100% Achievement Guide: The Witcher 2 - Assassins of Kings

This is a comprehensive 100% Achievement guide detailing a step-by-step walkthrough to take you from 0 all the way to 100%. If you are looking for a particular Achievement or Collectible, use Ctrl+F & type it into the search bar for more direct help.

I run support & debug help on all my guides. If you have any questions, problems, or find errors in the guide itself, do not hesitate to leave me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as I am able to. Happy Hunting!

Introduction:

Achievement Breakdown: (52)
Story Related: (14)
Missable: (12)
Secondary Objectives: (4)
Character: (6)
Collectibles: (5)
Slay: (6)
Miscellaneous: (5)

To unlock all of the Achievements in the game for the two separate Story Paths, we will need to complete a minimum of two full playthroughs.

For Vernon Roche’s Path, we will complete the majority of the Achievements as well as simply just getting used to the game & its mechanics. The bulk of our Achievements just stem from natural progression, Character building, & completing certain tasks. These will all be laid out & highlighted in the guide; nothing shall be missed or forgotten.

Loot everything & speak to everyone you find as we need lots of Orens & Xp to be successfully in our 100% journey; only events tied to Achievements will be fully laid out in the guide & a lot of the details for Side Quests will be left for you to complete independently. This game will require us to brew or craft a lot of different Items. Always hoard your Alchemy Components & Crafting Materials that you loot; Weapons, Armor, Books, & Junk are safe to sell.

For Iorveth’s Path, we will be playing on Insane Difficulty to unlock the Madman Achievement. Insane Difficulty is essentially having to beat the game on Hard Difficulty but with only one life; if Geralt dies, your Save is deleted & you must start over from the beginning. While enemy scaling is easier than Dark Difficulty, this will still be a challenge as, of course, we cannot die once. This will require a good understanding of game mechanics & how to build our Character.

If you have played The Witcher – Enhanced Edition, you can Import your Save into Witcher 2 & some decisions, Orens, Weapons & or Armor can transfer over into our game & give us an extra edge. This can be extremely useful for our Insane Difficulty playthrough. I do highly recommend checking out Witcher 1 as its story as just as compelling as Witcher 2 & 3… however it is very dated & has a different gameplay style that can be hard to get into. I planned on completing it before making this guide… & didn’t. Outside of specific in game decisions, there are no items or Orens that will transfer over from Witcher 2 into 3.

For those interested, here is an organized list of all the Achievements/Secret Achievements. This is how I derive my Achievement Breakdowns & the first reference I create before I begin my 100% journeys.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2843471565

*Guide contains major spoilers.

Sequence 1: Assassin of Kings

1. Prologue: At the Fore, To the Temple, Trial By Fire, Barricade, The Dungeons of the La Valettes, Blood of His Blood, By the King’s Will
2. Achievements: 5/52
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For our first playthrough, I would recommend playing on a Difficulty that is harder than Easy. Dark is excessive but playing on Hard or at the very least, Normal, is a good idea to somewhat force you to make better decisions & get more applicable practice for our later Insane playthrough. Play the Tutorial to familiarize yourself with the basics or carry on to begin the Prologue.

In the Options – Gameplay, be sure to turn off Difficult QTES; having it on makes Fist Fight events essentially impossible to complete with how fast the button prompts appear on screen.

Prologue – La Valette Castle Dungeons:

When we speak to Vernon Roche in the La Valette Castle dungeons, we will have three options to recount the events of the siege that took place: The morning, the assault, & the monastery. While you can choose these in any order, it will mix up the timeline the story is delivered as we will play through each event.

To start, choose “That morning, the King summoned me.”

Prologue – The Morning:

Experienced Ability Part 1: Leave your tent & we will be in the Temerian War Camp. Explore around & head down to the lower level of the camp where all the soldiers are training. Here we can find five Training Dummies we can lock onto. Attack & destroy all five of them to work towards a very important Ability we can receive that will grant us a permanent 10% bonus to experience; we need to destroy five more in Chapter 1.


Achievement #1 – Eagle Eye: Hit Count Etcheverry using the Ballista.
Missable. When you are done speaking with the Soldiers & looting Foltest’s Army Camp, head up the hill where the trebuchets are to find the King himself. After the first section of dialogue with him & the Nilfgaardian Emissary, we will regain control of Geralt & everyone will walk up the hill towards a Ballista; make a Save here so you can reload if you mess up before following them!

After the Emissary leaves, Foltest hands you a spyglass after spotting Count Etcheverry on the castle walls to help him aim the Ballista. Right off the bat when we look through the spyglass, we can see two soldiers standing on the castle battlements in between wooden barriers; Count Etcheverry is the soldier standing on the left with the two feathers sticking out of his helmet. On the sides of the crosshair are a 1, 2, & a 3 denoting angle. To strike Count Etcheverry, aim the center of the crosshair on the soldier to the Count's right at around 1.5 degrees (in between I & II).

If done correctly, Geralt will say “one & a half degrees” & Foltest will fire the ballista bolt straight into the Count. The Achievement will unlock for us at the end of this section when we regain control of Geralt in the siege tower.

Prologue – The Assault:

When we return to speaking with Roche, choose our next option in the dialogue “The assault” to continue the story…

As we progress through the Prologue, we will Level up at least twice giving us two Talent Points. Hold onto these & do not spend them! Halfway through Chapter 1, we will fight a Scoia’tael Bandit with a bow & can unlock the Ricochet Achievement by redirecting an arrow to kill them. Arrow Redirection is a pretty useless Talent & is a waste of Points; when we unlock the Achievement, we will reload a previous Save & you can then spend the Points on something better afterwards.


Achievement #2 – Perfectionist: Kill 10 foes in a row without losing any Vitality.
As the Achievement says, we must kill ten enemies in a row without taking any damage. This is challenging to do naturally unless you are playing on Easy Difficulty, but there is a way we can circumvent this as progress carries over across Saves. This means, if you kill four enemies without taking damage, reload a Save & kill them over again, it will count as eight kills.

After we commandeer the La Valette Ballista down in the courtyard to breach the enemy’s defences, scale the scaffolding back up to Foltest & his men as quickly as possible. Make a Save as soon as we are back on the castle walls! There are around sixteen La Valette Knights up here in total distracted by Foltest & his men. Kill as many of them as you can safely handle without taking damage & reload your Save to do it over until you unlock the Achievement. This is the best time to do this as the enemies only get harder the further into the game we go…

Prologue – The Monastery:

When we return to speaking with Roche, work through the last two options in the dialogue to continue the story ending with splitting up at the monastery…


Achievement #3 – Intimidator: Intimidate someone.
When Foltest tasks us with searching for a way inside the Temple, head down to the bottom of the stairs ahead of us & take a left down the street where a cutscene will play of a peasant woman getting shot in the back by a Temerian Soldier. This unlocks the Side Quest – Woe to the Vanquished.

Enter into the hovel where the Soldier was & we can find him & another robbing two peasants. Speak with them & we will have three ways of negotiating with them to leave. Just the red circle option “Get out or die” to Intimidate them; we will unlock the Achievement after they agree to leave.


Achievement #4 – Taster: Drink one Potion.
When we descend into the well that will take us to the monastery, we will get a prompt telling us to drink a Potion to help us see in the dark. We may as well do just that. Meditate & go into our Drink Potions screen; select Cat (or any of our three Potions) & drink it to unlock the Achievement.

Prologue – La Valette Castle Dungeons:

Achievement #5 – The Fugitive: Complete the Prologue.
Story Related. Escape the La Valette Dungeons & board the Blue Stripes ship with Triss & Vernon Roche.

Sequence 2: A Cold Trail In Flotsam

1. Chapter 1: A Rough Landing, By the Gods Stringing Up Sods, The Kayran
2. Talent Points Saved: 2/2
3. Achievements: 9/52
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Chapter 1 – Flotsam:

Once again, be sure to hang on to at least two Talent Points so we can nab the Ricochet Achievement.

Once we get settled at the Flotsam Inn, Chapter 1 will open up to us & we will be allowed to freely explore the town & its surrounding areas; hold off on doing Main Quest – Indecent Proposal & The Kayran as there are missable Achievements involved with it. Complete as many Side Quests as you can manage for the most experience, we will need a LOT to get to Level 35 for the Guru Achievement.

If you head downstairs in the Flotsam Inn, we can find Dyson Beaver who will give us access to our Storage. Here we can dump all Crafting Materials & Alchemy Components to free up our Inventory space for more loot.


Achievement #6 – Gambler: Win an Arm Wrestling match, a Dice Poker game, & a Fist Fight.
We can find all three types of gambling mini-games at the Flotsam Inn. On the upper floor, we can find a table with three gentleman Arm Wrestling; beat at least on of them. In the basement, we can find a table with some Dice Poker players & a Fist Fight arena as well. We will unlock the Achievement after winning one of each mini-game.


Achievement #7 – Poker: Roll five-of-a-kind at Dice Poker.
This is the best time to attempt this Achievement as Dice Poker opponents get handicaps the further into the game we go. To roll a five-of-a-kind, we need to have all five of our Dice the exact same number. Re-roll any Dice that are not your most common number; re-roll all of them if they are all different. Make a Save before attempting! If you lose, reload your Save, but if you win you may as well Save your game & keep the winnings.

There really isn’t any trick to this Achievement, just luck & patience. It may take you five tries… it may take you a three hundred; took me around 158… This can be done at any time before the point of no return in Chapter 1; you do not have to be like me & sit here for two hours rolling dice. Play 10-30 games, do some Side Quests, & do it all over again.

It is also important to note that you also have to win the Dice Poker game; simply rolling the five-of-a-kind will not unlock the Achievement! If you are extremely unlucky, you may roll a five-of-a-kind on your first roll. What usually happens when you do this is that your opponent will just forfeit on the second round which does not actually count as a win for some reason (in the eyes of the Achievement that is). The five-of -a-kind must be what wins the match.


Achievement #8 – Craftsman: Hire a Craftsman to create an Item.
When you get the previous Achievement or give up on Dice at the moment, scour Flotsam for Side Quests & pillage all of its available free-loot. At the North end of the Flotsam Nonhuman District, we can find the Craftsman Berthold Candeleria.

It is highly recommended that you use our Crafting Materials/Orens collected from looting & craft our Witcher’s Silver Sword; Silver Ore can be purchased for 45 Orens a piece from him. Craft any Item or Weapon & we will unlock our Achievement.

Monster Contract #1 – Nekker Contract: If you have not already done so, investigate the Notice Board outside the Flotsam Inn & we can find the two Monster Contracts that we can collect for Chapter 1. For the Pest Control Achievement, we will need to complete all 4 available Monster Contracts in the game during a single playthrough.

Monster Contract #2 – Endrega Contract: Collected from the same Notice Board as the previous Contract.

To progress these Side Quests, we first need to learn more about them. Across from the Craftsman in the Nonhuman District, we can enter the home of the dwarf, Einar Gausel. Not only will he cut our hair… but we can buy some very useful Books from him as well.

Purchase the Books Nekkers In the Mist for 32 Orens & Three Years Among the Endegas for 64 Orens to learn what we need to.

You may also want to purchase the Book on Rotfiends as well if you have Orens to spare for later on.

Side Quest – Troll Trouble: On the Notice Board, we can also collect the Troll Contract & we will acquire this Side Quest; note that this is not a Monster Contract. There are two Achievements involving either sparing all of the Trolls in the game or killing them. For this playthrough, we will be killing the Trolls; saving the easier option for our Insane playthrough.

Cedric: Before we can destroy the Nekker Nests, we need the Grapeshot Bomb. Follow Main Quest – The Kayran & speak with Cedric in the small nonhuman village of Lobinden just outside of Flotsam; while we can purchase 3 Grapeshots from him, it is better to be the Formula itself for 70 Orens so we can craft them at will.

Side Quest – In the Claws of Madness: Ask Cedric if he knows of any Witcher’s work to be done & he will offer us this Side Quest to complete if we agree to take it. Do so, as it is tied to the Librarian Achievement for finding all 4 of the Books found in the burned down asylum…


Achievement #9 – Apprentice: Use Alchemy to brew five Potions or Oils.
Return to your Storage & collect your Alchemy Components. For this Achievement, we will brew five Swallow Potions (or any other ones you like). Swallow requires Vitriol (Balisse or White Myrtle herb), Aether (Scleroderm mushroom), & Caelum (Bryonia herb). Do not brew a stack of Potions, instead brew all five individually & it will unlock after brewing our fifth one.

