Velen had a fair few Gwent players, merchants mostly, but only one quest - Gwent: Velen Players. Novigrad is one of the largest cities in the north, not some hag-infested bog, and consequently it has a much more vibrant Gwent scene, featuring no fewer than three full Gwent quests. One of these focuses on playing characters from the first two Witcher games who have taken up Gwent. This page will provide a walkthrough for the secondary quest Gwent: Old Pals in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Quest Objectives¶

Starting Gwent: Old Pals¶

You can start this quest by playing one of the four characters who somewhat arbitrarily fits into the category of being an “old pal”. These include Zoltan Chivay, Vernon Roche, Lambert and Thaler… although arguably only Zoltan and Lambert really qualify as “old pals” in any meaningful sense. Of these characters, Zoltan is likely going to be the first you encounter, as you’ll run into him early in the Novigrad main questline during Broken Flowers.

Play Gwent with Zoltan Chivay¶

The first opponent you’re likely to find in this quest is Zoltan Chivay, whom you’ll first meet during Broken Flowers. Help him toss out some squatters from Dandelion’s brothel and you’ll need to go hunt for the elusive bard by finding and questioning three of his lady friends. Only after you question all the girls on your list and report back to Zoltan will you be able to play him, and you should take the opportunity - as a general rule some characters have their own business and itineraries and may become scarce if you don’t play them when you get the chance. Try to play Gwent with Zoltan near the end of Broken Flowers, wallop his decent Scoia’tael deck and win his Eithne card, a 10 Strength ranged unit hero card for the Scoia’tael deck. Zoltan’s deck is decent; he’s capable of throwing out the odd hero card and will use a combination of Scorch and weather card to keep you on your toes.

In addition to winning Zoltan’s rare card, you’ll gain the standard 25 EXP for vanquishing a Gwent quest target, and Zoltan will refer you to Roche - another old pal with good cards.

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(1 of 2) Defeat Zoltan’s Scoia’tael deck - the only thing you really have to worry about is his tendency to use Scorch,

Play Gwent with Vernon Roche¶

To play Vernon Roch you just need to head to the Temerian Partisan Hideout north of Oxenfurt, but you must first have heard he plays Gwent, meaning you’ll need to defeat Zoltan, first. If you don’t want to make an unnecessary trip, you’ll end up visiting Vernon Roche shortly later during Novigrad’s main questline - complete Broken Flowers and start the followup quest Get Junior, meet Sigi Reuven in his bathhouse, clear out Whoreson Junior’s casino, arena and hideout, report back to Dijkstra, and you’ll be tasked with visiting Vernon Roche next.

Vernon Roche might be Foltest’s most loyal man, and a true Temerian patriot. Naturally he plays a Northern Kingdoms deck, and he’s quite fond of tossing Spy cards at you and boosting the deck’s formidable power with Commander’s Horn cards. Needless to say, if you’re feilding you own Northern Kingdoms deck this could turn into a very high-scoring affair, but if you were diligent about collecting cards in Velen you should be able to overpower him. If you’re not playing Northern Kingdoms, consider including some weather cards (especially Torrential Rain) and Scorch to deal with the numbers he puts on the board. Overcome Vernon Roche and you’ll win the Saesenthessis card, a 10 Strength ranged hero card for the Scoia’tael deck.

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(1 of 3) Challenge Roche to a game of Gwent at his hideout north of Oxenfurt,

After beating Roche you’ll get another 25 EXP and he’ll tell you about two more players: a Witcher named Lambert and a friend of Vernon’s from down south, although the latter won’t be arriving for a while (read: you need to progress various questlines further to meet him).

