The Witcher 3 Guide: How to Get & Beat All Endings

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a long and arduous journey, filled with beautiful scenery and grotesque monstrosities. Throughout the game, the player will have to make many choices, often choosing between evils in order to reach the most precious goal: Ciri. All of the roads eventually lead toward the end of the long adventure, but not all endings are created equal. Here’s how to get and beat all of the endings in The Witcher 3.

How to Get & Beat All Endings in The Witcher 3

Depending on your choices during certain parts of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of three possible final quests will be made available to the player, with each of the three having their very own decisions. This guide will help you make the decisions necessary in order to achieve the finale that you want.

For this piece, it goes without saying that if you want to keep The Witcher 3: Wild Huntspoiler free, please do not carry on reading beyond this point. So let’s get the Witcher all wrapped up!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Something Ends, Something Begins

How to Get & Beat All Endings in Witcher 3

Quest Location: The Orphanage of Crookbag Bog

In order to trigger this quest, you will have had to make a few specific choices throughout your playthrough of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt:

• During Blood on the Battlefield, you chose to drink with Ciri instead of engaging in a snowball fight.
• During Blood on the Battlefield, you chose to take coin from Emhyr when visiting with Ciri, instead of refusing it.
• During Final Preparations, you decided to talk to the Lodge of Sorceresses instead of letting Ciri go in alone.
• During Battle Preparations, you gave Ciri Lara Dorren’s necklace instead of letting her ransack Avallac’h’s laboratory.
• During Battle Preparations, you refused to let Ciri visit Skjall’s grave on Hindarsfjall.
• During your quest, Ciri will have died along the way.

If all of the proper decisions have been made, this quest will begin during the nighttime at Crookback Bog. Make your way east until you stumble across a werewolf that is too weak to hunt. Geralt will ask the werewolf about the Crone who stole your dead daughter’s medallion. After a brief back and forth, you’ll give the werewolf one of the two choices below. After all, you’re a Witcher and a werewolf cannot be left alive; he must help you or face death.

“No” – This response will trigger a battle with the werewolf, but will also end this particular avenue of the quest.

“There’s one” – The Witcher decides that the werewolf can be used to your advantage. Following the werewolf will lead you to a new optional objective of dealing with wolves and a she-wolf. The options made here on behalf of Berem (the werewolf you interrogated) will determine how the quest continues.

The hunters in question are hunting the she-wolf for sport. They have no real reason to do so, as she’s just trying to protect her cubs.The options for Geralt are just like the options The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt always offers the player when stumbling across a somewhat random event: you can either stop the hunters, or ignore their activities.

If you choose to help the she-wolf, Berem will help you slay the hunters and discover that a cub actually survived the vicious onslaught. He will then lead Geralt towards the orphanage where the Witcher can make his way to do battle with one of the Crones.

If, during Geralt’s initial conversation with the werewolf, you opted to slay the werewolf, you can just head east and find the orphanage on your own. Having Berem available to help with hunters, Water Hags, and other monstrosities residing in the swamp is a pretty good deal, but the decision is ultimately up to the player.

The Crone that Geralt will face is none other than Weavess (the terrifying one with the hive for an eye). After delivering some harsh truths to Geralt, she will be lured away from her woven tapestry and ready to fight. Be aware that she will not be alone. Weavess will be accompanied by two Drowners, a Water Hag, and a Grave Hag. The Water Hag has the ability to blind the Witcher (indicated by large disgusting blotches on the screen) so you may want to down this enemy first.

As far as Weavess goes, she is incredibly fast and deals a considerable amount of damage, although she isn’t the hardest to take down. Be aware of her “teleportation” ability. Weavess will disappear into a murder of crows and reappear where you’d least expect it.

Once Weavess has been defeated by Geralt’s blade, enter the shrine room and you’ll discover Ciri’s Wolf Medallion, the final quest item. As the credits roll, allow the wave of emotions to wash over you as your The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt comes to a rather sad end.

Something Ends, Something Begins (II)

How to Get & Beat All Endings in Witcher 3

Quest Locations: White Orchard, Abandoned Village

To get this ending you must have made three of these five previous choices during your roller-coaster ride that has been The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt adventure:

• During ‘Blood on the Battlefield’, you chose to engage in a snowball fight instead of drinking with Ciri.
• During ‘Blood on the Battlefield’, you refused to take coin from Emhyr when visiting with Ciri, instead of taking it.
• During ‘Final Preparations’, you decided to let Ciri talk to the Lodge of Sorceresses alone instead of going with her.
• During ‘Battle Preparations’, you allowed Ciri to ransack Avallac’h’s laboratory instead of giving her Lara Dorren’s necklace.
• During ‘Battle Preparations’, you made time to visit Skjall’s grave on Hindarsfjall, instead of refusing Ciri’s request.

