Brandon Curran 
Brandon is our resident RDR2 specialist and indie game reviewer. He studied the art of the written word in college.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
You’ve done your research. You’ve worked out the best armor sets for a discerning witcher, and you’ve decided you want speed, mobility, and a whole payload of killing power. In short, you’ve settled on Witcher 3 Cat gear. But knowing your dream set and actually acquiring it are two different things. That’s why you’ve come to the High Ground, after all.
We’re here to help you through the step-by-step process of seeking out and nabbing all of the Feline diagrams across the world of CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. We’ll also briefly touch on how best to forge the gear itself and what the hell to do with it once it’s in your greedy claws.
The Witcher 3 Cat School Gear Scavenger Hunt
Below, we outline how to get the fully upgraded cat school gear including armor and weapons.
Basic Cat Gear
Pick up the first two Witcher 3 Cat School gear maps at Blackbough. The Gwent merchant and the blacksmith ought to have the maps.
The basic armor diagrams are all located in a cave system beneath Temple Isle, Novigrad. Near the westernmost house on the isle is a rock ledge, with a grassy path snaking along the cliff face below. Follow the path and be prepared to dispel an illusion with the Eye of Nehaleni. Enter the newly revealed cave.
Inside is a golem, which you can dispatch with judicious use of Dimeritium Bombs and Elementa Oil. As with most enemies, Quen is a smart thing to keep active at all times. Given a golem’s nasty punch, it’s an especially good idea here. Wraiths can also be found in this dungeon, so be ready with Moon Dust, Specter Oil, Yrden, and Quen.
When the cave opens up, head to the left of the chamber through an archway. Climbing up a couple of ledges, remaining wary of the poisonous gas that fills out pockets of the cave (Golden Oriole can gird you against the poison, while Igni or Aard will clear it). You’ll come to a stone marked with the words “Look to the depths to be lifted up.”
Descend into the room below. Within, you must move a circle of statues with several levers, using the words as your hint. Beware, as a wraith will spawn while you are solving the puzzle. If you’d rather have the puzzle’s solution given to you, here it is: rotate each statue until it faces toward the inside of the circle.
Dive into the pool, where you will encounter three drowners. Because they are swimming (as you will be), mop them up with your crossbow. Then dive deeper and retrieve a key that will unlock a door in the cave complex. Surface and return to the open chamber. While it is unlikely that you’ll run out of air without help, Killer Whale can provide some peace of mind if you want to take your time plumbing the depths.
Making your way back to the main chamber, ascend the stairs, and unlock the door. A long-suffering, deranged witcher named Kiyan is meditating in a circle before a statue of a big cat. It would be fitting to pounce on him quickly and put him out of his misery. He will attack, and given the chance, will use his own versions of Quen, Igni, and Aard. Dispatch him with Hanged Man’s Venom and well-practiced swordplay. Looting him will net you all of the basic armor diagrams for the Witcher 3 Cat armor.
As for weapons, head northwest of Widows’ Grotto and southwest of the Lighthouse to find what remains of the Flying Stag. Sail or swim there and take the stairs below to the hold. Loot the chest you find, and the Feline Crossbow Diagram is yours.
Next, head to Est Tayiar, northeast of the Temerian Partisan Hideout. This location coincides with the quest “Redania’s Most Wanted,” if you want to avoid two trips.
A hole in the ground constitutes an Entrance. Dropping down and blasting a weak wall with Aard will reveal an alcove containing the skeleton of one Professor Sigismund Gloger. Among his bones is the Feline Silver Sword Diagram and notes pointing you towards Drahim Castle.
By whatever road, make your way to the last of the basic Witcher 3 Cat School gear locations. Blast away the castle’s door with Aard, then descend a series of ladders until you reach the lowest floor. Loot it for the steel sword diagram, and you’ve got the basic set.
The area may also bring you into the path of mounted bandits and ghouls. The former can be easily unhorsed and skewered with a one-two punch from Aard and your Hanged Man’s Venom-smeared steel sword. Axii will cause the horse to buck its rider, while Yrden can slow down horse and rider enough on a pass that you have a window to cut the man down — if you’re feeling saucy, of course. The ghoul is susceptible to Necrophage Oil, Black Blood, and superb witcher fighting technique.
