Potionomics is a fun new game with everything for everyone. However, the first week could prove to be very challenging. If you need some help in getting through your first week then you're in luck. Keep going to read our Potionomics guide on how to beat Roxanne on your first week in the game. Beware of very minor spoilers in this guide.

Potionomics Guide – Beating Roxanne on your First Week

Before we start, let me set up some ground rules. In reading this guide, I am assuming that you're already going through the game's first week. Either that or you've already challenged Roxanne while playing Potionomics but ended up failing. There is no shame in failing in the competition, as I myself failed around four times in my first run. This means that you already have a general knowledge of how the game works. This includes how to brew potions, where to get ingredients, and more. If you think you're not that confident in your understanding of the game yet, then you can instead go to our guide that contains beginner tips for Potionomics here. With that out of the way, lets' get into the guide.

First of all, I will be discussing the steps that can help you prepare for your fight with Roxanne, some of which can be used to guide future fights in Potionomics. After I have done that, I will then discuss what to do on the day of the fight itself. This is important, as your whole week is basically one whole preparation arc to face your weekly rival. So first, let's go into what to do on the days leading to the competition.

Don't rush into the game

Potionomics is not a game that you can just rush in your first playthrough. Take your time in learning the game's mechanics. Read through what your cards do. Check out what magimins each ingredient you have access to has. Experiment with ingredient ratios and the like. You don't gain anything by just rushing to the competition without any preparation. Yes, taking your time will slow down your progress a lot. However, in my opinion, that's better than having to start from scratch when you enter the competition and lose.

Make a save on Day 4

Speaking of starting from scratch, it is important to manually save on the morning of Day 4. This is because the first three days of Potionomics are filled with tutorials that guide you through the basics. Because of this, it's good to have a save file on day 4. This ensures that if you do want to play the game from the beginning for any reason, you can just load from Day 4. This saves a lot of time and is something that I myself did.

Grind for ingredients and money

When it came to making the potions, I actually didn't make my competition potions until the last two days before the competition. I spent the better half of the week getting ingredients, making potions, selling them, and repeating this again. Whenever I had money and potions to spare, I would invest it in Mint so that I could get fuel and ingredients. If I had some money left over, I also invested in Baptiste's expeditions.

This cycle is important because it doesn't just help you in beating Roxanne. It also helps in creating a foundation for the rest of your playthrough. This is because it gives you access to so many ingredients. After you feed the rare ingredients you have to Quinn, you'll be able to get a steady supply of them. Even if you get ingredients that you can't use yet, it's still good to already have them in your shop.

Keep ingredients first instead of gifting

While it is tempting to give your favorite NPCs their preferred gift, it's advisable to keep them for yourself first. Gifting ingredients to the NPCs improves your relationship with them and unlocks cards. However, for the first week, you don't really need those cards yet. In my playthrough, I was able to beat Roxanne with just the first two cards from each NPC. This was because I was able to use the ingredients I had to make even better potions.

It can get really tempting to improve your relationship with the NPCs. However, it's better to just update your potion's qualities instead during the first week.

Get some upgrades

Your basic cauldron will only get you so far in potion-making. This is because cauldrons have a maximum amount of ingredients that they can hold, as well as a maximum number of magimins. As such, it is your first priority to get an upgraded cauldron when your funds allow it. This ensures that you can make even better potions. This, in turn, allows you to earn more money. This allows you to buy better cauldrons, and so on and so on.

Eventually, with some of the materials you get from Mint and the expedition, you'll be able to upgrade your shop. This allows you to install more cauldrons and display cabinets, as well as some other features. For your first week, however, it's still better to just focus on getting a better cauldron than increasing the amount you have. After all, you need better quality potions, not a higher quantity of them for the competition.

That's all you have to consider during the days leading up to the competition. Now, we'll talk about what to do for the competition itself, starting with the potions you'll be making.

Make the potions (what to look for)

To make high-quality potions, there are two things you have to look at. First is, of course, the ingredient's magimin count. You can't make the correct potions if you don't have the right ingredients, after all. The second thing you have to consider is the traits the ingredients give to your potion. This can be seen as either a red or blue icon underneath the ingredient's magimin count. Each red (negative) trait lowers your potion's asking price by 5%, while every blue (positive) trait increases it by 5%. You can have up to 5 of these traits, each corresponding to one of the five senses. Ideally, your aim is to put as many positive traits into your potions as you can. If, however, you are forced to use ingredients with red traits, make sure to balance them out with positive ones.

There is no one best recipe for making any of the potions, so you will just have to experiment with the ingredients that you have. There is no assurance that you will have the ingredients I have and vice versa. Heck, I myself got ingredients in my second playthrough that I didn't even see in my first one. My suggestion though is that when making potions, it's okay to not have the perfect ratio of ingredients. While having a perfect ratio gives you two additional stars, with the chance of gaining another, it could be difficult to do so with a limited pool of ingredients. As such, having a stable mix could also work, as this allows you to get more stars just by increasing the number of magimins in the mix.

Keep track of your stress

During your first fight in Potionomics, Roxanne will bombard you with a lot of stress. Her whole goal in the fight is to stress you out so hard, that you keep drawing negative cards. Because of this, it is important to either mitigate the stress or heal it altogether.

When mitigating stress, you can use Sylvia's Brace Yourself, or Mint's Sympathy and Keep Your Guard Up cards. These all give two shields, and Mint's cards also give other positive effects. If you decide to go for stress healing instead, Saffron's Meditate card heals 2 stress, which could help alleviate the effects when you're defending your potions. I mention these cards specifically, as they're the first few cards you get from these characters. Below is the deck that I used to win the competition.

Try to end it in two potions

The competitions are done as a Best of 3 battle, where you aim to sell your potion at a higher price compared to your opponent. As such, you only really need 2 wins to defeat Roxanne, since it is highly possible to finish the competition with just two of your potions. In the battle with Roxanne, the player is asked to create a Health Potion, a Potion of Fire Resistance, and a Mana Potion. These potions are presented in that order. In other words. making a high-quality Health Potion and Fire Resistance Potion will assure your victory.

This advice is also important because the prices of Roxanne's potions increase with each step. Her Health Potion's value is 82 gold, the Fire Resistance Potion sells for 93 gold, and the Mana Potion costs 104 gold. As long as your first two potions are close to these prices (my Health Potion was priced at 64 gold, while my Fire Resistance Potion sold for 91 gold), you have a big chance of winning. It's possible to win the competition with 3-star common potions, but a 5-star common potion basically seals the deal. My Fire Resistance potion was a Greater potion, so having one of those makes it even easier.

That's all for our guide on how to beat Roxanne during your first week in Potionomics. If you're interested in getting the game, it is currently on sale on Steam. If you want to read our review of it, then you can head on over here.