The Witcher 3: Collect 'Em All - Where to get every Gwent card
You can never have enough decks of playing cards in The Witcher 3.
The Witcher 3's hardest quest is probably Collect 'Em All, and it behoves us to include detailed instructions as part of our The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt guide and walkthrough. This particular quest has you collecting every Gwent card available to you.
It's not that Gwent itself is particularly difficult (with our guide to how to win at Gwent, you'll be triumphant in no time), it's that it's very hard to track what you have and haven't got, or know in advance what needs to be done to avoid missing unique opportunities.
Most "answers" to this problem give you a list of every card in the game, sorted by faction, and vaguely describing where to find them.
Reconciling these lists with your current Gwent deck is a pain thanks to how cards are sorted in the deck menu, and there are so many missable cards that consulting this list at the end of the game can be heartbreaking.
Here's my proposed solution: a list of everything you need to do to collect every Gwent card. If you follow this guide, you too can know the joy of seeing the Card Collector achievement notification. Without further ado, here's where to get every Gwent card in The Witcher 3 and complete the Collect 'Em All quest.
The Witcher 3: Collect 'Em All - Where to get every Gwent card
There are three ways to acquire Gwent cards in The Witcher 3, in addition to those granted to you at the start of the game: purchase them from vendors, win them during quests, and win them during random matches. Let's look at each in turn.
1. Buying Gwent cards from vendors
To complete your Gwent collection in The Witcher 3, you must purchase every card on sale in the Northern Realms. This is the easiest way to collect cards and CD Projekt RED has helpfully patched out an issue with the innkeeper in White Orchard after many players found themselves unable to obtain the Gwent cards there. Check out the merchants by the bridge in White Orchard if you miss the innkeeper.
When shopping for Gwent cards, make sure you exit the vendor's storefront and then pop back in; sometimes you can purchase duplicate cards this way. Having multiple Decoy and Commander's Horn cards can make your life a lot easier when you go after rare cards.
Here's a list of all the vendors you need to visit to purchase every card. If you trot round all of these as soon as you have access to each major area, you'll have gathered a pretty varied deck with little to no effort - just a bit of galloping past high-level threats.
- Innkeeper, White Orchard
- Innkeeper, Inn at the Crossroads, Velen
- Trader, Crow's Perch, Velen
- Quartermaster, Crow's Perch, Velen
- Trader, Midcopse, Velen
- Trader, Claywich, Velen
- Trader, Lindendale, Velen
- Missable: Olivier (innkeeper), Kingfisher Inn, Novigrad
- Marquise Serenity (innkeeper), Passiflora, Novigrad
- Innkeeper, The Golden Sturgeon, Novigrad
- Trader, Seven Cats Inn, Novigrad
- Innkeeper, Cunny of the Goose, Novigrad
- Stjepan (innkeeper), Oxenfurt
- Innkeeper, Kaer Trolde Harbour, Skellige
- Innkeeper, Urialla, Skellige
- Innkeeper, Arinbjorn, Skellige
- Innkeeper, Svorlag, Skellige
- Innkeeper, Harviken, Skellige
2. Completing Gwent quests
There are several Gwent quests where you'll face better than average opponents in The Witcher 3, which will reward you with Gwent 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.
It's possible to miss or fail these quests, or just complete them without playing Gwent - but as of patch 1.05 and later, fail-safes were added for most of the cards you could miss if a character became unavailable. All you need to do to track down the NPC specific card is to select the Gwent quest and follow the waypoint to the card. For example, if your actions cause the Bloody Baron to leave Velen before you win a card from him, you'll find the card in his home.
There is an exception: as noted below, depending on what DLC you have installed, you can miss Dandelion and a couple of other cards by failing to win a tournament during the quest A Matter of Life and Death.
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.
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; each of the players will point you to another one. 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.
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
The only way to get the Dandelion card, plus some other cards depending on which DLC you have installed, 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. Keep the cards.
Shock Therapy
Complete this quest at Gedyneith, harassing a druid into speaking, to receive the Iorveth card.
Gwent: High Stakes
This secondary quest is available as soon as you arrive in Novigrad, but you need 1,000 crowns to enter and a tournament-ready deck. Save this one for later on, as you'll need the best cards you can find; it's not easy. Warning: This quest is easily failed, so make back up saves.
3. Winning cards from matches
The rest of the Gwent cards in the Witcher 3 are won by winning matches against opponents. There are a few things to bear in mind here:
- You can't lose cards.
- You can only win one card from each opponent; after that, they'll give you random items instead.
- The card you win is random, selected from the available pool.
- You'll know if you've played with a particular opponent before if you win and don't receive a card. However, there are more opponents than there are cards to collect, so if you're sure you're playing new characters and you're not winning cards, you've exhausted this method of collecting. Try shopping or doing quests instead.
There are opponents to be found in almost every town - check innkeepers, merchants, blacksmiths and armourers specifically.
That's it! Not so difficult, right? Just ensure you've completed each of the steps and quests above and that elusive Gwent Collect 'Em All trophy will be yours.
You can also check out our The Witcher 3 main quest guide, as well as our Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine guides if you want to jump straight into the DLC.