Use this time back at our Storage to brew up at the very least five Grapeshot Bombs as well so we can blow the Nekker Nests up. They take Rebis (Celandine herb) & Caelum (Bryonia herb) to prepare.

If you do not have the required Alchemy Components, see the Merchant Vilmos Bartok in the Flotsam Town Square as he should have what you need.

Sequence 3: Witcher's Work

1. Chapter 1: The Kayran
2. Talent Points Saved: 2/2
3. Trolls Slain: 1/3
4. Monster Contracts: 2/4
5. Achievements: 12/52
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Chapter 1 – Forests Near Flotsam:

When you have at least 5 Grapeshot Bombs brewed & a Silver Sword either crafted or bought, we can now begin our exploration of the Flotsam forests.

Troll #1: Head down the main road into the forests & follow it straight ahead to the South East, where the bridge to Aedirn supposedly crosses the river. When we reach the bridge, we will encounter a farmer being attacked by three Nekkers. Rescue him & speak with the peasant to progress the Side Quest… but we will be ignoring the lead as it is meant for the alternate route of sparing the Troll.

To the right of where the bridge is, we can drop down off of the nearby ledge to the shallows of the river below. Save your game; hard battle approaching! Head under the broken bridge now & we can encounter our first Troll of the game. Since we do not have vodka (a pity), the Troll will automatically attack us no matter what we say. Knock him down to half health & he will surrender; press the attack by saying “Not good enough” & slay the Troll to progress the Trollslayer Achievement.


Achievement #10 – Summer Solstice: Bow before the Sun at a Summer Shrine.
With the Troll dealt with, follow the river down stream to the South until you see a broken bridge ramp off our left close to the dead end. Head up the ramp & we can access a secluded marsh within the forest. Make your way over to the far Eastern end of it & we can find a Bandit’s hideout. Look around the right side of the hideout & there will be a massive cliff wall, which if we follow that along to the right as well, we can find the Summer Shrine. Interact with it to acquire the Summer’s Crown Ability & unlock the Achievement.



Endrega Nest #1: Return back to the main path we were following in the Flotsam Forest & take a left along the path into the trees. Ignore the side path off the left that leads over to the hideous Altar of Veyopatis & exit into an opening in the trees ahead. Look immediately to our left & right to see two Endrega Cocoons on either side of us from where we enter the area; the third is a little ways off our left in between the first Cocoon & an upturned wagon. Save your game; hard battle approaching! You may want to drink some Potions & prepare your Silver Sword with Oils.

Pry open each Cocoon & destroy it to summon the Queen Endrega. This is a very challenging enemy & will probably one shot you on Hard Difficulty or higher. Use a Sword Oil like Falka’s Blood or Insectoid Oil & just hammer the Queen in the backside where you can stun lock her. If she blocks your attacks, do not try running back around her or she will kill you. Instead, run backwards away from her & bait her charge attack where she will try running us down; that is when you can safely get behind her for another round of attacks. Rinse & repeat this strategy until she is slain!

Nekker Nest #1: From the first Endrega nesting grounds, follow the trail down to the South & we will shortly stumble onto a Nekker Nest set along the road. Defeat the Nekkers & approach the Nest; if you have a Grapeshot in your Inventory, you can interact with the Nest & blow it up.

Nekker Nest #2-3: Backtrack up the path up to the two statues near the road & take a left into a stagnant marshy area of the forest. From where we enter, follow the outskirts of the marsh to our right to locate the next two Nests.

Nekker Nest #4: Our final Nekker Nest can actual be found directly South West of the last two in the middle of a different trail. Blow it up & we can turn in the Monster Contract to Louis Merse.

Endrega Nest #2: Follow this new trail we are on down to the South West & we can find two Cocoons off our left with another Cocoon in between them off our right. Destroy the Cocoons & prepare yourself for another challenging battle with the Endrega Queen. Slay her, & we can turn this Monster Contract into Louis Merse as well.

Side Quest – In the Claws of Madness: We can find the burned down asylum just South of where we found the final Endrega Nest. Head up the hill & we will be approached by Rupert, one of the two lost explorers. Fight off the Crazed Nekkers & we will be tasked with entering the asylum to find Gridley, where our four Hospital Files will be located…

Chapter 1 – Burned Down Hospital:

Hospital File III: After witnessing the Nilfgaardian Ghost set the asylum a blaze, our only option ahead will be to drop down into the next room; we can find this Hospital File in a Chest along the wall to our right.

Hospital File I: Carry on until we have to drop down into a different room & defeat two Wraiths that appear; search for another Chest in this room to find the Hospital File.

Hospital File II: Locate Gridley & carry on down the charred passageways until you see the table with Medicine for him. Look off your left from the medicine table & there will be a small room with a Chest containing the Hospital File.

Hospital File IV: Track down the Nilfgaardian Ghost & deal with him or the ex-soldiers as you see fit; our real prize can be found in a Chest in the far left corner of this room.


Achievement #11 – Librarian: Find all 4 additional information about the insane asylum's history.
Locate all 4 Hospital Files & we will unlock the Achievement upon collecting the fourth one.

Chapter 1 – Forests Near Flotsam:

Achievement #12 – Torn Asunder!: Kill more than one opponent using a single exploding Bomb.
We can find the perfect place to unlock this Achievement inside a cave system located in between Flotsam & Roche’s boat ported up to the North; if you collected the Side Quest – Malena in Lobinden, we will have to go here anyways. Make a Save & head inside the cave where we can find a high density of Nekkers.

Craft 3-5 Grapeshot Bombs & bombard the Nekkers with them & you are basically guaranteed to unlock the Achievement.

Complete any Side Quests you have left to do & we will now be ready to progress Chapter 1 into the next arc by continuing Main Quest – Indecent Proposal…

Sequence 4: The Kayran

1. Chapter 1: Indecent Proposal, The Kayran, The Kayran – A Matter of Price
2. Talent Points Saved: 4/8
3. Trolls Slain: 1/3
4. Monster Contracts: 2/4
5. Achievements: 17/52
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Chapter 1 – Loredo’s Residence:

Achievement #13 – Man of the Shadows: Successfully sneak through Loredo’s garden & find the component of the Kayran Trap.
Missable. When you are ready, to continue Chapter 1, head over to Loredo’s residence after midnight. A guard will turn us away from the door saying that Loredo is busy with Síle at the moment & Roche will speak with us at the bottom of the stairs. When Roche tells us to sneak behind the house to snoop, a man will interrupt us to tell us about the Kayran Trap component.
After Roche lures the arbalist standing guard at the garden entrance, make a Save! If we are detected at all during this section we will be kicked out, voiding this Achievement!

There are two Soldiers outside the garden with three Soldiers patrolling around inside it. Carefully sneak around & knock them all out or just avoid them entirely. The Kayran Trap component can be found in a Chest in an isolated storage area over a small wall we can climb around the far left side of the residence. Collect the Iron Frame & go to eavesdrop on Síle & Loredo’s conversation through an open window before returning back to Roche to unlock our Achievement.

This Achievement is tied to the Artful Dodger Achievement…

Chapter 1 – Forests Near Flotsam:

Achievement #14 – Great Potion!: Brew the Ostmurk Potion.
Progress the Main Quest – The Kayran & collect its mucus from the beast’s lair with Triss. Once it is collected, she will give us the Formula for the Mongoose Potion which is an antidote for the Kayran’s toxic mucus.

This Potion requires Rebis x1, Aether x1, & Fulgar x1. Rebis & Aether are very easy to come by through harvestable Plants but Fulgar is a bit more specific. It can be found in Endrega Embryos, Essence of Death, or Arachas Eyes which can be purchased from Cedric for a hefty price. Of course, the Ostmurk itself is a Fulgar Agent & speaking with Cedric will give as a waypoint where we can find it though it is not actually required for the Achievement oddly enough.

Brew the Mongoose Potion however you choose to unlock the Achievement.

The Kayran Trap: Before going to fight the Kayran, we have one more matter of business to attend to & that is to craft the Kayran Trap. Speak with Cedric outside Lobinden & purchase the Diagram – Kayran Trap from him for 276 Orens.

To craft it, we will need to collect/purchase: Oil x2, Iron Ore x1, & Silver Ore x1; we have already collected the Iron Frame. If you fully looted the town & held onto all the Crafting Components, you should have more than enough materials to build it. If not, we can purchase these from Cedric & the dwarf Craftsman Berthold Candeleria.


Achievement #15 – Artful Dodger: Cut off a tentacle using the Kayran Trap.
Missable. When you have crafted Kayran Trap & have completed any other necessary preparations, speak with Síle in the Flotsam Brothel. Once we arrive at the Kayran’s lair, drop down 2/4 ledges & Meditate to begin your preparations; Swallow, Mongoose, & potentially Rook are great Potions to drink. After drinking your Potions, make a Save!

Drop down the third ledge & approach the fourth to trigger the Kayran’s cutscene.
As soon as the fight begins, we will see two highlighted locations where we can deploy the Kayran Trap. Do so, & the Kayran will immediately go to strike there, severing one of its tentacles & unlocking our Achievement. If it doesn’t unlock or sever a tentacle for some reason, reload your Save & try again; it is possible the Kayran will miss & you will have to stand over the Trap to bait it to swing again.


Achievement #16 – Oh My God! You Killed the Kayran! You Bastards!: Kill the Kayran.
Story Related. After you use the Kayran Trap to unlock the previous Achievement, use the Yrden Sign to trap the Kayran’s tentacles & cut two more of them off to slay it.


Achievement #17 – Journeyman: Achieve Character Level 10.
If you have completed the majority of the Side Quests available to us so far here in Flotsam, you will most likely unlock this Achievement after defeating the Kayran. If not, there is still more to do here in Chapter 1 & it is bound to unlock for you very soon unless you are rushing through.

After you have spent at least 6 Talent Points in the Witcher Training Path (saving at least 2 Talent Points for when it is finally time to unlock the Ricochet Achievement) we will unlock the other three Ability Trees for our Character Abilities. There are three separate Achievements that have to do with unlocking a specific Ability from each of the three Trees. Each of these Abilities will require 8 Talent Points to get which makes unlocking all three Achievements difficult to do in a single playthrough. Instead, it is easiest to hoard all 8 Talent Points until they are accumulated & repeatedly reloading a Save to unlock the three Achievements.

If you have the two Talent Points for the Arrow Redirection Ability, & put 6 into the Witcher Training Path, you will have 8 Talent Points saved for the Achievements once you reach Level 15.
The last thing to keep your eyes open for is Mutagens. For the Mutant! Achievement, you will need to enhance 5 Abilities using Mutagens… which takes more planning than you think as only certain Abilities can take Mutagens. If you have not already been doing so, hold onto any & all Mutagens you come across as we can take advantage of our Save scumming for this Achievement as well!

Sequence 5: The Blue Stripes

1. Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The Rose of Remembrance, Where Is Triss Merigold, At A Crossroads – Vernon Roche, Death to the Traitor!
2. Talent Points Saved: 6/8
3. Trolls Slain: 1/3
4. Monster Contracts: 2/4
5. Achievements: 21/52
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Chapter #1 – Flotsam:

Achievement #18 – Backbone: Craft a suit of armor from elements of the Kayran's Carapace.
After the Kayran is slain, walk up to its corpse & loot its remains; of the loot we grab, the most important piece will be the Kayran Skin. Once we have the Kayran Skin, go turn in Main Quest – The Kayran A Matter of Price & we will receive the Diagram – Kayran Skin Armor.

To craft the Armor, we need: Robust Cloth x14, Hardened Leather x6, Kayran Skin x1, Twine x8, & 375 Orens.

Robust Cloth requires Cloth x3, Twine x1, Diamond Dust x1, & 5 Orens to craft; its Diagram can be purchased from the Mysterious Merchant near the Flotsam Harbor for 176 Orens. We can also purchase Robust Cloth at a time from Fioravanti in the Flotsam Townsquare for 32 Orens a piece.

Hardened Leather requires Leather x3, Oil x2, & 5 Orens to craft; its Diagram can also be purchased from the Mysterious Merchant near the Flotsam Harbor for 176 Orens. We can also purchase 3 Hardened Leather at a time from Fioravanti in the Flotsam Townsquare for 26 Orens a piece.

