The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best PC RPGs of all time, so the thought of modding it sometimes feels like garnishing a kingly steak with corner store-grade sauce. But the best Witcher 3 mods really do make for an even better game—or at least a more convenient or different game, which is welcome in your second or third adventure through the Northern Realms.
Geralt of Rivia, one of a dying caste of monster hunters, embarks on an epic journey in a war-ravaged world in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, an adventure that will.
Below you'll find our list of the best mods for The Witcher 3, updated for a new playthrough in 2018 or beyond. Since its original release, modders have figured out how to do more with CD Projekt's RED's tools, and the best Witcher 3 mods make some pretty drastic changes to combat, loot, graphics, and more. Unless otherwise noted, all of these mods should work with the last Witcher 3 patch, version 1.31.
Table of contents
Utilities
Menu and travel
Combat
Gear and trade
Graphics and camera changes
Overhaul mods
Utilities
Debug Console Enabler
If you’re going to be tinkering around with a lot of mods, you’re going to need the god-like powers of the debug console behind you. This little mod unlocks the debug console, letting you use console commands to change settings, spawn enemies, fix broken things, etc.
Nexus Mod Manager
All of the Witcher mods live on Nexus, and the Nexus Mod Manager is the single best way to wrangle all the competing and conflicting changes that mods might be bringing to your game. While you’re installing mods, pay attention to warnings about conflicts and load orders. If you do see a specific load order, the NMM is where you go to make that change. Otherwise incompatible mods could work perfectly if you load one before the other.
If you are installing a lot of mods, do it just like your mother taught you: go slow, take it easy, and say your prayers.
Mod Merger
Did you know that there’s a “mod limit”? It was news to us. If you are trying to install more mods than the game wants to allow, the Mod Merger can help. The process will take about 15 minutes, but basically the merger will combine your compatible mods into a single customized bundle just for you. Too many mods? No no, sir, as you can see, I am installing only one enormous mod.
As above, be careful with this one. Only spend the time to merge mods you know work well together, otherwise you’ll end up doing the whole process over and over.
Menu and travel
Mods that expedite your journey, clean up your UI and make Dandelion shut the hell up.
Fast Travel from Anywhere
Geralt's world already has dozens of signposts for fast travel, but sometimes you'll still find yourself spending ages coaxing Roach across countryside for the nearest one. If you're not down for that sometimes humdrum bit of roleplay, this mod lets you teleport to any fast travel point from anywhere, much in the style of Skyrim. If that doesn’t sound fun to you, let us suggest the exact opposite: this mod will cancel all fast travel routes, except for a few that hop between regions.
Use your new fast travel abilities with caution and don't get too hasty: overriding the existing system reportedly causes problems with a tiny number of quests. This one isn’t being updated anymore, so it does have some issues with newer mods. When all else fails, try to resolve conflicts with the mod merger.
All Quest Objectives on Map
While it’s nice that the map isn’t thickly cluttered with icons like some sort of Ubisoft-produced hellscape, trying to remember where the herbalist is can be pretty annoying. This mod adds every map icon to the map all the time, including nearby merchants and any quest objective for any quest in your journal. If it’s too much, you can always customize and hide any markers you don’t need.
Additional Stash Locations
Your Stash is accessible from a few places around the world, but this mod asks: Why not more? Installing this will add eight new stash locations and relocate two of the standard stash locations to more convenient areas. This is especially handy if you’re using a realism mod that adds carry weight to money.
Preparations Mod
One of the best parts of the early Witcher game is feeling like you need to do your homework before any big contract. You brew up Specter oil for the first time and make sure you’re stocked up on Moon dust, you meditate, and you sharpen your silver sword.
This mod recaptures some of that old magic by making meditation a more meaningful process. You need to meditate to spend points in your skill tree, refill alchemical items and oils, and repair items. By default, eating and drinking during combat isn’t allowed with this mod, so you really need to make sure you’re all set before the Noonwraith hits the windmill.
Friendly Meditation
If Preparations Mod sounds like more trouble than fun, check out Friendly Meditation. You still get all the potion refilling benefits of vanilla meditation, but you don’t have to look at a boring ol’ menu. Instead, the HUD falls away and you get a nice view of the clouds zipping past, the stars rotating, and the sun rising over the mountains.
Sometimes, a Witcher just needs to take a damn minute, you know? Just don’t forget the Unification patch on this one.
