Ranking EVERY Potion in Slay the Spire! (Tier List)

[@Baalorlord]

What’s your personal favorite potion? Comment below!

[@supersilverjnr9683]

I love distilled chaos, well for the chaos. Either saves the fight or loses you the fight :)

[@AvangionQ]

Fruit Juice ... it's a permanent fully-stacking buff.

[@AWPNubDiesel]

Generally, at all points in the game, I think that has to go to dupe pot. It can win you boss fights, or get you just enough damage to not die to gremlinob. Gambler's brew is up there as anti-brick technology. That or a swift pot are life saving potions against spear/shield turn 2, since it's easy to brick with 2 cards being burns. Obviously the rare character specific pots are good, but another lifeline potion is ritual pot. Sometimes I am able to beat a boss with a subpar deck simply because I have one. I'm not always happy to see it like I am dupe or gambler's, but when I do need it, it's pretty clutch.

[@lincolnmiller4757]

Ambrosia

[@jonjones5092]

Artifact potion is my favorite for my robot buddy. It mostly solves for Chosen and Nobbert when I'm going for an infinite, and is just good to hold on to for Heart / Biased Cog / the two 5 stat potions if nothing else comes up. Highly flexible, very strong high end output, satisfying to use. It's hard to do better.

[@robertdascoli949]

I've got 500 hours in this game. It never dawned on me that ghost in a jar was Slient only.

[@williamenciso9198]

I'm pretty that it was once available to all characters, but that was changed to be Silent only. That might be why you didn't know.

[@jefferybrown6312]

Same. I used to think everyone could get it

[@yunakitty2]

I did the same thing with Blood Potion and Ironclad 😮

[@LucyTheBox]

Regen potion without sacred bark: 15 HP (5, 9, 12, 14, 15) Regen potion with sacred bark: 55 HP (10, 19, 27, 34, 40, 45, 49, 52, 54, 55) The sheer amount of extra value that 1 relic gives is bonkers.

[@yalieyal4362]

Downside to sacred bark is you won't always get good (or any) potions

[@icemans1matedude339]

@@yalieyal4362 True tho if you have a white beast statue already and you dont need energy, sacred is a good pick

[@takodarogers1795]

Or alchemize@@icemans1matedude339

[@n0xure]

​@@icemans1matedude339 Yeah, I once had Alchemy, White Beast, Potion Belt and Sacred Bark - and because I had 2 potion drops per fight and 4 slots, I kept rolling into entropic brews... Always keep an open mind with Sacred Bark especially when playing Silent.

[@noodler5583]

@@n0xureI had that same setup along with toy ornithopter and burst

[@alexradford207]

I think the ritual potion has won the most runs for me, but I love the interaction between artifact and flex/speed potions. That's the combo that actually feels like a clever play instead of an I win button.

[@natekite7532]

It might not be my favorite but I have such a fondness for block potion. It makes me feel safe when I have one, and when you inevitably get a bad turn where you're forced to take 24, it always feels nice to say "well at least I've got this block potion"

[@wesnohathas1993]

Agreed, I like block potion a lot for its ease of use along with it's effect not being so strong that I'd feel the need to hoard it.

[@LucyTheBox]

I prefer block potion over the speed potion. Sure the speed potion is great in combination with an artifact, but not often are you going to have access to an artifact. And outside of that case, for the speed potion to catch up to the block potion, you need to play 2 block cards and even then, you're 2 block short of the block potion. Not to mention that on average, playing 2 block cards will cost 2 energy. Meanwhile, the block potion doesn't require any energy to make use of. Got an unlucky draw with 0 block cards? The block potion can take the place of those cards and allow you to spend all your energy on attacking. Meanwhile, if you can use the speed potion, it means you've drawn block cards, meaning you are often in less need of even more block.

[@SuperYtc1]

Agreed. The speed potion needs a buff imo, to +8. I find it’s the worst potion and my least used. Hard to find a place for it for reasons you’ve mentioned.

[@123kidxpac123pac]

I think my favourite potion is probably fairy, just because it allows me to play more recklessly, so I am more likely to have a winning run.

[@captain_malaria]

Especially when you are at single digit health, then get hit by Hyperbeam or some other huge hit and basically negate tons of the overkill damage.

[@elim9054]

My favorite is probably dupe pot. Getting to play a big card or a power twice without paying extra energy is huge most of the time

[@dangilboa6496]

I don't know which is the best but most fun to play has to be distilled chaos with the sacred bark. Watching those 6 cards fly by and resolving themselves is so much fun that I can't help smiling even if I get screwed by the wrong card being played at the wrong time. Other that that, Fairy in a bottle of course, for that small chance of having the satisfaction of setting her free after beating the heart without her help.