Sell off Nekker parts which we can farm from the two caves for Orens to purchase Components if needed; to reset an NPCs Inventory, wait for 24 hours or more. Once you have all the required Components, seek out any Craftsman & craft the Armor to unlock the Achievement.


Carry on with the Main Questline now & progress Main Quest – The Assassins of Kings. Note that when you take Iorveth to meet Letho, we will be ambushed by Roche’s Blue Stripes & we will have a decision to make: give Iorveth his sword back or punch him in the throat. If you punch him in the throat, we will get attacked by some Scoia’tael bandits two of which have bows later on; this is the soonest we can get the Ricochet Achievement.

Note that this is not the decision for choosing our Story Paths. Giving Iorveth his sword is perfectly fine to do as well & we can still go down Roche’s Path later on…

Chapter #1 – Forest Near Flotsam:

Achievement #19 – Ricochet: Kill a foe by deflecting his own arrow at him.
During Main Quest – Where Is Triss Merigold? we will have to follow Cedric’s blood trail out into the forests. As soon as we leave Flotsam, make a Save so we can reload our Talent Points! Meditate here & put two Talent Points into Arrow Redirection allowing us to send arrows back at the shooter.

Carry on along the blood trail & we will shortly be accosted by three Scoia’tael swordsmen & two archers. Kill the swordsmen & one of the archers, leaving the last one alive. Now hold down the parry button while locked on & point your movement stick towards the archer. Every time we block their arrow, it will be sent back & strike them, costing us one bar of Vigor. When the archer is killed by their own arrows, we will unlock the Achievement.

We will only find this encounter if we punched Iorveth in the throat back at the garden; if you didn’t, you will have to wait until later on to unlock this Achievement. Reload your Save to revert spending the Talent Points & carry on…

At A Crossroads – Vernon Roche: After we locate Cedric, we will receive the two separate At A Crossroads Main Quests. This will dictate the rest of our playthrough depending on who we choose. For this first playthrough, we will choose Vernon Roche; ignore the Scoia’tael Main Quest completely as we will save it for our Insane Difficulty playthrough…


Achievement #20 – To Aedirn!: Complete Chapter 1.
Story Related. Complete Roche’s Path (or Iorveth’s too technically) & leave Flotsam behind to Aedirn.

Sequence 6: The Enemy of My Enemy...

1. Chapter 2: Prelude to War Kaedwin
2. Talent Points Saved: 8/8
3. Trolls Slain: 1/3
4. Monster Contracts: 3/4
5. Achievements: 25/52
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Chapter 2 – Kaedweni Camp:

Achievement #21 – Tourist: Tour the camp with Zyvik.
Missable. After we escape the eternal battlefield & return to Henselt’s Camp, we will be following around the corporal named Zyvik. While we have the option to persuade him to take us to the King sooner, do not do that, & instead just follow him around as he gives us the tour. The Achievement will unlock just after seeing the tied up Scoia’tael scout just before he takes you up to see the King.

Monster Contract #3 – Rotfiend Contract: We can find our next Monster Contract on the Notice Board outside the Kaedwen Canteen. We will have to locate & burn all nine corpses outside of Camp that are luring the Rotfiends in to complete the Contract.


Achievement #22 – Master of Magic: Acquire the Sense of Magic Ability.
After we finish Main Quest – Prelude to War Kaedwen, we should earn the last bit of experience we need to reach Level 15 & have 8 Talent Points to spend. If not, you should be close; remember this Sequence of the guide & come back to it after completing a couple more Quests…

When you are ready, make a Save we can reload back to. Then, for this Achievement, Meditate & go into your Character Tab. Enter the Mage Development Path & purchase your way down to the Sense of Magic Ability putting two Ability Points into it. Exit the Character Tab & we will unlock the Achievement.

Reload your last Save!


Achievement #23 – Master Alchemist: Acquire the Mutant Ability.
Re-enter the Character Tab after reloading & enter the Alchemist Development Path now. Purchase your way down the Path to the Mutant Ability putting one Ability Point into it. Exit the Character Tab & we will unlock the Achievement.

Reload your last Save!


Achievement #24 – Swordmaster: Acquire the Combat Acumen Ability.
Re-enter the Character Tab after reloading & enter the Swordmaster Development Path. Purchase your way down the Path to the Combat Acumen Ability putting one Ability Point into it. Exit the Character Tab & we will unlock the Achievement.


Achievement #25 – Mutant!: Enhance Abilities using Mutagens at least five times.
If you have at least five Mutagens in your possession we can unlock this Achievement while we have some Ability Points to manipulate. The only Abilities that can be Mutated are: Arrow Redirection, Fortitude, Invincible, Combat Acumen, Whirlwind, Enhanced Yrden Sign, Sense of Magic, Control Over Power, Condensation, Metathesis, Berserker, Mutant, & Amplification.

Reload your Save for the final time after unlocking the four Achievements & now you are free to Level up Geralt however you like, except make a point of keeping the Riposte & Combat Acumen Abilities for associated Achievements later on... Be sure to invest two Talent Points in each of them as well.

Chapter 2 – Battlefield:

Rotten Corpse #1-3: When you are ready, it is time to leave the Kaedweni Camp & start exploring the outside areas of the map. Leave through the southern exit of the camp & head out past Roche’s Encampment. Look out to the South East to find a large group of Rotfiends patrolling; we can find our first three Rotten Corpses to burn here.

Close by Rotten Corpse #3, we can find a path leading up in through the cliffs that goes to a dead end where we can find a hostile Troll. Though the two Troll related Achievements both specify that they involve ALL Trolls in the game, this Troll is not a part of them due to be immediately hostile; only Trolls we can speak with & make decisions about count. It is safe to either kill or ignore & will not contribute to anything except our Xp…

Rotten Corpse #4-6: Now head North, past the Brothel, & we can see a ruined caravan surrounded by Rotfiends. We can find two Rotten Corpses beside the caravan with another one a little ways up ahead close to a stream.

Rotten Corpses #7-9: Follow along the outside fortifications of the Kaedweni Camp over to the far North end where we can find a passage through the cliffs. Immediately after entering the passage, we can spot some more Rotfiends & our final three Rotten Corpses to burn.

Go to Proximo & turn in the Side Quest…

Sequence 7: The Eternal Battle

1. Chapter 2: In Cervisia Veritas, The Butcher of Cidaris, A Path to Vision, Courage Symbolized, Death Symbolized, Hatred Symbolized, The Spear of Destiny, The Blood Curse, Faith Symbolized
2. Trolls Slain: 1/3
3. Monster Contracts: 3/4
4. Achievements: 31/52
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Chapter 2 – Kaedweni Camp:

Once again, be sure to complete as many Side Quests as possible during this Chapter so we accrue as much experience as possible.


Achievement #26 – Gladiator: Defeat all opponents in the Kaedweni Arena.
Assist Sven in defeating Letande Avet in the arena during Main Quest – The Butcher of Cidaris & we will be approached by Proximo asking if we would like to participate in the tournaments. Save your game & make some preparations before going in to fight.

Defeat the first two contestants & we will have to fight Ves. Defeat her to complete the tournament & unlock the Achievement.

Chapter 2 – Roche’s Encampment:

Achievement #27 – Heartbreaker: Seduce Ves.
Missable. After completing the short Kaedweni tournament, go & visit Ves at Roche’s Encampment outside the walls near the Brothel. Speak with her about your duel & tell her:

“I also feel like using this opportunity.”
“She’s both brave & beautiful.”
“I like that idea.”

The answers should come across as obvious, but this is a missable Achievement if you decide to go with any of the other options instead. The Achievement will unlock after answering the final line of dialogue correctly… enjoy.

Chapter 2 – Visionary’s House:

Achievement #28 – Miser: Collect 10,000 Orens.
Progress the Main Quest – The Blood Curse & we will be directed to go & locate the Visionary way out in the gullies. When we reach the Visionary, we will be assaulted by endless Harpies. While these Harpies do not give us a lot of experience, they do still drop all of their Components which can sell for quite a bit of money in large quantities.

It is difficult to unlock this Achievement naturally as there are so many useful things to buy, making hoarding money hard. We can take advantage of the infinite Harpies & farm them until we have enough Components to sell to get to 10,000 Orens. Make a Save before rounding the corner to the Visionary’s hut & keep killing Harpies. After they are killed, run over towards the cliffs to the left of the Visionary’s candle ring (do not accidentally run into it), & run back to the top of the path exiting out from where we came from & more Harpies will appear. Rinse & repeat. You will probably want to turn your sound off because the Visionary is not going to stop talking to us…

Harpy Eggs, Eyes, Saliva & Claws sell for 4 Orens each; Harpy Feathers are the big-ticket item selling for a whopping… 9 Orens. Periodically check your Inventory as it will add up the total values of all your Items; when the cumulative total puts you up to 10,000 Orens (including however much you already have) return to the Kaedweni Camp & sell them off. You can also just make runs back to camp to sell off Components & return back to the Visionary to keep farming as well so long as you don’t enter the candle ring to speak with him. When you have 10,000 Orens in your possession, you will unlock the Achievement. This took me around 3 hours having already had 2000 Orens in my Inventory.

*I am actually pretty sure the Harpies keep spawning infinitely even after you speak with the Visionary & enter the ring of candles for the Quest.

Alternatively, if you completed Side Quest - Bring It On Kaedweni Camp, we can verse the champion Adam Pangratt in Arm Wrestling over & over again betting the maximum to earn 100 Orens each time. You can 1000 Orens in around 5 minutes.


Achievement #29 – The Butcher of Blaviken: Kill 500 foes.
You will easily unlock this Achievement while farming Harpies though it is still possible to earn this naturally close to the very end of Chapter 3.

After you have completed all there is to do on the Kaedweni side of the Battlefield, it will be time to cross through the Mists & head over to the Aederian side. Make sure you have invested (or plan to) two Talent Points into the Riposte & Combat Acumen Abilities so we can unlock their associated Achievements…

Chapter 2 – Outside Vergen Back Gates:

Achievement #30 – Threesome: Kill three foes at once by performing a Group Finisher.
When we exit Vergen in search of the Dun Banner Standard during Main Quest – Death Symbolized, we will come across a very large group of Bandits. Build up your Adrenaline Bar & gather at least three or more Bandits close together. Activate a Group Finisher, & you will kill three of them (the maximum). We will have many opportunities to unlock this Achievement in Chapter 3…

Note that you can only kill multiple human enemies with Group Finisher; using Group Finisher on monsters will only kill a maximum of one.

Chapter 2 – Upper Kaedweni Camp:

Achievement #31 – Necromancer: Relive all of Auckes's memories in Dethmold's Vision.
Missable. After we break the curse over King Henselt, we will speak with him at night in his camp when the Kingslayers will attack. When they are defeated, Dethmold will revive one using Necromancy & we will have to relive the memories of Auckes.

For the first memory, follow your Kingslayer companion along & do not die to the Harpies. When you enter the cave, be extremely vigilant to not step on any Traps laid on the ground; they are very difficult to see. Stepping on a Trap will fail the memory, but we have unlimited retries.

For the second memory, we must sneak through the camp undetected; becoming detected will fail the memory & void the Achievement! As soon as this memory begins make a Save! If you fail, reload your Save & try again; we will complete the memory when the guards ahead of us break apart & we stealthily kill one.

For the third memory, we will be walking in the cave system again. Make another Save! We will then be shortly teleported outside of Henselt’s tent & have to kill all his men. Dying here will void our Achievement, though it is difficult with how much health we have. Better safe than sorry with the Saves… We will unlock the Achievement after killing all of the soldiers… there is no surviving Geralt…

Sequence 8: The Way of Kings

1. Chapter 2: The Eternal Battle
2. Chapter 3: N/A
3. Trolls Slain: 3/3
4. Monster Contracts: 4/4
5. Achievements: 37/52
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Chapter 2 – The Battlefield:

Achievement #32 – Focus: Perform three successful Ripostes in a row.
Follow through with breaking Sabrina Glevissig’s curse & we will begin living lives of different soldiers throughout the historical battle. When we take control of Seltkirk of Gulet, we will face three waves of Kaedweni soldiers. Use this time to focus on this Achievement.

