The Witcher 3: Important Merchants you should visit

This guide will show you a few merchants in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt that you absolutely should visit. As early as possible. Don’t skip their offerings!

This guide is up-to-date for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen version (Update 4.04)

The Witcher 3 is a long game. It also features a lot of areas, some of which are available as soon as you complete White Orchard. Others you have to unlock through the story, like Kaer Morhen.

There are a few key places you may want to visit as early as possible and in some of them, there are a few special merchants you would like to trade with!

To newer players, some of the locations I will share below are vital and could prove to save your life a few times. Some of the items the listed merchants offer are quite unique, in other cases, the NPCs just offer things at a great discount.

Where to buy Cheap HP Regeneration Items
How to Expand your Bestiary
How to reset your Ability Points in The Witcher 3
Where to buy Herbs and Alchemy Ingredients
Where to purchase Witcher Gear Sets Fragment Maps
Where to find good Armorer and Blacksmith
How to unlock Skellige Fast Travel Points to all Islands
Where to buy Armor Dyes

Where to buy Cheap HP Regeneration Items

At the start of your journey, you will not have a lot of money, you will not be a powerful witcher and you will struggle to heal yourself. Especially if you chose to play on Blood and Broken Bones or Death march difficulties, where meditating doesn’t heal you.

There is a merchant in the northwest corner of Novigrad’s Fish Market. He offers cheap HP Regeneration food. The merchant is usually present during the day and often refreshes his supplies of food.

Novigrad's Fish Market Food and Drinks Merchant

Merchant for Food and Drinks at the Novigrad Fisherman's Market

You can opt to spend Skill Points on the General Skill Perks Gourmet and Sun and Stars. They are great, really.

The issue with these two is that you will have to “waste” two Skill Points and you will also have to “waste” two Skill Slots to have them active.

You would have to either swap Skills often to have an optimal build for combat scenarios and heal passively out of combat. Or compromise.

Gourmet and Sun and Stars General Skills

My recommendation is to not purchase these two skills at early levels. Maybe after 9 or 10. Instead, gather and purchase as much food as you can afford. Looting remains of defeated animals, like wolves, is also a good idea.

This merchant will sell you Water twice as cheaper and restocks frequently. You can find him during the day. He opens the shop after 10 in the morning.

How to Expand your Bestiary

The Novigrad’s Librarian seems to be the only such shop in the entire game. He will not make you rich, but still buys and sells books at much better prices compared to any other vendor.

Once again, easy to find even at a low level. He is located on the north side of the Hierarch Square in the very center of Novigrad.

This shop is invaluable for filling in gaps in your Bestiary as early as possible. If you play on the lowest difficulty, you may never feel the need to read up on the type of monster or beast you are about to face. But on higher difficulties, it helps to know which oils, bombs, and signs to use in the upcoming fight.

And sometimes it’s just pure fun to dive deep into the lore of The Witcher and learn more about the distant corners of the Continent with a new book.

How to reset your Ability Points in The Witcher 3

On the upper square, just south of the Novigrad’s St. Gregory’s Bridge you will find a merchant who not only sells valuable (and expensive) items but will also give you a quest.

Merchant selling Potion of Clearance in The Witcher 3 - shop entrance

Merchant selling Potion of Clearance in The Witcher 3

The best item in this merchant’s hop is the Potion of Clearance. It resets your Ability Points and allows you to spend them in a different way and test various builds for Geralt.

The secondary quest is called “Of Diary and Darkness” (recommended level 9) and is about the mage Aeramas. I won’t say more and leave you to discover who this was and what may happen during and after your first conversation with this Merchant.

Be sure to either buy the other items marked with a yellow exclamation mark or at least remember where to get them for when you need them later, eventually.

Where to buy Herbs and Alchemy Ingredients

Alchemy is an incredibly important part of the game, especially if you play on higher difficulty. Crafting potions, oils, bombs and other consumables is a big part of being a witcher.

There are a few Herbalists I would strongly recommend that you remember and visit frequently. You definitely want to have as many oils and decoctions and as early as possible. And sometimes you can buy Decoctions and other useful recipes from Herbalists as well.

The first one I will list, is available very early in the game – The Pellar. I would mention Keira, but she may not be in that spot where you find her for Wandering in the Dark quest for much longer after that. And her offerings are not that great anyway.

That’s why I chose to list the Pellar first. He’s got a nice inventory of herbs available and he also has a couple of side quests, one of which involves a funny gameplay element you would never see again in the game after that (no spoilers). As a thank you for helping him, he will be offering you his contents quite cheap. Here’s his location in Velen:

Another important Herbalist is the halfling in Novigrad. He’s in the south part of Novigrad and offers a large variety of herbs, recipes and other alchemy-related ingredients and items. Including some runes.

There is a useful merchant at Crow’s Perch that sells ingredients required for White Gull.You can reach it from the Fast Travel post at the bridge near the south entrance. If you have unlocked the Castle Village sign (via a long quest chain in this area), you can also go from there, but the path is shorter from the south.

White Gull is an Alcohol ingredient used in several Alchemy recipes such as Aether, Albedo, Hydragenum, Nigredo, Rebism, Rubedo, Vermilion, Vitriol. And these items are part of the ingredients list for the more advanced Bombs and Oils tiers.

