Witcher 3 DLC Order Ranked: Which Expansions Deliver the Most Payoff

CD Projekt Red has made playing The Witcher 3’s expansions easier than ever, and now the question is not whether you should buy them, but when you should play them. Both Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are free for anyone who owns the base game, and the company recently announced that the upcoming Songs of the Past expansion will not follow the same path. The catch? There is a recommended order, and skipping it could spoil the ending of the main story.

Free DLC Plan

At Gamescom in August 2026, CD Projekt Red confirmed that both Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are now included with the base game at no extra cost. Anyone who owns The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt can access both expansions without a separate purchase. The remastered version, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered, released on September 29, 2026, also includes both DLCs as part of the package and costs $49.99.

The third expansion, Songs of the Past, was announced for a 2027 release. It will not be free when it arrives, though no price has been set yet.

Playing Hearts of Stone First

The two expansions were released in a specific order. Hearts of Stone came out in October 2015, sending Geralt into the wilds of No Man’s Land to complete a contract for the Man of Glass. Blood and Wine followed in May 2016, with Geralt visiting Toussaint to uncover its bloody secrets. That double release history has shaped how fans approach the content.

The official recommendation is to play the expansions in release order. That means finishing the main campaign first, then moving on to Hearts of Stone, and finally Blood and Wine. The reasoning is straightforward: the main story sets up the world, and playing them out of sequence risks spoiling key plot points.

But there is wiggle room. You can jump into Hearts of Stone ahead of the main campaign without major story confusion. Some players choose to play it first to break up the long stretch of the base game. The order is flexible, but the advice holds: save Blood and Wine until last.

Why Wait on Blood and Wine

Blood and Wine is the largest expansion by design. It runs double the length of Hearts of Stone, and it is built as post-game content. That means you should not touch it until after you have finished the main campaign and any side quests you want to see.

Completing Blood and Wine any earlier than that can reveal massive narrative spoilers for the main story. The expansion picks up threads from the campaign’s ending, so starting it too soon would undercut the payoff of the entire adventure.

There is also a practical reason to wait. Blood and Wine assumes you have reached end-game stats. Geralt should be comfortable completing this DLC once he reaches level 40, so waiting until after the main campaign lets you level up naturally without rushing.

The Order To Play Witcher 3 DLC

Here is the recommended sequence, with the timing each expansion was released:

1. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (main campaign)
2. Hearts of Stone (October 2015)
3. Blood and Wine (May 2016)

The order respects the timeline of the story and avoids spoilers. It also lets you enjoy the shorter, standalone Hearts of Stone first, before committing to the longer journey to Toussaint.

What Players Should Know

The takeaway is simple: the expansions are free, the remastered version exists, and the order matters if you care about spoilers. You can play Hearts of Stone first if you want, but Blood and Wine should be the last thing you do.

For anyone still holding back on The Witcher 3, the barrier is gone. The base game, both expansions, and the remastered version are all available, and the expansions are free to anyone who already owns the game. The only remaining question is when you want to start.

The answer, if you want to avoid spoilers, is to finish the main campaign first.

See the video the story is built around at Screen Rant.

DLC · expansion order · free content · game spoilers · Witcher 3