Runes The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Where to find a rune master

Along with the merchant from Ophir, the Rune Master also arrives in the Hearts of Stone add-on - a character who, for some money (and they are quite considerable), will help you enchant armor and weapons.

Your first investment will be 5,000 coins, the second - 10,000, and the third - all 15,000. The strongest versions of enchantments will be available, of course, only after the third and final stage.

You can enchant both a sword - with runic words, and armor - with glyphic words. For each enchantment you will need three runes or three glyphs, respectively. The first level of enchantment requires small runes and glyphs, the second medium runes and glyphs, and the last large runes and glyphs. Along with the release of the add-on, the developers, by the way, decided to slightly diversify the range of runes and glyphs themselves.

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Rune words

Enchantment	Description	Effect	Ingredients
	Dumplings	Any food restores twice as much health, but everything tastes like pies :(	Pie Cottage cheese Pie
	Calm	If adrenaline points are at maximum, then health and energy are restored (and the level of intoxication is reduced) faster due to adrenaline points.	Devana Madder Stribog
	Consolidation	The effects of the whetstone and the blacksmith's workbench remain forever.	Devana Madder Svarog
	Update	Each fatal blow to an enemy restores 25% energy.	Perun Svarog Stribog
	dissection	Increases the range of the Whirlwind by 1.1 meters and the gap by 1.9 meters.	Zorya Veles Perun
	Triumph	Each fatal blow to an enemy restores 0.1 to 0.25 adrenaline points.	Dazhdbog Veles Devana
	Inspiration	At maximum health, the health boost effect increases the damage of each subsequent attack by 50%	Devana Zorya Perun
	Extension	Each unblocked hit extends the duration of the elixir by half a second.	Madder Perun Svarog
	Filling	Using the Sign consumes one point of adrenaline, imbuing the sword with the power of the Sign for the next attack.	Triglav Madder Dazhdbog

Glyphic words

Enchantment	Description	Effect	Ingredients
	Heaviness	All parts of the armor worn by Geralt correspond to the heavy armor class.	Quen Recovery Improvement
	Usurpation		Aksiy Binding Improvement
	Exhaustion	The enemy's stamina is reduced by 50% when using the Aard Sign.	Aard Aksiy Improvement
	Burning	Enemies ignited by Igni have a 25% chance of setting fire to nearby characters within a small radius.	Igni Yrden Defense
	Reflection	The armor reflects all flying arrows.	Aard Defense Improvement
	Charm	An enemy dying from Axium transfers the effect to the next target. Duration increases by 2 seconds. for each successful enemy blow to Geralt.	Aksiy Igni Recovery
	Shield	At the beginning of the battle, the Quen Sign is automatically activated without losing energy.	Quen Yrden Defense
	Fetters	An opponent who falls into Yrden's magic trap will automatically activate the Yrden glyph at the location where he is standing.	Yrden Aksiy Binding
	Balance	All parts of the armor worn by Geralt correspond to the middle class of armor.	Aksiy Recovery Improvement
	Ring	The basic Igni attack affects all nearby enemies, but can no longer set them on fire.	Igni Binding Improvement
	Possession	An enemy dying from Axium transfers the effect to the next target. Duration increases by 2 seconds. for each successful hit on the target.	Aksiy Aard Binding.
	Retribution	Gives a 20% chance to reflect some damage back to the attacker.	Quen Igni Improvement
	Explosion	Enemies dying from Igni explode and set nearby enemies on fire.	Igni Quen Improvement
	Ease	All parts of the armor worn by Geralt correspond to the light armor class.	Aard, Recovery, Improvement

For Geralts who follow the path of a swordsman or an alchemist, glyphs do not play such an important role, so some kind of enchantment can be considered in their place. Particularly useful are those that allow you to enjoy the benefits of armor in one of the three categories even if you are wearing armor of another category.

As for runic words, the most “fat” ones are “Cut” and “Inspiration”, which can be chosen to replace the usual Chernobog runes.

Introduction

This guide is intended for high-level characters. Closer to the middle of the game, I realized what I wanted to get from my character, what style of play I liked and suited best. Witcher Assassin: the main emphasis is on damage, debuffs (poisoning, bleeding, freezing, igniting) and evasion.

