Critical Effects

A critical effect is effectively an additional debuff an enemy or Geralt can suffer as a result of a successful attack. Each critical effect can be inflicted by a variety of sources. Most enemies attempt to inflict stun, poison, bleeding, incineration, or knockdown. There is a sixth critical effect, freeze, that only Geralt can use.

• Bleeding causes the afflicted target to take additional gradual damage to vitality over the course of five seconds. Enemies affected by bleeding glow red and spurt blood violently until the effect ceases. Bleeding is one of the easier critical effects for Geralt to resist, as several potions and many types of equipment grant bonuses to resisting it. By the same token, this is one of the critical effects to which many monsters have complete immunity.
• Poison causes the afflicted target to take additional gradual damage to vitality over the course of five seconds. If Geralt is affected by it, it makes the screen go green and misty, reducing visibility. Enemies affected by poison begin to glow slightly green. You can use the Quen sign to immediately nullify being poisoned. Many different monsters resist or are completely immune to poison, though it is the sole vulnerability of trolls.
• Incineration causes the afflicted target to take additional gradual damage to vitality over the course of five seconds. You can use the Quen sign to immediately nullify being incinerated. Human enemies who suffer incineration are often paralyzed by the pain and become vulnerable to further attacks. Many types of monsters are vulnerable to incineration, too. It’s pretty easy to tell when Geralt or an enemy is affected by incineration, as the target bursts conspicuously into flames.
• Knockdown is a relatively rare critical effect. It is inflicted by particularly strong attacks from enemies, and Geralt can inflict it through a handful of weapons and the Aard sign. An enemy that is knocked down must stand up again before it can take any other actions. During that time, the enemy is defenseless against attacks and may trigger instant kill animations if attacked. The same applies to Geralt if he is knocked down. Most flying monster types are extremely vulnerable to knockdown.
• Stun is another relatively rare critical effect. No enemy in the game can consistently inflict it on Geralt. The sign of Aard, a variety of bombs, and certain weapons can inflict it on Geralt’s enemies. Stun is primarily useful to Geralt for setting up instant kills. It is particularly effective against human opponents, especially mages.
• Freeze is an extremely powerful critical effect that only Geralt can inflict, but from a limited number of sources. The ranged weapon sting, the trap Talgar winter, and a handful of swords have a freeze critical affect. An enemy affected by freeze may become frozen solid, which allows Geralt to shatter them with his next attack. An enemy who is not frozen solid is still going to be drastically slowed, as if affected by the adrenaline ability Heliotrope. Freeze is especially powerful because no enemy in the game completely resists it. At the very least, most enemies that suffer from freeze will be slowed.