In The Witcher 3, Oils are special alchemy compounds that Geralt can use on his weapons to deal extra damage to specific types of enemies. You can apply these oils on silver and steel swords in The Witcher 3 to take out different monsters and creatures.
It is a handy alchemy compound for buffing the damage done to the enemies, so in this guide, we will cover everything you need to know, from crafting to using the Oils in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and how long do effects of oils last.
How to craft oils
Crafting oil is similar to the normal crafting in The Witcher 3. You can craft the oil using the Alchemy skill and ingredients scattered throughout the map. To improve the range of oils you can craft, you can also invest skill points in the Oil Preparation section under your Alchemy skill tree.
The most important thing you need to craft a particular type of oil is its formula. To find the oil recipe in TW3 Wild Hunt, you first need to locate the Manuscript Page of the oil, and it will have all the instructions you need to craft that oil.
Once you find the manuscript page, you need to purchase the required ingredients from the Herbalists and Alchemists in the different areas of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. All oils also have an Enhanced and Superior variant which deals extra damage.
The base version of an oil in TW3 gives a 10% boost to the damage, while the Enhanced and Superior will provide a 25% and 50% boost, respectively.
Once you have crafted an oil, the vial will stay in your inventory forever and doesn’t need to be crafted again.
How to use oils
You can assign four Oils to the Consumable Quickshots in TW3 to use them quickly in combat. Other than that, the oils are available in your inventory, and you can use them during the battles. However, we recommend you use the Quickshots for the potions as they are more important.
You can apply oils to swords as many times as you want, and there is no need to replenish them using meditation. But oils in TW3 do have charges that deplete whenever you land a successful hit. There is no time duration on how long an oil lasts on a sword as only the number of hits matter.
Base Oils have 20 charges, while the Enhanced and Superior have 40 and 60 charges, respectively.
You can even increase these oil charges by investing in the Fixative skill. If you take the Fixative skill to the max level, it stops oils from wearing off.
Effects of different oils
Here we will tell you about the effects of all the base versions of the oils in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. The reason for only mentioning the base variants is that the effects are not different other than the 25% and 50% boost you get with the Enhanced and Superior oil variants, respectively.
- East Oil: Increase the attack power against beasts by 10%.
- Cursed Oil: Increase the attack power against the cursed ones by 10%.
- Draconid Oil: Increase the attack power against Draconids by 10%.
- Elementa Oil: Increase the attack power against Elementa by 10%.
- Hanged Man’s Venom: Increase damage against humans and non-humans by 10%.
- Hybrid Oil: Increase the attack power against Hybrids by 10%.
- Insectoid Oil: Increase the attack power against Insectoids by 10%.
- Necrophage Oil: Increase the attack power against Necrophages by 10%.
- Ogroid Oil: Increase the attack power against Ogroids by 10%.
- Relict Oil: Increase the attack power against Relics by 10%.
- Specter Oil: Increase the attack power against Specters by 10%.
- Vampire Oil: Increase the attack power against Vampires by 10%.
Now that you know the details about crafting and using oils, let’s talk about their formula and locations where you can find them in The Witcher 3.
All oil formula locations in The Witcher 3
| Oil | Formula | Location |
| Beast Oil | x1 Dog tallow and x1 Wolf’s liver | Outside of Midcopse in Velen, sold by Keira Metz. |
| Enhanced Beast Oil | x5 Bear fat, x1 Beast oil, x1 Bear hide, x1 Celandine, x1 Puffball, and x1 Bison grass | In Elector’s Square, sold by a merchant |
| Superior Beast Oil | x1 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced beast oil. x1 Cockatrice stomach. x1 Celandine, x1 Puffball, x1 Bison grass, and x1 Rubedo | Redania, south of Fyke Isle, on a tiny Island |
| Cursed Oil | x1 Dog tallow and x4 Wolfsbane | Herbalist in White Orchard |
| Enhanced Cursed Oil | x1 Bear fat, x1 Cursed oil, x1 Ekimmara hide, x1 Puffball, x1 Wolfsbane, x1 Balisse fruit, and x1 Wolf’s liver | Herbalist in Velen |
| Superior Cursed Oil | x1 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced cursed oil, x1 Ekimmara hide, x1 Cave troll liver, x1 Wolfsbane, x1 Mistletoe, and x1 Rubedo | In the sewers during the Now or Never quest |
