heavy ones, but better than light ones. Also, while wearing medium armor, energy is restored faster than if the witcher were dressed in full heavy armor.
• Ring. If the Rune Master combines the Igni, Binding, and Enhancement glyphs, using the Igni Sign will cause fire to hit all enemies around, similar to the Aard Sign's alternate mode, but will remove the ability to cause combustion.
• Charm. By combining the glyphs of Axii, Igni and recovery, it will be possible to enchant an item of clothing, after which the effect of the alternative mode of the Axii sign will be extended every time the enemy, under the influence of suggestion, makes a successful attack on his ally. Please note that for obvious reasons this effect does not apply to normal Axia mode.
• Fetters. But if you merge the glyphs of binding, Yrden and Axia together, then each enemy who falls under the influence of the Yrden trap sign will create a glyph in its place that stuns the approaching enemy.

  Level 3 Words of Power

Fully upgraded workshop

However, the above words of power are not the limit. There are several more improvements, much stronger and more useful than their predecessors... But before you try them yourself, you need to replenish the rune master’s piggy bank with some 15,000 Novigrad crowns. This investment will increase the witcher's level of investment in the sorcerer's craft to an unheard-of 30,000 crowns - no less than the treasury of a small settlement. What will he get in return? Well, first of all, even more runestones and glyphs, this time large ones. And the icing on the cake will be completely unique enchantments worthy of their price.

Weapon upgrades

• Extension. To create this enchantment, you must give the rune master the large rune stones Maren, Perun and Svarog. The result of the work of the artisan magician will be the extension of the effects of all active elixirs by half a second after each successful hit on the enemy. In fact, this is the best choice for players who prefer to invest skill points in the alchemy tree.
• Inspiration. Combining the large runestones Devan, Zorya and Perun ensures that the health points accumulated after increasing health to maximum will be converted into additional damage on the next attack. For example, if, when using the Swallow elixir, health is restored before the potion ends, then the subsequent blow will cause damage directly proportional to the amount of overtime health.
• Filling. Imagine being able to cast a witcher's mark using one adrenaline meter, just like using the Anger Management skill, but also charging your sword with the power of the applied sign. Introduced? Now combine the large rune stones Triglav, Maren and Dazhdbog and your dreams will turn into reality.

Armor upgrades

• Explosion. Large Igni, Quen and upgrade glyphs, when combined by the skilled hands of a rune master, will cause enemies set on fire by Igni to explode upon death, setting nearby enemies on fire in the process. This enchantment goes very well with the first level "Burning" power word, but is completely incompatible with the second level "Ring".
• Possession. Combining the large Axii, Aard and binding glyphs will allow you to combine the properties of the words "Usurpation" of the first level and "Charm" of the second, transferring the effect of the applied Axii sign from one enemy to another in the event of the sudden death of the first, as well as extending the duration of mind control by two seconds each times when a bewitched enemy successfully attacks someone.
• Ease. If the Rune Master connects the large glyphs of Aard, recovery and enhancement, then all elements of the equipped armor will turn into light armor. They provide poor protection from damage, being much inferior to medium and heavy armor, but they guarantee quick recovery of stamina.
• Retribution. To create the last one in the list, but not according to the meaning of the word of power, you need to combine the rune glyphs of Quen, Igni and improvements. In this case, there will be a 20% chance of returning part of the damage to the enemy who caused this damage.

  Other rune master services

Sorcerer, traveler and master of his craft

Although applying magical effects to witcher equipment is the primary task and source of profit for the rune master, he can provide services of other kinds. As you might have guessed, the Ophirian does not hesitate to display his creations in the form of rune stones and glyphs for sale, being completely confident in their quality. He also sells recipes, after studying which Geralt will be able to create the same stones and glyphs with his own hands. Since the work of an overseas traveler directly depends on the number of cells allocated for inserts, he can increase their number in any element of armor, up to three. Well, don’t forget that the sorcerer is also a master artisan, capable of forging both weapons and armor of the highest quality.

