Witcher 3 offers a handful of large regions with some strong enemies in each one. If you want to defeat the armored enemies, high-level bandits, and especially the mythical monsters, you will most definitely need the strongest of the blades. Your Geralt can pursue Romance, or study the blade.
In each region, there are different options available to you. Obviously, the Witcher School Gears are the most natural top contender, but they require crafting, and at higher tiers, they require a master blacksmith or swordsmith to upgrade them. Sometimes, you just want to grab a sword and immediately have your Geralt equip it. Let’s see what each area has to offer, what level would the sword be optimal for Geralt, and where to find them.
Seek:
White Orchard (Levels 1–4)
This is the “tutorial zone” of the game where Geralt and Vizimir are looking for Yen. You won’t be seeing many difficult enemies here at first, so naturally, you won’t be seeing any unique Relic swords. The Viper Gear swords are the number one option, but if you’re looking for easier-to-get options, I suggest you go after these swords based on the level you are:
Velen Longsword / Tempered Nilfgaardian Sword
Not much better than the Steel sword Geralt starts out with, but with a bit of level scaling and RNG luck, you will find better stats with these swords. The Velen Longsword can be taken from deserter chests at bandit camps (such as the camp east of the Ransacked Village) or looted from the guarded treasure near the Amavet fortress ruins.
You can buy the Nilfgaardian Sword from the Nilfgaardian Garrison Quartermaster.
Starting Witcher’s Silver Sword
Geralt’s starting Silver Sword is the only Silver Sword available in White Orchard (besides the Serpentine Silver Sword). It features basic damage scaling against monsters and two empty runestone slots. Use those rune slots well.
Velen Best Swords (Levels 4–15)
Velen is where things get serious. You’ll encounter tougher bandits and much more powerful monsters. The Griffin Gear swords would (again) be your top choice, though if you’re looking for more accessible top swords, seek these ones out:
Harvall (Steel Levels 4–10)
The best thing about Harvall is its high bonus fire damage. It has up to +20% chance to cause burning, which incapacitates human enemies. AND it also gives us a bonus to our critical hit damage. You can find the sword in two places: 1. an underwater chest during the treasure hunt quest “An Unfortunate Turn of Events” (submerged off the coast southwest of Mulbrydale/east of Lovers’ Landing) or 2. in a chest behind the scorched house in the quest “A Plea Ignored.”
Mourner (Steel Levels 5–9)
It provides armor piercing bonus, Aard sign intensity bonus, and a higher bleeding chance against enemies. The best places to look for it are guarded chests across southern Velen and bandit encampments near the Blackbough wilderness.
Moonblade (Silver Levels 4–8)
You’ve passed by the Hanged Man’s Tree for sure. If you take a look around and spot the nearby river, you can dive in and look for the submerged chest in there. You’ll find the key to that chest in the broken boat also submerged in the river. It comes with 3 open rune slots (exceptionally rare for low-level weapons), +1%-5% critical hit chance, +10%-15% critical hit damage bonus, and on top of all of that, a chance to freeze enemies.
Deithwen (Silver Levels 9–14)
Deithwen (which sounds Elven) has high monster attack power, better freeze chance, and armor piercing bonus. I found it south of Fyke Isle in southern Velen at a guarded shoreline treasure site crawling with drowned dead (watch out for Drowners).
Novigrad Best Swords (Levels 10–24)
You’ll probably spend a lot of time in Novigrad, and a lot of that time will be dedicated to exploration and killing strong enemies Geralt will face. The Gear swords are the top choice, but you can get these swords with less difficulty:
Blade from the Bits (Steel Scales with Level)
This Steel Sword is one great deal. After the 4.0 Next-gen update, this sword received a fantastic feature: scaling with the character level. Additionally, it has 3 rune slots and a +50% critical hit damage bonus. You can get it by completing the master blacksmith (Hattori)’s quest “Of Swords and Dumplings.” The game suggests Level 24 for the quest, but you can complete it early if you use the crossbow well and rely on Axii for crowd control.
Bloodsword (Silver Levels 15–20)
Generally considered one of the deadliest mid-game boss killers, granting up to +10% critical hit chance, +50% critical hit damage, and +9% chance to cause bleeding. You can loot it during the treasure hunt quests “Inheritance” but you don’t need to initiate the quest to find it north of Novigrad’s farmland borders. You can also get it from another treasure hunt quest “Battlefield Loot.” This quest takes you to the eastern front border of the map.
Tor Lara (Silver Levels 13–18)
Besides Bloodsword, Tor Lara is another great option for a Silver Sword: it has bonus vitality, bonus sign intensity, and a 2% chance for an instant kill. It doesn’t have a specific spot where you can find it but if you are roaming the northern coast of Novigrad, you find it in submerged chests and near guarded sunken ruins.
*Iris/Olgierd’s Sabre (Steel Level 37+)
This is another fantastic sword that you can get once you start the Heart and Stone DLC at higher levels. The sword is automatically given to you when *spoilers* finish the main quest “Whatsoever a Man Soweth…” and choose to save Olgierd von Everec from Gaunter O’Dimm. The blade is somewhat cursed: When you hit enemies it builds charge, causing the blade to glow red. When fully charged, you can unleash an unblockable heavy attack that pierces guards and knocks foes down in exchange for a small portion of Geralt’s vitality.
