The Witcher 3 Remastered Transmog Guide for 2026

Latest Update: September 29, 2026 – Categories: The Witcher 3

Transmog is finally coming to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunter Remastered, and here’s exactly how it works, how to unlock it early, and what you need to do with your save before upgrading to the Remastered version.

More Witcher 3 Remastered

The Witcher 3 Remastered Transmog Summary

The Witcher 3 Remastered transmog system, called Reforge, lets you keep the stats of your best gear while wearing the appearance of any armor or sword you’ve already crafted or looted. Armor transmog unlocks through Yoanna at Crow’s Perch and sword transmog unlocks through Hattori in Novigrad, and both can be reached as early as level two or three if you know the shortest path to each. The system builds a personal catalog from whatever’s sitting in your inventory or stash, which means anything you sold, dismantled, or never picked up in your current save won’t be available until you find or craft it again. If you’re importing a Next-Gen save into Remastered, get your favorite armor and swords into your stash now, because the game wasn’t tracking your loot history before transmog existed.

How the Transmog Catalog Works

Transmog in Remastered runs on a unique catalog system. The game builds your catalog from armor and swords you’ve personally crafted or looted, and only those items become available to use as a transmog skin. This matters most for anyone importing an existing Next-Gen save, since the base game never tracked what you’d looted or sold before transmog was added. If a piece of gear isn’t sitting in your inventory or stash at the moment you import your save into Remastered, it won’t be in your catalog, and you’ll need to find or craft it all over again.

That makes now the right time to go through your current save and stock up before Remastered launches. Anything you can craft on demand, like a full set of Grandmaster witcher gear, is easy enough to remake later, but unique armor and swords that only drop once are a different story. Sets like Tesham Mutna, Viper School gear, Ofieri armor, and Dol Blathanna gear all fall into this category. Their combat stats are mediocre by end game standards, but their appearances are some of the most unique in the game, which makes them ideal Transmog skins if you hang onto them now.

Pro Tip: If you’re planning a New Game Plus run and want to keep a Grandmaster witcher gear look without giving up whatever your NG+ carries over, craft a set and leave it in your stash before you update to Remastered. It’ll be waiting in your catalog the moment you start transmogging.

Starting a brand new save works differently. A fresh character begins with an empty catalog, and every piece of gear you loot or craft from that point forward gets added automatically as you pick it up.

Where to Unlock Transmog

Armor transmog unlocks through the master craftsmen, with Yoanna handling armor after Master Armorers and Hattori handling weapons after Of Swords and Dumplings, rather than from the locations alone. To use the transmog system, you need to unlock these services by visiting and speaking to the smith Yoanna and the blacksmith Hattori through their Reforge menus. Both are existing characters from the base game, not new additions, and both can be unlocked far earlier than most players assume. It’s entirely possible to have both systems available around level two or three, well before you’ve crafted anything worth transmogging in the first place.

Yoanna is the more straightforward of the two, and the master armorer can be found near the Castle Village signpost in Crow’s Perch. Her quest sends you to Undvik in Skellige, which only requires around 1,000 crowns for passage. Once there, you’ll need to kill an ice troll to loot her tools from a nearby cave and take down the local archgriffin. Both fights are manageable underleveled with patience, even if they take a few extra tries.

Hattori’s questline is more of a grind, and one of the master smiths is found in the Novigrad docks area. It sends you running back and forth there multiple times, and it ends in a fight against Cleaver’s dwarves that’s rough if you’re tackling it early. The fight goes smoother if you kite the dwarves toward your allies rather than engaging head on, use Axii to thin the group out, keep Quen active at all times, and lean on strong attacks when you get an opening.

Note: Neither unlock is gated behind a level requirement or a specific point in the main quest, but Lafargue does not offer reforging services. If you’re willing to put in the travel time, you can have both Yoanna and Hattori unlocked before you’ve even started the main storyline.

How the Reforge Menu Works

Once unlocked, transmog runs through a dedicated Reforge menu rather than a simple dropdown in your inventory screen. The menu splits into two panels and separates appearance from the underlying gear stats and effects. The left side shows every item you currently own, sorted into tabs by slot, chest, hands, feet, legs, and so on for armor, or a single tab for swords. The right panel shows the actual transmog slots, one for each armor piece or one for each of your two swords.

Clicking an item in the panel automatically places it into the matching slot on the right, assigning that item’s appearance to whatever piece of gear you’re currently wearing in that slot while retaining its original bonuses. This gives you quick access to different equipment looks without changing performance. You can undo a transmog at any time and revert a piece back to its original appearance, so there’s no risk in experimenting with different combinations before committing. Dyes still work on transmogged armor if you want extra color customization.

The cost isn’t free. Each appearance change costs a small amount of crowns, typically around 100 to 200, and every item you add to Reforge raises the total Crowns cost, so a full six-piece armor transmog will cost noticeably more than swapping the appearance of a single chest piece. CD Projekt Red has stated that the pricing shown at Gamescom was still in development and that the final costs may end up lower than that early estimate, but expect to pay something for every piece you reforge rather than treating it as a completely free system.

Pro Tip: If crowns are tight when Remastered launches, the usual gold farming methods, including selling cow leather from Skellige’s herds, are still your fastest options while the community works out whatever new exploits show up after release.

The Witcher 3 Remastered Explained

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered launches September 29, 2026, across PC and consoles as a free upgrade for existing owners rather than a separate purchase. It builds on the Next-Gen update from 2022, carrying over ray tracing, photo mode, and the alternative character appearance toggles while adding even more changes on top. Transmog arrives alongside updated menus built for faster navigation, a reworked quest tracker, changes to looting, and an expanded photo mode with new poses, camera controls, and filters.

Remastered is built to import existing Next-Gen saves rather than forcing everyone to start over, which is exactly why the transmog catalog only recognizes gear you currently own instead of everything you’ve ever picked up. The game simply never tracked full loot history before Remastered introduced a system that needed it. Anyone planning to carry a save forward should treat that import moment as a one time snapshot of their inventory, not an ongoing sync.

If you’re on the fence about whether to finish your current playthrough before Remastered lands or import mid-save, importing works fine, but it locks in your transmog catalog based on your inventory and stash at that exact moment, so it’s worth doing a quick inventory check first.

The Final Word

Transmog has been one of the most requested features for The Witcher 3 for years, and the Reforge system delivers it! Get your favorite unique armor and swords into your stash before you import your Next-Gen save, make the trip to Crow’s Perch and Novigrad early if you want the option available from the start, and start building your catalog the moment Remastered is in your hands to create a look that keeps Geralt’s visual identity consistent while you still optimize gear.

The Witcher 3 Remastered Transmog FAQ

1. What do I need to do before importing my Next-Gen save?

Make sure any unique or hard-to-find armor and swords you want to transmog later are sitting in your inventory or stash, since the game only builds your catalog from gear you currently own at the time of import.

2. Where do I unlock armor and sword transmog?

Armor transmog unlocks through Yoanna at Crow’s Perch, and sword transmog unlocks through Hattori’s questline in Novigrad.

3. Can I unlock transmog early in a new playthrough?

Yes, both Yoanna and Hattori can realistically be unlocked around level two or three, well before the main quest requires you to visit either location.

4. Does transmog cost anything to use?

Yes, the Reforge menu charges crowns for every item you add to the process, though CD Projekt Red has said the final pricing will be less expensive than what was shown at Gamescom; for example, a full set usually totals about 1,000 to 1,200 Crowns.