The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
78 Achievements
2,000
157.5-196h
Card Collector
Acquire all gwent cards available in the base version of the game.
15
1.11%
How to unlock the Card Collector achievement in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Definitive Guide
Note: Previously I had called this solution a work in progress. I think it is now 99% accurate and completely usable to earn this achievement as long as you read the whole thing and learn where the missable achievements are! If there's anything more to add, just drop a comment and I'll make sure it is added!
Overview
This achievement is tied to Secondary Quest: Collect 'Em All. When you complete the quest, you unlock the achievement.
This is a tough collectible achievement. There are at least 12 confirmed missable cards tied to Secondary Quests and Gwent Quests.
You can get gwent cards in a number of different ways.
1. Base Deck
2. Gwent Quests (These are where you'll find the missable cards)
3. Secondary Quests (These are where you'll find the missable cards)
4. Win
5. Purchase (One missable card - the quest, a Contract, is noted in the secondary quest section)
Whenever you unlock a new area, make it a priority to play all the Gwent Players and buy all the cards. Many quests can cause players and vendors to leave or die, potentially preventing you from earning the achievement. I finished this achievement as soon as I made it to Skellige at Level 15.
There are a total of 199 cards in the base game. Future expansions will add more. They are not required for this achievement. There are 119 unique cards. You only need to collect one of each card - not the duplicates.
The cards are divided into four decks. These are listed below with the number of cards in each deck.
Northern Realms - 37 Cards
Nilfgaard - 38 Cards
Scoia'tael - 37 Cards
Monsters - 40 Cards
Leaders - 16 (Four Each)
Neutral - 31 Cards
Base Deck
There are a number of cards available in the base deck. I'll update this soon with a list of all of them, but they're not really worth worrying about as you'll always have them.
Gwent Quests
Throughout the game you will pick up Gwent Quests. These come from notice boards or finding and challenging the people the quest will send you to. There are five Gwent Quests in the game. The quests are below. They are organized as follows:
Player Name - Location - Card Reward
Some of these are MISSABLE if you proceed too far in other quests. I suggest doing them as soon as they are available. The person should drop their card nearby if they are gone, but that seems to not always be true. If the next person is not willing to play when you encounter them, keep playing the game while checking back periodically - they will likely become available at a later point.
Gwent: Velen Players
Baron Phillip Strenger - Velen (Crows Perch) - Sigismund Dijkstra (if gone, card on table)
Old Sage - Velen (Benek) - Crone: Weavess
Boatmaker - Velen (Oreton) - Letho of Gulet
Haddy - Velen (Midcopse) - Vernon Roche
Gwent: Playing Innkeeps
Stjepan - Oxenfurt (The Alchemy Inn) - Yennefer of Vengerberg
Oliver - Novigrad (The Kingfisher Inn) - Tibor Eggebracht
Barkeep - Velen (Inn at the Crossroads) - Menno Coehoorn
If Oliver dies during Secondary Quest: Now or Never, his card is next door. Go through a side door and look for a box on a dresser. If you want to avoid spoilers and want to make sure he doesn't die, either complete this quest first or...
Gwent: Big City Players
Vimme Vivaldi - Novigrad City (Hierarch Square) - Vesemir
Marquise Serenity - Novigrad City (Passiflora) - Morvran Voorhis
Sigismund Djikstra - Novigrad City (Bathhouse) - Esterad Thyssen (must meet in story)
Scoia'tael Trader - Novigrad (SW of City) - Cirilla and another card
Gwent: Old Pals (Start by talking to Zoltan after the Novigrad Main Quests)
Zoltan Chivay - Novigrad (Rosemary and Thyme) - Eithné
Vernon Roche - Novigrad (Temerian Partisan Camp) - Saesenthessis
Lambert - Kaer Morhen - Triss Merigold
Thaler - Novigrad - Geralt of Rivia (complete Secondary Quest: A Deadly Plot)
Gwent: Skellige Style
Ermion - Skellige (Kaer Trolde) - Leshen
Crach an Craite - Skellige (Kaer Trolde) - Draug
Sjusta the Tailor - Skellige (Kaer Trolde Harbor) - Yaevinn
Gremist - Skellige (Gedyneith) - Avallac’h (Mysterious Elf)
“Madman” Lugos - Skellige (Kaer Muire) - Vampire: Katakan
Secondary Quests
The following Secondary Quests will earn you gwent cards. For the ones in Novigrad, simply ensure that you complete all the Secondary Quests in the city as they come up before continuing with the Main Story. You'll get them all. If you go too far in the story, you can miss some of them.
Novigrad
Secondary Quest: A Dangerous Game
- John Natalis
- Isengrim Faoiltiarna
- Fringilla Vigo
Secondary Quest: A Matter of Life and Death (Find the ! once you're at the party)
- Milva
- Vampire: Bruxa
- Dandelion
Secondary Quest: Following the Thread
- Nekker. Card is looted off a named enemy in Skellige. Others have had it magically appear in their inventory. Failing that, see if Lambert will play you when you meet him at the Nowhere Inn. If all 3 methods fail, restart the quest and try again.
Secondary Quest: High Stakes
- Foltest, The Steel-Forged
- Emhyr var Emreis, The Relentless
- Francesca Findabair, Queen of Dol Bathana
- Eredin, Destroyer of Worlds
Skellige
Secondary Quest: Shock Therapy
- Iorveth. This quest is located at Gedyneith, the home of the druids on the main island.
Contract: The Phantom of Eldberg
- Buy all the cards from the innkeeper in Arinbjorn before you complete this quest. They become missable after it's done.
Winning Against Gwent Players
There are tons of gwent players throughout the world. Any time you see anyone that sells anything, you should speak to them to see if they play gwent. Oftentimes they will. Beat them to win a card from a pool of random cards.
Bad Luck? If you have beaten most of these and just need a few cards, you can save your game and beat them over and over until you get a card you need (as opposed to a duplicate).
There are more players than random cards. So if you can't find one, you can safely move on. I've found at least 5 extra and there are probably more than that.
Save before each duel. If a player doesn't give you a card as a reward, reload the game and try again. A few didn't give me the reward the first time but they did on my second attempt or even my third. They all definitely give cards as rewards, so make sure you get them.
Here is a list of the ones I have found so far. I welcome more in the comments below. It's a work in progress! Hopefully it will help some, at least.