[@quantummidget]

Distilled Chaos -> Blashphemy -> Meditate Strongest play in the game

[@kobarsos82]

@Baalorlord For smoke bomb potion you need to take account that different type of players and decks can actually mess up on specific hallway fights or elites, plus not everyone is playing the game on ascension 20. Your deck may be overall decent or ok to win a run, but may get messed up by a forced "unlucky" endgame fight such as the Transient or the Writhing mass or some of the insane elites in act3 like giant head, Reptomancer and Nemesis. There are a few decks that simply may not perform great in all of those battles, in all the runs in this game. Yes it may seem like a lose more potion, but often in endgame you simply don't want to take more damage in your run just before reaching Donu and Deca or Time Eater by a stupid fight that is simply tailored against your deck type/strategy. In those situations it honestly shines. I have won a few runs by avoiding very specific fights with mediocre decks and got a win when I would lose. With all that said, its still not a good option of a potion in most cases, just one that can be a lifesaver mostly in act 3. This is a great video for a general idea for the potions, cheers.

[@IONProd]

I mean it's really only useful in act 3 or against event fights that punish not fighting. So like 50% of the time it does nothing. Also sure not everyone plays a20. Bit that's mostly what this list is for

[@franslair2199]

notable insane elite nemesis, not an act 2 elite that stumbled into act 3

[@memolano100]

I completely agree with this comment. It’s a life saver for some elites in act tree.

[@briankelly1240]

All the talk about block potion being the middling potion to then put the majority above it, started to feel bad for block potion

[@QualityGamingStudios]

Somewhat niche but I like using the ancient potion in a snecko fight if I happen to run into one and have the potion because I tend to run decks that get destroyed by snecko (mostly low cost)

[@BedrockBlocker]

I like the blood potion a lot, think it's underrated. Very flexible and the fact that you can always drink it makes it better than fairy in a lot of situations

[@pa130]

I didn't know smoke bomb on the spear & shield was a bug lmao

[@mindseyemusicreview]

I used to get so excited about the forge potion when I was on my first few attempts at the spire.

[@CardbroadM]

I think smoke bomb has a more meta effect rather than a combat one. If I have a smoke bomb in Act 2, it allows me to greed more and go down like a 3-elite path anyways if my deck power is still in the works. And then I can adapt on when to use it or switch it out with a combat-oriented potion.

[@RogertheGS]

I judge potions by consistency of their effect. So power, you really don't know what kind of effect you will get, but value goes up if you get consistent power combos (like Defect). Same for all the card-making potions. If you pop Skill as Defect when you really need block you might instead get some pseudo attacks and card manipulation. Most consistent are those that do just what they say, like Block or the bombs. So unless I have lots of support for attacks I will pick 20 sure damage over a random attack card.

[@benjaminmeusburger4254]

ssacred bark with 2 cultist postion and 2 regen potion +4 strength and 20 healing per round - that was pretty fun :-)

[@SlakjeJasper]

I usually keep a smoke potion for act 2. Love me some distilled chaos and duplication though.

[@liesalllies]

Power potion is my favorite especially with ironclad. Mmm free barricade.

[@Tomapella]

Love the Lordran poster behind you!

[@MrDraehl]

Perfect tier list IMO. In hearing the Smoke Bomb discussion I really would like to see it buffed. Maybe escape combat and steal 20 gold from your opponent? That way you don't miss out quite so much in, say, avoiding an early multi enemy fight when your deck lacks AOE.

[@szelitzkyerick7456]

Doesn't need to, it's just there to save 1 in 100 runs when you draw poorly and don't have any other choice.

[@Access1296]

I think the only way to reasonably buff it would be something like “escape your current non-boss combat. You get no rewards. Immediately encounter a random event.” That way you don’t just completely lose out on a floor, but it also doesn’t give you the rewards. Otherwise, it would be equivalent to “immediately murder all enemies”. Either that, or you could go with “restart the current combat.”

[@timothywatkins4710]

I had a run as ironclad where I bought fruit juice early. I was on like A17 made a play early in the run to buy fruit juice because I didn’t think I could survive a regular floor fight in my current shape. I had like 9HP and the store had nothing else good. I rebounded this run into a victory after killing slime boss with like 4HP. It can be worth it to buy, but not usually.

[@bernardomuniz4631]

oh yes, the master returned. thanks for blessing us with your guidance!

[@nickbarlow4270]

What?! A baalor tier list? You made my weekend!

[@williambrinkmeier1772]

Elixirs best use on iron clad are making a deck go infinite beat the heart a few times on a20 cause it sped up the deck just enough .