Enhanced Cat Gear
The first piece of enhanced Witcher 3 Cat gear, the silver sword diagram, can be found just inside the city of Novigrad. Enter the city through the Oxenfurt Gate. Opposite the gate is a grassy terrace. Climb up, locate a ladder among the trees, and climb said ladder. Enter the home from the balcony and head upstairs. Loot the chest for the diagram.
Head to Aeramas’ Abandoned Manor. From the Fast Travel Signpost, follow the path until you ascend the stairs to what remains of the manor’s interior. As you enter, look for another set of stairs that climbs up the left side of the building. Take these stairs and loot the chest. Inside is the enhanced Cat School armor diagram.
Take the quest Contract: Phantom of the Trade Route if you want in-game directions to the cave where you can find the enhanced boots diagram. Otherwise, you can head to Toderas, where devourers and alghouls await — bring Black Blood, Necrophage Oil, keep Quen active, use Axii on any alghouls, and stay clear of exploding devourers. Head east toward a large cave.
If you don’t have the marker yet, you can take the road south, east, and then northeast, and it will take you to one of the network’s entrances. Within the caverns is a large chamber with various rock shelves and what appears to be a natural stone ramp rising sharply from the cave floor. From the ramp, take the northernmost (descending) tunnel, keeping an eye along the left wall face for the chest containing the boots diagram.
Next, go to Codgers’ Quarry. Looters occupy the area and will attack if you approach with your weapon drawn. If you approach with your weapon sheathed, a brief conversation will ensue, only to be interrupted by an alghoul attack. Deal with either as described above. Head to the cave nearby and loot a chest for the enhanced gauntlets diagram.
Your next destination on the quest for Witcher 3 cat gear is Oxenfurt. Adjacent to the blacksmith is a house with a ladder descending from its ground floor into Oxenfurt’s sewer system. Following the tunnel you find will take you to a confluence of underground passages. Using your witcher senses, activate a secret panel to displace a brick wall. Inside an alcove beyond the false wall is a chest with the enhanced trousers diagram inside.
The quest “Fool’s Gold” will take you to the cave you need to reach for the enhanced steel sword diagram. With the quest active, be prepared to dispatch some bandits — use Blizzard and the Northern Wind bomb if crowd control becomes an issue. Otherwise, face off with a bear, and don’t forget to use Quen and Beast Oil. Just past a bear’s corpse in the cave, turn to the left to see a chest in the corner. Opposite, you should see some elven ruins. Loot the chest for the steel sword diagram, rounding out the enhanced set.
Superior Cat Gear
You can purchase Adalbert Kermith’s third map from the quartermaster at Crow’s Perch. All of the superior armor diagrams are located in a set of ruins southwest of Dragonslayer’s Grotto. The ruins are unmarked, so you’ll need to travel cross-country to reach them. In this particular neck of the woods, wolves and endregas roam in groups.
Accordingly, keep your steel coated with Beast Oil and your silver coated with Insectoid Oil. Keep Quen handy for both the wolves and the endregas, and don’t be afraid to use Blizzard for effective crowd control. If the wolves are particularly vicious in their pack tactics, shooting a couple with Broadhead Bolts will inflict bleeding — this will allow you to focus on their packmates while they bleed and die, and the wolves will thin out quickly after that. Pop some Golden Oriole when facing endregas, meanwhile, as it will neutralize their poison.
At the ruins themselves, you will face an earth elemental. Elementa Oil, Dimeritium Bombs, and Quen are your friends. Having destroyed the creature, head to a cluster of tumbledown walls (the largest structure still standing in the area) and loot the chest inside for the Superior Feline Armor diagrams.
You can find the silver sword diagram in a monster den to the east of Ursten. Wolves inhabit the nearby woods, so prepare accordingly. In the monster den itself, you will find several ogroids (guess which oil you should use), including a swarm of nekkers and a rabid rock troll. Apply the aforementioned oil, use Quen, and deploy Northern Wind bombs as necessary to control the nekkers’ numbers.
Enter the cave, dispatch any resistance, descend two flights of stairs, and when you reach the bottom (again, killing as needed), turn to the right and clamber up a ledge. Blasting away the stalagmites here will reveal a chest containing the diagram.