I didn't pump to the top character for other Schools and didn't compare with your build. Of course, each school and tactics has its own strengths, but the Cat School seemed to me the most interesting, high-quality and convenient for playing on the “To Death!” difficulty. However, I will try to give some choice in some aspects rather than promote one single option.
I am well aware that builds with an emphasis on pure damage, alchemy or something else may have better performance. For example, a pure swordsman will have more damage and kill all enemies in 1-2 hits. But he does not forget that at the same time they will lose in terms of sign power, HP or other indicators. We play for the Witcher and for me personally, it’s just boring to pump everything into damage and go through the game on the easy way. Playing as Herald, I also want to use signs, decoctions and oils, and use bombs. This is more interesting. That's why my build is kind of general and affects all sides, I tried my best to develop every Witcher ability (without compromising the others) and get a sufficient build. Here you will not receive the maximum possible damage or maximum HP, but what I have proposed should be enough for you to comfortably complete the game.

If you are just starting to conquer the world of The Witcher, then perhaps this guide will give you an answer to what may await you ahead.

I’ll try to tell you in detail what came out of this below.

Leveling up your character

Let's start with pumping.
In total, our character can initially use 12 skills simultaneously. Plus 4 more when you complete the mutation quest in the Blood and Wine add-on.
First, I recommend leveling up your skills for the initial 12 slots, and then deal with mutation, since it requires a lot of skill points and mutagens (you need a lot large mutagens, collect them immediately).

4 regular blocks of 3 skills + 1 mutation block of 4 skills, so we need to decide what we need, what we want to get and what we will use.
Our build will consist of quick attacks, Quen (for defense) and Igni (for attack) signs and a little alchemy. As a result, we get ~2 blocks for Fencing, 2 blocks for Signs and a mutation block for alchemy.

Note: The Blood and Wine expansion made a lot of changes and the build changed significantly, bringing new skills to replace the old ones.

Let's start with this skill tree.

In my build I use fast attacks and the Cat School set (light armor). Actually, here we need only one single skill - the Cat School Technique.

The remaining skills, in my opinion, do not deserve attention and we do not improve them.

Fencing

These are our 2 main skills. Why did I give up leveling? "Whirlwind" And "Shrinking blows"? To save skill points that you spent on opening additional cells in the mutation block. You need a lot of skill points, spend them wisely.

Very useful skills that will help you survive faster.

Strangely enough, I chose the last 5th skill

Now we start our attacks with this skill. In the Blood and Wine add-on, some changes were made to the characteristics of armor. Now the Cat School armor has the following properties:

But we’ll talk about this when we disassemble the armor.

To choose from Instead of the 5th skill, I might recommend Whirlwind or one of the following:

Additionally You can upgrade the skill "Reflect arrows"

It is only needed if you want to get this achievement

If you don't need it, then you don't need to download it. A useless skill and unlikely to be useful to you.

The Witcher can use the following signs: Quen, Axiy, Aard, Yrden. But we will only upgrade 2 main ones.

As stated above, we will spend 2 blocks of cells on signs, i.e. 6 skills.
The first sign will be Quen. This is a must have. Without Quen, you can’t even count on adequate completion of the game.
The following are mandatory:

I think everyone should decide for themselves with the second sign, but I recommend Igni. Almost everything burns and burns well. And all sorts of corpse eaters are especially notable. For Igni we download the following skills:

There are 5 skills in total. Sixth we will take the “Deception” of the Axiy sign

A very useful skill both in dialogues and in combat, especially against all kinds of shields and two-handers.

A little about other Signs

Aard. This is also a good sign and can be an alternative to Igni; with proper pumping, it knocks enemies to the ground and is very easy to finish off. Suitable for extinguishing fire, including fire golems.

Yrden. To be honest, I didn’t understand the point of upgrading this sign. For all sorts of ghosts and middays, the unpumped version is also suitable + there are bombs. The damage is small, and reflecting arrows is not worth it, especially since there are rune words. We will have to dodge enemy attacks a lot and constantly try to stay close to the imposed Yrden sign.

