Potion

Potions are part of a new kind of gameplay mechanic that was introduced during the 2023 NaNo event, Aurilis Magic Academy Event.

At their most basic, potions are a consumable item that can be crafted and then deployed during an active battle. The mechanic launched with three types of potion, followed by five more soon after. All of the currently released potions can only be used during "regular" battles, not during Endurance Battles or Co-Op Battles.

## Potions

For the duration of the New Frost Moon Ceremony (Nov 10th - 16th), the Freeze Potion was available using an alternate recipe, swapping the Stempo for 10 Stardust (Astrology) and 4 each of Spellfire (Spells), Dew Berry (Alchemy), and Scrolls (Knowledge).

For the duration of the Full Blood Moon Ceremony (Nov 24th - 30th), the Fire Grenade Potion's price was reduced from 250 coins to 200, and from 10 Stardust/Spells to 7. Two new potions were also introduced: the Blast and Inflate potions.

Dust Warriors using an Aurilis Academy Afterschool Pass could continue to access potions in Aurilis for the duration of their pass. Shortly after the event ended, three Time potions were released, to be found in Luciola Forest. During the Winter Wonderland event, the Freeze potion was also launched in Luciola, using a new recipe. The 25% Lole discount applied to all Luciola potions.

## Usage

The battle queue was revamped shortly after the Aurilis Academy event ended in December of 2023. New images reflect this revamped process.

Potions have been condensed to a single small beaker icon beneath your active battle.

Potions Icons during an active battle

To use a potion, you must first start a battle with the creature, then use the potion. They do not appear when you are not currently involved in a battle, so you cannot accidentally click on and waste them.

No Potions Icons prior to a battle

Nor do they appear on a creature they cannot be used on, such as an Endurance or Co-Op creature.

No Potions Icons on an endurance battle

You also cannot accidentally use or sell potions from your inventory.

Freeze Potion details in Inventory

When you click the potions icon and open that menu, you will see a button [1] allowing you to "get potions". This moves you to Alex's Shop in Luciola Forest, where some potions are currently available to purchase.

The Potions sub-menu

If you have already purchased any potions, they will be displayed [2] beneath the button.

When you select a potion's small icon [3], it will create a larger popup [4] showing the name, link to more information, and the options to use the potion or cancel your action.

Selecting a Potion to use

Once activated, potions in the fire, slow, and freeze families creates a visible effect around the monster you are actively battling, and also shows the potion in use above the word count and timer bars. The Slow Hex, Inflate, Blast, and Fire Grenade potions, which affect the timer and word count, respectively, immediately adjust the bars when used.

Slow Hex Potion/Inflate Potion in use

Fire Grenade Potion/Blast Potion in use

Because the Freeze Potion actually stops the current battle, it has a slightly expanded effect. The visual change appears on the frozen monster in the queue, along with a small snowflake indicator.

After the revamp, the visual indicator is actually an animated effect:

The freeze animation in action

The time family of potions have a fairly different result than the other kinds. When a time potion is used for the first time, it creates a new link to the Time-Warp menu at the bottom of the battle queue, featuring a preview of three of the creatures you have stored there.

The link to the Time-Warp menu

This menu is part of the command center, and can also be accessed by opening the expanded command center menu the usual way, and simply selecting the right tab [5] to find all Time-Warped creatures.

The Time-Warped Menu

The creature's name [6] is a link to their popup with more information. Each creature also shows a count down [7] to when their warp will expire and they will be released back into the wilderness. Finally, there is a button [8] allowing you to remove the creature from the Time-Warp and return them to your battle queue.

If your battle queue is full, that button will phase out, so you cannot accidentally remove a creature from Time-Warp with nowhere to put it, thus losing it.

Time-Warp with full battle queue

If you chose to remove a creature from the Time-Warp, there is a warning popup to confirm.

Un-Time-Warp warning popup

Unlike a creature frozen in the battle queue, which can be copied or fill the queue without losing its frozen status, a Time-Warped creature can only be removed, placing it back in the queue.

If you have placed a creature in the Time-Warp that you still have legitimate access to, such as a current event creature or, say, a Wignow from Luciola Forest, you can click its name for more information, and the "add to battle list" button will still be there.

An event creature in Time-Warp without an add button

However, if there is a creature that you no longer have "official" access to, such as an event creature after the event, their monster info popup will no longer have the add button. This is also the case for shrine creatures for whom you are no longer wearing the correct bracelet.

