One of the more easily forgotten mechanics inBaldur’s Gate 3, especially for those who don’t hoard every alchemical ingredient they come across, is the alchemy system. When your ingredients are spread across your party, and you forget to manually extract them sometimes, you may miss out on some game-changing elixirs and oils.
Since elixirs are one per customer, they are expected to have strong effects that could break the game if more than one could be applied to the same character. There is a lot to consider when choosing which elixir to have ready at any time.
Updated May 28, 2025 by Matthew Cochran:Baldur’s Gate 3 recently won Game of the Year at the 2023 Game Awards, and after the holiday season, more players than ever have picked up the game and are ready to explore the streets of Baldur’s Gate. With so much to discover and unique interactions between various spells, skills, and magic items, there is a constant stream of new discoveries that make this game so incredibly dense yet exciting. Since alchemy and crafting are one of the most overlooked mechanics in Baldur’s Gate 3, we have added crafting ingredients to be aware of when exploring, so that you don’t accidentally sell them or let them mold away inside your alchemy pouch.
8Elixir Of Cloud Giant Strength
The strongest elixir for martial classes that use strength-based weapons, theElixir of Cloud Giant Strengthgives you a strength score of 27, which is seven higher than is otherwise allowed through ability score increases.
This puts your strength modifier at a +8, which affects your strength saving throw, athletics checks, weapon attack and damage bonus, jump distance, carry weight, throw and shove distance, and even works with magic items that grant bonuses based on Strength.
7Elixir Of Bloodlust
For characters with multiple high-damage attacks or actions per turn, theElixir of Bloodlustcould send you on a killing spree, eliminating half a dozen smaller enemies with a single character in just one or two turns. While it is strong on its own for resetting five temporary hit points after every kill, the additional action allows you to conjure some powerful combinations.
While you could use this to pop off a couple of Fireballs in one turn, a fifth-level Fighter with two-weapon fighting can make up to seven attacks in one turn, as long as they kill an enemy. What makes this elixir so strong is that it is relatively cheap to craft and stays active until you long rest.
6Elixir Of Heroism
TheElixir of Heroismis a strong elixir choice to give you an edge against any enemy in the game while giving you one of the strongest buff spells without wasting a spell slot or having to maintain concentration. The ten temporary hit point buff alone is one of the highest amounts you will see across class features and spells.
As for Bless, granting 1d4 bonus to all of your attack rolls and saving throws permanently until long rest will help you make attacks against high AC enemies or when you have forced disadvantage. Although it will only bless one character at time, having it up for much longer than ten turns without having to concentrate on it is hard to overlook.
5Elixir Of Universal Resistance
The strongest elixir in the game, the Elixir of Universal Resistance halves all damage you take from any source up until you long rest. While this doesn’t stack with a Barbarian’s rage resistance, it is beyond useful for any race, class, and equipment combo.
Although it is an exceptionally strong potion, it might start burning a hole in your pack from lack of use due to how difficult they are to craft and obtain. However, you’ll want to use it every time you get intocertain boss fightsin Act Three if you want at least one party member standing.
4Elixir Of The Colossus
Using the enlarged in the Enlarge/Reduce spell, theElixir of the Colossusdoubles the size of your character. While it doesn’t increase your strength score like the giant strength potions, the flat damage bonus has the potential to deal more damage on weapon attacks than the modifier increase would.
The bonus to strength saves and checks is useful to avoid getting shoved, stunned, disarmed, or tripped, but this elixir is best used on martial fighters who use Dexterity-basedweapons like bows, that the giant strength elixirs wouldn’t otherwise improve.
3Elixir Of Battlemage’s Power
TheElixir of Battlemage’s Powerseems simple at first until you inspect the Arcane Acuity condition, which gives a +1 to spell attack rolls and DC for every turn remaining. However, since it’s an elixir, the condition stays at three until you long rest where it would otherwise decrease by one every turn.
This means you get a flat +3 to all spell attack rolls and spell save DC, which is a significant bonus on its own, but when combined with other magic items, it means you will never miss an attack roll or have an enemy save out of your spells again.
2Supreme Elixir of Arcane Cultivation
TheSupreme Elixir of Arcane Cultivationis special in that instead of refilling spell slots, it grants a whole new one regardless of your spellcasting ability or max slot level. For Warlocks, the arcane cultivation elixirs are extremely useful to get past the three slot limit, and it even refills after taking a short rest.
For Paladins and Eldritch Knight Fighters, this gives them access to a spell slot level not otherwise afforded to their class, allowing themto upcast spellsfor more damage than they’d normally have. If nothing else, these elixirs can be used in an emergency to get an additional slot when you’re out.
1Elixir Of Vigilance
This elixir is best used as insurance while exploring to stop from causing your party to get wiped out by a surprise attack, as it prevents whoever drank it from receiving the surprise condition. This is especially useful in Act Two, where enemies are waiting in ambush around nearly every corner.
The other bonus from the elixir is a flat +5 bonus to initiative, which is best used on certain characters that you want to ensure start at the top of initiative, or for low Dex characters that you don’t want going last.
Baldur’s Gate 3
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
