Alright, let’s talk about making those fancy ‘expert’ potions in Genshin Impact. I remember when I first started getting serious about tackling tougher domains and bosses, the regular little potions just weren’t cutting it anymore. Felt like I needed that extra edge, you know? So, I decided to figure out how to consistently make the good stuff.
Figuring Out What’s Needed
First thing I did was actually look at what these ‘expert’ potions were. Basically, they’re the higher-star versions, giving bigger boosts. Stuff like Frostshield, Windbarrier, Heatshield potions – the ones that really help against specific elemental damage. And of course, the damage boosters like Desiccant Potion or Forest Essential Oil.
Okay, so I knew what I wanted to make. Next step was checking the recipes. You get most of these from reputation rewards in the different cities, like Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, and Sumeru now too. I had neglected my reputation stuff for a while, so I had some catching up to do. Spent a few weeks just focusing on hitting the reputation levels needed to unlock those specific potion blueprints. Lots of bounties and requests, kinda tedious but necessary.
The Material Grind
Once I had the recipes, the real ‘fun’ began: gathering materials. This is where the bulk of the effort goes, honestly. You need the basic stuff like Frogs or Butterfly Wings, sure, but the recipes often call for rarer items too.
- Crystal Cores: Ugh, chasing Crystalflies. Best spots I found were around the Dawn Winery statue and those caves in Liyue, like the one near Mt. Aocang (or whatever it’s called). Gotta be quick though, they spook easily. Using Sayu helps a lot if you have her, makes sneaking up way easier.
- Specific Local Specialties: Things like Cor Lapis for Geo potions, Dandelion Seeds for Anemo, Sakura Blooms for Electro (in Inazuma), etc. This meant planning farming routes. I’d mark spots on my map and do a run every couple of days when they respawned. The interactive map online is a lifesaver for this, even though I can’t link it here, you know the one.
- Monster Drops: Slime Condensate, Hilichurl Masks, Whopperflower Nectar… the usual suspects. Thankfully, you get tons of these just playing the game normally, doing daily commissions and clearing camps.
My Routine: I basically set up a little routine. Log in, do dailies, spend resin, then spend maybe 15-20 minutes doing a dedicated material run for whatever potion ingredients I was low on. Consistency was key. Didn’t try to get everything in one day, just chipped away at it.
Crafting Time
Got the recipes? Got the materials? Okay, time to actually make the potions. Head over to any crafting bench – the ones in the main cities are easiest.
It’s pretty straightforward from here. Just select the ‘Potion’ tab, find the recipe you want, and see how many you can craft. The interface tells you exactly what you need. If you have Sucrose or Albedo, sometimes they give you extra potions when crafting, which is a nice little bonus. I always try to use them if I’m doing a big batch.
I started by focusing on resistance potions first. Frostshield and Heatshield were my priority because dealing with Cryo and Pyro environments or enemies felt like the biggest pain points back then. Then I moved onto the damage oils for my main DPS characters.
Was It Worth It?
Honestly? Yeah, it was. When you pop a 3-star resistance potion before fighting something nasty like the Primo Geovishap or dealing with sheer cold in Dragonspine, you really feel the difference. Same with the essential oils – seeing those bigger damage numbers helps clear domains faster, which means more efficient resin use.
It takes a bit of setup, getting the recipes and establishing gathering routes, but once you get into the rhythm, keeping a steady supply of expert potions isn’t too bad. It’s just another part of the resource management game in Genshin. So yeah, that’s basically how I went about mastering the potion game. Bit of grind, bit of planning, but definitely helpful in the long run.
