One of the best games of the generation deserves one of the best combat experiences of the generation!

In the books pirouettes, half turns, and lightning-quick reflexes are all portrayed with clinical precision and a sense of urgency.  

In the show, the action is intense and blunt. Dramatic and over before you notice. 

In the game, you unlock whirl and press-X your way into a state of lethargy.

The Witcher 3 is a magnificent game, and I love nearly every aspect of it. Nearly.

The game is crafted with love and care, the story is fantastic, the world is detailed, the combat system, however… Well, it’s not great. 

I know that’s not the most original of observations.

The underwhelming nature of the combat system is the one thing all reviewers seem to agree on, from big game journalism sites to your weird friend that thinks a game quality is measured by how much it resembles Dark Souls (we all know it’s hard Dave, nobody cares).

Whatever the reason for this might have been, the fact remains that in a game about a genetically mutated warrior (or middle-aged-mutant-ninja-person as I like to call him) the combat should serve to enhance the immersion, instead of undercutting it. 

Luckily, with the help of these 15 mods, the game’s combat will soon be as good as everything else in this extraordinary game (yes, even as good as Dark Souls’, DAVE). 

15. The Debug Console

Cheat codes are back and they're here to stay!

Before you get mad at me for starting a list of mods with a straight-up not-a-mod, you should consider that for some people, the debug console can only be accessed with a mod’s help. So you know, chew on that for a minute.

The Debug Console (coupled with a list of commands) is great for just toying around with the combat system. 

Do you want extra XP? a companion? a legendary item? EVERY ITEM IN THE GAME?

The debug console can do all of this and more. And if a little bit of dumb fun is what you’re after, then why not try this before installing a bunch of cumbersome mods?  

Why The Debug Console Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Great for balancing out smaller injustices in the game. 
• It allows you to switch to Ciri, and play using her spacetime warping powers. 
• Don’t install a god-mode mod when you can just input the command.

Enable the Debug console: https://commands.gg/witcher3/blog/enable-console 

14. Friendly HUD

Much better than the "passive-aggressive HUD" mod.

Now, getting in the thick of it with actual mods, let’s start with mods that might not be too flashy, but they make a serious difference for the overall experience.

Friendly HUD is one of such mods. Allowing you to customize and change the HUD to better fit your playstyle.

Do you hate going back to the menu and pausing the action to equip an oil or a potion?

Would you rather the HUD be as minimal as possible so you can properly immerse yourself in the combat?

Friendly HUD makes a big difference when it comes to playing the game that you want to play.       

Why Friendly HUD Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• You can diminish the immersion-breaking pauses for combat.
• You can equip potions, bombs, and oils quickly and without much hassle.
• The more comfortable a game’s interface is, the more you’ll enjoy your experience. 

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/365 

13. Remove Weapon and Armor Level Restrictions

First-class armor at first level.

Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before: you just finished an emotionally charged quest, you return to Jorgen Vaguelyscandinaviansoundingname’s location to celebrate your victory, and as payment, you receive a sword that’s unusable for the next ten levels. 

The sword will also be obsolete as soon as you can use it. 

I understand the point of having level restrictions for items in the game, I really do. But when those restrictions are arbitrary and unbalanced, it takes the sense of triumph out of completing a quest or a contract.

I can’t tell you how many weapons I didn’t use throughout the game for this exact reason. Thankfully, this mod allows you to use every item at any level. 

Now, whenever you get an awesome piece of armor or weaponry, you also get to use it. What a concept!

Why Remove Weapon and Armor Level Restrictions Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Let’s you experiment and play with a huge variety of items.
• You get to enjoy the fruits of your work instead of just stashing items for half the game.

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/350 

12. No Fall Damage

Who's afraid of heights?

You will be doing a lot of turning and dodging thought the game, and as you do, you might happen upon a cliff or two.

Accidents happen, right? The issue is that whenever you trip over the smallest obstacle, you hit the ground with the force of a 185-pound man in full armor accelerating at 21 miles per...

Now that I write it out loud it does kinda make sense for Geralt to receive that falling damage. 

Still, it’s frustrating as hell, and it feels like a huge injustice when you can fight off an entire army of enemies but can’t survive a small misstep.

Why No Fall Damage Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• No more deaths over a small accident.
• You get to parkour around Novigrad like an Assassin (I wonder what Geralt thinks of them?).
• Fast travel? Try traveling faster than gravity.

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/352 

11. Better Trophies

Is that a Griffin in your saddle or are you just happy to see me?

Fighting monsters is so much more fun than fighting boring-ol’-humans. 

Each monster forces you to think on your feet, examine its weak points, and actually engage with the combat.

Contracts are a beautiful example of this. The bosses bring new and exciting challenges to the table, and defeating them feels like…

Well, it feels like a 10% increase in gold, or like an added 15% chance of tickling on a critical hit. 

