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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Bitter Harvest

By
Nathan Garvin

Necrophages prefer to feast on corpses - it’s in the name, really - but won’t shun fresher fare when it’s available. Fortunately humans generally prefer to avoid the putrescence that inevitably goes hand-in-hand with the remains of the dead, making most necrophages a persistent nuisance rather than a dire threat. As with many things, however, war changes the natural balance of things, and when looters find themselves lured to the fields of the dead left in the wake of battles, unfortunate encounters with necrophages become inevitable. This page will provide a walkthrough for the secondary quest "Bitter Harvest" iconBitter Harvest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Quest Objectives

Starting Bitter Harvest

To start this quest you’ll need to talk to Albin Hart, who can be found on a battlefield along the muddy bank on the Pontar river, just south of the Border Post signpost. He’s got a simple proposition for you - his men and necrophages both seek to plunder the bodies here, and they can’t share due to the nasty habit of necrophages to indiscriminately attack the living. He’s willing to pay a Witcher to help keep the necrophages at bay.

Seems like a pretty straightforward job for a Witcher, and in many ways it is, but there are a few complications with this quest that should give you pause at lower levels. Namely those complications are Albin and his retinue - they’re made of paper and will fall over and die at a necrophage’s slightest caress, and the more of them that die the worse your reward will be. This in effect turns this quest into a test of your offensive prowess, and however talented of a gamer you might be, much of this will come down to your level and gear. If you’re fresh out of White Orchard it will be very, very difficult to keep Albin and his crew alive, and if they all die you’ll fail the quest. If you’ve waited a bit and crafted Griffin School Gear you’ll fare better, but it can still be a struggle to cleanly complete this quest even when your level is in the late teens.

On the plus side this quest doesn’t expire, so you can effectively just wait until you’re over-leveled to the point where completing the quest is easy(ier). It’ll help keep nasty red marks out of your journal and put more "Crowns" iconCrowns in your coin purse. It’s a good idea to save your game before approaching Albin Hart just in case you find that you’re not quite up to snuff, so you can return later - checking back after every major silver sword upgrade isn’t the worst idea, especially if you also manage to, say, upgrade your Necrophage "Oil" iconOil in the meantime.

(1 of 2) Start this quest by talking to Albin Hart on the banks of the Pontar.

Start this quest by talking to Albin Hart on the banks of the Pontar. (left), You can also be referred to Albin by a Shady Merchant near the road to the Border Post. (right)

It’s also worth noting that you can be referred to Albin Hart - and hence, this quest - by talking to the Shady Merchant down the road from the "Notice Board" iconNotice Board outside of the "Border Post" iconBorder Post. He’ll ask you to help Alivin out in order to get a discount on a Transit Pass, which functionally means completing Bitter Harvest by keeping at least Albin alive. A dubious prospect, at best, especially considering by the time you’re high enough level to reliably complete this quest, you’ll probably get a Transit Pass or Letter of Safe Conduct by other means (including by just using "Axii" iconAxii on the Shady Merchant - a much better option) and if you fail to keep Albin alive you’ll also fail the quest Fake Papers, as the death of his in-law disinclines the Shady Merchant to do business with you.

Out recommendation? Just use Axii on the Shady Merchant to get a Transit Pass, ignore Albin Hart and his quest until you’ve got more levels and better silver.

Defend Albin Hart and His Crew from Necrophages

When you’re ready, accept Albin’s offer. The objectives for this quest are simple enough - defeat several waves of necrophages as quickly as possible to keep Albin and his crew safe. They’ll fight back and are fairly spread out, but they’ve no hope in combat against any necrophage - between their terrible combat AI, their lack of silver weapons and pathetic health pool, there’s just not much they can do except fall over and die when attacked. This means you’ve got to do three things in this quest: 1) draw aggro, 2) kill quickly and 3) get lucky. Of course, not getting killed is a priority, too, and you may have to fight a bit more recklessly than usual to pull this off. Chugging "Tawny Owl" iconTawny Owl so you can use "Igni" iconIgni or "Quen" iconQuen more frequently and a "Thunderbolt" iconThunderbolt potion to boost your damage output are both fine ideas.

Take up position a good ways south of Albin and his crew, as all the necrophages will attack from this direction, and putting yourself in the line of fire might draw aggro. The first wave consists of a trio of "Ghouls" iconGhouls (Lv7), the second wave includes a Rotfiend (Lv8) and two "Ghoul" iconGhouls (Lv7) and the third wave features two Ghouls (Lv7) and a Ghoul (Lv9). Keep track of your enemies via the minimap and if you’re certain you completed a wave without losses, consider saving - you have a bit of time to prepare between each wave, which also means that potions will likely not carry over between waves.

(1 of 2) Simple in theory, but difficult in practice, you need to intercept waves of necrophages and keep Albin and his crew safe.

Simple in theory, but difficult in practice, you need to intercept waves of necrophages and keep Albin and his crew safe. (left), This is very difficult at lower levels, but you can ignore the quest until you’re strong enough to dispatch your foes quickly. (right)

Get Your Reward from the Survivors

Weather all three waves then talk to Albin, if he’s still alive, or one of his crew, if he’s not. If you kept everybody alive you’ll get 50 EXP and 100 Crowns from Albin. If some of the crew died you’ll get 50 EXP and 50 Crowns, while if Albin died and any of the crew survived you’ll get 50 EXP and 20 Crowns. If Albin and his entire crew died, you’ll fail the quest.

(1 of 3) If Albin died you can still complete the quest, but you’ll earn a much smaller reward,

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    CD Projekt
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS4, Switch, XB One
  • Genre
    RPG
  • Guide Release
    24 June 2015
  • Last Updated
    22 August 2024
    Version History
  • Guide Author
    Nathan Garvin (Haeravon)

Share this free guide:

You are Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster-hunter known as a Witcher. You’ve fully regained your memories since your miraculous revival and escape from the Wild Hunt, and have cleared your name of the false accusations of regicide. In the wake of the assassination of Foltest, king of Temeria, the north have been rent by warfare as Nilfgaard launches its third major invasion, and the northlands have been united under the insane king Radovid. Overshadowing these petty politics is the mysterious return of Ciri - Geralt’s adopted daughter, who is now being pursued by the Wild Hunt.

The guide offers the following:

  • A full walkthrough that’s more than just a listing of quests-it’s an “ideal chronological order” that will get you through the whole game and allow you to see and do everything the game has to offer.

  • Side quests, including monster contracts and treasure hunts for obtaining powerful Witcher sets.

  • Descriptions of decisions, quests, and events that influence the various endings of the game.

  • Crafting and Alchemy information.

  • General strategies on how to take down foes large and small, monstrous and humanoid, boss or mundane.

  • Information on how to complete all the Gwent quests and obtain all the Gwent cards, including detailed Gwent strategies.

  • Trophy/Achievement information.

MASSIVE UPDATE: 7th September 2016 ongoing

  • Added DLC quests “Fool’s Gold” and “Scavenger Hunt: Wolf School Gear”.
  • Organisational changes in the Velen section of the walkthrough to reflect the increased level of Griffin School Gear.
  • Organisational changes throughout the walkthrough to provide a “no skulls” path through the game.
  • Added Death March difficulty tips and commentary throughout the guide.
  • More XP reward numbers included.
  • Walkthrough now includes additional information based on patch changes.
  • Various typo and grammar fixes.
  • Added DLC pages for Blood & Wine, Heart of Stone
  • Lots more quality of life improvements

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