Witcher 3 witcher gear guide: all schools, tiers, locations and which to pick

No witcher school in The Witcher 3 is strictly the best: at their highest tier, the Feline, Griffin, Ursine, Wolven and Manticore sets share the same base numbers – 509 armor across the four armor pieces, 372 steel and 524 silver sword damage. What sets them apart are the set bonuses and secondary stats: Feline for Fast Attacks, Ursine for Quen, Wolven for Bleeding, Griffin for Signs and Manticore for bombs and alchemy. The diagrams come from scavenger hunts, starting with Griffin in Velen at level 11 and ending with the Grandmaster hunts in Toussaint at level 40.

Every witcher gear set at a glance

Full stats and materials for every piece are on the Witcher Gear page.

Which school should you pick?

According to the comparison table on the set overview, armor and sword damage at top tier are identical across the five main schools. What differs is armor weight – light gear also raises Stamina regeneration, heavy gear lowers it – plus secondary stats and set bonuses.

Fast Attacks and crits: Feline

The only light set on the list totals 55% attack power, 20% critical hit chance and 30% chance to cause bleeding. With 3 pieces, Strong Attacks boost Fast Attack damage by 10% per set piece for 5 seconds. With 6 pieces, rear attacks deal 50% more damage and stun the target at the cost of one Adrenaline Point.

Quen and heavy armor: Ursine

Heavy armor with 97% Adrenaline Point gain and a 150% critical hit damage bonus. At 3 pieces, a shattered Quen shield may instantly recast itself for free – 5% chance per piece, so 30% with six. At 6 pieces, abilities tied to Quen deal 200% more damage.

Bleeding and Adrenaline: Wolven

The hybrid option: 44% each of Adrenaline Point gain and Sign intensity, plus 22% each of attack power, critical hit chance and bleed chance. Each Bleeding stack on an enemy adds 1% sword damage per set piece; at 6 pieces, every Adrenaline Point raises how many Bleeding effects one enemy can carry.

Signs: Griffin

97% Sign intensity makes Griffin the pick for Sign builds. At 3 pieces, casting a Sign in standard mode makes the next standard-mode Sign within 3 seconds cost no Stamina. At 6 pieces, Yrden traps grow by 40%; inside one you regenerate 5 extra Stamina per second, gain 100% Sign intensity and take 20% less damage.

Bombs and alchemy: Manticore

Medium armor with a 150% critical hit damage bonus, 20% critical hit chance, 500 armor piercing and 20 extra maximum Toxicity. At 3 pieces, your crit chance and crit damage apply to bombs, which are thrown without delay; at 6 pieces every alchemy item gets one more charge. With only one tier, every piece counts right away.

Special cases

Forgotten Wolven Gear extends potion duration by 7% per piece from 3 pieces on, and at 6 pieces Aard deals extra damage to enemies caught in Yrden – useful for alchemy-and-Signs hybrids. The Viper Set is just four armor pieces with poison resistance (up to 50% on the chest piece); RaidDex lists no set bonus for it. Tesham Mutna & Hen Gaidth is never crafted: the pieces are looted from chests in Toussaint, and from one piece on, each kill restores 1% of your maximum Vitality per piece worn.

Where to find the diagrams

Apart from Tesham Mutna, every diagram comes from a scavenger hunt, and once read, a diagram stays known. Each set page links its hunts with a map view, such as the Cat School hunt on the world map.

• Feline: Novigrad hunt from level 17 – the ruins of Drahim Castle, the wreck of the “Flying Stag”, the passages under Temple Isle and the ruins of Est Tayiar. Upgrades: Novigrad and Velen (level 23), Novigrad (29), Skellige (34).
• Griffin: Velen hunt from level 11 – the fortress ruins by the lighthouse, the lord's castle and the witcher George's grave. Upgrades: Velen (18), Skellige (26 and 34).
• Ursine: Skellige hunt from level 20 – the ruins of Fort Etnir, a ruined inn, Clan Tuirseach's castle and the sirens' cave. Upgrades: Skellige (25), Velen (30 and 34).
• Wolven: Kaer Morhen hunt – the ruined signal tower, watchtower and bastion, with Keira's lamp and an Aard-charged crystal along the way. Six upgrade hunts span Velen, Kaer Morhen and Skellige.
• Grandmaster: separate hunts in Toussaint from level 40 – Feline via Bartolomé de Launay's estate, the ruins of Arthach Palace and the Pits of Brume, Griffin via Fort Ussar and the castle on Mont Crane, Ursine via an underground cave, Wolven via the archeologists' campsite.
• Manticore: Toussaint hunt from level 40 – the ruins of Bastoy Prison, a cave with a hidden chapel and the Lake of Cleansing; expect fights against a wraith and echinopses.
• Viper: White Orchard hunt from level 6 – Kolgrim's remains and the castle ruins; the pieces themselves are level 39.
• Forgotten Wolven Gear: Kaer Morhen hunt built around Osmund's notes and Vesemir's note.

Tiers, smiths and costs

Feline, Griffin, Ursine and Wolven run through five tiers: Tier 1, Enhanced, Superior, Mastercrafted (level 34) and Grandmaster (level 40). Each piece is crafted from its counterpart one tier below. See smiths by level for who crafts what.

Exceptions: Wolven tier 1 only needs an Amateur, but the Superior Wolven chest piece needs a Master armorer. Viper requires a Master, Manticore a Grandmaster. The crafting fee for all six Grandmaster pieces is 8,913 crowns for Feline, 8,831 for Wolven, 8,488 for Griffin and 8,473 for Ursine; Manticore costs 5,221 crowns – materials not included.

Remastered: school techniques in the new skill tree

The Remastered places six new or reworked school techniques in the General branch, each with three ranks, scaling with every worn piece of the matching armor weight – set bonus or not:

• Cat School Techniques (light): +8/16/24% critical hit damage and +2/4/6% Fast Attack damage.
• Bear School Techniques (heavy): +2/4/6% maximum Vitality and Strong Attack damage.
• Wolf School Techniques (medium): +2/4/6% weapon damage and Sign intensity.
• Griffin School Techniques (medium): +2/4/6% Sign intensity plus a little Stamina regeneration.
• Manticore School Techniques (medium): +2/4/6% sword and bomb damage.
• Viper School Techniques (medium): +2/4/6% maximum Vitality and poison damage.

Match the technique to your armor weight. The builds page leads to the build planner for combining gear, skills and mutations.