The trophy bonuses can be disappointing. They don’t do much, they don’t sell for much, and two completely different monsters give you the same perk.

Luckily, someone took the time to create a mod that completely changes the trophy system. This mod gives a unique perk to every trophy in the game, based on the monster’s lore and information. 

Believe me, fighting things is a lot more fun when you know you’re going to get a proper reward if you win.

Like the reward of Dave shutting up about Dark Souls once I kick his ass.   

Why Better Trophies Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Incentives are everything. This mod will give you the proper ones.
• The Trophies are fun and interesting, and giving them up will become a difficult choice.

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/1006 

10. Improved Sign effects

It's a great party trick too!

Strategically speaking, a signs-heavy build might not be the best bet in the game. Speaking like someone that likes to have fun: signs are awesome, Quen goes brrr.

They might not do much at lower levels. But it is so much more interesting to fight your opponents using fire magic, mind control, and spell-traps than it is pressing X and hoping someone dies.

Improved sign effects is a purely graphical mod. It has one function, and that function is to make signs look cool.

This might not sound like much, but it adds an unbelievable gravity to your sign uses in combat.

Why Improved Sign effects Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Makes the combat look epic.
• When signs are fun to use, it encourages strategic sign-play. 

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/995 

9. Ultra Gore 2 - A Dismemberment Mod

Look ma'! No hands!

If there’s one thing to be said about fighting humans, it’s that the finishers make you feel like an absolute legend.

I’d make a joke here about Geralt “finishing” people, but I’m better than that.

Whenever the camera goes slow motion on the last-standing enemy, you know you’re in for a treat, as Geralt slices-and-dices limbs from whatever poor bastard that tried to stand in a Witcher’s way.

And it’s just as fun when it happens again three or four hours after that. 

The dismemberment system is a tremendously fun mechanic, which makes it all the more puzzling that it’s used so sparingly.

Some might say less is more. I say: Ultra Gore 2 is more, more heart-pounding, blood-splashing, limb-tearing action. 

If you want to play Zack Snyder’s The Witcher 3, this is the mod you need.

Why Ultra Gore 2 - A Dismemberment Mod Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Extra dismemberment. That’s fun. It’s not rocket science. 
• That’s literally it. Gore is fun. 
• Go to the next entry! We’re done here.
• You can manually adjust the chance of dismemberment. 

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/519 

8. Sword FX

Pretty and deadly! Like a magical Tide Pod.

I’m no expert. But in my humble opinion, swinging a sword around is more fun when the sword flashes pretty colors as you wing it.

That’s what this mod does. So simple and yet such a huge difference. 

Sword FX gives you a great variety of visual effects for your swords. So you can cut some monsters with style.

Why Sword FX Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• If the sword looks pretty whenever you swing it around, you’ll want to swing it around more.
• There’s a huge variety, and a high degree of customizability so you can adjust the effect to your preference. 

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/1529 

7. Crossbow Damage Boost and Balance

You're supposed to use the crossbow? 

If you have ever updated the crossbow in TW3, I have a question: why?

The crossbow gets introduced as this exciting new mechanic at the start of the game, and then becomes that thing that kills drowners underwater. 

The game has many different crossbows for you to craft or buy, but they all seem to do just about the same thing.  

It’s a shame, too. The use of different bolts and strategic positioning might have been a very exciting dynamic, but you are never given enough encouragement to consider the crossbow a serious option in combat.

That’s exactly why this mod exists. Thanks to it, using the crossbow becomes not only a viable option but a fun one. 

Why Crossbow Damage Boost and Balance Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Use the crossbow in combat! Now that it isn’t useless.
• By making the crossbow more powerful, the mod will have you thinking of upgrades and different bolts, adding a new layer to the game.
• The Crossbow becomes more effective, but not overpowered.

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/1126 

6. Better Secondary Weapons

Mjolnir wishes it looked this good.

Steel is for humans, silver is for monsters, and apparently, secondary weapons are for WASTING YOUR DAMN TIME!

Honestly, apart from the Caretaker’s spade, I don’t think there’s a single secondary weapon that’s worth the space it takes from your inventory. 

It’s a real shame, too. The secondary weapons can have interesting visual designs and add some much-needed variety to the game’s combat, but without oils, runes, or enchantments, they pale in comparison to a good sword.

That’s exactly why this is such a great mod. With it, you can treat any secondary weapon in the game just like your average witcher sword. 

If you want to take an ax to the runewright, apply an oil to an iron poker, or rune-up a shovel, you absolutely can. 

Also, if you find a cool-looking but otherwise useless weapon, you can now hang it on the wall at Corvo Bianco. Those are free decorations, baby!

Why Better Secondary Weapons Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Makes fighting with secondary weapons a viable option.
• Other mods by this creator add a bunch of brand-new weapons for you to play around with.
• The amazing design of the secondary weapons doesn’t go to waste.

