brothers in arms is one of those The Witcher 3 questions where the accepted answer is nearly right and the gap matters.

Short answer

In most cases the straightforward approach works. The exceptions are specific and listed below.

The mechanic behind it is simpler than the discussion around it suggests. The accepted community answer is broadly right and wrong in a specific way that matters here. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.

When the usual advice fails

Most of the disagreement online comes from people describing different versions of The Witcher 3. Testing this yourself takes a few minutes and settles it definitively. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. Edge cases are genuinely rare, which is why the simple answer is usually the correct one.

It is worth separating what the game does from what players have concluded it does. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. Nothing here depends on a setting you are unlikely to have.

The practical answer

Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. Everything below is framed around the current state of The Witcher 3 rather than a launch-week impression. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it.

  • Do not build a routine around an edge case.
  • Note the exception cases — they are specific rather than vague.
  • Stop and reassess after two failed attempts rather than repeating the third.
  • Revisit after a major patch if the behaviour changes.

What to do instead

Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about.

Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows.

Why it works this way

None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice.

The Witcher 3 is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on.

Worth knowing alongside this

The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time.

Where people go wrong

  • Trusting a video thumbnail that promises a result the video never actually shows.
  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.
  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.

Witcher 3 FAQ

Does this change between platforms?

The behaviour does not. Where menu paths or prompts differ, that is noted above.

Why do people disagree about this?

Mostly because they are describing different versions. Version drift explains the majority of contradictory advice about The Witcher 3.

Why do other guides describe this differently?

Most were written for an earlier version and never revisited. Compare the steps against what your build actually shows.

How long does this take?

Minutes if it goes cleanly, an evening if you hit the edge case in the caveats list. Neither is unusual.

That is the whole of it — if something here stops matching The Witcher 3, the game changed, not the method.