Every Witcher School That's Actually Canon | Screen Rant
With CD Projekt Red's recent teaser for The Witcher's next installment and subsequent confirmation of the School of the Lynx as canon, there are now a total of eight Witcher Schools in the series' continuity. Although the existence of all of these schools is confirmed, there are varying levels of information available about each of them, with some of them only being known because of pieces of equipment available in The Witcher 3. Throughout the course of The Witcher 3, it is possible for Geralt to encounter some of his fellow Witchers from some of the other schools, such as Letho of Gullet from the school of the Viper, or Gaetan from The Witcher 3's school of the Cat.
Fans of the games or the books will likely be familiar with the school of the Wolf, the Witcher school in which protagonist Geralt of Rivia was raised and trained. The various Witcher schools all specialize in monster slaying, but they are further distinguished by their methods, as represented by The Witcher 3's armor sets offering different bonuses suited to certain playstyles. Players that collect all of the schematics for a set of armor can craft something which will allow them to highly specialize their Geralt's build when combined with the right mix of perks and decoctions, such as The Witcher 3's Viper assassin build.
In Addition to the School of the Wolf, most of the other known schools have an armor and sword set that features in The Witcher 3, such as the School of the Cat, the School of the Bear, and the School of the Griffin, which can all be crafted by following a series of quests to collect their associated diagrams. The Viper school, meanwhile, only has a pair of swords which can be obtained early on in the game's starting area. The Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine DLC packs introduced players to the School of the Viper and the School of the Manticore armor sets respectively, whilst Hearts of Stone also introduced the Viper Venomous swords to The Witcher 3.
As well as the Witcher schools portrayed in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, there is also known to exist the School of the Crane, which was included in one of the stories from the book Tales of the world of The Witcher, which was originally published in 2013. In addition to these schools, the newly announced School of the Lynx takes the grand total of canon schools to eight, although of these it is unclear how many of them are still operating, with most of them having been disbanded or wiped out by the time The Witcher 3's story takes place. The Witcher's School of the Lynx started as fan fiction, but it's unlikely that CDPR will take any cues from fan material in its next installment.
By the end of The Witcher 3, It is confirmed that the schools of the Wolf, Griffin, Viper, Bear, and Manticore are all either disbanded or extinct, whilst the status of the Cat school remains unknown, as it's possible for Geralt to spare at least one such Witcher in the events of the game. It's unclear when exactly the next game in The Witcher series will be set, but if it takes place after The Witcher 3, it would be unlikely for players to see any of these schools return beyond gear drops or mentions by NPCs and textbooks.