Monster feathers are a valuable crafting material in The Witcher 3. Players need them to make a lot of the Griffin School and Wolf School gear, but like other monster ingredients they aren't always easy to find.
Fortunately, there are plenty of monsters in The Witcher 3 that will drop monster feathers when Geralt slays them, and many of them respawn whenever Geralt leaves and comes back. There's also a way to get more monster feathers from the items that Geralt could already have, so players might not even need to head out to fight before getting the items they need to craft better witcher gear.
Monsters that Drop Monster Feathers
The best source of monster feathers would have to be harpies and erynias, which are simply more powerful harpies. Both types of monster usually appear in large groups, and so players have a good chance of getting monster feathers off their bodies. Harpies appear all throughout Velen, Skellige, and Toussaint, but the best places to find them are highlands and foothills, places that tower over their surroundings. The single best place to look is probably Eldberg Lighthouse, since harpies will usually spawn in and attack Geralt as soon as he fast-travels to the sign post.
Other sources include just about every monster with feathered wings, such as cockatrices and griffins, but not monsters with bat wings like sirens and most draconids. However, Geralt will sometimes find eggs and special feathers named after the monster that drops them (griffin feathers, harpy feathers, etc.). These don't count as monster feathers for crafting recipes, but luckily there's a way to convert them.
Items That Dismantle into Monster Feathers
Every armorer and blacksmith in The Witcher 3has a "dismantle" option in their shop menu. This lets players turn crafted items back into their components, and it also lets them change crafting materials and alchemy ingredients into other materials. For example, one griffin feather can become two monster feathers and one powdered monster tissue. The list of items that players can dismantle for monster feathers is:
- Erynia Eyes
- Griffin Feathers
- Griffin Eggs
- Harpy Feathers
- Harpy Eggs
Keep in mind that this technique also applies to other generic "monster" items like eggs, blood, claws, hair, and essence. So if players find themselves short on materials when crafting witcher gear or other items, they should switch over to the Dismantle menu and see if their monster items can make up the difference.
The Witcher 3 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.