Terraria: Making Potions

Brewing the Best Buff Potions for Fighting Bosses

Combat Potions will greatly enhance your character's abilities in Combat, from defense to offense

Terraria features dozens of Potions that affect your character with some buff or another, many of which are invaluable and worth farming the materials to get. This guide's focus is to get you up to speed on the best buff potions for fighting bosses and where to get the materials. There are two guides that act as companions to this one: Gardening in Terraria and Making a Potion Crafting Station. I will not repeat that info here, so if you don't know about growing plants or how to place a bottle to get started in Alchemy, visit those pages. If you want a reliable source of potions, you must start a garden.

Bottled Water
Every single potion in this list requires 1 Bottled Water and I don't want to repeat the directions a dozen times. Get it by converting Sand blocks into glass - then bottles - at a Furnace. You will end up with one bottle per Sand you gather, so get a few hundred if you want to make a lot of potions. Once you have the bottles, simply go to any body of water and open your crafting menu with the bottles on you. You can bottle it without affecting the water level.

Healing Potions
For those in Hard Mode I suppose I can say that Greater Healing Potions are made with 3 Bottled Water, 3 Pixie Dust, and a Crystal Shard. I'm not bothering to list them all here, this is about buffs. I do however think it's a good place to share a tip about life management during a boss fight. Use it a little pat the point you can benefit from the full amount of healing that the potion will provide. If 260 HP and a 100HP potion, use at ~145 to bring you up to 245. That way, the timer on potion sickness will start and you may have one or two more shots at drinking a potion during the fight. This just might sustain you. I've personally never even crafted a regular healing potion, just find them while exploring.

While Desktop players can fish for their food, mobile and console need to kill goldfish to collect them. Evidently the consoles have a bug net, but it's not worth the trouble when you can just whack them over the heads. Make a point to farm for them in the rain if you've no other option to get Well-Fed.

Well-Fed
My favorite buff of all - gives 2 defense, 2% critical chance, +5% damage, minion knockback (for the summoners out there) and extra movement speed. All in all it has the most boosts of any of the potions, especially in Expert Mode where it is practically required in order to have life regeneration work like it should. On PC, get this buff by simply catching fish and cooking them at a Cooking Pot. This form of the buff lasts 20 minutes.

For console/mobile, use bowls (made from clay), mushrooms, and kill goldfish (in the next patch you'll have to catch them with a net). The best time to farm goldfish is during rain, when they will walk around. They spawn in ponds on the surface normally, but you'll see them far from water during rain. 1 each of these 3 is enough to make a bowl of soup at the cooking pot. Later, buy pumpkin seeds from the Dryad, grow pumpkins on grass and use 10 of them at the Furnace to make pumpkin pie, which lasts much longer at 45 minutes.

For those who don't want to mess with goldfish, the Traveling Merchant sometimes sells some Asian-themed foods that cost but provide this buff. The boost is the same no matter the source.

Reference
If you are familiar with the game's potion crafting and only need a reference list of materials to make some good combat potions, skip to the material list.

Boss Fight & Combat Potion List

Endurance Potion

	4 mins	Reduces damage taken by 10%. Stacks with other damage-reduction buffs.
For now, PC-Only

Endurance Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Armored Cavefish - Catch them in the Underground Caverns. Find the biggest pool of water you can to maximize your chances.
• Blinkroot - Grows in Dirt/Mud without grass. Found primarily underground because of this.

Ironskin Potion

5 mins

Increases Defense by 8, which reduces all damage taken by 4 - 6 on Expert Mode (PC). This potion is stupid-easy to make, so you have no reason to overlook it!

Ironskin Potion Ingredients and Where to Get:

• Daybloom - Grows on the surface in grass. Harvest during the day to get seeds.
• Iron or Lead Ore - Must be Ore form. Get from Mining!

