The Witcher controls

You may also be looking for information regarding keyboard or mouse controls. For those, see Gameplay. This article deals with controls over and above the basic navigation controls described in the gameplay article.

Cursors
All cursors indicate a change of avaiable action. They always refer to a left click.

Item manipulation cursors

Attack cursor

Floating Messages


Default game behaviour is to alert you to what's going on, particularly in battle, but sometimes this can become too much for some more experienced players. These "floating messages", like 'Too Fast!' and 'Final Attack!', can be turned off in the game options.

Herbalism


Herbalism is fairly fundamental to gameplay. Even on the easiest level of gameplay, where no alchemy is required for combat, there is still a need to gather some herbs, if for no other reason than to have Cat potions. This skill is acquired early in the game, either through the allocation of talents or when Geralt must find White Myrtle for Abigail. She gives him that knowledge if he does not already have it.
 * To gather herbs left-click on selected plants.

If you do not have an entry in the Ingredients section of the Journal for a given herb or plant, then the caption above it will read "unknown herb" instead of the plant's true name.

Tip: You must have the herbalism skill in the Intelligence group to gather herbs. You also need to have knowledge of a given plant, which you can find in books. Herbs can also be purchased from herbalists.

Picking Up Items
To use an item, you must first pick it up. Sometimes it is not obvious what can or cannot be picked up, so holding down the Alt key reveals all items in view which can be manipulated. While this does not always mean they can be "picked up", it does help locate things,
 * Move your cursor over the desired item
 * Left-click when you see a 'glove' icon.

Skinning Monsters
Skinning monsters, like herbalism, is fairly fundamental to gameplay. Even on the easiest level of gameplay, where no alchemy is required for combat, there is still a need to gather ingredients, if for no other reason than to have Cat potions. Monster carcasses are a rich source of ingredients, and so very plentiful, it would seem a shame to waste them. To extract alchemical components,


 * Left-click on the monster carcass
 * Left-click on the transfer items to inventory icon

Tips
 * Read books to gain information about monsters and alchemical ingredients. You must know about ingredients before you can collect them.
 * You can selectively harvest items from a corpse without closing the inventory screen by double-clicking on each desired item separately

Using Objects
Left-click on items to use them.

Tip: Press Alt to highlight all usable items in view. Items and doors cannot be used during combat.