Everything may not format properly, as I originally made this guide for the Ragnainfo forums.
Table of Contents.
α: Credits.
β: Introduction.
γ: Becoming an Alchemist.
δ: Merchant skills.
ε: Alchemist skills.
ζ: Stats.
η: Equipment.
θ: Leveling your Alchemist.
ι: Potion creation.
κ: Hunting for ingredients.
λ: Biochemists.
μ: The Homunculus.
---
α: Credits.
http://sophia.smith.edu/~lyamada/index.htm
http://rodatazone.simgaming.net/
http://www.beat-up.com/
http://irocalc.vze.com/
http://www.ragnagate.com
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconVa...upertino/9230/
http://www.rodatabase.org/
http://www.emperium.org
And all the Alchemists out there for helping me with this.
---
β: Introduction.
En garde, and prepare thineself FOR BUCKET LOADS OF FUN AT A LOW LOW PRICE!
Anyway.
Welcome to the Hitchhiker's Guide to Alchemists. One of the most important things to remember when planning, leveling, and enjoying your Alchemist are two very simple words; Don't Panic. Sadly, I can't make them into large, friendly letters.
I decided to write up this guide concerning Alchemists and everything related to them. Most of the things in here are simply my opinions, and I don't know everything there is to know, so input and corrections are greatly appreciated. If you have any questions concerning the basics of RO, direct your questions to the Q&A forum, or try running a search. If it's Alchemist-specific, read through this guide and search the forums to see if your question has already been answered, then feel free to ask if you can't find anything.
Alchemists are the class focused on potions. They tend to be more WoE/PvP based, due to most of their skills having effects that only work on other players, such as Acid Terror breaking an opponent's armor. They're also the "pet class" of RO, with the ability to control a creature of your creation to attack with you, and support you. At least, they will later on. Currently, the Homunculus system isn't implemented on any server other than kRO, and it isn't even completed there. Until it arrives here on iRO, the class can't be considered complete. However, despite this, Alchemists are still a potent and capable class. They simply require a bit more dedication than your typical Wizard or Knight.
Oh, and one last thing. This is pretty much a perpetual work in progress, with minor changes and small updates here and there as I learn more or modify things, as my edit count can attest to.
---
γ:
Although I highly recommend all Merchants go to job 50, I understand there's those people out there who just want to hit Alchemist so they can have a good looking vend slave, or are just plan lazy. Anyway, the Alchemist guild is located in the southwestern corner of Al De Baren. The room you walk into has two NPCs, one sells you medicine bowls and the potion manuals, while the other is the NPC you must talk to in order to begin your job change quest. After hearing her tell you about Alchemists, you'll have to pay 50,000 zeny to apply. She will then inform you that you need to bring some items to her. The required items will be randomly selected from a list of three: 7 Berserk Potions, 100 Mini Furnaces, or 750 Fire Arrows, so if you have any of them, you may as well bring them in advance. Unless you happen to have a Hammer of Blacksmith and an Old Magic Book. These can be used to skip this part of the test.
Then, she will tell you to that Raspuchin is calling you. Head downstairs, then run along the north wall and to the east. He will give you a math test. If you went to job 50, you can skip this. Otherwise, it's a good idea to have your browser open to a site with a database, in order to search for information such as prices and attributes, and alt + tab between the two as needed. After this, he'll send you to Darwin, who is located in the southeast corner. A score of at least 80% correct is required to pass. If you can’t, or don’t want to do the questions properly, here are the answers:
Math questions:
a) 13+25+37+48 = 123
b) 12+23+34+45 = 114
a) 1,000-58-214-416 = 312
b) 1,000-36-227-348 = 389
a) 14*17*3 = 714
b) 12*24*3 = 864
a) 10,530/3/5/2 = 351
b) 9765/3/5/7 = 93
a) (35*19) - (1,792/7) = 409
b) (47*28) - (1376/4) = 972
a) (2,368/8) + (24*17) = 704
b) (2,646/7) + (13*28) = 742
Discount questions:
a) Red Potion (12), Fly Wing (5) Butterfly Wing (1) = 909z
b) Red Potion (6), Green Potion (7) Fly Wing (8) = 798z
c) Green Potion (15), Magnifier (6), Trap (4) = 934z
Weight questions:
a) 3 Ring Pommel Sabers, 4 Caps, 2 Boots = 550
(90*3)+(40*4)+(60*3)
b) 2 Ring Pommel Sabers, 3 Caps, 3 Boots = 480
c) 3 Scimitars, 2 Helms, Coat = 450
(70*3)+(60*2)+(120)
Defense questions:
a) Buckler, Coat, Gas Mask, Big Ribbon, Fillet, Sakkat, Glasses = 20
b) Biretta, Manteau, Opera Mask, Ribbon, Muffler, Boots, Earmuffs = 20
c) Mirror Shield, Leather Jacket, Mr. Smile, Silk Robe, Wedding Veil, Muffler,
Eye Patch = 12
Profit questions:
a) 5 Helms
Standard price = 44,000z
24% discount = 33,440z
20% discount selling price = 35,200z
Profit (35,200-33,440)*5 = 8,800z
b) 4 Padded Armor
Standard price = 48,000z
24% discount = 36,480z
20% discount selling price = 38,400
Profit (38,400-36,480)*4 = 7,680z
c) 3 Tights
Standard price = 7,1000
24% discount = 53,960
20% discount selling price = 56,800
Profit (56,800-53,960)*3 = 8,520
Next, you'll have to grab either three medicine bowls, three empty bottles, a red herb, a yellow herb, and a white herb, or an illusion flower. Darwin will then explain the process of creating potions, after which you have to repeat to him how one goes about it. It's tempting to select the other options though. Some noodles would be great. He'll then give you the potions you made, and sends you to Van Helmont, to the left of the room you're in now. Alternatively, if you have an Illusion Flower, you can give this to Darwin instead. He'll become quite excited, and send you directly to the job change NPC afterwards.
Van Helmont is too busy to teach you anything, so he sends you Molgenstein, the scientist who makes Counteragents and Mixtures. You'll need two Alcohol, a Karvodailnirol, a Detrimindexta, and two empty bottles. It's not required to actually make the Mixture and Counteragent, but as long as you're there you might as well. If you've already done the quest, it's still a good idea to go to Geffen and buy five Mini Furnaces anyway. Otherwise, you'll need to head to Alberta first with the Karvodailnirol and the Detrimindexta. Go to the house near the NPC who teaches you Change Cart, head upstairs, and break into the second room on the right. Show Louitz the Karvodailnirol and the Detrimindexta, then head to Geffen. Talk to the NPC near the eastern Kafra, and head down to the Blacksmith guild in the southeastern corner. Head upstairs, then talk to Molgenstein and have him make the Mixture and Counteragent. While here, buy the five Mini Furnaces I mentioned earlier from the Blacksmith. You'll need them later. Head back to Van Helmont, and answer his two questions. Then head to the northwestern room and talk with Nicholas.
Nicholas will present several basic puzzles, which consist of picking out a word from four or five choices that can be spelled using the letters he gives you. It's quite easy; start with the word at the top of the list. Note what the first letter is, and search the letters they have jumbled in the dialogue box for it. If you find it, move unto the second letter in the word and repeat, if not, try the next word down on the list. After passing the test, he'll tell you to prepare yourself. Talk to him again, and he'll tell you to head to Juno and meet with Bajin and Bain. He then gives you numerous items. DO NOT LOSE THEM OR SELL THEM. You'll also need to obtain five Coal, and 2,000 zeny, as well as the Mini Furnaces you should have purchased earlier in Geffen.
Now take the Kafra to Juno. If you feel like walking, buy a bunch of fly wings, and head north of Al De Baran. When you come to the map with the three portals on the west, go to either the northern or the southern one, as the middle leads to the Magma Dungeon. Once you reach Juno, head to the building located roughly at this point. Sorry if the arrow and circle are somewhat hard to read. When you first enter the correct building, it should look like a bar/restaurant. Head upstairs, and in the first room on your right are the brothers. You'll need to give them the items Nicholas gave you, along with the ones you purchased earlier. They will then perform their experiment, and give you the result. You will then receive one of the following: 5 Iron Ore, 2 Mini Furnaces, 5 Rubies, or 3 Gold.
Now head back to Al De Baran, and down to Nicholas. Talk to him, then head upstairs to one of the few npcs in the game that has a nose, and change into an Alchemist! If you went to job 50, he will give you a Condensed Potion Manual, which is worth 240,000 zeny. Otherwise he'll give you a seemingly random potion manual; out of the 100,000 zeny batch anyway.
---
δ: Merchant skills.
Here's the Merchant skill tree, from the official International Ragnarok Online site:
One of the interesting things about Merchants is that most of their skills can benefit all your other characters without you having to actually play them beyond the early stages of their life. Hence such terms as "vend slave", "oc/dc slave", and "extended storage".
Enlarge Weight Limit, passive. 10 levels.
Prerequisites : None.
Increase your maximum weight capacity; very helpful, almost necessary. By allowing you to carry even more potions, it will dramatically increase your lifespan in WoE and PvP. Even if you prefer not going overweight, you still have more space to fill until the 49% mark is attained. During normal leveling it's not really required, however. If you're a low str build, this will help compensate for your normally low weight limit. And if your build has a large amount of str, then it does nothing but complement your already large limit. While it's not really an issue, you can carry a larger amount of ingredients at once if you're a potion maker. Max this skill if at all possible.
1 : +200 weight.
2 : +400 weight.
3 : +600 weight.
4 : +800 weight.
5 : +1000 weight.
6 : +1200 weight.
7 : +1400 weight.
8 : +1600 weight.
9 : +1800 weight.
10 : +2000 weight.
Pushcart, passive. 10 levels.
Prerequisites : 5 Enlarge Weight Limit
Enable your Merchant to rent a cart from a Kafra. The cart is a seperate mobile storage, with space for up to 100 unique items, and a weight capacity of 8000. You can't use items directly from the cart, but it's simple enough to click and drag items from your cart to the inventory and vice versa. To open the cart inventory, press alt + w. You also need a cart on to vend. Get this skill and level 10, without a doubt. The cart will be your main advantage throughout Merchant life and beyond.
1 : 55% walking speed.
2 : 60% walking speed.
3 : 65% walking speed.
4 : 70% walking speed.
5 : 75% walking speed.
6 : 80% walking speed.
7 : 85% walking speed.
8 : 90% walking speed.
9 : 95% walking speed.
10 : 100% walking speed.
Vending, active. 10 levels.
Sp use : 30.
Prerequisites : 3 Pushcart.
Set up a shop in order to sell your items. In order to do this, you have to first put whatever you're interested in offering for sale in your cart, find a suitable location, and then use the skill. A window will open with some empty bars and slots to drag your items into from the cart. The top bar is used to label your shop; try to avoid esoteric or just plain ugly names if possible, as you'll generally want it to be easily understood and appealing. Simply listing what you have will usually suffice. After you've got your shop titled, drag and drop the items into the aforementioned slots, and on the bar to the right enter in the amount you'd like to sell it for. Level 3-4 is usually enough, unless you're a vend slave, in which case 10 is always good fun. However, level 6 is a good point to stop at unless you really feel the need to vend as much as possible. At level 6, with eight slots open for vending, this will fill the default shop size. Any more items, and anyone browsing your shop will have to use the scroll bar to see what else you've got for sale. While it sounds trivial, quite a few casual shoppers won't bother scrolling down, and it also makes it a little bit easier on people looking for specific items if all they have to do is glance over what's visible and then either move on, or purchase the item if you've got it. You can always make another Merchant to handle this sort of thing if your Alchemist will be your main character, and can't spare the skill points.
1 : Vend up to 3 items.
2 : Vend up to 4 items.
3 : Vend up to 5 items.
4 : Vend up to 6 items.
5 : Vend up to 7 items.
6 : Vend up to 8 items.
7 : Vend up to 9 items.
8 : Vend up to 10 items.
9 : Vend up to 11 items.
10 : Vend up to 12 items.
Discount, passive. Ten levels.
Prerequisites : 3 Enlarge Weight Limit.
Lower the cost of items purchased from an NPC shop; it always rounds down, and the minimum value possible is 1z. Get level 10. Now. While level 9 -> 10 is only 1% more, you'll most likely be purchasing a ton of potions throughout your Alchemist's life, so you might as well save as much as possible on them. That, and 10 looks better on the skill screen than 9 does. If you have another Merchant with this skill, then it's not really required, but it's still easier to purchase the items on your Alchemist then having to switch characters and transfer via Kafra.
1 : -7% total.
2 : -9% total.
3 : -11% total.
4 : -13% total.
5 : -15% total.
6 : -17% total.
7 : -19% total.
8 : -21% total.
9 : -23% total.
10 : -24% total.
Overcharge, passive. Ten levels.
Prerequisites : 3 Discount.
Increase the amount of zeny items are sold to the NPC for. The total is always rounded down, and the minimum value is 0z. Level 10 can be quite helpful, but you'll probably be making most of your money from rares, and things like buying and reselling. More zeny is always great, and you should try to get as much as possible. Again, if you have a Merchant with this skill already, it's not something you have to get.
1 : +7% total.
2 : +9% total.
3 : +11% total.
4 : +13% total.
5 : +15% total.
6 : +17% total.
7 : +19% total.
8 : +21% total.
9 : +23% total.
10 : +24% total.
Mammonite, active. Ten levels.
Sp use : 5.
Prerequisites : None.
Use zeny to inflict massive damage. The rate you are able to attack at is dependant on your attack speed. If you're a battle build of any kind with at least moderate strength, GET THIS. Even if you're poor now, and that 1k per use sounds mind blowing, if you play long enough you should have enough zeny to cover it. Wouldn't want to regret skipping it if you ever plan to MvP/WoE/anything. It will be your only attack skill other than Cart Revolution that doesn't require a bottle of some kind. And zeny is more easily replaced than a bottle.
1 : 150% attack, 100z.
2 : 200% attack, 200z.
3 : 250% attack, 300z.
4 : 300% attack, 400z.
5 : 350% attack, 500z.
6 : 400% attack, 600z.
7 : 450% attack, 700z.
8 : 500% attack, 800z.
9 : 550% attack, 900z.
10 : 600% attack, 1000z.
Item Appraisal, active. 1 level.
Sp use : 10.
Prerequisites : None.
Identify an item without the use of a magnifier. Eh, if you've got a spare skill point slap it in here, but usually you won't. While it can make you slightly more independant and be helpful during leveling (I want to know what that sword is NOW, not when my awake runs out!), do not sacrifice any skills for this thing. A little tip for identifying items. Say you have three daggers, and you identify one to be a three slot Gladius. The other two have the same weight, so they're most likely Gladiuses as well, but are they three slots or two slots? To determine this without having to waste more sp/a magnifier, simply right click on that Gladius you already identified, and then right click on one of the daggers. If the description window closes, it's the same; another three slot Gladius. If it changes, it's a different type of dagger.
Quest skills :
There really isn't any reason to skip out on these, due to the fact that they consume no skill points. Only time and zeny.
Crazy Uproar, active.
Sp use : 8.
Acquiring: Job level 15 needed. Pick up seven Pearls, fifty Mushroom Spores, and one Banana Juice. Walk up the path leading north from the Kafra by the weapon shop in Alberta. On your left, a man standing between two buildings will teach you this skill.
Raises your str by four points for five minutes. It's something like a free Ring of Muscle, with one downside, which is that Quagmire and Dispell can remove it. So long as you remain in Quagmire's area of effect, you will be unable to recast it without having the buff be immediately removed. So while you might want to consider if it's viable to bypass on a WoE-build, it can be looked at as a free 44 stat points for when your strength is in the 90+ area, and it's invaluable for normal leveling and MvPing. You'll be hard pressed to justify planning without it.
Change Cart, active.
Sp use : 40.
Acquiring: Job level 30 needed. Bring fifty Trunks, ten Irons, and twenty Animal Skins. Bring these to the NPC sitting on the table near the same building you begin the dye quest at in Alberta.
Depending on your level, you can change the appearance of your cart. As you level up, more will be available, with five carts total. While it is mostly nothing more than a cosmetic change, there are benefits; if you're offering potion making services for example, and you have a high level cart, you would be more likely to attract customers. People may be more likely to notice your shop amidst a group of low level Merchant vend slaves, and it's just good for overall showing off if you're into that. You can also do things such as use a lower level cart to deceive people in PvP/WoE if you'd like to be evil.
Level 1-40 : Iron cart.
Level 41-65 : Wooden cart.
Level 66-80 : Flower cart.
Level 81-90 : Panda cart.
Level 91+ : Final cart.
Cart Revolution, active.
Sp use : 12.
Acquiring: Job level 35 needed. You will need one Banana Juice, twenty Irons, thirty Sticky Mucus, twenty Wings of Fly, five Tentacles, and two Grape Juices. A man in a suit near the dock with brings you to Turtle Island at Alberta will take these and teach you the skill.
Spin your cart to inflict splash damage on a 3x3 area around your target, and push anything on the receiving end of your assault two squares to the west, or left with the default camera angle. The heavier your cart, the higher the damage; at 0 weight, it's 150% of your attack, and at 8000 weight it's 250% of your attack. The way this is calculated is somewhat curious; it's like a double attack, which results in only one attack. It factors in both any elemental modifiers, and a neutral element one. What this means to you is that while the skill can benefit from elements for increased damage, it does not actually have an elemental property. Thus you will be incapable of damaging ghost type monsters with it. This is one of your most important skills. It's your most effective means of dealing with mobs, and it will also be one of your main leveling tools; perhaps the main leveling tool.
ε: Alchemist skills.
And here is the Alchemist skill tree, taken from the official International Ragnarok Online site:
There is one good thing about having so few skills; it's quite easy to decide on a build. But that also means most Alchemists will have a similar skill set.
Now, the details of each skill, and my opinion of them:
Potion Research, passive. 10 levels.
Prerequisites : None.
It increases the potency of healing items used on yourself, and potions thrown via Aid Potion. It also increases your success rates with potion production. The basis of Alchemist skills. Without a doubt, max this.
1 : 5% more potent, 1% increase in success rates.
2 : 10% more potent, 2% increase in success rates.
3 : 15% more potent, 3% increase in success rates.
4 : 20% more potent, 4% increase in success rates.
5 : 25% more potent, 5% increase in success rates. - Prepare Potion available.
6 : 30% more potent, 6% increase in success rates.
7 : 35% more potent, 7% increase in success rates.
8 : 40% more potent, 8% increase in success rates.
9 : 45% more potent, 9% increase in success rates.
10 : 50% more potent, 10% increase in success rates.
Prepare Potion, active. 10 levels.
Sp use : 5.
Prerequisites : 5 Potion Research.
Create potions; for details, head down to the potion creation section. The higher your skill level, the better your potion success rates are. This skill should be maxed if you ever plan on making a single potion with your Alchemist. If your Alchemist will be a battle build, and you have unrestricted access to a potion-making Alchemist (or just another Alchemist with this skill maxed out), you can afford to sacrifice points in this in order to obtain other skills. Just don't expect to be pumping out any potions.
1 : 3% increase in success rates.
2 : 6% increase in success rates. - Summon Marine Sphere and Biochemical Helm available.
3 : 9% increase in success rates. - Aid Potion available.
4 : 12% increase in success rates. - Bomb available.
5 : 15% increase in success rates. - Acid Terror available.
6 : 18% increase in success rates. - Summon Flora available.
7 : 21% increase in success rates.
8 : 24% increase in success rates.
9 : 27% increase in success rates.
10 : 30% increase in success rates.
Summon Marine Sphere, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 10.
Bottle : Marine Sphere Bottle.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 2 Prepare Potion.
The duration the Marine Sphere is 30+10*skill level seconds, or until it is killed. Max hp of the Sphere is raised along with skill level. After being summoned, hit it once to begin detonation. It will then move directly away from you and commence a countdown to an explosion. The countdown lasts 5 seconds, and the Sphere increases in speed the closer it is to detonation. The amount of hp left at the end of the timer is the damage inflicted around it, and there is a small chance of the Sphere inflicting critical damage. This damage is not reduced by defense, but instead by using gear that protects from fire and plants. The explosion pushes away targets caught in the blast radius in PvM and PvP. However, the Marine Sphere will damage everyone in the explosion radius in WoE/PvP, so you need to be careful when and where you set one. You are limited to three in a 9x9 square area. Detonators are rather time consuming to gather, so you'll generally want to reserve this skill for WoE (just like most of the Alchemist skills). When used in WoE, the defense value of the castle the Sphere is in will raise the defense of the Sphere itself.
1 : 2,400 hp, lasts 40 seconds.
2 : 2,800 hp, lasts 50 seconds.
3 : 3,200 hp, lasts 60 seconds.