Lock onto an enemy & hold down block, when the icon flashes a sword at us, press quick attack to perform a Riposte. Do this three times in a row to unlock the Achievement.

Note that if you have this Ability unlocked for Geralt, it can literally be unlocked at any point so long as you are either fighting a few human enemies with swords or a single one with a decent amount of health. It can definitely be saved for Chapter 3…


Achievement #33 – Fat Man: Kill the Draug.
Story Related. At the end of our vision quest through the Mist, we must defeat the Visitor turned Draug to unlock the Achievement. It is the Kayran equivalent boss for Chapter 2…

Chapter 2 – Vergen:

Troll #2: After we join Roche in heading towards the siege of Vergen, our path will be stopped by the She-Troll as soon as we cross over to the Aedirian side of the battlefield. When she speaks to us, tell her to get out of the way which will provoke her; kill her for our next Troll kill.

Troll #3: Our final Troll can be found further along through the ravines ahead that lead to Vergen. When we find him, he will be being attacked by Kaedweni Soldiers. Kill them & the Troll will speak with us; tell him his wife is dead… & he will attack us. A little brutal… that definitely doesn’t feel right.


Achievement #34 – Trollslayer: Kill all the Trolls in the game.
Missable. This Achievement is misleading in the sense that only the three different Trolls we can speak to (decide to kill or spare) are for the Achievement even though there are actually four Trolls in the game. If you killed the Bridge-Troll in Chapter 1, & the She-Troll & the Drunkard-Troll just now you should unlock the Achievement.


Achievement #35 – Reasons of State: Stop Roche from killing Henselt.
Missable. After we defeat King Henselt in a battle at Philippa Eilhart’s house in Vergen we will have to make a decision. For this Achievement, that decision is to tell Roche, no, & not to kill King Henselt. This Achievement is extremely missable as… this definitely is a hard decision to make. So hard in fact, that I always reload my Save after unlocking this Achievement so that the other decision becomes “cannon” instead…


Achievement #36 – Alea Lacta Est: Complete Chapter 2.
Story Related. Complete the events at the siege of Vergen & we will carry on to Loc Muinne…

Chapter 3 – Loc Muinne:

When I reached Chapter 3, I was only around Level 27. We need to reach at least Level 34 before starting the final two Main Quests of this Chapter or we will not unlock the Guru Achievement. Note the location of the encampment for the Order of the Flaming Rose just outside the city; we will be returning here after completing up to the final few Main Quests to farm these per sods for experience…

Monster Contract #4 – Gargoyle Contract: Follow Roche to the central township of Loc Muinne & he will ask us if we are ready to chat with Radovid. Tell him we need to do some things first as we will save the Main Questline to the very end.

Head over to the nearby tavern & we can collect our final Monster Contract from the nearby Notice Board. To learn more about them, we can speak with Bras of Ban Ard or purchase Gargoyles, Gutters, Splutters – Maintenance & Repairs for 126 Orens from Felicia Cori. We now have to locate & deactivate three Magic Seals scattered around Loc Muinne.



Magic Seal #1: Backtrack near to where we first entered the city close to the Temerian Camp. Across from its entrance, will be a square section of the ruins we can enter where we will be ambushed by some Gargoyles. Defeat them, then search the ruins for a set of stairs leading down to a barred door. Head through it & we can find the chamber with the Magic Seals, though it is guarded by a Golem.

Dispatch the Golem, & now the tricky part begins. In each Rune Chamber, there are two different possible combinations that can happen, each with its order to extinguish the Seals in.



For our first Rune Chamber the puzzles are:
Glittering fish, Dying on a fresco, Struck by lightning
Making the Rune Encryption: Animal, Time, Death, Sky

Or

Behold the comet, It is like a wolf in times of scarceness, An evil lullaby
Making the Rune Encryption: Sky, Animal, Time, Death
Complete the correct encryption & disable the Magic Seals.

Magic Seal #2: Our second Rune Chamber can be found just South of our location at the other side of the Temerian Camp. For the encounter with the Gargoyles we will even get a little cutscene; the stairs leading down to the Rune Chamber will be in the center of this area.

The Rune Chamber puzzles are:
A doe's long shadow, The moon quietly moans, It is autumn already
Making the Rune Encryption: Animal, Sky, Death, Time

Or

Three field mice, Dance in a circle at dusk, Stars are like grain
Making the Rune Encryption: Animal, Death, Time, Sky

Magic Seal #3: Our final Rune Chamber can be found at the far West end of Loc Muinne near where the Mages Summit is going to take place. Go to the far North West end of the Amphitheater & we will be ambushed by another group of Gargoyles with the set of stairs leading down to the Rune Chamber close by.

The Rune Chamber puzzles are:
Divertimento!, Clouds are like bees, When bells ring
Making the Rune Encryption: Death, Sky, Animal, Time

Or

On the dark sky, The beauty of a falcon's flight, Faster & Faster
Making the Rune Encryption: Sky, Death, Animal, Time


Achievement #37 – Pest Control: Finish all Quests involving the destruction of monster nests.
We will unlock the Achievement after turning in the Gargoyle Contract if you completed the Nekker & Endrega Contracts in Chapter 1, & the Rotfiend Contact in Chapter 2.

Sequence 9: An Eye For An Eye

1. Chapter 3: A Summit of Mages, Enter the Dragon, Where Is Triss Merigold?, Returning Memories, The Assassins of Kings
2. Achievements: 44/52
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Chapter 3 – Loc Muinne:

With the Monster Contract completed, scour around Loc Muinne & complete any Side Quests that are available to us for maximum experience (Arm Wrestling, Dice Poker, etc.)


Achievement #38 – King Maker: Help Roche rescue Anais from the Kaedweni Camp.
Missable. When ready, join Roche in visiting King Radovid. Afterwards we will have a decision to make either save Triss or save Anais. For this Achievement, we must aid Roche & go & save Princess Anais from Dethmold.

Follow the Side Quest chain & complete Crown Witness as well as Lilies & Vipers. When they are done, link up with Roche in the sewers beneath the town square; do not speak with Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen outside of the Nilfgaardian Embassy or it will take us down the alternate path of saving Triss.

Complete the Main Quests For Temeria! & Of His Blood & Bone next; take Anais to John Natalis to unlock the Achievement. While we can hand her over to King Radovid, doing so will lock us out of being able to farm his infinitely spawning Knights of the Burning Rose & make the Guru Achievement essentially impossible to unlock!

Farming Experience: With every other Main Quest completed, we will unlock the Main Quest – A Summit of Mages. This is the point of no return for the game & once we begin it, we are locked in to the games end. Before we begin this Main Quest, we need to be at least Level 34 or we will never reach Level 35, voiding this Achievement.

If all Side Quests are completed for Chapter 3 (& there is not many here), we must look to farming enemies to gain experience. There are infinitely spawning enemies over near the main entrance to Loc Muinne, in the camp of the Order of the Burning Rose… if we make them hostile. Approach the camp outside the city & make a Save; when you are ready, draw your Steel Sword & start attacking. Note that we can only do this if you gave Anais to John Natalis at the end of the Main Quest - Of His Blood & Bone; giving her to King Radovid will make us unable to attack the Knights!

The named Knights here will infinitely respawn & will only attack us one by one; the experience they net us can be anywhere from 3-10… so yes, this is as tedious as it sounds. By this point I was already Level 32, so I had to farm out another 2 Levels before it was safe to continue. Be sure to make the occasional Save while doing this, as a slip up, can really set your farming back. I strongly recommend crafting the Steel Sword, Caerme, to really speed up our killing; we receive the Diagram to craft it by completing the Side Quest – An Encrypted Manuscript. It is essentially one of the best Steel Swords in the game, if not THE best.

Chapter 3 – Loc Muinne Amphitheater:

Achievement #39 – Witch Hunter: Leave Síle to die in the unstable portal.
Story Related. When you are Level 34, it is now time to end the game. Enter the Summit of Mages & it will play out as you have chosen. When the Dragon attacks we will have to run up into Síle de Tancarville’s tower. After our conversation with her she will attempt to escape, but Letho manipulated one of her Megascope crystals & she will die if it is not removed.

We have two choices, each with an associated Achievement; for this playthrough, do nothing, & watch Síle explode. Do not interact with her Megascope…


Achievement #40 – Being Witcher George: Kill the Dragon.
Story Related. With Síle dealt with, carry on to defeat the Dragon, Saesenthessis. After we ground the Dragon, we will have a choice: kill the Dragon, or walk away. For this playthrough, we will kill the Dragon for our Achievement…

Chapter 3 – Epilogue:

Achievement #41 – Once Ain’t Enough: Reach the Epilogue of the game.
Story Related. We will unlock this Achievement after the fate of the Dragon has been decided.


Achievement #42 – Guru: Achieve Character Level 35.
After we deal with the Dragon, we will receive one final Level ups worth of experience; if you farmed your way to Level 34 previously off of the Knights of the Burning Rose, you will reach Level 35 & unlock this Achievement.

It is almost impossible to unlock this Achievement without some form of farming involved…


Achievement #43 – Avenger: Finish the game by killing Letho.
Story Related. When we reach Letho in the game’s Epilogue, we once again will have a choice to make: let Letho go… or kill him. After our flashback with the Wild Hunt, tell Letho it is time to finish this & to give it his best shot... Kill the man, & we will unlock our final Achievement for this playthrough.


Achievement #44 – To Be Continued: Finish the game at any Difficulty level.
Story Related. We will unlock this Achievement after deciding Letho’s fate…

84% Complete

Sequence 10: Insane Difficulty

1. Achievements: 44/52
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Now this is going to be rough. Dying an Insane Difficulty will delete your Save File & you have to try again from the beginning; this takes place on Hard Difficulty with perma-death on, hence why beating our first playthrough on at least Hard Difficulty was a good idea for practice. Save often, & if at any moment you think you may have the slightest chance of dying, reload your Save & try again. The name of this game is going to be: flawless. Dodge & parry everything, by as “cheesy” as possible & take absolutely no chances.

Backing up Saves will not work; at any point if you die, all Saves linked to that playthrough will become unavailable & you will have to try again.

For your own reference/peace of mind, it took me five attempts to complete Insane Difficulty. The majority of my deaths took place in Chapter 1 for being cocky (minus one for dying to an unknown insta-death at the time), but one took place in Chapter 2... for being cocky & it was the most shameful thing ever. I was a mad boy.

Some important things to note:
- Disable the Difficult QTEs in Options – Gameplay as they are just an unnecessary risk

- Always, always, ALWAYS have the Quen Sign on & make getting more Vigor Bars a top priority #Quen is life

- Never let yourself get surrounded & roll around the battlefield to give ground as opposed to turning your back; Footwork is one of the most essential Abilities in the game

- Use Riposte, Aard, or Bombs to help deal with crowd control

- We will loot, yes it is time consuming, but we are building our run for success not failure. Orens are everything as only owning the best Weapons & Armor will get us through this alive & in one piece. After Chapter 1, your odds of survival exponentially increase due to better gear

- Complete easy Side Quests & skip the ones where we fight lots of monsters or enemies

- Pick lots of Alchemy Components for brewing Potions & Oils; we will be using them quite often with Swallow & Rook almost on indefinitely (especially Swallow)

- Focus on Leveling the Swordsman Path but quickly dabbling in Magic just to get the Enhanced Quen Ability

- The further we get into the game, the less dangerous every enemy encounter is; I go into detail over early fights & gloss over the ones later on. They are still fatal in the standard ways, but you should have the strategies in place by then to deal with them. Quen, roll, slash.

Sequence 11: Madman

1. Prologue: The Morning – La Valette Dungeons
2. Achievements: 44/52
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Prologue:

The Prologue is definitely one the of the hardest parts of the run, mentally, due to how many times you are probably going to be playing through it. The Prologue gets harder the more times you do it, as every repeat you will want to just rush through it. Try your best to stay focused & treat it like your first run; it is easy to make dumb mistakes & it will cost you. Play efficiently & defensively!

Level 1-4: With your first Level ups, put one Talent Point into Hardiness, Parrying, & Fortitude.

Prologue – The Morning:

Sapper Ability: When the Prologue begins at Foltest’s Camp, we can quickly snag ourselves a permanent Ability to give us a passive bonus for the entire game. First, place down one of our Conflagration Traps. Then go to disarm it but immediately interrupt the action by pressing our Medallion; do this 1-5 times & we will unlock the Ability.

