The Witcher 3: The Great Escape walkthrough

The Great Escape has Geralt and Yennefer teaming up to rescue the sorceress Margarita in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This is one of four secondary quests that make up the Battle Preparations questline, and you'll find yourself doing a little breaking and entering this time around.

If you need pointing in the right direction for whatever reason or aren't too sure what to do next, here's our guide on how to complete the The Great Escape quest in The Witcher 3.

The Witcher 3: The Great Escape walkthrough

First things first in The Witcher 3's The Great Escape quest, track down Yennefer at Crippled Kate’s to kick things off.

You’re here to meet a contact, but he soon takes to his heels, and you have to chase him down. If you cast Aard you can knock him down and nab him easily, but if you’re too slow, you’ll have to chase him up a ladder and onto the rooftops, where Yennefer eventually halts his progress.

Once you’ve finished squeezing this unfortunate bloke for information, you can optionally head back to Dandelion’s inn to ask Zoltan for help. Whether he assists you depends on whether you completed Now or Never.

When you’re ready, met Yennefer in Oxenfurt; fast travel to the Novigrad Gate to expedite matters. Follow her to the well and jump in, after optionally telling her off a bit.

As you hit water, use Witcher Senses to locate a loot chest. Grab it and swim down the tunnel. Surface, apply Necrophage Oil, and enter the search area – don’t worry, we’ll se the other rooms in a minute – to battle a Grave Hag. Once she’s down, investigate the lever.

Return the way you came in and go in the opposite direction, pausing to look at the tomb raider’s body, just for fun. In the room ahead are three Drowners and multiple loot chests, as well as the lever you need. Head back to the switch - by way of the watery tunnel, if you like - and use it twice (once to place the lever, once to flip the switch).

Through the doorway that opens next to the switch, turn right and swim to the end of the tunnel, diving down to raid the loot chest and body. Back on the main path, use Aard to open the brittle wall and battle three Ghouls and a Necrophage – a kind of Rotfiend. There’s nothing down the dead end path so head east towards the search area.

At the junction, the grate is locked, so head the other way and look on the right wall at the end for a ledge you can climb up to. Kill the two Witch Hunters waiting here (if Zoltan couldn’t help you), and take the sewer key from the table. If you like, you can go back and open the locked grate; it only leads to Oxenfurt houses, though.

Apply Hanged Man’s Venom to your steel sword if you haven’t already, then pass through the door and up the stairs and into the prison proper (looting as you go) where you must battle three Witch Hunters. When they’re dead you can chat with Magarita.

Pass through the door at the opposite end of the prison and up another flight of stairs (looting as you go). Before going outside, head upstairs and deal with two isolated Witch Hunters (if present) who would otherwise reinforce a later battle.

When you step into the courtyard on the ground floor, you’ll either have to sneak past the drunken Witch Hunters, distracted by Zoltan’s assistance, or kill them. In the latter case an alarm is sounded – but don’t worry, no help is coming for these guys. Kill the guards and Witch Hunters attacking you, including the crossbowmen on the stairs, and then the one ringing the bell. On higher difficulty settings, this is a really tough battle, but you can always retreat back inside the prison to bottleneck your foes, making it easier to smack them with Signs and your crossbow.

Proceed up the stone stairs and around the wall to enter the Commander’s room. He’s a bit tougher than generic Witch Hunters, so be careful. Loot his body to retrieve the key.

Back in the prison, Yennefer arrives. If Sile is alive (she may have died in The Witcher 2), she’ll ask for a quick death; it’s your choice who complies.

Head back out through the courtyard, again sneaking past the drunken guards, or dealing with any whom you encounter on your path to the exit at the waypoint.

This concludes the quest. You can now go on with Blindingly Obvious or Payback, or if you’ve done both of those already, head for Through Time and Space.

If you fancy doing something else as Geralt for a bit, here's our The Witcher 3 guide and walkthrough, as well as our Hearts of Stone walkthrough, and Blood and Wine walkthrough to help you out with whatever endeavour you embark on.