I hope that the guide to rune words was useful to you, dear readers. Enjoy your game and good luck on your journey, young witchers!

Today we will look at the concepts of sunstone, runestone and power stone. All of these are not interrelated items in the game, but they are necessary. Let's start with the sun stone.

The Witcher 3 Sunstone is an elven artifact that you must find during the quest “Preparing for Battle.” To do this, go to the Mouser from Caer Muir. Arriving at him, you will become an unwitting witness to a conflict situation in which Mousefur will make it clear about the location of the sun stone in The Witcher 3. Or rather, information about those people who 100% know where it is: the singer Eyvind and the pearl seekers. Just don’t tell Eyvind anything about scientific works, it’s better about an adventure novel, which he is key to and will tell you about.
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You can talk to the pearl divers. They are in a cave nearby and will give you coordinates.

Then Philippa becomes your companion. You meet her at the elven ruins and follow into the cave to the hall of mirrors. Here you need to be more careful and use each mirror once, which changes the direction of the beam and points to the sun stone in The Witcher 3. You can watch the search for the sun stone in the video collection:

In The Witcher 3, runestones are stones that cause all sorts of effects by fusing them into weapons. Rune stones are inserted into steel and silver swords into free cells and they are divided into large and small. Rune stones are an irreplaceable thing, and you should not store them until a better opportunity arises. As the scenario progresses, you will come across increasingly stronger and more powerful rune stones. And you can buy them freely from the blacksmith in the village of Arinbjorn. From the drawings that are sold from alchemy representatives, you can make all types of stone runes allowed in the game.

While playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you will definitely come across special places of influx of strength. They look like historical stone blocks with special magical marks. The Witcher 3 power stones work as follows: you touch them, and the power of your skills increases for thirty minutes. In total, the developers have implemented twenty-one places of power in the game, which not only increases the duration of skills, but also gives your main character Geralt an additional bonus skill point to improve signs. Unfortunately, this point is obtained only once, but it’s worth visiting all such places as quickly as possible, because it won’t hurt you to have a physical and magical advantage over your opponents during your further passage through the storyline.

Especially for you, we have prepared a description of all 21 places of power.
1. White Garden Cemetery. Here your hero will be attacked by a ghost who looks menacing in appearance, but in fact you can easily defeat him. He will lure you into a crypt, which will contain a power stone and plenty of all sorts of goodies.
2. Broken bridge. There is a place of power below the bridge, which can be found if you move south from the White Garden. The security here is not very strong and low level.
3. North of the White Garden Cemetery. You just have to be careful - there is an abode of ghouls nearby.
4. In the forest near the Abandoned Village. You need to go east from the village, engaging in battles with lvl 6 bears along the way.
5. Near the sawmill. You can reach it by following the forest to the northwest side of the abandoned village. Guarded by a lvl 7 ghost who must be defeated before you touch the power stone.
6. At the top of the mountain near the village of Steigery. The mountain is located northwest of the village.
7. Crooked-eared swamps. The place of power is located near the shelter. You will reach it if you go southeast.
8. Beach near Lonely Cliff. The beach is located north of the village of Vereskovka, but to get to it, you need to swim under water teeming with all sorts of creatures.
9. Swamps near the New burial ground location. The place of power is located at the very edge of the swamp area.
10. Hill near Novigrad. Follow south from the Wegelbud estate to the top of the hill, on which another place of power is located.
11. Caves on a mission to find the wife of the Bloody Baron. After you and Keira Metz go searching in the caves, she will want you to help her find a magic lantern and will open a secret passage, in which there will be a place of power guarded by a golem.
12. Caves in No Man's Land away from Bald Mountain. As you move towards the cave, beware of evil monsters. You will find the place of power inside the cave straight and to the right.
13. On the mountain west of the village of Svorlag. You will have to reach the Witcher 3 stones of power point by overcoming obstacles made of garbage along the way and opening secret doors.
14. Cave near Gedinit. Go north of the village of Redgill to the cave in which the Cyclops lives.
15. Abandoned village of Fornahala. Having reached the village, go a little south and go straight to the place of power.
16. Monument to Freya on the island of Faro. It will be very difficult to get to the monument. The forest along which the path to the place of power passes is teeming with dangerous white wolves.
17.Top of the hill near the village of Urialla. You need to climb the rocks to the ruined fortress to the fog itself. Up there, at the very extreme point, there will be another place of power.
18.Ancient crypt. To get an additional skill point, you need to complete the “Sun Stone” task. It opens access to an ancient crypt. After entering it, go straight and then turn right until you find 3 power stones in the Witcher.
19. Druid camp. In the forest near the camp there is another place of power.
20.Island below the Druid Camp. On the shore of the island you will find a magic stele.
21. Wine cellar. While completing the quest of the “Queen's Gambit” storyline, you will stumble upon a wine cellar with a trap. To pass it, you need to break three barrels near the wall with the Aard sign and walk along the corridor, right until it stops at the power stone.

