Bombs

Bombs are thrown alchemy that deals damage or applies a status effect, from fire and poison to blindness and frozen foes. Each comes in base, Enhanced and Superior tiers, and each tier up holds one more charge. Meditating with strong alcohol refills every charge.

How It Works

A base bomb holds 2 charges, an Enhanced bomb 3 and a Superior bomb 4. An Enhanced bomb is brewed from the base bomb and Stammelford's Dust. A Superior bomb is brewed from the Enhanced one.

Dancing Star, Grapeshot and Samum destroy monster nests. Dancing Star can set nearby foes burning, and Devil's Puffball releases a poison cloud. Dragon's Dream releases a gas cloud that explodes when ignited.

Other bombs control the fight. Dimeritium Bomb blocks magic and monsters' magic abilities. Moon Dust stops monsters from transforming. Samum blinds every foe in its blast, and Northern Wind freezes them.

Builds

Manticore set. Three Grandmaster Manticore pieces let crit chance and crit damage apply to bombs, and Geralt throws them instantly. All six pieces add 1 charge to every alchemy item.
Toxicity. In the Alchemy skill tree, Volatile Compound raises bomb damage with every point of Toxicity.
Crits. Superior Samum makes the first hit on a blinded foe a guaranteed crit.

Best Bombs

Build	Item	Key Figure
Fire	Superior Dancing Star	100 fire damage; sets the area alight for 13 s
Chain kills	Superior Dragon's Dream	Foes it kills explode and wound others nearby
Armoured foes	Superior Grapeshot	Damage ignores enemy armour
Crits	Superior Samum	100% crit chance on the first hit against a blinded foe
Magic	Superior Dimeritium Bomb	Blocks magic for 30 s and lingers after the cloud clears
Shapeshifters	Superior Moon Dust	Stops monsters transforming for good
Freezing	Superior Northern Wind	Freezes foes; chance of an instant kill
Poison	Superior Devil's Puffball	100 poison damage

Notes

Geralt knows the Grapeshot and Samum formulas from the start.
Otto Bamber, at the Herbalist's Hut northeast of Oxenfurt, sells the Dancing Star, Devil's Puffball, Dimeritium Bomb, Moon Dust and Northern Wind formulas.
The Blacksmith in Oxenfurt sells the Dancing Star and Moon Dust formulas.
Gremist at Gedyneith on Ard Skellig sells most Superior bomb formulas.
Northern Wind makes blows on frozen foes deal extra damage.
Moon Dust lasts 20 s at base and 40 s at Enhanced. Superior Moon Dust lasts for good.