4 : 3,600 hp, lasts 70 seconds.
5 : 4,000 hp, lasts 80 seconds.
Aid Potion, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 1.
Range : 9 squares.
Bottle : Red, Orange, Yellow, White, and Blue potions.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 3 Prepare Potion.
Throw a potion at yourself, someone in your party, someone in your guild, or a member of an allied guild. You can scroll through the various levels to toss different potions, and assign each level to a different hotkey to throw that potion. The skill level you have determines how much more potency the potion has, and the level you use it at determines which potion you toss. It stacks with Potion Research, and when tossed to a Swordman-based class with maxed out HP Recovery the potency will be doubled. Your vit has an effect on a potion tossed to yourself, but it has no effect on potions tossed to other players. Their vit, however, increases the amount healed. For blue potions, int increases the amount of sp healed, as does the SP Recovery skill of Priests and Mages. You can not throw condensed potions. Aid Potion is highly spammable too, but obviously at the cost of eating through your potions. It's also possible to heal yourself via chugging the potions normally, and using Aid on yourself. Oh, and no, you can't toss potions on undead and damage them like Final Fantasy. One last interesting tidbit... you can heal someone using a Golden Thief Bug card with this.
Potions have the following base healing effectiveness:
Red Potion : 45-65.
Orange Potion : 108-142.
Yellow Potion : 175-234.
White Potion : 325-402.
Blue Potion : 46-60.
And now, for a chart... the numbers on the left are the target's vit, or int in the case of blue potions, while the numbers listed under each kind of potion are the minimum and maximum amounts of hp/sp healed at that vit/int. The values are calculated with maximum levels of Potion Research and Aid Potion. All numbers are rounded down. Simply double the numbers when the target has level 10 HP/SP Recovery.
1 : 10% more effective. [Red]
2 : 20% more effective. [Orange]
3 : 30% more effective. [Yellow]
4 : 40% more effective. [White]
5 : 50% more effective. [Blue] - Aid Condensed Potion available.
Bomb, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 10.
Bottle : Bottle Grenade.
Range : 9 squares.
Casting time : 1 second.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 4 Prepare Potion.
Set the ground ablaze and hurt your opponents with fire element damage. It has a 3x3 area of effect, centered on the tile you select to cast it on, and damages every second or so. When used in PvP or WoE, it has a chance to break the weapon of anyone caught in it; except for maces, axes, rods, and any weapon with the "Indestructible" status in it's description. The immunity to breaking that maxes and axes possess is due to the way Gravity handled weapon breaking and Power Thrust. It also effects everyone caught in it when used in PvP or WoE. Including you. It can't be placed directly next to or under a player/monster, but it can be casted underneath or next to an emperium. While it can be placed next to other Bombs, they do not stack. The only cards that increase the damage are +ATK cards. +% cards, and status inflicting cards do nothing. Size penalties are applied though, oddly. The damage is based not on your stats when the Bomb was thrown, but your current stats; switch from a high attack weapon to a low one after the Bomb has been casted, and the damage will drop. Vice versa if you switch from low to high, obviously. Despite taking an Alcohol along with the Fabric to make, it's an excellent skill. Breaking an opponent's weapon will either force them to switch to a less effective alternative, or resort to punching. And it's great to use in chokepoints or against a wall. The fire element damage can restrict how you use it in leveling though, but it can obviously also be quite beneficial.
1 : 120% damage, 1% chance of breaking a weapon, 40 second duration.
2 : 140% damage, 2% chance of breaking a weapon, 45 second duration.
3 : 160% damage, 3% chance of breaking a weapon, 50 second duration.
4 : 180% damage, 4% chance of breaking a weapon, 55 second duration.
5 : 200% damage, 5% chance of breaking a weapon, 60 second duration. - Prerequisite to Acid Demonstration.
Acid Terror, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 15.
Bottle : Acid Bottle.
Range : 9 squares.
Casting time : 1 second.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 5 Prepare Potion.
Throw an Acid Bottle at your opponent with a small chance to break their armor, and inflict the external bleeding status. This skill ignores armor defense, and hits regardless of flee. Vit defense is calculated in, however. While the damage can be blocked by Pnuema, the chance to break armor remains. Kyrie, however, blocks both the damage and the chance of breaking armor, as will a Crusader with Guard. Whenever the skill is calculated as a success, the target will use the /omg emoticon as an indication of this. However, that doesn't mean they had their armor broken; even when using chemical protection or wearing an Immortal armor, the /omg will display itself so long as the attack was considered a success. Yet another skill you'll only use typically during WoE or PvP due to the cost, but still a great skill. The potions aren't that difficult to make either, as quite a few people level on Minos, and consequently kill Verits. Just like Bomb, the damage is increased via +ATK cards, and status and +% cards have no effect. It's also uneffected by elements. The acid bottle is consumed at the beginning of the cast, as opposed to the end like the other potion skills. This means that if you are interrupted whilst casting, the bottle is lost with nothing to show for it. If you ever plan to attend a WoE, or participate in PvP, this skill should be maxed.
1 : 140% damage, 3% chance of breaking armor, 3% chance of bleeding.
2 : 180% damage, 7% chance of breaking armor, 6% chance of bleeding.
3 : 220% damage, 10% chance of breaking armor, 9% chance of bleeding.
4 : 260% damage, 12% chance of breaking armor, 12% chance of bleeding.
5 : 300% damage, 13% chance of breaking armor, 15% chance of bleeding. - Prerequisite to Acid Demonstration.
Summon Flora, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 20.
Bottle : Plant Bottle.
Range : 4 squares.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 6 Prepare Potion.
Summon various plants to attack monsters or players. The level you have determines the hp of the plant, while the level you use determines the type of plant summoned, the duration, and the amount of bottles consumed. If you have less than the total amount of bottles required for the skill level you used, it will take the rest of the bottles, and summon that many plants. So if you have three plant bottles, and use level one, you’ll end up with three Mandragora instead of the typical five. When used in WoE, the defense value of the castle the plants are in raises the defense of the plants themselves. Their attacks are considered extensions of your own when it comes to a single thing: auto-cast spells granted by weapons or cards. Status effects and damage increasing cards do not carry over to the plants. You can only summon more plants once your first plants have died, or gone through their duration time. So long as you remain on screen with them, you will get the experience for their kills. An effective strategy for all the plants is to summon them, hit/target a monster, and then use a Hiding accessory once the monster is in range of your plants. Monsters will not attack your plants, thus rendering them sitting ducks until your plants have had their way with them. Provided they’re not insect or demon type monsters. When using these in WoE, you have to be careful; they'll attack Guardians regardless of if they're friendly or not, and the Guardians in turn will lock unto you as a valid target. Oh, and on the stats listed below the plants... the hit/flee are what's required of players to hit/dodge them, not the hit or flee of the plant itself.
Mandragora:
Atk: 26-35
Element/size: Earth 3/medium.
Hit: 44
Flee: 123
Aspd: Fairly slow.
Range: 4
Mandragora almost last too long, so long as they aren’t in a PvP/WoE setting. While logically one would consider them to be the best for using the auto-cast spell method of leveling (there are five of them, after all), Hydra are better for this purpose due to their higher range and faster attack speed. Somewhat useless all in all when compared to the other plants. Pneuma blocks their physical damage, but with such a low attack that isn’t anything terrible.
Hydra:
Atk: 22-28
Element/size: Water 2/small.
Hit: 48
Flee: 129
Aspd: Quite fast.
Range: 7
As previously mentioned, their high attack speed and range are beneficial for auto-cast spells, but there’s the issue of cost; four bottles per usage adds up quickly. Also, the pitiful melee damage and low hit means you’ll have no physical damage to be supplementing the magic damage. However, they are effective at lowering the flee of opponents in PvP, and you don’t have to actually connect with a hit in order for an auto-cast spell to be triggered. Their element is excellent for WoE/PvP due to Storm Gust immunity, and vastly reduced MS damage… so long as they’re kept away from LoV and stray JTs. Pneuma will also negate their physical attacks, which prevents them from stopping a cast.
Flora:
Atk: 242-273
Element/size: Earth 1/large.
Hit: 72
Flee: 144
Aspd: Average.
Range: 3
A large jump from Hydras in physical strength, but at the cost of reduced range and attack speed. If you’re looking for physical damage, go for Parasites, and if you need auto-cast spells, go back to Hydras. On the positive side, Pneuma won’t block their attacks.
Parasite:
Atk: 215-430
Element/size: Wind 2/medium.
Hit: 109
Flee: 214
Aspd: Somewhat fast.
Range: 8
The highest range of your five plants; although the fact that there are more of the lower leveled plants summoned per use means they can help cover each other. Regardless, these are excellent to use. A very useful element, high range, good attack speed, a respectable flee requirement, and good physical damage. Of course, you’ll have to deal with the fact that they’re naked little girls. You disgusting pedophile. Oh, and Pneuma will also negate their attacks.
Geographer:
Atk: 467-621
Element/size: Earth 3/medium.
Hit: 143
Flee: 199
Aspd: Average.
Range: 3
The highest physical damage available, although your Parasites will generally do more damage to their longer lasting time, the fact that there are two of them, etc. The primary reason to use a Geographer is for their ability to heal you and anyone around you, for 1024 hp. This is excellent when facing a single strong monster on your own. The Geographer will assist you with some physical damage (although they tend to miss fairly often on the monsters you can justify using them on), and drastically reduce your cost in healing items. They will even heal you after you’ve died, which can be extremely helpful if you’re revived with a Yggdrasil Leaf, as you won’t have to worry about being killed immediately by a stray monster spawning on you. On occasion, they’ll designate another player as the priority for healing, and continue healing them until they’re at full hp. This can be rather frustrating when you were counting on their heals. In PvP, they will only heal you if you’re in a party. Even if the party is simply you by yourself, it’s required for the Geographer to recognize you as a valid target for healing.
1 : 2430 hp, 5 Mandragora, 300 second duration, five Plant Bottles.
2 : 2630 hp, 4 Hydra, 240 second duration, four Plant Bottles.
3 : 2830 hp, 3 Flora, 180 second duration, three Plant Bottles.
4 : 3030 hp, 2 Parasites, 120 second duration, two Plant Bottles.
5 : 3230 hp, Geographer, 60 second duration, one Plant Bottle.
Biochemical Helm, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 20.
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Range : 1 square.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 2 Prepare Potion.
Render a headgear indestructible, and also protect from the Divest Helm skill. A higher skill level equates to a longer lasting time, at the rate of two minutes per level. It's useful in WoE and PvP, and some MVPs. Due to their skills that break various pieces of equipment, coating that specific piece of equipment can mean the difference between MVPing and a lost percent. Your friends will love you for it as well. The coatings negate some of the threats posed by Alchemists, Biochemists, Rogues, Stalkers, and Mastersmiths. While headgear isn't a top priority when it comes to Divesting, you'll need to get this skill to open up the other protection skills anyway, so if you want any coating skills, you'll need at least 3. More depending on how you plan to use it/your build. The chemical protection skills are immune to Dispel,and when equipment is switched or removed the protection remains intact.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds. - Synthesized Shield available.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
Synthesized Shield, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 25.
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Range : 1 square.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 3 Biochemical Helm.
Render a shield indestructible, and protect from the Divest Shield skill. If you are getting protection skills, I'd say max this one out. A Cranial is one of your most important pieces of equipment in WoE, so even if all your other equipment is lost, you still have a chance of surviving. And if you're the tanker for an MVP, the last thing you want gone is your -30% card.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds. - Synthetic Armor available.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
Synthetic Armor, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 25.
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Range : 1 square.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 3 Synthesized Shield.
Render armor indestructible, and protect from the Divest Armor skill. By rendering your armor indestructible, that means no more fear of not only Divesting, but also Acid Terror; so this can is an extremely helpful skill to have. Your Unfrozen and elemental armors are practically essential for survival in an intense WoE situation.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds. - Alchemical Weapon available.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
Alchemical Weapon, active. 5 levels.
Sp use : 30.
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Range : 1 square.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 3 Synthetic Armor.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
Render weapons indestructible, and protect from Divest Weapon. This skill prevents your weapon from being damaged via Bomb as well, which can make for interesting strategies. The only problem is, you'll have practically nothing but coating skills if you want to max this out, or an insufficent level of the other coating skills. Perhaps the most important coating skill. One can stay alive without armor or a shield (albeit not very long), but you'll never break an emperium punching it, and it's not often you will encounter someone who can be killed with your fists alone.
Axe Mastery, passive. 10 levels.
Prerequisites : None.
Adds defense ignoring damage with axes. This damage is amplified by elements and cards. One of the weaknesses of an Alchemist is facing a high defense monster, and a mastery skill helps considerably in addressing this. The problem is with the weapon itself; axes have abysmal attack speed without high agility, and the lack of powerful one-handed axes means you have to either forego your Buckler, or consume quite a few more potions. Thankfully, the attack speed issue can be taken care of by partying with a Blacksmith. However, the fact that it only adds 30 attack at level 10 isn't that much of an incentive to get this skill, especially if you're vit; as you're likely to be using swords, and in most scenarios you'll do more damage with them than when using a quad carded Axe. If you have managed to party with a Blacksmith, and thus receive the benefit of Adrenaline Rush, there are quite a few monsters that can be killed more efficiently when using a mace over an axe, even with this skill maxed out.
1 : +3 attack.
2 : +6 attack.
3 : +9 attack.
4 : +12 attack.
5 : +15 attack.
6 : +18 attack.
7 : +21 attack.
8 : +24 attack.
9 : +27 attack.
10 : +30 attack.
Homunculus Skills
The Alchemist has four skills related to the Homunculus. The initial skill is gained via a quest, and the remaining three require skill points to be used. For a list of the skills used by a Homunculus, scroll down to the end of the guide.
Basis of Life, passive. 1 level.
Prerequisite to the Homunculus skills. This is gained via a quest (thanks to hunnybunny for posting this):
1. Head to the Lighthalzen Main Office; it’s located in the 11 o'clock direction. Then locate Soldier Reagen Baler. Coordinates for Reagen Baler: [lhz_in01: 35, 225]
- Talk to him whilst wearing Geek Glasses and a Grandpa's Beard in order to gain access to the Bio-Life Lab.
2. There will be 4 portals after you enter the Bio-Life Lab. Enter the 1 o'clock portal and locate Ala Schultz. Coordinates for Ala Schultz: [lhz_in01: 224, 140]
- Talk to him until he finds you irritating.
3. Locate Sugra Sater, who is right below Ala Schultz. Coordinates for Sugra Sater: [lhz_in01: 225, 122]
- Talk to him, and he will request you locate Casey Bern.
4. Locate Casey Bern, who is to the left of Ala Schultz. Coordinates for Casey Bern: [lhz_in01: 204, 138]
- Talk to him, and he will ask you to find Blinzer in Lighthalzen.
5. Go to the Lighthalzen Restaurant, which is located right above the center Kafra, and find Mr. Blinzer in the right room. Coordinates for Mr. Blinzer: [lhz_in02: 278, 273]
- Talk to him, and learn about the Homunculus.
6. Return to Ala Schultz and speak with him.
- Tell him that you have learned the details of the Homunculus, and you will have to answer three of his questions. The answers are:
a. Sabbath/Peaceful Rest.
b. Embryo
c. Resurrect Homunculus.
Despite acknowledging your performance, he will not teach you the skill yet.
7. Find Ala Schultz' family (specifically, his son Gwenlin), and speak with them. The house is in the 1 o'clock direction in Lighthalzen, right behind the Police Department. Coordinates for Gwenlin: [lhz_in03: 106, 34]
8. Return to Ala Schultz once again.
- Talk to him, and there should be a new option available: "I want to talk about something else." Then, proceed to talk to him until you have gained the Basis of Life skill.
Call Homunculus, active. 1 level.
Summon your Homunculus.
Peaceful Rest, active. 1 level.
Store your Homunculus away.
Resurrect Homunculus, active. 5 levels.
Revive your Homunculus. This skill has five levels, and it's unknown what the differences between them are.
Spirit of the Alchemist.
The Spirit of the Alchemist is a buff style skill that can be applied to the Alchemist from a Soul Linker. This provides some wonderful bonuses to both battle and brewing type Alchemists. It adds a passive boost to Aid Potion, and opens up two new skills; one of which has three different sub-skills, for lack of a better term. The buff lasts for five minutes, given the Soul Linker has the skill at level five.
Aid Potion Boost, passive.
Increases effectiveness of Aid Potion by your base level applied as a percent. For example, if you are level 80, the effectiveness of Aid Potion is increased by 80%.
Berserk Pitcher, active.
Sp use : 10.
Bottles : Two Berserk Potions.
Range : 9 squares.
Casting time : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : Spirit of the Alchemist buff.
Toss two Berserk Potions at a target, giving them the ASPD modifier they would have if they had used one normally. While the skill ignores class restrictions, the target is still required to be at least level 85. Also, the speed increase has half the lasting time of a normal Berserk Potion boost. And it doesn’t stack with other attack speed potions.
Twilight Pharmacy, active.
Sp use : 200.
Ingredients : 200 White Herbs, 200 Empty Potion Bottles, 200 Medicine Bowls.
Casting time : 3 seconds.
Cast delay : 1 second.
Prerequisites : 10 Prepare Potion, Spirit of the Alchemist buff.
These skills are intended for mass production. Essentially, they speed up your potion production immensely, and in a more sp-efficient manner. As 200 sp is used to attempt the creation of 200 White Potions, you’re looking at 1 sp per attempt, as opposed to the 5 sp needed for Prepare Potion. It’s no different when it comes to success rates than Prepare Potion is. The 3 second casting time is not reducible, and after it is completed, an attempt is made every 0.005 second. If you lack the ingredients to create 200 potions, the skill will fail.
Twilight Pharmacy, active.
Sp use : 200.
Ingredients : 200 White Potions, 200 Witch Starsands, 200 Empty Test Tubes, 200 Medicine Bowls.
Casting time : 3 seconds.
Cast delay : 1 second.
Prerequisites : 10 Prepare Potion, Spirit of the Alchemist buff, partied with a Super Novice.
This version of the skill attempts to create 200 Condensed White Potions. You will gain any fame points that you would have gained had you used Prepare Potion to brew instead. Otherwise, it’s exactly like the previous rendition.
Twilight Pharmacy, active.
Sp use : 200.
Ingredients : 500 Stems, 500 Poison Spores, 50 Alcohol, 50 Fabrics, 50 Immortal Hearts, 200 Empty Bottles, 200 Medicine Bowls.
Casting time : 3 seconds.
Cast delay : 1 second.
Prerequisites : 10 Prepare Potion, Spirit of the Alchemist buff, partied with a Taekwon Boy/Girl.
This version attempts to create 100 Alcohol first, then 50 Bottle Grenades followed by 50 Acid Bottles. Note that any Alcohol gained from the initial 100 Alcohol creation attempts won’t count towards the 50 Alcohol requirement for using the skill.
---
ζ:
Alchemist job bonuses: +5 Strength, +6 Agility, +3 Vitality, +7 Intelligence, +9 Dexterity.
1 : +1 Int.
2 : +1 Dex.
3 : +1 Dex.
6 : +1 Str.
8 : +1 Dex.
9 : +1 Int.
11: +1 Agi.
13: +1 Dex.
14: +1 Agi.
15: +1 Str.
17: +1 Int.
19: +1 Dex.
20: +1 Vit.
21: +1 Dex.
23: +1 Int.
24: +1 Int.
25: +1 Dex.
26: +1 Str.
28: +1 Dex.
29: +1 Int.
31: +1 Vit.
32: +1 Dex.
34: +1 Str.
36: +1 Vit.
38: +1 Int.
40: +1 Agi.
43: +1 Str.
45: +1 Agi.
49: +1 Agi.
50: +1 Agi.
I'm not going to post any specific builds. As Alchemists become more popular and more people start making them, I don't want there to be any standard cookie cutter builds that everyone uses, as that only serves to inhibit expansion of Alchemist knowledge and experimentation. I will, however, list how each stat applies to Alchemists and my thoughts on them.
Also, Alchemists aren't Blacksmiths. So while a Blacksmith build may work for them, you might not be getting the most out of your Alchemist!
Str : If you plan to be a battle build of some kind, get this and plenty of it. 80 - 110 is a good range of where you should locate your str if you're a battle build; just remember, always a multiple of 10. You'll want to carry around as many potions as possible, and you can have superb damage output via Mammonite, given ample attack speed to couple your strength. In most scenarios, a high str build will find leveling to be a much easier task as well.
Agi : Alchemists have no skills that raise attack speed, so you'll most likely want a good amount of agility to make up for that if you're fond of Mammonite, or simply PvM. Alchemists have good base attack speed with swords and daggers, and high agility with an axe or mace and Adrenaline Rush is great fun. And when you do get hit, you've got plenty of potions to make up for it, even if they won't heal for very much without some vitality.