Friendly HUD
The Witcher 3's UI can feel a bit cluttered, but turning parts of it off can make the game overly difficult. This mod has several features, available in separate downloads if you only want one or two, that improve the on-screen issues. From holding a key down to enter meditation without using the menu, to hiding quest markers unless you're using your Witcher sense, plus HUD elements that can individually be toggled on and off without having to open your menu, and lots more.
Lamp on Player's Boat
Is it a big deal? No. But it sure does look nice. This mod adds a little hanging lamp to your little sailboat. Adorable. Look at that Witcher go.
Disable Storybook Videos
Some of us—we’re not naming names or anything—would be happy to feed Dandelion and his stupid mouth into a woodchipper. Since there are no woodchippers in the Northern Kingdoms, this mod that disables those storybook narration videos that you have to listen to over and over again will have to do.
Jump in Shallow Water
Oh my god, finally.
Witcher 3, being one of the most popular RPGs, also boasts of having some of the best mods ever created, to augment the likes of the game. In actual fact, Nexus Mods remains as the primary online source for downloading/uploading mods of games like Witcher 3.
If you’re new to the Witcher series, you should check out our Witcher 3 review.
However, with a vast number of mods out there, it might seem pretty confusing for someone to choose the right ones. So, in this article, we have listed some of the best Witcher 3 mods available. Before diving deep into them first, one needs to be wary of the pre-requisites, to put the mods into action.
How To Install Witcher 3 Mods?
Getting the mods to work and maintaining them, can be a lot of hassle. You have to technically dabble a lot, which can turn out to be very frustrating. Hence, mentioned below, are some of the handy tools, that can make the install and use of Witcher 3 mods, quite simpler and efficient.
The Witcher 3 Mod Manager
It’s a fan-made application, solely developed to manage, install, uninstall the mods of Witcher 3, on the push of a button. The process is fully automated. One doesn’t need to even bother about manually installing new DLCs, menus, and key-bindings.
The Nexus Mod Manager is also an alternative, which acts like a central application, for managing and installing mods based on most the games supported by Nexus Mods. However, most of the mod authors recommend using the specialized Witcher 3 Mod Manager instead.
Script Merger
When usage of multiple mods come into the picture, the issue of conflicts between them would definitely arise. The multiple textures and hotkeys associated with all those mods can lead to some glitches, or the mods being not able to function properly.
Hence, Script Merger is an important tool which comes to the rescue. It merges all the mods and associated scripts automatically, thus reducing your manual effort to make multiple mods work at the same time.
Witcher 3 Mod Merger
There’s a certain limit to the number of texture mods you can use in-game. When you cross that limit, you might start experiencing frequent game crashes, glitches, and unloaded textures. To counter these issues, one needs to have the Witcher 3 Mod Merger, that combines all the texture mods into a single unit, in order to make things work like a charm.
Unification Patch
Most of the mods might not seem to be compatible with your version of the game. For instance, your game version could be 1.40 but the mods you want to use are only compatible with v1.20. In order to avoid such type of problems, one needs to have the Unification Patch.
The above-mentioned tools can hence, make your mods work like a charm. In order to know about the detailed steps on how to install Witcher 3 mods, one can refer this guide by wghost81, a passionate fan of the game.
Best Witcher 3 Mods
1. Friendly Meditation
Probably one of the most lucrative and best Witcher 3 mods out there, Friendly Meditation provides an immersive real-time meditation experience. In other words, you get to see a time-lapse whilst meditating, without any menu or any other on-screen UI, obstructing the view. It’s pretty much analogous to the Phantom Cigar time-lapse in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. You can compare the same, by watching the video below.
Especially relevant, the toxicity and health level, stamina, potion regeneration, etc. also get simulated with time. If interested, you can hit the download button below to test the likes of Friendly Meditation.
2. High-Quality Faces
The “High-Quality Faces” mod, as the name suggests, enhances the level of detail pertaining to NPCs’ faces.
Further, it also enhances the draw distance of the eyes. In other words, you will get to see much better and realistic faces, in contrast to the original version of the game.
3. Minimap ZoomOut
A mod created by Wolfmark, the Minimap ZoomOut, lets you view an optimal zoomed out map, in the midst of gameplay. Hence, this would facilitate a much better and efficient navigation in-game.
The Minimap ZoomOut, clearly stands out as one of the best Witcher 3 mods.