Aksiy. Further leveling of Asiya, namely in control, is a little awkward. To be honest, the control is very good and should not be underestimated. Enemies knead each other with special fervor. But after playing a little, I became bored, because part of the time we just stand on the sidelines and watch the enemies kill each other. Sign imba, but boring, try it yourself.

Last, but not least, we will be pumping up alchemy.

Alchemy is useful and can make your life much easier, but I recommend leveling it up last, since we will be placing the skills in the mutation block, and it must first be opened and leveled up.
The skills we will need are:

(new addition to "Blood and Wine")
We gain access to the mutation after completing a quest that we receive from a boy in the main city of Toussaint. The mutation window looks like this:

A little theory

In total, we have 12 different mutations available to us, by pumping them up we will get 4 additional slots for skills. Upgrading mutations costs a lot of skill points and large mutagens, so you won’t be able to upgrade everything at once. Although there are 12 mutations, we can only use one at a time. The peculiarity of each mutation is not only the unique property inherent in it, but also the “color” of the skill slots that open. All this is indicated in the description of the mutation. For example:

By choosing this mutation, we will be able to insert only blue skills, i.e., sign skills, into new mutation slots. A mutation

will allow us to use red, blue and green slots, i.e. signs, fencing and/or alchemy.

There is no mutation for yellow skills. Additional slots for skills open as you level up mutations; to open all 4 slots you need to level up all 12 mutations.

Now about pumping mutations:

Since we will only insert alchemy skills into the slots, our choice of 12 mutations is, unfortunately, reduced to 6. And there are even fewer really good ones. Personally, my choice fell on only 2 and I haven’t even decided which one is better yet and sometimes I change them. It depends more on what you need.

The first mutation is "Euphoria":

A very useful skill that significantly increases your damage. By the way, she is the first one also because she can be upgraded almost immediately. I recommend using it immediately.

The second mutation of my choice is “Metamorphosis”:

It is quite more difficult to pump it up, but it has its advantages:
1. Three options for “colors” of slots. If you decide to replace some alchemy skills with signs and/or fencing, then "metamorphosis" is what you need. This is one of only 2 mutations that open all 3 “colors”, the rest are either 2 or even 1 (like euphoria).
2. Activating random decoctions without intoxication is great and useful, and if you also level up the “tissue mutation” skill (as I recommended above in the alchemy section), then for each such decoction you will receive 1000 HP, which seriously increases our survivability.
3. The last plus is that it is better to see in the dark. It's a small thing, but nice.

I think everyone has to decide for themselves what to choose: damage or health. I alternate between these two mutations from time to time.

Note:

To reset all skills and level up in a new way, you can use the “Elixir of Purification”

and to reset skill points invested in mutations - “Lapel Potion”

Mutagens will not return, I advise you to use the lapel potion wisely. There are no mutagens lying around on the road.

The final pumping option

Since we did not pump up the increase in the level of intoxication, you can use 1 decoction at the same time (70 intoxication out of 100) and still have a little left, if necessary, for some elixir such as Swallow, Thunder or Raff the White’s Potion.
Yes, elixirs are very useful and on the one hand you could raise the intoxication limit by leveling up, but in my opinion, if you need to throw Swallow and other potions on CD, then just don’t force yourself and lower the difficulty level of the game.

Additionally

Difficulty of the game "To Death!" not particularly conducive to tanking with armor, HP or pouring elixirs into three throats. So I tried in the guide to focus specifically on the offensive properties of the Witcher. And for protection we always have Quen.

Rebounding on alt/counterattack, constantly maintaining Quen - these are the two main actions that you should always pay attention to.
Quen must always be active! This needs to be remembered. Even worthless bandits in the forest can easily one-shot you, you shouldn’t rely on the skill, only on Quen.

I didn't cover oils and bombs in the guide, but they are also very important. Everything is simple with them - use them actively and you will be happy.

Along with the Hearts of Stone expansion, Rune Masters were added to the game. In order to pump it up to maximum level, you will need to complete the special quest “Sentenced to Drakenborg”. The task is not easy, the spiders maneuver quickly and are difficult to hit, even at the “easy” difficulty level. The Yrden sign comes in handy here, as it slows down enemies. You will also need about 30,000 coins for the Rune Master to be able to create all the glyphs.