Vit : A great stat for Alchemists, seeing as how it stacks with Potion Research and Aid Potion. Each point of vit raises the effectiveness of Aid Potion by 4%. So even if you have an agility based build in mind, getting a small amount of vit is a great idea. Who wants to Aid Potion themselves for under 100 with a red! With enough of vitality, there will be little that's capable of easily felling you.
Int : If you're going to be a battle build, don't get int. You eat through your sp rather quickly making potions, and tossing acid bottles rips through it as well, especially if you're in a Magic Strings. But in both situations, either Blessing and Magnificat will be readily available, or using Blue Aid Potions is justifiable. A build with 1 base int, with Blessing, will already have 18 int; landing squarely on a regen bonus. This is more than enough for a battle build, as the stat points would be better spent enhancing your melee capabilities. If you plan on using the spell swords, either as a boost to your physical melee damage, or as a means of leveling a brewer, then a moderate to high amount is admissible. Each point of int provides a small boost to potion success rates, at .05% per point of int. As this is only really noticable if you get a large amount of int, don't bother boosting it to increase your rates unless you're going to be a brewer. However, this changes after you rebirth your Alchemist, if you plan to take advantage of a Biochemist's Acid Demonstration.
Dex : This stat assists in numerous ways. First, it boosts your potion creation success rate, with a .1% increase per point of dex. Secondly, it does the obvious; increases your accuracy, damage, and attack speed. Considering Mammonite and Cart Revolution have no hit bonuses, it's important to get a good amount of dexterity to compensate for that. Additionally, your cast time is lowered. A lower cast time equates to more acids, bombs, summons, and quicker coatings in the midst of battle, and the last thing you want is for your skill to be cancelled. If you try wearing a Phen to prevent this, keep in mind that will raise your casting time, and as such you need a hefty amount of dexterity to bring it back down to a reasonable time. In WoE, a Phen is not an option, and it's not often you won't find yourself under attack. So despite the low casting time of most skills, having the fastest possible cast is important. An essential stat, so don't neglect it.
Luk : Alchemists have no luk bonus, so you'll have to rely entirely on normal status points and equipment to boost it. If you've got a Priest with Gloria at your beck and call, you can enjoy the extra 30 luck, so even if you want to get luck to help with making potions you won't have to get that much of it. Each point of luk raises your potion success rate by .1%. An extra lucky dodge or two and some more criticals are always nice as well, and the added status effect resistence boost is quite beneficial. A good place to put the left over points after a build has been designed.
Here's a few basic builds. I didn't post any specific numbers, so simply tweak it until it suits your taste. And yes, low, moderate, and high can be objective, but that's the whole point of it. For the "Skills:" part, what I list are merely recommendations as to what skills will best complement the build; because a skill isn't there, doesn't mean you shouldn't get it. Also, there are no valid reasons for skipping out on maxed Potion Research and Aid Potion, as they are an important part of any build, and thus I'm not going to list them under skills.
Intelligent Brewer.
Str : Low.
Agi : Low.
Vit : Low.
Int : High.
Dex : High.
Luk : Moderate.
Skills: Prepare Potion, Summon Flora.
The most common brewing build. This build capitalizes on the benefits of a Fire Blend, an Ice Falchion, and a Light Epsilon, as well as the effects the first two weapons have when combined with Summon Flora.
Lucky Brewer.
Str : Low.
Agi : Low.
Vit : Low.
Int : Moderate.
Dex : High.
Luk : High.
Skills: Prepare Potion, Summon Flora.
This brewer will require a substantial amount of leeching to level, as opposed to the int oriented brewer, but if you're aiming for the highest possible success rates, this is the way to go.
Agility based.
Str : Moderate to high.
Agi : High.
Vit : Low to moderate.
Int : Low.
Dex : Moderate to high.
Luk : Low to moderate.
Skills: Axe Mastery, Summon Flora.
Paired with a Blacksmith, you should have a very nice damage output. You'll also do fine solo. However, with low vit your potions won't heal for that much and your hp will be somewhat lacking. Summoning a Geographer when things start getting a little hectic for the added healing and damage is extremely beneficial. A hefty amount of agility is required to get the necessary flee needed as well. A little luk can be added if you like to see critical hits pop out now and then, but it's not required by any means.
Vitality based.
Str : High.
Agi : Low to moderate.
Vit : Moderate to high.
Int : Low to moderate.
Dex : Moderate to high.
Luk : Low.
Skills: Acid Terror, Bomb, Summon Marine Sphere.
Since you're not going to be swinging as often as an agility-based build, you'll want your hits to count. So get as much str and dex as possible. A touch of agility for more attack speed, and the same deal with luk as the agility-based build. You'll heal quite nicely with Aid Potion, and you can gather mobs and CR them without much worry if you know what you're doing. Some int to keep up the CRs can be helpful. Just try not to fall asleep whilst using ctrl+click. This can also double as a WoE/PvP build if you lower Prepare Potion in favor of chemical protections, and Summon Marine Sphere.
MvP build.
Str : High.
Agi : Moderate.
Vit : Moderate to high.
Int : Low.
Dex : Moderate to high.
Luk : Low.
Skills: Chemical protections.
Again, this should be paired with a Blacksmith for their skills. Otherwise, you won't stand much of a chance with competition, and it's difficult enough to MVP as an Alchemist. Use an axe for large-sized MVPs, and fiddle around with a stat calculator to see if you'd do more with a sword or mace on medium sized MVPs. Otherwise just stick with the axe. The agility is for faster Mammonites, and the vit is so you don't die in two hits. A large amount of dex is required, due to the average MVP's flee. Those Blacksmiths are spoiled with their +20 hit. Also, you should try to get the coating skills; with MVPs breaking equipment, they can be extremely helpful.
WoE support.
Str : Moderate.
Agi : Low.
Vit : High.
Int : Moderate.
Dex : High.
Luk : Low to moderate.
Skills: Acid Terror, Bomb, chemical protections.
This build is designed to keep you and your vit characters alive, your opponent's armor and weapons broken, and your guild's equipment safe. Combining a cart and maxed Increase Weight Limit, you will be capable of dumping an enormous amount of potions on yourself, increasing your lifespan in WoE and thus the lifespan of your guild members. Since your main purpose is not only breaking armor and weaponry, but keeping it protected, you'll want very high dex to have the quickest possible cast time. Even with an excessive amount of dex, your casts can still be cancelled, and so pairing this build up with a Sacrifice Crusader is a great strategy. You keep him/her alive via Aid Potion, and s/he takes your damage (which should already be low due to the good amount of magic and physical defense attainable by an Alchemist) and provides you with a Phen-card effect for your skills. Keep both of you coated, and the only thing you'll have to worry about is an Asura Monk. Str isn't terribly important, however, a little for additional weight capacity and leveling efficency doesn't hurt. Some int can be helpful as well, as you can run out of sp quite quickly spamming these skills, and for the status resistance/magic defense. A little bit of luk for even more status resistance and you're good to go.
---
η:
In the equipment lists, [x] indicates that the equipment can have slots, with x being how many slots there are. The number furthest to the right on all the descriptions is the weight. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory. Sorry if it's hard to read, I can't get the damn thing to format properly.
If you plan on using equipment with slots, there's a few things to think about first. With weapons, obviously you'll want the appropriate +% cards for what you're fighting to deal the highest possible damage. Remember, cards of the same type stack, but multiple different cards yield a higher damage modifier. For example, a Quad Flammable Axe would simply add 20% more damage for each card, resulting in a total of 180% damage on a Minorous. But a Double Flammable Double Clamorous Axe would do 40% more damage from the Vadon cards, resulting in 140%, then 40% based off that calculation, which comes out to 196% damage. The downside to making weapons like that is that they are highly specialized, and can end up costing a lot of zeny. If you're going to be using status inflicting cards, then you want the weapon with the highest attack speed and number of slots.
As for the various pieces of armor, you should try not to base your build on one specific piece of equipment. For example, if your build needs a Picky carded armor to hit 110 strength, remember that you won't be able to equip elemental armors without suffering from a loss in damage. On the other hand, if you have to sacrifice a few stat points to boost your strength, you may miss out on some other important stats that could have helped you significantly. So while a Picky carded armor can be quite beneficial, you have to remember that there are downsides to using it. This applies to pretty much all cards. It really all boils down to how you plan on using your Alchemist.
I originally had almost every piece of eqiupment an Alchemist can wear listed; however, that wasn't really neccessary, and made for useless clutter. So instead, I'll merely list recommended equipment; italicized for recommended elemental weapons. The size modifiers are listed as small/medium/large.
Weapons : Your choice of weapon is decided on numerous factors. The major factors are your build, the availability of Blacksmiths, and personal preference. For the most part, you'll want to go for the weapon that has the best balance of attack and card slots. Your dex, str, agi, and luk all have an effect on the optimal weapon choice. Filddle around with a stat calculator to see what weapon complements your build most effectively.
One-handed Axes:
Aspd delay: 67.5
Size modifiers: 50/75/100
Axes are slow, suffer from low attack, have a mediocre size modifier, and there's little variety in equipment choices. Axe Mastery brings them up to par with Maces on higher defense opponents, but only so long as you have a Blacksmith. On the plus side, you'll be immune to Bomb and Shattering Strike. The weapon breaking portions, that is.
Axe [3/4]: 38 attack, level 1. 80. Somewhat effective with high str, and the four slots are welcome.
Two-handed Axes:
Aspd delay: 65
Size modifiers: 50/75/100
The same issues that apply to one-handed axes apply here, for the most part. These weapons are best used on an agility build, where the loss of a shield isn't as noticable as a vitality build without one, and the poor aspd modifier is addressed. Again, a Blacksmith is required to get the most out of them.
Battle Axe [3/4]: 80 attack, level 2. 150. Highest damage axe with four slots.
Two-Handed Axe [1/2]: 185 attack, level 3. 250. You'll generally want the most powerful weapon you can get for elementals.
Bloody Axe: +10 Str, increased movement speed, level 4. 400. The
faster walking speed is helpful, but don't use this for actual
attacking.
Light Epsilon: 180 attack, holy element, level 4. 230. Enchanted with
level 3 Heal. Holy element without the Priest! Having Heal is pretty
cool as well, and great for an int build.
Slaughter: 120 attack, earth element, level 4. 250. Pierce
defense of brute monsters, with a small chance to cause Coma. Useful on
a few monsters, such as turtles.
Maces:
Aspd delay: 65
Size modifiers: 75/100/100
With Adrenaline Rush available, these are generally the weapons of choice. They're excellent to use in WoE, as it's a great deal easier to locate a party with a Blacksmith than during the course of day to day leveling. Also, you'll enjoy the same benefits that an Axe has; immunity to weapon breaking skills.
Mace [3/4]: 37 attack, level 1. 80. Not bad when you have high str,
and want to use a weapon with card combinations (double race, double
size for example).
Chain [2/3]: 84 attack, level 2. 80. It beats out the Club and Mace in most situations due to their low, low attack.
Sword Mace [1]: 130 attack, level 3. 120. Highest attack power mace Alchemists can equip, and thus the best elemental.
Mjolnir: 250 attack, level 4. 600. +40 dex, +15 str. Everyone needs
goals. Some just happen to be a bit more plausible than others.
Swords:
Aspd delay: 57.5
Size modifiers: 75/100/75
The weapon of choice for an Alchemist. A respectable aspd delay, acceptable size modifiers, and a plethora of weapons at your disposal. You won't require a Blacksmith to get the most out of them, either. However, you're vulnerable to weapon breaking without chemical protection, and discovering a Stalker has Sword Reject, while uncommon, will not be a welcome experience.
Saber [2/3]: 115 attack, level 3. 100. A three slotted level three weapon? Sign me up!
Haedonggum [1/2]: 120 attack, +3 Int. level 3. 90. The intelligence is helpful for potion making, and it's easy to get in elemental form.
Tsurugi [1/2]: 130 attack, level 3. 120. Harder to obtain then the Haedonggum, but worth it if you can.
Cutlus: 150 attack, enchanted with level 5 Bash, level 4. 90. An
active attack that doesn't cost zeny, a potion, or require a full cart?
Yay! You do suffer from a lack of passive damage increases, however.
Spell Swords:
While not entirely different weapons than normal swords, they're worthy of special mention. While attacking, there's a chance that a Bolt spell will be automatically casted. This isn't beneficial to a low int battle build, but it's excellent news for int based brewers, or most any build with a moderate amount of int. What makes the swords so effective is the fact that the chance to use a Bolt spell transfers over to any of your attacks; Acid Terror, Summon Flora, Cart Revolution, Summon Marine Sphere, etc.. Even using a Bolt manually can trigger the auto-cast function.
Fireblend: 100 attack, fire element, enchanted with level 3 Fire Bolt, level 4. 50.
Ice Falchion: 100 attack, ice element, enchanted with level 3 Cold
Bolt, freeze target at a 5% chance per hit, freeze yourself at a 1%
chance. level 4. 60.
Daggers:
Aspd delay: 55
Size modifiers: 100/75/50
Daggers have slightly higher aspd than swords, and the size modifiers aren't anything to be excited about. If you have them on hand already, there's no issue with using them to level, but they aren't anything you should aim for unless you're looking for status effect infliction, or want to take advantage of one of the many 'special' daggers. Sword Reject also affects daggers, despite the name sounding as if it were exclusive to swords. The best thing about daggers is that there are a number of them with innate effects and abilities.
Main Gauche [3/4]: 43 attack, level 1. 60. Best for status effect
cards, due to the four slots. Knifes and Cutters also serve this
purpose, and are cheaper.
Gladius [2/3]: 105 attack, level 3. 70. Yet another three slot level three weapon! Fairly cheap as well; at least on iRO.
Damascus: 118 attack, level 3. It can't be broken. 80. Highest attack power, etc.
Fortune Sword: 90 attack, +20 Perfect Dodge, +5 Luk, level 3. 50. Great for mobbing and tanking.
Moonlight Dagger: 50 attack, regain SP every attack, level 4. 70. The
low attack means more SP gained per monster! Also, you won't have to
carry as many blue potions.
Mailbreaker: 40 attack, every attack has a small chance to break the
target's armor, level 4. 100. Acid Terror when they're at a distance,
Mailbreaker when they're up close.
Swordbreaker: 70 attack, every attack has a small chance to break the
target's weapon, level 4. 100. Absolutely superb. It's not as easy as it
is to break weapons as it is armors with an Alchemist, so this dagger
is a welcome addition to any weapon collection.
Bazerald: 70 attack, fire elemental, matk +10%, level 4. +5 int. 50.
Switch to this after casting Fire/Cold Bolt for the matk bonus. Best
used on a Biochemist with Acid Demonstration.
Combat Knife: 80 attack, pierce defense of demi-human monsters, reduce
damage from demi-human monsters by 10%, increase damage from demons by
20%, level 4. 40. Excellent for tanking in WoE/PvP, and while it's a
nice effect, the defense ignoring ability isn't anything special due to
the next dagger.
Ice Pick: 80 attack, the higher your target's defense, the higher your
damage, level 4. 60. A superb dagger. When faced with a high defense
enemy, be it a player or a monster, the weapon of choice. Nothing
spectacular on medium to lower defense monsters, however.
The Azoth:
Azoth: 110 attack, every attack has a small chance to transmute the monster into a completely different one, level 4. 70.
It's not a practical dagger in any sense, but running around a low level map changing Zombies into Bloody Knights is immensely fun. Best used on low str Alchemists, for obvious reasons. Whenever a monster is changed, all the drops, experience, and stats of the monster are those of the new one. It's also aggressive, but if you use Status Recovery/Hide, it'll revert to whatever its natural state is. The modification chance can be brought about by any physical attack, including those of your summons.
What you can transmute with an Azoth: Normal monsters.
What you can't transmute with an Azoth: MvPs, "mini-bosses", players, summoned plants/Spheres.
Armor : Alchemists wear pretty much the same armor that Blacksmiths do. During normal leveling, you'll generally want the highest possible defense. Pretty much all armor is slotted, so just avoid Panties for the most part unless you're dirt poor... If you plan on using armor cards to increase your hp, remember: Pupa until you have over 7000 base hp, then switch to Peco Peco. Status effect inflicting cards are great fun, but make sure if you choose to use one, that it isn't detrimental to your leveling. After all, blinding or turning a monster to stone that you're trying to mob isn't going to work out nicely. During WoE, and PvP, elemental/Marc carded Saint's Robes or Silk Robes work well. Or some overupgraded Lord's Clothes if you're rich enough. Anything slotted with a Poring card for making potions is good.
Silk Robe [1]: 3 defense, 10 magic defense. 40. Nice magic defense.
Saint's Robe [1]: 6 defense, 5 magic defense. 60. A good balance of physical and magical defense.
Chainmail [1]: 8 defense. 330. Probably what you'll be sticking with most of your RO career.
Lord's Clothes [1]: 8 defense, 5 magic defense, +1 Int. 250. This armor kicks *** if you can manage to overupgrade it.
Shield : Bucklers, with the appropriate -% cards for whatever you happen to be fighting at the moment. Theif Bug Egg or Ambernite cards work well for races that don't have a -% card, such as formless or undead, or for races that have -% cards that are OCA only, such as fish and angels.
Buckler [1]: 4 defense. 60. There really isn't anything else worth using.
Head gear : There's a myriad amount of head gear in this game, and a large portion of them have no value beyond aesthetics.
Upper:
Poo Poo Hat: -10% damage from demi-humans, can't be upgraded. 70.
-10% from magic, critical, and defense bypassing attacks in WoE is quite
beneficial. Too bad you have a pile of **** on your head.
Apple of Archer: +3 Dex. 20. Good for potion making.
Drooping Cat: 1 defense, 15 magic defense, resistance to curse +30%.
50. Very nice magic defense, and curse resistance to boot.
Hot-blooded Headband: 1 defense, +2 Str. 10. Abysmal defense, but the
low weight and +2 str is helpful if you're simply looking for offensive
power.
Cap [1]: 4 defense. 40. Overupgrade en masse and enjoy the slot.
Gemmed Sallet [1]: 4 defense, 3 magic defense. 50. Magic defense and a slot, along with no actual sprite. Pretty damn nice.
Orc Helm: 5 defense. 50. Good defense, cheap, and overall good standard fare.
Corsair: 5 defense, +1 Vit. 50. A little extra vitality is always nice.
Majestic Goat: 5 defense, +1 Str. 80. Good defense, more strength.
Bone Helm: 7 defense, +15% from dark element attacks. 80. Highest
amount of defense on any headgear, and that +15% isn't too much of a
worry. You can easily switch headgear to avoid the penalty, or wear Evil
armor.
Middle:
Masquerade: +3% damage to demi-humans. 10. Sure, it's only 3% more, but it's still 3% more.
Sunglasses [1]: 10. 5% resistance to blind status. Allows for two headgear cards.
/
Angel/Evil Wing Ears: 1 defense, +1 Str. 10. Defense and strength, plus they're not effected by Divest Helm. Very nice.
Middle/Lower:
Welding Mask: 2 defense, -10% damage from fire element attacks. 30. This is a superb piece of equipment.
Lower:
/
Pipe/Cigarette: -3% damage from insects. 10. Generally, it's better
to use a Welding/Alarm Mask. But -3% isn't bad whilst mobbing.
Footgear : It's mostly just a choice between Boots or Crystal Pumps, depending on the situation.
Crystal Pumps: 0 defense, 5 magic defense, +10 Luk. 10. More luck for potion production, and magic defense.
Boots [1]: 4 defense. 60. Do I really need to explain?
Robe : Manteaus are your optimal choice. Raydric or Whisper for leveling, depending on your build and the situation. The elemental resistance cards are great for WoE and PvP, but you'll probably want to slot them into a Hood due to the high cost of slotted Manteaus. A Ragamuffin Manteau is also great if you can overupgrade it to make up for the low defense.
Hood [1]: 1 defense. 20. Good for elemental resistance cards.
Ragamuffin Manteau: 1 defense, 10 magic defense, indestructible. 50.
Magic defense for the win! Overupgrade for some physical defense, and it
can be better than lugging around a bunch of elemental robes.
Manteau [1]: 4 defense. 60. Good stuff.
Accessories : If you're going to take your Alchemist to level 90 and beyond, make sure to consider using the ancient accessories; slotted, in other words. For making potions, stick with Gloves. Two Rosaries are wonderful, as they're cheap, easy to obtain, and provide 10 magic defense. However, I can't say one accessory is better than another because it depends on your build and budget, but for the most part avoid Belts if at all possible.
Ring [1]: +1 Str. 20.
Ring: +2 Str.10.
Brooch [1]: +1 Agi. 20.
Brooch: +2 Agi.10.