White Orchard
Professor - White Orchard - In the very first inn, when you ask the patrons about Yennefer...He always gives Zolton Chivay and I'm not sure there's another way to get that card
Vizima
Nobleman - Vizima - In the courtyard on a bench
Velen
Blacksmith - Velen - Blackbough
Merchant - Velen - Blackbough
Armorer - Velen - Midcopse
Merchant - Velen - Midcopse
Quartermaster - Velen - Crow's Perch
Trader - Velent - Crow's Perch
Fergus - Velen - Crow's Perch
Yoana - Velen - Crow's Perch
Blacksmith - Velen - Lindenvale
Merchant - Velen - Lindenvale
Trader - Velen - Oreton
Merchant - Velen - Downwarren (Do this ASAP - He might leave during Main Story)
Eggebracht - Velen - Army Camp in SE
Merchant - Velen - Claywich (Must rescue from bandit camp to the SE, a decent distance away)
Novigrad
Armorer - Novigrad - Oxenfurt
Merchant - Novigrad - Oxenfurt
Blacksmith - Novigrad - Oxenfurt
Merchant - Novigrad City - South West of Hierarch Square (small square)
Blacksmith - Novigrad City - South West of Hierarch Square (small square)
Loan Shark - Novigrad City
Merchant - Novigrad City - Next to Loan Shark
Merchant - Novigrad City - South East of Hierarch Square
Merchant - Novigrad City - Putrid Grove
Innkeeper - Novigrad City - Golden Sturgeon
Merchant - Novigrad City - Just South East of St. Gregory's Bridge
Innkeeper - Novigrad City - SE of St Gregory's Bridge
Herbalist - Novigrad City - South of Hierarch Square, on other side of river
Elihal - Novigrad City - East of Gate of the Hierarch
Priest of Eternal Fire - Novigrad City - Electors' Square, Temple Isle (alchemy vendor)
Madame - Novigrad City - Brothel at the docks
Merchant - Novigrad City - North-side of port
Merchant - Novigrad City - North-side of port (Must save from bandits in city first)
Innkeeper - Novigrad - Cunny of the Goose
Innkeeper - Novigrad - Seven Cats Inn
Alchemist - Novigrad - Just outside of the city, North of Oxenfurt Gate fast travel
Herbalist - Novigrad - Herbalist's Hut (Northeast of Oxenfurt)
Skellige
Herbalist - Ard Skellig - Kaer Trolde Harbor
Jonas the Innkeep - Ard Skellig - Kaer Trolde Harbor
Armorer - Ard Skellig - Kaer Trolde Castle
Blacksmith - Ard Skellig - Kaer Trolde Castle
Merchant - Ard Skellig - Blandare
Innkeeper - Ard Skellig - Arinbjorn
Armorer - Ard Skellig - Kaer Muire
Smith - Ard Skellig - Kaer Muire
Merchant - Ard Skellig - Holmstein's Port
Smith - Ard Skellig - Fyresdal
Merchant - Ard Skellig - Fyresdal
Blacksmith - Faroe - Harviken
Innkeeper - Faroe - Harviken (only appears at certain times)
Armorer - An Skellig - Urialla Harbor
Blacksmith - An Skellig - Urialla Harbor
Innkeep - An Skellig - Urialla Harbor
Blacksmith - Spikeroog - Svorlag
Merchant - Spikeroog - Svorlag
Innkeep - Spikeroog - Svorlag
Innkeeper - Hindersfjall - Larvik
Blacksmith - Hindersfjall - Larvik
Buying Cards
It's also possible to buy many cards. Always talk to traders to see if they sell cards. Occasionally they will sell them even though they do not play themselves. Make sure you visit these traders and buy their cards as soon as possible! A few quests will make these traders inaccessible, but never without you having had a chance to get them first - so visit them asap as soon as you get anywhere near them.
Here is a list of the ones I have found so far. I welcome more in the comments below. It's a work in progress! Hopefully it will help some, at least.
White Orchard
Innkeeper - White Orchard - Town (During Prologue only, replaced by Merchant below)
Merchant - White Orchard - Next to Bridge in Town (After Prologue, in Patch 1.04)
Velen
Merchant - Velen - Midcopse
Quartermaster - Velen - Crow's Perch
Trader - Velen - Crow's Perch
Merchant - Velen - Lindenvale
Merchant - Velen - Claywich (Must rescue from bandit camp to the SE, a decent distance away)
Novigrad
Stjepan - Novigrad - Oxenfurt
Oliver - Novigrad City - Kingfisher Inn
Marquise Serenity - Novigrad City - Whorehouse
Innkeeper - Novigrad City - Golden Sturgeon
Merchant - Novigrad City - Just South East of St. Gregory's Bridge
Innkeeper - Novigrad - Cunny of the Goose
Innkeeper - Novigrad - Seven Cat Inn
Skellige
Jonas the Innkeep - Ard Skellig - Kaer Trolde Harbor
Innkeeper - Ard Skellig - Arinbjorn
Innkeeper - Faroe - Harviken
Innkeep - An Skellig - Urialla Harbor
Innkeep - Spikeroog - Svorlag
List of All Cards
This is a work in progress. It is mostly complete, but it is not fully complete. As with everything else, if you have anything to add, please do! For instance, I know the starting cards are partially incorrect. If you can help with what those are, that'd be a great help!
Do the cards with the same names but different artwork count separately? I'm fairly certain only the name matters. If you have one "Ghoul" then you're good, you don't need all three. That said, it's not really anything to worry about. It's fairly likely you'll easily get almost every card, if not every card, before you unlock the achievement anyway.
Below, I've listed unique cards. This refers to whether the cards "stack" in the deck builder or not. Cards that have a separate slot are considered unique, even if they share a name. As I said above, I think you only need one of these named cards, but you'll likely get them all anyway and better safe than sorry.
Neutral (31 Total, 17 Unique)
Northern Realms (37 Total, 29 Unique)
Nilfgaardian Empire (38 Total, 32 Unique)
Scoia'tael (37 Total, 37 Unique)
Monsters (40 Cards - 40 Unique)
Leaders (16 Total)
--
So hopefully this helps. I wanted to get out what I had so far since no one else was making a solution. Please leave comments with advice and more if you have any. This is definitely a work in progress!
1] This is not a Gwent strategy guide, just a Traveling Salesman solution to obtaining the cards. You should already know Gwent well before starting.