You can enchant two items: clothes and armor. Moreover, any of them must have three slots. If you wish, you can add cells, but the price for them varies depending on the number of cells already added and the quality of the armor. In order to add one cell you will have to fork out 1000 coins, for two cells 2000, and for three cells already 3000. As a result, you need to spend 6000 crowns. It is worth considering that if you improve your armor into which runes are inserted, they will disappear.

You can find a rune master near Velen.

The Witcher 3 sword enchantment

Filling. Allows you to apply a sign for one cell of the adrenaline scale, and during the next attack the sword is filled with the power of the sign.
To create it you need to collect the rune stones Triglav, Madder and Dazhdbog. In my opinion, one of the most useful improvements in the game.

Inspiration. If the health level is at maximum, the health increase effect is replaced by an increase in damage up to 50% on the next attack.
It is worth noting that during a fight you need to use an elixir, for example, swallow, which will replenish your health. When the health level is at maximum and the swallow is still active, the inspiration rune will begin to operate.

Renewal. Each unblocked hit increases the duration of elixirs by 0.5 seconds.
Not everyone wants to be a whipping carcass so that the elixirs act half a second longer.

Dissection. Increases the area of ​​effect of the vortex by 1.1 meters and the rip by 1.9 meters.
A magnificent rune that will allow you to destroy enemies without getting close to them, while increasing the range of the gap by almost two meters.

Update. After each kill, 25% of your stamina is restored.
This rune will be very helpful if you are fighting a lot of enemies, but if you are fighting one or a boss, it will be absolutely useless.

Triumph. A fatal blow with a sword adds 0.1 to 0.25 adrenaline points.
Similar to the previous option, it is only useful in mass battles, but not in single battles.

Consolidation. All effects from using the sharpener and the armorer's workbench are preserved forever.
The sharpener and workbench provide almost imperceptible performance improvements.

Dumplings. Any food restores 100% more health, but everything tastes like pies.
Our witcher has a lot of ways to replenish his health without using such precious slots.

Calm. Having reached the maximum, adrenaline points begin to drop to 0. During this time, health and energy are restored faster, and the level of intoxication decreases faster.
An unnecessary thing, especially for alchemists, who, on the contrary, increase the damage from intoxication, but here they will reduce it.

Three runes deserve the most attention: infuse, inspire and cut. It is from these three options that you should choose.

The Witcher 3 armor enchantment

You cannot insert runes into pants, boots or gloves. By default, they have fewer slots, and we cannot add new ones.

Retribution. Gives a 30% chance to return part of the damage to the attacker.
In my opinion, an unnecessary thing, again, taking damage to reflect 30 percent is not very good.

Ease. All armor elements correspond to light armor.
If you put the "Lightness" rune, then all your things will be considered light. With this option, the school’s technology begins to work.

Possession. When an enemy under Axii's sign dies, the effect moves to the next target. The duration of the effect increases by 2 seconds for each successful hit to the target.
Again, it will only work when you are fighting multiple enemies. In a single battle, the rune will not be needed.

Explosion. Enemies set on fire by Igni explode and set nearby enemies on fire.
Igni does not always kill enemies the first time, so it is only effective when you are sure that the enemy will die after using it.

Fetters. When an enemy falls into Yrden's magic trap, the Yrden glyph appears in the place where he stands.
When hitting an enemy, the slow will be activated.

Charm. The effect of Axia's spell on an enemy is extended by 2 seconds each time the enemy lands a successful hit.
Effective if you are a beginner or playing on high level difficulties and enemies often damage you.

Ring. Igni's basic attack hits all nearby enemies, but the sign no longer sets other enemies on fire.
Ignium does not do enough damage to fight with it, and when the enemy is on fire, he stands still. I advise you to skip this rune.

Balance. All armor elements correspond to medium armor.
Similar to lightness, the school’s techniques begin to work: wolf, griffin, snake, cat, manticore and bear.