Introduction

This guide is intended for high-level characters. Closer to the middle of the game, I realized what I wanted to get from my character, what style of play I liked and suited best. Witcher Assassin: the main emphasis is on damage, debuffs (poisoning, bleeding, freezing, igniting) and evasion.

I didn't pump to the top character for other Schools and didn't compare with your build. Of course, each of the schools and tactics has its own strengths, but the Cat School seemed to me the most interesting, high-quality and convenient for playing on the “To Death!” difficulty. However, I will try to give some choice in some aspects rather than promoting one single option.
I am well aware that builds with an emphasis on pure damage, alchemy or something else may have better performance. For example, a pure swordsman will have more damage and kill all opponents in 1-2 hits. But he does not forget that at the same time they will lose in terms of sign power, HP or other indicators. We play for the Witcher and for me personally, it’s just boring to pump everything into damage and go through the game on the easy way. Playing as Herald, I also want to use signs, decoctions and oils, and use bombs. This is more interesting. That's why my build is kind of general and affects all sides, I tried my best to develop every Witcher ability (without compromising the others) and get a sufficient build. Here you will not receive the maximum possible damage or maximum HP, but what I have proposed should be enough for you to comfortably complete the game.

If you are just starting to conquer the world of The Witcher, then perhaps this guide will give you an answer to what may await you ahead.

I’ll try to tell you in detail what came out of this below.

Leveling up your character

Let's start with pumping.
In total, our character can initially use 12 skills simultaneously. Plus 4 more when you complete the mutation quest in the Blood and Wine add-on.
First, I recommend leveling up your skills for the initial 12 slots, and then deal with mutation, since it requires a lot of skill points and mutagens (you need a lot of large mutagens, collect them at once).

4 regular blocks of 3 skills + 1 mutation block of 4 skills, so we need to decide what we need, what we want to get and what we will use.
Our build will consist of quick attacks, Quen (for defense) and Igni (for attack) signs and a little alchemy. As a result, we get ~2 blocks for Fencing, 2 blocks for Signs and a mutation block for alchemy.

Note: The Blood and Wine expansion made a lot of changes and the build changed significantly, bringing new skills to replace the old ones.

Let's start with this skill tree.

In my build I use fast attacks and the Cat School set (light armor). Actually, here we need only one single skill - the Cat School Technique.

The remaining skills, in my opinion, do not deserve attention and we do not improve them.

Fencing

These are our 2 main skills. Why did I give up leveling? "Whirlwind" And "Shrinking blows"? To save skill points that you spent on opening additional cells in the mutation block. You need a lot of skill points, spend them wisely.

Very useful skills that will help you survive faster.

Strangely enough, I chose the last 5th skill

Now we start our attacks with this skill. In the Blood and Wine add-on, some changes were made to the characteristics of armor. Now the Cat School armor has the following properties:

But we’ll talk about this when we disassemble the armor.

To choose from Instead of the 5th skill, I might recommend Whirlwind or one of the following:

Additionally You can upgrade the skill "Reflect arrows"

It is only needed if you want to get this achievement

If you don't need it, then you don't need to download it. A useless skill and unlikely to be useful to you.

The Witcher can use the following signs: Quen, Axiy, Aard, Yrden. But we will only upgrade 2 main ones.

As stated above, we will spend 2 blocks of cells on signs, i.e. 6 skills.
The first sign will be Quen. This is a must have. Without Quen, you can’t even count on adequate completion of the game.
The following are mandatory:

I think everyone should decide for themselves with the second sign, but I recommend Igni. Almost everything burns and burns well. And all sorts of corpse eaters are especially notable. For Igni we download the following skills:

There are 5 skills in total. Sixth we will take the “Deception” of the Axiy sign

A very useful skill both in dialogues and in combat, especially against all kinds of shields and two-handers.

A little about other Signs

Yrden. To be honest, I didn’t understand the point of upgrading this sign. For all sorts of ghosts and middays, the unpumped version is also suitable + there are bombs. The damage is small, and reflecting arrows is not worth it, especially since there are rune words. We will have to dodge enemy attacks a lot and constantly try to stay close to the imposed Yrden sign.

Aksiy. Further leveling of Asiya, namely in control, is a little awkward. To be honest, the control is very good and should not be underestimated. Enemies knead each other with special fervor. But after playing a little, I became bored, because part of the time we just stand on the sidelines and watch the enemies kill each other. Sign imba, but boring, try it yourself.

Last, but not least, we will be pumping up alchemy.

Alchemy is useful and can make your life much easier, but I recommend leveling it up last, since we will be placing the skills in the mutation block, and it must first be opened and leveled up.
The skills we will need are:

(new addition to "Blood and Wine")
We gain access to the mutation after completing a quest that we receive from a boy in the main city of Toussaint. The mutation window looks like this:

A little theory

In total, we have 12 different mutations available to us, by pumping them up we will get 4 additional slots for skills. Upgrading mutations costs a lot of skill points and large mutagens, so you won’t be able to upgrade everything at once. Although there are 12 mutations, we can only use one at a time. The peculiarity of each mutation is not only the unique property inherent in it, but also the “color” of the skill slots that open. All this is indicated in the description of the mutation. Eg:

By choosing this mutation, we will be able to insert only blue skills, i.e., sign skills, into new mutation slots. A mutation

will allow us to use red, blue and green slots, i.e. signs, fencing and/or alchemy.

There is no mutation for yellow skills. Additional slots for skills open as you level up mutations; to open all 4 slots you need to level up all 12 mutations.

Now about pumping mutations:

Since we will only insert alchemy skills into the slots, our choice of 12 mutations is, unfortunately, reduced to 6. And there are even fewer really good ones. Personally, my choice fell on only 2 and I haven’t even decided which one is better yet and sometimes I change them. It depends more on what you need.

The first mutation is "Euphoria":

A very useful skill that significantly increases your damage. By the way, she is the first one also because you can pump her up almost immediately. I recommend using it right away.

The second mutation of my choice is “Metamorphosis”:

It is quite more difficult to pump it up, but it has its advantages:
1. Three options for “colors” of slots. If you decide to replace some alchemy skills with signs and/or fencing, then "metamorphosis" is what you need. This is one of only 2 mutations that open all 3 “colors”, the rest are either 2 or even 1 (like euphoria).
2. Activating random decoctions without intoxication is great and useful, and if you also level up the “tissue mutation” skill (as I recommended above in the alchemy section), then for each such decoction you will receive 1000 HP, which seriously increases our survivability.
3. The last plus is that it is better to see in the dark. It's a small thing, but nice.