Lifeforce Potion

	5 mins	Increases maximum health by 20%, so allows characters to reach 600 once they've collected enough life crystals and life fruit (Hard mode).
For now, PC-Only, Requires Hardmode for Hallow

Lifeforce Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Prismite - Found by fishing in the Hallow Biome. Find a large pool to increase chances, and use the best bait you can get.
• Moonglow - Grows in the Jungle. Harvest them at night to get seeds.
• Shiverthorn - Grows in the Ice Biome.
• Waterleaf - Grows in the Desert. Harvest them during rain to get seeds.

Regeneration Potion

5 mins

Regenerates 2 life per second, incredibly effective when combined with a campfire and heart lantern placed nearby, as well as wearing a band of regeneration or any other accessory that boosts life regen.

Regeneration Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Daybloom - Grows on the surface in grass. Harvest during the day to get seeds.
• Mushroom - Grows on grass in the surface layer

Shine Potion

5 mins

Causes the player to emit light, which can be helpful for your maneuvering during boss fights, should you have to stray from any light sources. It helps you see better, period.

Shine Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Daybloom - Grows on the surface in grass. Harvest during the day to get seeds.
• Glowing Mushroom - Grows in the Underground Mushroom Biome. Sometimes Mushroom Grass will drop when farming them, allowing you to create your own above-ground Mushroom biome by planting it in an area with lots of mud blocks.

Swiftness Potion

4 mins

Increases the player's movement speed by 25%. This greatly impacts your ability to dodge boss attacks, and helps with general exploration as well. Cactus is a renewable resource and you get the same cactus material whether it's corrupt or not.

Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Blinkroot - Grows in Dirt/Mud without grass. Found primarily underground because of this.
• Cactus - Grows in the desert. Use an axe to chop them.

Specialist Combat Potions & Flasks

The following are GREAT potions, but only if you're using a ranged (arrow-specific), magic damage build, or playing as a Summoner. I've ignored the Ammo Reservation Potion because it's not as useful overall, though you can make them with Moonglow and Double Cod (caught in Surface Jungle).

Archery Potion

4 mins

Increases arrow velocity and damage by 20%. Helps to make your shots connect, while delivering better dps.

Archery Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Daybloom - Grows on the surface in grass. Harvest during the day to get seeds.
• Lens - Farm by killing demon eyes, which attack the surface at night.

Magic Power Potion

2 mins

Increases Magic damage by 20%. Because of its short duration, you should pop this potion right before the fighting starts. Useless to any other type of build, even one who summons - those monsters do summon-specific damage.

Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Deathweed - Found in Corruption/Crimson. Blooms during Full/Blood moons - harvest then to get seeds
• Fallen Star - Explore the surface at night and collect them. Disappears in the morning.
• Moonglow - Grows in the Jungle. Harvest them at night to get seeds.

Mana Regeneration Potion

7 mins

Increases Mana regeneration, which has a complex formula that slows the rate of regen the lower your mana is, but boosts the rate the closer you are to full. This will help you get back to full much, much faster if you deplete all your Mana.

Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Daybloom - Grows on the surface in grass. Harvest during the day to get seeds.
• Fallen Star - Explore the surface at night and collect them. Disappears in the morning.
• Moonglow - Grows in the Jungle. Harvest them at night to get seeds.

Summoning Potion

6 mins

Increases maximum number of Minions by 1.

Summoning Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Moonglow - Grows in the Jungle. Harvest them at night to get seeds.
• Variegated Lardfish - Caught in the Underground/Caverns layer Jungle.

Flasks
Melee can use flasks, which are made by purchasing an Imbuing Station from the Witch Doctor NPC after defeating Queen Bee. The only flasks relevant to defeating bosses are the Flask of Ichor (made with Ichor drops from Underground Crimson enemies) and Flask of Cursed Flames (made with Cursed Flame drops from Underground Corruption enemies). They both take Bottled Water, of course. Thankfully, few bosses are immune to these two powerful effects, while the rest of them are nearly useless in most boss fights. While ranged characters can technically hit an enemy with melee to trigger these debuffs, it may not always be worth it.

