The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered: Wild at Heart Quest Walkthrough

TL;DR

• Wild at Heart is a secondary quest in Velen, suggested level 7. Start it by reading the Missing Wife notice on any Velen notice board.
• Talk to Niellen in Blackbough, then speak to the villagers and search the woods with your Witcher Senses.
• Reject Margrit’s bribe in the woods — the full quest gives far better rewards than taking her money.
• Track the werewolf to the Isolated Shack, enter the cave, meditate until nightfall, then fight Niellen the werewolf.
• The best ending for loot: let Margrit die, then kill Niellen through normal combat to get the Werewolf Mutagen.
• Apply Cursed Oil, bring Moon Dust or Devil’s Puffball bombs, and use Igni to stop regeneration.

Wild at Heart is one of the best side quests in Velen. What starts as a simple missing person investigation quickly unravels into a tragic story of jealousy, obsession, and lycanthropy. It has multiple endings, a meaningful moral choice, and one of the more rewarding werewolf fights in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

This guide walks you through every step — how to start it, how to investigate, how to beat the werewolf, and which ending gives you the best rewards.

Quest Overview

• Quest type: Secondary Quest
• Region: Velen
• Suggested level: 7
• Key locations: Blackbough, the woods northwest of Blackbough, the Isolated Shack
• Main enemy: Werewolf (Niellen)
• Rewards: 50 XP, Niellen’s Key, access to a locked chest, and potentially the Werewolf Mutagen

The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered Wild at Heart Quest Location

How to Start Wild at Heart

The quest begins by picking up the Missing Wife notice from a Velen notice board. You can find it posted on several boards across the region:

• Mulbrydale Notice Board
• Inn at the Crossroads Notice Board
• Crow’s Perch Notice Board
• Midcopse Notice Board

Read the notice to add the quest to your journal. It is a plea from a hunter named Niellen, whose wife Hanna has been missing for several days. He is offering a reward to anyone who can find her or tell him what happened.

Step 1 — Talk to Niellen in Blackbough

Travel to Blackbough, a small village located west of Crow’s Perch. Use the Blackbough signpost if you have unlocked it, or travel west on foot from Crow’s Perch.

You will find Niellen standing outside a hut in the northwest part of the village. He is already in conversation with a woman named Margrit, who turns out to be Hanna’s sister.

Speak to Niellen. He tells you Hanna has been gone for five days and nobody saw her leave, which suggests she disappeared at night. He gives you two things to do: speak to her friends in the village, and check the last known area where she was seen — the woods northwest of Blackbough.

Step 2 — Ask the Neighbours About Hanna (Optional)

This step is technically optional but it fills in useful context and is worth doing quickly before heading into the woods.

Talk to two groups of villagers:

• Glenna — the butcher’s wife. She speculates Hanna went into the woods alone and was probably eaten by wolves. She does not know much more than that.
• The blacksmith’s children — this is the important conversation. The children tell you they saw Hanna go into the woods with another woman. This is a key detail that contradicts the idea of Hanna simply wandering off alone.

With that lead in mind, head northwest into the woods.

Step 3 — Search the Woods With Witcher Senses

Enter the marked forest area northwest of Blackbough. A pack of wolves attacks almost immediately — kill them. After the fight, Margrit appears from the treeline.

Margrit’s Bribe — What to Choose

Margrit asks Geralt to stop looking for her sister and return to Niellen with the lie that Hanna is dead. She offers to pay him double Niellen’s reward — 55 Crowns — to walk away right now.

Do not take the bribe if you want the full quest and the best rewards.

If you accept her offer and return to Niellen telling him Hanna is dead, the quest ends early with modest XP and a small Crown payment from Niellen. You miss the werewolf fight entirely and lose any chance at the Werewolf Mutagen.

If you reject Margrit’s bribe, she leaves and the investigation continues. You can technically accept her money and still continue searching — the quest will add a failed sub-objective for not returning to Niellen — but the main path stays open either way. The cleanest route is to simply refuse her deal.