2] This guide doesn't itemize the cards; those lists are available in the other solutions. If you do the following quests, in the order specified, and play/buy as instructed, you will get all the needed cards. If you want to track your cards, be forwarned, that patch v1.07 changed some of the card locations around. As an example, Midcopse cards can now be bought in Lindenvale. Trying to track specific cards to specific locations is more difficult now, as they migrate around the map in your favor.
3] Play on easy. We're only doing required quests, so you'll be running numerous levels below the suggested ones. Put your acquired abilities on Fast Attack, Strong Attack, Igni, Quen, and one on Axii and Vitality. Don't worry about side quests to level-up, you'll be fine (at least until the end).
4] Money will be tighter than usual in the beginning. Conserve it for buying cards. Don't buy any swords, armor, or potions and you'll be fine.
5] Save before and after every match. I had to play the nobleman 6 times instead of once for failing to follow this simple rule. (Game crashed during fast travel)
6] Numbers in square brackets below refer to map locations as described at: http://www.gosunoob.com/witcher-3/gwent-players-merchants/
7] Refer to http://witch3map.com for more detailed locations of players/sellers within a town if you get lost.
Kaer Morhen
- Play through the Prologue.
White Orchard
Lilac and Gooseberries
- Beat the Scholar at Gwent
- Buy 5 cards from the Innkeeper. With the v1.07 patch, you can keep coming back to the inkeeper, and she will have another Decoy card to sell, until you get all 3 of them (for a total of 7 cards). Number of cards available at other Decoy sellers will vary, based on the number of Decoys you obtain here (the game will not exceed 3 Decoys)
- [Level 3] The Beast of White Orchard
- [Level 2] The Incident in White Orchard
Palace of Vizima
[Level 2] Imperial Audience
- Play the nobleman. He can be beaten with your weak deck, I did it on the first try. And again on the sixth attempt (see Rule #5).
Velen
[Level 5] The Nilfgaardian Connection
- Go to the Inn at the Crossroads. Buy 5 cards from the Innkeeper. Don't play the innkeeper yet; your deck isn't good enough.
[Level 6] The Bloody Baron
- Buy from the Trader, Crow's Perch. Total number of cards depends on how many you bought in White Orchard; I was able to buy 4. [7]
- Play the Trader, Crow's Perch [7]
- Play Fergus the Blacksmith, Crow's Perch [5]
- Play the Quartermaster, Crow's Perch [6]
- Buy from the Quartermaster, Crow's Perch [6]
[Level 6] Family Matters
- Play merchant in Blackbough [2]
- Play blacksmith in Blackbough [1]
[Level 5] A Princess in Distress
- Play the Bloody Baron, Crow's Perch. You should take the Lubberkin choice, then go inside and play the Baron while the Lubberkin bakes. [3]
- Play the merchant in North Oxenfurt. Swim across the river on the northwest side of Oxenfurt to avoid bridge restrictions. [5]
- Play the armorer in North Oxenfurt [4]
- Play Stjepan, innkeeper at the Alchemy Inn, Oxenfurt [3]. Play first, buy later.
- Buy 3 cards from Stjepan
- Play the blacksmith in south-east Oxenfurt [2]
- Play herbalist NorthEast of Oxenfurt [6]
- Play blacksmith in Lindenvale [8]
- Buy from merchant in Lindenvale [9]
- Play merchant in Lindenvale [9]
[Level 5] Hunting a Witch
- Buy cards from the merchant at Midcopse [11]
- Play the merchant in Midcopse [11]
- Play the armorer in Midcopse [10]
[Level 6] Wandering in the Dark
- Play the merchant in Oreton [13]
[Level 6] Ladies of the Wood
[Level 5] The Whispering Hillock
- That leaves three Players/Sellers to come back to later in Velen (Either your deck is not good enough, or your level isn't high enough)
Novigrad
You need to play these Novigrad quests for 3 reasons:
1] You need to do Get Junior to finish Big City Players,
2] You need to do A Poet Under Pressure to play at Vegelbud,
3] You need to level up to survive the first mission to Skellige.
To avoid drama at the bridges, just fast travel to the herbalist north-east of Oxenfurt, then ride up the east bank of the river to Novigrad, until you arrive at the Seven Cats Inn. Then start a massive Gwent-playing campaign:
- Buy cards from innkeeper at Seven Cats Inn [8]
- Play innkeeper at Seven Cats Inn [8]
- Buy cards from innkeeper at Cunny of the Goose [9]
- Play innkeeper at Cunny of the Goose [9]
- Play Elihal the Tailor [10]
- Play merchant in the market by Tretogor gate [not marked]
- Play dwarven herbalist south of Hierarch Square, across the canal [20]
- Play the madam at Crippled Kate [23]
- Buy cards at the Golden Sturgeon [19]
- Play the innkeeper at the Golden Sturgen [19]
- Play fish seller west of Hierarch Square [16]
- Play the merchant across from the blacksmith [15]
- Play blacksmith north west of Hierarch square [14]
- Play the bookseller in north Hierarch square [13]
- Buy from Olivier at the Kingfisher [12]
- Play Olivier at the Kingfisher [12]
- Play merchant near north notice board near Passifiora [4]
- Buy 4 cards in the Passifiora [2]
- Play innkeeper at The Nowhere Inn [5]
- Play the merchant across from the loan shark [7]
- Play the loan shark south west of Oxenfurt Gate [6]
- Play the alchemist north of Oxenfurt Gate [3]
- Play the priest near Elector's Square [1]
That's about as good as your deck will get without doing some quests. So first finish Gwent: Velen Players:
- Play the Old Sage in Benek
- Play the Boatbuilder in Oreton
- Play Hadko the Card Prodigy in Midcopse
- Receive the reward card
Now finish Gwent: Playing Innkeepers
- Play Innkeeper at the Inn at the Crossroads
[Level 10] Pyres of Novigrad
- Play the merchant inside the Putrid Grove area. He is unreachable until you start this quest.
- Play the blacksmith south of Hierarch Square [18]. He has a surprisingly good Monster deck.