[@n0xure]

Smoke bomb is at least a B-tier in the Act 3 imho. Rewards have diminishing returns - that one card drop and 30 gold probably isn't going to make a difference if you already made it that far; but you can have unlucky matchups in Act 3 that drain a lot of HP.

[@IONProd]

Yes but act 3 is less than a 3rd of your run. Outside of that it's not doing much

[@memolano100]

I agree, it’s a great potion to avoid that one difficult elite that is going to destroy your deck. I do like the smoke bomb quite a lot in act 3.

[@kendawgthemasterdude]

It’s also super good in act 1 for skipping nob with a skill-heavy defect or silent run

[@jakubturlinski7159]

I enjoyed this video as many others, however I'd like to address one misconception in regards to Weak and Fear Potions. While the effect of these statuses do not decrease/increase the damage they do stack in another way. The status will be applied for more turns. This makes both of these potions quite potent in boss fights as well as an artifact removal. (The Bronze Automaton, the Sphere Guardian, as well as Act 4 opponents come to mind) Other than that, a very informative video

[@pouqie]

i'm shocked at power pot in B tier. When i prepare for a boss it's probably one of my highest priority potion

[@Blarsen780]

Agreed. A chance to drop a free 3 cost power on turn 1 is amazing. Even a 1 or 2 cost power can have a significant impact on the fight. Also, it's really nice to have it with Orange pellets for on-demand debuff removal.

[@brysonskaar3070]

Similar feelings on ancient potion but I just had a heart win with Defect where I saved the potion to nullify the focus down debuff on Biased Cognition in that fight, worked excellent. But many runs I find it less useful agreed haha

[@tym6217]

I love the Essence of Steel if I specifically am retaining block from Callipers, Barricade or like. On its own though it is generally fairly weak.

[@juanquntos7123]

Interesting, I greatky prefer swift potion over gambler's brew. I find that often id rather just play my hand than redraw, even as silent, and when i run out of cards to play, swift refills my hand while gambler doesn't.

[@rybones6671]

Hey, Bae x Would you do a tier list of potions for each character, individually? I notice you seem unsure about a potion's placement depending on how good or bad it is for all characters overall. Thanks for all the content; I started playing a short while ago, and your videos have really helped, cheers!

[@Tom-vx7qh]

No potion will beat the fire potion for me. So simple, yet so effective, can carry an entire elite fight early on no matter what kind of deck you have

[@MinhNguyen-lm2nw]

For mẹ ritual is the best iam alway build my ironclad with limit break and lot of card to boost strength make A20 is nothing really with deck card small and 2 litmit break update and some cards like flex and infame,dame I take boomerang and heavy blade,use 2 rage update card remove all shield card that I can,+1 reaper that build win every game

[@89Phish]

just watching this as im starting my first attempt at A15 on silent. Just boss swapped a Sozu....

[@insobyr9779]

I'd put speed potion to C or even D tier and ambrosia to A at most. In most cases I struggle with block, it is when I don't have enough block card in hand, speed potion as a panic button is way worse than 12 blocks ; For ambrosia, since the most reliably winnable watcher build is stance dancer with rush down, I find ambrosia awkward to use especially in the late game.

[@RCTricking]

Ambrosia is like 1.5 energy pots, 3 attack pots, AND triggers all your stance stuff tho 🤔

[@Ryusuta]

I think Smoke Bomb is good in situations similar to the Busted Crown - if you've already got a really strong deck and don't feel like cluttering it with more stuff, then I see no reason not to Smoke Bomb out of one of the more annoying Act 3 enemies and be done with it. if I've got a bunch of poison and multiple Catalysts as The Silent, I'm not that interested in getting more stuff.

[@Ryusuta]

Wait, Artifact prevents you from losing Flex? QUICK, WRITE THAT DOWN! WRITE THAT DOWN!!!

[@WHIYCDDAS]

Duplication potion + heavy blade (with some strenght)

[@r1enfleche]

Gambler's Brew + Grand Finale is fun

[@DrScott-i9r]

I save smoke bomb for the two thieves fight, especially if I have a "slow" deck. No rewards is better than loosing all my money 2 floors before a merchant.

[@hazelgill5805]

Not all blocks are skills! Going for dashes out of attack potions on silent always feels good as a hail mary, or to a lesser extent something like Iron Wave on Ironclad. Definitely won combats off of that.

[@CheesyRacc]

My favorite potion is the ritual potion or the snek oil

[@wesnohathas1993]

Essence of Steel sucks on its own, but the value scales non-linearly with more of the effect. Multiple of it at the same time or Sacred Bark can make it much better.

