On Thin Ice – Witcher 3 Quest

This guide is a walkthrough of a main quest of the Witcher 3 endgame. The guide is composed of a map, map legend, and walkthrough to show readers exactly where to go and what to do to complete the quest.

Walkthrough

With the Lodge of Sorceresses freed and the Sunstone in your possession, Avallac’h will finally reveal his plan. He’ll tell you that he’ll use the Sunstone to call Eredin, and that when Eredin’s ship the Naglfar appears, the sorceresses and Emperor Emhyr’s fleet will keep it in place, which will allow you and Emhyr’s soldiers to board it — and face Eredin. Meanwhile, Ciri will stay behind where it’s safe.

When you’re ready to put the plan into action, you should talk to Avallac’h at the Marlin Coast. He’ll use the Sunstone, and the Naglfar will appear — but it’ll be a trap, and Caranthir on board the ship will cast a frost spell that will freeze you and Emhyr’s forces. But Ciri will see this, and without too much surprise, she’ll leap into action.

You’ll then switch to Ciri, and you’ll have to defeat a bunch of Wild Hunt warriors and hounds as you make your way to Caranthir. This fight will be a little different than your earlier excursions with Ciri. Even though the enemies will be level 29, you’ll be able to kill them with one hit, so they shouldn’t pose any problems for you. It’ll just be Witcher Whack-a-Mole.

When you reach Caranthir, he’ll be tougher than his minions, but he won’t go all out when fighting you. He’ll just teleport around and make melee attacks. Since you can do those things as well — plus regenerate — you should be able to dance around him and wear him down. Once you’ve done about 25% damage to Caranthir, a cutscene will play where you’ll break his staff and end his frost spell. But the resulting concussion will knock you for a loop. You’ll teleport away, but Geralt will thaw out, so you’ll switch to him.

Back as Geralt, the fight against Caranthir will be more difficult than before, because Caranthir will keep teleporting around and you’ll have to chase him. He’ll also summon level 30 ice elementals to attack you, and he’ll fling ice spells your way, which will damage you as well as slow you down. But the same strategy should work against him. Just keep eating to regain your health, and then close in as possible to deal him some damage.

When Caranthir is just about dead, he’ll teleport the two of you underwater, perhaps in a misguided effort to drown you. Caranthir will then die, and you’ll have to swim to the surface, avoiding some debris along the way. When you climb up to an ice shelf, you’ll spot Ciri, who will teleport away again, and the Naglfar, which will be in battle with Emhyr’s fleet.

You’ll then get to join in with the fighting. Like with Ciri, you’ll only have one way to go, and you’ll have to battle against Wild Hunt warriors and hounds. For some reason, even though the warriors will be level 27 and the hounds only level 25, the hounds will be the much tougher of the two. In any case, enemies will just keep on spawning, so you shouldn’t worry about them too much. Instead, you should follow the quest markers (generally heading north and east) and only fight the things that get in your way.

When you reach Eredin, you’ll be just in time to see him kill Crach an Craite. Then he’ll turn to you, and after a minor taunt, the battle will begin. Fighting Eredin will be a lot like fighting Caranthir since he’ll teleport around and cast ice spells at you. So you should do the same things that worked before — namely, dodge, attack, dodge, and eat / quaff to regain health.

After you’ve done a little bit of damage to Eredin, he’ll teleport the two of you onto Undvik, and then once you’ve almost killed him, he’ll create another portal back to his ship, and you’ll have to follow him. When you eventually land the mortal blow, Eredin will collapse, and he’ll claim that Avallac’h has used you both — that Avallac’h is the one who wants to open a gate between the worlds. Then Eredin will die, and Yennefer will teleport you back to Undvik, where you’ll see that Eredin was telling the truth. This will complete the quest and earn you a leveled version of the silver sword Hav’caaren, a Lesser Glyph of Aard, and 500 xp.