Experience and Leveling
Geralt earns experience by slaying foes, completing quests, accomplishing special tasks, or by making certain conversational choices. Additionally, visiting Points of Interest on your map and resolving the tasks that await you there, can earn you additional experience. If you want to level up quickly, jump at the chance to take on any tasks presented to Geralt, regardless of their level of importance. Quests with a suggested level that is five or more levels lower than Geralt’s level receive an experience reward penalty, so if you want to maximize the awards you earn from a quest, make sure you attempt it when you are close to its recommended level.
After earning enough experience, Geralt gains a level, which gives him stat increases, and one skill point that he can spend in one of the Skill Branches. The obvious benefit to gaining levels is the boost in strength and survivability, allowing Geralt to take on increasingly tougher opponents and quests. The other major benefit is that many pieces of equipment require you to be a certain level before you can use them.
The following chart shows you the experience requirements from level 1 to level 70.
Requirements
| Level | XP to level | Total XP | Ability Points Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 1000 | 1000 | 1 |
| 3 | 1000 | 2000 | 1 |
| 4 | 1000 | 3000 | 1 |
| 5 | 1000 | 4000 | 1 |
| 6 | 1000 | 5000 | 1 |
| 7 | 1000 | 6000 | 1 |
| 8 | 1000 | 7000 | 1 |
| 9 | 1000 | 8000 | 1 |
| 10 | 1000 | 9000 | 1 |
| 11 | 1500 | 10500 | 1 |
| 12 | 1500 | 12000 | 1 |
| 13 | 1500 | 13500 | 1 |
| 14 | 1500 | 15000 | 1 |
| 15 | 1500 | 16500 | 1 |
| 16 | 1500 | 18000 | 1 |
| 17 | 1500 | 19500 | 1 |
| 18 | 1500 | 21000 | 1 |
| 19 | 1500 | 22500 | 1 |
| 20 | 1500 | 24000 | 1 |
| 21 | 2000 | 26000 | 1 |
| 22 | 2000 | 28000 | 1 |
| 23 | 2000 | 30000 | 1 |
| 24 | 2000 | 32000 | 1 |
| 25 | 2000 | 34000 | 1 |
| 26 | 2000 | 36000 | 1 |
| 27 | 2000 | 38000 | 1 |
| 28 | 2000 | 40000 | 1 |
| 29 | 2000 | 42000 | 1 |
| 30 | 2000 | 44000 | 1 |
| 31 | 2000 | 46000 | 1 |
| 32 | 2000 | 48000 | 1 |
| 33 | 2000 | 50000 | 1 |
| 34 | 2000 | 52000 | 1 |
| 35 | 2000 | 54000 | 1 |
| 36 | 2000 | 56000 | 1 |
| 37 | 2000 | 58000 | 1 |
| 38 | 2000 | 60000 | 1 |
| 39 | 2000 | 62000 | 1 |
| 40 | 2000 | 64000 | 1 |
| 41 | 2000 | 66000 | 1 |
| 42 | 2000 | 68000 | 1 |
| 43 | 2000 | 70000 | 1 |
| 44 | 2000 | 72000 | 1 |
| 45 | 2000 | 74000 | 1 |
| 46 | 2000 | 76000 | 1 |
| 47 | 2000 | 78000 | 1 |
| 48 | 2000 | 80000 | 1 |
| 49 | 2000 | 82000 | 1 |
| 50 | 2000 | 84000 | 1 |
| 51 | 2000 | 86000 | 1 |
| 52 | 2000 | 88000 | 1 |
| 53 | 2000 | 90000 | 1 |
| 54 | 2000 | 92000 | 1 |
| 55 | 2000 | 94000 | 1 |
| 56 | 2000 | 96000 | 1 |
| 57 | 2000 | 98000 | 1 |
| 58 | 2000 | 100000 | 1 |
| 59 | 2000 | 102000 | 1 |
| 60 | 2000 | 104000 | 1 |
| 61 | 2000 | 106000 | 1 |
| 62 | 2000 | 108000 | 1 |
| 63 | 2000 | 110000 | 1 |
| 64 | 2000 | 112000 | 1 |
| 65 | 2000 | 114000 | 1 |
| 66 | 2000 | 116000 | 1 |
| 67 | 2000 | 118000 | 1 |
| 68 | 2000 | 120000 | 1 |
| 69 | 2000 | 122000 | 1 |
| 70 | 2000 | 124000 | 1 |
Experience gained from fighting changes depending on the level of the foe relative to Geralt’s. If the foe’s level is white, you gain reduced experience, as they are significantly weaker than Geralt. Green level indicators mean the enemy is close to Geralt’s level, and you gain the standard amount of experience. A red level foe is much tougher than Geralt, but defeating them provides increased experience. If their level is indicated by a skull rather than a number, you gain much more experience if you can win. However, you are more likely to earn a swift death should you try.
Ability Points
Every level Geralt earns awards one ability point, which can be invested in any Ability Branch you please. Initially only the first tier of any given Ability Branch is available, but as you invest more into each Ability Branch, you can unlock tiers of abilities deeper within each branch. You can earn 69 total ability points just by leveling.
You can earn extra skill points by drawing them from Places of Power hidden throughout the world. However, even if you find every Place of Power, and achieve maximum level, you cannot max every skill in the game. Because of the limited total number of ability points, it helps to consider in advance the sort of witcher you want to play. There are a total of 16 Places of Power in the world. Their locations are marked in our Atlas.
Abilities, Ability Slots, and Ability Groups
Abilities can be learned by investing ability points into them, but this is not enough. You must activate the ability by placing it in an Ability Slot on the character screen for it to have any effect. Ability Slots unlock as you level, and by Level 30 Geralt can have up to 12 abilities active. At the start of the game, there is one slot unlocked. Reaching level 2 unlocks the second slot.
Abilities are organized into four branches: Combat, Signs, Alchemy, and General. These Ability Groups are color coded red, blue, green, and yellow respectively. The color coding of the first three groups becomes more important over the course of the adventure.
Mutagens and Mutagen Slots
On the Character screen, Ability Slots are organized in groups of three, and they are grouped with a Mutagen Slot. Mutagen Slots are where you can place mutagens dropped by slain monsters. There are generic, lesser mutagens, and then there are those won through defeating particularly vicious monsters that have been assigned witcher contracts. Mutagens have special properties that, when placed into Mutagen Slots, grant bonuses to Geralt.
You begin the game with no Mutagen Slots unlocked. However, by level 28, you unlock the fourth and final slot.
There are three colors of mutagen: red, blue, or green, coinciding with the Combat, Signs, and Alchemy ability groups. Red mutagens provide attack power bonuses, blue mutagens increase Signintensity, and green mutagens increase Vitality.
If you have activated abilities that match the color of the mutagen in-slot, the bonus of that mutagen is increased. You can use this in many ways depending on how you’ve built Geralt. For example, if you have focused on his Combat abilities, activating 12 combat abilities with four red mutagens makes his sword strikes utterly devastating.