Crimson/Corruption Combat Potions

Note about these: You'll only have access to two of them in a given world unless you either go to another world with the opposite Biome to farm the materials or bring a large quantity of crimson/corrupt blocks to your main world to start an artificial biome. You can buy the crimson/corrupt seeds from the Dryad during a Blood Moon.

Of this class of Potion, Thorns is the only one currently available on Console/Mobile Terraria because it does not take Fish. It does not require stinger nor worm tooth to be crafted, so is biome-neutral.

Heartreach Potion

	8 mins	This one is worth noting because of the times a boss has a minion that drops hearts when killed. This increases the range of heart pickups, which will help you to easier heal in a pinch. It's not good if you plan to save hearts for a later phase of a fight though, but still worth mentioning. It is very handy if you've wired heart statues on a timer and want to be able to collect the hearts from afar.
Requires Crimson, PC-Only

Heartreach Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Crimson Tigerfish - Caught in the Crimson. Find the largest pool of water you can in order to maximize your chances of fishing one up.
• Daybloom - Grows on the surface in grass. Harvest during the day to get seeds.

Rage Potion

	4 mins	Increases critical strike chance of all weapons and abilities by 10%, mathematically it is a nice 10% boost in DPS, and sometimes you'll get lucky. It is very much worth fishing massive amounts of Hemopiranha to keep these available.
Requires Crimson, PC-Only

Rage Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Deathweed - Found in Corruption/Crimson. Blooms during Full/Blood moons - harvest then to get seeds
• Hemopiranha - Caught in the Crimson. Find the largest pool of water you can in order to maximize your chances of fishing one up.

Thorns Potion

	2 mins	Deals a portion of the enemy's damage back at them, but only works for melee strikes from that monster. Still, any character making contact with an enemy will return damage back at them, and it helps in a long fight. This also gives knockback on contact.
Corruption-Only on PC

Thorns Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Cactus - Grows in the desert. Use an axe to chop them.
• Deathweed - Found in Corruption/Crimson. Blooms during Full/Blood moons - harvest then to get seeds
• Stinger - Farm from Hornets and Spiked Jungle Slimes in the Jungle
• Worm Tooth - Farm from Devourers (worms) in the Corruption.

Wrath Potion

	4 mins	Increases all damage by 10%. Obviously it stacks wonderfully with the Rage Potion. In long fights, the Rage and Wrath Potions are similar in power, but Summoner players will find this one more useful - Minions can't crit, so it's better to get the flat +% damage boost..
PC-Only, Requires Corruption

Wrath Potion Ingredients and Where to Get Them

• Deathweed - Found in Corruption/Crimson. Blooms during Full/Blood moons - harvest then to get seeds
• Ebonkoi - Catch these in the Corruption at any altitude. Find the largest pool you can in order to maximize your chances.

Material List for Mass-Crafting

If you want to make these, but don't remember the ingredients well, having stacks of the following materials on your character will let you make all of the non-specialist potions (including the ones PC-only - don't worry, I hear the rest of you get fishing soon!). I've described how to get all the ingredients above, sometimes multiple times.

• Armored Cavefish (PC)
• Blinkroot
• Bottled Water
• Cactus
• Daybloom
• Glowing Mushroom
• Iron or Lead Ore
• Moonglow
• Prismite (PC - Hallow Fish - Hard Mode Only)
• Shiverthorn
• Waterleaf
• Add Lens if Using Arrows
• Add Fallen Star if Using Magic Spells
• Add Variegated Lardfish if playing a Summoner (PC)
• Add Crimson Tigerfish and Hemopiranha if Crimson (PC)
• Add Worm Tooth and Ebonkoi if Corruption (PC)

...or go to a Crimson/Corrupt World and farm those and have all of them at once! Keep in mind you can also make these biomes in your main world, just like any other.

If you're melee, make use of the great flasks available via the imbuing station. There is so much in this game one could get lost learning about all the little things you can do. I hope this is helpful to some of you, and I'll appreciate feedback.