The Witcher: Old World FAQ
346 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
Components and SetupExpansion
- Do you need the monster tokens if you use the monster miniatures, or can you shuffle the monster cards instead?
- How many extra Level I monsters are set aside in 4- and 5-player games, and how do they come into play?
- Are the different coins worth different amounts, such as the gold, silver and metal coins?
- In a 3-player game, does the player who takes the last turn of the first round start with extra gold?
- Do the starting action cards go into the action deck at setup?
- Are there always exactly three monsters on the board, whatever the player count?
- Does the event deck need to be in a particular order at setup?
- How many copies of each Attribute Trophy card are used at setup, and can they be placed face up?
- In 4- and 5-player setup, do you get the bonus when you raise an attribute?
- In solo play, do you keep other Witchers' starting action cards in your deck?
- What is the round marker token for in Wild Hunt?
- In Wild Hunt with 4 or 5 players, do you still raise one attribute by 1 at startup?
GameplayExpansion
- Can you choose an exploration or event option when you cannot pay its cost in full?
- Does the 7-card hand limit apply outside of fights?
- How many times can you meditate, and how is the attribute trophy chosen?
- If an exploration or event card says to gain an action card of a set cost and none is displayed, what do you do?
- If a combo effect says to return this card to your hand, which card goes back?
- How high can a Witcher raise combat, defense, alchemy or specialty?
- Can a card effect lower a Witcher attribute that is already at level 5?
- If several attributes are tied as your lowest, can you choose which one to raise or lower, including your Specialty?
- What do you get when your Witcher level goes up, and does the level drop if attributes fall?
- Does meditating for an attribute trophy cause fatigue?
- Do you get an Attribute Trophy for defeating a monster?
- Are all of your gained trophy cards active at the same time?
- In Legendary Hunt, can you meditate your way to the fifth trophy position?
- Can a Legendary Hunt monster move along the dotted sea paths?
- What is a Trail token, and what does it do in a fight?
- Can you hold more than one trail token, or two trail quests, for the same terrain?
- If an exploration card gives you a trail for a terrain you already track with a Trail Quest, what happens to the Trail Quest?
- When do you get a trail token, and when does a trail quest pay its gold?
- What happens when no Location token of the needed terrain is left?
- When a card says to trash a card, can you trash from your hand, deck or discard pile?
- Do damage discards and combo discards go on separate piles, and how do the cards of a finished combo go to the discard pile?
- Where do exploration and encounter cards go after you resolve them?
- Can you use potions outside of combat?
- How many potions can you use in one fight, and does a used potion get reused?
- When the potion deck runs out, do you reshuffle the discarded potions?
- Does the Swallow Potion's draw penalty lower the draw count or act as a card cost?
- Are bombs discarded after use, like potions?
- Do effects that mention potions also apply to bombs, and are bombs lost when an effect removes all potions?
- When a monster attack or effect says to discard a card, can you discard a potion?
- Does a card's extension tab activate if no card follows it in the combo?
- Does the Wolf school card's extension apply when a double extension has only one card linked?
- Does a purple card played before Delusion count toward Delusion's second bonus?
- Does the Griffin Magic specialty discard exactly two cards from your hand?
- How does the Cat school's Speed ability work, and at each level what does it do?
- What is the Wolf Witcher's specialty and when can you use it?
- In a specialty that says 'and, if level 2 or higher', what does the level refer to?
- Can the Manticore trophy's card-taking effect take you above the 7-card hand limit to build an 8-card combo?
- How many shields do you gain when your defense level goes up, and when do shields refill?
- Do monsters move around the board, or do additional monsters appear?
- If a monster triggers an event that applies to whichever player enters a location, who is affected?
- Does an event that reduces your draw count apply for the rest of the game?
- When do you use the numbered event deck?
- Can a monster appear again in a location where a Witcher just defeated one?
- If a monster already has a 'you attack first' weakness, is a trail token for it still useful?
- Do weakness tokens replace trail tokens or stack with them?
