Weapons | The Witcher 3 Wiki

Weapon Types

While Geralt is well-versed in the use of a very wide variety of melee weapons, as a Witcher, his preferred weapons of choice when performing his monster hunting duties are two longswords, one of Steel and one of Silver.

Steel Swords are effective against humans, some humanoid opponents as well as non-magical beasts such as bears and wolves. Using them against monsters and magical creatures will prove highly ineffective as players may find themselves dealing little to no damage and being subjected to some stunning and staggering moves from these types of opponents when attempting to slash at them with these weapons.

Silver Swords on the other hand are your bread and butter for cutting through the monster population. These swords are able to slice through most monsters' defenses except for a few types that are immune. Conversely, they are less effective against regular humans, humanoids and non-magical beasts. 

Players can equip one of each type and swap between them freely in combat. By default, Geralt will automatically draw the appropriate sword based on the opponent upon entering combat. This option can be disabled in the game's Settings. Players can also consult the Bestiary section of the Journal in order to determine the appropriate sword to use to deal with specific opponents types.

Aside from these main weapons, Geralt can also make use of Secondary Weapons. These are melee weapons that do not fall under the sword classification such as Axes, Maces and Hammers. These weapons may have special properties such as dealing bludgeoning damage which staggers opponents easily. However, while they can be quite powerful particularly in the early game, they are quickly outclassed by your swords. Secondary Weapons are equipped in your Steel Sword slot and they do not benefit from skill effects nor can they be enhanced with Oils.

Main Weapon Properties

Each weapon in The Witcher 3 has several properties that make them more or less effective in combat, as well as non-combat stats that relate to item class, inventory management and other interactions:

• Type - Denotes whether the weapon is a Steel Sword or Silver Sword which determines which slots they can be equipped in. There are also Secondary Weapons which take up the Steel Sword slot and Crossbows which have their own dedicated Ranged Weapon slot.
• Damage - The base damage of the weapon. This is typically depicted as a range (i.e., 19-26) and your damage dealt per swing is randomly rolled within this range, plus all other damage calculations from bonuses and stats.
• Required Level - This denotes the level Geralt has to be in order to equip the weapon. A weapon's level generally influences its Damage stat. While some weapons have a fixed level requirement, the majority of random loot will drop with a randomized level requirement but will typically be around your current level. Crafted weapons also usually have a fixed level.
• Weight - The weapon's weight which contributes to the total maximum amount that Geralt can carry before being encumbered.
• Durability - Depicted by a percentage value and a hammer icon. The lower the percentage, the more durability your weapon has lost. Weapons lose durability as you use them in combat. As this value goes down, your weapon's damage will become affected negatively and once a weapon is broken, it will be completely ineffective in combat.
• Sell Value - Depicted by a numerical value and the Crowns currency symbol. This denotes how much the weapon will sell for. Rarer and higher level weapons generally sell for more.

Weapon Rarity

As with most items and equipment in The Witcher 3, Weapons come with varying Rarity — a stat which is denoted by a classification and color coding. In ascending order, the Rarity levels for weapons are as follows:

In general, the rarer a weapon, the better it is but this is not a hard and fast rule. Rarity can influence the amount of Upgrade Slots a weapon has, the number of Bonus Effects it can roll with, as well as the potency of those effects. Note that the same weapon can drop in varying rarity levels, therefore you can have two or more of the same weapon with vastly different stats.

Many weapons only exist in the Relic tier and are considered unique. Witcher Gear is less of a rarity level and more of a completely different item classification, but they do tend to outclass most weapons of their level. They also have certain unique properties that push them above all other equipment. See the Witcher Gear section below for details.

Weapon Upgrades

Runestones

Some weapons can come with up to 3 Upgrade Slots which can be socketed with Runestones. Rarer weapons will tend to have more of these Upgrade Slots available at once.

Runestones are special items that grant various bonuses to a weapon, just as Glyphs do for Armor. 

These bonuses include granting a chance to burn opponents on hit, increase the intensity of Geralt's Signs, increase the rate at which adrenaline is gained and more. Each type of Runestone comes in 3 tiers: Lesser Runestone, Runestone and Greater Runestone, with higher tiers increasing the potency of the bonus granted. See the Runestones page for a full list of Runestones and their effects.

Runewords

With the Hearts of Stone DLC, a new type of upgrade is made available in the form of Runewords. These are essentially weapon enchantments imbued onto Swords, granting special effects more substantial than those of Runestones. Only one Runeword can be enchanted onto a weapon and only on those that have 3 Upgrade Slots available. A single Runeword takes up all 3 slots, preventing you from adding any more Runestones. However, these Runewords can often change your playstyle drastically or complement your preferred skillset, making them well worth the exchange. 

Weapon Bonus Effects

Aside from the standard properties and Upgrade Slots available on weapons, they can also roll with varying amounts of Bonus Effects which further boost their effectiveness in different situations. 

These effects are quite extensive, ranging from boosting the intensity of a specific Sign, granting a chance to cause elemental damage, to increasing experience gained from defeating monsters. Weapon Rarity will typically influence the Bonus Effects found on weapons, with rarer weapons typically having more effects at once and with greater potency. For Common, Master and Magic tier weapons, these effects are typically randomized. Relic weapons have a mixture of randomized effects, as well as fixed effects for some of the more unique weapons. All Witcher tier weapons have fixed effects.

Another way to boost a weapon's capabilities is to use various Witcher Oils. These are substances that can be applied to your blades to grant temporary buffs which typically consist of increased damage against a particular type of enemy. Most Oils are applied onto Silver Swords as their effects are usually conducive to counteracting the various Creatures and Monsters Geralt comes across, but there are also some that can be applied to Steel Swords for similar purposes. 

The levels and stats of these pieces of equipment are fixed and do not scale to Geralt's level in any way, but they are some of, if not the best equipment you can use within their level ranges. Furthermore, each Set of Witcher Gear can be upgraded to the next tier, increasing their levels and stats. This process involves finding the Diagrams for the next corresponding tier and then using your current pieces along with various materials to craft the upgraded equipment at a Blacksmith or Armorer. There are five tiers of Witcher Gear available:

• Standard
• Enhanced
• Superior
• Mastercrafted
• Grandmaster (Blood and Wine DLC)

Furthermore, each crafting Diagram has a Blacksmith Level Requirement, requiring a Blacksmith of the appropriate skill in order to craft an item. There are three Blacksmith levels: Amateur, Journeyman and Master. Each level of smith is more proficient than the last and can craft gear at or below their level. A Blacksmith's level can be seen in the crafting UI: