How To Draw Cards In Gwent

This article will teach you how to play Gwent in The Witcher iii, including where to notice cards, and how to build your customized decks. While your involvement with Gwent is largely optional, it's something that you'll see popping up as you brand your way through The Witcher iii: Wild Hunt, then you lot might likewise be prepared to spend some time playing it.

If y'all instead require help with anything else related to the game, and then head on over to our Witcher three guides walkthrough hub, containing walkthrough for every side and chief quest in the game.

Your first feel with Gwent volition take place during the Lilac and Gooseberries Chief Quest. Later on you enter a tavern you lot'll be given an objective to inquire travelers well-nigh Yennefer, at which point you lot can sit and talk with a scholar who is alone at 1 of the nearby tables. He won't mention Gwent immediately, but once you attempt to get out the table he'll innovate y'all to the game.

Witcher 3: How to Play Gwent
Special Abilities
Weather condition Cards Explained
Where to Observe and Collect Gwent Cards in The Witcher 3
Witcher 3 Gwent Card Combos Explained

Witcher 3: How to Play Gwent

Your first Gwent deck has been built for you, so you can immediately jump into a tutorial game confronting the scholar. Nosotros strongly suggest that you carefully read all of the instructions while you take part in your starting time full game. Here are some things yous need to know about Gwent.

Each deck must comprise at to the lowest degree 22 Unit cards
Before each match, you randomly draw 10 cards from your deck
You lot can re-draw (mulligan) ii cards prior to the start of the game
Each game contains three rounds
The first player to win two rounds wins the game
To stop a round from your perspective, laissez passer on your turn

One of the important things to remember is that the 10 cards you start a Gwent game with must last you through the duration of the iii rounds. Yous do not get a full, 10 card deck each round. This is where strategy actually comes into play.

In that location are several different types of Gwent cards to be concerned with, and each carte you lot play gets placed into one of the rows on the board. The most common carte du jour types that you'll run into are Shut Combat, Long Range and Siege. Each of these cards has a value, and that value helps to determine your overall score. Your combined score between all of your rows is matched against your opponent'due south combined score to determine who wins the round.

This is the scholar at the tavern in White Orchard, the person who volition introduce you to Gwent.

For instance, allow's say that you play a Close Combat carte du jour with a value of v, and your opponent then plays one with a value of 4. Y'all are currently holding a higher score than them. However, if they identify some other menu on their side by side turn with a value of iv, they are at present ahead of you, 8 to five.

You lot're non simply trying to win individual rows (Close Gainsay, Long Range and Siege), only end each round with an overall score higher than your opponent. You could be winning the Siege row past a score of eight to six, but if your opponent is winning the Close Gainsay row eight to 5, they are winning the overall round by a score of 14 to 13.

Witcher 3 Gwent Card Abilities Explained

Note the icons on the board, each representing ane of the mutual units - Shut Combat, Long Range and Siege.

Special Abilities

In addition to having numerical values, some cards as well accept special abilities. These, like the Weather and Leader cards below, are not unlike modifiers. They add a level of depth the to the game that goes beyond the bones values that the Close Combat, Long Range and Siege cards have. Below is a list of the different abilities that cards can have.

Morale Boost - Adds +1 to all of the cards in the row
Scorch - Will destroy all of the highest value cards in play on either side of the lath
Scorch: Close Combat - Destroys all of the highest value Close Combat cards in play
Spy - Place it on your opponent's side of the board in commutation for drawing two cards from your deck
Hero - Immune to any special effects or other card'due south abilities
Tight Bond - Identify it adjacent to a card with the same name to double their values
Medic - Afterward playing this card, cull ane from your discarded pile and play it instantly
Agile - Identify this bill of fare in either the Shut Gainsay or Long Range row
Muster - Notice any cards with the same proper noun in your deck and play them instantly

Weather condition Cards Explained

We covered the basic menu types above, only when you actually desire to make it-depth with Gwent you'll have to understand what Weather and Leader cards are all about. We'll get-go with Weather cards, which practise not get placed on the board as mutual cards would, and do non contain values. Think of them more as modifiers that you play at strategic times.