- Can a Witcher repeatedly move between a Continent location and an Island location to avoid fights in Skellige?
- Can you exchange weakness tokens with another Witcher during the Wild Hunt exchange action?
- Can you travel directly from Kaer Seren to Cintra by the water route on the base board?
- What is the cost to acquire the Critical Blow special action card?
- Do you keep a Mutagen after using its ability?
Player's Turn ExplainedExpansion
- When does the next player's turn begin in The Witcher: Old World?
- How many cards do you draw in Phase III, and how many do you hold when it starts?
- Does a 'draw one less' Phase III modifier lower the three-card target or the number of cards drawn?
- In Phase III, must you discard down to three cards?
- Do you have to resolve a quest when you enter its location, and can you resolve one where you start your turn?
- Can you play Dice Poker with two Witchers on the same space in one turn?
- Is meditation mandatory, or can you win without it?
- In Phase III, can you buy more than one card?
- Do you pay gold to buy a card in Phase III, and do board positions change what it costs?
- Can you raise an attribute above your Witcher level at a school, and does the cost differ between schools?
- When an exploration card asks for an action card of a specific cost, do board cost modifiers count?
- If an event makes you play a combo during Phase I, what happens to the combo cards?
- Do you declare a conditional Witcher specialty during step 1 of your fight turn?
- After a combo with the Blizzard potion, can you play another card, and can that card extend the combo?
- Can a grey card be used as a combo extension through Ciri's Elder Blood?
- When does the top-of-discard draw from Dark Meditation resolve?
- Can you skip movement and fight a monster that is already on your location?
- If you level up during Phase II from an event reward, when do you draw the level-up cards?
- In Wild Hunt co-op, can players alternate their Phase I actions?
- In Wild Hunt, when can you meditate?
- What does it mean that a player moves to a location with a ship and may then travel to an island?
- Can an event that makes you resolve a combo use cards already in your hand?
- How does a combat quest work when you draw cards from your deck in Phase II?
- In Dice Poker, must the inactive player reroll before the active player can reroll, and can the active player reroll if the other player declined?
- Do you refill the action card pool right away after gaining a card from it outside Phase III?
- What counts as entering a location?
- Must you have exactly 3 cards in hand before taking a card from the action display?
FightsExpansion
- Does a monster attack that lowers an attribute by 1 stay lowered after the fight?
- Why does the other player choose between Charge and Bite instead of flipping a coin for a monster attack?
- Are the Charge and Bite monster attacks equally strong?
- If a Witcher wins a fight with their last card, do they get the trophy, track advance and gold?
- Can a Witcher refuse a brawl challenge from another Witcher?
- How do you gain another school's Witcher Trophy from a brawl?
- Do combo card extensions give their effect during a Fight?
- Can a Witcher play a defence card to interrupt an opponent's combo during a Fight?
- Can a player visit a city where a monster is without fighting it?
- Where does a monster's revealed attack card go after it resolves, and does it lower the monster's life?
- How many cards does a monster's discard attack make you discard at each level?
- If a monster's discard attack hits a Witcher with only one card in hand, what gets discarded?
- Do monster effects that force you to discard count as damage, so Shields can block them?
- Do discard effects trigger a monster's passive ability?
- Can a monster's passive trigger more than once in a fight?
- How much damage does the Harpy's passive deal, and does it stack when several special cards are revealed?
- What does the Harpy's first-turn effect that lowers combat level to 0 actually do?
- Does the Rotfiend's passive cost an attribute point for every special card you flip?
- How long does the Rotfiend's 'draw only 1 card in Phase III' effect last?
- How do monster passive abilities that act before the Life Pool is made work?
- Can a Troll's passive attack return a Special Attack card to its Life Pool to block a whole combo?
- Does a monster's passive that blocks damage also cancel potion damage in the same round?
- If a monster's passive knocks you out partway through your attack, is the rest of your attack lost?
- If a monster plays its last card and you still have cards, do you win the fight?
