Healing in Thymesia is always at a premium, though you can eventually optimize it so that only the toughest fights cost most of your potions. You start with three basic heals that will need to be carefully rationed, especially in boss fights. As you progress, you’ll acquire the means to upgrade potions across three separate tracks, and any fully-kitted brew can easily carry you from the beginning of a stage to the end.
Even hard boss fights become less of an issue than in other Souls-likes, as you have so much healing ability that only repeated mistakes are truly costly. This Thymesia guide will detail how to upgrade your potions, so you have the most comfortable time playing this brutal experience.
Alchemy Enhancers Explained
Scattered across every level and each of its sub-quests are mini-boss enemies. You’ll know you’re fighting them because the game will play a new soundtrack specific to that mini-boss. You’ll also notice that these enemies take significantly less damage than standard mobs and hit about twice as hard.
Mini-bosses are often alone or far enough away from lower-level enemies that you can engage in one-on-one fights. They also use different weapons from standard mobs: greatswords, dual weapons, blood attacks, and the like.
Defeating a mini-boss will award an item called an Alchemy Enhancer the first time you kill them. With an Alchemy Enhancer in hand, head to a Beacon in a level, or, if you’re at Philosopher’s Hill, talk to Aisemy or use the table at the back of the bedroom.
Potion Upgrade Tracks
There are three upgrade tracks for Potions, and the upgrade path is the same no matter which type of Potion you’re using:
- The number of Potions you can use before they’re exhausted.
- Depending on the type of Potion, this value is either six or eight.
- The amount of Health you recover when you use the Potion.
- Depending on the type of Potion, this value goes from 100-300 by default and as high as 175-525 fully upgraded.
- The number of Ingredients you can apply to the Potion to boost its effects.
- Initially, you can’t apply any Ingredients, but fully upgraded, you can equip up to three at a time.
Unlocking the first node on an upgrade track costs one Alchemy Enhancer, the next costs two, and the final costs three. To fully upgrade a Potion, you must collect 18 total Alchemy Enhancers.
If you want to use every type at its best, you’ll need 54 total Alchemy Enhancers. There are just enough mini-bosses in Thymesia to accomplish that goal, but you’ll need to clear every map and every sub-quest of their mini-bosses to do it.
With a fully upgraded Potion — no matter the type — you trivialize most standard encounters and put a much larger safety net below boss fights. Most bosses can still one or two-shot you if you get careless, but mistakes aren’t nearly as punishing. We’ve got more Thymesia content available, including how to level up fast, a guide to the basics of plague weapons, and the best Talents to unlock, with even more in our official Thymesia guides hub.