- Play merchant just west of the above blacksmith
Start Gwent: Big City Players
- Play Vimme Vivaldi [17] to start the quest
- Play the Marquise Serenity at the Passiflora [2]
[Level 7] Novigrad Dreaming
[Level 11] Broken Flowers
- Play Zoltan once you chase all the leads, starting Gwent: Old Friends
- Play Vernon Roche
[Level 12] Get Junior
- Play Sigimund Dijsktra
- Play Scoia'Tael Trader
- Receive card as reward for finishing Gwent: Big City Players
[Level 12] Count Reuven's Treasure
[Level 11] The Play's The Thing
[Level 13] A Poet Under Pressure
- Subquest: [Level 12] A Matter of Life and Death
- Play for Milva at Vegelbuds
- Play for Vampire: Bruxa
- Play for Dandelion
- Subquest: [Level 12] A Dangerous Game
- Zed - obtain Isengrim
- Ravik - obtain John Natalis
- Caeser - obtain Fringilla
- It should go without saying, but when given the option of keeping the cards, or taking money, you take the cards.
- Turn on the [Level 14] Now or Never Quest. This will show you Triss's location. Suggest the sewer option to her quest. At the end:
- Accept [Level 14] A Deadly Plot, and release Thaler. You have to play Lambert before Thaler, so you can't play Thaler yet.
Velen Cleanup - Including the Claywich Merchant Solution
There are 2 hostage rescues you shouldn't attempt until you level up, and one player whose deck is too good to play until this point.
The v1.07 patch fixed the Claywich merchant bandit key drop issue (in fact, the bandit leader now has 2 keys). However, either the Merchant often doesn't survive the walk back to Claywich, or if you follow him, he simply stops walking when he perceives potential danger (he also takes a very long indirect path nearly to Crow's Perch, and then turns down toward Claywich), and completely disappears if you meditate. Here's the solution: before doing anything, fast travel to Crow's Perch. Ride down to Claywich to locate the fast travel point. Ride back up towards Crow's Perch, and then take the NorthEast fork. Take out the cowardly knight at the cluster of 3 houses (just SouthEast of the Crow's Perch waypoint). Take the South path at the next fork (go around the house), and kill the 4 bandits on the road NorthWest of Boatmaker's Hut. Take out the Monster's Nest on the West edge of Boatmaker's Hut. Head East out of town and when crossing the bridge, take the violent path in the discussion with the toll-taking bandits, and kill them all (there is a non-violent alternative, but it will mess up the merchant). Finally go to the bandit camp, which is a circular fort of sharpened logs, and Save before you get close enough to alert the bandits. Then kill all the bandits, and take the key. Save. This is the most important Save of the game. Save. Release the merchant. Go to the fast travel pole and meditate for 23 hours, then fast travel to Claywich. I found him there in the NorthWest-most house. If you don't find him, reload your save, release the merchant again, then follow him back to Claywich. I've drawn the merchant's path here:
Then:
- Buy cards from the merchant in Claywich. [12]
- Play the merchant in Claywich [12]
- Go southwest of Mulbrydale, rescue the armorer. Then play in Mulbrydale [1]. It should be noted that the armorer made it to Mulbrydale, and would play Gwent, but gave no card upon losing. Your mileage may differ.
- Play Yoanna the Blacksmith's apprentice, Crow's Perch [4]. She has one of best Monster decks in the game, and is very difficult to beat until you flush out your deck.
- That completes everything in Velen. Go to Novigrad and hire a boat to Skellige.
Skellige
- Turn on Following the Thread, kill about 50 people, find Hammond, then return to the Nowhere Inn and play Lambert (back in Novigrad). This is a tad tricky. Before going into the Nowhere Inn, save. During the discussion with Lambert, say you will meet him at the next destination, and as he stands up, quickly talk to him again before he leaves in order to start the Gwent game. You need to play him here; if you miss him, you will not get another chance until near the end of the game back in Kaer Morhen.
- Play Thaler at the Seven Cats Inn (back in Novigrad). That completes everything in Novigrad except the final tournament.
- Fast travel back to Skellige, and start island hopping. You may have to take a boat to some of these locations, depending on which maps you've picked up.
An Skellig (North East island)
- Play blacksmith in Urialla Harbor [1]
- Buy cards from innkeeper at Urialla Harbor [2]
- Play innkeeper in Urialla Harbor [2]
- Play the armorer in Urialla Harbor [3]
Hidjarsfall (East Island)
- Play the armorer in Larvik [1]
- Play the merchant near the inn in Larvik [2]
- Play the innkeeper at the House of Warriors inn [3]
- Play the blacksmith in Larvik [4]
Faroe (South East Island)
- Buy 4 cards from innkeeper in Harviken [1]
- Play the innkeeper at the Inn in Harviken [1]
- Play the blacksmith in Harviken [2]
Spikeroog (North West Island)
- Buy cards from innkeeper in Svorlag [1]
- Play innkeeper in Svorlag [1]
- Play merchant in Svorlag [2]
- Play blacksmith in Svorlag [3]
Ard Skellig (Large, central island)
- Buy from Jonas the innkeeper at the New Port Inn [3]
- Play Jonas [3]
- Play the blacksmith at Kaer Trolde [1]
- Play the armorer at Kaer Trolde [2]
Fayrlund
- Play the blacksmith [3]
- Play the merchant [4]
Arinbjorn
- Buy 4 cards from innkeeper [2]
- Play the innkeeper [2]
- Play the blacksmith [1] (didn't get a card from him). In fact, you should now be out of random cards, and get no additional cards from playing random players any longer. If you picked up a card here, you've missed something. In that case, continue down the west coast to Holmstein's Port and nearby Kaer Muire, where you can find 3 more players. All remaining cards will come from quests.
Go back to Kaer Trolde, and pick up the contracts on the Kaer Trolde Notice Board to start Gwent: Skellige Style. You'll have to play through the first 2 Skellige quests to get access to Ermion:
[Level 16] Destination: Skellige
[Level 16] The King is Dead
[Level 13] Echoes of the Past. Technically, this is not needed to get to Ermion, but it will automatically start when you approach him. It's unavoidable, even if you turn on the Gwent quest. After this quest completes, turn on Gwent: Skellige Style. Then:
- Play Ermion
- Play Crac an Craite
- Play Sjustra the Tailor
- Approach Gremist to play, but he will give you the quest:
[Level 24] Practicum in Advanced Alchemy. This is a bugger, as I was level 16, and this is a level 24 quest. So some advice:
- For the pimpernel part, side with the Sucubus, and she'll let you pick a pimpernel without a fight.