- If the Witcher and the monster both run out of cards after a discard-only monster attack, does the Witcher's leftover Shield save them?
- Can a Witcher block or dodge a monster attack in a fight?
- Is playing a combo mandatory if you have cards in hand?
- Does a single card count as a combo, even when no card links to it?
- Do an extension's effects or symbols count when no card is connected to it?
- When a card has two colour tabs, can you chain from either one?
- In a Griffin combo, can a third blue card join a second card that only has a green extension?
- How do you tell which combo extensions match a card's colour if you are colour-blind?
- When a combo says to return the card with the symbol to your hand, which card goes back?
- Does a card returned to hand by a special effect still count toward the combo?
- When a combo adds cards with extra hits, how much damage does it deal?
- Do card effects, such as an extra card draw, only work when the card is played in a combo?
- Does Pirouette's bonus need the card before it to be a matching colour connected by a blue tab?
- When does Blizzard let you play its extra card, and can you use cards drawn during the combo?
- Does Blizzard let you play a whole second combo, or only one extra card, and does that card need a matching extension?
- Is the card played with Blizzard part of the combo for Wolf, Mutagens or Swordsmanship?
- Does a purple card added by the Blizzard potion stop Nightwraith's Dematerialisation?
- Are Wolf specialty draws resolved immediately, or as part of the combo's draw modifiers?
- Does the Wolf specialty count cards you draw during the combo, or must the combo already have three cards?
- How does Wolf's Swordsmanship resolve, and can its card draw extend the combo?
- Can potions or cards added after your combo give you a second combo in one fight turn?
- What happens if you start a fight turn with no cards in hand?
- How many cards do you draw at the end of a fight turn, and can the number reach zero?
- Does a Draw 0 symbol on an advanced action card override other draw modifiers?
- Can your hand go above seven cards in a fight, for example when a potion draws cards?
- Does the seven-card hand limit apply outside fights?
- When can you use a potion during a fight?
- Can you use potions outside a fight, such as during movement?
- How many potions can you use in a fight, and is the limit per turn or per fight?
- Can the same potion be used twice in a fight, and are used potions discarded?
- How does Black Blood work with an empty hand, or together with Blizzard?
- When can you use the Alchemy trophy's draw-two potions effect?
- Can you attack the same Witcher again after beating them for a trophy?
- Can a Witcher who just lost a fight be attacked again straight away?
- Can a Witcher fight another Witcher at a school location whose school is not in the game?
- In a Witcher-versus-Witcher fight, who acts first?
- Who resolves first when both sides have a trophy or pre-battle ability with the same timing?
- If the defending Witcher wins a Witcher duel, do they gain a trophy?
- How do you choose which trophy to take from a Witcher you defeat, and how many can you hold?
- Does defeating the Siren move your marker on the Trophy Track?
- Is the money bag icon with 1, 2 or 3 coins on the board a payout for winning a fight?
- Does fatigue resolve before the Phase III draw after winning a fight?
- What do you get for defeating a monster, and what does it cost?
- What do you gain or lose when you lose a monster fight?
- Which 0-cost card do you gain after losing a fight, and where does it go?
- Can a monster you defeated show up again later in the game?
- What happens to Trail Tokens and Trail Quests when a monster is defeated or driven away?
- When a monster is defeated or driven away, is its Location token shuffled back into the pool?
- What does a Trail Token do in a fight, and how is it different from a Trail Quest?
- Does a Monster Trail token let you draw extra cards at the start of a fight when you have no cards in hand?
- Does a monster weakness token give you the first turn in combat?
- Does a monster's pre-battle ability still trigger if you hold a Trail Token?
- Can you defeat several level I monsters on your own and take their trophies?
- How many trophy abilities can you use in one fight, and can you bring more than one trophy into a fight?
- When does the Combat trophy's damage trigger when your deck is empty?
- When does the Nightwraith trophy's die roll draw resolve?
- What makes up a Witcher's life pool during a fight, and does playing cards lower it?
