The Witcher 3: Everything You Need To Know About Enemy Upscaling (2024)

Despite its age, The Witcher 3 still remains one of the best RPGs in recent memory with its vast world and memorable characters. Now is a good time to hop back in, but some returning players might feel certain areas have become too easy for them. Thankfully, The Witcher 3 has enemy upscaling to make things a bit more challenging.

RELATED: The Witcher 3: The Best Treasure Quests To Make Geralt Rich

There is more to enemy upscaling than meets the eye since there is more involved with it than you might think. Here is everything that is important to know when it comes to enemy upscaling in the third installment of the Witcher game series.

Updated April 29, 2022 by Kim Dailey: With a recent remaster for the next generation of consoles and new free DLC in collaboration with The Witcher Netflix series, The Witcher 3 has been receiving renewed interest from both newcomers and returning players alike. If you're not keenly familiar with the ins and outs of the game yet, one of the things you should be aware of and ultimately work to your advantage is enemy upscaling. We've included some additional information to help you better understand the mechanic in the guide below.

What Is Enemy Upscaling In The Witcher 3?

Enemy upscaling in The Witcher 3 is an option that will automatically adjust the level of enemies to be on par with that of the player. This ensures that Geralt receives more experience for defeating those enemies than with enemy upscaling turned off.

Is There A Catch?

That sounds fairly straightforward, but there are a couple of points you won't want to overlook.

• Upscaling only works on enemies at a lower level than Geralt. This means a higher-level enemy will not become suddenly overpowered and unbeatable. Neither will higher-level enemies be downscaled to be an easier match for Geralt. Higher-level enemies simply remain unaffected by upscaling adjustments.
• Upscaling also affects the items dropped by affected enemies to ensure Geralt is well compensated for the increased effort it took to kill the beast. The keynote here is that only items dropped from the affected enemies of a lower level than Geralt, just like with the enemies themselves, will gain a boost.

How Do You Turn On Enemy Upscaling?

Enemy Upscaling is listed under gameplay options, which can be accessed from two screens.

• If you are in the start menu, simply scroll down to select Options, then scroll and select Gameplay where you'll find Enemy Upscaling listed as one of the controls with a basic on/off toggle feature.
• You can also access Enemy Upscaling the same way, through the pause menu. Press the escape key on the keyboard to pause the game, then follow the same prompts as from the start menu.

How Enemy Upscaling Helps

The Witcher 3's enemy upscaling helps you get the most experience points possible and also presents a more difficult challengeupon returning to a lower level area. For instance, if you go back to Velen to do any of the area's witcher contracts, upscaling will not only add an extra challenge to an otherwise manageable area but will also ensure more experience is gained, and better items are dropped from defeating them.

Turning upscaling on will ensure the amount of experience Geralt gains and items he receives are proportionate to what you would get at that level originally, regardless of if you have played through that region before. Enabling The Witcher 3's enemy upscaling also increases the level of any bosses.

Plus there is so much to do before reaching Skellige, the late-game region, that you might find Geralt a more seasoned Witcher by the time he finally reaches the destination. By leaving enemy upscaling active when you arrive in the icy isles, you can ensure Geralt won't be overpowered from your previous upscaled grind on the mainland, as it will bring every enemy in Skellige's starter regions up to whatever level Geralt achieved from the influx of experience to make sure you're still getting the most rewards for your efforts.

The Best Time To Use Enemy Upscaling

There are a lot of tough side quests in the game. Some of which are at much higher levels than you might find Geralt at when you pick them up. It may seem counterintuitive if you're already struggling, but turning enemy upscaling on will help the grinding experience be a bit shorter. This is because having upscaling turned off will cause you to miss out on any potential bonus XP gains Geralt might have gotten with it on. And bear in mind the weapons and armor drops will be of lesser quality and value as well.

To sum it all up, enemy upscaling will not only help you level up faster, which is needed to get some truly rare items such as certain silver swords, but also ensure you have more time on your hands to do what you were trying to do originally. So in order to get the most out of your The Witcher 3 playthrough, it is recommended to turn enemy upscaling on when you feel you are ready for it.

NEXT: The Witcher 3: Complete Guide And Walkthrough