How do "Spirits" in the Distillery work exactly in Bastion?

The potions here seem to work very differently from any other game I've played.

This is how I believe they work:

  1. You have a set of potions, that you either find or buy.
  2. At any time, only one potion per level is active.
  3. You can activate a potion in the Bastion, and this act consumes it. Its affects last permanently ... or until you choose another potion for this level.

Am I right? Am I missing anything? Note that I don't refer to do normal life / power potions (those seem rather simple), but only to the special potions.


Think of the Spirits in the Distillery are like perks that you can choose, but you can re-spec (or pick different perks) every time you visit the Bastion at no cost. You can choose any combination of the Spirits you want (it doesn't matter where they are in the lineup) and you can swap them out as many times as you choose.

As you progress through the game, you'll be able to use more at once. The game calls this your "drink limit" increasing.

The "drink" thing is just a metaphor, mind you. They're never consumed.


The 10 potions you have in your distillery are 10 special effects you'll have until you change them.

So if you have a +10% life potion, You will go trough your levels with 10% more life. But when you change your potion, you'll lose that effect for whatever you changed it to.