The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s first major expansion, Hearts of Stone, brings tons of new content to the game. One piece of that new content is a new craftsman/merchant who is the sole proprietor of the games newest item: Runewords. Unfortunately just finding him will not be enough to allow you to browse his wares or use his talents. He’s fallen on hard times and needs some help before he can in turn assist you in your quest.
At the very beginning of the Hearts of Stone DLC you will be directed to a notice board where you can acquire your first expansion story mission. On this same board is a letter about an Ofieri merchant and picking it up will trigger the secondary quest ‘Enchanting: Start-Up Costs’ (recommended level 32). This is a multipart quest line that will unlock the runewright for you once complete. I suggest you get this one out of the way early so that you have his services throughout the rest of the game without having to pause to help him out. Head over to the Upper Mill marker in Velen to locate this mysterious fellow.
The first, Start-Up Costs, is fairly simple. He needs 5000 Crowns to get his business up and running. Just hand him the gold and you’re off to a good start and ready to for the next step. If for some reason you find yourself a bit short on cash, this handy guide will help you earn some much needed Crowns fairly easily.
The next step is a quest called ‘Enchanting: Quality Has Its Price.’ The Ofieri runewright will need two items; a pickaxe and some jade. The pickaxe can be found in a nearby shed, so there is no trouble there, but the Jade is held in a cave full of Hearts of Stone’s newly introduced enemies; Arachnomorphs. These giant spiders are fast and use webs to lock you in place so that they can nab a chunk of Geralt’s health. Make sure to use Quen and Aard to protect yourself and keep them stunned. They aren’t capable of taking major punishment but if you find yourself struggling, a bit of Insectoid Oil will certainly do the trick. Once their defeated check near the pillar in the center of the cave and collect your jade. Time to return to the runewright.
Hearts of Stone’s runewright is now able to craft and enchant items for Geralt. He can only do basic enchantments for now, but with a bit of funding he can improve his wares. 10,000 Crowns grants him advanced tools for better wares, and 15,000 more allows him to acquire mastercraft tools meaning you’ll get top notch enchantments. Make sure to invest in him when you get the chance so that you can experience the best enhancements The Witcher 3 has to offer.
This new merchant will be a big help in upcoming battles and encounters. So again, make sure to get his quest out of the way as soon as possible. You’ll be better off for it and you’ll be helping someone in need, sounds like a win-win.
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