- The distillery: ride your horse up the mountain, and move rapidly past the 3 alghouls (a level 16 witcher cannot kill level 24 alghouls - at least I couldn't). The horse will not fall off the mountain, so you can easily take a hard right when the trail ends. Quickly move into the cave with the cyclops. The horse won't go any further than the cave ramp, so get off, turn hard left, and hide under the ramp until the alghouls leave. Take out the cyclops, going back under the ramp whenever health is too low. When finished distilling come out of the cave and use the fast travel pole to bypass the alghouls.
- Foglets: these are actually killable, even though they have red skulls over them.
- Finally, play Gremist
- Play Madman Lugos
- Then receive a reward card for completing Gwent: Skellige Style.
[Level 24] Shock Therapy. You can do this after playing Gremist, since he's just a couple of trees away, but no harm in doing it after wrapping up the madman. Don't forget to close the quest and pick up your reward card. That completes everything in Skellige, so back to Novigrad for the finale:
[Level 26] High Stakes. The only tricky part with this (other than actually winning the games) is the fist fight you need to win against a level 26 NPC. This was pretty easy by: waiting for him to swing, counter, strong attack, fast attack, roll away. Repeat. Took 3 cycles of those moves to take him down. During the tournament save anytime you have an opportunity. If you lose the fist fight, you will die, but the game will reload with an auto checkpoint made after the last gwent game, so you won't have to replay that one.
Achievement did not pop with v1.07 patch, but did pop with v1.08 patch after starting a random gwent game. I was level 18 when the achievement popped.
I found a very good checklist on the web:
http://gwentcards.com/checklist.html
Best to use it in combination with this list:
http://www.primagames.com/games/witcher-3/tips/where-find-ev...
Took me about 30 hours from beginning a new game to get all of them (had to restart because i played my first runthrough without a guide so i missed some cards)
You can try! Other guides in other sites are very confusing.
https://psnprofiles.com/guide/4250-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-c...
IMPORTANT: there is one NPC that gives you a random card that is not mentioned in this guide. It's about the herbalist in kaer tolde (SKELLIGE)
You have to look for merchants and innkeepers in order to buy cards from them. Blacksmiths and armorers don't sell cards but they will most likely play with you. You don't have to play with every single merchant/innkeeper/smith in order to get other random cards because this game has more NPC's who are willing to play with you rather than random cards. You will now that you got every random card when they will give you literaly nothing for winning.
White Orchard
1) Buy all cards from Elsa, the first and only Innkeeper in White Orchard.
2) Win the tutorial match of Gwent.
Velen/Novigraad
3) Gwent: Playing Inkeepers (you will get this mission from a noticeboard or by playing with the first inkeeper from this quest)
4) Gwent: Velen Players (the starting NPC I believe is Baron in Crow's Perch)
5) Gwent: Big City Players (one of the notice boards in Novigrad)
6) Zoltan Chivay will give you a quest "A Dangerous Game". Once you get all there cards, make sure that you keep cards instead of money.
7) Gwent: Old Pals - This one is tricky. You start this mission after defeating Zoltan Chivay who is located near Rosemary and Thyme. At some point you will need to play against Lambert. In order to find Lambert you must finish a side quest "Following the Thread". After killing Ekimmara and finishing this side quest Lambert will give you a new quest. Acept and finish it. After you finish this quest talk to Lambert straight away before he goes to Kaer Morhen. If he goes there and you don't have fast travel just play the story line quickly until you get Uma.
8) Do Triss Merigold's side quest "A Matter of Life and Death". Once you reached the ball, head to the only exclamation mark on your map and play against three players in order to get their cards.
9) Gwent: Playing Thaler. In order to find Thaler, you will need to finish side story of Triss Merigold. Dijkstra will give you "A Deadly Plot" side quest. Follow this quest until you find and free Thaler. Play against him before he leaves.
10) Puttkammer and Sweers cards can be bought from Merchant in Claywich. In order for this merchant to appear you need to free him from bandits. The bandit camp is located to the East from Boatmaker's Hut (At the centre of the big island).
Skellige
11) Gwent: Skellige Style. Find a notice board and get this quest. In order to play against Gremist you need to finish "Practicum in Advanced Alchemy".
12) There is a druid-questgiver near the previous location who gives you "Shock Therapy" side quest. Finish this quest will get you another hero card.
Hope this helps. I will add if I find that I missed something.
Have a look it shows you all the cards in the game, the place to get them, the person you need to talk to to play or buy from and it even shows a picture of the card if you click on the card name for example it will have in blue text "click for card image of *insert card name" so you can see it.
One thing to be careful of is if you are cleaning your browser is not to delete the cookies for that page or you will have erased all the cards you ticked off that you already own!
Just hit the option button and go to GWENT DECK and look through all your cards and tick them off to the right and once you have done so hit the "Click to refresh dashboard" button and it will clear the table of all cards you own leaving you with what you are left to find.
My advice to you is that if you want to get all the cards and this trophy you do all the quests related to Gwent because you are going to come to a quest called High Stakes where you will need your best cards. A little tip, SPY cards are what you want the most of as they will give you an extra 2 cards in your field deck, they do however give points to the other player but is usually worth it. There are 4 decks in total 1.Monsters 2.Nilfgaardian Empire 3.Northern Realms 4.Scoia'Tael
My favourite is Northern Realms as i have 4 spy cards which one of them is a 0 point score which means i get 2 extra cards but the opponent gets no points. You most definitely need to be careful going up against strong Monster deck players because they can rush you and before you know it the match is over so you really want what is called a Blizzard card and a Close Combat Scorch card in your deck when playing them because the way the Monster deck works some cards when played if they have the same name as any other cards in the deck no matter if they have been drawn in to the playing deck when played they will pull from the entire deck of all cards with that name. How can explain it best, say each player starts with 10 cards but you have a monster deck and you have a special card that i just mentioned, you play that card and you have a deck of 30 cards but only 10 are in play, well forget that 10, if you have any more cards in that deck of 30 with the same name they will all come out on to the field pushing their points sky high so a good way to counter this is to make sure you have a Blizzard card if possible and a close combat Scorch card but wait until they have enough that will amount to 10 points or more after using the Blizzard card (beware special cards with the nice fancy number at the top left do not count towards the 10, here is one for example ) so you want 10 normal cards, hit them with the Blizzard reducing them all to 1 point and then you hit them with the Close combat scorch card because usually he will only take out the highest scoring card but if they are all reduced to 1 point each that means they all get taken out, you want to wait as long as you can before doing this so he/she does not have the chance to try rebuild their score.
