Witchers are masters of the sword and wield basic magic to help them slay monsters that now plague the world. Besides their blade and magic, Witchers depend heavily on alchemy items like bombs to help them take out monsters more easily in The Witcher 3.
You get access to several tools that are at your disposal in your journey to find Ciri and take down the Wild Hunt. One of the best items in your arsenal is your selection of bombs. Geralt can get his hands on several different types of bombs in The Witcher 3, all of which serve different purposes.
Here, we will help you learn about the different bombs, how to get them and how to use them efficiently.
How bombs work
We don’t need to explain what bombs are. Small canisters that go boom. That’s it! You can throw these bombs almost anywhere at a limited distance. If you are locked to a target, Geralt will automatically throw a bomb at the target’s feet, making it much easier to throw bombs quickly in combat.
Bombs have a limited area of effect where they cause damage. The AoE diminishes as the range from the center of the explosion. Enemies close to the bomb will take damage, and those farther away will be immune to the effect of the bomb. The same goes for Geralt; try to throw bombs from a safe distance, so you don’t get caught in your explosion.
Since bombs are tied to the alchemy skill trees, you can even improve their effect by upgrading the appropriate Alchemy abilities.
How to get Bombs in Witcher 3
You can easily purchase bombs from the vendors you meet in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Almost all vendors carry basic bombs that you can buy. Other than this, you can craft your bombs, which is the recommended way to get your bombs.
Crafting allows you to get access to a large variety of bomb types, and you can also craft enhanced and superior versions of bombs.
As you roam the world of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt, you can gather all of the ingredients that you need to craft bombs pretty easily. You only need a handful of basic ingredients and pure alcohol to craft bombs for yourself.
When you start the game, Geralt has a few basic bomb recipes on him, allowing you to craft basic early-game bombs without any hassle. For crafting other variants of bombs, you need to get their recipes or diagrams.
How to get Bomb recipes
Similar to purchasing bombs, many of the bomb recipes can be directly purchased from vendors in the TW3. Most of these recipes do not spawn early in the game, and as you progress, you will see bomb recipes in vendor inventories.
The recipes for enhanced and superior variants of bombs are never found for sale and are found in the treasure chests that you loot in TW3 Wild Hunt.
Random chests can contain random recipes for better bomb variants. Some unique bomb recipes can also be found here that don’t normally spawn in the world.
How to use Bombs
Using bombs is very easy in TW3 Wild Hunt. You get to learn how to use bombs in the tutorial for the game. Still, since you can skip the tutorial at the start, many players might have missed out on the tutorial.
On Playstation and Xbox, you need to hold the left lower bumper (L2) and select the bomb from the quick menu that opens. After you have equipped the bomb from all the available ones, you can press and hold the right bottom bumper (R2) to aim the bomb.
You do see a line that depicts the trajectory of your throw, but keep in mind that the bomb will roll after it hits the ground, so you need to decide where you want to throw the bomb. On PC, press the middle mouse button to throw bombs. Holding the button allows you to aim, the same as for consoles.
If you are locked to a target, simply pressing the throw button will result in Geralt automatically throwing the bomb at your target’s feet. This allows Geralt to get a perfect throw without aiming during combat.
All bombs and recipes in Witcher 3
| Name | Ingredients | Charges | Effects |
| Blue Paint Ball | 3 | As the name suggests, the bomb releases a splash of blue paint | |
| Dancing Star | 1x Saltpeter, 2x Sulfur | 3 | The incendiary explosion burns all monsters in the vicinity and also destroys monster nests and deals 100 fire damage |
| Devil’s Puffball | 1x Saltpeter, 2x Sewant mushrooms | 2 | Releases a cloud of poison when detonated. It deals 100 poison damage and the duration is 10s. |
| Dimeritium bomb | 5x Saltpeter, 2x Optima mater | 2 | It locks all the magic and abilities of monsters who are in the AoE of the bomb. Its effect duration is 15s |
| Dragon’s Dream | 1x Saltpeter, 2x Phosphorus | 2 | Releases flammable gas, which can be ignited to start a fire. It deals +300 fire damage and its duration is 15s |
| Enhanced Dancing Star | 1x Stammelford’s dust1x Dancing Star, 1x Phosphorus, 1x Sulfur, 1x Sewant mushrooms, 1x Hellebore petals, and 1x Nostrix | 3 | Same effects as the Dancing Star bomb, but the damage is increased. It deals 200 fire damage |
