When I first started playing Gloomhaven I thought healing potions were the best. Don't die and you will eventually win, thought I. I wasn't particularly impressed with stamina potions because it didn't seem that exciting to get to replay particular cards; the healing potion gives you 3 health without having to play anything, so how often is a stamina potion going to give you that much benefit? If you want damage, isn't a power potion going to be better? People online were all going on about how good stamina potions were and I didn't get it. They add flexibility, sure, but what I want is raw throughput, not options.
I have reversed my opinion on this. As I have levelled up in my new class I have been using a stamina potion and finding it to be extremely powerful, far more so than my other two options. The thing that I wasn't aware of at the beginning was just how much more powerful a level 9 card could be than a level 1, and I also didn't realize how much cards would ramp up in effectiveness when properly enhanced. Part of this was learning that while Gloomhaven is pretty reasonably balanced there are specific cards that are totally nuts and getting to play those repeatedly is devastating.
I have one particular card at level 4 that is totally off the charts powerful. It is baseline about twice as good as a level 1 card and it is enhanced to be about 3 times as powerful. Now given that I am level 9 my baseline turn is better than a level 1 card... but I still use level 1 cards, and many of my actions are only marginally better than that. My level 4 card is definitely twice as good as my default turn. My level 9 card is similar; if I squint at it and take off half of its stuff it is still totally playable, and in fact it is quite similar to other cards I put in my deck quite happily.
Using a stamina potion on cards that are as powerful as that is game changing. It is effectively granting me a turn at twice my normal effectiveness, easily averaging out to dealing 18 damage and gaining 6 health. The stamina potion is responsible for half of that, clocking in at something like 9 damage dealt and 3 damage healed. At this point it is *four times* as powerful as one of my other potion choices.
The best part of all this is that as I find more money and get more items I can multiply these sorts of effects together even more effectively than now. Enhancing cards multiple times is ruinously expensive but eventually I will get there and these cards that are already extremely powerful will get even better. Every additional item that can recover cards makes buffing my best cards more powerful, and those buffs make recovery effects better.
I do like the gradual complexity increase of the game. At the start the rules were big and complicated enough that a healing potion was just my speed. All you do is wait until you are badly hurt, then drink up. But now that I have played more I am thrilled with the greater amount of choice available to me. I can arrange combos across multiple turns easily and plan huge swings that make me grin.
That last thing is the key to the bit: Stamina potions let you do all kinds of nutty things. I love watching other people gape at my big turns and trying to figure out if I can top the last savage combo I pulled off. Even if the raw power of stamina potions wasn't as big as it is, the fun factor at high levels is certainly there.
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