Welcome to the How to get the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength in BG3. When you drink the elixir, you will increase your strength to 21. While this is good, we will also explain why you should not always use this, as there are possibly better alternative options.
The
Elixir of Hill Giant Strength is a powerful alchemy creation that can make your melee characters much stronger in Baldur’s Gate 3, although it gets overshadowed towards the end of the game.
Table of Contents
- What is the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength in BG3?
- Where to Buy the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength
- How to Craft the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength
- Should I Buy or Craft the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength?
- Elixir of Hill Giant Strength Tips
What Is the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength in BG3?
The 
Elixir of Hill Giant Strength is an Elixir in Baldur’s Gate 3. Elixirs are similar to potions, but they last until your next Long Rest. Each character can only have one Elixir active at a time. If they drink a second Elixir, its effects will replace the first one.
While you will occasionally find this item lying around or among a haul of loot, if you want to use it regularly, you need to buy or craft it in large quantities. In this guide, we will help you with both of these.
Where to Buy the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength
Several merchants throughout BG3 sell the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength.
If you want to buy a large quantity of them, you’ll have to learn how to reset merchants’ wares. Luckily, this is very easy; you can do it in one of two ways:
Best Merchants
The two best merchants are Auntie Ethel in the Druid Grove and Derryth Bonecloak in the Myconid Colony.
Other Merchants
The following Merchants can all stock Hill Giant Strength Elixirs, but they only sell one at a time:
Act I
Act II
Act III
How to Craft the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength
You can use BG3’s alchemy system to craft the Hill Giant Strength Elixir yourself if you have the correct ingredients.
Any character can do alchemy, but if you have a Transmutation Wizard in your party, then they should always be the one to craft potions and elixirs. This is because they have a chance to duplicate crafted potions.
Each Elixir of Hill Giant Strength requires these ingredients:
Salts of Hill Giant Fingernails
Bullywug Trumpet, 
Laculite and 
Mergrass.
The problem with this method is that 
Hill Giant Fingers aren’t exactly a common ingredient. They can occasionally be looted or stolen, particularly from alchemy shops and labs. But just like with the elixir itself, if you want a lot of them, you’ll need to buy them and keep resetting the merchant stocks.
A range of different merchants sell Hill Giant Fingers. Among the earliest you will encounter are Derryth Bonecloak and Blurg, both of whom are located in the Myconid Colony. This probably makes this the best location in the game for buying up Hill Giant Fingers.
Should I Buy or Craft the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength in BG3?
The answer to this question is both. Buying the three fingers needed to craft the Elixir yourself is only marginally cheaper than buying the full potion.
So, if you want to buy up Hill Giant Strength Elixirs as fast as possible, you should find a good merchant, buy all of their Elixir of Hill Giant Strength and Hill Giant Fingers, then perform a Long Rest to reset their inventory, and repeat the process. When you’ve finished buying elixirs, use all the giant fingers you bought to craft a few extra elixirs.
In my opinion, the best place to do this farm is the Myconid Colony in the Underdark, Act I. Go to Derryth Bonecloak, buy up all of her elixirs and giant fingers, then pay Blurg a visit and see if he has any giant fingers. You can check the other vendors in the area, too, if you want. After each loop, reset the merchants with a Long Rest. Repeat the process for as long as you need.
BG3 Elixir of Hill Giant Strength Tips
Here, we will include a few extra bits of information to help you get the most out of the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Don’t Drink it, Throw it!
Some players don’t realise that you can give the effect of one potion or elixir to several party members at once.
To do this, gather your party as tightly together as you can. Find the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength in your inventory, then choose the Throw option. Throw it onto the ground so that all four party members are within the small AoE.
With this cool trick, you get four potions for the price of one. You can do this with many potions and Elixirs in BG3, but not all of them. If in doubt, click the throw option and see if there is a telegraphed AoE on the ground. If there is, you can apply the potion to multiple characters at once.
There is a disadvantage to this, however. If you throw the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength, the beneficiaries won’t get the effects until the next Long Rest, but only for the next 10 turns. So this trick is only good if you want your whole party to have the elixir for one fight.
Which Characters Should Use Hill Giant Strength Elixirs?
Any characters who are Strength-based damage dealers will benefit from the Hill Giant Strength Elixir the most.
This typically includes Fighters, Barbarians and Paladins. Depending on your build, it might also apply to Monks and Clerics.
But even characters who don’t rely on Strength will get a small amount of benefit from the elixir, unless they are using something better suited to them already.
Why You Should Use the Hill Giant Strength Elixir
Besides the obvious benefit of increasing your Strength, which boosts the accuracy and damage of Strength-based attacks, and affords several other physical bonuses mentioned earlier in the guide, this elixir can give you more options with your build.
If you will have this elixir active at all times on your character, then you can respec them and remove all of their Strength points, including any from the Ability Improvement Feat. This allows you to redistribute the points to other abilities, but still enjoy a Strength score of 21 thanks to the elixir.
You can also use this trick with the alternative items mentioned below.
Better Options in Act III
When you get further into the game, two better options will emerge that you may want to use instead of the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength:
Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength – A better version of the elixir that boosts your Strength to 27, giving you a whopping Strength Modifier of +8 (this bonus will be added to your Strength-based dice rolls, including Attack Rolls and Damage Rolls).
Salts of Cloud Giant Fingernails with any Suspension.