This Ability will give us a passive 50% chance to avoid all damage caused by Bombs or Traps; extremely handy to have.

Newboy: Go speak with Newboy for the Side Quest – Melitele’s Heart; tell him not to use the Amulet & wear armor so he survives & can help us later on… do not bother taking the Amulet from him, however.

While some believe the passive health regen we get for completing Side Quest – Melitele’s Heart is essential for Insane, I am in the camp that believes it is not. The rate is heals us is so minor & the Quest is not only expensive to complete, but very dangerous/tedious; it is not worth it. Trust me, I got you.

Experienced Ability Part 1: With that done, head down into the lower area of the camp & destroy the five Training Dummies here to work towards the Experienced Ability.

Prologue – The Assault:

The Ballista: When commandeering the Ballista, face the La Valette Soldiers one on one when possible; always have Quen activated. Save after each of the phases of taking the Ballista.

Assassin Ability: After destroying the barricade with the Ballista, turn around & walk towards the sealed gateway behind us. Head to the right of the gate now & we can find a dead Assassino next to a haystack. Geralt will make a remark, & we will unlock the Assassin Ability that will grant us a passive 25% damage boost when delivering attacks to enemy’s backs! Requiescat in pace?

Lead Up to Aryan La Valette: Take advantage of the Temerian Soldiers & do not engage the La Valettes directly whenever possible for extra security; always have Quen activated.

When approaching his tower, once again, always have Quen on & hide behind barricades as you make your way over to avoid getting hit by crossbow bolts. If you are confident in your dodging, you can blast soldiers off the walkways with Aard.

Aryan La Valette: When you reach Aryan, of course, tell him to stand down & avoid this combat sequence altogether. Do not spam dialogue too quickly in case you choose the wrong option accidentally.

Prologue – The Dragon:

The Dragon Part 1: Always have Quen on & do not go anywhere until you do. Use your ears & listen for if the Dragon is breathing fire or not; if it is, stay underneath the hoardings & wait for it to stop to avoid getting burned.

Prologue – The Temple:

Pillage the Village: You can make quick pit stops into the houses inside the castle grounds here to collect some loot & Orens. (Ignore this if you are on Attempt 3+ to save some time)

Complete the Side Quest – Woe to the Vanquished as well & rescue the trapped Peasants for some extra Xp.

The Temerian Sword: When we enter the sewers below the castle, take out the first Drowner we encounter. Head over to the passage that carries on to the next Drowner, but do not go through it yet. Instead, look to the passage’s left & we can find a breakable wall we can destroy with Aard. Do so, & we can loot this Sword off of a skeleton. The Temerian Sword deals 11-14 damage instead of our Longsword’s 8-11 damage.

Tower Knights: When we exit the sewers into the tower above & observe the Scoia’tael down below, we will have an impending fight that is pretty difficult. We face the Knights on the floor above us in tight quarters & they can be a bit of challenge. Activate Quen & use a Samum Bomb or Aard to disorient the ones we are not focusing on.

Gate Guard’s Key: When we enter the courtyard to get the Gate Guard’s Key, we will have to fight five La Valette Soldiers at once. Three are regular Soldiers, one has a shield, & the other is a knight with a greatsword. Never get surrounded & roll around the courtyard to give ground. Take out the weaker Soldiers first than juggle the knight & the shield soldier focusing on only dealing backstabs so they do not block us. As always, have Quen on!

Prologue – The Dragon… Again:

The Dragon Part 2: Our next encounter with the Dragon is near the end of the Prologue as it chases us across the bridge with Foltest. Though it isn’t difficult, simply run to the end of the bridge without stopping, if for whatever reason the Dragon catches us it will be an instant kill.

Prologue – La Valette Castle Dungeons:

Jailbreak: When we escape our cell, we will have to Fist Fight the nearby guards. If you provoke them, you can instantly take one out & only have to Fist Fight one of them; do not lose or it is game over. Double check to make sure you have Difficult QTEs disabled.

Throughout the dungeons, if you are detected try kiting the guards into a staircase so you can fight them one by one; do not get surrounded.

The Executioner: Whether you catch Aryan in the halls as he is brought to the Executioner or he is already there, we will need to deal with this foe. He packs a wallop but he is only one man & no match for Quen spamming. Get behind him & smash him with the Blackjack; it is possible to stun lock him as well by spamming Quick Attack. Be sure to loot the Executioner’s room for a whole bunch of Crafting Components. Note that this becomes optional if you do catch Aryan in the hallway…

Newboy’s Distraction: If you told him not to wear the Amulet back in The Morning, we can find Newboy just outside the dungeons. Tell him to create a distraction & he will give us a clear shot to the Temerian Special Forces Warship, so long as you do not chase after them…

Sequence 12: Plough em All!

1. Chapter 1: Flotsam, Forests Near Flotsam
2. Trolls Befriended: 1/3
3. Achievements: 44/52
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Level 5-8: Put another Talent into Hardiness, Parrying & Fortitude. Then we can unlock the Swordsmanship Path; put one Talent into Footwork.

Chapter 1 – Flotsam:

A Scoia’tael Ambush: After we arrive on the outskirts of Flotsam, we will be attacked by Iorveth’s elves. They should not pose too much of a threat so long as you do not leave Triss’s magical forcefield. If you are over encumbered, just drop a few Items & return to pick them up after we finish this section.

Saving Our Friends: When we go to rescue Dandelion & Zoltan, it will be another QTE sequence that we can’t fail, or we will die.

Experienced Ability: Now let us waste no time & get this Ability so that we can reap the benefits immediately. Since the Soldiers will attack us if we draw our Sword, unequip it, & destroy the Training Dummies with our fists. This is where I died during my first attempt at this thinking, I could do destroy them quickly enough that they wouldn’t attack me… but they did, & for whatever reason I panicked & didn’t reload.

We can find: two Training Dummies in the Flotsam Guardhouse (building to the right of Vilmos Bartok’s Incense Shop), & two Training Dummies outside both of the main gates leading out of Flotsam into the forests. Having 10 destroyed total will unlock the Experienced Ability giving us an extra 10% bonus to experience gain.

Flotsaming Around: Before we leave Flotsam, try completing all the Fist Fighting, Dice Poker, & Arm Wrestling Side Quests for extra Orens & easy experience. A special note however, do not play Sendler in Dice Poker until we are completing the Troll Trouble Quest; if you beat him early, you will not be able to play him in Dice Poker for the She-Troll head!

Get enough Orens through looting to purchase the Robust Cutlass (313 Orens) & the Robust Witcher’s Silver Sword (267 Orens) from the Mysterious Merchant near the Harbor. Be sure to also brew up a stockpile of Cat, Rook, & Swallow as well.

Watch out for the Bandits that come after us in Flotsam for the Kingslayer’s Bounty; they gave me my second death because I got cocky & one of them got me bleeding…

When you speak with the Merchant about getting paid for the Kayran Contract, make sure you get them to double the bounty; when we actually do get paid later on, we will unlock the Haggling Ability which will be very useful…

Meeting Loredo: Go to see Loredo in the evening & make sure you collect the component for the Kayran Trap behind his house. We will also collect the Astrogarus’ Armor which will tide us over until we can craft the Hunter’s Armor.

Chapter 1 – Forest Near Flotsam:

Cedric: It is time to leave Flotsam now, speak with Cedric & progress the Main Questline further. Purchase the Kayran Trap Diagram & Grapeshot Formula off of him while you see him.

Melena & Nekker Contract: We can complete these two Side Quests fairly easily; be extra careful when fighting the Nekkers to not get surrounded or take too much bleed damage. Do Side Quest – Melena, before the Nekker Contract as we can learn about Nekkers just by killing the ones we find in the caves. Hand her over to Loredo’s men to complete the Quest straight away for a reward & experience.

Be sure to drink Swallow & Rook!

Endrega Contract & The Scent of Incense: Hold off on completing the Endrega Contract, the Endrega Queens are too dangerous to risk it right now… Wait to complete this after you have unlocked the Footwork Ability down the Swordsmanship Path.

Be extremely careful if you give the scholar the false Incense Recipe as well as being captured/fighting him & his Bandits can be really risky. If you could not get the real Recipe, just refuse to give the scholar the fake one & he will walk away. We will then get ambushed by him & four Bandits just outside of Lobinden, but this is a much easier encounter to fight them with how much space we have around us.

Troll #1: Accept the Side Quest – Troll Trouble & find the Bridge-Troll. Very carefully fight it off; keep your distance & only attack it from behind. Once he is defeated be sure to ask why he is drinking instead of saying not good enough & killing him.

Agree to help him find his wife’s killer & speak to the hunter, Sendler, in Lobinden to get a lead. Ask him to take the She-Troll’s Head off his hands & he will play us for it in Dice Poker. If you have not beaten the other players at the Flotsam Inn you will have to come back & do that. Beat Sendler at Dice Poker & ask him for something else other than coin; we can then ask for the She-Troll head. This is mandatory for this playthrough as this will net us the best Armor set in Chapter 1…

Regardless about playing him at Dice Poker, he will tell us about the actual killer Dmitri & how to find him. When we find the location of the killer, he will be in the Lobinden graveyard with three other Bandits. Be very careful fighting him & be sure to prep with Potions. Take no risks. Be sure to loot the Bandit Hideout Key off of Dmitri as well…

When he & his men are killed, return to the Bridge-Troll to tell him the deed is done. When we turn in the Side Quest to Chorab, this will mark our first of three Trolls befriended for the Friends of Trolls Achievement.

Hunter’s Armor Diagram: Give the Bridge-Troll his wife’s head & we will receive this Diagram as a reward. It is stronger & cheaper to build than the Kayran Carapace Armor making it ideal for this playthrough.

Summer’s Crown Ability: While in the area with the Troll, head down the river & up the broken bridge to access the side area with the Bandit hideout at the end. Defeat the Bandits & head over to the right of the hideout against the cliff wall to find the statue we interacted with for the Summer Solstice Achievement. When we interact with it, we will receive the Summer’s Crown Ability that gives our Quen Sign a pretty useful 10% chance to set attacking enemies on fire.

Superb Cutlass: If we looted the Bandit Hideout Key from the Troll Hunters, we can unlock the Bandit’s hideout & can acquire the Superb Cutlass which is the second best Steel Sword in Chapter 1!

The Kayran’s Lair: Go to the Kayran’s Lair with Triss to investigate. For the pack of five Drowners, take advantage of poor Triss & use her to distract them while we roll around to attack them from behind.

Before leaving the area, make sure to check inside the wrecked ship to collect the Side Quest – Mystic River. It will be very important later on…

We can find a Royal Mailbox in Louis Merse’s house, the guy we get our pay for completing Monster Contracts from.

Sequence 13: Of Witcher's & Men

1. Chapter 1: Flotsam, Forests Near Flotsam
2. Troll’s Befriended: 1/3
3. Achievements: 44/52
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Level 9-11: Put one Talent into Riposte, & Position as well as one more Talent into Footwork. Riposte is mandatory for Chapter 2 as we will play as other characters occasionally & very few of our Abilities will apply to them; Riposte does & it will save your life!

Chapter 1 – Flotsam:

Hunter’s Armor: The Hunter’s Armor can be crafted extremely easily & should be done so immediately. Leave the Enhancement slots open on this Armor unless you are using Dwarven or Diamond Armor Reinforcements; anything short of these will actually do us more harm than good in the long run.

Witcher’s Superb Silver Sword: We will receive the Diagram to craft this Silver Sword after we turn in the Endrega Contract; craft this before the fight with the Kayran.

Chapter 1 – Forests Near Flotsam:

Boss Fight – The Kayran: The Kayran sucks & is going to be our first major hurtle for this playthrough. You will want to drink Mongoose & possibly Rook as well but it is optional; apply one of our ten Whetstones to our Silver Sword. Do not bother using Swallow. At any point when we are hit without Quen on, we will be reloading our Save, the Kayran knocks out 45% of our health per attack & we won’t risk waiting around for Swallow to restore us to full health making it useless for the fight.

If you take damage, just reload your Save & try again instead of leaving anything to chance. Always, always, always have Quen on! Use the Kayran Trap right away to cut off one of the three tentacles we need to destroy. Never stay out in front of the Kayran.

