Potion Permit beginner’s guide – tips and tricks

The indie game Potion Permit drops players off in a town called Moonbury that is in dire need of some help. Their more holistic approach to disease and malady, guided by a witch doctor, has been failing certain residents within the town. Thus, the Mayor reaches out to the capital and requests an alchemist to come and save his daughter — this is where the game begins.

Potion Permit does well in guiding players through the myriad of in-game systems and mechanics, though some aspects fall by the wayside throughout the tutorial. Here’s a quick list of some tips and tricks for new alchemists finding themselves a bit overwhelmed with becoming the de-facto medical support of Moonbury.

Related: How to get Meat in Potion Permit

Daily checklist for Potion Permit

When players first begin Potion Permit, it may feel as though there isn’t much to do every day. This ramps up quickly as new areas and mechanics are unlocked, but players will want to ensure they execute certain tasks every day possible.

• Talk to select characters to build friendship.
• Sell full row of potions within mailbox.
• Empty stamina through resource gathering.

Early game is the ideal time to stack on ingredients, although it should be noted that resource nodes within later areas will offer more materials for your stamina. Regardless, players have until 0200 every day to harvest resources across the map: take advantage of this so you don’t fall behind on cures or gold.

How teleportation works in Potion Permit

Players will find unassuming signposts across the land of Moonbury. Once interacted with, these signposts unfurl a banner, allowing the player to teleport anywhere on the map. Teleportation only works while outside, but it’s instant: teleporting takes no time from the day, nor stamina. This, combined with the fact that there’s a flag right outside of the alchemist house, means that players should ensure they’re maximizing stamina usage daily.

Where are my ingredients in Potion Permit?

When players go to create their first alchemical concoction, there may be confusion regarding where all of the ingredients gathered in the Meadows have gone. Each potion crafted has a select list of ingredients that it can accept, and each ingredient occupies a unique shape and number of slots within the cauldron. Ingredients are separated by element within the cauldron: use left and right bumper to shift between the elements.

Once you create any concoction five times, you can save it as a recipe for the future. Selecting this recipe will automatically fill the puzzle within the cauldron with pre-selected ingredients, and also allow the player to brew multiple potions at once. This is helpful once the mailbox is unlocked, as players can quickly craft and sell high-profit potions, much how the shipping box in Stardew Valley works.

Combat and battle within Potion Permit

New players to Potion Permit may find a few surprises within the game, especially regarding how combat works. First and foremost, most enemies will not damage a player stepping through their hitbox. It isn’t until the enemy actually completes an attack animation that the player can be damaged. With this in mind, it’s far faster to dive deep into regions by running past foes.

Secondly, the three tools offer differing amounts of damage, but the damage difference isn’t enough to develop a strategy around them. In the early game, most enemies will die from the same number of hits, whether using the sickle or the hammer. Even at mid-game, the damage difference is so minuscule that it’s most time effective to simply attack with whatever tool you have equipped at the time. The exception to this is with armored enemies, who must first be broken by the hammer.

Finally, you can stun-lock enemies prior to them beginning an attack animation. Once the animation begins, however, they cannot be stunned out of the attack — only killed prior to the attack executing. When confronting more difficult enemies, it is wise to cease attacking and dodge their attack once the animation begins. For many foes, however, players can simply face-tank the hit to eliminate the enemy quicker, thanks to low enemy damage.