Formula Gruna is a mysterious and quite possibly nefarious elixir that can only be acquired in the third act of Baldur’s Gate 3. The elixir grants a lasting effect that has the potential to be a massive buff or a bit of a nerf to your party.
Depending on your composition, it’s important you understand these effects before deciding to drink it. Even then, a specific chain of events must take place for this potion to exist, and those events start in the first half of Act Two. Here’s what you need to know about Formula Gruna, its effects, and if you should drink it or not when presented with the opportunity to do so in Baldur’s Gate 3.
How to get the Formula Gruna potion in Baldur’s Gate 3
You need to complete a task during Act Two, while you’re at the Moonrise Tower during your playthrough. Here, you meet Araj, the creator of the potion. She will ask for a sample of your blood or from anyone else in your party, and you have to agree to provide it to her. You don’t have to say yes to her question immediately, but you want to agree to give her some of it before you complete Act Two and leave Moonrise Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3.
After this point, not too much will come from having completed this task. You can continue working through the rest of the game, but when you reach to Act Three, there’s a shop in Lower City of Bladur’s Gate where you can find Araj. There, she offers you the completed creation of the Formula Gruna potion, but it’s only if you want to take it.
Multiple side effects come with taking this potion, and you want to consider it before saying yes. Don’t be afraid to save before this point, try it out, and then reload if you don’t like the results.
Is it worth drinking Formula Gruna in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Drinking Formula Gruna is a good idea if your character is a melee fighter, and they have a way to escape combat, such as having access to Dimension Door, Misty Step, or any other variety of teleport. For example, my Way of the Shadow Monk was a good choice, as they only needed to be partially in shadows to teleport elsewhere, away from where they were bleeding.
Formula Gruna offers a devastatingly powerful permanent passive feature when consumed, Unstable Blood to your character when they drink it in Baldur’s Gate 3. The passive makes your blood highly flammable and explodes when it comes into contact with fire. Thankfully, this only applies when blood comes out of your body, which means your character receives a hit in combat. If their blood comes into contact with fire, it explodes, as if it were oil.
This means you won’t combust and die when you’re hit with a Firebolt Cantrip, because you aren’t bleeding. It also means being in the radius of a Fireball won’t necessarily cause you to explode. However, any Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning damage causes your character to bleed, and when its on the ground, there’s a chance it could explode. This means your character could leave a trail behind them and then launch a fireball where they previously stood, potentially damaging any nearby enemies who attacked them.
Your allies can take damage for your blood if it falls near them and they get hit by any explosions. If you have Karlach in your party, though, she is resistant to fire damage, which means she takes half damage. Because of the devastating effects drinking Formula Gruna can have on the user and those around them, avoid having a Cleric, Wizard, Bard, or your party’s healer drink it. They can expect to suffer a lot of damage if they make one misstep, especially if they don’t have any way to reduce fire damage.