- When a Witcher starts a fight against a monster, how many cards are in hand for the first round?
- After a fight ends, what happens to the cards left in hand and in the deck?
- Does your shield go back to Defense after a fight, whatever the outcome?
- Can your Shield go above your Defense, and does it drop when Defense is lowered?
- In what order does damage come off your Shield, deck and hand?
- With Grave Hag's first-turn effect, is damage taken from hand first, then shields, then deck?
- If a card says lower your Shield and then deal damage, but your Shield is already 0, does the damage still happen?
- Can you start a fight with your Shield at 0?
- When is the Shield raised when you play an Evasion action card?
- Does a monster's shield, or protection level, stay reduced after a fight turn?
- When does School of the Bear's Armor trigger, and what does its hand icon mean?
- When do Witcher specialty effects trigger during a fight?
- Does the Viper school specialty and Venomous Steel work against monsters?
- Does Viper's Venomous Steel discard count as damage against an opponent, and does it trigger passives?
- How do the Northern Wind bomb card's look-at-three and return effects resolve?
- When Noonwraith's weakness returns a discarded card, which life pool does it go to?
- How do the Special Combat Cards and passive attacks work in Monster Trail?
- How do the four shared Monster Trail combat cards work with each monster's specific cards?
- When are the large Monster cards from Monster Trail used instead of the regular monster cards?
- What does 'additional damage' mean on the big Monster Trail cards?
- In solo, when do the four set-aside Monster Fight cards join the Monster Trail fight deck?
- What does the Arachas passive mean by 'Ignore any further Passive Attack'?
- Does the 2-damage requirement for a combo count damage symbols on extension cards?
- When are Mutagen effects used in a fight, and what happens with a Mutagen whose two symbols are split by a diagonal line?
- Can the Dimeritium Bomb cancel a monster's passive ability?
- When can you use a Bomb, and does it work like a Potion?
- Does Devil's Puffball stop a Legendary Monster's special attacks during a fight?
- Can the Dimeritium Bomb cancel a Legendary Monster's special ability?
- Can a Legendary Monster be driven away during a fight?
- If the monster and the player both run out of cards on the same turn and the last discard was Retaliation, who is knocked out?
- Does Retaliation or Evasion trigger when you choose which card to discard from your hand?
- How much damage does Nithral's passive deal: one per hound figure, or per hound level?
- Does Bruxa's 'only 1 or 2 cards in deck' bonus check before or after she reveals her attack card?
- Is Weavess's Defence reduction permanent?
- When does Ekimmara's 'ignore 2 further damage' passive trigger?
- Against a Fiend, which purple card effects are cancelled, and can you still add a purple card to a combo?
- Does the Fiend's Defensive sign (yellow) bonus refer to green cards?
- Does a Battle Trance card count as two colours at once?
- Does the Penitent's passive ignore only positive card-draw modifiers on combo cards?
- Does Event 50's 'your first combo' bonus apply only in your first fight turn?
- What does 'discard any 1 card from their deck' mean for the Drowner's Nest ability?
- Does the Foglet trophy's draw effect apply if you discard from your hand instead of your deck?
- Can Ciri's Elder Blood ability add an extension to a card that has no extension yet?
- Does Gustyworp's first fight turn limit of 1 damage cover potions, specialties and effects?
- Does Nightwraith's Dematerialisation stop the rest of a combo's damage once it is revealed?
- Does Nightwraith's Dematerialisation make you take the last card of your combo when you have a purple card?
- Can Mages use an ability that refers to a named card, such as Igni?
- What do the dice on the Leshen card mean?
- After a fight, if your Energy is above your Wisdom level, does it drop back down?
- Do a Mage's energy levels add protection when protection symbols are played?
- Can Mages resolve their combo cards one at a time, or must the whole combo be laid out first?
- Can all three companions of one Witcher attack in a row during that Witcher's turn?
- Can you use potions, bombs, specialties or trophies in a Hound fight?
- Does your shield reset to your Defense level after a Hound fight in Wild Hunt?