4. Chicken Helmet Mod
Chicken Helmet Mod, as the name suggests, adds a helmet to all the chickens in the world of Witcher 3! Now, you must be wondering, why did we add this to our list of best Witcher 3 mods.
When you are bored, clicking selfies with the chickens would turn out to be a fun activity for you. You would love to explore the world more, and look for chickens with helmets! Witcher Witcher Chicken Dinner aye!
5. Friendly HUD
The Witcher Download Full Game
Developed by Wasteland Ghost, Friendly HUD, lets you explore the world of Witcher 3, in a much better way. It does so, by facilitating a configurable HUD. In other words, you would be able to choose what HUD elements you want at the appropriate time.
Especially relevant, you can even pause the game at the right time, to enter into the free-cam mode. Most noteworthy, you can, in fact, use 3D-markers and compass, for much better navigation in Witcher 3.
No wonder, for its lucrative and efficient functionalities, the Friendly HUD deserves to be one of the best Witcher 3 mods available at Nexus.
6. Over 9000 – Weight Limit Mod
The Over 9000 – Weight Limit Mod, is one of the most downloaded Nexus mods out there. As the name suggests, you can set Geralt’s weight limit to 9000. This means you don’t have to bother about dropping or selling items from your inventory anymore, to reduce the luggage you can carry.
Hence, just for one simple yet powerful functionality, it’s one of the best Witcher 3 mods available.
7. Fast Travel From Anywhere
With this mod, you don’t need to visit any sign-posts to fast travel across different locations. On the push of a button, you can relocate yourself to another place from anywhere. This can really prove to be very useful, and duly for the same, we had to add it in our list of best Witcher 3 mods.
8. Auto Apply Oils
It can be really frustrating choosing the appropriate oil manually, and applying them to your weapons. You have to do some tinkering or remember the most optimal oil to use against your enemies in combat situations.
Auto Apply Oils simply removes this issue. It automatically applies the most effective oil, on the basis of the enemies you face. Hence, without a shadow of doubt, it’s one among the best Witcher 3 mods available at Nexus.
9. Super Turbo Lighting Mod
If you want to enhance the looks of your game, by adding optimal lighting, then this mod does the job. With Super Turbo Lighting Mod you can almost mimic the looks of the game, showcased in E3 2014.
10. Blood
If you desire a more spray like blood effect, oozing out of bodies, then this mod is your atta-boy. It further adds more graphical simulations to make blood spilling and decay look more realistic in the game.
With the intense rich graphical enhancements, it has to provide, “Blood”, without any doubt is one of the best Witcher 3 mods one can crave for.
11. AutoLoot
Get rid of the tedious process of looting from dead-bodies and containers, with AutoLoot. As, the name suggests, not only you can automatically loot items but also configure the items you want to loot. For instance, you can set the “Armor Filter” on to only loot armors. Similarly, other loot filters include oil, weapons, weight, foodstuff.
12. The Gwent Card Dealer
The Gwent Card Dealer mod is a must have for all those who are into Gwent. It adds a vendor in-game, who sells almost all the cards you need, ranging from Nifgaard to Scoiatel faction. Hence, with it you can build a powerful deck more frequently, to give a tough match to your Gwent opponents.
13. Wiedzmin: Lighting Mod
This mod also happens to be one of the best Witcher 3 mods that are based on enhancing the in-game lighting. In contrast to Super Turbo Lighting, the Wiedzmin sometimes performs better than the former. Most of the times, you might mistake it as a filter mod. Nevertheless, in order to know the difference, it’s worth trying.
14. TradeMan
One of the best Witcher 3 mods out there, the TradeMan, facilitates you with the privilege to customize trading in Witcher 3, based on your parameters. You can adjust the items value, profit percentage, etc. to maintain an optimal balance, whilst selling/buying goods.
For an RPG like Witcher 3, it’s a must-have mod. You need to do the right trade to get your desired item at the best price.
15. The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project
For the eye-candy killer, it converts the game into, The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project is one amongst the best Witcher 3 mods ever created. It adds a high level of detail to the textures, without any performance issue.
You will easily notice the visual difference over the vanilla (original game), as almost all the objects have been minutely reworked.
16. Improved Sign Effects
Fancy using signs more often? Then you should definitely try, Improved Sign Effects, one of the coolest and best Witcher 3 mods yet. It intensifies the Igni and Ard effect drastically, to make them look way cooler and better than the original effects.
