Witcher 3 Gwent: Complete Card Collecting Guide

Gwent is far more than a distraction in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. CD Projekt Red built a fully realized card game inside their RPG, complete with its own quest line, unique legendary cards, and a sprawling network of opponents scattered across every corner of the world. Collecting every card demands serious dedication — and this guide gives you the complete roadmap to do it.

Understanding the Gwent Basics

Before hunting cards, you need to understand what you're building toward. Witcher 3 gwent is played across two rounds, with each player deploying unit cards into three rows — Close Combat, Ranged, and Siege. The player with the highest total strength across those rows wins the round, and winning two rounds wins the match.

Cards are divided into four factions: Northern Realms, Nilfgaard, Scoia'tael, Monsters, and Skellige (added in the Blood and Wine expansion). Each faction has a unique passive ability and playstyle. Northern Realms draws a card on round wins; Nilfgaard wins ties; Scoia'tael chooses who goes first; Monsters keep a random card after each round; Skellige resurrects discarded units. Choose your primary faction early and build around it.

How to Acquire Cards

There are three main ways to expand your Witcher 3 gwent collection: purchasing cards from merchants and innkeepers, winning cards from opponents, and finding them in the world as loot. The most important rule: buy every gwent card from every merchant you meet before progressing too far — some merchants become unavailable after certain story quests.

• Merchants and Innkeepers — Nearly every innkeeper and several merchants sell gwent card packs. Always check their inventory, even if you've visited before, as stock refreshes.
• Defeating Players — Beating a gwent opponent for the first time always rewards a card. You cannot win duplicate cards from the same opponent.
• Loot and Chests — Certain powerful cards are found only in specific chests, on enemy corpses, or as quest rewards.

Region-by-Region Card Locations

White Orchard is your tutorial region — challenge the innkeeper at the White Orchard tavern immediately and buy cards from the local merchant. This sets the habit you'll need for the rest of the game.

Velen and Novigrad contain the largest concentration of gwent players in the witcher series. The Rosemary and Thyme, the Golden Sturgeon, and the Seven Cats Inn all have beatable opponents. The Quartermaster at the Nilfgaardian Garrison, the Bloody Baron's men, and the various merchants along Novigrad's main streets are all essential stops. Don't leave Novigrad without defeating the Vivaldi Bank area players — they hold some of the strongest Northern Realms cards.

Skellige introduces tougher opponents and the Skellige faction cards. Challenge every jarl, innkeeper, and merchant on each island. Udalryk at Spikeroog and the innkeeper at Kaer Trolde are mandatory. The Blood and Wine expansion adds Toussaint, which introduces unique Skellige and Nilfgaard variants — the merchants in Beauclair are essential visits.

Missable and Legendary Cards

Several cards are permanently missable if you advance the story too far. The most notorious: cards sold by merchants in White Orchard become unavailable once you leave for Velen. Similarly, certain Novigrad merchants disappear after the "Get Junior" quest line concludes.

Legendary hero cards — the most powerful units in Witcher 3 gwent — are typically won from the most skilled opponents or found in specific locations. Geralt of Rivia (the card) is won from the Nilfgaardian commander near Vizima. Ciri is found in a chest in Novigrad. Yennefer and Triss are won from players in Novigrad's upper city. These hero cards are immune to special abilities, making them invaluable in any competitive deck.

Building a Winning Deck

A competitive gwent deck needs at least 22 unit cards and should include a balanced mix of high-strength units, spy cards for card advantage, and medic or decoy cards for recovery. Spy cards (which go to your opponent's side but let you draw two cards) are the single most powerful mechanic in the game — Northern Realms builds thrive on them.

For beginners, Northern Realms is the most forgiving faction. Stack spy cards, use medics to resurrect fallen units, and close rounds aggressively. For advanced play, Monsters with the Muster ability (cards that automatically summon matching cards from your deck) can flood the board in a single turn.

Keep your deck lean. More cards means more variance. A 22-card deck draws more consistently than a bloated 40-card collection. Remove weak units and duplicate low-strength cards as your collection grows.

The Gwent Quest Line and Gwent Tournaments

The "Collect 'Em All" quest tracks your progress and culminates in the High Stakes gwent tournament in Novigrad — one of the most rewarding side quests in the entire witcher game. Entry requires 1,000 crowns and a complete, competitive deck. The tournament pits you against four expert players, each holding rare cards as prizes.

Winning the tournament unlocks the Gwent Master achievement and awards the legendary Dandelion card, one of the highest-strength Spy cards available. Completing the full card collection — every faction's complete set — is one of the most satisfying completionist achievements CD Projekt Red built into the witcher series.