I think everyone has to decide for themselves what to choose: damage or health. I alternate between these two mutations from time to time.

Note:

To reset all skills and level up in a new way, you can use the “Elixir of Purification”

and to reset skill points invested in mutations - “Lapel Potion”

Mutagens will not return, I advise you to use the lapel potion wisely. There are no mutagens lying around on the road.

The final pumping option

Since we did not pump up the increase in the level of intoxication, you can use 1 decoction at the same time (70 intoxication out of 100) and still have a little left, if necessary, for some elixir such as Swallow, Thunder or Raff the White’s Potion.
Yes, elixirs are very useful and on the one hand you could raise the intoxication limit by leveling up, but in my opinion, if you need to throw Swallow and other potions on CD, then just don’t force yourself and lower the difficulty level of the game.

Additionally

Difficulty of the game "To Death!" not particularly conducive to tanking with armor, HP or pouring elixirs into three throats. So I tried in the guide to focus specifically on the offensive properties of the Witcher. And for protection we always have Quen.

Rebounding on alt/counterattack, constantly maintaining Quen - these are the two main actions that you should always pay attention to.
Quen must always be active! This needs to be remembered. Even worthless bandits in the forest can easily one-shot you, you shouldn’t rely on the skill, only on Quen.

I didn't cover oils and bombs in the guide, but they are also very important. Everything is simple with them - use them actively and you will be happy.

Weapons, armor and items in The Witcher 3 are created according to drawings. They are considered the best. Each drawing lists the required components and ingredients. These can be various ingots, ore, precious stones, plates, skins and other craft materials. A complete list of available drawings is located on the “Craft” tab ([O] key). To make an item, just select a drawing, check the availability of the necessary components in your inventory and press the [E] key. The process of creating things is very similar to the process. The main sources of obtaining components and ingredients in The Witcher 3 are, firstly, monsters, secondly, unnecessary things that can be disassembled into their component parts with the help of artisans, thirdly, merchants, gunsmiths and armorsmiths. A thorough inspection of the chests that come your way while completing main and secondary tasks also brings tangible results. Chests protected by high-level monsters usually contain many rare components, but the largest amount of various materials is hidden in chests with contraband in the waters of the Skellige archipelago, where Geralt comes in search of Ciri, but not everyone can withstand the tedious passages by boat.

Increase the number of merchants in The Witcher 3 allow tasks to destroy monsters in deserted villages and free hostages from bandit camps, the location of which is marked on the map with special icons in the form of houses and prison cells, initially hidden under question marks (appear after viewing notice boards). Keys to merchant cages are found among the gang leaders, who can easily be identified in the crowd using the witcher's instincts (hold down the [RMB] key): after the massacre, a white glow appears over the body, if there is no glow, you need to replay the episode with the attack, reloading the save, otherwise the cage cannot be opened without a key . After his release, the former prisoner goes home and after some time begins to conduct active trading. Merchants and artisans appear at their workplaces early in the morning and go home at night. The merchants' assortment of goods is periodically replenished. Long meditation or key events in the game can help reduce waiting time. The fight against bandits also leads to the appearance of nomadic merchants with backpacks on the roads. Animal skins take up a lot of space in your inventory; at the first opportunity, they should be disassembled into their component parts or sold.

