The Witcher 3 is an open-world RPG adventure with near-boundless quests and an impressive main storyline. In a game where fighting monsters is Geralt’s bread and butter, you rely on your trusted swords for slaying human and monster enemies. This list brings you 10 of the greatest weapons found throughout the game. Some of them will get you to higher levels before you need to change them out and others can be used throughout your playthrough.
10. Viper Steel & Silver Swords (early)
Viper Swords stats:
Silver:
- 112 – 138 Damage
- +10% Aard Sign intensity
- +10% Chance to poison
- +20% Bonus experience from monsters
Steel:
- 49 – 61 Damage
- +15% Chance to poison
- +5% Bonus experience from humans and nonhumans
Fresh into White Orchard, we all remember struggling to fight powerful monsters and humans encountered on our way to quests and collectables. To overcome this weapon deficiency, it is wise to have a set of beautifully crafted swords for grinding and completing the main questline without great effort. The Viper set of steel swords, inspired by the Witcher School of the Viper, are perfect beginner weapons to get us to Velen.
These weapons come with a reasonable amount of damage they can deal to enemies around our low level and stat boosts we can easily adapt to. Both swords give us bonus experience acquired from monsters, which can help us quickly level up into a stronger character.
What Viper Swords are good for:
- The Silver Sword boosts Aard intensity, a powerful sign at the beginning of the game used to incapacitate some enemies while fending off others.
- The Steel blade’s 15% chance to poison enemies is incredibly useful for whittling down a powerful enemy’s health.
- The bonus experience acquired from both swords put us on our way to getting better weapons later.
How to get Viper Swords:
- The Viper Silver Sword can be crafted using its diagram found at the White Orchard Cemetery’s basement.
- The Silver Sword is crafted using its diagram looted in the Amavet Fortress Ruins in White Orchard.
- Finding either diagram sets us on a quest to find the diagram for its pair.
9. HeadHunter [steel] (early)
HeadHunter stats:
48 – 58 Damage (varies with level)
+5-45 Armor piercing
+20-60% Critical hit damage bonus
+5-6% Critical hit chance
+1-2% Chance to dismember.
Headhunter is a Steel Sword found in Velen with an awesome name and an even better set of stat boosts. This weapon is best used towards the beginning of the game because of how easily it can be acquired, and it doesn’t have a level limit to use. It’s a relic that can even be used towards the middle of the game.
What HeadHunter is good for:
- The critical hit damage bonus that HeadHunter offers gives the sword great potential for dealing massive damage.
- Pairing a powerful boost to critical hit damage with an added critical hit chance ensures that Geralt will deal critical hits more than other swords of this class.
- As a sword built for human enemies, its armour-piercing boost debilitates heavier enemies and increases our chances of dismembering them in a viscerally glorious cutscene.
How to get HeadHunter:
Headhunter can only be looted from a chest in White Eagle Fort during the treasure hunt quest Blood Gold.
8. Moonblade [silver] (early to midgame)
Moonblade stats:
- 79 – 362 (varies with the level it is obtained at)
- +1-5% Yrden Sign intensity
- +10-15% Critical hit damage bonus
- +1-5% Critical hit chance
- +1% Chance to freeze
Moonblade is a curved silver sword of elven design specifically designed for obliterating monsters. As a sword that can be acquired relatively early, this weapon can be played with as early as possible because it scales with Geralt to Level 70. It also offers a fair share of stat enhancements that improve our battles significantly.
This blade is best used in a build that pairs it with Yrden. My favourite Moonblade build uses the slowdown ability with carefully timed slashes for incredibly easy wins.
What Moonblade is good for:
- Its stat boost to Yrden is impressively useful during battle as this sign becomes much more powerful than it is at the beginning of The Witcher 3.
- The 1% chance to freeze appears minimal but when it happens, you’ll be thankful to have one annoying enemy frozen for a while.
- This sword fairly improves Critical Hit chances and the damage it can deal.
How to get Moonblade:
Moonblade can be acquired in three different ways:
- as a reward during The Tower Outta Nowheres quest in Skellige
- dropped by Mad Kiyan, a former Cat School Witcher
- found at the Spoils of War south of Swamp Bint Harbour.
7. Bloodsword (early to midgame)
This blade will draw blood with such a high critical hit damage bonus.
Bloodsword stats:
- Damage scales with level and can reach up to 380.
- +5 – 20% Critical hit damage bonus
- +1 – 4% Critical hit chance
- +9% Chance to cause bleeding
- +1 – 2% Chance to dismember.
