Quick Sign Casting in The Witcher 3 Remastered: How to Turn It On

By Indie Kings | September 29, 2026

Updated September 29, 2026: Quick Sign Casting replaces the radial sign wheel with five direct key presses, and it is off by default. Turning it on takes two clicks in the Options menu, and it is the single largest change to how the game feels in combat, because the default wheel costs you a menu open every time you want Igni. One correction before anything else: this is not a Remastered feature. It arrived in the 2022 Next-Gen Update and the Remastered simply inherited it. No source describes the Remastered as adding it. Across 18,396 posts on this site, "quick sign" appears zero times, so the setting is documented here for the first time.

Geralt casting a sign directly in combat with Quick Sign Casting enabled in The Witcher 3 Remastered

Image: Sign casting in combat, the moment Quick Sign Casting is meant to speed up. Credit: IGN.

Turning it on

Per IGN's guide, the whole process is two steps, and the setting is off when you start.

Pause the game and navigate to the Options tab.
Click the Gameplay tab, and under Quick Sign Casting, switch it from Standard Casting to Quick Casting.

That is the entire procedure. The setting lives under Gameplay rather than Controls, which is the most common reason players fail to find it, and the two option names are Standard Casting and Quick Casting, not on and off.

It applies immediately. There is no restart requirement stated in any source, and no source describes a way to assign custom keys to the five sign buttons, so the bindings below are fixed.

Every sign, on keyboard and console

Once enabled, IGN lists all five signs and their bindings. Note that the keyboard mapping is a block of five number keys rather than a single modifier, and that console uses a shoulder button plus a face button.

Sign	Keyboard	PlayStation	Xbox
Aard	3	R2 + X	RT + A
Yrden	4	R2 + Triangle	RT + Y
Igni	5	R2 + L2	RT + LT
Quen	6	R2 + Circle	RT + B
Axii	7	R2 + Square	RT + X

IGN writes the console bindings as paired shoulder and face buttons, using R2/RT for the right trigger and PlayStation symbols alongside the Xbox equivalents, and the Xbox letters map to the same positions as the PlayStation shapes. Aard and Axii share a face button on both consoles, which is why the trigger matters: the combination is what disambiguates them, not the button.

Igni is the odd one out, pairing the right trigger with the left trigger. That is not a typo in the table, it is how IGN lists it.

Hold for the upgraded version

This is the detail that separates the setting from a plain keybind, and it is stated in a note rather than a heading, so it is easy to miss.

Per IGN: hold the desired sign button instead of pressing it to cast the alternate version of a sign. IGN's worked example is Firestream, which is an Igni upgrade. If you have it unlocked, holding the 5 key on keyboard, or holding R2/RT plus the Igni binding, casts Firestream. A press casts standard Igni.

So each of the five keys is a two-position switch rather than one. Tap for the base sign, hold for the upgraded version, and the hold applies per sign rather than globally. A player with four upgraded signs is holding four different inputs to reach the variant, and a player with none is using the mode purely for speed.

What it replaces, and who should switch

The default is not a keybind at all. Standard Casting opens the radial Quick Access Menu, and you select the sign from it.

IGN's reasoning is that the primary benefit of switching is eliminating the need to use the Quick Access Menu when casting signs in the middle of combat. It adds that using the radial menu while fighting is difficult and that it breaks the immersion of playing as a Witcher, on the grounds that a large part of the appeal of slaying monsters is using different signs to defeat them.

That gives two distinct cases where the switch pays off, and they are not the same case.

Keyboard and mouse players get the biggest gain. IGN notes that mouse and keyboard players can use the scroll wheel to switch signs within the radial menu, so they have a partial workaround already, but it is still a menu. A block of five number keys removes the menu entirely.
Console players get the cleaner fix. There is no equivalent scroll wheel trick, so on a pad the radial is the only default path, and Quick Casting is a straight upgrade.

IGN adds that PC players who have been using combat mods to do this already will find the feature familiar, noting that the now-permanent feature was available through mods before the Next-Gen Update.

Where this feature actually came from

This section exists because the most likely mistake with this topic is dating it wrong.

IGN's own guide describes Quick Sign Casting as arriving as part of the Next-Gen Update, which CD Projekt Red released in 2022. It is not listed among the changes in the Remastered's patch notes, and this site covered those changes in detail without it appearing once.

So the accurate framing is that The Witcher 3 Remastered inherits Quick Sign Casting rather than introducing it. If you are reading a guide that presents it as new in the Remastered, that guide is wrong, and the same applies to any claim that the Remastered changed how the setting works. Neither is supported by the sources.

What the Remastered did add to controls is a different set of changes, and this site has covered those separately: a new horse control input sensitivity slider under Settings and Controls, a fix for right stick sensitivity not being adjustable from the main menu, the ability to set stick sensitivity to exactly 0.69, a quick disengage from combat on holding the dodge button followed by the sprint button, and the ability to collect loot without dismounting Roach. None of those is Quick Sign Casting.

