How to Win at Gwent in The Witcher 3

Gwent tips and strategy for The Witcher 3: card advantage, when to pass, spies, Decoy, Scorch, weather, faction perks and how to build a deck that wins.

Gwent looks simple: two players, three rows, highest strength wins the round. But the real game is about cards, not points. You draw 10 cards at the start and hardly any after that, so the player who still has cards in hand when it matters usually wins. These tips cover the basics and the tricks that beat the toughest opponents in The Witcher 3.

New to the rules? Start with the rules in two minutes on our Gwent hub.

The golden rule: card advantage

A match is best of three rounds, and you play all three with the 10 cards you drew at the start. If you spend six cards to win round one and your opponent spends three, you’ve won a round but you’re three cards behind for the next two. That’s usually a losing trade.

  • Count cards, not just points. Before every move, ask how many cards you and your opponent have left.
  • Don’t chase a lost round. If your opponent is far ahead, pass and save your cards. Losing round one is fine if you go into round two with more cards.
  • Make them pay to win. Play one or two cheap units in round one. If your opponent throws strong cards at it, pass and let them waste those cards.
  • Don’t overspend after they pass. Once your opponent has passed, they can’t answer. Play just enough to get ahead, then pass yourself.

Round by round

  • Round one: play your weakest units and test the water. Use your leader ability only if it wins you the round cheaply, or save it.
  • Round two: if you won round one, your opponent has to win this round, so let them spend cards. If you lost round one, you have to win, but try to do it with as few cards as you can.
  • Round three: now everything goes. This is the time for your heroes, your Commander’s Horn and your Scorch.

Card tricks that win games

  • Spies go on your opponent’s side and draw you two cards. That’s the best deal in the game: you give away a few points and come out a card ahead. Nilfgaard and Northern Realms have the most spies, and the neutral Mysterious Elf is a hero spy with 0 strength.
  • Decoy swaps a unit back into your hand. Take a Medic back and play it again for a second revive, or pick up a spy your opponent played on your side and play it right back at them.
  • Medics such as Dun Banner Medic revive a unit from your discard pile, so one card puts two on the board. Reviving a spy draws you two more cards.
  • Scorch destroys the strongest non-hero unit or units on the whole board. Play it when your opponent’s strongest card is bigger than yours, and never stack your own strength into one big unit when your opponent might have it.
  • Weather sets every non-hero unit in a row to 1 strength on both sides. It’s a counter, not an opener: play Biting Frost, Impenetrable Fog or Torrential Rain when your opponent has more in that row than you do, and carry a Clear Weather for when they do it to you.
  • Commander’s Horn doubles a row. It’s worth the most on a row full of non-hero units, and heroes don’t get the bonus.
  • Muster pulls every copy of a card from your deck onto the board, and Tight Bond doubles each copy that sits next to another. Both are strong, but a weather card or Scorch can punish a stacked row.

Use your faction perk

  • Northern Realms: you draw a card every time you win a round, so winning round one is worth more than usual.
  • Nilfgaard: you win every round that ends in a tie. Matching your opponent’s total is enough.
  • Scoia’tael: you decide who goes first. Going second is usually better, because you see what your opponent does before you commit.
  • Monsters: one random unit stays on the board after each round, so you start the next round with points already down.
  • Skellige: two random units from your discard pile come back at the start of round three, so it doesn’t hurt as much to spend units early.

Build a better deck

  • Stay close to 22 units. That’s the minimum, and a smaller deck makes it more likely you draw your best cards. Every weak unit you add makes your hand worse.
  • Pick a plan. Spies and Medics for card advantage, or a stacked row with Tight Bond and a Commander’s Horn. Mixing everything makes a deck that does nothing well.
  • Cover the weather. One or two weather cards of your own, plus a Clear Weather or a leader that clears weather, keeps you safe.
  • Use the redraw. At the start you may redraw two cards. Throw back the cards you’d rather not see in this match, such as a second weather card or a weak unit.
  • Check your leader. Leaders like Emhyr var Emreis: Emperor of Nilfgaard let you peek at your opponent’s hand, and Francesca Findabair: Daisy of the Valley gives you an 11th card. Find one that fits your deck.

Our Gwent deck builder checks all of this for you. It rates your deck, warns about weak spots like rows a single weather card would wipe out, and lets you test an opening hand before you play.

Know your opponent

Quest opponents always play the same faction and leader, and the game files tell us exactly what’s in their decks. Before a hard match, look them up on our Gwent opponent decks page. If you know they carry lots of spies or a Scorch, you can plan around it.

If a match still feels unfair, the game’s Gwent Difficulty Level option gives every opponent a smaller version of their deck on Easy. There’s no shame in it, especially when a unique card is on the line.

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