9 Tips For the Witcher 3 Blood and Wine Expansion

Blood and Wine is one of two expansion packs for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, featuring a new Toussaint map. In this DLC, Geralt is called to slay the monster that killed the Toussaint knights. The expansion offers many side quests, gear, and new gameplay features. The vampires are tough, but these tips for Blood and Wine may help you survive.

Don’t Start Blood and Wine Until You’re at Level 35+

The minimum recommended level for starting Blood and Wine is 35. This expansion is best played after finishing the base game. Starting below level 35 makes enemies harder to defeat. So, my first tip is to level up Geralt before starting Blood and Wine.

If you’re not at level 35, there are plenty of things you can do in the base Witcher 3 game after completion before jumping into Blood and Wine. Completing more unfinished side quests in Witcher 3 should be enough to level up to 35. However, you can also amass more XP by exploring question marks on the map, killing human enemies (bandits), and completing contracts.

Invest in the Best Corvo Bianco Upgrades

Anna Henrietta gives Geralt the Corvo Bianco estate shortly after they meet up. Then, you can select to pay for a variety of Corvo Bianco upgrade options. Although those upgrades are expensive, it is worth investing in the bed, library, alchemy, and stable renovations for their unique effects. These are the unique effects the Corvo Biano upgrade renovations give you:

• Bed: Vitality boost from sleeping
• Stables: Stamina buff for Roach
• Library: Boosts combat EXP when resting
• Armor repair: Armor buff
• Grindstone: Weapon buff
• Garden: Grow alchemical plants

You’ll need to splash out 14,000 crowns to fully renovate Corvo Bianco. Some players might prefer to invest more in new weapons and armor, but remember that you can pick up a lot of gear for free by looting. Try completing more side quests and selling all the superfluous gear you collect to amass crowns for Corvo Bianco renovations.

Unlock Mutations

After completing the “Best of Toussaint” main quest in Blood and Wine, you’ll unlock the “Turn and Face the Strange” secondary quest. That is one Blood and Wine secondary quest you must set aside some time for because completing it unlocks mutations. Mutations are unique abilities you can research and activate to strengthen Geralt. For example, the Cat Eyes mutation increases your crossbow damage. So, you’ll miss out on mutations in the Blood and Wine expansion if you ignore the “Turn and Face the Strange” side quest.

Find the Aerondight Sword

The Aerondight Sword is one of the best blades in the Witcher 3 game. That sword’s damage increases with each blow inflicted until it’s fully charged. When it’s fully charged, the Aerondight always inflicts critical hits.

So, obtaining the Aerondight Sword will help you complete the Witcher 3 Blood and Wine expansion. To obtain that blade, go to Lac Célavy Lake, west of Corvo Branco Vineyard, and speak to Hermit. That will unlock the “There Can Only be One Quest,” in which you must demonstrate the five virtues for wielding the Aerondight Sword across different quests. You can demonstrate the required virtues of wisdom, valor, generosity, compassion, and honor by completing these side quests:

• “Bovine Blues” (valor)
• “Beyond Hill and Dale” (generosity)
• “Big Game Hunter” (compassion)
• “Father Knows Worst” (wisdom)
• “The Warble of a Smitten Knight” (honor)
• “The Tufo Monster” (valor or compassion)
• “Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Granite” (compassion or honor)
• “Where Children Toil, Toys Waste Away” (generosity)

Complete the “Knights for Hire” Quest

You can amass up to 1,500 crows by clearing locations during the “Knights for Hire” side quest. So, that’s a good quest to complete for boosting Geralt’s bank balance. You can unlock that side quest by reading the notice boards in Toussaint, such as the one in the Cockatrice Inn. That quest will direct you to the office of Ducal Camerlengo in Beauclair, who gives you 15 locations to clear for 100 gold each.

Find the Grandmaster Gear

The Grandmaster gear is the highest-tier armor set that is only available for crafting in Blood and Wine. However, you must complete the five treasure hunt quests to find the Grandmaster diagrams. To do so, please speak with Lazare at his workshop, located in the Beauclair-Hauteville area. Speaking to Lazare activates the Feline, Griffen, Wolven, Ursine, and Manticore treasure hunt quests in which you can find the diagrams. Then, return to Lazare and ask him to craft the Grandmaster gear when you’ve retrieved the required crafting diagrams.

Explore Touissant to Find its Places of Power

Ability points are crucial to completing Witching 3 and its DLCs. The Toussaint map includes five places of power from which you can obtain ability points. So, have a good look around Toussaint to find those places of power. To find them quickly, check out this interactive Touissant map that shows you where they are (click Place of Power to reveal them).

Utilize Vampire Oil

Blood and Wine is all about vampires, and you’ll have to fight some pretty tough ones. So, it makes sense to craft some Vampire Oil with Duchal Water and Dog Tallows. You can purchase a Vampire Oil manuscript from the Jonna herbalist in Rannvaig, Skellige. Adding the Vampire Oil to your sword will increase damage inflicted on vampires by 10%.

Select Your Dialogue Options Wisely

My final tip for the Witcher 3 Blood and Wine expansion is to choose your dialogue options carefully. Blood and Wine has three alternative endings, and your dialogue option choices will determine which one you’ll see. However, your dialogue choices will only have an impact on the ending of the “Night of the Long Fangs” quest nearer the end of Blood and Wine. Manually save your game when you start that quest so that you can return to that point and play through again to see different endings.

To see the happiest Blood and Wine ending, first select the “Considering freeing Syanna” dialogue option on the “Night of the Long Fangs” quest. Next, select the “Today I visited the Land of a Thousand Fables” journal dialog option during the “Beyond Hill and Dale” quest. Choose to purchase the ribbon from the Little Flint Girl during the “Beyond Hill and Dale” quest. Select to investigate the fifth victim when you get the chance. Finally, choose these dialog options when speaking to Syanna at the end:

• “‘Cause she turned her back on you, forgot about you.”
• “Ever thought to forgive her?”
• “Might ask her that.”

Those tips for the Witcher 3 Blood and Wine DLC will enable you to obtain the best gear and sword, unlock mutations, kill vampires more easily, see the best ending, amass 1,500 crowns, and get more ability points in the expansion. Now you can give the Beast of Beauclair a good hiding in Blood and Wine! Good luck, and have fun exploring the wonderful world of Toussaint.