Item Upgrades — The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Guide

Upgrade swords, armor, and gear in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Learn how to use diagrams and rare crafting components to enhance your equipment.

Enhance Geralt's arsenal in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt by upgrading your gear. Discover how to improve swords, armor, and other equipment using diagrams and rare crafting components found throughout the world. Mastering item upgrades is crucial for tackling tougher monsters and unlocking powerful bonuses.

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, upgrading your equipment is a vital part of progression, allowing Geralt to face increasingly dangerous foes. You'll primarily interact with blacksmiths and armorers to perform these upgrades, but first, you'll need to acquire the necessary diagrams and crafting components.

Finding Diagrams

Diagrams are the blueprints for crafting and upgrading gear. They can be found in various locations:

• Looting: Many diagrams are found in chests, on defeated enemies, or within quest locations. Keep an eye out in abandoned houses, monster nests, and hidden caches.
• Merchants: Some diagrams, especially for common or early-game gear, can be purchased from blacksmiths and armorers.
• Witcher Contracts and Quests: Specific diagrams for Witcher Gear sets are often rewards for completing Witcher Contracts or found during main and side quests.

Essential Crafting Components

The materials needed for upgrades vary greatly depending on the item's tier and type. Common components include:

• Metals: Iron Ore, Steel Ingots, Silver Ingots, Dark Steel Ingots, Meteorite Silver.
• Leather and Hides: Leather Scraps, Hardened Leather, Cured Leather, Monster Hides (e.g., Griffin Hide, Bear Hide).
• Gems: Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, Diamonds.
• Monster Parts: Monster Essence, Monster Saliva, Monster Blood, specific monster parts like Griffin Feathers or Drowner Brains.
• Alchemical Ingredients: Various herbs and alchemical substances are also required for some upgrades.

You can acquire these components by:

• Looting: Almost every container, fallen enemy, and herb patch can yield crafting materials.
• Dismantling: Unwanted weapons, armor, and junk items can be dismantled at blacksmiths and armorers to yield their base components. This is an excellent way to get specific materials.
• Merchants: General merchants, blacksmiths, and armorers sell a wide variety of crafting components.

The Upgrade Process

Once you have a diagram and the required components, visit the appropriate craftsman:

• Blacksmiths: For swords (steel and silver).
• Armorers: For armor pieces (chest armor, trousers, boots, gauntlets).

Interact with the craftsman and select the 'Crafting' or 'Upgrade' option. If you possess the necessary diagram and materials, the item will appear in the crafting list. Select it and confirm to craft or upgrade the item. Upgraded items often have significantly better stats, including increased damage, armor rating, and sometimes unique bonuses.

Witcher Gear Upgrades

A significant portion of the game's best gear comes in the form of Witcher Gear sets (e.g., Griffin, Cat, Bear, Wolf, Viper, Manticore). These sets are not crafted from scratch but are upgraded versions of existing Witcher Gear pieces. You'll find the initial diagrams for these sets through Scavenger Hunt quests. Each subsequent upgrade tier (e.g., Basic, Enhanced, Superior, Mastercrafted, Grandmaster) requires a new diagram and more advanced crafting components, often including previous tiers of the Witcher Gear itself.

Prioritizing the upgrade of your Witcher Gear is highly recommended, as these sets often provide synergistic bonuses that complement specific playstyles.