If you made three or more negative choices, Ciri is dead, and Something Ends, Something Begins (I) occurs instead of this option. Sorry but that’s the way the decision tree cookie crumbles.

For this ending, the following must also have occurred (I know what you’re thinking right now. This better be worth it):

• During ‘Blood on the Battlefield’, you agreed to visit Vizima and presented Ciri to Emhyr.
• During Act II, you completed The Assassins’ Quests (‘An Eye for an Eye’, ‘A Deadly Plot’, and ‘Redania’s Most Wanted’). And then during Act III you completed ‘Reason of State’, killed King Radovid, and sided with Vernon Roche.
• Oh and also subsequently, the Emperor and Nilfgaardian army won the war over the Redanians and King Radovid.

Geralt’s starting objective for this final quest is to go talk to the hunter, you’ll want to head towards the huntsman’s cottage. You’re going to be heading in a roughly westward direction out of the village, toward the hunter’s cottage on the outskirts. Best way to spot it is you’ll see Mislav just outside it tanning a hide.

If the player had any romantic involvements with either Yennefer or Triss then they will be joining you at the table. If you decided against any romantic distractions on Geralt’s adventure then there will be an empty chair at the tavern table instead.

The player now has three new objectives:

•  Find Ciri.
•  Go to the Griffin’s nest.
•  Slay the Forktail.

Ciri is over the frozen field, to the west of your current location. She’ll be sitting on a little pile of boulders, staring into the snow. She’ll then tell Geralt that she’s dying to go and see the Griffin’s nest, the one that he did a number on all those months ago at the start of your journey. You can answer her in whatever way you fancy, the Witcher will be taking her to go and see the Griffin’s nest either way.

Follow the path south and then begin your climb up the stone ledges just like you did at the start of the game up to the Griffin’s lair. Jump the big gap and you’ll finally be standing at the nest at the top of the hill.  Geralt and Ciri now have a bit of a father/ daughter moment. You’ll warn her to take care, but she won’t listen and is about to land you in a spot of trouble. She’s just pissed off the Forktail that has taken up refuge in the nest… shit!

Slay the Forktail that is now charging at you. If the Forktail takes to the air, use your crossbow bolts or Grapeshot to get the beast grounded and then proceed to dish out some heavy damage. Your best bet for slaying the Forktail is to equip Draconoid Oil to your blade and use Aard to give the Forktail a bit of a blast in between slashes of your blade. The tail-tip stingers of the Forktail are also highly poisonous, so to remedy this Golden Oriole is pretty essential to stop your health from draining away too fast. Keep sidestepping and dancing around the Forktail to not only avoid the poisonous tail, but also to put you in a convenient attacking position for some critical hits.

Once the beast is slain, you’ll warn Ciri of how close she was with death, but she doesn’t seem too bothered. Geralt will offer to take her fishing and four new objectives will pop up.

• Go to the lake.
• Get rid of the bear.
• Fish with Ciri.
• Collect the four fish.

The player will then want to head northeast toward the lake. To get through the lake Geralt will head through the Abandoned Village. Once you’ve passed through here you’ll hit the iced-over lake and your objective location. The Witcher will spot a bear that is trying to get the pollack on the ice. You’ll need to get rid of him for the quest but you have a choice of how you do this. The player can either kill it and gather up all that loot, or frighten it away with a bomb or a crossbow bolt. Depending on your current items and health, getting all those usable items could come in handy with post- main quest armor crafting. Otherwise play it safe and just scare the bear away.

Now simple common sense comes into play and says that trying to fish at an iced-over lake isn’t going to be successful. Geralt has a plan for this. It’s called the Vesemir technique. Choose a bomb, aim, and throw it into the fishing hole- Kaboom! The hole will crack open, and four Pollack are blown out of the water and onto the ice. Head on over to the dead fish and pick them all up. If you’re having troubles finding them all then use your Witcher senses for that handy yellow glow.

Following your triumph at fishing, Geralt will go for a walk with Ciri. During the walk the two will begin talking about past adventures, and Geralt will give Ciri that long awaited piggyback you promised her all that time ago. It’s time to head back, simply follow Ciri on a northerly path as she talks about her youth and all the training she used to do at Kaer Morhen.