With three Vigor bars available to us, try only using Yrden at two bars; if possible always have at least one Vigor bar available at all times for emergency Quen. Again, if you take any form of health damage at all, reload your Save & try again. If you run out of Vigor & cannot apply Quen, reload your Save & try again.

Do not forget to keep Quen applied even when going to finish the Kayran off; it can still do some devastating damage to us.

Chapter 1 – Flotsam:

Haggling Ability: If you asked for double on the Kayran Contract, turn in the Quest to the Merchant & we will receive this Ability. This grants us a permanent 20% discount at all Shops. Extremely useful!

Stocking Up: We now have some expensive purchases to make before we reach the end of Chapter 1. First, purchase the Diamond Armor Reinforcement Diagram from Sendler in Lobinden. Craft as many of these as you can (at least three for now for the Hunter’s Armor; we will nine of these in total for the full playthrough). This will massively increase our survivability!

Then purchase a good supply of Ysgith Runes from the Mysterious Merchant; these are the best Runes in the game & can only be bought from him. He does appear in Chapter 2 as well, but not Chapter 3.

Chapter 1 – Forest Near Flotsam:

Resistance to Magic Ability: This is a very important Ability as it will give us a passive 20% damage reduction from Magic. Take Triss with you to find the Rose of Remembrance but when you are together in the bath, do not share a moment together & instead tell her it is time to go. Escape using Aard & we will get our Ability. Disappointing, but the benefits are worth it…

Meeting Iorveth: This is a point of no return as once we see this meeting with Iorveth through, we will have our Boss fight with Letho. It is definitely going to be the single hardest moment of Chapter 1 so make sure you are fully prepared.

Hunter’s Armor with three Diamond Armor Reinforcements attached. The Superb Cutlass or the Jagged Blade; Jagged Blade Diagram can be bought from Berthold Candeleria & is the best Steel Sword in Chapter 1. You will need to farm some Endrega for the required amount of Endrega Teeth. Our Cutlass should do just fine; personally, I never have bothered crafting the Jagged Blade.

The Arachas: Before we find Iorveth, we need to defeat his “pet” Arachas. If you can kill Endrega Queens, then this should pose no more of a threat; it does hit harder though so do not be careless. Keep up your Quen & maybe use some Rook & Swallow just in case. Keep attacking it in the back to stun lock out & avoid fighting it from the front; if you have the Footwork Ability maxed out you can easily stay behind it by rolling.

Iorveth: When speaking with Iorveth, do not call him a murderer… or he will do just that & get his Scoia’tael to shoot us to our deaths. Be friendly, especially since he is now our new Vernon Roche for this playthrough…

When you are finished talking with Iorveth, tell him we need to do some things first instead of going to see Letho immediately. This way, we can drink Potions & make a Save right before seeing him.

Iorveth’s Sword: After you have made your preparations & Saved, confront Letho with Iorveth. Be sure to drink Rook, Swallow; we can also pray at the Shrine at the bottom of the hill to receive a Circle of Vitality.

Quickly walk Iorveth over to Letho to not waste our preparations. When Roche & the Blue Stripes ambush us, be sure to give Iorveth his sword; Iorveth will remember this…

Boss Fight – Letho of Gulet: The best way to fight Letho… is actually aggressively. It sounds counter intuitive to everything I have been saying, but it is the most effective way. With our maxed out Hunter’s Armor, we should be pretty tanky & well beyond one-shot territory. The best way to beat Letho is to spam Aard to keep him off balance & attack him. The trick is to obliterate him in under 30 seconds. If you run out of Vigor or he casts Quen, roll around him but do not give too much ground as he will start throwing Bombs & Signs at us. With Footwork maxed out we can very safely evade his attacks & motor around the arena while he has his Quen Sign on.

If you sustain too much damage, immediately reload your last Save. Take no chances now that we have come so far!

We only need to get Letho down to half health to end this fight!

Do not forget to grab your Steel Sword off the ground after the fight; do not confuse it for the Robust Long Sword here as that is something else & no where near as strong!

Sequence 14: The Scoia'tael

1. Chapter 1: Flotsam, Forests Near Flotsam
2. Chapter 2: The Battlefield, Vergen
3. Troll’s Befriended: 1/3
4. Achievements: 44/52
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Level 12 -16: Put another Talent Point into Position, then shift over to the Mage Development Path & put one Talent Point into Enhanced Aard Sign, & two Talent Points into Enhanced Quen Sign. This is all I would spare for the Mage Path & the rest should go into the Swordsmanship Path. The only Ability that could be useful from the Alchemist Path is the Alchemist Ability, but only if you like using Bombs a lot. With our last Talent Points, put one in Schemer is this will also help us later.

Chapter 1 – Flotsam:

Flotsam Riots: When we return to Flotsam, the town will be in a riot; while most shops are now permanently closed, we can still shop at the Mysterious Merchant. Be sure to pick up some Ysgith Runes before we end the Chapter; he will be in Chapter 2, so it is not the end of the world if you do not.

At A Crossroads: After we find Cedric, we will get our two divergent Questlines; go & link up with Iorveth at the Elven Ruins.

Finale: When we help Iorveth, convince him to do our plan instead of his; we still have to do some fighting, but it will be less dangerous for us.

After the fighting & we steal the barge, we will jump ashore & have to make another decision: chase after Loredo or rescue the Elven women trapped in a burning building. Our final decision only alters the dialogue at the end of the Chapter, there are no ramifications for either choice.

There is a chance for an instant kill if we go to save the Elven women. Take too long to unbind them at the top of the tower & we will burn to death; we basically have under a minute to do this; it claimed my fourth death… Choose this option at your own risk.

Chasing after Loredo is actually the safer option in my opinion, even though it is way way more scummy. When we reach him, we first have to defeat four heavy mercenaries before we can fight Lordeo & a Temerian with a shield. Just kite the enemies around & whittle them down; this is not too difficult. Be careful because Lordeo can pack a bit of a punch however, always keep up your Quen.

Chapter 2 – The Battlefield:

Anytime we are on The Battlefield, play with the utmost diligence & care. This is the single most dangerous place for us on our Insane Playthrough. Take no chances & reload at the slightest sign you may be overwhelmed or killed.

Prince Stennis: When we begin Chapter 2, we will play the prologue as Prince Stennis, the late King Demavend’s son. When speaking with Henselt, provoke him & do not agree to his terms of your surrender or hand Saskia over. Instead, tell him we will reimburse him for coming to Aedirn & he will challenge us one on one to a duel.

When we duel him or if he attacks us with his men, be extremely careful as we are not Geralt & Stennis sucks! Run away & play defensively while Saskia & the Aedirnians do the heavy lifting. Henselt is the target & when his health is whittled down will progress us forward. If you have Riposte, simply use it repeatedly & nothing else to take Henselt out.

The Endless Hoard: Now for the hard part, but fortunately we return to play as Geralt. Carefully fight off the Wraiths & go no where! Whatever you do, do not leave the area limits or it will be instant death; stick close to Saskia at all times.

After we kill enough Wraiths, two Draugir will appear & we will need to defeat them. Keep Quen up & do not fight them directly; attack them from behind when Saskia or Iorveth are distracting them.

When the Owl arrives, never leave her shield or we will be annihilated! Carry on a little ways forward & another Draugir will come to disrupt us. Focus on destroying the Wraiths to continue & let Iorveth duel the Draugir. We will need to do this three times before we can escape the Mist. We will not have Swallow active so try your very best not to take any health damage!

Chapter 2 – Vergen:

Princess Xenthia’s Sword: After following Skalen Burdon to our room when we arrive in Vergen, we can now free-roam a little bit of Vergen. Speak with Skalen again & ask to play him in Dice Poker. Play him until you win, & we will receive this Steel Sword as a prize; this is the second best Sword in Chapter 2 & we already have it!

The War Council: Leave the Inn after completing the Fist Fighting event & go to the Saskia’s war council now & we will unlock a whole slew of Main Quests we need to complete. Go & initiate each one by speaking with their respective characters to progress the Quests outside of Vergen.

Robust Meteorite Silver Sword: Before we carry on with Chapter 2 & begin fighting things, we can also acquire the best Silver Sword in Chapter 2 right off the bat as well. Speak with the Craftsman, Haggard, outside Philippa’s house & we can purchase either the Yellow, Red, or Blue Robust Meteorite Silver Sword Diagram to craft.

Since Silver Ore is a pain to come by, you can also just buy the full on Robust Silver Sword from the Mysterious Merchant close to the Vergen Inn entrance; he only sells Blue & Yellow however.

Whichever Silver Sword you end up with, be sure to place two Ysgith Runes in it & we do not need to worry about that weapon type for the rest of Chapter 2.

Saving For Dragon Scale Armor: To receive the best Armor set for Chapter 2, we need to purchase it from Mael near the Vergen front gates. The problem is it costs close to 3000 Orens. Hoard your money, & sell off a lot of non-essential crafting components & monster parts for cash as we continue onwards. Our Hunter’s Armor will carry us until we get it…

Apart from the Dragon Scale Armor, all other Armor sets & Swords we need to make it through Insane Difficulty can simply be collected as loot or received as rewards for completing Quests. If you blow all your Orens on the Dragon Scale Armor, it will not be the end of the world. All other purchases are going to be very mundane.

Sequence 15: Vatt'ghern

1. Chapter 2: Vergen, Outside Vergen Back Gates, Outside Vergen Front Gates
2. Troll’s Befriended: 3/3
3. Achievements: 45/52
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Level 17 – 22: For our next Talent Points, put one more Talent into Schemer, one in Tough Guy, two in Hardy, & then one in both Precision & Invincible.

It is very important to remember that this is Chapter 2 now & enemies are stronger; we can’t mow them down like we could near the tail end of Chapter 1. Proceed with the same caution as you did at the start of the game.

Chapter 2 – Vergen:

Subterranean Life: With our new Swords, we can easily start cutting our way through the next set of Quests. Enter the mines beneath Vergen & collect the Immortelle. Be sure to have a supply of Cat & to enter the quarry with an empty Inventory; there is lots to loot down here! If you have at least three Grapeshot Bombs, we can simultaneously complete Side Quest – Hey, Work’s On In the Mines! by closing off the tunnels where Rotfiends are entering the mines from.

Like all large enemies, just get behind the Bullvore where the Immortelle is located & mash attack into him! After collecting the Immortelle, choose to stay behind if you have not sealed all the tunnels for the other Side Quest; return to the surface if you have.

Vergen Clean Up: Return to the Vergen Inn during the afternoon & complete the Arm Wrestling Quest with the Dwarves.

Purchase the Surgical Tools from Felicia Cori at the market before we leave Vergen to the areas outside it; we need these for a Side Quest in the catacombs.

Chapter 2 – Outside Vergen Back Gates:

Magic Crystal: Exit out of Vergen through the back door & we will enter the small outer area where we go to collect the Dun Banner Standard.

Beware of the Scoia’tael Bandits we will encounter at the lake just outside Vergen; I got cocky still operating under Chapter 1 rules… & they full on killed me, taking my fourth death. I was pretty pissed & ashamed…

When they are defeated, head over to the far side of the lake where we will be attacked by some Harpies at a small pond. Near the pond, there will be a long hill above the lake that we can head up. Follow it along over some gaps, defeating more Harpies along the way, & we will eventually come to a ruined tower. Climb up to it & we can collect this Quest Item we will need later.

Death Symbolized: When you enter the catacombs where the Dun Banner is, proceed with caution as the Wraiths here can pack a wallop. Always have Swallow & Quen on. The dialogue choices for receiving the Dun Banner without a fight are:

“I served in the Banner”
“You got it wrong”
“Menno Coehoorn”
“Coehoorn is dead”
“Vandergrift & Seltkirk”
“Biggerhorn took me prisoner”

Metal Fragment: We can also examine the corpses for the Side Quest – With Flickering Heart in the catacombs here as well before we leave; with the Surgical Tools, pull out the Metal Fragment from the corpse for a better end to this Side Quest if you decide to help the Succubus.

Chapter 2 – Outside Vergen Front Gates:

Never ever enter the Mist unless it is time to cross over to the Kaedweni side! It will mean certain death for us…

Hunting Magic: Before we leave Vergen again, pop in to see Philippa & show her the Magic Crystal we found to progress this important Main Quest & get the Runic Key from Cecil.

