This guide will show you how to defeat the Royal Griffin boss in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt: preparation tips, fight mechanics and rewards for taking down the monster!
This guide is up-to-date for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen version (Update 4.04)
The Royal Griffin is the first boss that you’ll encounter on The Witcher 3. This is part of the main quest “The Beast of White Orchard”, so it’s impossible for you to skip it.
Fighting the Royal Griffin for the first time can be quite challenging if you’re unprepared, especially on the higher difficulties. But don’t worry, this guide will cover everything you need to know so that you don’t get stuck in this part of the game, even if you play on Death March difficulty.
Preparations
If possible, do all sidequests available and explore as much as you can before talking to Vesemir. Doing Devil by the Well and collecting the White Orchard Places of Power will help a lot. Ideally, you reach level three right before facing the Griffin.
There are some items that will make this fight easier for you; the first one is the Grapeshot bomb, you must unlock the diagram to craft it. If you don’t have enough ingredients go visit herbalist Tomira.
The second useful item is the Thunderbolt potion, it increases your attack power for a period of time. You obtain it as part of the main quest. By the time you get to the Griffin boss, you’ll already have it in your inventory.
And last but not least, the Hybrid Oil is perfect for the occasion. If you have one use it right before starting the boss fight.
The Aard sign is particularly effective against the Royal Griffin but I consider that the silver sword does enough damage so I prefer to use Quen to protect my health bar.
Fight Mechanics and Recommendations
This fight has two parts and the mechanics of both of them are very similar with slight differences.
In the first part of the fight, it is going to fly around for a few seconds and then proceed to dive into you, attempting to strike with its sharp claws. It’s very easy to dodge. You just have to wait and roll out of the way when it gets close to you. It always attacks at the same speed, so once you have timed the attack you won’t have any problems dodging it.
Use the crossbow that Vesemir gave you to knock the Griffin out of its flight. Once it’s down you’ll be able to do serious damage to it.
Rolling out is your best friend in this fight. Every single attack can be evaded if you time it properly. The physical attacks of the Griffin are very telegraphed. After a few minutes into the fight you’ll know when to dodge.
As soon as the Griffin lands, use your Thunderbolt potion and rush to attack it with your silver sword. Use the Aard sign to stun it for a brief moment and strike it with fast attacks. Don’t be too ambitious. The Griffin will recover from the stun and hit you with its wings.
When fighting on the ground, if you attempt to keep your distance. The Griffin will try to follow you. It might look like it’s too slow but as soon as it gets close enough, the Griffin will tackle you. Remember, rolling out is your best friend.
It is safer to attack it from behind since it can only hit you with the back of its wings and that’s one of the easiest attacks to dodge.
After it takes a certain amount of damage, the Griffin will resume flight. Repeat the process.
When the beast loses around half of its health bar, it’s going to fly away. The Griffin is heading towards the Windmill that’s just 160 steps away (give or take) from your current location. Call Roach and follow it. That’s where the second phase of the fight will begin.
Once you get there, use your crossbow again to knock it down. Be careful, it now moves and attacks faster than before when it’s on the ground. The attacks are just as telegraphed, but their speed has increased and it won’t give you as much time to recover.
As soon as you see that it resumes its flight move to another spot. Sometimes, the Griffin takes off but once it’s on the air it immediately stomps the ground. You don’t wanna get hit by that.
This part of the fight is the perfect moment to use your Grapeshot bombs. As soon as you can use the Aard sign to stun it, immediately after this throw a Grapeshot bomb and continue to deal damage with a few fast attacks.
The Royal Griffin is capable of stunning you with a sonic attack, it will stand on two legs and spread its wings while making a screeching sound. In the dozen times that I played this fight, it only happened on two or three occasions.
When it happened, it returned to the sky instead of attacking me. There’s no pattern and it isn’t very dangerous, not even when playing on Death March difficulty. It’s a random mechanic and your experience may be slightly different from mine.
Rewards for defeating the Royal Griffin
Congratulations, you have defeated the first boss of The Witcher 3! It is time to collect your rewards
Beating the Royal Griffin grants you the following rewards:
| Icon | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Griffin Trophy | Gear for Roach. 10% Chance to Dismember when equipped |
 | Griffin’s Egg | Alchemy Ingredient. Can be dismantled into Monster Egg and Monster Feather |
 | Griffin Mutagen | Alchemy Ingredient. Can be equipped in a Mutagen Slot in the Gearing Screen. Provides +50 Vitality (and +50 for every green ability connected to it for a max of +200) |
 | Griffin Feathers | Alchemy Ingredient. Can be dismantled into Monster Feather and Powdered Monster Tissue. |
 | Monster Tongue | Crafting Component. Part of many recipes in the game. |
 | Monster Brain | Crafting Component. Part of several recipes in the game. |
 | Infused Dust | Crafting Component. Part of several recipes in the game. |
The Lore behind the Royal Griffin in The Witcher 3
A Griffin is a hybrid creature, it has the legs, tail, and body of a lion while also possessing the head, wings, and talons of an eagle. Griffins make their nests up in the mountains but it’s not that rare for them to descend into the fields when hunting.
Griffins are very powerful creatures, they can easily kill a cow or horse with a single strike so this tells you how most humans end after the attack of a Griffin.
There are two types of Griffins; the Archgriffin and the Royal Griffin. They look almost the same but the main difference is that the Archgriffin can spit acid, taking its enemies by surprise.
This creature is so iconic that even one of the Witchers’ schools uses it as its symbol, The School of the Griffin.
The next boss fight in your main story progression is the fight against Nithral, one of the members of the Wild Hunt! If you need a guide for this boss or a walkthrough for the quest, you know where to look.