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/5642

5. Random Encounters

You could still try backing away real slow... 

Maybe your problem isn’t with the game’s combat per se.

Maybe your problem is that there isn’t enough of it. 

Monsters and foes roam the continent, and you should be on your toes ready to fight or die at any moment (as should Dave, as soon as I find him).

That is exactly what this mod is designed to do; keep you on your toes. 

The mod’s highly customizable too. So you can pick which enemies you want to fight and how often you want to fight them.

Why Random Encounters Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Can Increase the difficulty of the game drastically.
• Intensive customization.
• With danger around every corner, you can never be too careful. 

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/785 

4. Magic Spells for Signs and Weapons

For my next trick, I'm going to straight-up kill some guy. 

I firmly believe that there isn’t a single part of life that wouldn’t be better if I could shoot tornadoes out of my hands. 

If I had powerful and forbidden magic, I could always be on time, save the world from evil, and magically move my cubicle away from Dave’s. I could also have a lot more fun with TW3’s combat.

Magic Spells gives the game an entirely new mechanic, by giving you access to myriad different spells.

With this mod, you can turn invisible, shoot lighting, control the weather, and more.

On top of all that, the mod introduces the spells as a part of the game world, meaning that you have to buy, collect, and upgrade them just like you do with swords and armor.

This mod brings more than just flashy fun to the game, it brings an entirely new experience. 

Why Magic Spells for Signs and Weapons Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• The spells look amazing and are fun-as-hell to use.
• The mod makes you work for your spells, instead of handing them to you on a silver platter.
• Spells ad a new dimension to how you approach combat.

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3346 

3. The Enhancement System

Awesome weapon, awful haircut. 

The Enhancement System is an absolute powerhouse of a mod. 

What started as a simple upgrade to the weapon system quickly became a huge mod that refines all RPG aspects of the game.

This mod changes a bunch of stuff to the game, from the functionality of relic swords to the amount of loot you get from flower-picking.  

Why The Enhancement System Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Huge upgrade to a bunch of different weapons.
• Changes systems of combat, looting, and crafting.
• The mod goes far and beyond combat. Giving the entire game a more RPG-like vibe.

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/1112 

2. Witcher 3 - Enhanced Edition

Enhanced is the name of the game baby.

Why is The Witcher 3’s combat the way it is? 

The systems are solid enough, they aren’t unfair or broken, so where is all this hate coming from?

The gripe most people seem to have is that the combat is very basic. 

If you played Assasins of Kings you’ll know that that isn’t the way it’s always been. The previous games in the saga had a ton of complicated mechanics for combat, which forced you to think carefully about any fight before you got into it. 

That wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea. In fact, the combat in TW3 was simplified precisely so it wouldn’t deter a larger audience. 

It makes sense when you think about it, still, was TW2’s combat endlessly frustrating? Yes. Was it engaging? Hell yes.

The Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition gives the whole game a huge overhaul, making it more like the previous games in the saga.

The mod changes every facet of the game, including combat, and it makes the whole thing a lot more engaging, and a lot more difficult. 

A quick word of warning: this mod does not mix well with other mods, at all.

Why Witcher 3 - Enhanced Edition Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• Every mechanic is redone and carefully tested.
• The combat becomes a lot more complicated, and the mod forces you to engage in every mechanic if you want to survive.
• Enhanced edition drastically changes the game outside of combat too, making every system work in harmony. 

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3522 

1. Better Combat Enhanced

Combat tweaked for the knowledgeable gamer.

Better Combat Enhanced is a mod with a name as vague as it is self-explanatory.

This mod isn’t a huge overhaul of everything in the game, it isn’t exclusive to other mods, and it isn’t a superficial modification.

This mod is a careful and in-depth modification to the combat in the game, making it a more rewarding experience all around.

The mod adds new animations, techniques, and new elements to combat. It doesn’t turn the game into a different one, just a better one.  

The mod removes the simpler solutions that you might find in the base game. With Better Combat Enhanced, Quen isn’t the magic cure to everything, you can’t just mash buttons and hope for the best, and Yrden is now an almost-kinda-decent sign to use. 

Why Better Combat Enhanced Is Great For Making Combat Fun:

• The mod preserves the soul of the game, whilst improving combat in nearly every way.
• Every system built around combat is now more balanced and carefully crafted.
• An absolute must-have if you want the weight of the story to match the difficulty of the game.

Download Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/212 

A great game deserves to have its players be active, focused, and engaged. Now, thanks to these 15 mods, you will never lose interest during the combat sections, and you’ll never get too confident.

Speaking of confidence, I have some Judo classes to attend, and after I “mod” these fists, and “enhance” these muscles, I will never have to hear another word about how amazing Dark Souls is. 

Best of luck on your path, and if you’d kindly tell Dave that I’m looking for him, I would very much appreciate it. I just wanna talk...

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