Combat Skills (Abilities)

Combat Skills/Talents are one of the 4 Skill Trees in the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. These abilities increase your offensive, defensive and crossbow skills. There are 5 branches to this Skill Tree. Each branch has 4 skills and each skill has several ranks, leading to a wide variety of possible builds. You will have access to all Tier 1 Skills from the start of the game, but to be able to get put points into the Tier 2 Combat Skills you will need to spend 8 points in this branch. 20 points will unlock the Tier 3 skills and 30 points will unlock the final Tier.

Combat Skills

Fast Attack

Preform fast melee attacks with either sword

Muscle Memory

Fast attack damage increase by 5%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Precise Blows

Increases chance of landing a fast attack critical hit by 2% and fast attack critical hit damage by 15%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Whirl

Spinning attack that strikes all foes in the surrounding area. Maintaining the attack consumes Stamina and Adrenaline. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Crippling Strikes

Fast attacks now also apply a Bleeding effect. Affected enemies lose 25 Vitality or Essence points per second. Duration: 5 seconds. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Strong Attack

Allows you to perform strong melee attacks which ignores enemy armor

Strength Training

Strong attack damage increase by 5%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Crushing Blows

Increases chance of landing a strong attack critical hit by 2% and strong attack critical hit damage by 15%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Rend

Deals additional damage in proportion to the Stamina consumed. Ignores enemy Defense and increases critical hit chance by 10%. Adrenaline Points increase total damage by 100%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Sunder Armor

Reduces enemy damage resistance by 5%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Defense

Wolf School defense techniques

Arrow Deflection

Deflect arrows while parrying. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Fleet Footed

Damage from hits received while dodging is reduced by 20%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Counterattack

After a successful counterattack, the next attack deals +30% per skill level. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Deadly Precision

Every Adrenaline Point adds 1% to the chance of killing an opponent instantly. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Marksmanship

Allows you to wield a light hand-held crossbow

Lightning Reflexes

Time slowed by an additional 15% while aiming the crossbow. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Cold Blood

Each bolt that hits its target adds 0.04 Adrenaline Points. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Anatomical Knowledge

Increases crossbow critical hit chance by +5%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Crippling Shot

Critical hits dealt with the crossbow disable monster special abilities for 5 seconds. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Battle Trance

Blows landed during combat generate Adrenaline Points. Each Adrenaline Point increases weapon damage by 10%.

Resolve

Adrenaline Point loss upon taking damage is lowered by 20%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Undying

When Vitality reaches 0, Adrenaline Points (if available) will be consumed to restore Vitality. The amount restored is based on the number of Adrenaline Points used. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Razor Focus

Instantly gain 1 Adrenaline Point when entering combat. The Adrenaline Points generated by Sword blows are increased by 5%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%

Flood of Anger

When casting a Sign, 3 Adrenaline Points (if available) will be consumed to upgrade the Sign to the highest level (unlocking all bonuses) and increases Sign intensity by 25%. Adrenaline Point gain: +1%