Should you repair items before selling in The Witcher 3? Absolutely.

Repairing weapons, armor, and other loot before selling it is one of the most profitable things you can do in The Witcher 3. Investing just a small amount into restoration can increase the sale value dramatically – earning you far more crowns. This guide will dive deep into all the ins and outs of item repair to help you maximize profits.

Introduction

Looting fallen enemies and containers in The Witcher 3 nets you tons of swords, armor, ingredients and more. But rather than offloading these immediately, taking time to restore durability first is essential to getting the best value.

The difference between a battered sword worth 50 crowns and the restored version selling for 500 is huge. This process does require investing in repair kits or blacksmith fees upfront. However, the major boost to sale value makes repairing extremely profitable in most cases.

Deciding what to repair versus sell as-is comes down to a few key factors:

• The item‘s current durability percentage
• Its base value when in perfect condition
• The cost of repair kits or blacksmith services

Crunching the numbers on repair costs versus added sale value reveals whether you‘ll turn a profit.

This guide will cover everything needed to make the right decisions:

• How durability impacts item value
• Which types of items are worth repairing
• Repair costs and profit calculations
• Tips for efficient repairing
• What not to repair
• Best practices for maximizing sales

Following this advice can easily double or triple your profits from selling loot. So let‘s dive in and start making those crowns!

How Item Durability Works

Every weapon, armor piece, and other equipment picked up in The Witcher 3 has a durability stat. This starts at 100%, and decreases a small amount whenever you use the item in combat or crafting.

As durability drops, the sell price decreases as well. The relationship isn‘t 1:1, but in general expect around a ~30% loss in value for an item at 50% durability. Once an item hits 0% durability, it becomes unusable until repaired.

You can see an item‘s current durability percentage in the inventory screen, or by hovering the cursor over it:

[Insert image showing durability stat]

To increase (or restore) an item‘s durability, you need to repair it. There are a two ways to do this:

• Using Repair Kits – These consumable items restore 15 points of durability per use. Kits can be purchased from merchants.

• Visiting a Blacksmith – Blacksmiths can repair items fully in one go, for a fee based on the item‘s value.

Now let‘s look at which types of items are actually worth investing coins into repairing before you sell them.

Which Items Are Worth Repairing?

Repairing every single item you loot, even basic junk, would be a waste of money. The profit from selling a +15 durability Rusty Sword isn‘t worth the repair kit used.

However, many higher tier items are extremely profitable to repair before selling.

Weapons

• Steel swords
• Silver swords
• Relic items like witcher gear weapons

Armor

• Witcher gear sets
• Magical armors like dimeritium

Other

• Jewelry and crystals
• Valuable alchemy crafting materials like dark steel ingots
• High level monster extracts

As a good rule of thumb, if an item‘s base value when intact is at least 200-300 crowns, it‘s worth repairing. Lower than that, and costs outweigh profit.

When in doubt, quickly check with this formula:

Added Sell Value – Repair Costs = Profit

Let‘s walk through an example:

You loot a damaged steel sword worth 300 crowns at full durability, but its current durability is only 50%. This sells to a merchant for just 150 crowns now.

Buying a repair kit for 25 crowns and using it would restore to 100% durability. Now you can sell the sword for the full 300 crowns.

Added Sell Value: 300 – 150 = 150 crowns

Repair Cost: 25 crowns

Profit: 150 – 25 = 125 crowns

So spending 25 crowns gains you an extra 125 crowns – well worth the investment!

Analyzingdurability impact:

Durability %	Sell Price (Crowns)
100%	300
75%	250
50%	150
25%	100
0%	50

Next, let‘s look at optimizing the repair process…

Tips for Efficient Repairing

Repairing all your loot can become costly. Here are some tips to maximize profits:

Buy repair kits in bulk

Purchasing kits individually from merchants is inefficient. Instead, buy in bulk whenever you find a merchant selling 5 or 10 kits in their inventory – this massively reduces per unit costs.

Prioritize valuable items

Assess current durability percentage when deciding what to repair. Unique quest items and witcher gear are well worth restoring fully. For a basic sword with minor damage, a single kit is often enough.

Sell weapons & armor to the right merchants

Blacksmiths pay the best prices for repaired swords and weapons. Sell armor to armorers for top value. Check their available funds as well.

Repair witcher gear before selling

Even if you aren‘t using a witcher set, always repair pieces to 100% before selling. The markup is huge – a damaged piece may fetch 20 crowns, while the restored version can sell for 200+.

Don‘t over-repair minor damage

Be selective – if an item only needs 1 kit to get to 80% durability, that‘s often sufficient for a good sale price still. Going to 100% isn‘t always necessary.

Sell in wealthy regions

Merchants in rich areas like Beauclair in Toussaint pay the best rates. Even for the same item, you‘ll earn substantially more than selling to a small town merchant.

Making smart decisions around repairing and selling can easily double or triple your profits over just offloading looted items as-is.

What Not to Repair and Sell

While repairing is extremely profitable for higher end loot, some items you‘ll want to just sell immediately rather than wasting coins on:

• Quest items – Anything irreplaceable or required later in quests should not be sold, repaired or not. Doing so can break progression.

• Keys – These have no innate sale value, so repairing provides no benefit.

• Food & drinks – The tiny markups aren‘t worth repair kit costs.

• Common materials – Unless you have a huge surplus, it‘s not efficient to repair leather scraps or timber, for example.

• Books & notes – Have no durability stat affecting their low sell values.

For these categories, assess current durability and sell directly to merchants rather than repairing beforehand.

Now let‘s look at some final tips to squeeze out maximum crowns from your loot…

Advanced Tips for Maximizing Profits

Once you‘ve mastered repairing higher value items, putting some additional practices to work can optimize your profits even further:

• Sell swords and armor only to master crafters – These pay 10-20% more than standard merchants. Seek them out specifically.

• Wait to repair many items at once – If doing a lot of loot runs, repair everything all at once before selling for efficiency.

• Sell in locations with an armorer & blacksmith – This allows selling repaired weapons/armor to the ideal merchant. Novigrad‘s Hierarch Square is perfect for this.

• Invest perks in Haggle – Boosts prices when selling. Combine with repairing for big sale value.

• Use the right buffs – Potions, oils and talents likecat school techniques further improve prices.

• Avoid selling until wealthier – Early on, looted items are more useful to keep and use yourself. Later you can sell more freely.

Mastering both repairing strategically and selling to the ideal merchants will let you amass huge wealth from all the loot acquired out in the field.

Conclusion

As you‘ve seen, diligently repairing items before selling is one of the most profitable things you can do in The Witcher 3. Take the time to fully restore durability on higher value swords, armor, ingredients and jewelry before offloading to merchants.

Be selective and focus on the most valuable loot using the advice provided. Squeeze every last crown out of that witcher gear! With the huge boosts to sale value from repairing, you‘ll soon have more coin than you know what to do with.

Hopefully these tips help you make smart decisions around repairing and selling items in The Witcher 3. Let me know if you have any other great strategies in the comments!