Seek out the steel sword diagram at the Cavern. A golem guards your prize, so come prepared with Elemental Oil, Dimeritium Bombs, and your trusty Quen sign. Drowners also dot the shoreline here. Necrophage Oil, Black Blood, Igni, and Dancing Star all help here. It’s also worth noting that while trying to block a leaping attack from a drowner will leave you dazed, their standing attacks can be parried reliably. Dodge their initial leap, then parry and counterattack. Find the chest you seek in the cave and loot it, completing your set of superior diagrams.
Mastercrafted Cat Gear
The fourth Witcher 3 Cat gear location map can be bought from Lindenvale’s blacksmith. The steel sword diagram can be found on Ard Skellig at the ruins of Kaer Gelen. Going from the gate near the signpost, circle to the right until you can enter the fort. Fight off some wraiths (see how above) and explore until you spy the Cat School symbol beside a staircase. As you ascend, a landing on your left will contain the chest and the diagram.
For the rest of the mastercrafted diagrams, head to Faroe Isle. East of Harviken is a cave, which you must traverse, using Aard as necessary to clear the way. Make your way to the end of the cave and loot the chest you find.
Now head to the Monster Den south-southwest of Trottheim, along the coast. Sirens and harpies plague the area, so bring some Hybrid Oil and be ready to use Aard and your crossbow to send them plummeting. Once inside the cave, cross the water and make your way to a pair of statues. From the statues, take the northern passage. To your left, somewhat obscured by rock formations, is a chest and a skeleton, and most importantly, your diagrams.
Grandmaster Cat Gear
The final stop on the long trek for Witcher 3 Cat gear begins now.
After meeting with Lazare Lafargue (more on him in our other Witcher 3 articles), head to Villa Vidette, east along the road from the Arthach Palace Ruins. A clerk is being held captive by bandits at the villa. Kill them, free the clerk, then go check out the red house in the northwest corner of the courtyard. Inspect the painting within and loot the chest armor diagram within.
Head to the Arthach Palace Ruins next, clearing out the bandit hanse encamped therein. Head to the signal fire and loot the chest nearby, and you’ll wind up with the boots and trousers diagrams firmly in hand.
Northwest of the Trading Post is a monster den known as the Pits of Brume. These constitute the home of a pair of archespores, so be prepared for a tough fight, especially if you’re not used to fighting the thrice-cursed buggers. The Bestiary suggests Cursed Oil, Aard, and Igni. I’d add Quen to the mix as usual, and a combination of rolls and dodges usually avoid the plant’s acid spit while you close the distance to do some hedge trimming. With this done, seek out a small campsite in the pits and loot it for the remaining grandmaster upgrade diagrams.
On the Path: Witcher 3 Cat Gear
Generally speaking, it’s wise to forge these pieces of gear as you acquire their diagrams. Take it from me — the crafting is considerably less tedious when singular trips don’t necessitate huge expenditures in terms of coin and materials. And when crafting, be sure to prioritize dismantling and making crafting components for yourself instead of buying specific ingredients. The latter tends to be considerably more expensive and less efficient.
Once you’ve got the whole set, how should you utilize your armor while walking the witchers’ Path? For one, emphasizing damage with your build and potion choices would be wise. It’s leaning into a heavy advantage the Cat School Armor provides, and it’s also one of the most powerful traits in which you can invest. Additionally, it’s wise to emphasize the powers provided by the armor during combat.
The first of said powers makes it so that every heavy attack you dish out increases fast attack damage for a brief period of time. Pair this with something like the Forktail Decoction, which similarly rewards a mixture of light and heavy attacks, along with signs, by increasing the damage or sign intensity of the next attack or cast. In combat, get in the habit of opening your strikes with a heavy attack, then unleashing a flurry of fast attacks on the enemy. The second power isn’t strictly mandatory to emphasize (especially if you’d rather use better swords than the Feline set), but it can produce some reasonable crowd control and a use for Adrenaline if you’re unimpressed with the likes of Rend and Whirl.
Here, Kitty, Kitty
And that’s it for the Witcher 3 Cat gear guide! This is some of the best armor you can acquire in the game (and my personal armor of choice, as you may have noticed from the screenshots), and it conveys pitch-perfect edgelord tones for those of us who want everyone to know that we’re actually super bad boys. All that’s left is to unleash your impeccable style and catlike reflexes on the monstrous denizens of the Continent.
As Lazare Lafargue would say, good luck on the Path!
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