17. Increased Draw Distance
You can probably guess the functionality of this mod by its name. One of the best Witcher 3 mods out there, the Increased Draw Distance mod, adds more level of detail to in-game draw distance.
Most noteworthy is its customizability feature. If you have the rig, you might want to try the ‘Ultra Draw Distance’, that will make your game loot better by leaps and bounds. On top of that, it has been very well optimized to offer the best performance, without you facing any hiccups.
18. AMM – The Appearances Menu Mod
An eye-candy and a must, the Appearances Menu Mod, lets you configure Geralt’s appearance on the push of a button, from the in-game menu. You can modify his hairstyle, clothing, armor, face, beard, accessories and in fact a lot more.
Most noteworthy, you can modify the appearance of Roach too! So, isn’t AMM, one of the best Witcher 3 mods? What do you think?
19. Lore-Friendly Silver Swords
This mod enhances the optical characteristics of silver swords, by augmenting their reflections and shine, as per different environments, and time-frame (dawn/noon/dusk/night). In other words, you will get to see enhanced light reflections, along with specularity.
Lore Friendly Silver Swords is also one amongst the most downloaded and best Witcher 3 mods, available at Nexus. It’s definitely worth checking out.
20. Improved Particle System
The mod most importantly enhances particle physics and increases the number of particles in the particle simulation mechanics. Furthermore, particles also react to the wind. Furthermore, it also recolors several particle effects namely Igni, environmental gas, smoke, etc.
Especially relevant, you will also get to see, enhanced particle collision effect, as well. Hence, undeniably, we had to include the “Improved Particle System”, in our list of best Witcher 3 mods.
21. Alternative Chimney Smoke
Recommended by the author of Improved Particles System (MrMan01), Alternative Chimney Smoke is a must-have add-on to the former. With this mod, the smoke emanating from the chimneys of huts, houses, etc. will look more realistic, and in fact much better with an increased draw distance.
22. AQUA
The AQUA mod adds more realistic texture effects to seas, rivers, and puddles. One can also witness augmented reflection, flow, and lighting, of water, on the implementation of this mod.
23. Skellige Ice Breath
The isles of Skellige, which Witcher fans are all aware of, mostly experiences a foggy and cold climate. To make it look more real, the Skellige Ice Breath augments the atmosphere in Skellige. It does so by adding ice breath effects to all the characters (including Roach and NPCs) in the game.
The subsequent versions of the mod allow you to also implement its effects across different places in the map. Beyond any doubt, it’s a must-have and also, one of the best Witcher 3 mods out there.
24. Shields
By default, Geralt parries against enemy attacks, let it be sword fights or arrows. But all thanks to this mod, you can block enemy attacks using shields. Hence, this facilitates a heavy damage resistance and a much better advantage to players in combat. Furthermore, there are varieties of shields available to equip as well.
How To Download Witcher 3 Expansions
25. Better Call Ciri
Fancy playing as Ciri? Well with this mod, you can toggle between Geralt and Ciri anytime you want. Most noteworthy, you will also be able to use Ciri’s abilities like Blink (quick teleportation).
In addition to that, you will be able to access the menu, inventory, glossary and the journal. However, regardless of the character you toggle, by default, you will be assigned Geralt’s voice. Hence, it might turn out to be very weird and sarcastic, while interacting with NPCs. Also, you won’t be able to receive xp or meditate with Ciri.
Nevertheless, regardless of its limitation, it’s a must-try if you are on the lookout for best Witcher 3 mods.
26. Witcher 3 Ultra Low
If you have a potato PC (get unplayable frame-rates on games), and still want to play Witcher, then this mod is your atta-boy. It heavily grinds the game to run at playable frame-rates, by launching it at ultra-low settings.
The above image clearly highlights, what your game will look like. Hence, you must abide by the popular saying -“No pain, no gain!”.
Since it’s a savior for potato PC users, definitely, it deserves to be one of the best Witcher 3 mods.
27. Better Trophies
Hunting monsters in Witcher 3 is definitely fun. You get a coin you kill them and bag the trophies. Putting the coin aside, does one actually benefit from the trophies? The original game provides pretty meager bonuses.
With Better Trophies, you can up your game, by getting far much better rewards, in terms of stats. It adds 5% bonus damage to the enemy of the same type.
Wrapping It Up
How To Download Witcher 3 Expansions
Hope you had a great time going through our list of best Witcher 3 mods. If you feel like, we missed out on something, please let us know in the comments section.