Locations of merchants and blacksmiths in Velen, Novigrad, Oxenfurt and Skellige in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt:

1. Fergus(master armorer): in the courtyard of the castle of the Bloody Baron Vronitsa in the northwestern part of Velen.
2. Blacksmith(student): in the village of Bolshiye Suchya in the western part of Velen.
3. Bronnik(student): in the village of Podlesie in the western part of Velen.
4. Blacksmith(student): in the village of Zalipye in the central part of Velen.
5. Bronnik(student): in the village of Yavornik in the northern part of Velen.
6. Blacksmith(student): in the village of Rudnik in the southern part of Velen.
7. Blacksmith(student): in a village on the slope of Bald Mountain, on which a huge oak tree grows, in the southeastern part of Velen. The Blacksmith appears before the second meeting with the Witches.
8. Blacksmith(apprentice): in a forge in central Oxenfurt.
9. Bronnik(apprentice): in the market square in the northern part of Oxenfurt.
10. Bronnik(apprentice): at the Market in Hierarch Square in the central part of Novigrad.
11. Blacksmith(apprentice): in the market near the bridge southwest of the Market in Hierarch Square in the central part of Novigrad.
12. Hattori(master gunsmith): in the square on the side of the Gate of Glory in the southern part of Novigrad.
13. Armorman and Blacksmith(apprentice): in the courtyard of the Kaer Trolde fortress in the northwestern part of the main island of Ard Skellig.
14. Blacksmith(apprentice): in the village of Ferlund on the west coast of the main island of Ard Skellig. For the blacksmith to appear, you need to free him from the cage in the bandit camp.
15. Blacksmith(apprentice): in the village of Arinbjorn on the west coast of the main island of Ard Skellig.
16. Armorman and Blacksmith(Journeyman): In the courtyard of the mountaintop fortress Caer Muir on the southwest coast of the main island of Ard Skellig.
17. Blacksmith(apprentice): in the village of Fyrsdal on the southern coast of the main island of Ard Skellig.
18. Blacksmith(student): in the village of Harviken on the island of Faroe, southeast of the main island of Ard Skellig.
19. Armorman and Blacksmith(students): in the village of Larvik on the island of Hindarsfjall east of the main island of Ard Skellig.
20. Armorman and Blacksmith(students): in the village of Urialla Landing on the island of An Skellig, north of the main island of Ard Skellig.
21. Blacksmith(apprentice): in the village of Svorlag on the island of Spikeroog, northwest of the main island of Ard Skellig.

List of components and ingredients sold by artisans in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt:

Almost all gunsmiths and armorsmiths have items from the table below for sale. If some items are not available for sale from students, we check the range of goods from apprentices or masters. Most things can be broken down into their component parts: a flawless diamond, for example, can be made into a diamond and diamond dust. To do this, you need to contact the artisan with the phrase “I want you to do something for me,” then press the key twice to move to the “Disassemble” tab. Having selected a component from the list on the left, you must confirm the action with the [E] key. First of all, you should disassemble easily accessible components that can be bought from traders; it is more practical to leave rare components in stock to create better weapons and armor.

Along with the Hearts of Stone expansion, Rune Masters were added to the game. In order to upgrade it to the maximum level, you will need to complete the special quest “Sentenced to the Drakenborg”. The task is not easy, the spiders maneuver quickly and are difficult to hit, even at the “easy” difficulty level. The Yrden sign comes in handy here, as it slows down enemies. You will also need about 30,000 coins for the Rune Master to be able to create all the glyphs.

You can enchant two items: clothes and armor. Moreover, any of them must have three slots. If you wish, you can add cells, but the price for them varies depending on the number of cells already added and the quality of the armor. In order to add one cell you will have to fork out 1000 coins, for two cells 2000, and for three cells already 3000. As a result, you need to spend 6000 crowns. It is worth considering that if you improve your armor into which runes are inserted, they will disappear.

You can find a rune master near Velen.

The Witcher 3 sword enchantment

Filling. Allows you to apply a sign for one cell of the adrenaline scale, and during the next attack the sword is filled with the power of the sign.
To create it you need to collect the rune stones Triglav, Madder and Dazhdbog. In my opinion, one of the most useful improvements in the game.

Inspiration. If the health level is at maximum, the health increase effect is replaced by an increase in damage up to 50% on the next attack.
It is worth noting that during a fight you need to use an elixir, for example, swallow, which will replenish your health. When the health level is at maximum and the swallow is still active, the inspiration rune will begin to operate.