Skellige Best Swords (Levels 15–30+)
Considered the late-game area of Witcher 3, Skellige is filled with new and more dangerous enemies. If you’re not interested in the School Gear swords, try these swords instead:
Winter’s Blade (Steel Scales with Level)
Like Iris, this blade also scales with Geralt’s character level (after the Next-gen update) and deals bonus frost damage, adds freeze chance with trailing mist effects, and shreds armor. We get this sword by completing one of the most major quests in the game, in Skellige. Crach in Kaer Trolde gives us this sword during the main storyline, after completing the feast and the quest “The King is Dead – Long Live the King.”
Hjalmar’s Steel Sword (Steel Levels 17–20)
This is one of the best Steel swords in the game overall. It can be scaled so that it offers up to 200% Critical Hit Damage bonus. You know what this means? It means this Steel Sword is capable of delivering the highest single-hit steel damage in the base game. You can get it during the quest “King’s Gambit” at Kaer Trolde by accepting the fistfight challenge against the Vildkaarl champion in the Great Hall.
Black Unicorn (Steel Levels 25–29)
3 rune slots, +10% Aard intensity, +10% critical hit chance, and +10% bleeding chance. What’s the downside then? The downside is that you get it as a crafting diagram and have to ask a swordsmith to craft it for you. The crafting diagram is discovered in guarded relic chests across the Skellige islands (and ALSO sometimes near the ruined watchtowers outside Kaer Morhen).
Harpy (Silver Levels 20–25)
Here’s another exceptional sword that is looted as a diagram. Harpy has pure attack power with +10% bleeding and substantial damage bonuses against monsters. The diagram is inside chests in elven ruins across Ard Skellig or looted from siren/harpy nests around the northern coastlines.
Here’s a thing though, there is another version of this sword that is a Relic; meaning you can straight up find it in chests. This version has +14% Chance to cause bleeding. Look for it
Kaer Morhen Best Swords (Levels 22–28)
Kaer Morhen doesn’t offer much in terms of challenging monsters or even a large explorable area, but it makes up for it by giving us two amazing swords, one steel, one silver:
Rose of Shaerrawed (Steel Levels 24–28)
We get this Steel Sword from a chest in the armory in the lower courtyard ruins of Kaer Morhen. Lambert gives this sword to Geralt inside Kaer Morhen during the quest The Battle of “Kaer Morhen,” that is if you choose to clean out the armory rather than repair the breaches in the fortress wall.
Tor Zireael (Silver Levels 25–28)
I recommend looking for this sword in high-tier guarded chests, smuggler caches, and monster den caves in the area. It provides 3 Rune slots, +20-25% Igni Sign intensity, +5-15% Quen Sign intensity, +20% Chance to freeze, and a +1-2% Chance for an instant kill. The one I provided in the map is actually from Kaer Muire located in Skellige, but you can find the sword as a loot in the Kaer Morhen map too.
Toussaint Best Swords (Levels 35–50+)
You’ll find the overall strongest equipment of the game here. Toussaint is the last area of the game you visit if you have the Blood and Wine DLC. You’ll most likely want to upgrade the Witcher School Gear you have found throughout the game to Grandmaster tier here. If not, go for the Manticore Gear swords, and if you’re looking for non-school swords instead, check out these options:
Aerondight (Silver Scales Infinitely)
In the community, Aerondight is considered the single best Silver sword in the game, and I have to agree. Each consecutive strike with the sword generates a charge that boosts sword damage by 10%. At 10 charges, attacks have a guaranteed 100% critical hit chance. I hope you can grasp how insanely OP that is. Landing a killing blow at full charge resets charges, though, and also permanently increases the weapon’s base damage, allowing it to scale with Geralt all the way to Level 100 in +New Game.
We receive this sword from the Hermit at Lac Célavy upon proving the Five Chivalric Virtues (Compassion, Generosity, Honor, Valor, Wisdom) during the quest “There Can Be Only One.”
Gesheft (Silver Levels 45–48)
Another unbelievably good Silver. Gesheft gives Geralt +20% to all five Sign intensities, 3 rune slots, and +100% critical hit damage bonus. You know what goes well with this? The Griffin Gear; the ultimate blade’n’armor for Sign and hybrid builds.
Get this sword in the fairyland section of “Beyond Hill and Dale…”. After defeating the Cloud Giant, follow the stray will-o’-the-wisp beneath the stone bridge into a cave with a sword stuck in a campfire (funny Dark Souls reference) and draw it out. Ah and also, a diagram version can be found in a monster den northeast of Beauclair.
The difference is significant I must say. The crafted version instead gives Geralt a +30% Aard Sign intensity, +100% Critical hit damage bonus, +15% Critical hit chance, +15% Chance to poison, and a +5% Bonus experience from monsters.
Toussaint Knight’s Steel Sword (Crafted Steel Level 48+)
This is considered the best Steel Sword in the game, and once again, I agree with the community. It provides +300 Armor Piercing, +30% Quen intensity, +100% Critical Hit Damage Bonus, +20% Critical Hit Chance, +15% Chance to Burn, and 3 rune slots. That’s a lot for one sword.
The sad part is that you can only get it as a diagram. It is in a chest at the top of the Arthach Palace Ruins (the Hanse base in extreme northern Toussaint), near the bandit leader’s quarters. And since it’s a diagram, you need the Grandmaster Smith, Lafargue in Beauclair, to forge it.
Belhaven Blade (Steel Levels 45–48)
+30% Aard intensity, +100% Critical hit damage bonus, +15% Critical hit chance, and +15% Poison chance. Not bad, right? WRONG. It is yet another diagram. So you have to go looking for it in a sunken chest during the hidden treasure quest “Waiting for Goe and Doh” (another funny reference). It is located along the riverbanks south of the Sansretour river.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
