Geralt’s Swords are the main ways he disposes of the monsters and humans he encounters on his adventures. This means that the quality of your swords will greatly affect your combat experience. If you’re playing The Witcher 3 for the first time, you might have slight confusion about how to upgrade your swords to keep up with constantly increasing challenges.
If that is so, then you’re at the right place because, in this guide, we will break down the complete process of upgrading your swords in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, including the prerequisites and where to find blacksmiths and armorers that will upgrade your weapons.
How to upgrade swords in The Witcher 3
Upgrading swords in The Witcher 3 is a pretty simple process. Even if you have the best swords that TW3 has to offer, they will need to be upgraded when you are about to face tougher enemies.
To upgrade a sword and increase the weapon’s level in TW3 Wild Hunt, you must head to the Blacksmith or armorer and pay him to upgrade your sword. However, there are several requirements that you need to fulfill before you can upgrade any item in The Witcher 3. It is important to note that the upgrading process for both silver swords and steel swords is the same and that some swords cannot be upgraded at all; these include the starting weapons along with the Viper Sword and Nine Tail Sword.
Following are all the requirements you must fulfill before upgrading your weapons, including your sword.
Diagrams
Finding diagrams is the basic requirement for crafting and upgrading any type of weapon in TW3 Wild Hunt. Diagrams are blueprints you can find on fixed locations such as Monster Nests, Guarded Treasures, etc. You will need to do a lot of exploring to find the diagrams, especially for high-level gear sets like Grandmaster gear diagrams.
In contrast, there are some that you can get after successfully finishing a quest. If you’re still struggling to find the right diagram, make sure to check in with your Blacksmith since they might be selling it as well.
Once you’ve acquired the required diagram for your sword, you can head to a blacksmith or armorer, which will unlock the option of upgrading your sword.
Craftsman level requirement
You might take a diagram to a blacksmith; however, you’ll sometimes notice that the craftsman is too low-level and doesn’t meet the requirements of the diagram, thus not allowing you to upgrade your weapon.
Additionally, suppose you’ve visited multiple smiths and could not craft or upgrade a sword at any of them. In that case, you’re visiting the wrong type of smith. There are two types of smiths in the Witcher 3, blacksmiths and armorers. One of them deals with weapons, whereas the other deals with armor.
Apart from that, if you’re looking to upgrade a higher rarity weapon, you must find a blacksmith of a higher level.
You can unlock the higher-level blacksmiths and armorers by completing specific tasks for them. So make sure that you pay all of them a visit since it’ll provide you with various options by the end.
Required ingredients
Before upgrading a weapon such as your sword, you must collect the required materials. It is to be noted that the higher the rarity of the sword is, the rarer the material you’ll be required to collect.
Suppose you want to upgrade a normal weapon. In that case, you can collect the required materials by looting chests, killing monsters, or dismantling items.
It is to be noted that if you’re trying to find higher ingredients, they can usually be obtained by dismantling the higher rarity weapons you possess. Sometimes the ingredients you’re trying to find can also be bought through Blacksmiths.
Added to that, considering every crafting and alchemy item has 0 carry weight, so you can carry as many crafting items as you like. This is a good move since players require these items for crafting, upgrades, and much more.
Money to craft upgrades
If you’re trying to upgrade a sword, check in with different Blacksmiths since the cost depends upon the rarity of the item and the Blacksmith you choose. If you look at the lower end of the screen after visiting the Blacksmith, you will find the cost of crafting.
So, if you struggle to save money or are in the process of farming more gold, select the Blacksmith that requires the least amount for the upgrade.
Best armorers and blacksmiths to upgrade your weapons
Find the best armorers and blacksmiths you can visit early in the game to upgrade your weapons in The Witcher 3. Armorers and blacksmiths can also repair your weapons if they become broken through rigorous use.
Master armorer at Crow’s Perch
To unlock this master armorer in TW3, all you have to do is complete the Fergus Graem quest Master Armorer. The armorer is next to the Quartermaster at Baron’s Castle.
After completing this quest, you can ask this armorer for the lightweight yet powerful swords in The Witcher 3.
He can craft Mastercrafted swords for you in the game if you have the diagrams and ingredients. Even if you don’t have the ingredients, you can still visit him because he might have the required ingredients already.
Master blacksmith north of Portside Gate
If you are looking to unlock the blacksmith at the Novigrad, all you have to do is find Hattori. You can find Hattori in Novigrad just north of the Portside Gate. After talking to Hattori, you will get a quest in TW3 Wild Hunt, Of Swords and Dumplings.
Once you complete this quest, the master blacksmith at Novigrad will unlock, and you can visit him any time you want. Hattori is also one of two blacksmiths who can upgrade special weapons to the Grandmaster level.
Witcher 3 Mod to cheat weapon level requirements
If you find yourself in a pinch quite often, you can use mods to make the game a little easy on yourself. The Gear Level Scaling for Next Gen Mod allows your weapons to scale to your level as you progress through the game. This means your weapons never fall into redundancy when you reach a higher level.
