Potion of ambrosia

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A strange substance, produced by ghost moths. Consuming it causes regeneration of health and magic, along with total befuddlement. The two effects are fundamentally linked - the regeneration ends the moment the confusion does.

Type	Potion
Name	Potion of ambrosia
Icon

Quaffing a potion of ambrosia inflicts 3-10 turns of confusion (bypassing clarity), but during this time, you'll quickly regenerate HP and MP (+3-5 HP and MP/turn). Ending the confusion ends the ambrosia effect, but extending confusion does not extend ambrosia.

Ambrosia bypasses -Regen from Inhibited Regeneration. However, the potion's HP regeneration is reduced by the No Potion Heal mutation and stopped by the Robe of Vines.

Strategy

Ambrosia offers decent healing and great MP regen, but is dubious to use during combat. It is best used in situations where resting is difficult/unsafe, such as:

• When you 1. kill all threatening monsters in sight, 2. suspect/know that more are incoming, and 3. can't retreat upstairs.
  • Shafts are a prime example. When you're shafted, there could be any number of monsters approaching. Due to noise, that's likely. You might not have the time to rest to 100% before another threat appears; that's where ambrosia can help.
  • Another example is Vaults:5, when teleporting away from the center. The density of monsters make it hard to rest: ambrosia lets you recover a bit before the next encounter. Similarly, in the Tomb, where outright escape can be problematic.
  • A scroll of fog blocks LOS, forcing distant monsters to spend a few turns to approach you. During this time, you can drink ambrosia, get some extra MP, and cure it after.
• The Abyss, or during the orb run. The monster spawns make it difficult/impossible to rest safely.
• For healing through lethal poison, if you haven't identified potions of curing yet.

Also, for the first few floors of the Dungeon (D:2 or so), it's unlikely for monsters to outdamage the ambrosia effect. For example, Monks can use this potion to win fights they otherwise wouldn't.

If you can blink and are in a near-death situation where you need HP/MP, cannot outrun your opponents, and ambrosia is your only practical source of healing: blink, quaff the ambrosia, benefit from a few turns of ambrosial healing, then quaff a potion of curing to end your confusion.

Tips & Tricks

• Note that confusion will set your SH to zero. A two-handed axe user won't mind, but most characters shouldn't use this in combat.
• While Vine Stalkers receive no HP benefit, their MP will still regenerate as normal, which works with their innate spirit shield.

History

• Prior to 0.18, clarity made potions of ambrosia useless.
• Potions of ambrosia were added in 0.16. They are based upon the ambrosia food item found in 0.14 and earlier.