Furthermore, this is true even if you can still access the add button through another workaround, such as finding it in the command center, or via a quest's "plus" button. In this instance, I can still add Maniuk to my queue through a different means, but not through the monster info popup.

Alternative battle queue option for a Time-Warped creature

If you remove such a creature from your Time-Warp storage into your battle queue, you will once again be able to copy, fill, and freeze it as usual.

## Tactics

Since potions have only just been introduced, there are, of course, growing pains and things to iron out regarding their cost/benefit and availability. The following tactics and math have been compiled by Discord's denizens, and don't reflect potential future efforts to re-balance the cost/effect of these potions.

It is worth noting again that none of the potions currently released can be used on Endurance or Co-Op monsters.

### Freeze Potion

Once you have frozen a monster, it is possible to shift it around in your queue, moving other monsters above it and fighting them instead. If you have autoplay enabled, the game *will* start a battle with the next creature in your queue *below* the frozen one. This means that freezing a creature will not "protect" the creatures after it in the queue. However, because you can "copy" or "fill queue" from a frozen monster, this is a viable way to preserve a monster after an event without risking it accidentally being overwritten, by freezing it forever and then simply copying it to actively battle. It is also possible to freeze multiple monsters in your queue at one time.

**WARNING**: if the frozen monster is at the top of your queue, clicking the "Start your writing battle!" link instead of the command center medallion can restart the frozen battle, instead of opening your queue. Double check where you're clicking!

At the moment, with some of the re-balancing changes, the "cost" of stempos in words is estimated to be approximately 3,000 words. This is based on the repeatable quest, Sacred Feather & White Fur Run, which rewards 1 stempo for battling 3,350 words worth of creatures. Of course, Stempos can also be awarded from other one time quests, crafted, and purchased, but many of those options require real money or more progress through the game, and some are more "costly" in words to obtain the crafting supplies. Chests in later regions are also reliable sources, but Dust Warriors in the early stages of the game do not have access to these.

Because of this, a Freeze potion, which costs a stempo to craft, can cost a newer player upwards of 3,000 words to obtain. Thus, buying and using a Freeze potion, especially on smaller creatures, can be a very "costly" endeavor.

However, those in the later game with stempos to burn might prefer to freeze battles rather than repair lost ones after the fact, since both cost a stempo. This is also handy if accidentally fighting something you were attempting to save in your queue, or if autostart shenanigans activate something bigger that you intended to save for later. Those pursuing mastery in a creature that is no longer available may also find the price of a stempo worth it for the ability to freeze and "lock in" their saved monster.

Those with continued access to Aurilis via the afterschool pass continue to have access to purchase the freeze potion for a stempo. However, during the Winter Wonderland 2023 event, all Dust Warriors got access to a much cheaper method. Dust Warriors might find themselves far more willing to pay that cost.

Additionally, a new potion type was also launched, which some people might choose to apply instead of a freeze potion for certain uses. 4TheWords actually provided a graphic to illustrate the differences between the two:

Time-Warp vs Freeze Potions

### Time-Warp Potions

Tactically, the three Time-Warp potions (Time Dilation Pop, Time Rupture Grenade, and Time Fissure Blast) follow the same pattern. The only differences between them are an increasing number of months in containment for an increasing number of stempos.

Because there are no alternative recipes (though the 25% Lole discount does apply), these potions can only be obtained by sacrificing stempos. For Dust Warriors in the early game, for whom stempos are a rare commodity, careful planning is key. The one month potion costs 3 stempos, while the three month potion costs 6 stempos, meaning that with the latter you get an extra month for the same price. With the six month potion costing 10 stempos, just a bit more than 3 one month potions, it is a much better deal if you can afford the upfront price. With the Lole discount bringing the potions to 2, 4, and 7 stempos respectively, a three month potion is still the same price as 2 one month potions, and a six month potion is still slightly more than 3 one months.

It appears that these potions will stick around permanently (or at least for a good while), as they were released prior to the Winter Wonderland event, meaning that you only need enough potions to Time-Warp any creatures that will not be available to you once you have more stempos. These aren't like event exclusive potions where you might choose to stockpile them now because they won't be available for purchase in the future. If you don't have many creatures you currently want to Time-Warp, it might be worth it to save your limited stempos until you have progressed a little further in the game and obtained more stempos.

