Healing During Battle & Meditation

This page contains information on healing during battle and meditation in the game The Witcher 3. Read on to learn what are the ways for you to heal during combat and the effects of meditation.

Healing During Battle

Food and Drink

Using Food and Drink replenishes your vitality even during combat, which is very important, especially if you are fighting multiple weak enemies, because of its continuous healing effect. After using a Food or Drink item, a small icon of a heart with leaves is displayed on the upper left side of your screen under the Health Bar. This indicates the healing duration effect of the Healing item you used.

However, be careful when using Drink items, as some contain alcohol which can cause the screen to blur and sway – not exactly the prime conditions for battle.
List of Food and Drink Items

Potions

There are some potions that can also replenish your Vitality over a period of time. However, most potion will instantly recover a large portion of your health as soon as you use them. Potions are best used when fighting against strong enemies that can kill you with a few hits.
List of Potions

Undying Ability

The ability Undying instantly refills your health to 100% as soon as your vitality reaches 0% as long as you have at least 1 Adrenaline Point. This ability is one of the best abilities to unlock because of its effectiveness against enemies that can kill you with a single blow.

Gourmet Ability

The ability Gourmet drastically increases the efficiency of each Food and Drink item you use., extending the effect duration of the consumed Food and Drink to a whopping 20 minutes. This ability is guaranteed to help you maintain Geralt's health and keep him at full health between attacks.

Equipment with Healing Properties

Some items that you will equip in the game also provide a small percentage of healing bonus depending on the damage dealt by each your attacks.

Meditation

Meditation can only be used if you are in a safe place and out of combat. Meditation has multiple effects that may change depending on your current difficulty level.

Healing

In the Just the Story and Sword and Story difficulty settings, Meditation will allow Geralt to completely restore his health to maximum.

Alcohol Use

Using Meditation automatically uses any type of alcohol in your inventory and automatically replenishes your Decoctions, Potions, and Bombs with depleted charges. Also, Meditation only uses 1 alcohol from your inventory regardless of how many Decoctions, Potions, or Bombs are already used, and all of them will always be restored to the maximum number of charges.

Toxicity

Using Meditation also clears your Toxicity level back to 0, allowing you to freely use your Decoctions and Potions again.

Current Time and Duration

Meditation lets you choose how long you will spend in a meditative state, which will determine what time of day it will be when you will return to your adventure. This comes in handy in regards to quests that require you to appear during a specific time of day. The length of time Geralt spends meditating has no effect on the health restored, etc.

Healing and Meditation Tips

Effects of Foods and Potions

The effects of Foods and Potions varies for each item; some item will heal you by a greater degree every second, and some last for a longer duration with other bonus effects, such as damage increase. Be sure to check the item descriptions when equipping Foods and Potions to your Consumables slot to maximize their efficiency when using them during combat.

Meditation Healing

Playing on the Blood and Broken Bones! or higher difficulty setting removes the healing effect when using Meditation, so be sure to always stock up with Foods and Potions when playing at these difficulties.

Sun and Stars

The ability Sun and Stars automatically regenerates your health every second, but this ability only works during the day and if you are not in combat.

This ability can help you replenish your health back to the maximum amount after every combat, if you're playing on a harder difficulty setting and can't restore your health by Meditating.

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