Potions | The Witcher 3 Wiki

Potion Crafting

Potion brewing is an age-old traditional craft amongst Witchers, honed through years and years of experience, and the study of Alchemy, as well as subjecting themselves to various toxins and chemical compounds to better understand their properties. Potions can be crafted using various Alchemy Ingredients found throughout the environment, obtained from opponents or purchased from Alchemists and Herbalists in cities, villages and other settlements.

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In order to craft a Potion, you must first learn its Formula by finding and reading its  Manuscript Page — these are crafting instructions similar to Weapon and Armor Diagrams and each one is specific to every single Potion. Many manuscript pages can be found randomly in chests and guarded treasure throughout the world, while some can be purchased from Alchemists and Herbalists. Few even have fixed locations or specific points in the game where they can be obtained.

All Potions also have upgraded versions with the Enhanced and Superior prefix. Upgraded versions of potions typically have improved effects, durations and number of charges. Each upgraded version also has its own Manuscript Page that you will need to find and the forumlas for these will require that you have at least 1 unit of the previous tier Potion in your inventory. For example, while you may be able to find the Manuscript for Superior Tawny Owl early on, you will not be able to upgrade to it directly from the basic Tawny Owl as the Enhanced Tawny Owl is required as one of the crafting components.

Potion Usage & Replenishment

Once crafted, Potions can be used from the Inventory even while in the middle of combat. Additionally, up to four Potions can be assigned to your Consumables Quickslots for easy usage without going into the inventory.

Each Potion has a set number of Charges, with each dose imbibed using up one charge. Most Potion effects persist for a short duration. Each skill in the Alchemy Skill line also provides a percentage boost to all Potion duration with every point invested. Enhanced and Superior versions of Potions typically have more charges and longer durations, but this is not always the case. Once all charges are used up, you will not be able to use the Potion again. However, you do not need to craft potions over and over. Instead, charges can be replenished by Meditating for at least One Hour while you have some Strong Alcohol in your inventory. Strong Alcohol refers to high concentration alcoholic spirits that can be used for alchemical purposes. The following items qualify for this purpose:

Note that you only need 1 unit of any of the above to refill all of your Potion charges via Meditation. This will also refill all of your Decoctions and Bombs. These alcoholic beverages can commonly be found throughout the world and they can also be purchased from Merchants. Some can even be crafted through Alchemy using other components. Dwarven Spirit in particular is quite abundant so you should rarely be found wanting for these.

Potions, Decoctions & Toxicity Level

One of the many mutations that Witchers develop is a superhuman resistance to poisons. This does not make them immune to harmful substances, but they have a massive advantage in this regard, allowing them to imbibe alchemical substances such as Potions, made of the harshest ingredients that would otherwise kill a regular human. Geralt has a Maximum Toxicity stat — A measure of his ability to resist the toxic effects of Potions and other substances.

This stat is represented by a green bar under your Stamina bar and can also be seen in the Character Menu. Each Potion has a set amount of Toxicity which fills this bar every time you take a dose. This can be referred to as Potion Toxicity. Potion Toxicity depletes overtime at a rate of about 1 point every 2 seconds. The Toxicity mechanic essentially prevents you from abusing potions as you cannot imbibe another potion if it would cause you to go over your max limit. However, there is also an Overdose Effect that comes into play. By default, going over 75% of your Max Toxicity will cause you to start losing health at a significant rate per second, persisting until you dip below the threshold. This threshold can be raised by investing in the Heightened Tolerance skill of the Alchemy skill line. Each point in the skill raises your Overdose threshold by 5%, up to a max of 25%, which effectively eliminates the health loss issue.

Aside from the health loss over time, the Overdose status also has adverse effects on Geralt's appearance, causing dark circles to form around his eyes, with dark veins appearing all across his face and his scars taking on a more reddish appearance, as if they had opened back up. This is accompanied by a misty green effect around the borders of the screen, beginning once you hit 50% of your Overdose Threshold and becoming more pronounced as your Toxicity rises. These effects also appear even with max levels in Heightened Tolerance, but it is purely cosmetic.

By default, you have 100 points of max Toxicity but there are several ways to raise this maximum. Metabolic Control in the General Skill line gives a straightforward bonus of +30 Max Toxicity. The Acquired Tolerance skill in the Alchemy Skill line raises your Max Toxicity by 1 for every Alchemy Formula you have learned. This skill has 3 ranks, with each rank taking into account each respective tier of formulas learned. At Rank 1, it only considers all Level 1 (Base) alchemy formulas while at Rank 2, it extends the consideration to Level 2 (Enhanced) formulas and so on. This skill works retroactively, meaning you do not need to acquire it before starting to collect formulas as it will add to the bonus any formulas you've already learned prior to obtaining any level of the skill. The Armor pieces of the Manticore School of Witcher Gear added with the Blood and Wine DLC each also grant a small bonus to your maximum Toxicity when worn, with the Legendary New Game+ version adding even more.

Decoctions, another type of alchemical substance that Geralt has access to, also affect his Toxicity level, albeit in a different way. Each Decoction has a Toxicity rating of 50 points, the sole exception being the Basilisk Decoction with 40 points. It also appears as a darker green on the Toxicity bar. However, Decoctions have a much longer duration and Decoction Toxicity (an important distinction from Potion Toxicity) does not dissipate over time, only being cleared once the Decoction's effects wear off or when the effects are manually removed via Meditation or by imbibing the White Honey potion and its variants. Decoction usage essentially "holds" a sizeable chunk of your Toxicity bar, severely limiting the amount of Potions you can imbibe. Raising your max Toxicity can alleviate this limitation and it is entirely possible to have a high enough max Toxicity to imbibe 2 or even 3 Decoctions at once while still being able to use Potions. Do note that Decoction Toxicity moves the baseline for your Potion Toxicity with regards to the Overdose Threshold because Decoction Toxicity is not considered in the calculation for the threshold. Maxing out Heightened Tolerance makes this quirk irrelevant. Further still, for players who invest in the Delayed Recovery skill, keep in mind that its effects rely on Potion Toxicity, not Decoction Toxicity