Necklace [1]: +1 Vit. 20.
Necklace: +2 Vit. 10.
Earring [1]: +1 Int. 20.
Earring: +2 Int. 10.
Glove [1]: +1 Dex. 20.
Glove: +2 Dex. 10.
Rosary [1]: 3 magic defense, Luk +1. 20.
Rosary: 5 magic defense, Luk +2. 10.
Matyr's Leash: 1 defense, +1 Agi. 10.
Celebrant's Mitten: 1 defense +1 Int. 10.
Safety Ring: 3 defense, 3 magic defense 10.
Critical Ring: +5 Crit. 5.
Clip [1]: +10 SP. 5.
Belt [1]: 120.
Megingjard: +40 str, 2 defense, 7 magic defense. 800. We all have dreams, we all partake of lust.
θ: Leveling your Alchemist.
While there are a few things you can do that are unique to the Alchemist class, sticking with mobbing and spamming Cart Revolution, or simple ctrl + click will do fine. When you're under attack by a large group of monsters, but don't feel the need to wing, spamming Aid Potion isn't necessarily the best course of action. While Aid Potion does increase potion potency, you have to pause and throw it at yourself. While you'll be getting healed for more, you can't maintain an offensive that way. Thus it's ordinarily a better idea to simply pound the potion/healing item hotkey and spin your cart around, resulting in less overall damage taken.
If you plan on using Summon Flora, take into consideration how dense the monster population of the map is, how the monsters are effected by fire and ice when using a spell sword, and if there are any monsters who have the ability to bypass Hide. And remember to have the plant visible on your screen. No sense letting it kill things if you won't be getting experience for them. None of the other Alchemist skills are typically possible to justify using for leveling purposes, considering the cost.
Just a quick explanation; the number listed before the monster is the amount of said monster which spawns on the map. For "Items of worth", it's based off what you'll most likely be killing on the map at an appropriate level.
Culverts 4.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist.
Recommended equipment: Insecticide/Brutal weapons, Gargantua/Brutal Bucklers.
Items of worth: Guard [1].
Home of Golden Thief Bug. You won't have to worry about the MVP, as it's passive and generally killed quite quickly by MVP hunters. Your only real concern should be the Cramps, but the loud squeaking noise they make can be heard long before they are encountered. Just make sure to rotate the camera quite often here, in order to see around corners or past the irritating beams that get in your way. If you're not capable of efficiently taking on the Cramps yet, simply bring a good amount of fly wings to avoid them and stick with mobs of Male Thief Bugs. The job experience here isn't anything amazing, but it's a good place to start your Alchemist at.
70: Male Thief Bug: Insect, medium, Shadow 1.
20: Drainliar: Brute, small, Shadow 2.
20: Female Thief Bug: Insect, medium, Shadow 1.
20: Thief Bug Egg: Formless, small, Normal 3.
20: Thief Bug: Insect, small, Shadow 1.
5: Cramp: Brute, small, Poison 2.
1: Golden Thief Bug: Insect, large, Fire 2, MVP.
Orc Dungeon 2.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist, once you have 120+ hit for Zenorcs.
Recommended equipment: Bloody/Boned/Clamorous weapons, Cranial Buckler.
Items of worth: Zenorc's Fang, Orc Helm, Rough Oridecon/Elunium.
A small and fairly crowded map. It's easy to get in over your head with a mob if you're not too high a level. The Zenorcs are looters, so a good way to gather them is to drop a useless piece of loot, then Cart Revo the resulting group. Be wary of people who dump mobs of Orc Skeletons and Drainliars on you in search of Zenorcs, as a large group of them can eat through your hp, and this is only compounded by the Skeleton's critical attack skill. Although they have a terrible hit rate on their normal attacks. The Skeletons drop Orc Helms; an excellent headgear to use in PvM until you can afford an overupgraded Bone Helm. Zenorcs will also occasionally drop a yellow potion, which is welcome.
50: Zenorc: Demi-human, medium, shadow 1.
50: Orc Skeleton: Undead, medium, undead 1.
20: Steel Chonchon: Insect, small, wind 1.
20: Drainliar: Brute, small, shadow 2.
5: Orc Archer: Demi-human, medium, earth 1.
5: White Plant: Plant, small, earth 1.
Toy Factory 2.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist.
Recommended equipment: Formless/Boned/Bloody weapons, Cranial Buckler.
Items of worth: Old Blue Box.
Another map that's good for your initial leveling stages. The only thing you really have to worry about here is getting hit by a ninja Storm Gust from Stormy Knight; however, it's generally easy to notice that it's spawned, as the map will have high level characters teleporting about in search of it. Myst Cases will use the hallucination skill on you, which will bothcausing you to flinch from every attack regardless of whether or not in actually came in contact with you, and give your screen a wavy effect. The latter is easily countered with /effect. They also have a low level Mammonite and Spear Stab. The latter is annoying, as it can cause some location glitching. Especially if you're being attacking by a few Crusiers. The green Cookies will heal any monster you're attacking for roughly 300 hp, and the red Cookies will use Lex Aeterna on you.
55: Myst Case: Formless, medium, normal 3.
40: Cruiser: Formless, medium, normal 3.
20: Cookie (Christmas): Demi-human, small, holy 2.
20: Cookie: Demi-human, small, normal 3.
1: Stormy Knight: Formless, large, wind 4, MVP.
1: Baby Hatii: Brute, medium, water 2.
Bylan 4.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist.
Recommended equipment: Fisher/Saharic/Wind weapons, Cranial/Homer's Buckler/of Athena, Swordfish armor.
Items of worth: Phen Card, Hydra Card, Marc Card, Detonator, Tendon.
A fairly crowded map. A good amount of monsters, and a good amount of bots. This is mostly due to the valuable rares here; namely, the cards listed above. It's a good idea to use a Swordfish carded armor here, in order to avoid the water element attacks, the Swordfish's Waterball, and to reduce the damage of an explosion from Marine Spheres. Speaking of Marine Spheres, one of the most enjoyable things you can do here is try to kill a bot by setting one off next to it. Don't do this regularly; the last thing you want to accomplish is the accidental killing of a real player. In any case, the -% card for fish is currently an OCA only card, and thus expensive. So it's best to use either a highly upgraded Cranial (to deal with a Merman), or an Ambernite carded Buckler if you can't afford a Rafflesia. If you can manage to snag an endow here, your damage will be excellent.
45: Phen: Fish, medium, water 2.
40: Hydra: Plant, medium, water 2.
40: Marc: Fish, medium, water 2.
40: Swordfish: Fish, large, water 2.
20: Marine Sphere: Plant, small, water 1.
3: Merman: Demi-human, medium, water 2.
Geffen Field 12.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist.
Recommended equipment: A Bloody weapon, Cranial Buckler.
Items of worth: Buckler [1], Gladius [3], Cross Bow [3], Kobold Card.
40: Kobold Archer: Demi-human, small, fire 1.
30: Kobold (Hammer): Demi-human, medium, poison 2.
30: Kobold (Mace): Demi-human, medium, fire 2.
20: Kobold (Axe): Demi-human, medium, wind 2.
20: Poporing: Plant, medium, poison 1.
1: Kobold Leader: Demi-human, medium, wind 2.
Clock Tower Underground 2.
When to level here: Level 80+.
Recommended equipment: Ice/Fire weapons, Cranial/Gargantua Bucklers, Pasana armor.
Items of worth: Rough Elunium/Oridecon, White Herbs.
This map has a lot of potential experience, that tends to be ruined by mobbing Priest + Wizard parties. It's still great to level on if you have the equipment, and even better if you level during non-peak hours, but it can get frustrating with Wizards leaving frozen Orc Archers, Priests dumping Drainliars on you, etc. None of the rares are particulary valuable, but if you actually take the time to pick up some of the loot laying around, you can break even at the very least. High Orcs drop Orange Potions, and Orc Archers drop Reds, so you can Aid yourself with them whenever you find one. An ice endow with an anti-High Orc weapon and plenty of fly wings works wonders on this map.
40: High Orc: Demi-human, large, fire 2.
20: Orc Archer. Demi-human, large, earth 1.
20: Arclouze: Insect, small, earth 2.
20: Brilight: Insect, small, fire 1.
10: Drainliar: Brute, small, shadow 2.
Clock Tower Underground 4.
When to level here: As soon as you have enough hit. 140 is needed for a 100% hit rate on Bathories.
Recommended equipment: Bloody/Ancient/Formless weapons, any elemental, Cranial Buckler, Evil armor.
Items of worth: Witch Starsand, Fabric, Joker Card, Whisper Card, Bathory Card.
One of the best maps for leveling an Alchemist on. Bathories have low attack, low defense, are medium sized, and drop Witch Starsand; which can be used to produce Condensed White Potions. The few Whispers on the map will drop Fabrics, which are needed for Bottle Grenades. Quite often, there will be small mobs of Bathories in corners, which are easily Cart Revo'd into oblivion. The map does have some downsides, however. You need a Key of the Underground to access the map, which can be expensive depending on your server. The three swords will break various pieces of equipment; Mysteltainn will break your shield, Executioner your armor, and Tirfing your head gear. So if you plan to fight one of them, it's worth using the extra potions due to taking the piece of equipment off. They respawn a half hour after killed. Jokers require a hefty amount of hit, so an Ancient weapon is required; unless you have a very large amount of dex. Evil armor is required on this map, as the bulk of the damage from Bathories is in the form of their HP Drain attack. This is completely negated by using Evil armor. The armor also blocks their cursing attack, and the Joker's Jupitel Thunder. What can't be prevented is the net skill of Bathories. What this does is lock you into place, although you can still attack anything within range. This skill results in many frustrating location glitches, in which a mob of Bathories is capable of attacking you, but you can't fight back.
50: Bathory: Demi-human, medium, shadow 1.
10: Joker: Demi-human, large, varies.
10: Whisper: Demon, small, sense 3.
1: Mysteltainn: Formless, large, shadow 4.
1: Executioner: Formless, large, shadow 4.
1: Tirfing: Formless, medium, shadow 4.
Louyang Field.
When to level here: Once you have Summon Flora and enough int to inflict a reasonable amount of damage with Fire Bolt.
recommended equipment: Fire Blend, Buckler of Athena.
Items of worth: Rough Elunium, Gold.
This is a map for the int brewers. There's usually a fair amount of competition for Mi Gaos, from various Archers and Mages, so be prepared for the occasional conflict involving your flora. Oh, and there's a pillar that people can stand on to yell out things the entire map sees... it can get annoying as all hell at times.
25: Mi Gao. Formless, medium, earth 3.
25: Mantis. Insect, medium, earth 1.
15: Anacondaq. Brute, medium, poison 1.
15: Caramel. Brute, small, earth 1.
10: Bigfoot. Brute, large, earth 1.
10: Yellow Plant. Plant, small, earth 1.
4: Black Mushroom. Plant, small, earth 1.
Sphinx 4.
When to level here: 80+, or as soon as you have enough hit for Pasanas. They require 154 for a 100% hit rate.
Recommended equipment: Flammable/Ice/Formless weapons, Cranial/Brutal Bucklers, Pasana armor.
Items of worth: Rough Elunium/Oridecon, Pasana Card, Minorous Card.
The fact that this map consists almost entirely of a single element renders it one of the most effective maps to employ an endow on. Also, if you manage to find a Pasana Card here, it's great for blocking the high-powered fire attacks that tend to be fairly frequent. It won't do much for the Pasana's critical skill, however. The downside to this map is the map design itself. Monsters will either tend to get bunched up in a corner into a mob which wipes out half your hp in a single wave, or you'll find yourself desperately wandering about in search of anything to kill. Keeping to the center hallways is a decent idea, as it's easier to cover area that way. It's also somewhat hard to mob here, as the Minorouses and Pasanas will both use the /swt emoticon and ignore you after being dragged around for a bit. Marduks will also use Firewall, which while weak, can get in the way occasionally. The Axes and Falchions you'll get from Minorouses and Pasanas, respectively, can be used to keep your cart close to or at 8000 weight. And the cows drop potatoes!
50: Minorous: Brute, large, fire 2.
20: Pasana: Demi-human, medium, fire 2.
15: Marduk: Demi-human, large, fire 1.
4: Mimic: Formless, medium, normal 3.
West Kokomo Beach
When to level here: 80+.
Recommended equipment: Wind/Fire weapons, Swordfish armor.
Items of worth: Blue Herbs.
40: Shellfish: Fish, small, water 1.
32: Raggler: Brute, small, wind 1.
20: Seal: Brute, medium, water 1.
20: Galapago: Brute, small, earth 1.
20: Crab: Fish, small, water 1.
15: Cornutus: Fish, small, water 1.
10: Aster: Fish, small, earth 1.
10: Alligator: Brute, medium, water 1.
1: Mobster: Demi-human, medium, normal 1.
Turtle Island.
When to level here: 85+, or 200+ flee.
Recommended equipment: Fire/Earth/Clamorous weapons, Brutal/Gargantua Bucklers.
Items of worth: Cyfar, Brigan, Thara Frog Card, Rough Oridecon.
This map is much more suited to a high agility type than a vit type, unless you have strong armor or are willing to expend quite a bit of zeny on potions. Dragontails will put you to sleep, Spring Rabbits will Bash you/loot you and supply you with some herbs, Pests will Cloak and annoy the hell out of you, Permeters are also there to irritate you, Thara Frogs will generally accomplish nothing, and Hunters will attack everything in sight. This is also one of the few maps that you could use Bomb on; Dragontails and Pests charge directly into it due to being aggressive, and the resulting loot will attract Spring Rabbits, which will take a large amount of damage from the fire element Bomb. The Permeters have Aid Potion, and will use it to heal any monsters you're fighting. You can either use Mammonite to exact justice upon them, or simply ignore the turtles and move onto better experience in a different section of the map.
25: Dragon Tail: Insect, medium, wind 2.
25: Spring Rabbit: Brute, medium, earth 2.
15: Pest: Brute, small, shadow 2.
10: Perimeter: Brute, medium, normal 2.
10: Thara Frog: Fish, medium, water 2.
---
ι:
To create potions, you need to have Prepare Potion, the proper potion creation manual, a medicine bowl, and the ingredients in your inventory. Once you use Prepare Potion, the medicine bowl is consumed, and the list of all the potions that you can create with the manuals you have in your inventory pops up; select the potion you want to make, it shows the ingredients you need, then make your potion. Use your arrow keys and enter to speed through the windows, and if you're creating, say, alcohol, only have that manual in your inventory so you don't have to scroll through a large list of various potions. The ingredients are as follows:
Red Potion : 1 Red Herb + 1 Empty Potion Bottle.
Yellow Potion : 1 Yellow Herb + 1 Empty Potion Bottle.
White Potion : 1 White Herb + 1 Empty Potion Bottle.
Blue Potion : 1 Blue Herb + 1 Scell + 1 Empty Potion Bottle.
Condensed Red Potion : 1 Red Potion + 1 Cactus Needle + 1 Empty Test Tube.
Condensed Yellow Potion : 1 Yellow Potion + 1 Mole Whiskers + 1 Empty Test Tube.
Condensed White Potion : 1 White Potion + 1 Witch Starsand + 1 Empty Test Tube.
Acid Bottle : 1 Immortal Heart + 1 Empty Bottle.
Alcohol : 5 Poison Spores + 5 Stems + 1 Empty Bottle + 1 Empty Test Tube.
Bottle Grenade : 1 Alcohol + 1 Fabric.
Plant Bottle : 2 Maneater Blossoms + 1 Empty Bottle.
Marine Sphere Bottle : 1 Detonator + 1 Tendon + 1 Empty Bottle.
Glistening Coat : 1 Zenorc's Fang + 1 Heart of Mermaid + 1 Alcohol + 1 Empty Bottle.
Anodyne : 1 Ment + 1 Alcohol + 1 Empty Bottle.
Aloevera : 1 Aloe + 1 Honey + 1 Empty Bottle.
A quest 'skill' was recently added to kRO for Alchemists. Upon completing the quest, you obtain a new potion creation manual that enables you to produce elemental resistance potions. Each potion provides a 20% resistance to the element, at the cost of a 15% increase in damage from the opposing element.
Resist Cold : 3 Heart of Mermaids + 1 Blue Gemstone.
Resist Thunder : 3 Powder of Butterflies + 1 Blue Gemstone.
Resist Earth : 2 Large Jellopies + 1 Yellow Gemstone.
Resist Fire : 2 Frills + 1 Red Gemstone.
Now, as for a potion creation formula, I stand by the one posted below. Sadly there is no 100% confirmed formula, but this one is accurate enough for me. And as an important note to remember, an adopted Alchemist will have halved success rates!
PR*1 + PP*3 + Joblv*0.2 + [Dex + Luk + (Int/2)] X 0.1 + a + 5
With a equating to:
Red, yellow, and white potions = 15.
Alcohol = 5.
Floras, marine spheres, bombs, and acids = -5.
Blue potions = -10.
Glistening coats and condensed potions = -15.
Following this formula, the stats that will result in the highest success rates for an Alchemist are: 42 int, 93 dex, and 93 luk. These are base states, without gear or buffs. If you know a Gypsy/Minstrel with Marionette Control, you can forgo a brewing build completely and go battle. Of course, you'll have to rely entirely on their presence in order to be an effective brewer, so there are downsides to it.
And here's a success rate calculator, thanks to Himeyasha!
κ: Hunting for ingredients.
Only a few items can be purchased from NPCs. Manuals and Medicine Bowls in the Alchemist guild, Empty Potion Bottles and Empty Test Tubes at the Mage guild in Geffen, and Scells/Blue Gemstones at the tool shop in Geffen. The best character to use for hunting items is a Rogue, due to their ability to use Steal and Gank. Now, as for decent places to hunt for the rest...
Red Herbs : You'll get these all over the place; but the first level of Payon caves is great for them. Spores, Familiars, and Red Plants.
Yellow Herbs
: Lots of Yellow Plants spawn in Sograt desert. Just look around the
maps near Morroc and you should find some. Goats also drop these at a
decent rate.
White Herbs
: If you level in High Orcs, you should get a good amount of these from
the Archers and Brilights. Geffen 3 also has a decent supply of White
Plants.
Blue Herbs
: There's several Blue Plants that spawn in Goblin Forest, however,
these are usually camped. There's also three that spawn behind the house
in Orc Village that leads to Orc Zombies, but again, they're usually
camped, and then there's several blue plants scattered around the Kobold
map. They're generally in corners in the bushes. Seals near Comodo,
Spring Rabbits on Turtle Island, and Goats south of Juno all have
somewhat decent drop rates on Blue Herbs.
Cactus Needles : The map two south of Morroc has a respectable amount of Mukas.
Mole Whiskers : Any of the Coal Mines maps.
Witch Starsand
: Clock Tower Basement 4 is awesome for these; just watch out for the
Jokers who will loot you now and then, along the three swords, and enjoy
the mobs of Bathories.
Immortal Heart
: Pyramids is where you should head to if you're after these. It's a
choice between the basement, with Minorouses; or level three, with a
myriad of other monsters.
Poison Spore : Three south of Payon is decent for these.
Stems
: Either the Mandragora map one north and one east of Prontera, or the
Flora map three north and one west of Prontera, two south and one west
of Al De Baran.
Fabric : Graveyard has a good amount of Wraiths. Clock Tower Basement 4 is nice as well.
Maneater Blossoms : If you can handle them, the Geographers near Juno drop these, otherwise head to the Flora map.
Detonator : Byalan 4.
Tendon : Byalan 4.
Zenorc's Fang : Orcs 2. Quite easy to gather these.
Heart of Mermaid : Byalan. Hunt for these along with Marine Sphere goodies!
Ment : Just smack up any Red Plants you find. There's a decent amount of these in Payon 1.
Aloe : Head off to Floras again.
Honey
: Vitatas in Ant Hell, or Bigfoot on the map west of the Flora map.
Also, Soldiers in TI drop them quite frequently. Zipper Bears at Gonryun
are great for them, and the Royal Jellies they drop are quite nice.
Scell : Tool shop in Geffen.
Frill : Drillers at Juno, or Frilldora at Comodo Field 05. Stick to the west side.
Powder of Butterfly : Creamies at Prontera Field 04, or practically any map with Fabres/Pupa.
Large Jellopy : Firelock Soldiers at Amatsu Dungeon 01, or use Marin Cards and kill anything.
Blue Gemstone : Tool shop at Geffen.
Red Gemstone : Drillers at Juno, or the gemstone converter at Payon.
Yellow Gemstone : Drillers at Juno, or the gemstone converter at Payon.
Medicine Bowls : Alchemist Guild, in Al De Baran.
Empty Potion Bottles : Mage Guild, in Geffen.
Empty Test Tube : Mage Guild, in Geffen.
Empty Bottles
: The Toad map three west of Prontera has plenty of Roda Frogs; and
Toad itself also drops Honey. Ant Eggs drop Empty Bottles at a decent
rate, just watch out for irritating looting ants that'll charge off to
some Swordman bot after taking your bottles. And don't forget about
Goats.
As for how much to charge when you're making potions for someone... I only charge enough to cover my bowls and bottles, so I couldn't suggest any standard prices, so it's pretty much just a personal choice.
Condensed Potions.
Here are my suggested prices for condensed potions; you don't have to sell them for these amounts, but they're good standard prices that make for decent profit, without sacrificing future earnings by ruining the market. For example, settting the standard at 2000 zeny per condensed white by selling them for minimal profit in an attempt to draw customers away from competitors.
Reds: 250 zeny.
Yellows: 1500 zeny.
Whites: 3500 zeny.
Selling these before WoE is a good idea, as people are more willing to spend the cash then. Each potion weighs roughly three times less then the normal variety; reds at 2, yellows at 3, and whites at 5. They heal for the same amount as their heavier counterparts. If you plan on using them, you have to take into consideration that they don't stack with normal potions when slotted unto your hotkey list, and they can't be thrown via Aid Potion.
Oh, and one other thing. If possible, use store bought potions to make condensed over home made, purely for marketing reasons. No sense selling store bought potions when you can sell ones that have your name on 'em.
Eventually, a patch implementing the fame system will come to iRO. The fame system functions by assiging rank points to Alchemists based on their brewing performance. The points are gained when your Alchemist creates a certain number of condensed potions in a row without failure. The ten Alchemists with the highest amount of rank points on the server will gain a few bonuses.
* +1 Rank Point: 3 condensed potions created without failure in a row.
* +3 Rank Point: 5 condensed potions created without failure in a row.
* +10 Rank Point: 7 condensed potions created without failure in a row.
* +50 Rank Point: 10 condensed potions created without failure in a row.
The /alchemist command will display a list of the top ten Alchemists. Potions made by one of these Alchemists will receive a 50% bonus to their potency. However, this effect does not apply to potions used via Aid Potion/Aid Condensed Potion.
---
λ: Biochemists.
The advanced second class for Alchemists is the Biochemist. So far they've recieved four new skills. More could possibly be released according to Gravity, and those currently planned could easily be changed or removed completely.
Biochemist job bonuses.
Biochemist skills :
Aid Condensed Potion, active. 10 levels.
Sp use : 30.
Bottle : Condensed Red, Yellow, and White potions.
Casting time: 1 second.
Cast delay: 1 second.
Prerequisites : 5 Aid Potion.
Throw a condensed potion. This skill heals all party, guild, and allied guild members in a 7x7 area around the target cell with a thrown condensed potion. Even when they're dead. It also consumes the potion at the beginning of the cast, in the same manner as Acid Terror. Currently, there's a minor sprite glitch with the skill. When your cast is completed, your sprite will remain in the throwing position, but it has no adverse effect. Just like Aid Potion, the level you have determines the increase in potency, and the level you use will be what decides which potion is thrown.
1 : 10% more effective. [Condensed Red]
2 : 20% more effective. [Condensed Red]
3 : 30% more effective. [Condensed Red]
4 : 40% more effective. [Condensed Red]
5 : 50% more effective. [Condensed Red]
6 : 60% more effective. [Condensed Yellow]
7 : 70% more effective. [Condensed Yellow]
8 : 80% more effective. [Condensed Yellow]
9 : 90% more effective. [Condensed Yellow]
10 : 100% more effective. [Condensed White]
Full Chemical Protection, active.
Sp use : 40
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Prerequisites : All four Chemical Protection skills maxed.
All four kinds of chemical protection will be applied at once using a single glistening coat.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
The following two skills are not yet implemented on iRO.
Acid Demonstration, active. 10 levels.
Sp use : 30
Bottle: Acid Bottle, Bottle Grenade.
Casting time : 1 second.
Cast delay : 1 second.
Prerequisites: 5 Bomb, 5 Acid Terror.
Inflict a target with neutral damage x-times consecutively (x = skill level) by using one acid bottle and one bottle grenade. When used on another player, it will only deal 50% of it's original damage. Each skill level increases the chance to break both the target's weapon and armor by 1%. Damage is increased by the caster's int, and the target's vit, and it ignores armor and vit defense. It is similiar to Acid Terror, in that it ignores flee, and is a ranged attack. As such, it will ignore Safety Wall, and have the damage reduced to zero by Pneuma. However, the armor and weapon breaking chance remains. Also, wearing elemental weapons and damage boosting cards will not raise your damage. Unless they also boost your int.
And now, a damage chart. It assumes you have level 10 Acid Demonstration. The number on the top is your int, while the numbers on the left are the target’s vit. The chart tops off at 149 vit, as that’s the highest vit a target can possibly have; this title belongs to Orc Lord.
Much like brewing, there isn't a formula that's confirmed to be entirely accurate. However, we do have one that will give you a fairly accurate idea of what kind of damage you'll do, and that formula is (INT×0.28)×(1+VIT×141/100)×skill level.
1 : Hits 1 time, 1% chance to break.
2 : Hits 2 times, 2% chance to break.
3 : Hits 3 times, 3% chance to break.
4 : Hits 4 times, 4% chance to break.
5 : Hits 5 times, 5% chance to break.
6 : Hits 6 times, 6% chance to break.
7 : Hits 7 times, 7% chance to break.
8 : Hits 8 times, 8% chance to break.
9 : Hits 9 times, 9% chance to break.
10 : Hits 10 times, 10% chance to break.
Plant Cultivation, active. 2 levels.
Sp use : 10
Prerequisites: None.
Using either one mushroom spore or one stem, grow a mushroom or a plant on nearby ground, respectively. The resulting mushroom/plant is selected randomly from the potential results. There is a 50% chance of failure.
1 : Use one mushroom spore, grow a red or black mushroom.
2 : Use one stem, grow a red/yellow/white/blue/shining plant.
Originally, Biochemists had two skills planned for them. Neither of these skills have been implemented since that point in time, nor has any mention been made of them. It appears as if Gravity has no intention of completing them.
Alchemy, active. 5 levels.
Prerequisites : 5 Prepare Potion.
You can create many items that are used via Prepare Potion. You can easily create Empty Bottles, Empty Potion Bottles, and Empty Test Tubes to help you with other skills that require those items.
Potion Synthesis, active. 5 levels.
Prerequisites : 6 Prepare Potion, 2 Alchemy.
Combine many different potions to create new potions. There are already set rules to what can be mixed, and the problem is the success rate. You can create potions that weigh less, but perform the same... or create heavier potions that heal for far more. For potions that summon creatures to attack, they might have better attack rate, or have a new skill to use.
---
μ: The Homunculus.
The Homunculus has been partially implemented on kRO; please refer to these threads for the information concerning them.
As there is some confusion, the Homunculus is available to both Alchemists and Biochemists.
The Homunculus, reduced to the most basic description, is a pet that assists you. Be it by supporting you, or attacking with you. You create them via Prepare Potion, using one of each of the following items:
Dew of Yggdrasil:
Seed of Life:
Glass Tube:
Which results in an Embryo:
The Embryo then remains in your inventory until you use the skill Call Homunculus. You then receive a Homunculus. The type is selected at random. There are currently four types of Homunculi, each type offering two different Homunculi. The difference between the two is purely cosmetic. They all have initial forms, and a developed version. In order to mature them into their secondary forms, you need to first raise their intimacy to "Best Friend" status, then use a...
Philosopher's Stone:
Much like a pet, a Homunculus requires feeding on a regular basis, or they'll run away/starve to death, depending on how you look at it. They eat the following foods:
Amistr: Zargon.
Filir: Garlet.
Lif: Pet Food.
Vanilmirth: Scell.
As mentioned previously, the Homunculi have a rating of how friendly they are to you. The intimacy is raised via feeding them, much like pets. Upon death, the Homunculus loses intimacy rather than experience. If the intimacy drops to zero, the Homunculus runs away.
Your Homunculus will also gain skill points upon leveling up that can be used on the following skills. These require no skill points on the part of the Alchemist to obtain.
Amistr.
/ 
Castling, active.
Instantaneously switch the location of the player and Amistr. The monsters that were attacking the player will now attack Amistr instead.
1: 20% chance of success.
2: 40% chance of success.
3: 60% chance of success.
4: 80% chance of success.
5: 100% chance of success.
Defense, active.
Temporarily increase the defense of both Amistr and the player.
1: 2 defense, 40 second duration.
2: 4 defense, 35 second duration.
3: 6 defense, 30 second duration.
4: 8 defense, 25 second duration.
5: 10 defense, 20 second duration.
Adamantium Skin, passive.
Increase Amistr's defense, maximum hp, and hp regeneration.
1: 2% hp, 5% regen, 4 defense.
2: 4% hp, 10% regen, 8 defense.
3: 6% hp, 15% regen, 12 defense.
4: 8% hp, 20% regen, 16 defense.
5: 10% hp, 25% regen, 20 defense.
Blood Lust, active.
For a five minute duration, Amistr's damage is increased and every attack has a chance to leech 20% of the damage as HP.
1: 1 minute duration, 130% damage increase, 3% chance to leech, 5 minute cast delay.
2: 3 minute duration, 140% damage increase, 6% chance to leech, 10 minute cast delay.
3: 5 minute duration, 150% damage increase, 9% chance to leech, 15 minute cast delay.
Filir.
/ 
Moonlight, active.
Filir attacks a target with its beak.
1: 1 hit, 220% damage.
2: 2 hits, 330% damage.
3: 2 hits, 440% damage.
4: 2 hits, 550% damage.
5: 3 hits, 660% damage.
Fleeting Move, active.
Temporarily increase Filir's attack and aspd.
1: +3% aspd, 110% damage, lasts for 60 seconds, 60 second delay.
2: +6% aspd, 115% damage, lasts for 55 seconds, 70 second delay.
3: +9% aspd, 120% damage, lasts for 50 seconds, 80 second delay.
4: +12% aspd, 125% damage, lasts for 45 seconds, 90 second delay.
5: +15% aspd, 130% damage, lasts for 40 seconds, 120 second delay.
Over Speed, active.
Temporarily increase Filir's flee.
1: 20 flee, lasts for 60 seconds, 60 second delay.
2: 30 flee, lasts for 55 seconds, 70 second delay.
3: 40 flee, lasts for 50 seconds, 80 second delay.
4: 50 flee, lasts for 45 seconds, 90 second delay.
5: 60 flee, lasts for 40 seconds, 120 second delay.
SBR44, active.
Lower your Filir's intimacy level in exchange for high damage to a single target.
Lif.
/ 
Healing Touch, active.
Heals the player, or another player if specifically targeted. The skill consumes a Condensed Red Potion, but otherwise functions exactly like an Acolyte's Heal. In order to clear up some confusion there's been regarding this, your int has no relevance to the amount healed. It is calcuated using the Lif's int.
1: 13 sp.
2: 16 sp.
3: 19 sp.
4: 22 sp.
5: 25 sp.
Emergency Evasion, active.
Temporarily increase the moving speed of both Lif and the player.
1: 10% faster, 40 second duration.
2: 20% faster, 35 second duration.
3: 30% faster, 30 second duration.
4: 40% faster, 25 second duration.
5: 50% faster, 20 second duration.
Brain Surgery, passive.
Increase Lif's max sp and sp regeneration rate, as well as the amount healied via Healing Touch.
1: 1% sp, 3% regen, 2% Healing Touch bonus.
2: 2% sp, 6% regen, 4% Healing Touch bonus.
3: 3% sp, 9% regen, 6% Healing Touch bonus.
4: 4% sp, 12% regen, 8% Healing Touch bonus.
5: 5% sp, 15% regen, 10% Healing Touch bonus.
Mental Change, active.
For a period of five minutes, Lif's maximum HP and SP are switched. After activating the skill, HP is fully healed. Non-skill attacks are increased by the Lif's MATK value. After the skill duration has ended, HP and SP are set to 10.
1: 1 minute duration, 10 minute cast delay.
2: 3 minute duration, 15 minute cast delay.
3: 5 minute duration, 20 minute cast delay.
Vanilmirth.
/ 
Caprice, active.
Randomly use one of the Bolt-type spells. The skill level used for the spell is determined by the skill level of Caprice.
1: Can use level 1 Bolt-type spell.
2: Can use level 2 Bolt-type spell.
3: Can use level 3 Bolt-type spell.
4: Can use level 4 Bolt-type spell.
5: Can use level 5 Bolt-type spell.
Benediction of Chaos, active
Randomly uses Heal on you, the enemy that you are attacking, or Vanilmirth itself.
1: Heal level 1: Enemy: 50% / Vanilmirth: 20% / Player: 30%.
2: Heal level 1 - 2: - Enemy: 40% / Vanilmirth: 50% / Player: 10%.
3: Heal level 1 - 3: - Enemy: 25% / Vanilmirth: 25% / Player: 50%.
4: Heal level 1 - 4: - Enemy: 36% / Vanilmirth: 60% / Player: 4%.
5: Heal level 1 - 5: - Enemy: 33% / Vanilmirth: 34% / Player: 33%.
Change Instruction, passive.
Increase Vanilmirth's int and str.
1: 1 int / 1 str.
2: 2 int / 1 str.
3: 2 int / 3 str.
4: 4 int / 4 str.
5: 5 int / 4 str.
Bio Explosion, active.
Vanilmirth self destructs and inflicts defense ignoring damage on everything within a 9x9 square around it. The damage is based off it's maximum HP, and after the attack, intimacy is reduced to 1.
1: Max HP * 1.
2: Max HP * 1.5.
3: Max HP * 2.
---
Thanks for reading, and I hope this was helpful.
Table of Contents.
α: Credits.
β: Introduction.
γ: Becoming an Alchemist.
δ: Merchant skills.
ε: Alchemist skills.
ζ: Stats.
η: Equipment.
θ: Leveling your Alchemist.
ι: Potion creation.
κ: Hunting for ingredients.
λ: Biochemists.
μ: The Homunculus.
---
α: Credits.
http://sophia.smith.edu/~lyamada/index.htm
http://rodatazone.simgaming.net/
http://www.beat-up.com/
http://irocalc.vze.com/
http://www.ragnagate.com
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconVa...upertino/9230/
http://www.rodatabase.org/
http://www.emperium.org
And all the Alchemists out there for helping me with this.
---
β: Introduction.
En garde, and prepare thineself FOR BUCKET LOADS OF FUN AT A LOW LOW PRICE!
Anyway.
Welcome to the Hitchhiker's Guide to Alchemists. One of the most important things to remember when planning, leveling, and enjoying your Alchemist are two very simple words; Don't Panic. Sadly, I can't make them into large, friendly letters.
I decided to write up this guide concerning Alchemists and everything related to them. Most of the things in here are simply my opinions, and I don't know everything there is to know, so input and corrections are greatly appreciated. If you have any questions concerning the basics of RO, direct your questions to the Q&A forum, or try running a search. If it's Alchemist-specific, read through this guide and search the forums to see if your question has already been answered, then feel free to ask if you can't find anything.
Alchemists are the class focused on potions. They tend to be more WoE/PvP based, due to most of their skills having effects that only work on other players, such as Acid Terror breaking an opponent's armor. They're also the "pet class" of RO, with the ability to control a creature of your creation to attack with you, and support you. At least, they will later on. Currently, the Homunculus system isn't implemented on any server other than kRO, and it isn't even completed there. Until it arrives here on iRO, the class can't be considered complete. However, despite this, Alchemists are still a potent and capable class. They simply require a bit more dedication than your typical Wizard or Knight.
Oh, and one last thing. This is pretty much a perpetual work in progress, with minor changes and small updates here and there as I learn more or modify things, as my edit count can attest to.
---
γ:
Although I highly recommend all Merchants go to job 50, I understand there's those people out there who just want to hit Alchemist so they can have a good looking vend slave, or are just plan lazy. Anyway, the Alchemist guild is located in the southwestern corner of Al De Baren. The room you walk into has two NPCs, one sells you medicine bowls and the potion manuals, while the other is the NPC you must talk to in order to begin your job change quest. After hearing her tell you about Alchemists, you'll have to pay 50,000 zeny to apply. She will then inform you that you need to bring some items to her. The required items will be randomly selected from a list of three: 7 Berserk Potions, 100 Mini Furnaces, or 750 Fire Arrows, so if you have any of them, you may as well bring them in advance. Unless you happen to have a Hammer of Blacksmith and an Old Magic Book. These can be used to skip this part of the test.
Then, she will tell you to that Raspuchin is calling you. Head downstairs, then run along the north wall and to the east. He will give you a math test. If you went to job 50, you can skip this. Otherwise, it's a good idea to have your browser open to a site with a database, in order to search for information such as prices and attributes, and alt + tab between the two as needed. After this, he'll send you to Darwin, who is located in the southeast corner. A score of at least 80% correct is required to pass. If you can’t, or don’t want to do the questions properly, here are the answers:
Math questions:
a) 13+25+37+48 = 123
b) 12+23+34+45 = 114
a) 1,000-58-214-416 = 312
b) 1,000-36-227-348 = 389
a) 14*17*3 = 714
b) 12*24*3 = 864
a) 10,530/3/5/2 = 351
b) 9765/3/5/7 = 93
a) (35*19) - (1,792/7) = 409
b) (47*28) - (1376/4) = 972
a) (2,368/8) + (24*17) = 704
b) (2,646/7) + (13*28) = 742
Discount questions:
a) Red Potion (12), Fly Wing (5) Butterfly Wing (1) = 909z
b) Red Potion (6), Green Potion (7) Fly Wing (8) = 798z
c) Green Potion (15), Magnifier (6), Trap (4) = 934z
Weight questions:
a) 3 Ring Pommel Sabers, 4 Caps, 2 Boots = 550
(90*3)+(40*4)+(60*3)
b) 2 Ring Pommel Sabers, 3 Caps, 3 Boots = 480
c) 3 Scimitars, 2 Helms, Coat = 450
(70*3)+(60*2)+(120)
Defense questions:
a) Buckler, Coat, Gas Mask, Big Ribbon, Fillet, Sakkat, Glasses = 20
b) Biretta, Manteau, Opera Mask, Ribbon, Muffler, Boots, Earmuffs = 20
c) Mirror Shield, Leather Jacket, Mr. Smile, Silk Robe, Wedding Veil, Muffler,
Eye Patch = 12
Profit questions:
a) 5 Helms
Standard price = 44,000z
24% discount = 33,440z
20% discount selling price = 35,200z
Profit (35,200-33,440)*5 = 8,800z
b) 4 Padded Armor
Standard price = 48,000z
24% discount = 36,480z
20% discount selling price = 38,400
Profit (38,400-36,480)*4 = 7,680z
c) 3 Tights
Standard price = 7,1000
24% discount = 53,960
20% discount selling price = 56,800
Profit (56,800-53,960)*3 = 8,520
Next, you'll have to grab either three medicine bowls, three empty bottles, a red herb, a yellow herb, and a white herb, or an illusion flower. Darwin will then explain the process of creating potions, after which you have to repeat to him how one goes about it. It's tempting to select the other options though. Some noodles would be great. He'll then give you the potions you made, and sends you to Van Helmont, to the left of the room you're in now. Alternatively, if you have an Illusion Flower, you can give this to Darwin instead. He'll become quite excited, and send you directly to the job change NPC afterwards.
Van Helmont is too busy to teach you anything, so he sends you Molgenstein, the scientist who makes Counteragents and Mixtures. You'll need two Alcohol, a Karvodailnirol, a Detrimindexta, and two empty bottles. It's not required to actually make the Mixture and Counteragent, but as long as you're there you might as well. If you've already done the quest, it's still a good idea to go to Geffen and buy five Mini Furnaces anyway. Otherwise, you'll need to head to Alberta first with the Karvodailnirol and the Detrimindexta. Go to the house near the NPC who teaches you Change Cart, head upstairs, and break into the second room on the right. Show Louitz the Karvodailnirol and the Detrimindexta, then head to Geffen. Talk to the NPC near the eastern Kafra, and head down to the Blacksmith guild in the southeastern corner. Head upstairs, then talk to Molgenstein and have him make the Mixture and Counteragent. While here, buy the five Mini Furnaces I mentioned earlier from the Blacksmith. You'll need them later. Head back to Van Helmont, and answer his two questions. Then head to the northwestern room and talk with Nicholas.
