Alchemy: A Beginner's Guide

So you want to be an Alchemist?

This is a great profession for any class, but even better for those classes without the ability to buff themselves. This includes Warriors and Rogues, but spellcasters can also benefit from the easy supply of mana potions. Alchemy is a very lucrative profession for those of you looking to make money. Potions are consumable, so you'll have no problem selling large quantities of them. And especially at higher levels, players realize the value of potions to aid them in their combat efforts and will generally try to keep a handy supply of their favorites.

Alchemy is one of the easiest professions to level up, all that's necessary is to make potions. Since you'll likely be using the potions you've made, it's not hard to progress as a fast pace. You'll probably be restricted more by your herb supply than any true stumbling blocks in the recipe progression. The only exception to this is the final stages of the Northrend tier of recipes.

Companion Skills

The best complimentary skill by far is Herbalism. Due to the high value of potions themselves, the required herbs tend to be expensive. If you don't take Herbalism it will be quite costly for you to purchase your herbs. Plus, you'll miss out on a secondary source of income since you'll always be able to sell any surplus of herbs you have for very good money, depending on the herb. You should also seriously consider developing your Fishing skill. This is a Secondary profession that does not count towards your two profession limit. Since a fair number of Alchemy recipes require fish, it makes sense to add this to your crafting repertoire.

Now that you'd made up your mind to train in Alchemy, you should find yourself a trainer. Any major city should have one of these, just ask a guard. There are also some trainers located in towns in various newbie zones, so if you happen to spot one you can use him or her as well.

In addition to herbs you'll need vials to make your potions with. These are sold by the Trade Vendors who can be found in most small towns around Azeroth. Here is a list of the various vials used by Alchemists:

• Empty Vial
• Leaded Vial
• Crystal Vial
• Imbued Vial
• Enchanted Vial

Don't forget to check any vendors you run across for new recipes. There are a number of NPCs who have a few recipes in their inventory, usually on the last page. Some recipes are available in Limited Supply. If you know a certain vendor has the recipe you want but you don't see it in stock, come back and visit him another time. Timers vary on the limited stock items, ranging from 1 hour to 24 hours.

All the potions have a cooldown timer when used. This means that another potion cannot be used until the timer is expired. The timer for potions is 2 minutes or until combat ends, players will be unable to use another potion during that time. It's a good idea to use buff potions (Elixir of Wisdom, Troll's Blood Potion, etc) before you enter combat so that you'll be able to use "emergency" potions (Healing Potion, Mana Potion, etc) during combat if something goes wrong. Also bear in mind that some potions have an individual timer in addition to their global timer, so be sure you're familiar with what those are if you plan to rely on them in risky situations.

Every 75 skill points you'll reach the maximum skill for the current tier of recipes. You'll need to return to a trainer to unlock the next tier, so be sure you take care of that. If you reach the skill cap and keep crafting, you'll get no points for those items. Once you reach 225 Alchemy, you'll get the first set of your Transmute recipes. Transmuting is a very important alchemy skill, and in strong demand with other players. The first two recipes for transmuting are found in Gadgetzan from Alchemist Pestlezugg. He also sells the recipe for the Philosopher's Stone that's required for the transmuting process. The Black Vitriol needed for this recipe is a gem which is mined from Mithril and other high level veins of ore. You should have no trouble finding it on the Auction House at a fairly low cost, since your transmuting stones are the only use for this particular item. Once you've made the Stone, you'll need to have it in your inventory any time you want to do a transmute.

There's not much demand for low level transmutes, but they become more lucrative at higher levels of Alchemy. Other crafters will need to use your transmuted goods within their own profession, so you'll always have a market for them. It's not unusual to charge 10-20 gold as a fee for one transmute. Part of the reason that you'll be able to charge so much is because of the long cooldown period on your transmutes. Here's a chart for the transmute cooldowns:

Quests!

There are a few quests involving Alchemy, and while none of them are required, doing some of them will gain you new recipes. The first is in Teldrassil (Night Elf starting zone) and requires you to bring eight potions to Syral Bladeleaf in Dolanaar in exchange for some herbs as a reward. The Horde also have a newbie level quest they can do which starts in Silverpine Forest. Speak with Apothecary Renferrel in The Sepulcher and he'll give you the quest for the Discolored Healing Potion recipe. The next quest is in the Badlands, given by Lucien Tosselwrench. You can find him just east of Kargath towards the western edge of the zone. The quest Liquid Stone is available to all players at level 37, but only Alchemists can actually use the recipe for Lesser Stoneshield Potion which he gives as a reward.

Another quest is actually a chain involving the Scholomance dungeon. You must speak with Eva Sarkhoff just outside the instance and she'll give you the first quest. After each step you should return to Eva and she'll give you another quest. When you've completed all three of her quests, she will reward you with a trinket which allows you to see the various ghosts on the island of Caer Darrow. One of the ghosts is a vendor who sells the recipe for Major Mana Potion. While this used to be a highly desired recipe prior to the expansions, it's no longer necessary as you'll receive better recipes once you reach Outland. There are also two other Alchemy quests, one in Outland and one in Northrend. They are discussed in the expansion sections found below.

Herb Bags

If you have Herbalism as your other Primary craft, be sure to take advantage of the special Herb bags that are now available around Azeroth. Depending on which size you purchase, they are much larger than regular bags and you'll be able to carry more herbs with you. You can also use Herb bags in your bank slots, so why not get two?

