The Witcher 3: The King is Dead - Long Live the King walkthrough

The King is Dead - Long Live the King introduces the state of politics on Skellige, but The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is filled with warm human moments and you'll get one of those, too. In this quest, you'll be spending plenty of time with Yennefer as you attend the king's wake, but trouble is never too far when Geralt is involved.

If you need a helping hand keeping it together during the wake and ensuring Yennefer's happiness, here's how to complete The King is Dead - Long Live the King quest in The Witcher 3.

The Witcher 3: The King is Dead - Long Live the King walkthrough

The first thing you should do for The King is Dead - Long Live the King in The Witcher 3 is make your way to Yennefer's room in Kaer Trolde Harbor, if you haven't already.

In Yennefer’s room, you can rifle through her things if you like. Your goal is the chest in a corner, where you can grab some clothes. Yennefer doesn’t seem to like either of them much, and prefers your black and white Nilfgaardian outfit if you have it still, but she won’t scold you as long as you've made an effort. So, get changed before following your HorsePS. Take Roach; it’s a much longer trip than it looks.

Following your journey, remember you’re supposed to be being diplomatic and not drink as you chat. Accept the challenge to race Cerys if you like; it’s not hard to beat her as long as you haven’t changed back into heavy armour.

When you’re allowed up, you can walk around and chat to various parties. Speak to Bran’s widow and you can again decide whether to drink or not. Speak to the pair standing in a window alcove and you can have your future read and again choose whether to drink or not. Finally, at the door on the way to your waypoint, you’ll meet two arguing jarls. If you are anything but conciliatory you end up in a brawl, but nobody tries to get you drunk.

Turns out Yennefer has an ulterior motive, and still treats Geralt pretty poorly, keeping him in the dark. Still, you share a cute moment as you progress, while you listen to two guards discussing very important matters.

When you reach the locked door, follow Yennefer out the window – notice she doesn’t bruise her hands clambering over cold stonework – and then back inside. Wander around examining the animals before heading for the door.

Defend yourself from the attack; don’t worry, they’re not as scary as the red icons suggest. When you’ve recovered, proceed into the next room. You can look at everything, but make sure to grab the mead before examining the statue at the end with the hidden door and map. The correct item to place there is a mug of mead, but you can also try the skull and pinecone if you fancy.

Before you proceed through the door, you may want to save and apply Elemental Oil to your silver sword. Head into the secret chamber and battle the Earth Elemental there. It’s not so different from the Gargoyles and Golems you’ve fought before; use Quen so that its attacks bounce back at it, use Yrden to make it easier to dodge, and don’t attack when it is hunched up in defensive mode. Yennefer will distract it admirably, allowing you to hit it with heavy strikes from behind.

After the battle, gas starts filling the room. Run around until Geralt and Yennefer panic and decide to teleport out. You have a limited amount of time to choose a response to help her target the spell.

SPOILER ALERT: Skip past the italics if you don’t want to know the outcome of this choice.

• If you choose “choke and die” you end up back at the wake.
• If you choose “kiss”, you end up back in Yennefer’s room. From here, you can elect to hurry back, or choose the other option for a romantic (?) interlude.

In either case, you eventually end up back at the wake as the claimants to the throne step forth in a pretty dramatic scene.

Afterwards, you chat with Crach – oh yeah, I knew this quest had a point – and pick up three more quests, including our next stop: Echoes of the Past.

For more help on your journey, here's our The Witcher 3 guide and walkthrough, as well as our Hearts of Stone walkthrough, and Blood and Wine walkthrough. These pages contain tips and guides to help you throughout your adventure as Geralt of Rivia.