The Witcher 3 Best Swords

You should know what The Witcher 3 best swords are if you plan on becoming the best killer in all of the Continent and taking down the Wild Hunt. The Witcher 3 always gives you two swords to use, a steel one for humans, a special silver one to defeat monsters, allowing you to choose the right weapon for the right occasion. With so many swords littered across the game, you may want to know which ones rise to the top, so check out our list of best swords in The Witcher 3. 

• Take a look at our explainer for how to enable The Witcher 3 alternative appearances, which lets you equip outfits for Ciri, Triss, Yennefer, Dandelion, and the Nilfgaardian soldiers. 

The Witcher 3 Best Swords

Aerondight (Silver)

Click to enlarge

Aerondight is routinely considered to be the best silver sword in the entire game, but you will need to own The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine if you want to obtain it. However, once you have it in your hands, you'll never want to use anything else. To get it, you will need to complete a quest called There Can Only Be One, which can be picked up from Gran'place notice board in Toussaint. 

Aerondight is so powerful because of its passive ability that lets it charge up on successive blows, dealing 10% more damage each time. Once it reaches the cap, it will then crit on every hit, and if you get a kill while it's fully charged up, it will permanently increase the weapon's damage. The sky is just the beginning when it comes to the damage of this weapon, and it's a must for any Death March run. 

Iris (Steel)

Click to enlarge

Standing clear at the top of the list of best steel swords is Iris, a relic tier sword that was added in The Witcher 3 Hearts of Stone expansion. To get this sword, you will need to finish the Whatsoever a Man Soweth quest and save the soul of Olgierd von Everec toward the end, earning you Iris as a reward. 

Iris has a similar passive to the Aerondight silver sword, building charge up during combat before it turns red, allowing you to expend the charge and 15% HP with an extra powerful attack that acts similar to Aard.

Bloodsword (Silver)

Click to enlarge

Bloodsword is another strong relic tier sword that you can collect during your adventures in Skellige. To get this, head to the destroyed village of Boxholm and locate the dead body north of the signpost. Loot the body and collect the key and letter, reading the letter to start the quest. From here, head northwest toward a ruined house, and you'll find a chest with the Bloodsword, completing the quest. 

The main strength of Bloodsword is its chance to cause bleeding, and the critical hit damage bonus that can wipe out huge chunks of health from enemies. 

Viper Swords (Silver and Steel)

Click to enlarge

The Viper swords are the best starter swords that will last for hours of your playtime, until you begin finding more powerful weapons in Velen and Novigrad. These can be crafted in the White Orchard prologue area, and also make for a good introduction to the crafting system for Witcher school gear. 

To get them, find the silver sword blueprint in the cemetery north of the Mill signpost, and find the steel sword blueprint in the castle ruins west of the Ransacked Village signpost. Both of these swords boast high stats, and have the ability to poison enemies

Feline Swords (Silver and Steel)

Click to enlarge

Once you begin approaching level 20 during your adventures, you'll want to upgrade your Viper swords to the Feline swords, which are powerful throughout the mid-to-late game. You can find the silver sword blueprint behind a broken wall in Est Tayiar, while the steel sword blueprint is located in the basement of Drahim Castle. 

They both have powerful bleed passives that are great for chipping away at groups of enemies, and the upgraded versions add extra critical hit chance on top so you can blast through combat encounters. 

Belhaven Blade (Steel)

Click to enlarge

The Belhaven blade boasts one of the best passives in the game, giving you +100% bonus to critical hit damage, making it a must-have for crit builds. This is another Blood and Wine exclusive weapon, but it's well worth picking up, especially if you plan on doing a New Game + run.

To get the diagram for it, head to Toussaint and follow the Sansretour River that runs through the middle of the region. You should find a hidden treasure in the river at one point, rewarding you with the blueprint. 

Gesheft (Silver)

Click to enlarge

Gesheft is yet another Blood and Wine exclusive that comes in two forms, offering very different bonuses and stats. One can be picked up during the Beyond Hill and Dale… quest that takes you to the Land of a Thousand Fables. Just follow the pixie light after defeating the Cloud Giant and you can loot it. This version increases the sign intensity of all signs, making it a powerful weapon for magic builds. 

There's also a crafted version that increases Aard intensity, comes with a +100% critical hit damage bonus, and increases crit and poison chance, making it a powerful and well-rounded silver sword. The diagram for this version is located in a monster den north of the Basane Farm, guarded by a werewolf. 

That's all for our breakdown of The Witcher 3 best swords, and now you have an idea of which weapons are best suited to be wielded during your adventures.

Want to customise Geralt with a fresh haircut? Take a look at our list of The Witcher 3 barber locations.