The toolkit available to players in Elden Ring is a massive step forward for the Soulslike genre. FromSoftware has stepped up its game when it comes to versatile weapons and weapon arts, along with consumable and throwable items that can be crafted on the go. Among these items, the Flask of Wondrous Physick stands out as one of the most impressive customization tools for putting a proper build together.
What makes the Wondrous Physick such a unique part of the toolkit for the Tarnished in Elden Ring, is in centered in the use of the crystal tears found throughout the Lands Between. With abilities that range from giving players a full heal, to making abilities and spells cost no FP, the Wondrous Physick can take on dozens of rolls depending on the specific strategy needed for any particular encounter.
A Flask of Many Colors
Unlike most items that players will take into combat in Elden Ring which only have a single use from encounter to encounter, the Flask of Wondrous Physick is a more modular design. This is accomplished through the tears that players can find throughout the world. These range from Cracked Tears, Crystal Tears, and Bubble Tears, all of which give different effects when mixed into the Physick. Some are less impressive, like the Spiked Cracked Tear's charge attack increase, while others can completely overhaul boss fights, like the Crimsonwhorl Bubbletear that absorbs non-physical damage.
However, the abilities of these tears goes far beyond healing players, or giving a buff to damage for a limited time. The status improving Crystal Tears are a strong example of this range of abilities, essentially giving players up to ten free levels in a specific attribute for three minutes. This improvement in stat improvement doesn't only increase damage, but can actually unlock Elden Ring's high requirement weapons for low level builds. It only allows for limited use of these weapons, but three minutes of access to status effect weapons could be enough to turn a fight in the player's favor.
This is one of few items in the Tarnished's toolkit that has this type of versatility, that can change depending on the specific requirements of any build or boss encounter. It's more common throughout Elden Ring for a build's variety to come from separate new items as the player progresses, like sleep pots for the Godskin Duo. The Flask of Wondrous Physick is one of few tools that manages to add an entire level of customization with a single item, especially as players progress through the Lands Between and find new tears along the way.
Progressive Improvements Through Exploration
There are two types of locations that will reward players with a new tear to mix into the Flask of Wondrous Physick. The very first source of this added variety actually encompasses both of these types of location, reinforcing what to look for when players are wondering how to improve their toolkit. Most commonly, players will find new tears at the base of Minor Erdtrees, small offshoots of Elden Ring's defining landmark, sometimes being held in a large chalice and other times being guarded by Erdtree Avatars.
The exact conveyance of where to look on the map for some of the more well-hidden tears does leave something to be desired, but the Minor Erdtrees themselves make for great objectives to seek out. Each of these landmarks immediately signifies to players where they can find new improvements for their Flask of Wondrous Physick. It’s a system that gives players a small amount of guidance and where to go, without holding their hand the second they get a new map by leaving a blinking waypoint on the compass.
This trend even changes as players continue to find late-game locations like Mt. Gelmir or the Mountaintop of the Giants, where the Minor Erdtrees no longer have leaves. The result is a series of dead husks of these otherwise great trees where players might not expect to actually find crystal or cracked tears, or even the Erdtree Avatars that tend to be at each one. In the case of the one outside of Volcano Manor, this leads to a unique encounter against an Ulcerated Tree Spirit that drops one of the most impressive Physick items in the form of the Cerulean Hidden Tear.
Fitting the Wondrous Physick into Challenge Runs
Most fans of challenge runs in FromSoftware's catalog likely keep the trend synonyms with YouTube videos and Twitch streams of content creators like LilAggy, Iron Pineapple, or The Backlogs (to name only a few). However, like the speedrun community that has built up around games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, a large group of players regularly jump into these titles with unconventional weapons or without getting hit through the entire Soulsborne series. In the case of Elden Ring, specifically, many of these challenge runs have begun to rely more and more on the Flask of Wondrous Physick.
The Strength-knot Crystal Tear is a prime example of this ability to influence challenge runs, as mixing this into the Wondrous Physick can give level one Tarnished limited time use of weapons like the Zweihander on its own. Combine this stat bonus with items like Radagon's Soreseal, and even weapons with the highest stat requirements will be available on even the most rune-level limited runs. That's without even touching on the ways that certain mixtures of the Wondrous Physick can improve damage output for weapons that otherwise wouldn't be able to scratch late-game bosses.
Any run that uses a weapon like the whip or the various Envoy Horns with their strange bubble attacks can make great use of different Cracked Tears in order to upgrade elemental damage for a short time. On the defensive side, players can also negate a single attack, reduce damage for a time, or even absorb elemental damage. This all leads to a toolkit that can even combat the bloated health and damage of bosses like the Fire Giant. These challenge runs still require a significant amount of skill to come out victorious, but the Flask of Wondrous Physick it's accompanying toolkit puts a surprising advantage in the Tarnished's favor throughout Elden Ring.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.