Something i would like to elaborate on that the other solution has is that once you have every random card when they stop giving you cards for winning means you have all random cards, well that is partially true. What happens also though is that once you have played and beaten an opponent you will not win any more cards from that same NPC again. So this is why it is handy to make a note on which NPCs you have already beat because instead of giving you another card they will simply give you some sort of item like crafting components instead. So by taking the notes in the diary which i will get on to in a moment you will stop your self from backtracking and playing people for nothing, wasting your time. So just because you get nothing from an NPC may actually just mean that you have already played and beat that NPC.
Now another very handy thing i have been doing is playing every single merchant, smith or anyone who plays Gwent and taking a diary and writing down the location of the person, whether he was a smith, armourer, basic merchant or whatever. I will then write if he sold cards and if i beat him that way if i did not have enough money at the time to buy their cards i would put a cross next to the persons name and location and the same goes if i do not have a good enough deck of cards to beat them, this way i would remember at a later date that i could go back to the person and try again with a stronger deck and buy the cards if i had the money, if i did then i could put a tick next to him/her instead for both winning and purchasing the cards and that way i know i do not need to go back to them.
This is a must read before you start the game if you are going for this trophy.
After the prologue of the game you will go to a place called White Orchard where you will start off in an inn/pub/bar. You need to buy the cards from the innkeeper because SPOILER
The inn is Just to the left of Woesong Bridge and will have a green stash chest inside it.
Now another event will take place where you save a dude on your way to White Orchard which will open up a merchant just along from the inn/pub/tavern who will have those cards so do not worry if you are past the part where the innkeeper can not sell those cards we wanted any more.
Here is a video explaining the situation for you.
Now another issue players have been having is the Zoltan card which again i have a solution for you via another youtube video :) Some people have had issues where they did not get his card, well as of patch 1.07, some people say they had to wait for 1.08 to come out but here is where and how to get it.
Yet another important thing to complete are the Gwent quest lines as follows.
There are several quests allowing you to battle better than average opponents, which will reward you with cards you can’t get anywhere else (even though random NPCs use them in their decks). Here’s the low down on each of them. All of these quest are missable.
Gwent: Playing Innkeeps
You receive this quest after the tutorial match in White Orchard. Battle Stepjan at the Alchemy Inn in Oxenfurt, the unnamed Barkeep at the Inn at the Crossroads, and Olivier at the Kingfisher Inn in Novigrad. Complete this quest before secondary quest Now or Never, or miss out forever.
Nilfgaardian Nobleman
It’s not listed as a side quest, but it does reward you with a card not found anywhere else, unlike random opponents. Note that you can come back to the palace and beat him at any time; you don’t need to do it on your first visit. This person is found in the garden at the Royal palace.
Gwent: Velen Players
You receive this quest by checking the notice board in Crow’s Perch. Battle The Bloody Baron at Crow’s Perch, the Old Sage at Beken, the Boatmaker at Oreton, and the prodigy Haddy at Midcopse. If you do not complete this quest before the conclusion of Family Matters, when the Baron leaves his castle, search his rooms thoroughly after Return to Crookback Bog to find his card and a lead on the next player. (Note to those who like my self missed out on playing the Bloody Baron you can pick his card up in his office)
Gwent: Big City Players
You receive this quest by playing Gwent with Vimme Vivaldi, or by checking notice boards around Novigrad. Battle Vimme Vivaldi at the bank in Novigrad, Marquise Serenity at the Passiflora in Novigrad, Sigismund Dijkstra in the Bathhouse in Novigrad and the Scoia’Tael Trader in the camp near Lucian’s Windmill. Complete this quest before Reason of State or risk missing out forever.
Gwent: Old Pals
Receive this quest by challenging Zoltan Chivay or Vernon Roche. Battle Zoltan Chivay at the Thyme and Rosemary in Novigrad any time after reporting back to him during Broken Flowers; Vernon Roche at the Temerian Partisan Camp outside Novigrad any time he is not absent due to quests such as A Deadly Plot and An Eye for an Eye (feel free to wander in as soon as you cross the Pontac); Lambert either in The Nowhere Inn during Pulling the Thread (you have to tell him you’ll meet him at your next objective, then talk to him as he walks out) or at Kaer Morhen; and Thaler either during A Deadly Plot or at the Seven Cats Inn thereafter. Complete this quest before The Battle of Kaer Morhen and Reason of State or risk missing out forever.
Gwent: Skellige Style
Receive this quest by challenging Crach an Craite or Ermion. Battle Crach an Craite at Kaer Trolde; Ermion at Kaer Trolde or Gedyneith; Sjusta the Tailor (barber) at Kaer Trolde Harbour; Germist the Druid at Gedyneith after completing the secondary quest Practicum in Advanced Alchemy; and “Madman” Lugos at Kaer Muire. Complete this quest before Battle Preparations or miss out forever.
A Matter of Life and Death [B](CAUTION!)[/B]
Before this i highly suggest making a manual save point because after this quest there is no going back. When you do this quest you will see a ! on the map, this is a game of Gwent where you need to beat 3 opponents and you will not get this cards anywhere else!
The only way to get the Dandelion card is to be victorious at the three-game tournament optionally playable during secondary quest A Matter of Life and Death.
A Dangerous Game
Complete this side quest for Zoltan Chivay to receive three cards not available anywhere else. At the end of the mission you can elect to keep the cards or take the money. IMPORTANT! Keep the cards.
Shock Therapy
Complete this quest at Gedyneith, harassing a druid into speaking, to receive the Iorveth card.
Gwent: High Stakes
I can not stress how much you need to save your game before attempting this because there is also another trophy tied to this
But not just that you will need a very good deck for this for the final opponent so i suggest going for all the other Gwent quests first but also if you are at the main quest where you are to travel to the Isles of Mist you need to do this first, they may have changed it in patch 1.08 but in 1.07 when i went to the Isles of Mist Gwent: High Stakes failed on me so had to go back to an older save to be able to complete it.