Biting Frost - Power of all Close Gainsay cards gear up to 1
Impenetrable Fog - Power of all Long Range cards set to 1
Torrential Rain - Ability of all Siege cards prepare to 1
Clear Weather condition - Will clear all weather effects on the board

Yous might be asking when you would play a Conditions card. Well, imagine that yous have two Close Gainsay Cards on the board, both with a value of two (for a total of four in the Close Combat row). Your opponent so plays a single Close Combat bill of fare with a value of five. You lot could play the Biting Frost card, setting all Close Combat cards to a value of one. This would mean that y'all are at present winning that row with a score of two, while your opponent just has one point.

Leader cards, on the other hand, can only exist played once per lucifer. These come up with special abilities and are generally used when your back is against the wall. In total there are four Leaders, each with four variations, for a total of xvi possibilities. They break downwardly as follows.

Northern Realms (King Foltest)

The Steel Forged - Destroys your enemy's strongest Siege units if they're combined force is more than than x
The Siegemaster - Doubles the strength of all your Siege units
Lord Commander of the North - Clear whatever weather effects that are in play
King of Temeria - Pick an Impenetrable Fog card from your deck, playing it instantly

Nilfgaard (Emyhr)

The Relentless - Depict a carte from your opponent'southward discarded cards pile
The White Flame Dancing on the Graves of His foes - Cancels your enemy'south Leader card
The Emperor of Nilfgaard - Look at three random cards that are in your opponent'due south deck
His Imperial Majesty - Choice a Torrential Pelting carte du jour from your opponent'due south deck and play information technology instantly

Scoia'Tael (Francesca)

Queen of Dol Blathanna - Destroy your opponent's strongest Shut Gainsay units if they're combined strength is 10 or more than
The Beautiful - Double the strength of your Long Range units
Daisy of the Valley - Draw an actress carte du jour at the kickoff of the match
Pureblood Elf - Snag a Biting Frost card from your deck and play information technology instantly

Monsters (Eredin)

Destroyer of Worlds - Restore one of your discarded cards back to your hand
Bringer of Death - Discard two cards, then draw i of your choice from your deck
King of the Wild Chase - Double the value of all of your Close Combat units
Commander of the Blood-red Riders - Option whatsoever weather card from your deck, playing it instantly

Find this Gwent thespian in the garden during the Imperial Audience chief quest. Yous tin win a Gwent card from him.

Where to Find and Collect Gwent Cards in The Witcher 3

There are several means that you lot can collect Gwent cards. For example, you tin can buy them from the bar-woman in Lilac and Gooseberries, besides as other traders and merchants scattered about The Witcher 3: Wild Chase. You too start with some, and tin can win some by defeating opponents who you play against. In that location is also the Gwent Quests to exist concerned with, specifically one called Collect 'Em All! We're still working on completing those quests ourselves, and then we'll be certain to link to them once they're complete.

One time you've got the hang of Gwent, it will be time to elevate your skills to the next level. You lot tin can earn a lot of cards from beating other Gwent players you come across, but you only get a card if you win. While some opponents have very strong decks, they don't always brand the all-time plays. This ways yous can win matches confronting opponents who would otherwise defeat y'all so long as you tin can take advantage of their mistakes.

The most important attribute of Gwent is to maintain plenty cards to win ii rounds in a match. If you use vi of your cards during the starting time round, that means you only accept iv cards remaining for the adjacent ii rounds. At that place are means to draw more cards, but the simple fact is that you need to plan ahead and then you know how many cards yous tin can use in any given round and how yous're going to win those rounds.

Y'all should always go into a match with a gear up game plan. Does your Leader power double the ability of all Siege units? And so you should plan to win i round with a number of Siege units aslope that ability. However, yous'll demand the cards to win a second round, and possibly a third circular if your opponent counters your Siege play with a Torrential Pelting card.

In that location are many instances in which you should end your turn to save cards. Even if ending your turn will result in losing the round, equally long every bit it's the first round you've lost, it can be benign to lose the round. For instance, if you lot're going back and forth with the opponent with each new card played beating the opponent'due south score, there's a betoken where y'all need to stop trying to beat the opponent and end your plow.