- Do the rewards for defeating a hound apply when your damage exceeds its life?
- In Wild Hunt's final fight, does the boss's special attack apply its effect to each player?
- What do the fight-outcome charts and icons printed on the board mean?
- Can you start a fight with a monster without moving first, or with no cards in hand in Phase II?
- If both players run out of cards on the same fight turn, who wins?
- If your last card defeats a monster that has no cards left, are you knocked out or do you win the fight?
- If you play your last card and it returns to your hand, are you knocked out?
- Can Thunderbolt be used when your Shield level is 0?
- Do you still draw cards at the end of your fight turn if your combo kills the monster?
- What does the die symbol on a combo card mean?
- When an advanced card gives Shields for combat damage, do those Shields apply before the rest of the damage?
- If several cards have a 'first turn of combat' effect, can they all trigger?
Solo ModeExpansion
- In solo Dice Poker, do the locals put gold into the pot?
- Where can you play Dice Poker in solo mode?
- Can a solo player gain a Witcher Trophy?
- After a solo monster fight, how do you rebuild your deck?
- In solo Phase III, where does the rightmost card go if you gain another card instead?
- In solo mode, how do you raise your shield level after an exploration card lowers it?
- In solo mode, do you have to meditate on a specific attribute to get its trophy?
- In Legendary Hunt solo play, do you lose if the movement deck runs out?
- In Legendary Hunt solo play, when is a Legendary Monster unable to move?
- In Skellige solo setup, are the harbor tokens needed after the ships are placed?
- What solo modes does The Witcher: Old World have?
Location ActionsExpansion
- Can one Witcher school action raise two attributes, or one attribute by more than one level?
- Can you raise an attribute at a free location if it is already above your Witcher level?
- Can you train an attribute above your Witcher level at a Witcher school, and can you train your Specialty there?
- Can an exploration card raise an attribute that is already above your Witcher level?
- Can you have more than one Trail token of the same terrain type?
- If an exploration card lets you pick the trail type and you already hold that type, can you choose it?
- If you already hold trail tokens for all three terrains, can you still take the Gold at a Tracking location?
- How does the Tracking a Monster action work, and does the monster move?
- Can you use the same location action twice in one turn?
- Can you raise a stat at two different locations in one turn, such as a town specialty and your school?
- Can you take the same type of location action at a different location in the same turn?
- What does the Glenmore location do?
- When you discard cards to buy a card from the market, where do they go?
- When a location lets you trash a card and gain one, must you discard other cards too?
- When does the Ghouls Nest trophy's end-of-turn water-location potion effect trigger?
- At Vengerberg, do board price modifiers apply when you draw a card?
- In what order do you resolve several effects at one location?
- Can you play Dice Poker at a location and again with another Witcher in Phase I?
- Can you explore at a Witcher School location?
- If you have zero Gold and get a Trail token at Wyzima, how much Gold do you get?
- Does a Dagon Bonus card that allows a bonus once per location limit how many times you can use it in a turn?
Glossary
- What does the School of the Cat's Speed ability let you do?
- How does the Cat school's Specialty card draw work at each level?
- When does the Swordsmanship specialty's extra draw resolve?
- Does Venomous Steel's extra discard count as damage for a Special Attack card's passive ability?
- Does Venomous Steel's discard happen in addition to the discards from damage?
GeneralExpansion
- Can Legendary Hunt and Wild Hunt be used in the same game?
- Can Wild Hunt be combined with the other expansions?
- Can you mix expansion cards into the base game deck without using the rest of that expansion?
- Does the Golden Rule let a monster card lower an attribute that is already at its maximum?
- Can the Wild Hunt co-op mode be combined with the Lost Mount or the Adventure Pack?
- Can you combine Wild Hunt event cards with the regular PvP event deck?
- Can Ciri and the Wolf Witcher be used in the same game?
- Can you use Mounted Eredin as a final boss in the competitive game?
- What do the Bestiary app's first damage number and its Special Miss result mean?