| Draconid Oil | x1 Dog tallow and x4 Ergot seeds | Outside of Midcopse in Velen, sold by Keira Metz |
| Enhanced Draconid Oil | x1 Bear fat, x1 Draconid oil, x1 Cockatrice stomach, x1 Nekker warrior’s liver, x1 Moleyarrow,x1 Arenaria, and x1 Bryonia | Sold by Herbalist in Rannveig |
| Superior Draconid Oil | x1 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced draconid oil, x1 Cockatrice stomach, x1 Nekker warrior’s liver, x1 Nostrix, x1 Bryonia, and x1 Albedo | In Velen just southwest of the Sarrasin Grange |
| Elementa Oil | x1 Dog tallow and x4 Puffball | Outside of Midcopse in Velen, sold by Keira Metz |
| Enhanced Elementa Oil | x1 Bear fat, x1 Elementa oil, x1 Moleyarrow, x1 Puffball, x1 Allspice, x1 Honeysuckle, and x1 Buckthorn | In Velen, Elector’s Square, sold by a merchant |
| Superior Elementa Oil | x1 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced elementa oil, x1 Nostrix, x1 Essence of wraith, x1 Allspice, x1 Honeysuckle, and x1 Albedo | In a chest inside the Crach and Craite’s room |
| Hanged Man’s Venom | x1 Dog tallow and x4 Arenaria | Cellar of the hut where you meet Keira Metz |
| Enhanced Hanged Man’s Venom | x1 Bear fat, x1 Hanged Man’s Venom, x1 Han fiber, x1 Nekker eye, x1 Fool’s parsley leaves, x1 Arenaria, and x1 Mandrake root | In Redania inside a barricade in Fyke Isle |
| Superior Hanged Man’s Venom | x1 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced Hanged Man’s Venom, x1 Bloodmoss, x1 Devourer’s blood, x1 Fool’s parsley leaves, x1 Green mold, and x1 Quebrith | Sold by Herbalists |
| Hybrid Oil | x1 Dog tallow and x4 White myrtle petals | Outside of Midcopse in Velen, sold by Keira Metz |
| Enhanced Hybrid Oil | x1 Bear fat, x1 Hybrid oil, x1 Erynia eye, x1 Ginatia petals, x1 White myrtle petals, x1 Hornwort, and x1 Bryonia | West of Urialla Harbor on Ard Skellig inside the hidden treasure on a small island |
| Superior Hyrbid Oli | x1 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced hybrid oil, x1 Erynia eye, x1 Ginatia petals, x1 White myrtle petals, x1 Bison grass, x1 Albedo | In Velen, southwest of Kimbolt Way inside an abandoned watchtower |
| Insectoid Oil | x1 Dog tallow, x4 Ranogrin | Outside of Midcopse in Velen, sold by Keira Metz |
| Enhanced Insectoid Oil | x1 Bear fat, x1 Insectoid oil, x1 Endrega heart, x1 Puffball, x1 Ranogrin, x1 Hornwort, x1 Honeysuckle | Herbalist south of Hierarch sold it |
| Superior Insectoid Oil | x1 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced insectoid oil, x1 Endrega heart, x1 Puffball, x1 Hornwort, x1 Bloodmoss, x1 Hydragenum | Sold by Herbalists |
| Necrophage Oil | x1 Dog tallow, x4 Blowball | Available from the Start |
| Enhanced Necrophage Oil | x4 Bear fat, x1 Necrophage oil, x1 Rotfiend blood, x1 Blowball, x1 Arenaria, x1 Pringrape, x1 Cortinarius | Halfling Herbalist in Novigrad sold it |
| Superior Necrophage Oil | x5 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced necrophage oil, x1 Devourer’s blood, x1 Beggartick blossoms, x1 Arenaria, x1 Pringrape, x1 Hydragenum | Random Drop |
| Ogroid Oil | x1 Bear fat, x4 Ginatia petals | Random drop or Herbalists |
| Enhanced Ogroid Oil | x2 Bear fat, x1 Ogroid oil, x1 Cave troll liver, x1 Longrube, x1 Ranogrin, x1 Ginatia petals, x1 Ribleaf | In Skellige sold by Gremist |
| Superior Ogroid Oil | x2 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced ogroid oil, x1 Cave troll liver, x1 Arenaria, x1 Ranogrin, x1 Ribleaf, x1 Aether | Random Drop or Herbalists |
| Relict Oil | x1 Dog tallow, x5 Mistletoe | Random Drop or Herbalists |
| Enhanced Relict Oil | x1 Bear fat, x1 Relict oil, x1 Water hag tooth, x1 Cave troll liver, x1 Beggartick blossoms, x1 Hop umbels, x1 Green mold | Sold by Gremist in Skellige |
| Superior Relict Oil | x4 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced relict oil, x1 Devourer’s blood, x1 Hop umbels, x1 Beggartick blossoms, x1 Green mold, x1 Nigredo | Random Drop or Herbalists |
| Specter Oil | x1 Bear fat, x4 Arenaria | Available from the Start |
| Enhanced Specter Oil | x1 Bear fat, x1 Specter oil, x1 Essence of wraith, x1 Arenaria, x1 Mistletoe, x1 Wolf’s liver | Inside a chest guarded by bandits inDevil’s pit |
| Superior Specter Oil | x1 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced specter oil, x1 Essence of wraith, x1 Longrube, x1 Mistletoe, x1 Ergot seeds, x1 Rebis | Random Drop or Herbalists |
| Vampire Oil | x2 Dog tallow, x4 Ducal water | Outside of Midcopse in Velen, sold by Keira Metz |
| Enhanced Vampire Oil | x2 Bear fat, x1 Vampire oil, x1 Fifth essence, x1 Wine stone, x1 Cortinarius, x1 Wolfsbane, x1 Ribleaf | Herbalist in Rannbeig sell it |
| Superior Vampire Oil | x2 Alchemy paste, x1 Enhanced vampire oil, x1 Fifth essence, x1 Wine stone, x1 Cortinarius, x1 Wolfsbane, x1 Vermilion | Random Drop or Herbalists |