Going into each round y'all should accept a set strategy of how you're going to win. Once you've played out that strategy, you accept to examine what information technology would take for yous to win the circular, as well as what your opponent needs to do in order to win. If you're up by v points in the first round, but your opponent still has six cards in their hand, that's a expert time to end your turn. The opponent will have to play at least ane menu (or potentially employ their Leader ability) in gild to make upwards that 5 indicate difference. In the worst case scenario that leaves your opponent with five cards and one round one. In the best case scenario the opponent has to apply several cards to win the round, or simply ends their turn so you tin take the round.

The point is that depleting your opponent's cards and losing the round can be almost as beneficial as winning a round. If your opponent uses so many cards to win a round that they don't have the resource to win the next 2 rounds, requite them that round. You're strategy should exist to win the game, but an individual round. You can injure your chances of winning a match if you lot overextend yourself during the first or fifty-fifty 2d round.

Each faction has a passive power and each leader has an ability that tin be used in one case during the lucifer. Information technology'southward important to know these abilities so you know what to wait from your opponent. For example, if your opponent is using the Monsters faction, that means that one random unit of measurement card will be left on the board after each turn. Yous have to assume it'due south going to be the highest value carte and plan around that in anticipation of the next round. If that's a card with a value of 10, you take to assume your opponent volition start with 10 points next round. Even if they only get a bill of fare valued at four, you lot accept to plan alee with the assumption it will be their most powerful menu.

If your opponent's leader power is to play a Torrential Pelting card, you lot need to be careful when and how you play your Siege unit cards. In this situation you lot may want to play one Siege card in an attempt to bait your opponent into using the leader ability. If you have a Articulate Weather card, you may desire to save information technology just in instance your opponent using their leader ability. As well, if you don't have any Siege units you tin merely ignore the leader ability as it won't affect you this game.

Witcher three Gwent Carte Combos Explained

There are many cards that have a special office or power such as Morale Boost or Medic. When y'all draw one of these cards take a look at the residuum of your hand to determine how you're going to apply it. This should bear on even your opening mulligan depending on the cards you depict. For example, if you draw a carte du jour that has a Muster ability, you should remove any other cards in your mitt with the same name. Playing this card will automatically play any other cards in your deck with the same proper name, which ways you don't need whatsoever of those cards in your hand. Instead you can bandy it out during the opening mulligan and get a unlike card.

Gwent is a game in which success is heavily reliant on your ability to manage the number of cards in your hand. By removing any other cards of the same name you already know you can play those cards at whatsoever fourth dimension when y'all play the card with the Muster ability. This essentially gives you more than ten cards in your hand and a significant advantage in the friction match.

This aforementioned strategy works with a leader ability that plays a certain conditions card. The leader power pulls the weather condition bill of fare from your deck, not your manus. For example, if yous cull a leader with the ability to use a Torrential Pelting card from your deck, and you draw a Torrential Rain carte du jour in your opening manus, utilise your mulligan to remove information technology. You don't need the card in your mitt because you can describe information technology from your deck at whatever point with your leader ability. The only reason to go along it would be if you anticipate the need for two of that weather card.

You tin can utilize a similar strategy with Medic cards. You never want to play a Medic carte in the beginning round because aught has been discarded yet (unless a Scorch card is used). However, you know that when you play your Medic card y'all will be able to draw a card you used in a previous circular. This allows you to use a bill of fare in the current round that y'all might normally save for a future round. For example, if you have a leader with the ability to double the value of Siege units, you generally want to salve your highest valued Siege card to use in conjunction with that ability. Nevertheless, with a Medic menu you can play that high value Siege carte in the first round to help you win the circular, and then play the Medic card in the 2d round, pulling the Siege bill of fare from the discard pile and then using your leader power.

For more on The Witcher 3, why not check out our Romance Guide. Elsewhere, there's also our guides on the Endings, and on the best Armor Sets in the Game.

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Hirun Cryer

Staff Writer

Hirun Cryer is by far the virtually juvenile member of USgamer. He'due south so juvenile, that this is his first total-time job in the industry, unlike literally every other person featured on this page. He'due south written for The Guardian, Paste Magazine, and Kotaku, and he likes waking upwardly when the sunday rises and roaming the nearby woods with the bears and the wolves.