The quest is available as soon as you arrive in Novigrad, but you need 1,000 crowns to enter and a tournament-ready deck so do all those Gwent quests mentioned above first and use the link i gave you to find other Gwent players so you can build up a strong deck before you do this. . Warning: This quest is easy failed so make back up saves. Do not spend the night with Madam Sasha; she will steal some of your cards.
Note for Tibor Eggorbracht Card at the Kingfisher Inn in Novagrad. If certain events unfold that you can't get the card from Oliver the innkeeper you will find it in the image below in the same building
So this is my advice to everyone, i have also had word from CD Projekt Red that if the trophy did glitch on you they are working on a fix so that it will pop straight away once the patch goes live without having to start over again
So i hope this has been of some help to you all, i initially started just to give that link to the page where you can tick off the cards you have but thought i would go much deeper in to the solution to try help my fellow Gwent players get the best advice i could give them.
It would be cool if they made a DLC Multiplayer for Gwent where we could all play each other and bet on cards
Happy gaming everyone and good luck on your hunt for your cards, i hope you get them all
*Missable Trophy*
There are a total of 195 cards, but you only need to collect the base 120 cards, as there are 75 duplicates in all. 11 of them are missable. You start out with a decent amount of cards, but you will need to: buy some from merchants or innkeepers, win them, get them from Gwent Quest (5 in total), or acquire them from side quests. Use these interactive maps HERE, which will show you the locations of all of the playable merchants.
Here's a list of the quests for the missable cards you'll want to watch out for:
-
A Matter of Life & Death
- Location: Act 1, Noivigrad
- Cards Obtained: Dandelion, Milva, Vampire: Bruxia
-
A Dangerous Game
- Location: Act 1, Noivigrad
- Cards Obtained: John Natalis, Fringilla Vigo, Isengrim Faoiltiarna
-
High Stakes
- Location: Novigrad
- Cards Obtained: The Steel-Forged, The Relentless, Queen of Dol Blathanna, Destroyer of Worlds
The other missable card is Zoltan Chivay, which can be found in White Orchard. You win it from the Scholar in the White Orchard tavern. Make sure you do this before you finish up the main quest in that area, or you WILL lose your opportunity, as he leaves.
We recommend to check out this detailed guide HERE for help with collecting the cards you need, as well as the missable ones you should watch out for.
Below is also a created checklist from a user on reddit that I have slightly altered, which you can use to help keep track of what cards you have, and which ones you still need: Gwent Card Checklist. We have marked the missable cards in red.
In total, there are 195 gwent cards in the base version of the game, but because some cards have duplicates (75 in total), you only have to collect the standard 120 gwent cards. Before you start your search for all the gwent cards, take the following tips into consideration in regards to collecting all the cards.
Base Deck
- You begin the game with a fair amount of cards.
Purchased
- Some cards can be purchased from a trader (merchant/innkeeper).
Won
- Some cards must be won from a merchant, innkeeper, or trader.
Gwent Quests
- Some cards are acquired during specific Gwent Quests.
Side Quests
- Some cards will need to be acquired during a few side quests.
With all of this in mind, there are a total of 5 Gwent Quests, all of which net a few unique gwent cards. All of these Gwent Quests can be triggered by reading "gwent notes" on the notice boards across various cities, town, and villages in Velen, Novigrad, and Skellige. Further, the few gwent cards that are tied to side quests can be entirely missed if caution is not taken when entering the quest!
Because this is the game’s most tasking achievement, and because you'll want to know exactly how to snag those missable gwent cards, you can refer to THIS GUIDE for a dedicated, detailed guide on how to obtain all 120 gwent cards in the game. Once they have all been obtained during your playthrough, this achievement will finally be yours.
The bug was fixed in patch 1.08, now you can get the trophy again.
Attention! Those who did not buy cards from Elsa in the White Garden can buy them from the merchant of the same village as of patch 1.04.
The ZOLTAN KHIVAI card can be taken from the corpse near the “Hanged Tree”, HERE from patch 1.07 , if you missed it.
List of cards by deck:
- Northern Kingdoms - 37 cards - Yes, exactly 37 for platinum!
- Nilfgaard - 38 cards
- Scoia'tael - 37 cards
- Monsters - 40 cards
- Neutral and weather - 29 cards
- Leadership - 16 cards
English version .
Russian version.
There are 11 cards in total that can be easily missed and can only be obtained by completing certain quests.
Here is the list:
1.Novigrad. 3 cards: Buttercup / Vampire: Brooksa / Milva. On the mission “A Matter of Life and Death”, to the right of the entrance there are Gwent players, where you need to play 3 games, do not skip them under any circumstances, otherwise after completing the task you will no longer be able to return there.
2.Novigrad. 3 cards: Jan Natalis / Fringilla Vigo / Isengrim Faoiltiarna. After completing the main quest “Long Live Art!”, you will have access to the quest “Dangerous Game”, which is taken from Zoltan Hivay near the Sage and Rosemary tavern. When completing the quest you will have a choice of reward, cards or money, choose cards, otherwise we will no longer receive them.
3.Novigrad. 1 card: Geralt of Rivia. After Triss's task "Now or never", Dijkstra will ask you for help, agree to help him and at the end of the task you will have the opportunity to play with the shoemaker Thaler and win a unique card from him. You need to knock out this card before a certain task, otherwise there will be no more opportunities.
4.Novigrad. 4 cards: All level 4 leader cards. On the mission “High Stakes” there are only 4 opponents, you cannot lose to anyone, save before each opponent, refuse Sakha’s offer for the first time and after defeating Tybalt (the last opponent) agree.
Important! Before you sign up for the tournament, save the game in a separate cell; if the deck is weak, you can return, but you cannot leave the building until the end of the tournament. You need to build a good deck and better complete additional quests related to Gwent games before this task. The quest is marked at level 24, but can be done at 15+. In a fist fight with the elf, fight only with counterattacks, and later in the warehouse, if the opponents turn out to be much stronger than you, just go up the stairs behind and wait until Sakha herself deals with everyone, and if everyone falls asleep, then wake them up with a crossbow shot, no one will come to you will rise. And if you have an improved Axiy, then lure opponents to your side.
All quests for collecting unique cards:
1. Games with innkeepers - available after the educational game in the White Garden, starts with Stepan.
2. Velen players - available from the notice board, starts with Baron.
3. Games in Novigrad - available from the notice board, starts with the banker Vivaldi.
4. High Stakes - available from the notice board, starts in Passionflower.
5. Old Friends - available after defeating Zoltan.
6. Defeat Thaler - available after the quest "Deadly Conspiracy", Thaler himself will be in the "Seven Cats" tavern.
7. Games in Skellig - available from the notice board, starts from Mousehole. You can knock out 2 cards from the Alchemist.
