Witcher 3 Contract The Griffin from the Highlands
This Witcher Contract can be acquired from the Armorer, in Crow’s Perch during the second part of the ‘Master Armorers’ side-quest.
To start the side-quest, you’ll need to fast travel to Crow’s Perch and head up to the Baron’s keep after completing the first part of the ‘Master Armorers’ side-quest. Hand in the High Quality Smithing Tools to Fergus. During the subsequent conversation we’ll have our objectives updated. At this point, you can visit the nearby noticeboard and pick up the Witcher Contract.
After activating the side-quest, head out of Crow’s Perch and make your way to the north to the objective marker located just east of the ‘Heatherton’ fast travel marker on the map. When you arrive at the site of interest, activate your Witcher Senses. Here you can inspect:
- The mutilated corpse on the right/south side of the road.
- A trail of bloodstains leaving the road to the north.
After examining the bloodstains, you’ll notice that there is a trail of blood leading away from the area. Activate your Witcher Sense and follow this trail a short distance until it comes to a stop. Geralt can inspect an Archgriffin Feather on the ground at the end of the blood trail.
At this point, the search area will expand again and you’ll need to locate the Archgriffin’s nest which happens to be nearby. Prepare yourself for battle before proceeding to the top of the nearby hill at the centre of the search area. The boss will attack as you approach the top of the hill.
Boss: Archgriffin
The Archgriffin acts in an almost identical way to the Griffin that we fought in White orchard and also incorporates a few moves from the Cockatrice playbook if you have encountered one of those before. As such, the tactics remain essentially the same for defeating the Archgriffin.
Although it has wings, for the most part it will attack from the ground and has quite a large area of attack due to its wings being able to perform sweeping moves. In addition, the Archgriffin can also jump in the air and dive bomb your position as well as utilise a nasty lunge attack, which you can roll under if timed correctly. When it is in the air, it will also infrequently attempt a swooping attack that can be easily rolled under/away from but will hit like a tonne of bricks if not avoided. Any melee attack that it hits Geralt with has the chance to cause a damage over time bleeding effect.
In addition to its wings/beak/claw-based melee attacks, the Archgriffin also incorporates poison into its repertoire. Similar to the Basilisk and Wyverns, the Archgriffin it is able to spit green projectiles at you which will poison Geralt if it makes contact. Be sure to dodge when you see them coming!
The easiest way to take it down quickly is to hit it with crossbow bolts or AARD whilst it is flying to bring it crashing to the ground – run up and smash it a few times and then use your dodges and rolls to avoid its ground-based attacks whilst dishing out your own attacks when you see an opening. Use a combination of AXII to stun it, IGNI and AARD to dish out damage or YRDEN to slow its movements to get a few attacks in. Repeat this process until it hits the dust.
Once the Archgriffin is dead, loot the body for the Archgriffin Trophy, Archgriffin Mutagen and any other goodies it was carrying. Make sure you loot the Archgriffin Acid Gland for the ‘Master Armorers’ side-quest as well!
With the Archgriffin dead, return to Crow’s Perch and speak to the Baron’s Quartermaster near the Crow’s Perch notice board.
Note: At this point, you’ll earn Diagram: Tracker’s Trousers, 200XP and 25 Crowns.