Nicholas will present several basic puzzles, which consist of picking out a word from four or five choices that can be spelled using the letters he gives you. It's quite easy; start with the word at the top of the list. Note what the first letter is, and search the letters they have jumbled in the dialogue box for it. If you find it, move unto the second letter in the word and repeat, if not, try the next word down on the list. After passing the test, he'll tell you to prepare yourself. Talk to him again, and he'll tell you to head to Juno and meet with Bajin and Bain. He then gives you numerous items. DO NOT LOSE THEM OR SELL THEM. You'll also need to obtain five Coal, and 2,000 zeny, as well as the Mini Furnaces you should have purchased earlier in Geffen.
Now take the Kafra to Juno. If you feel like walking, buy a bunch of fly wings, and head north of Al De Baran. When you come to the map with the three portals on the west, go to either the northern or the southern one, as the middle leads to the Magma Dungeon. Once you reach Juno, head to the building located roughly at this point. Sorry if the arrow and circle are somewhat hard to read. When you first enter the correct building, it should look like a bar/restaurant. Head upstairs, and in the first room on your right are the brothers. You'll need to give them the items Nicholas gave you, along with the ones you purchased earlier. They will then perform their experiment, and give you the result. You will then receive one of the following: 5 Iron Ore, 2 Mini Furnaces, 5 Rubies, or 3 Gold.
Now head back to Al De Baran, and down to Nicholas. Talk to him, then head upstairs to one of the few npcs in the game that has a nose, and change into an Alchemist! If you went to job 50, he will give you a Condensed Potion Manual, which is worth 240,000 zeny. Otherwise he'll give you a seemingly random potion manual; out of the 100,000 zeny batch anyway.
---
δ: Merchant skills.
Here's the Merchant skill tree, from the official International Ragnarok Online site:
One of the interesting things about Merchants is that most of their skills can benefit all your other characters without you having to actually play them beyond the early stages of their life. Hence such terms as "vend slave", "oc/dc slave", and "extended storage".
Enlarge Weight Limit, passive. 10 levels.Prerequisites : None.
Increase your maximum weight capacity; very helpful, almost necessary. By allowing you to carry even more potions, it will dramatically increase your lifespan in WoE and PvP. Even if you prefer not going overweight, you still have more space to fill until the 49% mark is attained. During normal leveling it's not really required, however. If you're a low str build, this will help compensate for your normally low weight limit. And if your build has a large amount of str, then it does nothing but complement your already large limit. While it's not really an issue, you can carry a larger amount of ingredients at once if you're a potion maker. Max this skill if at all possible.
1 : +200 weight.
2 : +400 weight.
3 : +600 weight.
4 : +800 weight.
5 : +1000 weight.
6 : +1200 weight.
7 : +1400 weight.
8 : +1600 weight.
9 : +1800 weight.
10 : +2000 weight.
Pushcart, passive. 10 levels.Prerequisites : 5 Enlarge Weight Limit
Enable your Merchant to rent a cart from a Kafra. The cart is a seperate mobile storage, with space for up to 100 unique items, and a weight capacity of 8000. You can't use items directly from the cart, but it's simple enough to click and drag items from your cart to the inventory and vice versa. To open the cart inventory, press alt + w. You also need a cart on to vend. Get this skill and level 10, without a doubt. The cart will be your main advantage throughout Merchant life and beyond.
1 : 55% walking speed.
2 : 60% walking speed.
3 : 65% walking speed.
4 : 70% walking speed.
5 : 75% walking speed.
6 : 80% walking speed.
7 : 85% walking speed.
8 : 90% walking speed.
9 : 95% walking speed.
10 : 100% walking speed.
Vending, active. 10 levels.Sp use : 30.
Prerequisites : 3 Pushcart.
Set up a shop in order to sell your items. In order to do this, you have to first put whatever you're interested in offering for sale in your cart, find a suitable location, and then use the skill. A window will open with some empty bars and slots to drag your items into from the cart. The top bar is used to label your shop; try to avoid esoteric or just plain ugly names if possible, as you'll generally want it to be easily understood and appealing. Simply listing what you have will usually suffice. After you've got your shop titled, drag and drop the items into the aforementioned slots, and on the bar to the right enter in the amount you'd like to sell it for. Level 3-4 is usually enough, unless you're a vend slave, in which case 10 is always good fun. However, level 6 is a good point to stop at unless you really feel the need to vend as much as possible. At level 6, with eight slots open for vending, this will fill the default shop size. Any more items, and anyone browsing your shop will have to use the scroll bar to see what else you've got for sale. While it sounds trivial, quite a few casual shoppers won't bother scrolling down, and it also makes it a little bit easier on people looking for specific items if all they have to do is glance over what's visible and then either move on, or purchase the item if you've got it. You can always make another Merchant to handle this sort of thing if your Alchemist will be your main character, and can't spare the skill points.
1 : Vend up to 3 items.
2 : Vend up to 4 items.
3 : Vend up to 5 items.
4 : Vend up to 6 items.
5 : Vend up to 7 items.
6 : Vend up to 8 items.
7 : Vend up to 9 items.
8 : Vend up to 10 items.
9 : Vend up to 11 items.
10 : Vend up to 12 items.
Discount, passive. Ten levels.Prerequisites : 3 Enlarge Weight Limit.
Lower the cost of items purchased from an NPC shop; it always rounds down, and the minimum value possible is 1z. Get level 10. Now. While level 9 -> 10 is only 1% more, you'll most likely be purchasing a ton of potions throughout your Alchemist's life, so you might as well save as much as possible on them. That, and 10 looks better on the skill screen than 9 does. If you have another Merchant with this skill, then it's not really required, but it's still easier to purchase the items on your Alchemist then having to switch characters and transfer via Kafra.
1 : -7% total.
2 : -9% total.
3 : -11% total.
4 : -13% total.
5 : -15% total.
6 : -17% total.
7 : -19% total.
8 : -21% total.
9 : -23% total.
10 : -24% total.
Overcharge, passive. Ten levels.Prerequisites : 3 Discount.
Increase the amount of zeny items are sold to the NPC for. The total is always rounded down, and the minimum value is 0z. Level 10 can be quite helpful, but you'll probably be making most of your money from rares, and things like buying and reselling. More zeny is always great, and you should try to get as much as possible. Again, if you have a Merchant with this skill already, it's not something you have to get.
1 : +7% total.
2 : +9% total.
3 : +11% total.
4 : +13% total.
5 : +15% total.
6 : +17% total.
7 : +19% total.
8 : +21% total.
9 : +23% total.
10 : +24% total.
Mammonite, active. Ten levels.Sp use : 5.
Prerequisites : None.
Use zeny to inflict massive damage. The rate you are able to attack at is dependant on your attack speed. If you're a battle build of any kind with at least moderate strength, GET THIS. Even if you're poor now, and that 1k per use sounds mind blowing, if you play long enough you should have enough zeny to cover it. Wouldn't want to regret skipping it if you ever plan to MvP/WoE/anything. It will be your only attack skill other than Cart Revolution that doesn't require a bottle of some kind. And zeny is more easily replaced than a bottle.
1 : 150% attack, 100z.
2 : 200% attack, 200z.
3 : 250% attack, 300z.
4 : 300% attack, 400z.
5 : 350% attack, 500z.
6 : 400% attack, 600z.
7 : 450% attack, 700z.
8 : 500% attack, 800z.
9 : 550% attack, 900z.
10 : 600% attack, 1000z.
Item Appraisal, active. 1 level.Sp use : 10.
Prerequisites : None.
Identify an item without the use of a magnifier. Eh, if you've got a spare skill point slap it in here, but usually you won't. While it can make you slightly more independant and be helpful during leveling (I want to know what that sword is NOW, not when my awake runs out!), do not sacrifice any skills for this thing. A little tip for identifying items. Say you have three daggers, and you identify one to be a three slot Gladius. The other two have the same weight, so they're most likely Gladiuses as well, but are they three slots or two slots? To determine this without having to waste more sp/a magnifier, simply right click on that Gladius you already identified, and then right click on one of the daggers. If the description window closes, it's the same; another three slot Gladius. If it changes, it's a different type of dagger.
Quest skills :
There really isn't any reason to skip out on these, due to the fact that they consume no skill points. Only time and zeny.
Crazy Uproar, active.Sp use : 8.
Acquiring: Job level 15 needed. Pick up seven Pearls, fifty Mushroom Spores, and one Banana Juice. Walk up the path leading north from the Kafra by the weapon shop in Alberta. On your left, a man standing between two buildings will teach you this skill.
Raises your str by four points for five minutes. It's something like a free Ring of Muscle, with one downside, which is that Quagmire and Dispell can remove it. So long as you remain in Quagmire's area of effect, you will be unable to recast it without having the buff be immediately removed. So while you might want to consider if it's viable to bypass on a WoE-build, it can be looked at as a free 44 stat points for when your strength is in the 90+ area, and it's invaluable for normal leveling and MvPing. You'll be hard pressed to justify planning without it.
Change Cart, active.Sp use : 40.
Acquiring: Job level 30 needed. Bring fifty Trunks, ten Irons, and twenty Animal Skins. Bring these to the NPC sitting on the table near the same building you begin the dye quest at in Alberta.
Depending on your level, you can change the appearance of your cart. As you level up, more will be available, with five carts total. While it is mostly nothing more than a cosmetic change, there are benefits; if you're offering potion making services for example, and you have a high level cart, you would be more likely to attract customers. People may be more likely to notice your shop amidst a group of low level Merchant vend slaves, and it's just good for overall showing off if you're into that. You can also do things such as use a lower level cart to deceive people in PvP/WoE if you'd like to be evil.
Level 1-40 : Iron cart.
Level 41-65 : Wooden cart.
Level 66-80 : Flower cart.
Level 81-90 : Panda cart.
Level 91+ : Final cart.
Cart Revolution, active.Sp use : 12.
Acquiring: Job level 35 needed. You will need one Banana Juice, twenty Irons, thirty Sticky Mucus, twenty Wings of Fly, five Tentacles, and two Grape Juices. A man in a suit near the dock with brings you to Turtle Island at Alberta will take these and teach you the skill.
Spin your cart to inflict splash damage on a 3x3 area around your target, and push anything on the receiving end of your assault two squares to the west, or left with the default camera angle. The heavier your cart, the higher the damage; at 0 weight, it's 150% of your attack, and at 8000 weight it's 250% of your attack. The way this is calculated is somewhat curious; it's like a double attack, which results in only one attack. It factors in both any elemental modifiers, and a neutral element one. What this means to you is that while the skill can benefit from elements for increased damage, it does not actually have an elemental property. Thus you will be incapable of damaging ghost type monsters with it. This is one of your most important skills. It's your most effective means of dealing with mobs, and it will also be one of your main leveling tools; perhaps the main leveling tool.
ε: Alchemist skills.
And here is the Alchemist skill tree, taken from the official International Ragnarok Online site:
There is one good thing about having so few skills; it's quite easy to decide on a build. But that also means most Alchemists will have a similar skill set.
Now, the details of each skill, and my opinion of them:
Potion Research, passive. 10 levels.Prerequisites : None.
It increases the potency of healing items used on yourself, and potions thrown via Aid Potion. It also increases your success rates with potion production. The basis of Alchemist skills. Without a doubt, max this.
1 : 5% more potent, 1% increase in success rates.
2 : 10% more potent, 2% increase in success rates.
3 : 15% more potent, 3% increase in success rates.
4 : 20% more potent, 4% increase in success rates.
5 : 25% more potent, 5% increase in success rates. - Prepare Potion available.
6 : 30% more potent, 6% increase in success rates.
7 : 35% more potent, 7% increase in success rates.
8 : 40% more potent, 8% increase in success rates.
9 : 45% more potent, 9% increase in success rates.
10 : 50% more potent, 10% increase in success rates.
Prepare Potion, active. 10 levels.Sp use : 5.
Prerequisites : 5 Potion Research.
Create potions; for details, head down to the potion creation section. The higher your skill level, the better your potion success rates are. This skill should be maxed if you ever plan on making a single potion with your Alchemist. If your Alchemist will be a battle build, and you have unrestricted access to a potion-making Alchemist (or just another Alchemist with this skill maxed out), you can afford to sacrifice points in this in order to obtain other skills. Just don't expect to be pumping out any potions.
1 : 3% increase in success rates.
2 : 6% increase in success rates. - Summon Marine Sphere and Biochemical Helm available.
3 : 9% increase in success rates. - Aid Potion available.
4 : 12% increase in success rates. - Bomb available.
5 : 15% increase in success rates. - Acid Terror available.
6 : 18% increase in success rates. - Summon Flora available.
7 : 21% increase in success rates.
8 : 24% increase in success rates.
9 : 27% increase in success rates.
10 : 30% increase in success rates.
Summon Marine Sphere, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 10.
Bottle : Marine Sphere Bottle.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 2 Prepare Potion.
The duration the Marine Sphere is 30+10*skill level seconds, or until it is killed. Max hp of the Sphere is raised along with skill level. After being summoned, hit it once to begin detonation. It will then move directly away from you and commence a countdown to an explosion. The countdown lasts 5 seconds, and the Sphere increases in speed the closer it is to detonation. The amount of hp left at the end of the timer is the damage inflicted around it, and there is a small chance of the Sphere inflicting critical damage. This damage is not reduced by defense, but instead by using gear that protects from fire and plants. The explosion pushes away targets caught in the blast radius in PvM and PvP. However, the Marine Sphere will damage everyone in the explosion radius in WoE/PvP, so you need to be careful when and where you set one. You are limited to three in a 9x9 square area. Detonators are rather time consuming to gather, so you'll generally want to reserve this skill for WoE (just like most of the Alchemist skills). When used in WoE, the defense value of the castle the Sphere is in will raise the defense of the Sphere itself.
1 : 2,400 hp, lasts 40 seconds.
2 : 2,800 hp, lasts 50 seconds.
3 : 3,200 hp, lasts 60 seconds.
4 : 3,600 hp, lasts 70 seconds.
5 : 4,000 hp, lasts 80 seconds.
Aid Potion, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 1.
Range : 9 squares.
Bottle : Red, Orange, Yellow, White, and Blue potions.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 3 Prepare Potion.
Throw a potion at yourself, someone in your party, someone in your guild, or a member of an allied guild. You can scroll through the various levels to toss different potions, and assign each level to a different hotkey to throw that potion. The skill level you have determines how much more potency the potion has, and the level you use it at determines which potion you toss. It stacks with Potion Research, and when tossed to a Swordman-based class with maxed out HP Recovery the potency will be doubled. Your vit has an effect on a potion tossed to yourself, but it has no effect on potions tossed to other players. Their vit, however, increases the amount healed. For blue potions, int increases the amount of sp healed, as does the SP Recovery skill of Priests and Mages. You can not throw condensed potions. Aid Potion is highly spammable too, but obviously at the cost of eating through your potions. It's also possible to heal yourself via chugging the potions normally, and using Aid on yourself. Oh, and no, you can't toss potions on undead and damage them like Final Fantasy. One last interesting tidbit... you can heal someone using a Golden Thief Bug card with this.
Potions have the following base healing effectiveness:
Red Potion : 45-65.
Orange Potion : 108-142.
Yellow Potion : 175-234.
White Potion : 325-402.
Blue Potion : 46-60.
And now, for a chart... the numbers on the left are the target's vit, or int in the case of blue potions, while the numbers listed under each kind of potion are the minimum and maximum amounts of hp/sp healed at that vit/int. The values are calculated with maximum levels of Potion Research and Aid Potion. All numbers are rounded down. Simply double the numbers when the target has level 10 HP/SP Recovery.
Code:
Red Orange Yellow White Blue 1 91-132 220-289 357-477 663-820 93-122 10 108-156 259-340 420-561 780-964 110-144 20 126-182 302-397 490-655 910-1125 128-168 30 144-208 345-454 560-749 1040-1286 146-192 40 162-234 388-511 630-843 1170-1447 164-216 50 180-260 431-568 700-937 1300-1608 182-240 60 198-286 474-625 770-1031 1430-1769 200-264 70 216-312 517-682 840-1125 1560-1930 218-288 80 234-338 560-739 910-1219 1690-2091 236-312 90 252-364 603-796 980-1313 1820-2252 254-226 100 270-390 646-853 1050-1407 1950-2413 272-360 110 288-416 689-910 1120-1501 2080-2574 290-384 120 306-442 732-967 1190-1595 2210-2735 312-408
2 : 20% more effective. [Orange]
3 : 30% more effective. [Yellow]
4 : 40% more effective. [White]
5 : 50% more effective. [Blue] - Aid Condensed Potion available.
Bomb, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 10.
Bottle : Bottle Grenade.
Range : 9 squares.
Casting time : 1 second.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 4 Prepare Potion.
Set the ground ablaze and hurt your opponents with fire element damage. It has a 3x3 area of effect, centered on the tile you select to cast it on, and damages every second or so. When used in PvP or WoE, it has a chance to break the weapon of anyone caught in it; except for maces, axes, rods, and any weapon with the "Indestructible" status in it's description. The immunity to breaking that maxes and axes possess is due to the way Gravity handled weapon breaking and Power Thrust. It also effects everyone caught in it when used in PvP or WoE. Including you. It can't be placed directly next to or under a player/monster, but it can be casted underneath or next to an emperium. While it can be placed next to other Bombs, they do not stack. The only cards that increase the damage are +ATK cards. +% cards, and status inflicting cards do nothing. Size penalties are applied though, oddly. The damage is based not on your stats when the Bomb was thrown, but your current stats; switch from a high attack weapon to a low one after the Bomb has been casted, and the damage will drop. Vice versa if you switch from low to high, obviously. Despite taking an Alcohol along with the Fabric to make, it's an excellent skill. Breaking an opponent's weapon will either force them to switch to a less effective alternative, or resort to punching. And it's great to use in chokepoints or against a wall. The fire element damage can restrict how you use it in leveling though, but it can obviously also be quite beneficial.
1 : 120% damage, 1% chance of breaking a weapon, 40 second duration.
2 : 140% damage, 2% chance of breaking a weapon, 45 second duration.
3 : 160% damage, 3% chance of breaking a weapon, 50 second duration.
4 : 180% damage, 4% chance of breaking a weapon, 55 second duration.
5 : 200% damage, 5% chance of breaking a weapon, 60 second duration. - Prerequisite to Acid Demonstration.
Acid Terror, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 15.
Bottle : Acid Bottle.
Range : 9 squares.
Casting time : 1 second.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 5 Prepare Potion.
Throw an Acid Bottle at your opponent with a small chance to break their armor, and inflict the external bleeding status. This skill ignores armor defense, and hits regardless of flee. Vit defense is calculated in, however. While the damage can be blocked by Pnuema, the chance to break armor remains. Kyrie, however, blocks both the damage and the chance of breaking armor, as will a Crusader with Guard. Whenever the skill is calculated as a success, the target will use the /omg emoticon as an indication of this. However, that doesn't mean they had their armor broken; even when using chemical protection or wearing an Immortal armor, the /omg will display itself so long as the attack was considered a success. Yet another skill you'll only use typically during WoE or PvP due to the cost, but still a great skill. The potions aren't that difficult to make either, as quite a few people level on Minos, and consequently kill Verits. Just like Bomb, the damage is increased via +ATK cards, and status and +% cards have no effect. It's also uneffected by elements. The acid bottle is consumed at the beginning of the cast, as opposed to the end like the other potion skills. This means that if you are interrupted whilst casting, the bottle is lost with nothing to show for it. If you ever plan to attend a WoE, or participate in PvP, this skill should be maxed.
1 : 140% damage, 3% chance of breaking armor, 3% chance of bleeding.
2 : 180% damage, 7% chance of breaking armor, 6% chance of bleeding.
3 : 220% damage, 10% chance of breaking armor, 9% chance of bleeding.
4 : 260% damage, 12% chance of breaking armor, 12% chance of bleeding.
5 : 300% damage, 13% chance of breaking armor, 15% chance of bleeding. - Prerequisite to Acid Demonstration.
Summon Flora, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 20.
Bottle : Plant Bottle.
Range : 4 squares.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 6 Prepare Potion.
Summon various plants to attack monsters or players. The level you have determines the hp of the plant, while the level you use determines the type of plant summoned, the duration, and the amount of bottles consumed. If you have less than the total amount of bottles required for the skill level you used, it will take the rest of the bottles, and summon that many plants. So if you have three plant bottles, and use level one, you’ll end up with three Mandragora instead of the typical five. When used in WoE, the defense value of the castle the plants are in raises the defense of the plants themselves. Their attacks are considered extensions of your own when it comes to a single thing: auto-cast spells granted by weapons or cards. Status effects and damage increasing cards do not carry over to the plants. You can only summon more plants once your first plants have died, or gone through their duration time. So long as you remain on screen with them, you will get the experience for their kills. An effective strategy for all the plants is to summon them, hit/target a monster, and then use a Hiding accessory once the monster is in range of your plants. Monsters will not attack your plants, thus rendering them sitting ducks until your plants have had their way with them. Provided they’re not insect or demon type monsters. When using these in WoE, you have to be careful; they'll attack Guardians regardless of if they're friendly or not, and the Guardians in turn will lock unto you as a valid target. Oh, and on the stats listed below the plants... the hit/flee are what's required of players to hit/dodge them, not the hit or flee of the plant itself.
