Being a witcher is hard work that almost doesn’t pay for Geralt, especially in the books. In the games, he’s a filthy rich vineyard owner but for those who want to stay true to Geralt’s plight as a professional monster slayer, they’ll have to take note of how thrifty he has to be when it comes to his equipment and weapons.

That means taking note of the most essential crafting components for his swords, armor, and other gear. As it is, there are tons of these crafting components and some are rare to find and expensive to buy. So, in order to be the more self-sufficient witcher that he should be in the lore, Geralt needs to prioritize having these ten crafting components.

10 SILK

Much like in real-life, silk is in high-demand due to being the premiere fabric material. Geralt thankfully comes across silk often during his standard peasant cupboard or cabinet raids in the outskirts of some destitute town.

Silk can be used to craft most of the armor pieces Geralt needs from base versions of witcher school gear up to their legendary counterparts to even non-witcher armor. Of course, stockpiling on Silk is a must since it’s a conventional component.

9 LEATHER STRAPS

Another conventional armor component would be the leather straps which are refined and can be made into leather scraps which are then made into cured leather for some armor pieces. It’s also a base component for crafting witcher gear.

Geralt doesn’t even need to buy these pieces from merchants—it’s as ubiquitous as silk and is easily found in storage. Beyond that, dismantling some old and unneeded equipment is also a good way to recuperate some leather straps.

8 MONSTER BLOOD

Monster blood seems like a weird component for crafting and looks more like an alchemy ingredient but surprisingly, Geralt uses it for gear. It’s most notably needed for crafting some unique swords and a glyph.

However, the most notable use for it is for crafting higher-level armor, such as the enhanced, legendary, or grandmaster versions of witcher gear. If monsters don’t drop this one outright, then Geralt can easily dismantle common monster organs like Drowner brains to obtain it.

7 MONSTER BRAIN

Speaking of brains, monster brain is also another weird component that Geralt needs for his witchering stuff. It’s needed for weapons and some runestones. Trousers and other armor parts for the witcher gear also require this one icky component.

It seems to be rarer than monster blood and is only obtained from fewer monster body parts but dismantling Drowner brains could also yield this generic-sounding component. Geralt surely will have plenty of those lying around.

6 MONSTER TONGUE

If players thought brains and blood for crafting armor are weird, then here’s the monster tongue. Geralt somehow manages to incorporate the ingredient into his gear and needs it for advanced witcher gear namely enhanced, mastercrafted, superior, grandmaster, and legendary stages.

Thankfully, cutting up monster carcasses and pulling out their tongues like a savage is something Geralt can easily do to poor drowners. The monster tongue is obtainable by dismantling Drowner tongues.

5 DARK IRON ORE

Dark iron ore, not to be confused with the regular iron ore, is a master-tier crafting component Geralt needs for some of the beefier-looking armors in-game. It’s required for some pieces of witcher gear, Toussaint knight armors, and some runes or crossbow bolts.

Much like silk and leather scraps, it’s not that hard to come by dark iron ore. However, being less common than regular iron ore, some players might have to resort to dismantling older gear to obtain it. The reason it’s more useful than regular iron ore is that it gives access to better witcher gear.

4 MONSTER ESSENCE

Here’s a tougher component to crack. Monster essence sounds like any monster DNA but its more complex than that. Geralt can only obtain this from dismantling the essences of ten specific monsters or any monster “essence.”

Monster essence does sound like a rarer component but that’s only because it’s required for the best kind of witcher gear. Enhanced, superior, grandmaster, or legendary stages of crafting require this one though the base versions of Griffin or Feline armor also need it.

3 MONSTER CLAW

Turns out monster claws are rarer than monster essences. This relic-tier crafting component can only be obtained by dismantling some alghoul or nekker claws or some harpy talons or wyvern eggs. Those are rare enough.

Even so, it’s needed for some quite a lot of items like some beautiful unique swords or grandmaster, legendary, mastercrafted, superior, and enhanced witcher gear. This is where Geralt will need to do some real grinding to get what he wants.

2 POWDERED MONSTER TISSUE

Since grinding is mentioned, ground monster stuff or powdered monster tissue is yet again another elusive item on Geralt’s shopping list. Geralt can only obtain these from dismantling gargoyle parts, griffin feathers, or Shaelmaar and specter dusts.

As it is, Geralt doesn’t get to encounter those monsters often. Still, powdered monster tissue is a necessity for infused dust, a couple of awesome unique swords, a runestone, and of course the shiniest versions of witcher gear.

1 ARMOR DYES

Now that components for making armor and weapons are all covered, it’s time to turn the attention to… fashion. Changing the colors of final versions of witcher gear is fun and rewarding though it requires a scarce ingredient: dye.

These dyes of any color can only be finitely bought from merchants (they restock) or looted from some rare treasures and even then, they might not contain full sets for all armor pieces. It’s a great way to spend Geralt’s non-canon riches to make him canonically poor again.

NEXT: The Witcher 3: 5 Difficult Decisions To Make During Ladies Of The Wood Quest (& 5 That Are Easy)