The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Skills
Witcher abilities, signs and mutations. Progression spends ability points on four branches: the five signs (each with upgrades and an alternate casting mode), the red combat tree of fast and strong attack techniques, the green alchemy tree of potions, oils and bombs, and a general tree of survival p...
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of 35 entries
· updated 2026-09-15
| Name | Type | Description | Tree | Cost | Prerequisite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aard | Sign | A telekinetic blast that staggers, knocks down or interrupts whatever is in front of Geralt. | Signs | 1 ability point | None |
| Far-Reaching Aard | Sign Upgrade | Extends Aard's range and widens the cone, so a single cast can stagger a whole group instead of one target. | Signs | 1-5 ability points | Aard |
| Shock Wave | Sign Upgrade | Adds a damage component to Aard's knockback so that grounded enemies take a burst of impact damage when the blast lands. | Signs | 1-5 ability points | Aard |
| Igni | Sign | A cone of fire that ignites enemies and applies burning damage over time. | Signs | 1 ability point | None |
| Melt Armor | Sign Upgrade | Makes Igni burn away a portion of the target's armour rating, which raises the damage of every following sword hit. | Signs | 1-5 ability points | Igni |
| Quen | Sign | A protective shield that absorbs one hit completely and then breaks, or reflects part of the damage if it is upgraded. | Signs | 1 ability point | None |
| Exploding Shield | Sign Upgrade | Turns a broken Quen shield into a knockback burst that also throws back nearby enemies. | Signs | 1-5 ability points | Quen |
| Yrden | Sign | A magical trap placed on the ground that slows anything crossing it and forces spectral enemies into physical form. | Signs | 1 ability point | None |
| Magic Trap | Sign Upgrade | Converts Yrden into a hovering glyph that fires bolts at anything within range and counts as a trap for the purpose of binding spectres. | Signs | 1-5 ability points | Yrden |
| Axii | Sign | A mind-sign that stuns a single target and, outside combat, unlocks extra dialogue options and calms frightened animals. | Signs | 1 ability point | None |
| Delusion | Sign Upgrade | Raises Axii's effectiveness in conversation, adding a new dialogue option in a large number of quests that avoids fights or extracts information. | Signs | 1-3 ability points | Axii |
| Muscle Memory | Combat Ability | The core fast-attack damage passive. Every point adds a percentage to fast attack damage, which is the attack most builds spend the fight spamming, and it sits at the top of the red tree for that reason. | Combat | 1-5 ability points | None |
| Precise Blows | Combat Ability | Adds critical hit chance to fast attacks, stacking with Feline gear and sword runestones. | Combat | 1-5 ability points | Muscle Memory |
| Whirl | Combat Ability | Turns the fast attack into a continuous spinning cut that hits everything in a circle while stamina holds out. | Combat | 1-3 ability points | Muscle Memory |
| Strength Training | Combat Ability | The strong-attack equivalent of Muscle Memory, adding percentage damage to heavy swings. | Combat | 1-5 ability points | None |
| Rend | Combat Ability | A charged heavy attack that ignores part of the target's armour and can be held to increase its damage. | Combat | 1-3 ability points | Strength Training |
| Cleave | Combat Ability | Makes strong attacks hit every enemy in a wide arc instead of one, at the cost of the extra time each swing takes. | Combat | 1-3 ability points | Strength Training |
| Counterattack | Combat Ability | Turns a successful parry into an immediate counterstrike with bonus damage. | Combat | 1-3 ability points | None |
| Fleet Footed | Combat Ability | Reduces the damage taken while dodging, which quietly changes the whole defensive maths of the game: a dodge that used to be a pure avoidance move becomes a mitigation tool, and it stacks with Quen. | Combat | 1-3 ability points | None |
| Deadly Precision | Combat Ability | Gives every attack a small chance to instantly kill its target. | Combat | 1-3 ability points | Precise Blows |
| Acquired Tolerance | Alchemy Ability | Raises the maximum toxicity Geralt can carry, which is the gate on how many decoctions and potions can run at once. | Alchemy | 1-3 ability points | None |
| Tissue Transmutation | Alchemy Ability | Converts excess toxicity into extra maximum health, so drinking past the safe threshold becomes a trade of vitality for power rather than a penalty. | Alchemy | 1-3 ability points | Acquired Tolerance |
| Synergy | Alchemy Ability | Boosts the effect of mutagens that match the abilities slotted around them, rewarding a build that commits to one colour of ability. | Alchemy | 1-3 ability points | None |
| Frenzy | Alchemy Ability | Slows time briefly whenever Geralt's health drops below a threshold, giving a moment to drink a potion or dodge away. | Alchemy | 1-3 ability points | None |
| Killing Spree | Alchemy Ability | Grants a temporary damage bonus for each enemy killed in quick succession, so it scales with the size of the fight rather than the strength of the enemy. | Alchemy | 1-3 ability points | None |
| Poisoned Blades | Alchemy Ability | Adds a chance for sword hits to poison, with the chance and duration scaling with the ability level. | Alchemy | 1-3 ability points | None |
| School Techniques (Cat, Griffin, Bear, Wolf) | General Ability | Four separate general abilities, each of which boosts a specific armour class: Cat School Techniques rewards light armour with fast attack damage and critical chance, Griffin rewards medium armour with sign intensity and stamina, Bear rewards heavy armour with strong attack damage and health, and Wolf gives a smaller mixed bonus. | General | 1 ability point each | None |
| Rage Management | General Ability | Lets Geralt spend adrenaline points to cast signs when stamina is empty. | General | 1 ability point | None |
| Adrenaline Burst | General Ability | Generates adrenaline at the start of a fight, which feeds both Rage Management and the damage bonus adrenaline gives to sword attacks. | General | 1 ability point | None |
| Euphoria | Mutation | The signature alchemy mutation: every point of toxicity above the safe threshold increases sword damage and sign intensity. | Mutations (Blood and Wine) | Mutation research points | Unlocked through the mutation research tree in Blood and Wine |
| Piercing Cold | Mutation | Gives Aard a chance to freeze enemies solid, which turns the crowd-control sign into a hard disable. | Mutations (Blood and Wine) | Mutation research points | Unlocked through the mutation research tree in Blood and Wine |
| Cat Eyes | Mutation | Rewards crossbow use, raising bolt damage and giving a bonus to the crossbow's utility role. | Mutations (Blood and Wine) | Mutation research points | Unlocked through the mutation research tree in Blood and Wine |
| Second Life | Mutation | Automatically revives Geralt once per fight when his health reaches zero, restoring a share of it and clearing the damage that killed him. | Mutations (Blood and Wine) | Mutation research points | Unlocked through the mutation research tree in Blood and Wine |
| Bloodbath | Mutation | Causes critical hits and kills to inflict bleeding on nearby enemies, so a fast-attack build spreads damage over time simply by fighting normally. | Mutations (Blood and Wine) | Mutation research points | Unlocked through the mutation research tree in Blood and Wine |
| Deadly Counter | Mutation | Turns a successful parry into a much heavier counterattack than the base Counterattack ability, with a chance to instantly kill human enemies. | Mutations (Blood and Wine) | Mutation research points | Unlocked through the mutation research tree in Blood and Wine |
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