Harpies: Head out the front gates of Vergen now for the other half of the area. Go down to the Harpy lair in the large quarry. I don’t recommend completing the Harpy Contract however as it is costly getting the Harpy Traps & tedious; you can finish it if you want but it is not necessary.
The Harpies in the quarry will respawn every 2-3 days & will be your Oren farm should you need them.

Harpy Lair: Drink some Swallow & Rook, & enter into the Harpy’s Lair. Fight through the caverns & locate the Dream Projector. Here we will fight a hoard of Celaeno Harpies as well as the Harpy Queen. Back pedal quickly the way we came & fight the Harpies one on one as best you can; do not get surrounded or we are finished! Killing the Queen will give us a Monster Contract that we can automatically go & turn in now.

There are five Crystallized Dreams in total we can loot from the Lair. We need the Red Crystal for the Main Quest, but we also need the Silver Crystal to witness Baltimore’s dream which will help get us the best Steel Sword of Chapter 2…

ALL the Harpy Feathers: Speak with Elthon in his cabin at the top of the Harpy quarry & he will give us series of three Side Quests to bring him Harpy Feathers. This is definitely optional as Harpy Feathers are good money for us, but if you are pretty loaded with them then feel free to pawn them off to him.

He needs: 12, 60, & 8 sets of Harpy Feathers. After we give them to him, walk away up towards Vergen a short distance & return to finish the Quest. This is mostly a good way to get Orens…

Troll #2: Leave the Harpy’s quarry & carry on through the gullies above them. We will shortly come across the Drunken-Troll & he will task us with finding the She-Troll before he gives us Triss’s bandana.

Troll #3: Head along over top of the Harpy’s quarry & we will find the She-Troll, however she will be attacked by Adam Pangratt & his mercenaries. Defend the She-Troll & defeat them; knocking out Adam first will end the fight early.


Achievement #45 – Friend of Trolls: Spare all 3 Trolls in the game.
Missable. Tell the She-Troll to return to the Drunken-Troll to repay you for saving her, & if you spared the Bridge-Troll in Chapter 1, we will unlock this Achievement after we receive Triss’s bandana from the Drunken-Troll.

Sequence 16: On Trial

1. Chapter 2: Vergen
2. Achievements: 45/52
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Level 23-26: For our next Talents, put two Points into Invincible, one Point into combat Acumen, & two more into Magical Vigor down the Mage Path.

Chapter 2 – Vergen:

Kingslayers… But Peasants: Return to Philippa & show her Triss’s bandana to progress the Main Questline. You will then be notified shortly that the peasantry is going to go & lynch Prince Stennis. When Iorveth disperses the crowd, he will ask for our help; make a Save afterwards as this is time sensitive & can end in less ideal circumstances. We can only speak to a few groups before it will trigger the next part of the Quest.

First, go to speak with the three Dwarves off our right, Eddard Webber the goblet maker, & he will name Thorak as a possible suspect. Now go speak with the group of Aedirnian Peasants up ahead; not Johlan! Speak with the Peasants & they will give us the name of Saskia’s servant, Willy, to speak with next.

Now do not speak with anyone else & leave the area to go find Thorak; switch your current Quest to Suspect – Thorak to find him. This will also progress the Side Quest – Baltimore’s Nightmare as well which we need to complete for the best Steel Sword. Speak with him about Runesmith Baltimore before questioning him about Saskia & the goblet. Enter into Baltimore’s workshop & use Aard on one of the walls at the back to enter into a side room where we can loot Baltimore’s Key; when Thorak asks if we found anything when we leave, tell him nothing.

With that set up, go & locate Willy Oblate & when he tries lying to us, use the Axii Sign to give us a new lead on Reverand Oclan. Quickly go to Cecil now to find the location of the Reverand’s home. Run back down Vergen & search his home now to find more clues.

Gwyhyr: With that all wrapped up, we now need to go get distracted & set up the rest of Side Quest – Baltimore’s Nightmare. With Baltimore’s Key, run down to Elthon’s cabin just above the Harpy’s quarry. To the left of his house will be a boulder at the cliff edge with a symbol carved into it. With the Quest progress, run all the way down to the bottom of the quarry & we can head up a small hill to the left of the Harpy Lair entrance. Use Baltimore’s Key to unlock a hidden Chest up here to collect the Runic Key.

Now leave the quarry & take the path through the cliffs past where our Troll friends are. When we exit out onto the cliffs above the quarry, take the closest path off our right & we can find a wrecked ship close to an entrance to the Mist. From where we walk into this area, head left along the cliff wall through some vines, & we can find a secret entrance. Loot Baltimore’s Notes from a Chest & we will be attacked by Thorak & two other Dwarves. The quarters are tight in here & we can be easily overwhelmed; Quen up & stay on your toes!

Loot Thorak’s Key off him & run all the way back to his house now. Loot Oclan’s Receipt from a lockbox inside & we will complete the Side Quest – Suspect: Thorak. Hand it over to Cecil & we will receive Gwyhyr, our best Steel Sword. With three Ysgith Runes socketed into it, we will not need a new Steel Sword for the rest of the game!

Saving Stennis: Return to the mob at the castle & tell them not to hang Stennis as it will be a bad idea & defend the Prince in the debate.

Preparing For the Mist: With Stennis kept alive, we now need to cross over the Mist to the Kaedweni Camp where we can get our only other remaining Achievement for this Chapter 2. Go to Philippa & she will agree to give us protection when we enter the Mist.

Dragon Scale Armor: But that will not be good enough or rather we will not take any chances. Before we cross over, make sure your Robust Meteorite Silver Sword & Gwyhyr all have Ysgith Runes in them. As well, purchase the expensive Dragon Scale Armor from Mael in the market square & socket it with either our crafted Diamond Armor Reinforcements or the equivalent Dwarven Enhancements.

Sequence 17: The Blood of Kings

1. Chapter 2: The Battlefield, Kaedweni Camp
2. Achievements: 46/52
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Level 27: Put a Talent Point into Whirlwind.

Chapter 2 – The Battlefield:

The Cross Over: When you have made your preparations, enter the Mist & prepare for some defensive fighting. Follow Philippa through the Mist, & like our first time here, Draugirs & Wraiths will block our passage. This time we do not have Iorveth & must fight alone. Kill the Draugirs first by attacking them in the back before dealing with the Wraiths; we will only be stopped twice. Always have Quen!

Chapter 2 – Kaedweni Camp:

Roche: When Roche finds us, tell him that we are looking for Triss. He will give us two options to get through to Henselt: the caves or through the camp. For our Achievement, we need to sneak through the camp. But that is also the most dangerous option as getting caught is an instant kill!

Head up to the Quest Marker up North & reach the cliff drop off down to the beach; we will have to kill some Rotfiends along the way. Get over to the beach & we can climb up into the Kaedweni Camp beside the canteen, & our fun begins.

Make a Save! If you get detected, reload your Save before the death screen appears! You have a few seconds of cinematic showing Geralt sneaking along & getting shot by an arrow & you can reload your Save even when we see the arrow hit him, just do not watch the whole thing, reload immediately if this happens.


Achievement #46 – Black Ops: Sneak through the lower camp without raising the alarm.
Missable. Stay close to where we climbed up beside the canteen & wait for a drunken soldier to stumble out of it; you may need to get a little bit closer to the tent to get him to leave. He will teeter down the camp & take a left in between the tents. When he disappears, head up to the next tent off our right & douse the brazier.

Next, wait for the two soldiers sitting by the fire he passed by to get up & leave. When they walk away, cut diagonally across the camp over towards the blacksmiths area & carefully head up to the Eastern wall. Follow it along to the right & stop rounding the corner out into the open as a group of soldiers will come marching by from the entrance that leads outside to the Brothel.

Wait for them to march by (there are six of them total) & carry on along the walls around the camp. Walk behind the tents & slow down as a soldier will turn around & walk away off our right. Keep following the walls to the far end & we can find a cook near a campfire. The cook has to see us! It sounds counter intuitive, but quickly approach him & we will be prompted to calm him with Axii which will allow us to continue. Avoiding him will get us seen by soldiers…

Walk over along the walls past the tents & quickly duck back behind to get that group of patrolling soldiers to enter through the gates we need to get through. Wait for them to pass by, & head through the gates to exit the camp. Make a new Save before exiting the camp.

Outside, we can find a lone Kaedweni Soldier with a spyglass overlooking the sea. Quickly & carefully sneak up behind him & knock him out! With him gone, we are in the home stretch. Run down the beach & enter into the caves to unlock the Achievement.

If you want a visual step by step, here is a good video by IGN that will walk you through it. Note that this was done on Xbox, & the camp layout is slightly different. The big difference being that when we go to sneak to the other side of the camp past the blacksmith, there is actually a door/loading screen in the Xbox version where we can just walk on over along the wall on PC. They also do a bunch of looting which I do not recommend; why take the risk?

https://youtu.be/TfwwML69P7I
The Caves: Head through the caves now & for the most part it is just more of the same fighting Rotfiends. Be careful if you explore around as there is a Golem down one of the side passages; no more difficult than a Bullvore.

The Nilfgaardian Camp: Exit of the caves on the other side where a Nilfgaardian Soldier will stop us. Enter the camp, speak with the Ambassador, & events transpire forcing us to battle the Nilfgaard Sorcerer, Vanhemar. He is no match for a maxed out Gwyhyr or our Dragon Scale Armor; just attack him until he shields himself, then dodge his fireballs until it wears off.

Choose to stay behind instead of following Roche to loot the Armor of Loc Muinne from Vanhemar which will sell for some good Orens.

Chapter 2 – Upper Kaedweni Camp:

Black Ops II: We have one more stealth section now before we reach Henselt. The same rules apply as our first round of stealth through the camp; if you are detected, reload your Save immediately & do not watch all of the cinematic of us being shot.

Follow Roche up to Henselt’s camp & make a Save! Quickly hide behind the crates off our right as he leads a group of Soldiers away. When the doors close behind them into the Nilfgaardian Camp, sneak around the right side of the camp behind the tents. Sneak in behind Henselt’s tent & we can see a stack of barrels we can cast the Aard Sign on. Do so, & quickly head back the way you came as the guards will come around the right side of the tent.

Sneak into the tent undetected to trigger our cinematic with the King of Kaedwen. You have to be quick running to tent after using Aard as it does not take long for the Soldiers to walk back to guard the entrance & catch us.

Chapter 2 – The Battlefield:

Crossing Back Over: Once we are escorted out of the Kaedwen Camp, we must head back to Vergen through the Mists. Just like before, stay within Philippa’s barrier & slay any Draugirs or Wraiths that try stopping us.

Sequence 18: Loss of Neutrality

1. Chapter 2: Vergen, The Battlefield
2. Achievements: 46/52
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 28-32: Put one more Talent Point into both Combat Acumen & Whirlwind. After that, you can spend your Talents however you like: Tough Guy & Violence are good choices.

Chapter 2 – Vergen:

The Final Preparations: Return to Vergen & we will have finally reached the beginning of the end. The next sequence of the Main Questline will take us into the Eternal Battle. Before continuing, make sure you have purchased & crafted anything you might need.

Since the Mysterious Merchant is not found in Chapter 3, be sure to purchase a final three Ysgith Runes from him for our last Silver Sword we get later. If possible, prep a Specter Oil that we can take with us; we will apply it to our Silver Sword just before the Draug Boss fight.

Speak with Philippa, cure Saskia, & all that will remain is lifting the Curse… the most difficult part of our Insane playthrough…

Any unfinished Side Quests you have not completed yet will fail upon entering The Eternal Battlefield; be sure to complete the ones you need/want to do before doing this.

Chapter 2 – The Battlefield:

The Eternal Battle: This is the most difficult part of our playthrough as we will be playing as three different characters that are not Geralt. Only Abilities from the Training/Swordsmanship Paths will transfer & even then not all will. What is worse, is that when we finally do return to Geralt, we will have no time to drink Potions (Swallow) & must defeat the Draug flawlessly.

Having five Vigor Bars is going to be essential for victory; make sure you put two Talent Points into the Magical Vigor Ability.

