In Avowed, Essence is a crucial resource that fuels your character’s spells and abilities. Indicated by a purple bar below your health bar, Essence is important for staying alive and winning the game. Good Essence management is the key to keeping your magical skills in tip-top shape and being ready for combat at all times. While Essence Potions are the most common way to restore Essence, there are other methods available, including specific abilities, foods, and temporary boosts that help keep your Essence levels high when you need them most. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the different ways to restore and increase your Max Essence so you can stay powered up throughout your adventures.
Essence in Avowed
In Avowed, Essence is a vital resource that powers your abilities and spells, and it’s displayed as a purple meter beneath your health bar. The main way to restore Essence is by using Essence Potions, which you’ll receive early in the game. These potions always restore 70% of your maximum Essence, and you won’t need to level them up to increase their effectiveness as you progress.
You can find Essence Potions through various sources like Apothecaries, and general vendors, or by looting them while exploring the world. Be on the lookout for glowing purple flasks, particularly inside breakable containers.
To use an Essence Potion, PC players can press the X key, which can be remapped for convenience, such as to a mouse button. Console players or those using an Xbox controller on a PC need to open the radial menu with the left bumper (LB) and select the option to use it.
How to Restore & Increase Max Essence
Essence is a crucial resource that fuels your abilities and spells. Managing and restoring it effectively is key to surviving and thriving in your adventures.
How to Restore Essence
There are numerous methods of restoring Essence and even boosting your Max Essence so that you never run out of power to engage your foes in a direct battle. Through abilities, food, or temporary increases, there are numerous methods of keeping your Essence at its peak.
Abilities to Restore Essence
In Avowed, certain abilities allow you to restore Essence directly or indirectly. The Wizard class offers the most options for Essence healing or reducing its consumption. If you frequently run low on Essence, here are some abilities worth considering:
| Ability | Class | Effect |
| Parasitic Strike | Wizard | Restores Essence each time you hit with a summoned staff. |
| Harvest Essence | Wizard | Increases the amount of Essence dropped after killing enemies (2x/3x/4x). |
| Blood Magic | Wizard | Allows you to cast spells using Health when you’re out of Essence. |
| Arcane Seal | Wizard | Creates a circle that restores Essence within its area of effect. |
| Grimoire Mastery | Wizard | Reduces the cost of Grimoire spells with each Rank. |
| Built to Destroy | Fighter | Passive ability that restores both Health and Essence when breaking objects. |
| Companion Abilities | No Companion abilities restore Essence. |
Food to Restore Essence
Once you unlock the ability to cook food at camp, you’ll notice some prepared foods with a purple icon next to their name. These foods will restore Essence when consumed, though not as quickly as an Essence Potion. While they won’t replenish your Essence at the same rate, they still provide a valuable alternative.
| Food | Ingredients | Effect |
| Arrack | 1x Fruit, 1x Vegetable | Restores 100 Essence |
| All’s-Leaf-Tea | 1x Mushroom, 1x Fruit, 1x Vegetable | Restores 150 Essence and grants +20% Max Essence |
| Stew | 1x Cooked or Raw Meat, 1x Vegetable, 1x Meat/Fish/Other Animal Product | Restores 50 Health and 50 Essence |
| Mariner’s Porridge | 1x Cooked Animal Product, 1x Vegetable/Produce | Restores 70 Health and Essence |
When you consume food or drink that restores Essence, the effect is faster outside of combat. However, it will be much slower when you’re in combat, much like health-restoring food. Another key difference is that Essence restoration from food is a fixed value rather than a percentage of your maximum Essence, making it less impactful for higher-level characters.
Certain ingredients can provide a small amount of Essence in a pinch, but it’s usually more efficient to combine them into prepared foods or drinks. These prepared foods and drinks can be very helpful during your adventures, especially when you’re running low on Essence and don’t have any potions available.
How to Increase Max Essence
There are several ways to increase your Max Essence in Avowed. Remembrance of Enhekala Godlike Ability, which provides a permanent 10% boost, and various foods and drinks like All’s-Leaf-Tea that offer temporary buffs. Additionally, boosting your Intellect attribute can provide a substantial increase in Max Essence, and managing your armor choice will help you avoid penalties to your Essence.
Increase Max Essence through Remembrance
The first approach is to maximize Max Essence via the Remembrance of Enhekala Godlike Ability, offering a 10% boost in Max Essence. However, that ability only gets unlocked after your progression in the game reaches a point. That said, while that boost becomes permanent, it’s connected with your advancement within the game and is not likely available from the beginning.
Aside from permanent increases, there are also foods and beverages that temporarily boost Max Essence. All’s-Leaf-Tea, for instance, provides a 20% increase in Max Essence, while Fine Aedyran Mead offers 10% Max Essence and +2 Perception.
These temporary buffs are short-lived, but they can be crucial in providing enough Essence to cast your most powerful spells. Additionally, since Essence Potions are tied to your Max Essence, these boosts allow you to restore more Essence than usual while the effects are active.
Increase Max Essence through Intellect attribute
Another way is to boost your Intellect attribute. Each point in Intellect gives you +5 Max Essence and +6% to all Elemental Resistances. For example, the Court Augur Background starts with 3 in Intelligence, which gives you a 15% increase to your Max Essence.
Remember, heavier armor reduces both your Max Essence and Stamina. If you’re playing as a Wizard, it might be wise to switch to lighter armor to avoid sacrificing too much Essence, especially if you’re relying on it for spells. The Armored Essence Perk (Wizard) can further reduce the Essence penalty for wearing Light and Medium armor.