Renewal. Each unblocked hit increases the duration of elixirs by 0.5 seconds.
Not everyone wants to be a whipping carcass so that the elixirs act half a second longer.

Dissection. Increases the area of ​​effect of the vortex by 1.1 meters and the rip by 1.9 meters.
A magnificent rune that will allow you to destroy enemies without getting close to them, while increasing the range of the gap by almost two meters.

Update. After each kill, 25% of your stamina is restored.
This rune will be very helpful if you are fighting a lot of enemies, but if you are fighting one or a boss, it will be absolutely useless.

Triumph. A fatal blow with a sword adds 0.1 to 0.25 adrenaline points.
Similar to the previous option, it is only useful in mass battles, but not in single battles.

Consolidation. All effects from using the sharpener and the armorer's workbench are preserved forever.
The sharpener and workbench provide almost imperceptible performance improvements.

Vareniki. Any food restores 100% more health, but everything tastes like pies.
Our witcher has a lot of ways to replenish his health without using such precious slots.

Calm. Having reached the maximum, adrenaline points begin to drop to 0. During this time, health and energy are restored faster, and the level of intoxication decreases faster.
An unnecessary thing, especially for alchemists, who, on the contrary, increase the damage from intoxication, but here they will reduce it.

Three runes deserve the most attention: infuse, inspire and cut. It is from these three options that you should choose.

The Witcher 3 armor enchantment

You cannot insert runes into pants, boots or gloves. By default, they have fewer slots, and we cannot add new ones.

Retribution. Gives a 30% chance to return part of the damage to the attacker.
In my opinion, an unnecessary thing, again, taking damage to reflect 30 percent is not very good.

Ease. All armor elements correspond to light armor.
If you put the "Lightness" rune, then all your things will be considered light. With this option, the school’s technology begins to work.

Possession. When an enemy under Axii's sign dies, the effect moves to the next target. The duration of the effect increases by 2 seconds for each successful hit to the target.
Again, it will only work when you are fighting multiple enemies. In a single battle, the rune will not be needed.

Explosion. Enemies set on fire by Igni explode and set nearby enemies on fire.
Igni does not always kill enemies the first time, so it is only effective when you are sure that the enemy will die after using it.

Fetters. When an enemy falls into Yrden's magic trap, the Yrden glyph appears in the place where he stands.
When hitting an enemy, the slow will be activated.

Charm. The effect of Axia's spell on an enemy is extended by 2 seconds each time the enemy lands a successful hit.
Effective if you are a beginner or playing on a high difficulty level and enemies often deal damage to you.

Ring. Igni's basic attack hits all nearby enemies, but the sign no longer sets other enemies on fire.
Ignium does not do enough damage to fight with it, and when the enemy is on fire, he stands still. I advise you to skip this rune.

Balance. All armor elements correspond to medium armor.
Similar to lightness, the school’s techniques begin to work: wolf, griffin, snake, cat, manticore and bear.

Shield. When combat begins, there is a 100% chance of automatically using Quen's shield without draining stamina.
A very useful rune that automatically activates the shield before the start of the battle.

Exhaustion. Hitting enemies with the Aard sign reduces their stamina by 50%.
Useful for those who play mages. In other cases, it is better to make a different choice.

Heaviness. All armor elements correspond to heavy armor.
Just like lightness and balance, it opens witcher schools.

Burning. Enemies set on fire by Igni have a 25% chance of setting fire to other enemies within a 2m radius.
Only useful if you use the Igni sign frequently.

Reflection. The armor reflects all arrows.
If you really need it, then it’s better to upgrade a special skill. And there aren't that many shooters.

Usurpation. If an enemy under the influence of Axii dies, the effect passes to the next target.
Effective if there are many opponents. It won't help in a single battle.

In my opinion, the most useful runes for armor are: shield, lightness, balance and heaviness.