Outland Alchemy

Alchemy is extremely easy to level up in Outland, once again you'll just be collecting herbs and making potions. Depending on your herb supply you could reach the level cap in an hour or so, it's that simple. A couple of things to be aware of, most of the items you'll be making will probably not sell very well. The majority of players will be looking for Northrend potions and have little interest in downgrading. It's probably best to focus on potions for your own use. If you want to experiment with marketable products, you could try making Death Knight friendly items such as Onslaught Elixir.

A new addition to Alchemy in the Burning Crusade was the concept of Discovery. Basically what this means is that any time you're making an item, you have a random chance to learn a new recipe of the same type. If you're making potions, you have a chance to learn a new potion recipe, the same goes for elixirs and transmutes. If you are merely powering through, this may not be of concern to you. But if you're a completist, be aware that you'll probably need to craft Outland recipes to learn Outland discovery recipes. There isn't strong evidence to support the use of Northrend or non-expansion recipes to discover Outland recipes, but you can certainly try if you wish. If you find yourself making lots of Outland items to get discoveries, you may want to focus on transmutes and flasks. There's a minor market in older flasks for players who use them to save a bit of money on non-progression content. If you happen to discover a flask recipe, you can try posting a few on the Auction to see if they sell. Transmuted primals may also have some value to Death Knights leveling professions such as Blacksmithing, which rely heavily on primals.

Once you reach 325 Alchemy skill and level 68, you'll be able to select a specialization for your Alchemist. There are three specializations to choose from: Transmutation, Elixirs and Potions. Each has it's own quest offered by a different NPC in Outland. Your regular Alchemy trainer can point you to them, or you can just go straight to the proper person for your training. To become a Master of Transmutation, visit Zarevhi at the Stormspire in Netherstorm. If you wish to be a Master of Elixirs, you should see Lorokeem in Shattrath. Or you might want to be a Master of Potions, in which case you'd visit Lauranna Thar'well at the Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh. Each will give you a quest to complete, when you turn in the quest you will learn the specialization.

Two of these three quests will require you to visit a level 70 dungeon. The Elixir quest is considered the most difficult because the required items do not always drop in one dungeon run. However, it may be a challenge to get a dungeon group at all given the lack of players in Outland. For those wishing to consider an alternate path, it's possible to choose Transmutation spec and then switch to your preferred one afterwards. There is no requirement to do a new specialization quests when switching, anyone who wishes to "re-spec" can do so for a fee of 150 gold. So one way of getting around the dungeon requirement is to take the Transmutation quest, which doesn't require a dungeon to complete. You'll be asked to collect 4 Primal Mights, which is very easily done as a solo project. Once you turn in your quest and learn the Transmutation specialty, you can speak with your trainer again to "unlearn" it. Then just visit a different specialty trainer to learn their specialization. You may spend more money by going this route, but it will probably save a lot of frustration. For those who are already level 80 and specializing for the first time, it may be possible to solo the dungeon quests depending on your class.

Alchemy in Northrend

There aren't any drastic changes to Alchemy in terms of the leveling process. The only real bump in the road is when you reach 425 you'll find that the only recipes you can use to get more skill points are the meta-gem transmutes. Since Jewelcrafters need your meta-gems in order to progress through the same range in their trade, you shouldn't have trouble selling your uncut meta-gems. In fact, if you can make friends with a Jewelcrafter, you can both benefit from the transmutation process. They can provide you with materials to transmute and you can provide them with gems to cut.

A new addition to the Alchemy line-up is the ability to research new recipes. Actually, it's similar to the Discovery mechanic from Outland minus the huge random factor. At 400 skill you unlock the ability to do this and I highly recommend that you do. It's on a 3-day timer and has a steep materials requirement, but you'll be rewarded with a new recipe each time to use it. These are recipes that can't be acquired any other way, so it's absolutely worthwhile.

I would also strongly encourage you to use your Northrend transmutes every day, which are currently on a 20-hour timer. You only get one from the trainer, Transmute: Titanium, and for some of you the cost of the materials will be equal or greater to the selling price of the finished product. Despite this, it's still worth doing because this is the only way to unlock all of the other Northrend transmute recipes. A discovery isn't guaranteed for this like it is with the research ability, it works more like the Discovery process from Burning Crusade. You should still learn a new transmute every 3-4 days, which is a much better ratio than in the Burning Crusade expansion. And it's these new transmutes that will be valuable to you, such as Eternal Earth to Air, Eternal Life to Fire, etc.

Once you reach 435 in Alchemy you'll be able to learn the flask recipes from your trainer. You'll need to get all the way to 350 skill to learn the epic gem recipes, so make sure you continue crafting to reach it. The best way to do this is by transmuting diamonds and making flasks. Both of these items have a solid market, but if you have a Jewelcrafting friend who can cut the gems for you that will increase their value.

When you get to 450 Alchemy skill you'll unlock the epic gem recipes. Five of them can be learned from the trainer, but the Cardinal Ruby recipe requires you to complete a quest given by Linzy Blackbolt in Dalaran. To do the quest you need to transmute five of the other epic gems you learned from the trainer. The quest records the act of transmutation, not the resulting item. Since the epic gem transmutes are on a shared, 20-hour cooldown this means it will take about five days to complete the quest. Collecting epic gems from other sources does not count toward the goal. When you turn in the quest, Linzy does not take your gems from you so you should feel free to make whatever gems you prefer during this process. Once you turn in your quest, she'll teach you the Cardinal Ruby transmute.

Good Luck!