[@hotpolishtakes9063]

Very good videos :)

[@carterthaxton]

I’m triggered by the thumbnail with Smoke Bomb in S-tier. Thankfully, after watching the video, I see that wasn’t the actual ranking.

[@DogginsFroggins]

I don't get why fruit juice is that good, its legit 5 hp where fairy is a revive or literally a free hyper beam from the robot boss, I don't see how they are both in the A tier.

[@elim9054]

Fruit juice is valuable because of the max HP buff, not the heal.

[@DogginsFroggins]

@@elim9054 Increasing your max hp by 5 is so insignificant its barely worth considering, how that is better than pots that could literally save or win a run makes no sense. A tier should mean "this is a better pick than these" and I can't really ever justify picking a fruit juice over basically anything, I'd rather have almost anything else.

[@elim9054]

@@DogginsFroggins 5 HP is absolutely not insignificant. Max HP adds up much more quickly than you think it does, and raising it makes healing events and resting at campfires better since they're based on your current max HP. Fruit Juices are also like Blood Potions in that you can drink one at any time, including after combat to make space for another potion. The only time you wouldn't take one is if your potion slots were already full and you had a specific plan for each of your potions for an upcoming boss or elite fight.

[@DogginsFroggins]

@@elim9054 its a whole 2 feeds, really not such a big deal. If you win or lose a run by 5 max hp you were gonna lose either way. Honestly having a block potion could save you, a str or dex pot makes an unwinnable boss winnable, I don't see why you would buy a fruit juice over a str pot or something, its not really A tier worthy in my eyes.

[@szelitzkyerick7456]

@@DogginsFroggins "if you win or lose by 5 max hp you're gonna lose anyway" and by that statement you've proven how ignorant you are about this game. Also, you're supposed to DRINK the Fruit Juice, not have it during the boss fights / act 4. It doesn't take a potion slot.

[@macnolds4145]

I think Baalor is actually "too good" to rank these potions. Hear me out...You can't ask a math genius who got his PhD at age 15 about which undergrad math course is the hardest/easiest/best/worst, as his perspective on things varies too much from the norm. Instead, you wanna ask the guy who got a Master's in math, but not a PhD, because the program was too tough. In other words, Baalor is so good at using each potion (and so good at surviving without potions), that he tends to overrate weak potions and underrate strong/valuable potions. Consider the regen potion, for example. For most people, it's very hard to use and not very good. You'd much rather just have a nice immediate health boost, or something offensive that helps you get through a tough fight immediately. You might think, "I'll just save it for a boss battle, because that will last a few turns." But, after you beat a boss, you get a nice heal anyway. Also, you might not make it to the boss if you're holding a regen potion instead of something else that would be more impactful right away. Non-boss battles don't usually last that many rounds. In my opinion, the absolute best potions are the ones that do any of the following: - keep you alive for a turn - make a single turn incredibly powerful offensively, by boosting your attack power, lowering your card costs, giving you draw, etc. - make you more powerful for an entire combat - don't make you consider swapping them for something that is more immediately impactful

[@marcar9marcar972]

Yeah

[@tescobakery1927]

Smoke potion S tier, you're severely overestimating the value of 1 battle. Yeah u can get a good card and/or a relic at the cost of 95% of your health but if you're on Act 3, I ain't sacrificing my health over an unknown card/relic, especially when my deck is essentially complete. Smoke potion is the ultimate get out of jail free card, more so than the ghost in a jar.

[@martinpalmenberg2678]

So the takeaway from this is to not play ironclad

[@TimTim3000]

Blood potion really belongs in S-tier imo.

[@Rob-uc2jh]

Why are you dancing?

[@londynlewis283]

dude a lot of the things you say contradict themself.. most slay the spire fights last more than 2 turns. You totally undervalued cultist and overvalued explosive, miracle and forge

[@szelitzkyerick7456]

If cultist pot is so important to you. Then you should probably pick more cards that scale your damage.

[@yendorthegrand4078]

With a name like "baal" you must be jewish? Idk just a guess.

[@cdogthehedgehog6923]

What. Baal is synonymous with god in hebrew. Not that it matters. Its all fairy tales anyways.

[@Dystopie173]

Man, can you please stand still? It is almost unwatchable😂

[@joeyd9351]

Just don't look at the screen while listening to the video

[@felixap9286]

Man I really wanted to watch this video but 28 seconds in and this guy cannot say the words 'dont forget to drop a like below' without sounding like a serial killer. Seriously, I never seen your content before and that isn't an advance sentence. That goes double if you are showing your face. Why not retake the whole video then if you fumbled at the starting line??

[@Olivernt1]

You have brain damage, right?