Searching With Witcher Senses

After Margrit leaves, activate your Witcher Senses (hold L2 on controller or the appropriate key on PC) and look around the area. You will find three key clues in sequence:

• Claw marks on the ground — deep gouges consistent with a large clawed creature
• An eviscerated dog near a tree — torn apart violently, not eaten like wolves would
• Hanna’s corpse — found slightly west of the dog. Geralt examines the body and concludes the wounds are consistent with a werewolf, not ordinary wolves

After examining Hanna’s body, follow the werewolf tracks with Witcher Senses still active. The trail leads to a tree where the tracks go up into the branches, and then you find a tuft of fur on the other side. Continue following the trail west.

Step 4 — Find the Werewolf’s Lair

The tracks lead to an isolated shack near the Isolated Shack signpost northwest of Blackbough. Enter the cabin and search inside — you will find torn men’s clothing on the floor. This confirms the werewolf was here in human form.

Examine the clues inside the cabin, then go to the back of the building. A trail of blood leads to the rear of the property where you will find the entrance to an underground cave. Use Aard on the wooden door blocking the entrance to blast it open, then descend into the werewolf’s lair.

Step 5 — Wait for Nightfall and Fight the Werewolf

Inside the cave, the werewolf is not present yet. You will get a prompt to meditate until nightfall. Open the meditation menu and wait until dark — the werewolf returns to its lair at night.

After meditating, the werewolf appears. This is Niellen — the same hunter who hired you to find his wife.

Preparing for the Fight

Before the fight begins, make sure you are prepared:

• Apply Cursed Oil to your silver sword. Werewolves are Cursed Ones and take increased damage from it. See our Witcher 3 Bestiary Guide for full details on Cursed One weaknesses.
• Bring Moon Dust bombs or Devil’s Puffball bombs. Werewolves regenerate health rapidly at low health. These bombs stop regeneration. Without one of them, the fight can drag on as Niellen heals faster than you deal damage.
• Quen Sign is your most reliable safety net here. The cave is enclosed and Niellen moves fast.

Werewolf Fight Strategy

The fight starts with Niellen accompanied by three ordinary wolves. Kill the wolves immediately before focusing on Niellen. They have low health and die in a few hits each, but leaving them alive means constant interruptions, flanking attacks, and bleed effects while you try to fight the werewolf.

Once the wolves are down, focus entirely on Niellen:

• Use fast attacks, not heavy attacks. Niellen is quick and heavy attacks leave Geralt too exposed to counter-hits. Chain three or four fast attacks and then dodge away when he starts to telegraph a swipe or lunge.
• Cast Igni when you get a gap. Fire pressures werewolves and the sustained burn damage helps when he starts regenerating.
• When his health drops significantly, throw a Moon Dust or Devil’s Puffball bomb immediately. This is the point where werewolves enter their regeneration phase. Without halting it you will be stuck in an unwinnable war of attrition.
• If he is still recovering health faster than expected, the Axii Sign briefly stuns him after a series of fast attacks, giving you a free window to land a couple more hits.
• Keep Quen active at all times as a damage buffer.

The cave walls limit your dodge space somewhat — stay aware of corners so you do not trap yourself in a dead end when backing away.

Step 6 — The Confrontation With Margrit

Once Niellen’s health drops low enough, a cutscene interrupts the fight. Margrit runs into the cave and the truth comes out.

Margrit confesses that she knew Niellen was a werewolf the whole time. She was secretly in love with him and wanted Hanna out of the picture. Her plan was to bring Hanna to the cave to show her Niellen transforming — hoping Hanna would be so horrified and disgusted that she would leave him on her own. She insists she never meant for Hanna to die. But Niellen, in his blind bloodlust during the transformation, killed his own wife before he could stop himself.

Niellen is enraged. He turns on Margrit and threatens to kill her.

You are given a timed choice. You have a few seconds to decide:

Choice: Let Niellen Kill Margrit or Protect Her

Option 1: “She deserves it. Do what you will.”

Geralt steps back and allows Niellen to take his revenge. Niellen kills Margrit. Afterwards he returns to Geralt, broken and exhausted, and asks Geralt to end his life as well — he no longer has the will to live. Geralt obliges in a cutscene.

Rewards: 50 XP, Niellen’s Key (looted from his body). You can loot the chest in the cabin above with the key. You do not get the Werewolf Mutagen with this ending because Niellen dies in a cutscene rather than through normal combat.