What is not verified

Nothing here is first-hand tested. This site has no copy of the Remastered. Every menu path, binding and behaviour above is IGN's guide.
No source confirms the setting is off by default in the Remastered specifically. IGN describes switching it from Standard Casting, which implies the default, and that is the whole of the evidence. This is a reasonable inference rather than a documented fact about the Remastered's defaults.
Whether the bindings are rebindable is unaddressed. IGN lists fixed keys and says nothing about remapping, so this article does not claim you cannot change them.
No source gives a hold duration for the alternate version of a sign. The mechanic is documented, the threshold is not, so how long you must hold is unspecified here.
The Remastered's own patch notes do not mention the setting, and no CD Projekt Red documentation was located for it. The feature's existence rests on IGN's guide.
No source states whether the feature works identically on Switch 2, which has its own motion control scheme. IGN's bindings cover keyboard, PlayStation and Xbox only.

What is verified: the two-step enable path through Options and Gameplay, the Standard Casting and Quick Casting option names, all five sign bindings for keyboard, PlayStation and Xbox, the hold-for-alternate-version mechanic with Firestream as IGN's example, and the fact that the feature arrived in the 2022 Next-Gen Update rather than the Remastered.

FAQ

How do you enable Quick Sign Casting in The Witcher 3 Remastered?

Two steps, per IGN's guide. Pause the game and go to the Options tab, then click the Gameplay tab and find Quick Sign Casting, switching it from Standard Casting to Quick Casting. It is under Gameplay rather than Controls, which is the usual reason players cannot find it, and the options are named Standard Casting and Quick Casting rather than on and off.

What keys cast signs with Quick Sign Casting?

On keyboard, IGN lists Aard on 3, Yrden on 4, Igni on 5, Quen on 6 and Axii on 7. On PlayStation they are R2 or RT combined with X, Triangle, L2, Circle and Square in that order. On Xbox it is the right trigger plus A, Y, LT, B and X. Igni is the exception, pairing the right trigger with the left trigger rather than a face button.

How do you cast the upgraded version of a sign?

By holding the button rather than pressing it, per IGN. Pressing casts the standard sign and holding casts the alternate version. IGN's example is that if you have unlocked the Firestream upgrade for Igni, holding the 5 key on keyboard, or holding the trigger combination, casts Firestream. The hold works per sign, so you can have a quick tap on one sign and a required hold on another.

Is Quick Sign Casting new in the Remastered?

No. IGN describes it as part of the Next-Gen Update, which CD Projekt Red released in 2022, and it is not listed in the Remastered's patch notes. The Remastered inherits the feature. PC players who used combat mods to get the same behaviour before that update already know what it does, and IGN notes the feature was available through mods in the interim.

Does Quick Sign Casting work on Switch 2?

No source consulted addresses it. IGN's binding table covers keyboard, PlayStation and Xbox only, and the Remastered's Switch 2 support lists its own separate control scheme with four playstyles, motion control patterns and a mouse sensor option. Since IGN does not say how Quick Sign Casting binds on Switch 2, this article does not claim it works there, and switching the setting on that platform should be treated as untested.

Is Quick Sign Casting better than the radial menu?

It removes the menu, which is IGN's stated primary benefit. Mouse and keyboard players already have a partial workaround because the scroll wheel switches signs within the radial, but console players have no equivalent and get the cleaner fix. IGN's further argument is that opening a radial menu mid-fight breaks immersion, on the grounds that using different signs is a large part of what makes slaying a Witcher satisfying.

Bottom Line

Two clicks in Options, then Gameplay, then switch Quick Sign Casting from Standard Casting to Quick Casting. That is the entire procedure, and it replaces a radial menu you have to open every time you want a sign with five direct inputs. For console players it is a straightforward upgrade because there is no alternative. For keyboard players it is a larger one, since the scroll wheel trick is still a menu.

The detail worth knowing before you start using it is that each key is two-position. Tap for the base sign, hold for the upgraded version, and the hold is per sign. Firestream on Igni is IGN's example, but the mechanic applies to all five, so a player with several upgraded signs is holding several different inputs.

The correction that matters most is the date. This is a 2022 Next-Gen Update feature that the Remastered inherited, not something the Remastered introduced, and no source supports any claim that the Remastered changed how it works. The Remastered did add other control changes, and this site covered those, but this setting is not among them.

What this site has not done is test it. There is no copy of the Remastered here, so every menu path and binding above is IGN's guide, the default setting is inferred from IGN's wording rather than confirmed, and the hold threshold is not published anywhere. If you are deciding whether to switch, the answer is yes, and it takes under a minute to find out.