Mandragora:
Atk: 26-35
Element/size: Earth 3/medium.
Hit: 44
Flee: 123
Aspd: Fairly slow.
Range: 4
Mandragora almost last too long, so long as they aren’t in a PvP/WoE setting. While logically one would consider them to be the best for using the auto-cast spell method of leveling (there are five of them, after all), Hydra are better for this purpose due to their higher range and faster attack speed. Somewhat useless all in all when compared to the other plants. Pneuma blocks their physical damage, but with such a low attack that isn’t anything terrible.
Hydra:
Atk: 22-28
Element/size: Water 2/small.
Hit: 48
Flee: 129
Aspd: Quite fast.
Range: 7
As previously mentioned, their high attack speed and range are beneficial for auto-cast spells, but there’s the issue of cost; four bottles per usage adds up quickly. Also, the pitiful melee damage and low hit means you’ll have no physical damage to be supplementing the magic damage. However, they are effective at lowering the flee of opponents in PvP, and you don’t have to actually connect with a hit in order for an auto-cast spell to be triggered. Their element is excellent for WoE/PvP due to Storm Gust immunity, and vastly reduced MS damage… so long as they’re kept away from LoV and stray JTs. Pneuma will also negate their physical attacks, which prevents them from stopping a cast.
Flora:
Atk: 242-273
Element/size: Earth 1/large.
Hit: 72
Flee: 144
Aspd: Average.
Range: 3
A large jump from Hydras in physical strength, but at the cost of reduced range and attack speed. If you’re looking for physical damage, go for Parasites, and if you need auto-cast spells, go back to Hydras. On the positive side, Pneuma won’t block their attacks.
Parasite:
Atk: 215-430
Element/size: Wind 2/medium.
Hit: 109
Flee: 214
Aspd: Somewhat fast.
Range: 8
The highest range of your five plants; although the fact that there are more of the lower leveled plants summoned per use means they can help cover each other. Regardless, these are excellent to use. A very useful element, high range, good attack speed, a respectable flee requirement, and good physical damage. Of course, you’ll have to deal with the fact that they’re naked little girls. You disgusting pedophile. Oh, and Pneuma will also negate their attacks.
Geographer:
Atk: 467-621
Element/size: Earth 3/medium.
Hit: 143
Flee: 199
Aspd: Average.
Range: 3
The highest physical damage available, although your Parasites will generally do more damage to their longer lasting time, the fact that there are two of them, etc. The primary reason to use a Geographer is for their ability to heal you and anyone around you, for 1024 hp. This is excellent when facing a single strong monster on your own. The Geographer will assist you with some physical damage (although they tend to miss fairly often on the monsters you can justify using them on), and drastically reduce your cost in healing items. They will even heal you after you’ve died, which can be extremely helpful if you’re revived with a Yggdrasil Leaf, as you won’t have to worry about being killed immediately by a stray monster spawning on you. On occasion, they’ll designate another player as the priority for healing, and continue healing them until they’re at full hp. This can be rather frustrating when you were counting on their heals. In PvP, they will only heal you if you’re in a party. Even if the party is simply you by yourself, it’s required for the Geographer to recognize you as a valid target for healing.
1 : 2430 hp, 5 Mandragora, 300 second duration, five Plant Bottles.
2 : 2630 hp, 4 Hydra, 240 second duration, four Plant Bottles.
3 : 2830 hp, 3 Flora, 180 second duration, three Plant Bottles.
4 : 3030 hp, 2 Parasites, 120 second duration, two Plant Bottles.
5 : 3230 hp, Geographer, 60 second duration, one Plant Bottle.
Biochemical Helm, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 20.
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Range : 1 square.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 2 Prepare Potion.
Render a headgear indestructible, and also protect from the Divest Helm skill. A higher skill level equates to a longer lasting time, at the rate of two minutes per level. It's useful in WoE and PvP, and some MVPs. Due to their skills that break various pieces of equipment, coating that specific piece of equipment can mean the difference between MVPing and a lost percent. Your friends will love you for it as well. The coatings negate some of the threats posed by Alchemists, Biochemists, Rogues, Stalkers, and Mastersmiths. While headgear isn't a top priority when it comes to Divesting, you'll need to get this skill to open up the other protection skills anyway, so if you want any coating skills, you'll need at least 3. More depending on how you plan to use it/your build. The chemical protection skills are immune to Dispel,and when equipment is switched or removed the protection remains intact.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds. - Synthesized Shield available.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
Synthesized Shield, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 25.
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Range : 1 square.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 3 Biochemical Helm.
Render a shield indestructible, and protect from the Divest Shield skill. If you are getting protection skills, I'd say max this one out. A Cranial is one of your most important pieces of equipment in WoE, so even if all your other equipment is lost, you still have a chance of surviving. And if you're the tanker for an MVP, the last thing you want gone is your -30% card.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds. - Synthetic Armor available.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
Synthetic Armor, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 25.
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Range : 1 square.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 3 Synthesized Shield.
Render armor indestructible, and protect from the Divest Armor skill. By rendering your armor indestructible, that means no more fear of not only Divesting, but also Acid Terror; so this can is an extremely helpful skill to have. Your Unfrozen and elemental armors are practically essential for survival in an intense WoE situation.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds. - Alchemical Weapon available.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
Alchemical Weapon, active. 5 levels.Sp use : 30.
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Range : 1 square.
Casting time : 2 seconds.
Cast delay : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : 3 Synthetic Armor.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
Render weapons indestructible, and protect from Divest Weapon. This skill prevents your weapon from being damaged via Bomb as well, which can make for interesting strategies. The only problem is, you'll have practically nothing but coating skills if you want to max this out, or an insufficent level of the other coating skills. Perhaps the most important coating skill. One can stay alive without armor or a shield (albeit not very long), but you'll never break an emperium punching it, and it's not often you will encounter someone who can be killed with your fists alone.
Axe Mastery, passive. 10 levels.Prerequisites : None.
Adds defense ignoring damage with axes. This damage is amplified by elements and cards. One of the weaknesses of an Alchemist is facing a high defense monster, and a mastery skill helps considerably in addressing this. The problem is with the weapon itself; axes have abysmal attack speed without high agility, and the lack of powerful one-handed axes means you have to either forego your Buckler, or consume quite a few more potions. Thankfully, the attack speed issue can be taken care of by partying with a Blacksmith. However, the fact that it only adds 30 attack at level 10 isn't that much of an incentive to get this skill, especially if you're vit; as you're likely to be using swords, and in most scenarios you'll do more damage with them than when using a quad carded Axe. If you have managed to party with a Blacksmith, and thus receive the benefit of Adrenaline Rush, there are quite a few monsters that can be killed more efficiently when using a mace over an axe, even with this skill maxed out.
1 : +3 attack.
2 : +6 attack.
3 : +9 attack.
4 : +12 attack.
5 : +15 attack.
6 : +18 attack.
7 : +21 attack.
8 : +24 attack.
9 : +27 attack.
10 : +30 attack.
Homunculus Skills
The Alchemist has four skills related to the Homunculus. The initial skill is gained via a quest, and the remaining three require skill points to be used. For a list of the skills used by a Homunculus, scroll down to the end of the guide.
Basis of Life, passive. 1 level.Prerequisite to the Homunculus skills. This is gained via a quest (thanks to hunnybunny for posting this):
1. Head to the Lighthalzen Main Office; it’s located in the 11 o'clock direction. Then locate Soldier Reagen Baler. Coordinates for Reagen Baler: [lhz_in01: 35, 225]
- Talk to him whilst wearing Geek Glasses and a Grandpa's Beard in order to gain access to the Bio-Life Lab.
2. There will be 4 portals after you enter the Bio-Life Lab. Enter the 1 o'clock portal and locate Ala Schultz. Coordinates for Ala Schultz: [lhz_in01: 224, 140]
- Talk to him until he finds you irritating.
3. Locate Sugra Sater, who is right below Ala Schultz. Coordinates for Sugra Sater: [lhz_in01: 225, 122]
- Talk to him, and he will request you locate Casey Bern.
4. Locate Casey Bern, who is to the left of Ala Schultz. Coordinates for Casey Bern: [lhz_in01: 204, 138]
- Talk to him, and he will ask you to find Blinzer in Lighthalzen.
5. Go to the Lighthalzen Restaurant, which is located right above the center Kafra, and find Mr. Blinzer in the right room. Coordinates for Mr. Blinzer: [lhz_in02: 278, 273]
- Talk to him, and learn about the Homunculus.
6. Return to Ala Schultz and speak with him.
- Tell him that you have learned the details of the Homunculus, and you will have to answer three of his questions. The answers are:
a. Sabbath/Peaceful Rest.
b. Embryo
c. Resurrect Homunculus.
Despite acknowledging your performance, he will not teach you the skill yet.
7. Find Ala Schultz' family (specifically, his son Gwenlin), and speak with them. The house is in the 1 o'clock direction in Lighthalzen, right behind the Police Department. Coordinates for Gwenlin: [lhz_in03: 106, 34]
8. Return to Ala Schultz once again.
- Talk to him, and there should be a new option available: "I want to talk about something else." Then, proceed to talk to him until you have gained the Basis of Life skill.
Call Homunculus, active. 1 level.Summon your Homunculus.
Peaceful Rest, active. 1 level.Store your Homunculus away.
Resurrect Homunculus, active. 5 levels.Revive your Homunculus. This skill has five levels, and it's unknown what the differences between them are.
Spirit of the Alchemist.The Spirit of the Alchemist is a buff style skill that can be applied to the Alchemist from a Soul Linker. This provides some wonderful bonuses to both battle and brewing type Alchemists. It adds a passive boost to Aid Potion, and opens up two new skills; one of which has three different sub-skills, for lack of a better term. The buff lasts for five minutes, given the Soul Linker has the skill at level five.
Aid Potion Boost, passive.Increases effectiveness of Aid Potion by your base level applied as a percent. For example, if you are level 80, the effectiveness of Aid Potion is increased by 80%.
Berserk Pitcher, active.Sp use : 10.
Bottles : Two Berserk Potions.
Range : 9 squares.
Casting time : 0.5 seconds.
Prerequisites : Spirit of the Alchemist buff.
Toss two Berserk Potions at a target, giving them the ASPD modifier they would have if they had used one normally. While the skill ignores class restrictions, the target is still required to be at least level 85. Also, the speed increase has half the lasting time of a normal Berserk Potion boost. And it doesn’t stack with other attack speed potions.
Twilight Pharmacy, active.Sp use : 200.
Ingredients : 200 White Herbs, 200 Empty Potion Bottles, 200 Medicine Bowls.
Casting time : 3 seconds.
Cast delay : 1 second.
Prerequisites : 10 Prepare Potion, Spirit of the Alchemist buff.
These skills are intended for mass production. Essentially, they speed up your potion production immensely, and in a more sp-efficient manner. As 200 sp is used to attempt the creation of 200 White Potions, you’re looking at 1 sp per attempt, as opposed to the 5 sp needed for Prepare Potion. It’s no different when it comes to success rates than Prepare Potion is. The 3 second casting time is not reducible, and after it is completed, an attempt is made every 0.005 second. If you lack the ingredients to create 200 potions, the skill will fail.
Twilight Pharmacy, active.Sp use : 200.
Ingredients : 200 White Potions, 200 Witch Starsands, 200 Empty Test Tubes, 200 Medicine Bowls.
Casting time : 3 seconds.
Cast delay : 1 second.
Prerequisites : 10 Prepare Potion, Spirit of the Alchemist buff, partied with a Super Novice.
This version of the skill attempts to create 200 Condensed White Potions. You will gain any fame points that you would have gained had you used Prepare Potion to brew instead. Otherwise, it’s exactly like the previous rendition.
Twilight Pharmacy, active.Sp use : 200.
Ingredients : 500 Stems, 500 Poison Spores, 50 Alcohol, 50 Fabrics, 50 Immortal Hearts, 200 Empty Bottles, 200 Medicine Bowls.
Casting time : 3 seconds.
Cast delay : 1 second.
Prerequisites : 10 Prepare Potion, Spirit of the Alchemist buff, partied with a Taekwon Boy/Girl.
This version attempts to create 100 Alcohol first, then 50 Bottle Grenades followed by 50 Acid Bottles. Note that any Alcohol gained from the initial 100 Alcohol creation attempts won’t count towards the 50 Alcohol requirement for using the skill.
---
ζ:
Alchemist job bonuses: +5 Strength, +6 Agility, +3 Vitality, +7 Intelligence, +9 Dexterity.
1 : +1 Int.
2 : +1 Dex.
3 : +1 Dex.
6 : +1 Str.
8 : +1 Dex.
9 : +1 Int.
11: +1 Agi.
13: +1 Dex.
14: +1 Agi.
15: +1 Str.
17: +1 Int.
19: +1 Dex.
20: +1 Vit.
21: +1 Dex.
23: +1 Int.
24: +1 Int.
25: +1 Dex.
26: +1 Str.
28: +1 Dex.
29: +1 Int.
31: +1 Vit.
32: +1 Dex.
34: +1 Str.
36: +1 Vit.
38: +1 Int.
40: +1 Agi.
43: +1 Str.
45: +1 Agi.
49: +1 Agi.
50: +1 Agi.
I'm not going to post any specific builds. As Alchemists become more popular and more people start making them, I don't want there to be any standard cookie cutter builds that everyone uses, as that only serves to inhibit expansion of Alchemist knowledge and experimentation. I will, however, list how each stat applies to Alchemists and my thoughts on them.
Also, Alchemists aren't Blacksmiths. So while a Blacksmith build may work for them, you might not be getting the most out of your Alchemist!
Str : If you plan to be a battle build of some kind, get this and plenty of it. 80 - 110 is a good range of where you should locate your str if you're a battle build; just remember, always a multiple of 10. You'll want to carry around as many potions as possible, and you can have superb damage output via Mammonite, given ample attack speed to couple your strength. In most scenarios, a high str build will find leveling to be a much easier task as well.
Agi : Alchemists have no skills that raise attack speed, so you'll most likely want a good amount of agility to make up for that if you're fond of Mammonite, or simply PvM. Alchemists have good base attack speed with swords and daggers, and high agility with an axe or mace and Adrenaline Rush is great fun. And when you do get hit, you've got plenty of potions to make up for it, even if they won't heal for very much without some vitality.
Vit : A great stat for Alchemists, seeing as how it stacks with Potion Research and Aid Potion. Each point of vit raises the effectiveness of Aid Potion by 4%. So even if you have an agility based build in mind, getting a small amount of vit is a great idea. Who wants to Aid Potion themselves for under 100 with a red! With enough of vitality, there will be little that's capable of easily felling you.
Int : If you're going to be a battle build, don't get int. You eat through your sp rather quickly making potions, and tossing acid bottles rips through it as well, especially if you're in a Magic Strings. But in both situations, either Blessing and Magnificat will be readily available, or using Blue Aid Potions is justifiable. A build with 1 base int, with Blessing, will already have 18 int; landing squarely on a regen bonus. This is more than enough for a battle build, as the stat points would be better spent enhancing your melee capabilities. If you plan on using the spell swords, either as a boost to your physical melee damage, or as a means of leveling a brewer, then a moderate to high amount is admissible. Each point of int provides a small boost to potion success rates, at .05% per point of int. As this is only really noticable if you get a large amount of int, don't bother boosting it to increase your rates unless you're going to be a brewer. However, this changes after you rebirth your Alchemist, if you plan to take advantage of a Biochemist's Acid Demonstration.
Dex : This stat assists in numerous ways. First, it boosts your potion creation success rate, with a .1% increase per point of dex. Secondly, it does the obvious; increases your accuracy, damage, and attack speed. Considering Mammonite and Cart Revolution have no hit bonuses, it's important to get a good amount of dexterity to compensate for that. Additionally, your cast time is lowered. A lower cast time equates to more acids, bombs, summons, and quicker coatings in the midst of battle, and the last thing you want is for your skill to be cancelled. If you try wearing a Phen to prevent this, keep in mind that will raise your casting time, and as such you need a hefty amount of dexterity to bring it back down to a reasonable time. In WoE, a Phen is not an option, and it's not often you won't find yourself under attack. So despite the low casting time of most skills, having the fastest possible cast is important. An essential stat, so don't neglect it.
Luk : Alchemists have no luk bonus, so you'll have to rely entirely on normal status points and equipment to boost it. If you've got a Priest with Gloria at your beck and call, you can enjoy the extra 30 luck, so even if you want to get luck to help with making potions you won't have to get that much of it. Each point of luk raises your potion success rate by .1%. An extra lucky dodge or two and some more criticals are always nice as well, and the added status effect resistence boost is quite beneficial. A good place to put the left over points after a build has been designed.
Here's a few basic builds. I didn't post any specific numbers, so simply tweak it until it suits your taste. And yes, low, moderate, and high can be objective, but that's the whole point of it. For the "Skills:" part, what I list are merely recommendations as to what skills will best complement the build; because a skill isn't there, doesn't mean you shouldn't get it. Also, there are no valid reasons for skipping out on maxed Potion Research and Aid Potion, as they are an important part of any build, and thus I'm not going to list them under skills.
Intelligent Brewer.
Str : Low.
Agi : Low.
Vit : Low.
Int : High.
Dex : High.
Luk : Moderate.
Skills: Prepare Potion, Summon Flora.
The most common brewing build. This build capitalizes on the benefits of a Fire Blend, an Ice Falchion, and a Light Epsilon, as well as the effects the first two weapons have when combined with Summon Flora.
Lucky Brewer.
Str : Low.
Agi : Low.
Vit : Low.
Int : Moderate.
Dex : High.
Luk : High.
Skills: Prepare Potion, Summon Flora.
This brewer will require a substantial amount of leeching to level, as opposed to the int oriented brewer, but if you're aiming for the highest possible success rates, this is the way to go.
Agility based.
Str : Moderate to high.
Agi : High.
Vit : Low to moderate.
Int : Low.
Dex : Moderate to high.
Luk : Low to moderate.
Skills: Axe Mastery, Summon Flora.
Paired with a Blacksmith, you should have a very nice damage output. You'll also do fine solo. However, with low vit your potions won't heal for that much and your hp will be somewhat lacking. Summoning a Geographer when things start getting a little hectic for the added healing and damage is extremely beneficial. A hefty amount of agility is required to get the necessary flee needed as well. A little luk can be added if you like to see critical hits pop out now and then, but it's not required by any means.
Vitality based.
Str : High.
Agi : Low to moderate.
Vit : Moderate to high.
Int : Low to moderate.
Dex : Moderate to high.
Luk : Low.
Skills: Acid Terror, Bomb, Summon Marine Sphere.
Since you're not going to be swinging as often as an agility-based build, you'll want your hits to count. So get as much str and dex as possible. A touch of agility for more attack speed, and the same deal with luk as the agility-based build. You'll heal quite nicely with Aid Potion, and you can gather mobs and CR them without much worry if you know what you're doing. Some int to keep up the CRs can be helpful. Just try not to fall asleep whilst using ctrl+click. This can also double as a WoE/PvP build if you lower Prepare Potion in favor of chemical protections, and Summon Marine Sphere.
MvP build.
Str : High.
Agi : Moderate.
Vit : Moderate to high.
Int : Low.
Dex : Moderate to high.
Luk : Low.
Skills: Chemical protections.
Again, this should be paired with a Blacksmith for their skills. Otherwise, you won't stand much of a chance with competition, and it's difficult enough to MVP as an Alchemist. Use an axe for large-sized MVPs, and fiddle around with a stat calculator to see if you'd do more with a sword or mace on medium sized MVPs. Otherwise just stick with the axe. The agility is for faster Mammonites, and the vit is so you don't die in two hits. A large amount of dex is required, due to the average MVP's flee. Those Blacksmiths are spoiled with their +20 hit. Also, you should try to get the coating skills; with MVPs breaking equipment, they can be extremely helpful.
WoE support.
Str : Moderate.
Agi : Low.
Vit : High.
Int : Moderate.
Dex : High.
Luk : Low to moderate.
Skills: Acid Terror, Bomb, chemical protections.