Cost aside, these potions fulfill a similar niche as Freeze potions, as shown in the above graphic. However, with their higher cost, and disadvantage when it comes to copying the monster in question, there are some distinct differences, tactically.

Time-Warp potions are ideal when you have no intention of fighting the monster at the moment, but wish to save it for the future. After the holidays, the month after the event, at the end of the semester, once you've finished your current mastery, etc.

In this instance, tucking the creature into a Time-Warp and not touching it for a while is preferable to freezing it in your queue where it will take up a slot and risk accidental deletion. Once you are ready to tackle the monster and fight it, removing it from the Time-Warp and using a freeze potion to lock it into your queue is a good combo move.

With the Time-Warp potions coming in three flavors (one month, three months, and six months), you can chose a cheaper potion if you know you are going to return to the monster relatively soon, and save the more expensive one for a monster you will not revisit quickly, or that you are keeping for a long term mastery.

Once a creature's Time-Warp timer is due to expire, you can maintain possession of it by returning it to your battle queue, and then either fighting it, freezing it, or Time-Warping it again.

Time-Warp potions are not ideal for a monster that you intend to fight relatively soon, because you cannot copy the monster to your queue from the Time-Warp pocket. They do, however, make a good backup for a creature you have already frozen, if you are worried about accidentally deleting it. With this method, you can always remove the spare creature from your Time-Warp and refreeze it in your queue. You can even copy it and do the Time-Warp again, to restore your backup options.

**WARNING**: if the timer runs out on your Time-Warp, the creature will be released back into the wilderness. If it is no longer available to add to your queue, you will be unable to get it back. Checking on the counters in your Time-Warp on a regular basis is a good idea to keep from getting surprised. Setting calendar alerts is also recommended if you are likely to forget or get distracted.

### Fire Grenade Potion

The Fire Grenade potion does "stack", meaning that you can use more than one on a single monster, lowering its word count considerably.

Something worth noting, however, is the math behind the items needed to craft the potion, Spellfire (Spells) and Stardust (Astrology) (both currently only dropped by Aurilis Magic Academy Event monsters).

The math behind crafting a Fire Grenade Potion

Crafted from scratch, this potion only saves words on monsters equal to or greater than 2500 words (with Lole), 3500 words (without Lole), or 4550 words (without Lole or Mund).

If you've obtained the potions from a bundle, they're fairly cost effective, however. And, as noted, they are very useful against some larger creatures in the Dust Region and Dusted Castle.

### Blast Potion

This potion suffers from similar cost/benefit math to that of the Fire Grenade Potion, which can be broken down as follows:

If you have Mund, and thus can swap event drops 1:1, then the 50-word monsters (Quarak and Musya) and Mibloom are the most efficient sources, dropping an average of 2 event materials per 50 words. Quarak and Musya are more consistent than Mibloom, when only looking at drops/words written, since Mibloom averages 8 drops per 200 words but can go as low as 6 drops per 200 words. For those without Mund, Knuff and Kinguz are needed, since they drop stardust and spellfire respectively.

With Lole (to lower the potion price) and Mund: Mibloom is the most OP use of Blast Potion, currently. One blast potion (1k words potion) = 5 Mibloom battles. Every 5 Mibloom battles via this potion nets an extra 10 event materials on average and costs 175 coins, after selling the event tokens.

The math behind Fire Grenade vs Blast Potions

### Slow Hex Potion

This potion suffers from similar cost/benefit math to that of the Fire Grenade Potion, as it also requires items from the current Aurilis Magic Academy Event to craft, which have similar drop rates.

That said, they can be extremely useful if you realize you don't have enough time left on a monster to finish it and can add a 15 minute buffer instantly. Those Dust Warriors who prefer the pressure of shorter timers probably won't get much use out of this function, however.

If you are the kind of Dust Warrior who prefers to erase lost battles with a stempo, and you catch that you're about to lose one before you actually do, the Slow Hex Potion, at 1,000 word count equivalent (700 with Lole) is cheaper than the Freeze Potion or repair Stempo (3,350 words), provided you can actually complete it in those 15 minutes.

## Acknowledgment

Thanks to those on the Discord who experimented with these potions, offered images, and did a ton of math, especially Ecstatic and Splash!