Draconids - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Database

In memory of the noble knight Roderick, slain during a valiant struggle against a basilisk. Let’s hope the beast choked on his bones.
– Gravestone inscription, Vizima cemetery.

Contrary to popular belief, basilisks cannot turn anything to stone with their gaze. That is small comfort, however, given that their acid, venom, claws and teeth provide them many other ways to kill.

Had meself eight heifers, five of ‘em milchers. Then this cockatrice sprung up nearby, and now all’s I got left’s dried patties in an empty field.
– Jethro, peasant from Pindal

Foolish superstitions claim cockatrices, like basilisks, can kill with their gaze alone. That is utter nonsense, however, a cockatrice’s gaze being no more dangerous than that of an angry goose. One should instead watch out for its sharp beak and long tail, which it can whip to murderous effect.

Forktails… Bah! Fuckers’ tails’re more like cleavers.
– Yavinn Buck, veteran of the Mahakaman Volunteer Regiment

Forktails owe their quaint name to the long, sharp growths at the tip of their tails. A blow from this weapon can slice an oaken shield in two – along with the arm that was carrying it. Thus, though its name conjures images of cutlery, fighting a forktail is nothing like a dinner party and ends in death rather than dessert.

It were huge. And those teeth, ugh! We barely escaped.
Wonder if it killed the traders… Whoresons sure had it comin’.
– Conversation overheard in Velen

Heard you have a problem - a monster you call a shrieker?
Aye, prowls about, it does. Snatches cows and goats, mostly, but it won’t scorn a man if it runs into one.
– Conversation overhead at Crow’s Perch

Blood and Wine

You want a fine pair of boots, you say? Bring me the hide of a silver basilisk, and I’ll make you boots the whole world will envy.
– Anatole Vizholy, shoemaker from Beauclair

Blood and Wine

If you ever find yourself facing a monster that breathes fire, strikes with a tail tipped with venomous spines, bites with sharp teeth and swipes with even sharper claws and tends to knock its prey to the ground with a sonic blast, then you are fighting a slyzard. With an arsenal like that, it comes as no surprise folk often mistake these draconids for dragons. Yet the experts (meaning witchers) know slyzards constitute an entirely separate species, much smaller than dragons and far less dangerous. With one exception: slyzard females in mating season, or, even worse, just after laying their eggs. When fighting such individuals, my suggestion is to get as far as possible from the danger as quickly as possible, preferably by running, at full tilt, without looking back.

Blood and Wine

Some peasants once offered me a king’s ransom to slay a slyzard. A damned hefty purse, chock full o’ gold… But I turned ‘em down. Coin’s no good if you’re dead. And a slyzard, that’s no fuckin’ forktail.
– Zator, one of the Crinfrid Reavers

Slyzards are often mistaken for wyverns or forktails. Yet make no mistake: slyzards are nasty, terribly dangerous beasts, and confusing them for wyverns will end very badly for the confuser. While a wyvern can tear apart and devour an untrained man in seconds, only a slyzard can first bake him to a crisp with a waft of fiery breath.

It’s got scales, wings, claws… A dragon’s a dragon! No point gabbin’, just go kill it!
– Vagn, village elder of Fyresdal

Most dangerous of all are the royal wyverns. Or, as they’re called in some circles, the royal pains in the arse.
– Albina Tottelkampf, lecturer in natural sciences at Aretuza

Wyverns are often mistaken for dragons, and, though they are much smaller than their more famous kin and do not breathe fire, they are likewise extremely dangerous monsters. Especially feared are the so-called royal wyverns who, like their namesake monarchs, are exceptionally ornery and extremely deadly.