Gwent in The Witcher 3 is, according to many players, more fun than the rest of the RPG. It's a simple card game: get a higher total number than the opponent, through any means necessary. Plus, it doesn't focus on combat as other online card games do. The original game (not the spin-off), is still very fun to this day, but the player might have to complete some of the lengthy The Witcher 3 story for the best cards out there.
The best Gwent deck The Witcher 3 offers for Muster effects is the Monsters deck. The Monsters deck contains no Medic or Spy cards, but boy does it have spades of Muster cards. These cards bring out all copies of that card onto the battlefield at once from the deck, overwhelming the enemy completely before they have a chance to respond – it's the deck's signature mechanic.
Updated January 13, 2023 by Kath Leroy: Even though it’s Geralt’s line of work to fight monsters, and he spends the better part of The Witcher 3 doing exactly that, there’s one area of his life where monsters can come in handy. In Gwent, Geralt’s favorite game (depending on the player, of course), the Monsters Gwent deck is easily one of the most powerful ones thanks to the monsters‘ power to multiply and their overall strength.
Considering how rich the Monsters Gwent deck is, it’s only natural that some of the cards are more useful than others. Just like with the monsters Geralt faces, there can only be one strongest monster in this Gwent deck.
16 The Witcher 3 Compared To Standalone Gwent
After the resounding success of The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red launched a standalone Gwent online card game, similar to games like The Elder Scrolls Legends or Hearthstone. It offers more strategic gameplay and a huge number of new cards and mechanics to play with compared to the version of Gwent that players see in The Witcher 3.
However, card effects in Gwent and The Witcher 3 are almost universally different. Thus, guides for card choices and decks in The Witcher 3's Gwent mini-game do not pertain to strategies in the standalone online game Gwent.
15 Toad
- Abilities: Scorch: Destroy the enemy's strongest Ranged attacker as long as their ranged units' strength totals more than 10
- Row: Ranged
- Strength: 7
The Toad card in The Witcher 3's Gwent mini-game features a terrifying rendition of a Toad in its most nightmarish possible form, lashing out its tongue from behind multiple rows of teeth toward the viewer. Described as Big, Bad, and Ugly, the Toad is a seven-power monster that sits in the Ranged row with the special Scorch effect.
When a Toad is played, its controlling player can automatically destroy the enemy's strongest Ranged unit as long as their total strength in the ranged row is 10 or more. It's a great way to suddenly turn the tables, and it can be obtained two ways – with the Hearts of Stone expansion installed, it's won from Olgierd von Everec, while in the base game without the expansion, it's found in The Alchemy Inn in Oxenfurt.
14 Nekker
- Abilities: Muster: Find any cards with the same name in the deck and play them instantly upon playing this card
- Row: Melee
- Strength: 2
The Nekker is one of the least powerful Muster cards available in the Monsters deck, but it's also one that can be more easily acquired than others. It's a two-power Melee combat row card that summons all other Nekkers to the battlefield from the player's deck, which can make one player much stronger than the other pretty quickly.
The Nekker card can be won as a random reward from Gwent players throughout the world of The Witcher 3. It can also be bought from the innkeeper in Harviken or obtained from the slaver Hammond's corpse during the quest Following The Thread. It's a Monster card that will likely be replaced later on by stronger options, but it's a good one to use to fill out an early deck.
13 Ghoul
- Abilities: Muster: Find any cards with the same name in your deck and play them instantly
- Row: Close Combat
- Strength: 1
The Ghoul Gwent card has a similar feeling and effect to it as other cards in the game, making it easily missable. On its own, the card is weak, scoring only a single point for the player, less than a majority of the Gwent cards. The good news is that if Geralt managed to collect all three Ghoul cards, he only needs to play one for all three of them to be laid out on the Gwent battlefield.
This move still brings only three points, but three points are better than one, just like three ghouls present a bigger threat than a single one.
12 Arachas/Arachas Behemoth
- Abilities: Muster: Find any cards with the same name in the deck and play them instantly upon playing this card
- Row: Siege
- Strength: 6
The Arachas Behemoth is a 6-strength siege combat unit with the Muster ability. However, the Arachas Behemoth is special as it can summon other Arachas from the deck, not just Arachas Behemoths.
It's possible can find three of these out in the world, and all three are purchased from various innkeepers in Arinbjorn, Urialla Harbor, and Svorlag in Skellige.
11 Celaeno Harpy
- Abilities: Agile: Can be placed in either Melee or Ranged rows
- Row: Melee or Ranged
- Strength: 2
The Celaeno Harpy is a special 2-strength unit with the Agile trait. The Agile trait gives the card the ability to be placed in either the Close Combat or Ranged rows upon its initial summon. It can't be moved once placed, but nonetheless, it gives Geralt's game some versatility.
Say there's a weather effect barring Melee cards from providing strength to Geralt's game. With the Agile trait, Geralt doesn't have to worry about having a card that can only be used on that row in his hand.
10 Crone: Brewess / Weavess / Whispess
- Abilities: Muster: Find any cards with the same name in the deck and play them instantly upon playing this card
- Row: Melee
- Strength: 6
The Crones are some of the creepiest enemies in The Witcher 3, and they get a fittingly creepy Muster ability in Gwent. All three of the Crones have this ability, but it's only possible to win one of each of the cards in the game. So, when a Crone is played, it summons the other two to the playing field from the deck instead.
The Brewess can be found as a random reward, the Weavess is won from an Old Sage in the Velen Gwent quest line, and the Whispess can be bought from the Innkeep in Arinbjorn in Skellige.
9 Draug
- Abilities: Hero: Unaffected by any cards or abilities
- Row: Melee
- Strength: 10
The Draug is a 10-strength Hero-type card in the Monsters deck with no additional abilities. Hero-type cards can't be affected by special effects or card abilities, and thus are powerhouses in Gwent, at least when it comes to upping numbers.
Draug can be found by defeating Crach an Craite during the Skellige Gwent quest lines, and it's the only one that players are able to find, so Geralt should use it well!
8 Kayran
- Abilities: Hero: Unaffected by any cards or abilities, Morale Boost: Buffs allies in the same row, Agile: Can be placed in either Melee or Ranged rows
- Row: Melee or Ranged
- Strength: 8
Kayran is an eight-strength Hero-type card with both the Morale Boost and Agile traits. Morale Boost ups the strength of every unit occupying the same row, which can be either Close Combat or Ranged because of the Agile ability.
It's a card that the players should try to get as early as possible, but because it's a random reward from Gwent players it might be necessary to do a little bit of grinding first.
7 Vampire: Fleder / Garkain / Ekimmara / Bruxa...
- Abilities: Muster: Find any cards with the same name in the deck and play them instantly upon playing this card
- Row: Melee
- Strength: 4
The four main Vampire cards each have four strengths and the Muster ability, which conveniently summons each of the four whenever one is played, even though they technically have different names.
Fleder and Ekimmara can be bought from innkeepers in Harviken and Svorlag in Skellige, respectively, while Garkain is a random Gwent reward and Bruxa is won during a quest in Blood and Wine.