Play Gwent with Lambert¶

The biggest chore in this quest is playing Lambert. To play Lambert you’ll need to complete the quest [Following the Thread], which you can start by picking up the notice “Contract: Monster in the Bits” off the notice board in Hierarch Square. Despite its name, this doesn’t start a proper contract, although it does start out like your typical monster hunt - follow some tracks to a building across the river, help Lambert put down an Ekimarra (Lv11), then talk to him to get involved in a private vendetta Lambert is nurturing. After some running about and spot of murder in and around Novigrad the two Witchers will split up, with Geralt seeking out a man named Hammond in Skellige. To advance Following the Thread you’ll need to progress the quest [Destination: Skellige] until you reach the aforementioned islands. This largely involves finding a captain who will risk the voyage to Skellige, paying him 1,000 Crowns, then fending off some Pirates (Lv16).

Once you reach Ard Skellige, follow the road northeast from the beach until you reach the Crossroads signpost which you can use to travel to the southeasternmost of Skellige’s major islands, Harviken. From here make your way to the eastern edge of the island to find a settlement occupied by Hammond’s men. Kill them (there’s a small army of them here, including several archers), loot one for some Orders from Hammond, then find Hammond and his fellows praying further east. Kill them, too, loot Hammond for his Nekker card and a Letter Written on Elegant Stationary, then travel back to Novigrad.

Find Lambert waiting for you at the Nowhere Inn (northeast of Hierarch Square) and accompany him to settle his vendetta. After some chatter you can decide to kill the man Lamber seeks, or let him go. Either way, the quest ends and you’ll be able to talk to Lambert again and challenge him to a game of Gwent. Like Zoltan, Lambert fields a competent Scoia’tael deck, preferring to use more powerful cards and less weather card, but he’s not above tossing out the odd Scorch. Defeat him and you’ll obtain the Triss Merigold card, a 7 Strength close combat hero card that can be played in any deck. Since this card doesn’t have any special abilities and a good-but-not-great Strength score, it’s one of the few hero cards that might not see long-term play in complete decks.

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(1 of 5) Accept the notice “Contract: Monster in the Bits” and you’ll encounter Lambert while hunting an Ekimarra.

Frankly, playing Gwent with Lambert is a chore if you haven’t been to Skellige yet and are just hoping to complete a little Gwent quest around Novigrad. Starting Following the Thread also interrupts another quest (albeit a trivially minor one) called [Flesh for Sale]. If you want to complete Flesh for Sale you’re better off doing so before starting Following the Thread, which of course means heading to Skellige, then back to Novigrad, then to Skellige again, and finally back to Novigrad one more time. Fortunately once you’ve reached Skellige you can just fast travel to any signpost without having to endure the bother of taking a ship.

Play Gwent with Thaler¶

Now that you’ve finished with Lambert, it’s time for an easy Gwent game with another old pal, right? Well… Thaler’s a bit of a chore, too, and if you’re trying to complete Novigrad before moving on the Skellige there’s a good chance you’ll end up playing Thaler before Vernon. To play Thaler you have to complete the quest A Deadly Plot, then just talk to Thaler again to challenge him to a game of Gwent. Simple enough, but to start A Deadly Plot you must complete the main quests Get Junior and A Favor for Radovid, then the Radovid-related secondary quests Redania’s Most Wanted and Eye for an Eye, and finally Triss’ two quests, A Matter of Life and Death and Now or Never. Complete all those and Dijkstra should talk you to at the end of Now or Never and start the quest A Deadly Plot.

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(1 of 4) Rescue Thaler from some Rock Troll and challenge him to a game of Gwent.

Thaler fields another dangerous Scoia’tael deck - the third in this quest to do so. He’ll make use of the Geralt of Rivia card and isn’t above using his leader card, Francesca Findabair: The Beautiful to drop a Commander Horn on his ranged row. This can give Thaler’s deck more punching power than you usually see in a Scoia’tael deck, and if you start building up in the close combat or siege rows he’s not above using weather cards to shut you down. All that said, a good Northern Kingdoms deck using Foltest: Lord Commander of the North can overpower Thaler, and when you defeat him he’ll forfeit that lovely Geralt of Rivia card, a 15 Strength close quarters hero card that can be used in any deck.

Defeat all four of Geralt’s “old pals” to win four new hero cards for your Gwent decks, earn a smattering of EXP, and finally complete this quest.