Bloodsword is a relic silver sword with immense power. It can be wielded from as early as Level 14 and it deals fair damage. Throughout the game, Bloodsword increases in damage with our level, making it a great long-haul weapon. It can also be found in a few different locations making it slightly easier to obtain than other weapons on our list.
What Bloodsword is good for:
- As with the other swords, Bloodsword improves our Critical Hit attacks which can be paired with skills such as Crushing Blows.
- Bloodsword sheds the blood of our enemies with its 9% chance of causing bleeding, a slow-puncture attack that weakens enemies.
- Bloodsword can reach impressive levels of damage that make it a sword worthy of the endgame.
How to get Bloodsword:
It can be looted in Boxholm, Skellige, in Morvudd’s lair during the quest Inheritance.
Found on the body of a soldier northwest of Crossroads, we collect it after defeating the nearby Earth elemental.
South of the Eternal Fire Chapel, Bloodsword is Battlefield Loot in a swamp.
6. Belhaven (midgame)
Belhaven Blade stats:
- Damage of 364-444.8 (at level 45)
- +30% Aard Sign intensity
- +100% Critical hit damage bonus
- +15% Critical hit chance
- +15% Chance to poison
- +5% Bonus experience from humans and nonhumans
Hailed as the best steel sword in the game, the Belhaven Blade, named after Belhaven in Toussaint, is a midgame sword that can demolish waves of enemies up to the final battle. It has a wide variety of damage boosts that suit numerous playstyles, and it forms the basis of the One-Hit kill build in which Geralt can kill enemies with a single slash.
What the Belhaven Blade is good for:
- Its +100% critical hit damage bonus destroys anything in Geralt’s way by making his heavy hits count.
- It can be paired with Crushing Blows (Level 5) skill to ensure Geralt deals more critical hits than normal ones.
- The 30% increase in Aard intensity when wielding Belhaven is helpful for players who use this sign the most to knock enemies to the ground before a swift execution.
How to get the Belhaven Blade:
The Belhaven Blade must be crafted using its diagram obtained at the end of the Waiting for Goe and Doh Treasure Hunt quest in an underwater chest. This item is only available in Toussaint in the Blood and Wine DLC.
5. Toussaint Knight’s Steel Sword (midgame)
Toussaint Knight’s Steel Sword Stats:
- Damage 385-471 (at level 48)
- +300 Armor piercing
- +30% Quen Sign intensity
- +100% Critical hit damage bonus
- +20% Critical hit chance
- +15% Chance to cause burning
The Toussaint Knight’s Steel Sword is wielded by the mightiest warriors of Toussaint. It reflects the best of Toussaint craftsmanship in its magical properties, namely a series of powerful stat boosts.
This weapon is incredibly powerful between the middle and the end of the game. We’ve completed many playthroughs with this steel blade alongside silver swords like Aerondight and Gesheft. As a Toussaint sword, it is only available in the Blood and Wine DLC.
What Toussaint Knight’s Steel Sword is good for:
- This weapon is overpowered against any human enemies because it increases Geralt’s armour piercing by 300 points.
- At the end of the game, sustaining hits from powerful beasts and humans can easily lead to an instant demise. The 30% increase in Quen’s intensity while wielding this steel sword allows us to defend against these blows.
- This sword boasts a +100% bonus to critical hit damage and +20% critical hit chance, making it an effective steel sword in one-hit kill builds.
- Lastly, the steel blade can cause burning, a weapon stat effective against all human enemies.
How to get Toussaint Knight’s Steel Sword:
- The sword can be looted during the Knight for Hire quest after defeating the Spriggan under a tree at Cutterin Manor.
- Dropped by Filibert von Wittan in Mont Crane Castle during the secondary quest in Knight for Hire questline.
- It can be found in a chest in the Beauclair Palace kitchen.
4. Ursine Crossbow (midgame)
Ursine Crossbow stats:
- 10 – 12 Damage
- +210% Attack Power
- +1% (2% NG+) Adrenaline Point gain.
- +2% Critical hit damage bonus
- +5% Critical hit chance
- +15% bonus experience from monsters
The Ursine Crossbow is hailed as the only usable crossbow in the game. It’s rare to find one with enough damage to use it in battle instead of or alongside your greater swords, but the Ursine bow is a worthy competitor.
We can find the Ursine Crossbow Diagram near the middle of the game but most players craft the set towards Level 35+. At this point of the game, battles can become intense and slowing down time to take a quick shot can give you a minute to breathe.
What the Ursine Crossbow is good for:
- Crossbows are usually weak in the Witcher 3 but this crossbow’s 210% increased attack power makes it useful.
- Using the crossbow in battle or just having it equipped increases our bonus experience by 15%.
- This crossbow is impressive when you get a critical hit because that’s when the damage increase comes into play.