Shield. When combat begins, there is a 100% chance of automatically using Quen's shield without draining stamina.
A very useful rune that automatically activates the shield before the start of the battle.

Exhaustion. Hitting enemies with the Aard sign reduces their stamina by 50%.
Useful for those who play mages. In other cases, it is better to make a different choice.

Heaviness. All armor elements correspond to heavy armor.
Just like lightness and balance, it opens witcher schools.

Burning. Enemies set on fire by Igni have a 25% chance of setting fire to other enemies within a 2m radius.
Only useful if you use the Igni sign frequently.

Reflection. The armor reflects all arrows.
If you really need it, then it’s better to upgrade a special skill. And there aren't that many shooters.

Usurpation. If an enemy under the influence of Axii dies, the effect passes to the next target.
Effective if there are many opponents. It won't help in a single battle.

In my opinion, the most useful runes for armor are: shield, lightness, balance and heaviness.

Rune stones in the game The Witcher 3 serve as weapon upgrades. They do not affect basic characteristics, such as damage, but can add a certain bonus to you, the strength of which will depend on the size of the stone.

Where to find rune stones:

You can find rune stones, which are used to improve swords, completely by chance while wandering around the world of the game. Some of them can be found in places marked “Hidden Treasures” when searching a chest, others will be found in completely ordinary-looking barrels or boxes. You can also get a number of different rune stones for completing quests, even for completing story tasks.

It will also be very useful for you to know that rune stones can be bought from various blacksmiths-gunsmiths, which are located in large and small cities. The price for them is not that high, but for a novice player it will be almost a fortune. Therefore, you should not immediately try to fill your sword with rune stones, since soon you will still have to change your weapon to something more serious.

How to use rune stones:

In order to use the runestone you like, you first need to insert it into the sword. But if this one must have a slot for a rune, it usually makes sense to insert rune stones into relic weapons, or into weapons of some witcher school.

To insert a rune stone into a sword, you do not need to go to a blacksmith; you can do it yourself. First, equip a sword with an empty slot in a weapon slot; you can do this from your inventory. Then you need to double-click on the rune stone, and then on the sword itself, also twice with the left mouse button. The rune stone will appear in your sword and in battle with a certain chance it will produce a certain effect, depending on the type of stone.

How to create a rune stone:

If you don’t want to spend money on buying rune stones, but still want to have one, you have the opportunity to make a stone yourself.

To create a runestone, you will need a blueprint, which you can purchase from a blacksmith-gunsmith; the higher his skill level, the better recipes you can purchase from him. In order to make a small (initial) runestone of a certain type, you will need two ingredients, one of them is permanent - “Small Runestone”, you can purchase it from a blacksmith named Hattori in Novigrad, you can also buy from him a drawing for creating this stone (Drawing of a small rune stone). To create you will need: black pearl dust and smoky crystal. But first you will need to complete his task. The second component is different for each stone, mainly it is some kind of dust, almost all types of which can be bought from alchemists.

And so, having received all the ingredients, simply contact the blacksmith, and in the “Craft” tab (hereinafter referred to as “Improvements”), select the stone you need, and then click the make button. Please note that you will have to pay for the work.

How to improve a rune stone:

In order to improve a rune stone, that is, to make better ones from small ones, you should also contact a blacksmith. In his “Craft” tab (then “Improvements”) you need to select the stone that you want to create and click the “Craft item” button. To upgrade a runestone, you will need two small ones. That is, from two weak ones, you will make a stronger stone.

Where to buy drawings of rune stones:

You can buy drawings of rune stones from any gunsmith. The higher his skill level, the better the drawing he will sell you.

The best rune stones:

The best among rune stones are those that have the word “Big” at the beginning of their name, which means that it is of the maximum level. Each of the stones has its own peculiarity, so it makes no sense to decide which one is the best. Since each feature is important for the execution of certain battle tactics. You will have to decide for yourself which stone to choose based on your fighting style. You can buy large rune stones, as well as their drawings, from all the blacksmiths you meet on the Skellige Islands.