| Enhanced Devil’s Puffball | 1x Stammelford’s dust, 1x Devil’s Puffball, 1x Calcium equum, 1x Endrega heart, 1x Sewant mushrooms, 1x Ginatia petals, 1x Green mold | 3 | The same effect as Devil’s Puffball, but the damage and duration are increased to 100 and 30s respectively |
| Enhanced Dimeritium bomb | 1x Stammelford’s dust, 1x Dimeritium bomb, 1x Optima mater1x Powdered pearl, 1x Blowball, 1x Ginatia petals, 1x Bloodmoss | 3 | Same effect as the Dimeritium bomb, but the duration is increased to 30s |
| Enhanced Dragon’s Dream | 1x Stammelford’s dust, 1x Dragon’s Dream, 1x Phosphorus, 1x Optima mater, 1x Mistletoe, 1x Allspice, 1x Bryonia | 3 | Same effects as Dagon’s Dream, but the damage and duration are increased to 400 and 30s respectively |
| Enhanced Grapeshot | 1x Stammelford’s dust, 1x Grapeshot, 1x Calcium equum, 1x Blowball, 1x Crow’s eye, 1x Longrube | 3 | The same effect as Grapeshot, but the damage is increased. It deals 600 Physical damage, 600 Silver damage, and 10 Fire damage |
| Enhanced Moon Dust | 1x Stammelford’s dust, 1x Moon Dust, 1x Quicksilver solution, 1x Sulfur, 1x Hop umbels, 1x Blowball, 1x Honeysuckle | 3 | Same effect as Moon Dust, but the duration is increased to 40s |
| Enhanced Northern Wind | 1x Stammelford’s dust, 1x Northern Wind, 2x Ducal Water, 1x Powdered Pearl, 1x Fool’s Parsley Leaves, 1x Verbena, 2x Allspice | 3 | Same effects as Northern Wind, but the duration is increased |
| Enhanced Samum | 1x Stammelford’s dust, 1x Samum, 1x Phosphorus, 1x Foglet teeth, 1x Celandine, 1x Blowball | 3 | Same effects as Samum, but the duration is increased |
| Grapeshot | 2x Saltpeter, 2x Calcium equum | 2 | Launches shrapnel on explosion, dealing +350 physical, +350silver, and +5 fire damage. Destroys monster nests |
| Green paint ball | 3 | As the name suggests, the bomb releases a splash of green paint | |
| Moon Dust | 1x Saltpeter, 2x Quicksilver solution | 2 | Launches silver splinter that prevents monsters from transforming. Its effect duration is the 20s |
| Northern Wind | 1x Saltpeter, 1x Ducal water, 1x Powdered pearl, 2x Allspice | 2 | Freezes all enemies in the AoE. Hitting frozen enemies also deal additional damage. Its effect duration is 4s |
| Pheromone bomb | |||
| Purple paint ball | 3 | As the name suggests, the bomb releases a splash of purple paint | |
| Red paint ball | 3 | As the name suggests, the bomb releases a splash of red paint | |
| Samum | 1x Saltpeter, 2x Celandine | 2 | Blinds enemies on explosion like a flash grenade and destroy monster nests |
| Snowball | 3 | ||
| Superior Dancing Star | 1x Alchemists’ powder, 1x Enhanced Dancing Star, 2x Phosphorus, 2x Sulfur, 2x Sewant mushrooms, 2x Nostrix, 1x Nigredo | 4 | Same effects as the Enhanced Dancing Star bomb, but the damage is increased to 300 |
| Superior Devil’s Puffball | 1x Alchemists’ powder, 1x Enhanced Devil’s Puffball, 2x Calcium equum, 2x Endrega heart, 2x Sewant mushrooms, 2x Ginatia petals, 1x Rebis | 4 | Same effect as Enhanced Devil’s Puffball, but 100 damage and 33s duration |
| Superior Dimeritium bomb | 1x Alchemists’ powder, 1x Enhanced Dimeritium bomb, 2x Optima mater, 2x Powdered Pearl, 2x Puffball, 2x Bloodmoss, 1x Nigredo | 4 | The same effect as the Enhanced Dimeritium bomb, but the duration is increased to 30s |
| Superior Dragon’s Dream | 1x Alchemists’ powder, 1x Enhanced Dragon’s Dream, 2x Phosphorus, 2x Optima mater, 2x Allspice, 2x Bryonia, 1x Aether | 4 | Same effects as Enhanced Dagon’s Dream, but the damage and duration are increased to 400 and 30s respectively |
| Superior Grapeshot | 1x Alchemists’ powder, 1x Enhanced Grapeshot, 2x Calcium equum, 2x Sulfur, 2x Longrube, 2x Hop Umbels, 1x Nigredo | 4 | Same effect as Enhanced Grapeshot, but the damage is increased. Also ignores enemy armor now. 900 Physical damage, 900 Silver damage, and 10 Fire damage. |
| Superior Moon Dust | 1x Alchemists’ powder, 1x Enhanced Moon Dust, 2x Quicksilver Solution, 2x Sulfur, 2x Hop Umbels, 2x Blowball, 1x Nigredo | 4 | Same effect as Enhanced Moon Dust, but the duration is increased. |
| Superior Northern Wind | 1x Saltpeter, 1x Enhanced Northern Wind, 3x Ducal Water, 2x Powdered Pearl, 2x Verbena, 3x Allspice, 1x Quebrith | 4 | Same effects as Enhanced Northern Wind, but the duration is increased. Chance of instant kill now.10s Effect duration |
| Superior Samum | 1x Alchemists’ powder, 1x Enhanced Samum, 2x Phosphorus, 2x Foglet teeth, 2x Celandine, 2x Hellebore Petals, 1x Aether | 4 | Same effects as Northern Wind, but the duration is increased. The first hit you land on the enemy after blinding them will always be a critical hit now. The chance of a crit hit is increased by 100% and the effect duration is 8s. |
| Training bomb | 3 | Releases smoke on the explosion. | |
| Yellow paint ball | 3 | As the name suggests, the bomb releases a splash of yellow paint. |
