Elden Ring’s Flask of Wondrous Physick is one of the best new tools for Souls-like customization options.
Elden Ring’s toolkit represents a significant advancement for the Soulslike genre.FromSoftware has improved its weapon arts and versatile weapons, as well as throwable and consumable items that can be crafted while on the go.
The Flask of Wondrous Physick stands out among these items as one of the most impressive tools for customizing a build.
A Flask of Many Colors
The Flask of Wondrous Physick has a design that is more modular in comparison to the majority of items that players will bring into combat in Elden Ring, which only has one use from one encounter to the next.
The tears that players can find all over the world accomplish this. When combined with the Physick, these include Cracked Tears, Crystal Tears, and Bubble Tears, each of which has distinct effects. Some are less impressive, like the Spiked Cracked Tear’s increased charge attack, while others, like the Crimsonwhorl Bubble Tear, can completely transform boss fights.
These tears, on the other hand, can do much more than just temporarily increase damage or heal players. Crystal Tears, which give players up to ten free levels in a particular attribute for three minutes, are a strong example of this range of abilities.
In addition to increasing damage, this increase in stat improvement can actually unlock Elden Ring’s high-requirement weapons for low-level builds. These weapons can only be used in limited ways, but having access to status-effect weapons for three minutes could help the player win a fight.
Improvements Over Time Through Exploration
There are two kinds of locations that will give players a new tear that they can put in the Flask of Wondrous Physick. Both of these kinds of locations are included in the very first source of this expanded variety, reiterating what players should look for when considering ways to expand their toolbox.
New tears are typically found at the base of Minor Erdtrees, which are small offshoots of the defining landmark of Elden Ring. Sometimes they are held in a large chalice, and other times they are guarded by Erdtree Avatars.
This pattern even shifts as players continue to locate late-game locations where the Minor Erdtrees no longer have leaves, such as Mt. Gelmir or the Mountaintop of the Giants. The outcome is a progression of dead husks of these generally incredible trees where players probably won’t hope to really track down the precious stones or broken tears or even the Erdtree Symbols that will more often than not be at every one.
This leads to a unique encounter with an Ulcerated Tree Spirit outside of Volcano Manor, which drops the Cerulean Hidden Tear, one of the most impressive Physick items.
Putting the Wonderful Physick into Challenge Runs
The majority of challenge-run fans in FromSoftware’s catalog probably still associate the trend with content creators like LilAggy, Iron Pineapple, and The Backlogs’ Twitch streams.
However, similar to the speedrunning community that has developed around games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, a large number of players regularly enter these games using unconventional weapons or without being hit throughout the Soulsborne series.
Particularly with regard to Elden Ring, a number of these challenge runs have begun to increasingly rely on the Flask of Wondrous Physick.
Elden Ring is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.