How to remove rune stones from a sword::

Sometimes there are moments when you have found more good sword than one that already has rune stones inserted into it. In order to get them out of the sword, you need to go to the blacksmith and disassemble the old sword in which your runes are located. If you want to free up the cells in the sword in order to replace the runes that are already in it, then you will have to select the “Remove Improvements” tab from the blacksmith, and all the cells in the weapon will be freed, but the stones that were in it will be lost forever.

List of rune stones, as well as their id:

Small/Regular/Large Veles runestone - Sign power + 2/3/5 percent. This rune stone will be useful to those who use it in battles large number witcher signs.

Small/Regular/Large Dazhdbog runestone - Chance of causing combustion + 2/3/5 percent. This runestone will be useful against monsters vulnerable to fire.

Small/Regular/Large runestone Chernobog - Attack power + 2/3/5 percent. This rune stone will be useful for those who are accustomed to relying only on physical strength and the power of their weapons.

Small/Normal/Large Triglav Runestone - Chance to cause stun + 2/3/5 percent. This runestone will be useful in protracted battles with serious opponents, as you can deal a large amount of damage while your enemy is immobilized.

Small/Regular/Large Stribog runestone - Chance to knock off balance + 2/3/5 percent. This runestone will be useful in protracted battles with serious opponents, as you can deal a large amount of damage while your enemy is immobilized.

Small/Regular/Large Perun runestone - Adrenaline gain + 2/3/5 percent. This runestone will be useful in protracted battles with a large number of opponents, since adrenaline increases your attack due to the “Battle Trance” skill.

Small/Regular/Large Zorya Runestone - Chance to cause freeze + 2/3/5 percent. This runestone will be useful against enemies vulnerable to this effect.

Small/Normal/Large Madder Runestone - Chance of causing poisoning + 2/3/5 percent. This runestone will be useful against enemies vulnerable to this effect, gradually causing poison damage.

Small/Normal/Large Devan Runestone - Chance to cause Bleeding + 2/3/5 percent. This runestone will be useful against enemies vulnerable to this effect, gradually dealing damage caused by injury.

When passing the game, many newcomers wonder where to find the Witcher 3 master. Rushing through cities and villages, from location to location, they are looking for where and how coolly they can dress and arm themselves, especially collecting a full set of one of the witch schools.

It’s not worth listing everything to the master today, as it will take a lot of time. Let's focus on the most necessary ones.

One of these is the NPC in the game - this is an armor master. Where to find an armor master in The Witcher 3? You need to go to Velen and visit the Bloody Baron's castle, where you will find Fergus.

This specialist will ask you to obtain tools for making armor in the Skellige archipelago. When you bring the tools, and you will get them in the cave after the fight with the troll, Fergus will also demand that you get acid from the griffin who lives north of the castle. After this you will get good armor.

Knowing where to find the Witcher 3 rune master will also be useful to you, since this master creates miraculous runes that impose a magical effect on the hero’s equipment. In order to use the services of a rune master, you need to pay five thousand gold and complete the task of finding a jade stone. He needs this jade to create a special apparatus for processing runes. Finding a rune master is not at all difficult. You need to go east from Novigrad to the lake, near which there will be the village of Bronovitsy. Explore the nearby area near the village and you will find the location of a magic rune specialist in a tent.

Information during the passage game world The Witcher 3 blacksmith master where to find will also play a good role. Without a master blacksmith, you will not be able to make either armor, boots, or gloves with pants according to the found drawings. Look for the Master Blacksmith near the gate in Oxenfurt to the west. He moves around, so sit comfortably in meditation near his anvil and wait for his return. There are also such blacksmiths working in the east of Novigrad and in the Steam Community.

In the game The Witcher 3 where to find a master gunsmith. A gunsmith from Novigrad named Hattori will help you. To reach him, you need to talk to any other gunsmith and ask him to forge a better blade than you have available. He will answer you that one of the cooks was a famous sword maker a long time ago.

Go to him and complete several quests. Just don’t bother before lvl 21, because the enemy will be strong and you won’t be able to defeat him at low levels. The reward for completing Hattori's quests will be a sword, which in its stats may be lower than the one you are currently using. But it doesn't matter. The main thing is that now you can make master weapons from this gunsmith.