Ciri the forgetful lass almost didn’t notice that today was the day she rode to Nilfgaard to see her father Emhyr. She goes on about how she must be sitting on a throne to enact the change she wants to see in the world. Geralt will ask her if this was her choice, and that she should have told you that this was her decision, instead of keeping you in the dark. Finally the Witcher will ask her if this is what she wants.

She’ll say it is. You can answer this in whichever way you see fit. She’ll hand you back over the sword and give you a long hug. Bless ‘er, sometimes a potential Witcher must just rule the world instead! That’s a wrap on the second alternative ending of The Witcher 3.

Again the credits will roll on this one and some, but not all side quests are available. The main quest of The Witcher 3 has finished.

Something Ends, Something Begins (III)

How to Get & Beat All Endings in Witcher 3

Quest Locations: Vizima Royal Castle, Redania, Nilfgaardian Garrison, White Orchard Tavern

And so we have the final conclusion of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This will occur if you have made two or more of the following four choices during your epic quest:

• During ‘Blood on the Battlefield’, you chose to engage in a snowball fight instead of drinking with Ciri.
• During ‘Final Preparations’, the player decided to let Ciri talk to the Lodge of Sorceresses alone instead of going with her.
• During ‘Battle Preparations’, Geralt allowed Ciri to ransack Avallac’h’s laboratory instead of giving her Lara Dorren’s necklace.
• During ‘Battle Preparations’, the Witcher made time to visit Skjall’s grave on Hindarsfjall, instead of refusing Ciri’s request.

If you made three or more negative choices and Ciri is dead, ‘Something Ends, Something Begins (I)’ occurs instead.

For this ending, the following must also happen:

• During ‘Blood on the Battlefield’, you made sure not to visit Vizima and did not present Ciri to Emhyr.
• Or, if the Nilfgaard lost the war, and either Radovid lives, or Dijsktra rules Redania.

Ok so this may get a little more complicated but we’ll try and keep it as simple as possible. There are three variations to this ending. The first two require the following: During Act II, you must have completed The Assassins’ Quests (‘An Eye for an Eye’, ‘A Deadly Plot’, and ‘Redania’s Most Wanted’) and during Act III, you must have completed ‘Reason of State’. How this quest ended influences this ending. This is like ending-ception:

• If Geralt made sure Radovid no longer existed in this world and sided with Roche and Thaler against Dijkstra, then the Nilfgaardians rule over this land. The emperor then moves his troops from Vizima Palace, leaves this and Temerian troops reclaim this land peacefully.This is now ending III (1)
• If the player killed Radovid and sided with Dijkstra against Vernon and Thaler, Dijkstra rules over this land. He isn’t a violent ruler, but his troops are seeking clues of conspiracy, driving spies and enemies of the crown away from the land. This is Ending III (2).
• Did you ignore ‘Reason of State?’ Well why would you do such a thing? Now Radovid is still very much alive and rules this place! The emperor needs to haul ass from Vizima Palace and witch hunters are swarming the lands. Any sign of an uprising is destroyed, and everyone realises how screwed they are. Congratulations if you managed to get this ending. You must be pretty darn evil. You having Ending III (3)

Now let’s get down to questing business! As is explained above there are numerous different endings within this ending so we’ll try keep this simple. You’re objective to get started on this one is to talk to Emhyr var Emreis.

So we’re a week after the last quest. The war between Nilfgaard and Redania has come to an end, and you have been summoned to report back on how your search for Ciri is going. There’s an officer drilling his troops outside and this is where the first difference comes into play dependent on the outcome of the war and the choices you have made during your quest:

• Ending III (1): If the emperor and Nilfgaard were victorious then he’ll make a comment over the wealth of Novigrad being guarded from looters. He’ll also make some comment then can infer a peace treaty with Redania.
• Ending III (2 and 3): On the other hand if the emperor and Nilfgaard lost, deserters are ordered to be killed. He’ll also mention that there are further reports on deserters.

Geralt will then be directed to go and see the emperor up in his quarters. You have the not-so-great task of telling Emhyr that Ciri is dead. Slain as she was attempting to stop The White Cold prophecy. Only Avallac’h knows this apart from you both.

Yennefer has decided to stay in the north too. The player is then given another dialogue option with regards to what your plans are now. You can either tell him you have post-war work to do, or that it’s none of his business.

The emperor will then ask if Ciri said anything about him (so modest). You can answer him in one of the three following ways:

• She regretted not saying goodbye.
• That he wasn’t a good father.
• She didn’t talk about him.

