The Witcher 3 is a massive game with a lot of items to buy. You’re going to need thousands of crowns to buy various armor sets, so many people look for ways to get money fast.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to get thousands without doing any work. All of these methods require a little bit of farming to make a profit, but they definitely will get you the money you need. There’s even one glitch on this list that guarantees infinite money if you need it.
Related: How and When to Upgrade Your Gear – The Witcher 3
Sell Weapons
Probably the most reliable way to get crowns is to collect as many enemy weapons as you can and sell them to merchants. You’ll defeat hundreds of enemies over the course of the game, and bandit camps are a constant source of new weapons.
One trick to help you carry more is to have the best saddlebags you can get. Maximize your profits by throwing out the weapons with less value and picking up the more expensive ones.
You may have to jump around from merchant to merchant though, as each one has a limited amount of money.
Witcher Contracts
My favorite part about The Witcher 3 is taking contracts to defeat monsters, which is the entire purpose of a witcher. Because of this, you get to negotiate your price with the contract giver, and you should try to get as much as possible.
The one who gives you the contract has an annoyance meter, which if it gets too high will revert the price back to the starting amount. Your goal is to get it as high as possible without annoying them too much.
Besides the monetary benefit, they are super fun to complete.
Sell to Multiple Vendors
You could have the most profitable gear to sell, but you won’t make that much unless you manage to sell everything you need to. Every merchant has a limited amount of money.
The vendors in Novigrad seem to always have a decent amount on them, but it’s best to sell to as many as you can. For a full inventory, you may have to visit 2 or 3 merchants to sell all of your loot.
Side Quests
There are a ton of side quests to do in this game, and most of them give you money. You won’t have any trouble finding new quests either, since all you have to do is walk around a town you’ll find them everywhere.
In my playthrough, there were so many sidequests that it was almost overwhelming. Most quests are enjoyable to play, so complete a bunch of them when you’re strapped for cash.
Play Gwent
I honestly never got into Gwent, but it’s a very profitable game once you get the hang of it. You can make bets or play for cash, and if you enjoy card games, it’s basically like getting paid to have fun.
Apparently Gwent was so popular that they made a full game out of it, so people must enjoy that sort of thing. Learn to play Gwent and you’ll have another easy way to make cash that doesn’t involve grinding or farming.
If you’re interested in learning how to play Gwent, check out his helpful video I found on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apVrGSP1WNI
Loot Everything
Basically, if you can pick it up, you should loot it. You should pick up and store everything you can possibly find. If you feel like you’re a hoarder, you’re probably doing it right. Sell the heavy items as soon as you get full, and then go back for more.
Walk into people’s houses and take all of their valuables, wander around cities and grab everything you want from baskets and pots, and loot every bandit camp and shipwreck you find.
As you play the game, you’ll find more and more opportunities to collect items. It may be annoying after a while, but it’ll eventually pay off. If you get into the habit of doing that, you’ll have tons of items to both craft with and sell. The only downside is becoming encumbered, which can be avoided by selling the heavy items at the nearest merchant.
Exchange Currencies
The only currency that merchants will accept in the Witcher 3 is Novigrad Crowns. However, there are 3 currencies in the game, and only one is actually usable.
You can actually take these useless currencies and exchange them at the bank in Novigrad, and will help you make some extra money. If you follow the last tip I gave to loot everything, it’s inevitable that you’ll be stuck with a ton of extra currencies you don’t need.
Just take those and exchange them into a currency you can actually use, then you’ll have some extra money that you can spend on new weapons and armor.
Cook Some Cows
Here’s a method I found online that bascially consists of frying some cows with Igni, looting them, and quickly respawning them. This money maker can be done repeatedly, but gets a little boring after a little bit.
It’s not a glitch, so all it takes is a while of farming these cows to make some extra money. Some people claim it’s patched, but people have been able to do this in 2020, so it probably won’t be patched going forward.
It’s not a lot of money, but it’s consistent and gets you money when you need it the most. Here’s a video showing how to do it:
Monster Nest Glitch
This one is a really good glitch that can be done as many times as needed. As with any glitch, use it at your own risk.
What you do for this glitch is basically defeat a monster nest and destroy it with a bomb, but leave one item inside. Then, meditate for 4 full days and check the ground where the monster nest was.
For some reason, you’ll be able to access the monster nest’s inventory, which is now full of items again. Even though the monster nest is gone, the inventory will still be there. Meditate for another 4 days and the items will respawn, and this can be done indefinitely.
Here’s how this glitch is done: