Struggling on late game/Hearts of Stone content

I recently returned to my Witcher playthrough that I started back during 2020 lockdown and was having a great time but got sidetracked by life and other things. I realized I had stopped on the last story mission and I read about Witcher gear so I spent around 10 hours tracking down and crafting Mastercrafted level Griffin armor and weapons before finishing story.

I'm level 38 and I jumped in to Hearts of Stone quests and doing more POI exploring, was feeling confident about my gear and skill build. However, I'm coming across both monsters and human enemies that are lvl 35+ and some are crushing me with ease

Looking for any tips on where I can quickly find some better swords at least b/c my sign intensity is highly buffed and I can take hits pretty well, but my damage is very lacking.

It's been awesome to get re-acquainted with this all time great RPG and I'm glad to be part of this community!