About Gwent:
Gwent is a fast-paced card game that can be played within The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on every platform. Invented by dwarves and perfected over centuries of tavern table play, Gwent is a game of initial simplicity and ultimate depth, something beloved by both road-weary travelers during long nights around the campfire and elegant nobles looking to liven up dragging dinner parties.
The game is about the clash of two armies locked in mortal struggle on a battlefield where the players are the leaders (generals) and the cards their forces. With four different factions offering unique combat styles and endless paths to victory, Gwent is every adventurer’s first choice when it comes to one-on-one card-based dueling. Take risks and think on your feet, strategize and deliver cunning combos, use potent magic and mighty hero cards and be the last one standing on the field of honor!
Key Gwent Features:
• 199 unique playing cards.
• 4 distinct factions: the mighty and cunning Nilfgaardian Empire, the brave Northern Realms and their siege weapons, the agile and devious Scoia’tael, and the brutal monsters of No Man’s Land.
• Powerful spells allow players to control the weather and affect units on the battlefield.
• An array of combat styles caters to individual playstyles: close range with heavy knights, long range with skilled archers or artillery with powerful siege weapons.
• Powerful hero cards, unique to each faction.
The Rules of Gwent:
• To begin a match, the game selects the starting player with a coin toss.
• Each player receives 10 random Gwent cards pulled from their decks. Players can discard two cards and redraw in the hope of receiving two superior cards. This is done once.
• Players place a Unit Card on the Gwent board in the dedicated combat row. Each player may play one card per turn unless a special ability enables them to do otherwise. Players may also utilize Weather Cards from the Neutral Deck.
• Each unit Card has Strength points that are added for each player’s total. A player will win a round of Gwent when the player has more points than the other and both players no longer have cards to play or the other player passes their turn.
• Matches are set with 2 wins out of 3 rounds.
Gwent Objective:
The objective of Gwent is simple: Make sure the total strength of your cards on the board is greater than that of your opponent’s.
Each player must have a full deck for at least one faction to join in on a game of Gwent. This includes a minimum of 22 unit cards and a maximum of 10 special cards. These unit cards can be made up of faction-specific units or neutral cards, and if a player has more than 22 cards, they may choose to omit them from their deck in favor of drawing a better hand.
As the rules explained, when you start a new game players draw 10 cards from their deck, and may re-draw up to two of those cards, which are usually the cards of the weakest power or least strategic value. A coin is flipped to determine who shall go first.
Players place various unit cards in one of three corresponding tiers: Close Combat, Ranged Combat and Siege Combat. – And a final point to make is that certain cards will provide you with bonus abilities, like adding additional strength to cards in their row or letting you re-draw discarded cards.
Card Correlation:
• Close Combat Cards— Weak to Frost cards.
• Hero Cards — Are immune to special attacks.
• Ranged Combat Cards— Weak to Wind cards.
• Siege Cards— Weak to Rain cards.
• Special & Weather Cards — Are neutral to the factions.
Special Card Abilities:
• Agile Card — Is used in Ranged Combat or Close Combat rows.
• Hero Card — Is impervious to Abilities & Special Effects (like Weather).
• Medic Card — When used, you can pick a card from the discarded pile for immediate use (not valid for discarded Special or Hero Cards).
• Morale Boost Card — Adds +1 to units in a single row (outside of the card itself).
• Muster Card— Allows you to play cards with the same name right away.
• Scorch Card with Close Combat— Destroys your opponent’s Close Combat units if (s)he has a 10 or higher combined strength.
• Spy Card— When used it draws 2 cards from your deck.
• Tight Bond Card— Gives player double the power when put right next to a card with the same name.
Strategy Tips:
• Let your opponent win game 1 by exhausting his best cards, then stomp him in game 2 and 3 because you kept your better cards.
• If you have Foltest’s army, then win game 1 and use the extra card to win game 2.
• Let an opponent develop the row for which you have a weather card, then win the round by playing that weather card. In the next round, play all your saved up cards from that row. – For example: If you have the freezing cold weather card, don’t play melee in round 1, just ranged and siege. Knock out your opponents melee with the weather and win the round. Then play your melee cards in round 2.
• Try to get Dunn banner medic and decoy out of the draw. Play one bad card to get things going. Then once your opponent starts playing throw two really high cards to bait them into playing more cards then you have played. At the end of round 1 throw out a spy card and get one of your best cards back with a decoy. That will usually give you a huge card advantage over your opponent for rounds 2 and 3.
• Modify your deck. Try to get rid of all the low 1-3 str cards. It can be a long process, but with a strong deck you’ll be able to beat high-level players.
• Adapt to the enemies you are facing. Playing against Nilfgard deck? Take all the mists. Against monsters? All the frost. Squirrels? Probably both. – Make sure to adjust your draw based on enemy and cards in your hand as well. For example: Are half of your cards Melee? Then you probably won’t need 2 frosts.
Credits: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Gwent Card Game Guide by RobPlaysThoseGames, The Witcher 3 Wiki, Aboutfarting, Spin22 and Emnel.