Potions are items dropped as loot that when consumed provide the player a semi-permanent (from the point of consumption until the end of the run in which it was consumed) Buff or Debuff based upon the two random smells with specific distributions among the potion smell table. The physical shape of the bottle is randomized per effect and per run, whereas the color of the fluid inside is comprised of the two colors associated with the smells of the potion. Potions disappear when consumed, and cannot be transported. Potions have a chance to drop from Pots, Graves and Enemies.
| Smells and their Associated Effects |
|---|
Smell-to-effect table (text version)
Each potion has two smells, so a smell on its own is ambiguous. The table lists which smells can appear in each effect. It was compiled by a player and has not been checked against the image above.
| Potion | Effect | Smells that can appear in it |
|---|---|---|
| Attack Speed | Faster attacks | blood, cheese, chili, dry wood, ginger, leather, metal, peppermint, smoke, sweat |
| Slow Attack | Slower attacks | cheese, decay, eucalyptus, fish, lavender, metal, mold, mushrooms, onions, sweat, vanilla |
| Speed | Faster movement | apples, citrus, dry wood, fish, leather, mold, peppermint, seawater, smoke, vanilla |
| Slowness | Slower movement | cheese, earth, fish, meat, mold, mushrooms, onions, seawater, vinegar, wet leaves |
| Strength | More damage | blood, book pages, dry wood, earth, lemon, meat, metal, peppermint, seawater, sweat, urine, vinegar |
| Weakness | Less damage | cheese, decay, earth, fish, lemon, metal, mold, mushrooms, onions, seawater, urine, vinegar |
| Vitality | More max health | apples, book pages, daisy, earth, eucalyptus, grass, honey, lemon, mint, mushrooms |
| Illness | Less max health | blood, decay, eucalyptus, fish, lemon, onions, seawater, sulfur, urine, vinegar |
| Love | More enemy heart drops | apples, cherry, daisy, lemon, mushrooms, roses, vanilla, vinegar, wine |
| Hatred | Fewer enemy heart drops | blood, cheese, earth, eucalyptus, fish, meat, mold, peppermint, sweat |
| Wealth | More enemy gold drops | beer, decay, lemon, metal, mushrooms, onions, sweat, vanilla, wine |
| Poverty | Less enemy gold drops | apples, decay, earth, fish, mold, onions, peppermint, urine, wine |
Tips
A forum player advises drinking every potion you find to learn its effect, and says a given smell keeps the same effect from run to run, so after five or six runs it becomes easy to tell good potions from bad ones.
- The Secret Rooms guide says the caged imps in secret rooms give free loot and sometimes a potion.
- A strategy guide recommends noting potion effects in the in-game notebook, and rates strength, love and speed as the ones worth looking for, while saying any positive potion is worth taking.
Community-sourced (added October 2026, not yet verified in-game). Sources: Potions Guide by Earphones (via Cyberly); Steam thread: I don't know; Steam guide: Secret Rooms and You by Slunky; Steam guide: How easly win almost all your runs by GettyX.
From the official manual
- The manual warns in general terms that some items you find will help you while others may stall your progress horribly, which fits the mix of good and bad potions described on this page.
From the game's official manual. Unlike the rest of the notes on this page, this is a primary source: it is the developer's own documentation, not community research.