The Witcher 3: what quests do I need to do?

The Witcher 3 contains a lot of quests. Here are the ones you absolutely must do.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a really big game and it’s easy to get lost. Maybe you don’t need the handholding available in our quest walkthroughs, but you do want to know what is necessary, or work out what to do next.

This page is part of our The Witcher 3 guide and walkthrough and is designed to provide minimal guidance without spoilers, listing the main quest sequences you should complete in order to reach the game’s ending with the minimum of fuss. Use it as a checklist, with some minimal difficulty guidance.

If you scroll down below this list, you’ll also find a list of missions which contain key decision points which have a major effect on which of the three main endings you’ll see. It does not tell you what these choices are or their consequences, and is intended as a guidance for making back ups saves only, in case you want to explore alternate endings on your own – but don’t look at it if you really want zero guidance at all.

Unless you’re playing on the lowest difficulty setting or are very good, you’ll likely need to do at least a little bit of side questing in addition to this list in order to succeed. We strongly recommend maintaining a back up save before beginning any mission, so you can back out if it turns out to be too hard for you.

Without further ado:

The Witcher 3: Prologue (Kaer Morhen, White Orchard)

• Kaer Morhen
• Lilac and Gooseberries
• The Beast of White Orchard
• The Incident In White Orchard

Act One

• Imperial Audience

At the conclusion of Imperial Audience you are given three quests to pursue, all of which must be completed to progress to Act Two. You can elect to tackle them in any order, but both Novigrad and Skellige are inaccessible without some legwork. We present them in order of difficulty.

The Witcher 3: Act One – Velen (No Man’s Land)

• The Nilfgaardian Connection

Upon completion of The Nilfgaardian Connection you are given two quests to choose from. Although Hunting a Witch is listed as the easier of the two, it is considerably more difficult than the three quests we suggest pursuing first. Move onto Hunting A Witch when the clues in the Family Matters thread dry up and you are encouraged to investigate other leads in Velen.

• The Bloody Baron
• Family Matters
• A Princess in Distress
• Hunting a Witch
• Wandering in the Dark
• Ladies of the Wood
• The Whispering Hillock

The Witcher 3: Act One – Novigrad

• Pyres of Novigrad
• Novigrad Dreaming
• Broken Flowers
• Get Junior
• Count Reuven’s Treasure
• The Play’s The Thing
• A Poet Under Pressure

The Witcher 3: Act One – Skellige

• Destination: Skellige
• The King is Dead – Long Live the King
• Echoes of the Past
• Missing Persons
• Nameless
• The Calm Before the Storm

The Witcher 3: Act Two

• Ugly Baby
  • Disturbance
  • The Final trial
  • To Bait a Forktail…
• No Place Like Home
• Va Fail, Elaine
• Brothers in Arms: Velen
• Brothers in Arms: Novigrad
• Brothers in Arms: Skellige
• The Isle of Mists
• The Battle of Kaer Morhen
• Blood on the Battlefield

The Witcher 3: Act Three

• Bald Mountain
• Final Preparations
  • Blindingly Obvious
  • The Great Escape
  • Payback
  • Through Time and Space

• Battle Preparations
• Veni Vidi Vigo
• The Sunstone
• The Child of the Elder Blood
• Skjall’s Grave
• On Thin Ice
• Tedd Deireadh, The Final Age

POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING: Missions containing key ending decision points

Although there are many consequential choices to be made in The Witcher 3, there are four or optionally five major decision points that effect which of three endings you receive. Each of the three major endings have multiple further permutations affected by decisions made in missions throughout the game, but if you’re looking to explore each of the three main streams, you should maintain save files at the beginning of each of these missions.

• Act Two: Blood on the Battlefield (one or two decisions)
• Act Three: Final Preparations (one decision)
• Act Three: The Child of The Elder Blood (two decisions)

Note: One of the three endings cannot be accessed if you do not complete a number of key secondary quests in Act Two, and one in Act Three. See our The Witcher 3: How to Get the Best Ending guide for more details – and spoilers.

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