Choose whichever you wish. Unfortunately your choice here will not effect what happens next. After choosing your option, the emperor asks you to leave and tells you he never wants to see you again. Good riddance!

So now we fast forward a lil’ bit and the Witcher be back at White Orchard village and on the road to Vizima. Geralt will be be conversing with some merchants about the old road to the ruined Nilfgaardian Barracks. They’ll talk generally about the war and what they expect to happen. What they say with regards to the war is dependent on which ending branch you’re following:

• Ending III (1): They mention the Nilfgaard are fleeing (in reality, they are retreating so the Temerians can fill the power void), and they’ve left some casks of wine behind.
• Ending III (2): They mention the fleeing Nilfgaard, and the bandits sensing the void caused by the ensuing chaos.
• Ending III (3): They mention that with the Black Ones gone, the witch hunters are moving in. But life will still roll on.

Once that’s done you’ll want to climb up on Roach and head north along the road. Now this time, the player will encounter one of these three things along this road:

• Ending III (1): After the crossroads, you pass a large group of Nilfgaardian cavalry and infantry troops, having left the Garrison beyond the swamp.
• Ending III (2): At the crossroads, you pass a group of Redanian troops looting the corpses of a merchant caravan you hope they didn’t kill.
• Ending III (3): At the crossroads, you see the corpses of a merchant caravan rotting in the sun. There are wolves nearby.

You’re gonna want to keep following the road that’s heading north. Pass through a small swamp and head up to some wooden steps of the Nilfgaardian Garrison. When you arrive at your quest location Geralt will discover that the contact he’s supposed to be meeting here has been delayed, so you’ll be waiting for a few hours. Either meditate or just take in the surrounding scenery.

Maybe a game of Gwent anyone? Eventually Master Ort the weaponsmith approaches, and he’s got the best blade he’s crafted in 30 years of working in the profession and it’s all yours. For now anyway! He’ll ask you what the inscription was you asked for. You have two options to choose from here:

“Zireael”- Ciri’s elvish name.

“The Flash that Cuts” – The name of the sword.

Again this decision won’t make a difference to what happens later. This just comes down to the player’s preference.

You’ll pay Master Ort in gems and he’ll inform you that there is a Striga wandering around the Maribor Forest. Unfortunately Geralt doesn’t have time to go check that out; he’s got to head to the White Orchard tavern. Don’t worry though, if you really want to try the sword out find one of those training dummies around the garrison and slash to your hearts content.

We’re now onto the final two objectives of this quest:

• Go to the inn.
• Ending III (3): (Optional) Help the inhabitants of the village.

Jump back on Roach and head south from the garrison and follow the river road south east. You’ll end up in White Orchard village. Here we have another three different endings within this ending. (Ending-ception continues):

• Ending III (1): The player won’t see any tents or anything at the threshold of White Orchard. Instead you’ll spot the flags of Temeria flying high in the wind. On your way to the tavern, you’ll pass a group of Nilfgaard planning a route out of White Orchard. At the tavern, Dagborg is reclaiming the lands in the name of Temeria.

• Ending III (2): In this ending the Redanian tents are still up and dribs and drabs of leaderless Radovid troops retreat. You’ll spot some propaganda posters of Dijkstra everywhere too. His troops are still searching for conspiracy agents, and raising taxes. Booo!

• Ending III (3): The Redanian tents are still here, but this time troops are going from hut to hut looking for nonhumans and mages. It’s about to get serious! As you go past one cottage, a small boy will come tell Geralt that soldiers have his family bound up in one of the huts near here.
• Enter the hut and feel free to kill them and save the family. If you’re feeling merciful and would rather not get involved, carry on with your journey to the tavern. Keep heading over to the tavern and spot the Radovid propaganda plastered all over it.

Once the Witcher is inside the tavern, head over to the hooded woman sat at the table. Inform Ciri that the deed is done. Ciri will question you about your conversation with the emperor, but you’re not really all that bothered discussing the fine details as displayed through your dialogue options.

You hand over the finest blade the world has seen in about 30 years and Ciri will give it a once over. She’s going to enjoy following in Geralt’s footsteps, slaying beasts as a witcher.

Once again- credits roll, with some secondary quests still available, but not all. The Main quest of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is done, and this is the third and final alternative quest to end your adventure!

And there you have it, the three quest endings to The Witcher 3! Let us know which one you got in the comments below. You can also check out our guide detailing the fates of characters prior to the end of the main quest here.

For more guides, tips, tricks and information on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, check out our ever expanding wiki.