When you have steeled yourself… enter the Mist for the last time. Note that while we cannot Save during The Eternal Battle, the game will automatically Save after we play as each Wraith. If you are even the smallest chance at risk of dying, reload your last Autosave & try again. We are basically in the clear after we complete this; you got this!

Capturing the Dun Banner: Our first Wraith to control will be from Aedirn; him & his men are tasked with capturing the Dun Banner Standard. We cannot roll or use Quen, but we can parry & Riposte anyone we fight. There are three Kaedweni Wraiths & one Draugir we must kill. Take out the Wraiths before killing the Draugir. If at any point you are surrounded, overwhelmed, or even slightly at risk of dying, reload! Riposte them all to death!

Kaedwen Reinforcements: The next Wraith to control is the worst… the poor Kaedwen Soldier sent to get reinforcements. We must run from barricade to barricade avoiding the flaming arrows from our own allies. A barricade is only good for one barrage & will catch on fire when it is hit. This sucks as death is almost guaranteed if we are caught in a barrage. Crank your volume as every volley is lead by a horn blast; run the moment the arrows stop falling to the next barricade. The timing is merciless between volleys…

Seltkirk of Gulet: Our next Wraith to control will be the great knight Seltkirk. This section is not so bad & is a bit easier than playing as the first Wraith. Once again, Riposte everyone to death & fight defensively, not letting anyone get backstabs on you.

Slaying the Visitor: Now for the moment of truth, the Draug fight. As insane as it sounds, we will be using identical tactics to how we defeated Letho in Chapter 1; blasting him with Aard & going berserk on him with Heavy Attacks. As soon as we control Geralt again, open your Inventory up & apply the Specter Oil or a Whetstone if you have them for an extra bit of edge. Ha.

As soon as the Draug appears, hit him with Aard & attack him until just before he blocks us with his shield. If he does block you, immediately follow up with Aard; rinse & repeat. This fight should take you well under 20 seconds to complete without you taking a scratch. The Dragon Scale Armor plus all the Vitality boosting Abilities should keep us safe barring being stun locked & backstabbed.

The Flaming Priest: Our final Wraith is the Priest that leads the Kaedweni Soldiers off the battlefield. Just run, do not even wait for the Soldiers. The meteors landing zones are marked by a red aura; avoid them, though we can take the odd blow if you are at full health. Escape the battlefield… & we win.

Chapter 2 – Vergen:

The Siege of Vergen: When we come to, we will be back at Philippa’s house. Re-equip your blades & go to meet Zoltan to begin the last moments of Chapter 2. Nothing is outrageous compared to what we have already done; just humans killing humans at this point.

Pour the burning oil on the Kaedweni, flee from Dethmold with Zoltan, & defend the inner city from the waves of enemies coming up the ladders. After we fight off the first wave of Soldiers coming up the ladders, we will Level up, & can even Meditate in this moment. Do so, & drink some Swallow as a fail safe!

Dethmold: Assist Saskia in retaking the mines below Vergen & drive Dethmold & his Mercenaries off. Use Saskia to our advantage & let her distract/stun the Mercenaries; always have Quen on. Drink Cat as well when you can!

When we kill enough of Dethmold’s Mercenaries when we locate him, he will light us on fire in a cinematic. Do not panic, this is scripted, & this is not an “insta-kill” situation!

The Final Push: After Saskia’s speech we will be back to knocking the Kaedweni off the walls. Defeat the waves, & after enough have been slain, the siege will end; escort Zoltan to close the main gates to cut off the Kaedweni retreat & Henselt surrenders.

Saskia & Philippa will shortly depart to Loc Muinne through a portal & we will leave with Iorveth not long after, ending Chapter 2.

Sequence 19: Prelude to War

1. Chapter 3: Mountain Path to Loc Muinne, Loc Muinne, Loc Muinne Amphitheater, Epilogue
2. Achievements: 52/52
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3 – Mountain Path to Loc Muinne:

Deithwen: When the Chapter begins, we will follow Iorveth along the mountain path to Loc Muinne. Unlike in Roche’s path, we cannot waltz into Loc Muinne through the front gates & must follow Iorveth through the caves below it.

Before we enter the caves, make a Save; the best Silver Sword in the game (for our purposes) can be found at the dead end to the left of the cave entrance here. But be warned, when we walk through the passage, an Arachas will spawn ahead of us & behind us, trapping us. People refer to this as the “Arachas-sandwich encounter”.

Drink some Swallow to prepare & walk to the passage with Quen on. As soon as we see the Arachas spawn ahead of us, turn around & get past the one behind us so we can fight them with our back protected. If you can manage this, killing them at this point should not pose to much of a problem; if you walk far enough away from them they will turn around & walk away which leaves their backsides exposed.

When they have been killed, head down to the dead end & we can find Deithwen in a pile of bones; socket it with the three Ysgith Runes we bought, & we are set.


Achievement #47 – Winter Solstice: Enter the caves now with Iorveth & fight through the Endrega to the other side. When you reach the wall we need to climb to enter the city, head up the slope off our right instead to find the Winter Shrine. Stand in the aura & bow to receive the Winter’s Shroud Ability & unlock our Achievement.

Chapter 3 – Loc Muinne:

Armor of Ysgith: When we enter Loc Muinne, make your way over to the market square trying to avoid as many enemy Soldiers as possible; if you do have to fight, be cautious & do not let yourself get surrounded. When you get to the market, head over to where Mighty Numa is & we can find the entrance to the sewers off his left.

Drink some Cat & enter them; we need to pass through them to find our new Armor set as well as for finding Philippa in her cell. Take a right down the tunnel through a group of Rotfiends & head down to the tunnels end where an iron gate will let us carry on.

Before passing through the gate, search this room for a Chest that can only be opened by the Royal Mail Key we got from the Side Quest – Mystic River. Open it to collect the Armor of Ysgith; not to be confused with the Diagram for the Armor of Ys which we can also find in this room.
It is wholly unnecessary to craft the Vran Armor for the rest of Mystic River; the Armor of Ysgith, when modded with Diamond Armor Reinforcements, is very sufficient to get us through the rest of Chapter 3.


Achievement #48 – Spellbreaker: Help Iorveth find the dagger needed to free Saskia from the spell that holds her.
Missable. Carry on through the sewers until you locate Philippa. Once you do, we will have to make a decision to either leave her to go find Triss or release her so she can save Saskia. Release Philippa & complete the Main Quest – The Spellbreaker to unlock the Achievement. Choosing to save Triss instead will void the Achievement.

The correct diagram in Philippa’s Notes is randomized of the three so it may take some trial & error; for me the correct one was the third diagram. In any case be sure you have completely full health before attempting to solve the puzzle as failing will get us damaged & poisoned a decent amount. You will also want to Save before attempting this as well.

We do have to fight an Elemental at the end of the Quest; just stay behind it with Quen on & it will not be a problem.

Chapter 3 – Loc Muinne Amphitheater:

This is it, the final hurrah. Get to the Conclave & initiate the sequence of events that will end with our Boss fight with the Dragon. Before we run up to enter Síle’s tower, quickly Meditate & drink some Swallow & Rook.

When we go to enter Síle’s tower, the stairs you walk up will fall away as you pass! Do not hesitate, & run up them to get to Síle or they will fall away & kill us!


Achievement #49 – Sensitive Guy: Save Síle from dying in the unstable portal.
Story Related. When we reach Síle, she tries to portal away, remove the flawed crystal from her Megascope to unlock the Achievement.

Boss Fight – Saesenthessis: Now for the Dragon. Like all other Boss fights, our strategy is to annihilate Saesenthessis in under 20 seconds. Apply a Whetstone or Falka’s Blood if you have them, apply Quen, & wait for the Dragon to break through the walls. As soon as she does, start slamming it with Heavy Attacks; when our Quen is knocked down, immediately roll away & re-apply it.

After a few seconds, a cinematic will occur & the Dragon will fly away. Climb to the top of the tower for the second phase of the fight. Use the same strategy & mash Heavy Attack into the Dragon until it is dead; be careful as even with all our Armor & Vitality, we can still take some damage if we are too reckless. Since we are not spamming Aard, we can spare our Vigor for keeping Quen active at all times. Stay focused for the last time!


Achievement #50 – Dragonheart: Spare or save Saskia.
Story Related. If you completed Main Quest – The Spellbreaker, we will automatically save Saskia using Philippa’s Dagger, unlocking the Achievement.

Chapter 3 – Epilogue:

We only have two more small fights, with Soldiers, before we reach Letho. Like in all things, take no chances & kill them carefully; these are our final fights of the game.


Achievement #51 – Old Friends: Finish the game by sparing Letho.
Story Related. When we reach Letho in the city square, speak with him & when the two choices appear for us, tell him to go somewhere far away & leave for our Achievement.


Achievement #52 – Madman: Finish the game while playing at the Insane Difficulty level.
Story Related. If you successfully made it through the game on Insane Difficulty, this Achievement will unlock at the beginning of the Credits after Dandelion’s post-game debriefing. Congratulations, this was a true test of mettle!

Conclusion:

Assassins of Kings is an amazing installation in the Witcher series & has some of the best story telling there is in video games. There are a few missable Achievements that need specific conditions, but all in all, it is not too difficult of a 100% barring Insane Difficulty of course. It is doable with persistence & grit teeth, but I will be the first to say that this is definitely not the kind of game to have a perma-death feature involved… I have seen that Prologue enough for a life time. 100% took me 75 hours but half that time came from my attempts at Insane Difficulty; you have a good chance of completing it faster. Fortunately for us, there is no Insane Difficulty in Witcher 3...

If this guide helped you achieve 100%, rate the guide or let me know in the comments. Helps me know if I am doing things right!



100% Complete
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[Moead_AI]

Thank you so much for putting together your guide. The amount of detail and care you put into make it easy for me to follow and beat it on my first try

[KANTENMANN]

More in-depth explanation:

As far as I can tell only, a single value decides whether your save is dead or alive. For me, my current entry is
3E C2 AE 91 31 70 AA 54 35 DF DC BD BC 70 1E D8 57 ED 65 2D A4 16 57 04 11 8E AA CD 39 00.
When making a new save, only the first 3, last three before 00 and the value that is currently "65" changes. However, when I die and my saves become unavailable, the value "35" in 9th position changes to a "34". When I only change this value back to "35" and restart the game, I can play any save of the run that is supossed to be lost. My guess is that the values that change between saves only determine the time at which the last legitimate insane save was made and the values that dont change are either system specific or also part of the time values.

Im not sure if the 34-35 and the position of this value is the same for everyone. You may have to figure out at which position your "death counter" is and what value corresponds to "alive" and "dead".

[KANTENMANN]

For anyone looking to cheat the permadeath of insane difficulty:

After doing the first playthrough in 2022, I finally returned to get the second one done.
Ill share my findings that were inspired by a previous commenter

When you die, your saves dont actually get deleted.
What actually happens is that a token in the windows registry gets changed so the game knows internally that you died.

To be able to play from a "dead" insane save, you just have to change back the token:
1. open "registry editor", which is preinstalled with windows.
2. In the folders on the left, navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\CD Projekt RED\The Witcher
3. There, you will find a list of entries in the format "name/type/data". The one governing the state of insane difficulty ist called "GameData"
4. Double-press the "GameData" entry and it will show you the complete hexcode.
5. find the value "34" and change it to "35"
6. restart your game and the insane saves should be available again

[Cynic 0055]

Hey B L I T Ξ, sorry about that & I think I gloss over a lot of that Chapter in those Sequences & try only covering the information pertinent to getting through it to remain "speedrun-esque", though that could have made some of the transitions between descriptions a bit more jarring. Might have been able to have an extra Sequence's worth of information to spread things out more.

[B L I T Ξ]

btw During my path to Madman I actually leveled to 35 without any grind for Harpies, Flaming Rose, or anything alike. Just natural playthrough. Even missed some side quests.

[B L I T Ξ]

Great guide! Made my 100% almost with no issues, however I was quiet confused during the what you called "Sequence 15" and "16". Could be just my weak English or this was actually described inconveniently.

[DeXter]

Thanks guys

[Stan]

I did import it and it worked

[Cynic 0055]

Hey DeXter, you should be able to. It shouldn't disable anything for you. Only a few things will carry over from Witcher 1 & I am pretty sure they get out-levelled during Act 1 though.

[DeXter]

can i get madman achievement even if i import my save from the witcher 1??