8. Shock therapy - the quest is taken in the area of Gedyneith Oak, next to Mousehole, upon completion you will receive a map of Iorveth.
All card traders in short videos below:
All card merchants in the White Garden zone.
All card merchants in the Velen zone. Important! Don't forget to free the merchant of Glinnik Village here!
All card merchants in the Novigrad zone.
All card merchants in the Skellige zone.
All other cards are obtained only by playing with misers, blacksmiths, innkeepers, which are shown on the cards below, a random card is knocked out from each opponent.
The location of the remaining Gwent Players in the form of card icons, as well as the aforementioned card merchants and places of power:
Important! In case you missed it:
1. If you missed the game at Vyzim Castle, you can return there, play and win a card.
2. If you didn’t buy the cards from the innkeeper Elsa in the White Garden, then you can buy them from the merchant near the village, who was saved from the griffin at the very beginning of the game.
3. If you missed the game with the Baron, you can return to his room after finishing the missions and pick up the card.
4. If Oliver dies, take his card from his room in the tavern.
If you follow this guide, you won't miss a single card.
Patch 1.08 fixed the trophy.
This trophy is easy to miss!
There are a total of 199 cards in the game:
4 main decks:
- Northern Kingdoms: 40 cards
- Nilfgaard: 38 cards
- Scoia'tael: 37 cards
- Monsters: 40 cards
Leadership: 16 cards (4 for each deck).
Of the 199 cards, 79 are duplicates, so for the trophy you will need to collect 120 non-repeating cards. At the beginning of the game you are given a basic deck of 32 cards (including 4 leader cards).
There are 11 cards in the game that are easy to miss (1 in the White Garden, 10 in Novigrad), almost all of them can be obtained by completing various side quests, save before each in a separate cell, so that in case of failure you will be able to repeat it.
White Garden:
- 1 card (Zoltan Chivay). You need to win the first gwent training game, you can lose as much as you like, the main thing is to get the card before leaving the location. In patch 1.07, a map was added to the corpse near the Hanged Tree (we appear near it after leaving Vizima Castle).
- 3 cards (Buttercup, Vampire: Brooksa and Milva), we get during the sidequest Triss: A Question of Life and Death. At the masquerade you need to play with 3 players, they are all on the right near the entrance, marked with an exclamation mark.
- We receive 3 more cards (Jan Natalis, Fringilla Vigo and Isengrim Faoiltiarna) during the side quest Zoltan: A Dangerous Game. At the end of the quest you will need to choose cards as a reward, not days. The quest itself is taken after saving Dandelion, Zoltan will be near the tavern.
- 4 cards (all leader 4 levels for each deck) can be obtained during the gwent tournament, the quest is called High Stakes. You must have a strong deck and 1000 crowns in order to be allowed into the tournament, save before registering for the tournament so that you can postpone it until later, because during the tournament you will not be able to leave it without failing the quest. You will need to defeat all 4 opponents, save before each one, you cannot lose. For more information about the tournament, see the tip for the GwentMaster / Gwent Champion trophy.
You will receive almost all unique cards by completing side quests for gwent. One of the first opponents will be the Bloody Baron. If suddenly you did not win his card before completing his quests, then the card and the list of players will be in his office, then the same applies to Oliver. It is best to complete gwent quests immediately upon receipt (this does not apply to the tournament), because not only these characters will disappear from the game.
There are a total of 5 such quests (22 cards) in the game, not counting the tournament:
- Gwent: Velen Players: 3 cards
- Gwent: Playing Innkeepers: 4 cards
- Gwent: Big City Players (Gwent: Games in Novigrad): 5 cards (The 3rd game will be available after you meet Dijkstra.)
- Gwent: Skellige Style: 6 cards
- Gwent: Old Friends: 4 cards (With Lambert you can play after completing the quest: Unraveling the Tangle, and with Tyler after completing the quest Deadly Plot, the task is given by Dijkstra after completing the sidequest Triss: Now or Never.)
- The Level 3 Northern Kingdoms Leader Card can be won in Vizima Castle. Near the exit from the castle (after the audience with Emhyr) there will be a player marked with an exclamation mark. He has a strong deck that will be difficult to compete with at the beginning of the game, you can safely skip him and come back later, he won’t go anywhere.
- We get the "Iorveth" card after the druid's sidequest: Shock Therapy. The druid is located at the bottom of the central island near the Gedyneith oak tree. The quest will remain available after completing the game, so don’t miss the map.
The remaining cards will need to be bought and won from NPCs (merchants, armorers, blacksmiths, etc.), from each NPC you can usually win one random card. I advise you to buy all the cards you come across from the very beginning and play all the NPCs who have a game of gwent in the dialogue options. This way, firstly, you will understand the game and put together a strong deck, and secondly, it will be easier for you not to get confused with who you played with and who you didn’t. You can, for example, get yourself a sign and mark with whom you played and were able to win, especially if you meet a strong opponent and cannot win with the current deck.
You can win 53 cards from the NPC (including those that will be repeated).
You can buy 79 cards from merchants (including those that will be repeated):
- White Garden: 5 cards
- Velen: 28 cards (We free the merchant in the village of Glinnik in the bandit camp.)
- Novigrad: 23 cards
- Skellige: 23 cards
One of the 3 Necker cards available in the game can be found during Lambert's sidequest: Unraveling the Tangle.
List of all cards and their locations
In English: https://www.xboxachievements.com/for...d.php?t=621692
In Russian:
The first part contains the history of the game (including an excerpt from the book in which gwent was first mentioned), basic rules, tips and tricks, strengths and weaknesses of all factions, and also tells where you can buy or win certain neutral cards . In general, everything that directly concerns the card gameplay is the beginning of a guide to finding cards.
The second part is entirely devoted to finding maps. It also describes which quest and how you can get a number of unique items. At the end it is described in detail where you can get this or that card from the Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaard sets.
The final third part begins with a walkthrough of the gwent tournament (the "High Stakes" task), and ends with a guide to finding cards from the remaining two decks: Monsters and Scoia'tael .
Links: part1 , part2 , part3 .