Option 2: “Can’t let you do that.” (Protect Margrit)

Geralt intervenes to protect Margrit. This resumes the combat with Niellen restored to about 25% health. Finish him off through normal sword combat.

Rewards: 50 XP, Niellen’s Key, and — most importantly — Niellen drops Werewolf Mutagen and other Werewolf crafting parts when killed through regular combat. This is the better choice for loot.

Margrit survives and leaves. The quest ends.

All Possible Endings — Summary

Wild at Heart has three distinct ways to end depending on your choices throughout the quest.

Ending 1 — Accept Margrit’s Bribe and Tell Niellen Hanna Is Dead (Short Route)

Accept Margrit’s offer in the woods, return to Niellen, and tell him his wife is dead. He offers you a small additional payment when you report back. The quest ends here with around 80 XP from Margrit and 30–50 XP from Niellen. You miss the werewolf fight entirely and get no mutagen or key. This is the worst outcome for rewards.

Ending 2 — Let Niellen Kill Margrit (Cutscene Death)

Complete the full investigation, fight the werewolf to low health, and choose to let Niellen kill Margrit in the cutscene. He then asks Geralt to kill him and dies in a cutscene as well. You receive 50 XP and Niellen’s Key but no Werewolf Mutagen because Niellen did not die through combat.

Ending 3 — Protect Margrit and Kill Niellen in Combat (Best Loot)

Complete the full investigation, fight the werewolf to low health, protect Margrit in the timed choice, and finish Niellen through normal combat. You receive 50 XP, Niellen’s Key, the Werewolf Mutagen, and all standard Werewolf monster drops. This is the best outcome for loot, especially early in the game when the Werewolf Mutagen is hard to come by.

Niellen’s Key and the Locked Chest

Regardless of which of the latter two endings you choose, you will have Niellen’s Key from his body. Go back to the isolated shack above the cave entrance. Inside the cabin there is a locked chest that this key opens. It contains random loot — gear, crafting materials, and sometimes a diagram. The quality of what is inside scales loosely with your current level, so it is worth opening even if the contents are not always spectacular.

Werewolf Mutagen — Why It Matters

The Werewolf Mutagen is a Greater Red Mutagen variant specifically tied to Werewolf kills. Werewolves are relatively uncommon enemies in the game and contract opportunities to fight them are limited. Wild at Heart is one of the earliest chances to get this mutagen, so if you are building a combat-focused character that uses Red Mutagen slots, protecting Margrit and killing Niellen in combat is strongly recommended.

For more on how mutations and mutagens work, see our Witcher 3 Remastered: Skill Tree guide and our Best Builds guide.

Tips and Things to Know

• The quest is not missable, but if you advance too deep into the main story without completing contracts in Velen, some NPC availability may shift. Do it early in your time in Velen to be safe.
• The Werewolf Mutagen is only available from Ending 3. If you choose Ending 2 and want to come back to get the mutagen — you cannot. The decision is permanent once you make it.
• Moon Dust bombs are the most important item to bring. Werewolf regeneration at low health can make the fight unwinnable without one. Craft them before heading to the cave if you do not already have some. Our Monster Trophies guide also covers werewolf-related trophy drops for completionists.
• The Werewolf Trophy — if you kill Niellen through combat (Ending 3), you may receive a Werewolf Trophy in addition to the mutagen. Equip it to Roach’s trophy slot for a passive bonus.
• You can collect the trophy AND protect Margrit. Ending 3 is the best choice on every front — morally questionable outcome for the character who was actually responsible for Hanna’s death, and the most rewarding outcome for you as a player.
• Investigating in daylight is fine. You only need to wait for nightfall once you are inside the cave, not while tracking through the woods. Do the investigation at any time of day.

Wild at Heart in the Context of Velen

Wild at Heart is one of several excellent secondary quests in Velen that tell complete, self-contained stories about the people living in a war-torn land. It connects thematically to the wider Witcher 3 idea that monsters are not always the most dangerous thing in the world — and sometimes the humans around them are.

If you are working through Velen’s quests in order, see our Witcher 3: All Quests in Order guide for the recommended sequence. For the full time estimate including all DLC, our How Long to Beat guide covers everything. And for fast travel in and out of Velen, our Fast Travel guide explains every method available in the Remastered version.

Frequently Asked Questions