The recipe for White Gull requires items you can find in this very shop: Empty Bottle, Mandrake Cordial, and Cherry Cordial. Some of these are also used to craft Alcohest as well.

As soon as you enter Crow’s Perch from the south Fast Travel post across the bridge, turn right and you will see the table and the NPC. If it’s late in the night the NPC may go inside the house, but this guy never stops working, it seems.

Crow's Perch Merchant for Alcohol Ingredients

You can also purchase Redanian Herbal from the following merchants available in the open world of the game: White Orchard inn, The Golden Sturgeon inn in Novigrad, Helmut Altberg at Hierarch Square in Novigrad and several other locations. Below is a map of The Golden Sturgeon inn near the Novigrad’s port.

Where to purchase Witcher Gear Sets Fragment Maps

There are five witcher schools represented in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt with dedicated witcher gear sets: Bear School, Wolf School, Cat School (Feline), Griffin School, Viper School and Manticore School.

You can obtain the diagrams to craft the gear pieces from all of these sets in the game. For some of them, you can purchase map fragments from certain crafters in Velen and Skellige. These map fragments will start a Scavenging Hunt quest for you. You don’t really need the quest. All you need is the diagrams.

We’ve got in-depth guides on how to start the quests, find the witcher gear diagrams, how to craft them and, of course, stats and visual overview. Visit The Witcher 3 Gear Sets archive and pick a guide.

And to make it even more convenient for you, here are the NPCs that sell these map fragments:

The Bear School Scavenging Hunt map fragment is available for purchase from the Armorer in Kaer Trolde, the main Skellige island:

The Armorer in Midcospse will sell you the map fragment for the Griffin School Scavenging Hunt quest.

How-to-start-the-Griffin-School-Scavenging-Hunt-Quest-Location-on-the-Map-in-Velen

The Wolf School Svavenging Hunt quest starts after you purchase the map fragment from the Blacksmith at Lindenvale, in Velen.

How-to-start-Scavenging-Hunt-side-quest-for-Wolf-School-witcher-gear-set

Finally, the scavenging hunt quest for the Feline witcher set starts after you purchase the map fragment from the Blacksmith vendor in Blackbough.

The Viper witcher set doesn’t have a map fragment you can purchase. But nonetheless, I have a guide to show you how and where to obtain all pieces!

Where to find good Armorer and Blacksmith

While your options for the top-tier crafters are somewhat limited in the world of The Witcher 3, you can find a Journeyman Armorer and Blacksmith fairly easily and early in the game. They will be able to craft any diagram you find and bring them for quite a while before you need a Master or a Grandmaster crafter.

The Journeymen Blacksmith and Armorer in Novigrad can make swords and armor for you up to Superior tier witcher gear. The Blacksmith is on the northern side of the open market area. This is just west and south of Hierarch Square. He works only during the day. The Armorer is at the Hierarch Square, on the western side, near the bank.

Journeyman Armorer and Blacksmith in Novigrad

The Armorer sells also saddlebags for Roach with an increased limit for your Inventory space. You will be able to carry more loot before yu have to head back to a merchant to sell stuff.

Visit Crow’s Perch or Kaer Trolde to find a Journeyman Armorer for your armor crafting needs. Here is the location of Fergus Graem and Yoana. After you complete their quest, you will be able to craft Mastercrafted armor there.

How to unlock Skellige Fast Travel Points to all Islands

There is a traveling merchant on the main Skellige island (where you crash after sailing off from Novigrad). I cannot guarantee the exact spot of the merchant, he usually moves on the main road south-north. You should be able to find him somewhere between the Crossroads signpost and the Kaer Trolde Harbor.

Where to find the Merchant for the maps to Skellige Islands Fast Travel Points

This merchant sells six maps that will automatically unlock fast travel to all Skellige Islands. You will be able to travel quickly between them without having to swim to reach them the first time. The maps cost 300 coins each.

Traveling Merchant selling Skellige Fast Travel Points maps

Merchant inventory - maps to Skellige Islands Fast Travel Points

There are other merchants that you can encounter on the islands and get these maps from. This one is likely the first you will meet after your first landing on Ard Skellig.

Where to buy Armor Dyes

The dye system was introduced to The Witcher 3 with the Blood and Wine expansion. There are some ways to obtain a dye, but there is only one dedicated merchant in the whole game that reliably and consistently sells many types of dyes for your armor. He is located at the port of Bouclair in Toussaint.

Where to buy Dyes for your Armor - map location

This NPC sells both dyes and a unique item called Dye Remover. It’s expensive, but at least allows you to remove a dye once you get bored with it.

This merchant doesn’t exactly fit the category of “beginner friendly”, in which this guide is situated. The reason for that is that Toussaint is a high level region and the content there is recommended for levels 30-35 or even higher.

To learn more, read the guide on how to unlock and access Toussaint and find out what you should do there first that will greatly benefit your gameplay experience later.

You can find a lot more helpful beginner-friendly tips in The Witcher 3 DOs and DONTs Guide for new players!

The Witcher 3 Collectible and Consumable Items Catalogs and Locations Guides

This list contains Catalogs and Locations Guides to valuable items from The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Each guide focuses on different types of items like Potions, Decoctions, Oils, Bombs, Places of Power and other valuable items.

In these dedicated Catalogs, you will find everything you need to know to learn how to find, craft and use these items, where and when they are most helpful, and why.