- How does the Wild Hunt co-op mode differ from the base game?
- What is step 3 of the Wild Hunt movement when the Wild Hunt does not move?
- In a 4-player game, can one player kill several level 1 monsters to collect multiple trophies?
- Can Ciri and mages drink Witcher elixirs?
- When an exploration card makes you pay gold you do not have, do you still get the bonus?
- In Wild Hunt co-op dice poker, when do you lose your bet and when do you keep it?
- In Wild Hunt Phase II, must a Witcher meditate if they do not fight?
- Is there a limit to how much Protection a Mage can gain in one turn?
- Can a Mage use the Witcher advanced action cards?
- Do monsters move around the board?
- Can you look through a player's or a monster's discard pile, and are hand and deck counts open information?
- In the final Nithral battle, do a hound's current shields count, or only the shields added during play?
- Does the Siren have a big monster card?
- Is Wild Hunt incompatible with the Adventure Pack?
The Witcher: Old World – Monster TrailExpansion
- Can the Monster Trail expansion be used with the Wild Hunt expansion?
- How many Mutagen cards do you gain when leveling up in Monster Trail?
- What happens when the Mutagen deck runs out and you level up?
- Is there a limit on which Mutagen colours a player can hold?
- Can you use Monster Trail monsters in the Wild Hunt co-op game?
- Can you use only some of the Monster Trail game modes, or must you use the whole expansion?
- What is the cost of getting bombs in Monster Trail?
- In solo Monster Trail, when a level 3 monster starts on the map, are the expansion cards added to the monster attack deck?
- How do you identify Monster Trail advanced action cards?
- In solo Monster Trail, how do you know which monster you fight?
- How does Striga's passive work when it triggers during a combo or during a potion or bomb?
- Do the Monster Trail unique action cards show a Witcher icon?
- Can mages use Mutagens?
- What happens when Grave Hag's shield reduction reaches zero?
- Which card does Fiend add to its life pool when it heals?
- What does the yellow Defensive card requirement on the Fiend's ability mean?
- How much damage does the Manticore's Tail Bash deal when its passive lowers damage?
- Does a Manticore's draw-from-discard ability include the public discard piles?
The Witcher: Old World – Legendary HuntExpansion
- In multiplayer Legendary Hunt, does each destruction token reduce the Legendary Monster's starting life by 1?
- Can you meditate and fight a legendary monster in the same turn?
- Does the Legendary Monster move after each player's turn or after each full round?
- Where does a Legendary Hunt monster start on the board?
- Does a Legendary Hunt win require defeating the other monsters too?
- What happens when all destruction tokens are used up and the Legendary Monster moves?
- Does the Golem's rule of at most 5 damage per turn limit the damage it takes or the damage icons you play?
- When do you take a Destruction token in Legendary Hunt?
The Witcher: Path of Destiny – Legendary MonstersExpansion
- Can you run out of card draw options for a turn in Legendary Monsters?
- What does a focus card do for a Legendary Monster?
- How do multiple attacks triggered by one drafted card resolve on a Legendary Monster?
- Does a monster stay on its spot after moving, blocking that spot?
- Can a player draft from a spot occupied by a monster?
- How does Hym's green ability Torment resolve?
- Do lost symbol tokens reduce the symbols I have when checking a trail card requirement?
- Do cards that show both left and right path arrows grant two fights when you fight monsters?
The Witcher: Old World – SkelligeExpansion
- Can Dagon be killed, or only driven away?
- Where do the Dagon Bonus cards go during setup?
- Where does Dagon start on the Dagon track?
- Are Dagon trail tokens discarded after a fight that drives Dagon away?
- Are Dagon Bonus cards counted as Trophies for effects that count Trophy cards?
- When Dagon's passive hits, do you lose one card and one shield per Trophy, or one shield and one card per Trophy?
- Can a player travel from a continent harbor to an island and back to a continent harbor in one turn?
- Can a Witcher visit more than one Skellige island in a turn?