How to get the Ursine Crossbow:
The Witcher can find the Diagram for the crossbow in Melusine’s caverns during the Contract: Here Comes the Groom.
3. Grandmaster Ursine Silver Sword (late game)
Grandmaster Ursine Silver Sword stats:
- 472-576 Damage
- +21% (22% NG+) Adrenaline Point gain
- +75% Critical hit damage bonus
- +5% Critical hit chance
- +14% Chance to dismember
- +20% Bonus experience from monsters
The Grandmaster Ursine Silver Sword is a battle axe in the shape of a blade. It has a beautiful, curved shape making the blade look like a winding river, probably for moving through the air faster. The stats of this sword contribute to it being a destructive force in battle.
Towards the end of the game, a blade like this that can obliterate enemies in a few slices is essential for finishing those last quests. This sword does that by giving us a massive advantage over monster enemies with its tremendous starting damage.
What Grandmaster Ursine Silver Sword is good for:
- Hacking and slashing through hordes of enemies with its 470+ damage.
- This blade balances the strength of tank builds by boosting adrenaline point gain in battle.
- The damage of the Ursine Sword is already impressive but when you get a critical hit, it becomes 75% more powerful. Not even the Wild Hunt can withstand these attacks.
- The 14% chance to dismember is my favourite type of attack. It’s a great way to end a massacre and truly cements Geralt’s title as Butcher of Blaviken.
How to get the Grandmaster Ursine Silver Sword:
The Blood and Wine DLC is required to craft this sword. The diagram for it must first be found during its quest Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Ursine Gear. It can then be crafted using its necessary crafting materials at Lazare Lafargue, a grandmaster armourer, in Hauteville.
2. Gesheft (late-game)
Gesheft stats:
- 459-561 (at level 40) Damage with an increase of 9 – 11 per level
- +20% Aard Sign intensity
- +20% Igni Sign intensity
- +20% Quen Sign intensity
- +20% Yrden Sign intensity
- +20% Axii Sign intensity
Gesheft is a Witcher’s dream. With the stat boosts it gives to every Witcher sign and a hefty amount of damage in every swing, this late-game sword is worthy of finishing the game with. Builds centred around Gesheft usually focus on putting skill points into sign intensity and attack strength.
What Gesheft is good for:
- Gesheft promotes the use of any Witcher sign during battle. By increasing their intensity by 20%, this blade is best for players who focus more on Geralt’s abilities in the game.
- However, it also holds its weight in damage. In any build from light to tank, Gesheft can be wielded to destroy enemies easily.
- This sword scales with the player and it increases per level. It’s essential towards the end of the game when enemies also increase in damage and health.
How to get Gesheft:
This sword can only be found in one location. During the quest Beyond Hill and Dale…, Geralt can kneel before a campfire after following the Will o’ the Wisp when the Cloud Giant is defeated to collect it.
1. Aerondight
Aerondight stats:
- 414-506 Damage at Level 35 (before upgrade)
- 423-517 Damage (fully upgraded) and 9 – 11 increase per level
- Every attack creates a charge in the sword, increasing its damage by 10%. When fully charged, it only deals out critical hits.
- Killing a foe with a fully loaded sword permanently increases its damage.
Aerondight is the most powerful sword in the game because of its unique charge system. Every attack increases the sword’s damage and its charge, and killing enemies with full charge increases the sword’s permanent damage. We can play around with this and keep using the sword throughout the game until we get to the highest damage possible for a silver sword.
Towards the end of the game, when we fully upgrade our sword and use it in combat, it breaks down chunks of our enemies’ health in a whirlwind of furious slashes. And after we increase its damage with runes, no other sword can compare to Aerondight.
What Aerondight is good for:
- The fully upgraded version of the sword has space for two runes. If we equip the Severance rune into Aerondight and use the blade in whirl attacks, our charges multiply quickly and we can get the sword’s damage to tremendous levels.
- Aerondight increases in damage if Geralt avoids getting hit during battle, making this sword perfect for light or medium armour builds where we can dodge attacks for maximum charge.
- Having a sword that scales with you to the end of the game is one of the easiest ways to play The Witcher. After getting the sword at Level 35, we can keep it by our side throughout our adventures as the sword increases in attack strength.
How to get Aerondight:
Aerondight is given to Geralt by the Lady of the Lake, a nymph, during the quest There Can Only Be One. This quest can only be started by completing quests that encompass all five chivalric virtues of the witcher. These are given to Geralt by The Hermit of Lac Célavy in the Blood and Wine Expansion. After completing the trial and defeating the Hermit, Geralt is knighted with the sword.
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