What Rune and Meteorite combinations offer me the most effective blades?

Question

So, I've just reached Chapter 4 in The Witcher (playing the Enhanced Edition if that matters), with a melee-focused build for Geralt, and I'm getting to the point where my options for weapons really open up.

Specifically, I now have enough Red and Blue Meteorite pieces to put together just about any combination of those two, along with one Yellow Meteorite, and my current steel sword is Harvall, and I have an Illegal Sword in the bank. The Blacksmiths son in Murky Waters is offering Gwalhir for sale as well. (I can easily afford it if I go that route.)

For Silver, I used my first three runes to make a Rune Sword, with 2 Earth and one Sun rune. I now have several of all three runes.

What Rune and Meteorite combinations are going to offer me the most effective blades for upcoming encounters, or is there some other sword I should be chasing while ignoring Runes/Meteorites? (Alternately, is it possible to use the Meteorite pieces to enhance an existing sword like Harvall? Because that would be incredible.)

Answer 1

Gwalhir is one of the best (if not the best) steel swords in the Enhanced Edition, so if you can buy that it will last to the end of the game.

You also get a very nice Silver sword at the very end of chapter 4. Both of these swords are much better than even the best crafted swords, but since you can't do anything else with those runes, you might as well craft a silver sword to use during chapter 4. You can find a list of all of them here: Rune Swords

Personally, I like one Moon + two Earth runes for a mix of extra damage, knockdown, and sensitivity to silver.

Answer 2

Pertaining to a previous comment:

"Personally, I like one Moon + two Earth runes for a mix of extra damage, knockdown, and sensitivity to silver,"

Don't you mean 2x Moon Rune + 1x Earth Rune? This would yield +75% knockdown, +15% overall damage, and +30% silver sensitivity, where 2x Earth Rune + 1x Moon rune would yield a blade with 15% less sensitivity.

Conversely, it is my firm belief that the latter rune combination is more effective than the 3x Moon Rune sword, although not as "pretty."

Although this sword would be effective throughout Chapter 4, it is not really a make-or-break moment in your attempts to slaughter monsters. At the end of the chapter you get this sword from the Lady of the Lake:

Aerondight
Damage + 60% Attack + 10% * Chance of critical effect: Pain + 50% * Chance of critical effect: Blinding + 50% * Chance of critical effect: Incineration + 50% * Chance of critical effect: Precise hit + 50%

This is clearly not even comparable to any rune combination sword.

Answer 3

There are several swords you can find, which are better than meteorite swords.

The best swords you get from meteorites/runes is when you use 3 equal meteorites/runes.

According to the Witcher-wikia the Gwalhir is a pretty nice sword you can buy from the blacksmith's son in your current chapter. (and it is better than the meteorite swords)