This build is designed to keep you and your vit characters alive, your opponent's armor and weapons broken, and your guild's equipment safe. Combining a cart and maxed Increase Weight Limit, you will be capable of dumping an enormous amount of potions on yourself, increasing your lifespan in WoE and thus the lifespan of your guild members. Since your main purpose is not only breaking armor and weaponry, but keeping it protected, you'll want very high dex to have the quickest possible cast time. Even with an excessive amount of dex, your casts can still be cancelled, and so pairing this build up with a Sacrifice Crusader is a great strategy. You keep him/her alive via Aid Potion, and s/he takes your damage (which should already be low due to the good amount of magic and physical defense attainable by an Alchemist) and provides you with a Phen-card effect for your skills. Keep both of you coated, and the only thing you'll have to worry about is an Asura Monk. Str isn't terribly important, however, a little for additional weight capacity and leveling efficency doesn't hurt. Some int can be helpful as well, as you can run out of sp quite quickly spamming these skills, and for the status resistance/magic defense. A little bit of luk for even more status resistance and you're good to go.
---
η:
In the equipment lists, [x] indicates that the equipment can have slots, with x being how many slots there are. The number furthest to the right on all the descriptions is the weight. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory. Sorry if it's hard to read, I can't get the damn thing to format properly.
If you plan on using equipment with slots, there's a few things to think about first. With weapons, obviously you'll want the appropriate +% cards for what you're fighting to deal the highest possible damage. Remember, cards of the same type stack, but multiple different cards yield a higher damage modifier. For example, a Quad Flammable Axe would simply add 20% more damage for each card, resulting in a total of 180% damage on a Minorous. But a Double Flammable Double Clamorous Axe would do 40% more damage from the Vadon cards, resulting in 140%, then 40% based off that calculation, which comes out to 196% damage. The downside to making weapons like that is that they are highly specialized, and can end up costing a lot of zeny. If you're going to be using status inflicting cards, then you want the weapon with the highest attack speed and number of slots.
As for the various pieces of armor, you should try not to base your build on one specific piece of equipment. For example, if your build needs a Picky carded armor to hit 110 strength, remember that you won't be able to equip elemental armors without suffering from a loss in damage. On the other hand, if you have to sacrifice a few stat points to boost your strength, you may miss out on some other important stats that could have helped you significantly. So while a Picky carded armor can be quite beneficial, you have to remember that there are downsides to using it. This applies to pretty much all cards. It really all boils down to how you plan on using your Alchemist.
I originally had almost every piece of eqiupment an Alchemist can wear listed; however, that wasn't really neccessary, and made for useless clutter. So instead, I'll merely list recommended equipment; italicized for recommended elemental weapons. The size modifiers are listed as small/medium/large.
Weapons : Your choice of weapon is decided on numerous factors. The major factors are your build, the availability of Blacksmiths, and personal preference. For the most part, you'll want to go for the weapon that has the best balance of attack and card slots. Your dex, str, agi, and luk all have an effect on the optimal weapon choice. Filddle around with a stat calculator to see what weapon complements your build most effectively.
One-handed Axes:
Aspd delay: 67.5
Size modifiers: 50/75/100
Axes are slow, suffer from low attack, have a mediocre size modifier, and there's little variety in equipment choices. Axe Mastery brings them up to par with Maces on higher defense opponents, but only so long as you have a Blacksmith. On the plus side, you'll be immune to Bomb and Shattering Strike. The weapon breaking portions, that is.
Axe [3/4]: 38 attack, level 1. 80. Somewhat effective with high str, and the four slots are welcome.Two-handed Axes:
Aspd delay: 65
Size modifiers: 50/75/100
The same issues that apply to one-handed axes apply here, for the most part. These weapons are best used on an agility build, where the loss of a shield isn't as noticable as a vitality build without one, and the poor aspd modifier is addressed. Again, a Blacksmith is required to get the most out of them.
Battle Axe [3/4]: 80 attack, level 2. 150. Highest damage axe with four slots. Two-Handed Axe [1/2]: 185 attack, level 3. 250. You'll generally want the most powerful weapon you can get for elementals.
Bloody Axe: +10 Str, increased movement speed, level 4. 400. The
faster walking speed is helpful, but don't use this for actual
attacking.
Light Epsilon: 180 attack, holy element, level 4. 230. Enchanted with
level 3 Heal. Holy element without the Priest! Having Heal is pretty
cool as well, and great for an int build.
Slaughter: 120 attack, earth element, level 4. 250. Pierce
defense of brute monsters, with a small chance to cause Coma. Useful on
a few monsters, such as turtles.Maces:
Aspd delay: 65
Size modifiers: 75/100/100
With Adrenaline Rush available, these are generally the weapons of choice. They're excellent to use in WoE, as it's a great deal easier to locate a party with a Blacksmith than during the course of day to day leveling. Also, you'll enjoy the same benefits that an Axe has; immunity to weapon breaking skills.
Mace [3/4]: 37 attack, level 1. 80. Not bad when you have high str,
and want to use a weapon with card combinations (double race, double
size for example). Chain [2/3]: 84 attack, level 2. 80. It beats out the Club and Mace in most situations due to their low, low attack. Sword Mace [1]: 130 attack, level 3. 120. Highest attack power mace Alchemists can equip, and thus the best elemental.
Mjolnir: 250 attack, level 4. 600. +40 dex, +15 str. Everyone needs
goals. Some just happen to be a bit more plausible than others.Swords:
Aspd delay: 57.5
Size modifiers: 75/100/75
The weapon of choice for an Alchemist. A respectable aspd delay, acceptable size modifiers, and a plethora of weapons at your disposal. You won't require a Blacksmith to get the most out of them, either. However, you're vulnerable to weapon breaking without chemical protection, and discovering a Stalker has Sword Reject, while uncommon, will not be a welcome experience.
Saber [2/3]: 115 attack, level 3. 100. A three slotted level three weapon? Sign me up! Haedonggum [1/2]: 120 attack, +3 Int. level 3. 90. The intelligence is helpful for potion making, and it's easy to get in elemental form. Tsurugi [1/2]: 130 attack, level 3. 120. Harder to obtain then the Haedonggum, but worth it if you can.
Cutlus: 150 attack, enchanted with level 5 Bash, level 4. 90. An
active attack that doesn't cost zeny, a potion, or require a full cart?
Yay! You do suffer from a lack of passive damage increases, however.Spell Swords:
While not entirely different weapons than normal swords, they're worthy of special mention. While attacking, there's a chance that a Bolt spell will be automatically casted. This isn't beneficial to a low int battle build, but it's excellent news for int based brewers, or most any build with a moderate amount of int. What makes the swords so effective is the fact that the chance to use a Bolt spell transfers over to any of your attacks; Acid Terror, Summon Flora, Cart Revolution, Summon Marine Sphere, etc.. Even using a Bolt manually can trigger the auto-cast function.
Fireblend: 100 attack, fire element, enchanted with level 3 Fire Bolt, level 4. 50.
Ice Falchion: 100 attack, ice element, enchanted with level 3 Cold
Bolt, freeze target at a 5% chance per hit, freeze yourself at a 1%
chance. level 4. 60.Daggers:
Aspd delay: 55
Size modifiers: 100/75/50
Daggers have slightly higher aspd than swords, and the size modifiers aren't anything to be excited about. If you have them on hand already, there's no issue with using them to level, but they aren't anything you should aim for unless you're looking for status effect infliction, or want to take advantage of one of the many 'special' daggers. Sword Reject also affects daggers, despite the name sounding as if it were exclusive to swords. The best thing about daggers is that there are a number of them with innate effects and abilities.
Main Gauche [3/4]: 43 attack, level 1. 60. Best for status effect
cards, due to the four slots. Knifes and Cutters also serve this
purpose, and are cheaper. Gladius [2/3]: 105 attack, level 3. 70. Yet another three slot level three weapon! Fairly cheap as well; at least on iRO. Damascus: 118 attack, level 3. It can't be broken. 80. Highest attack power, etc. Fortune Sword: 90 attack, +20 Perfect Dodge, +5 Luk, level 3. 50. Great for mobbing and tanking.
Moonlight Dagger: 50 attack, regain SP every attack, level 4. 70. The
low attack means more SP gained per monster! Also, you won't have to
carry as many blue potions.
Mailbreaker: 40 attack, every attack has a small chance to break the
target's armor, level 4. 100. Acid Terror when they're at a distance,
Mailbreaker when they're up close.
Swordbreaker: 70 attack, every attack has a small chance to break the
target's weapon, level 4. 100. Absolutely superb. It's not as easy as it
is to break weapons as it is armors with an Alchemist, so this dagger
is a welcome addition to any weapon collection.
Bazerald: 70 attack, fire elemental, matk +10%, level 4. +5 int. 50.
Switch to this after casting Fire/Cold Bolt for the matk bonus. Best
used on a Biochemist with Acid Demonstration.
Combat Knife: 80 attack, pierce defense of demi-human monsters, reduce
damage from demi-human monsters by 10%, increase damage from demons by
20%, level 4. 40. Excellent for tanking in WoE/PvP, and while it's a
nice effect, the defense ignoring ability isn't anything special due to
the next dagger.
Ice Pick: 80 attack, the higher your target's defense, the higher your
damage, level 4. 60. A superb dagger. When faced with a high defense
enemy, be it a player or a monster, the weapon of choice. Nothing
spectacular on medium to lower defense monsters, however.The Azoth:
Azoth: 110 attack, every attack has a small chance to transmute the monster into a completely different one, level 4. 70.It's not a practical dagger in any sense, but running around a low level map changing Zombies into Bloody Knights is immensely fun. Best used on low str Alchemists, for obvious reasons. Whenever a monster is changed, all the drops, experience, and stats of the monster are those of the new one. It's also aggressive, but if you use Status Recovery/Hide, it'll revert to whatever its natural state is. The modification chance can be brought about by any physical attack, including those of your summons.
What you can transmute with an Azoth: Normal monsters.
What you can't transmute with an Azoth: MvPs, "mini-bosses", players, summoned plants/Spheres.
Armor : Alchemists wear pretty much the same armor that Blacksmiths do. During normal leveling, you'll generally want the highest possible defense. Pretty much all armor is slotted, so just avoid Panties for the most part unless you're dirt poor... If you plan on using armor cards to increase your hp, remember: Pupa until you have over 7000 base hp, then switch to Peco Peco. Status effect inflicting cards are great fun, but make sure if you choose to use one, that it isn't detrimental to your leveling. After all, blinding or turning a monster to stone that you're trying to mob isn't going to work out nicely. During WoE, and PvP, elemental/Marc carded Saint's Robes or Silk Robes work well. Or some overupgraded Lord's Clothes if you're rich enough. Anything slotted with a Poring card for making potions is good.
Silk Robe [1]: 3 defense, 10 magic defense. 40. Nice magic defense. Saint's Robe [1]: 6 defense, 5 magic defense. 60. A good balance of physical and magical defense. Chainmail [1]: 8 defense. 330. Probably what you'll be sticking with most of your RO career. Lord's Clothes [1]: 8 defense, 5 magic defense, +1 Int. 250. This armor kicks *** if you can manage to overupgrade it.Shield : Bucklers, with the appropriate -% cards for whatever you happen to be fighting at the moment. Theif Bug Egg or Ambernite cards work well for races that don't have a -% card, such as formless or undead, or for races that have -% cards that are OCA only, such as fish and angels.
Buckler [1]: 4 defense. 60. There really isn't anything else worth using.Head gear : There's a myriad amount of head gear in this game, and a large portion of them have no value beyond aesthetics.
Upper:
Poo Poo Hat: -10% damage from demi-humans, can't be upgraded. 70.
-10% from magic, critical, and defense bypassing attacks in WoE is quite
beneficial. Too bad you have a pile of **** on your head. Apple of Archer: +3 Dex. 20. Good for potion making.
Drooping Cat: 1 defense, 15 magic defense, resistance to curse +30%.
50. Very nice magic defense, and curse resistance to boot.
Hot-blooded Headband: 1 defense, +2 Str. 10. Abysmal defense, but the
low weight and +2 str is helpful if you're simply looking for offensive
power. Cap [1]: 4 defense. 40. Overupgrade en masse and enjoy the slot. Gemmed Sallet [1]: 4 defense, 3 magic defense. 50. Magic defense and a slot, along with no actual sprite. Pretty damn nice. Orc Helm: 5 defense. 50. Good defense, cheap, and overall good standard fare. Corsair: 5 defense, +1 Vit. 50. A little extra vitality is always nice. Majestic Goat: 5 defense, +1 Str. 80. Good defense, more strength.
Bone Helm: 7 defense, +15% from dark element attacks. 80. Highest
amount of defense on any headgear, and that +15% isn't too much of a
worry. You can easily switch headgear to avoid the penalty, or wear Evil
armor.Middle:
Masquerade: +3% damage to demi-humans. 10. Sure, it's only 3% more, but it's still 3% more. Sunglasses [1]: 10. 5% resistance to blind status. Allows for two headgear cards./ Angel/Evil Wing Ears: 1 defense, +1 Str. 10. Defense and strength, plus they're not effected by Divest Helm. Very nice.Middle/Lower:
Welding Mask: 2 defense, -10% damage from fire element attacks. 30. This is a superb piece of equipment.Lower:
/
Pipe/Cigarette: -3% damage from insects. 10. Generally, it's better
to use a Welding/Alarm Mask. But -3% isn't bad whilst mobbing.Footgear : It's mostly just a choice between Boots or Crystal Pumps, depending on the situation.
Crystal Pumps: 0 defense, 5 magic defense, +10 Luk. 10. More luck for potion production, and magic defense. Boots [1]: 4 defense. 60. Do I really need to explain?Robe : Manteaus are your optimal choice. Raydric or Whisper for leveling, depending on your build and the situation. The elemental resistance cards are great for WoE and PvP, but you'll probably want to slot them into a Hood due to the high cost of slotted Manteaus. A Ragamuffin Manteau is also great if you can overupgrade it to make up for the low defense.
Hood [1]: 1 defense. 20. Good for elemental resistance cards.
Ragamuffin Manteau: 1 defense, 10 magic defense, indestructible. 50.
Magic defense for the win! Overupgrade for some physical defense, and it
can be better than lugging around a bunch of elemental robes. Manteau [1]: 4 defense. 60. Good stuff.Accessories : If you're going to take your Alchemist to level 90 and beyond, make sure to consider using the ancient accessories; slotted, in other words. For making potions, stick with Gloves. Two Rosaries are wonderful, as they're cheap, easy to obtain, and provide 10 magic defense. However, I can't say one accessory is better than another because it depends on your build and budget, but for the most part avoid Belts if at all possible.
Ring [1]: +1 Str. 20. Ring: +2 Str.10. Brooch [1]: +1 Agi. 20. Brooch: +2 Agi.10. Necklace [1]: +1 Vit. 20. Necklace: +2 Vit. 10. Earring [1]: +1 Int. 20. Earring: +2 Int. 10. Glove [1]: +1 Dex. 20. Glove: +2 Dex. 10. Rosary [1]: 3 magic defense, Luk +1. 20. Rosary: 5 magic defense, Luk +2. 10. Matyr's Leash: 1 defense, +1 Agi. 10. Celebrant's Mitten: 1 defense +1 Int. 10. Safety Ring: 3 defense, 3 magic defense 10. Critical Ring: +5 Crit. 5. Clip [1]: +10 SP. 5. Belt [1]: 120. Megingjard: +40 str, 2 defense, 7 magic defense. 800. We all have dreams, we all partake of lust.θ: Leveling your Alchemist.
While there are a few things you can do that are unique to the Alchemist class, sticking with mobbing and spamming Cart Revolution, or simple ctrl + click will do fine. When you're under attack by a large group of monsters, but don't feel the need to wing, spamming Aid Potion isn't necessarily the best course of action. While Aid Potion does increase potion potency, you have to pause and throw it at yourself. While you'll be getting healed for more, you can't maintain an offensive that way. Thus it's ordinarily a better idea to simply pound the potion/healing item hotkey and spin your cart around, resulting in less overall damage taken.
If you plan on using Summon Flora, take into consideration how dense the monster population of the map is, how the monsters are effected by fire and ice when using a spell sword, and if there are any monsters who have the ability to bypass Hide. And remember to have the plant visible on your screen. No sense letting it kill things if you won't be getting experience for them. None of the other Alchemist skills are typically possible to justify using for leveling purposes, considering the cost.
Just a quick explanation; the number listed before the monster is the amount of said monster which spawns on the map. For "Items of worth", it's based off what you'll most likely be killing on the map at an appropriate level.
Culverts 4.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist.
Recommended equipment: Insecticide/Brutal weapons, Gargantua/Brutal Bucklers.
Items of worth: Guard [1].
Home of Golden Thief Bug. You won't have to worry about the MVP, as it's passive and generally killed quite quickly by MVP hunters. Your only real concern should be the Cramps, but the loud squeaking noise they make can be heard long before they are encountered. Just make sure to rotate the camera quite often here, in order to see around corners or past the irritating beams that get in your way. If you're not capable of efficiently taking on the Cramps yet, simply bring a good amount of fly wings to avoid them and stick with mobs of Male Thief Bugs. The job experience here isn't anything amazing, but it's a good place to start your Alchemist at.
70: Male Thief Bug: Insect, medium, Shadow 1.
20: Drainliar: Brute, small, Shadow 2.
20: Female Thief Bug: Insect, medium, Shadow 1.
20: Thief Bug Egg: Formless, small, Normal 3.
20: Thief Bug: Insect, small, Shadow 1.
5: Cramp: Brute, small, Poison 2.
1: Golden Thief Bug: Insect, large, Fire 2, MVP.
Orc Dungeon 2.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist, once you have 120+ hit for Zenorcs.
Recommended equipment: Bloody/Boned/Clamorous weapons, Cranial Buckler.
Items of worth: Zenorc's Fang, Orc Helm, Rough Oridecon/Elunium.
A small and fairly crowded map. It's easy to get in over your head with a mob if you're not too high a level. The Zenorcs are looters, so a good way to gather them is to drop a useless piece of loot, then Cart Revo the resulting group. Be wary of people who dump mobs of Orc Skeletons and Drainliars on you in search of Zenorcs, as a large group of them can eat through your hp, and this is only compounded by the Skeleton's critical attack skill. Although they have a terrible hit rate on their normal attacks. The Skeletons drop Orc Helms; an excellent headgear to use in PvM until you can afford an overupgraded Bone Helm. Zenorcs will also occasionally drop a yellow potion, which is welcome.
50: Zenorc: Demi-human, medium, shadow 1.
50: Orc Skeleton: Undead, medium, undead 1.
20: Steel Chonchon: Insect, small, wind 1.
20: Drainliar: Brute, small, shadow 2.
5: Orc Archer: Demi-human, medium, earth 1.
5: White Plant: Plant, small, earth 1.
Toy Factory 2.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist.
Recommended equipment: Formless/Boned/Bloody weapons, Cranial Buckler.
Items of worth: Old Blue Box.
Another map that's good for your initial leveling stages. The only thing you really have to worry about here is getting hit by a ninja Storm Gust from Stormy Knight; however, it's generally easy to notice that it's spawned, as the map will have high level characters teleporting about in search of it. Myst Cases will use the hallucination skill on you, which will bothcausing you to flinch from every attack regardless of whether or not in actually came in contact with you, and give your screen a wavy effect. The latter is easily countered with /effect. They also have a low level Mammonite and Spear Stab. The latter is annoying, as it can cause some location glitching. Especially if you're being attacking by a few Crusiers. The green Cookies will heal any monster you're attacking for roughly 300 hp, and the red Cookies will use Lex Aeterna on you.
55: Myst Case: Formless, medium, normal 3.
40: Cruiser: Formless, medium, normal 3.
20: Cookie (Christmas): Demi-human, small, holy 2.
20: Cookie: Demi-human, small, normal 3.
1: Stormy Knight: Formless, large, wind 4, MVP.
1: Baby Hatii: Brute, medium, water 2.
Bylan 4.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist.
Recommended equipment: Fisher/Saharic/Wind weapons, Cranial/Homer's Buckler/of Athena, Swordfish armor.
Items of worth: Phen Card, Hydra Card, Marc Card, Detonator, Tendon.
A fairly crowded map. A good amount of monsters, and a good amount of bots. This is mostly due to the valuable rares here; namely, the cards listed above. It's a good idea to use a Swordfish carded armor here, in order to avoid the water element attacks, the Swordfish's Waterball, and to reduce the damage of an explosion from Marine Spheres. Speaking of Marine Spheres, one of the most enjoyable things you can do here is try to kill a bot by setting one off next to it. Don't do this regularly; the last thing you want to accomplish is the accidental killing of a real player. In any case, the -% card for fish is currently an OCA only card, and thus expensive. So it's best to use either a highly upgraded Cranial (to deal with a Merman), or an Ambernite carded Buckler if you can't afford a Rafflesia. If you can manage to snag an endow here, your damage will be excellent.
45: Phen: Fish, medium, water 2.
40: Hydra: Plant, medium, water 2.
40: Marc: Fish, medium, water 2.
40: Swordfish: Fish, large, water 2.
20: Marine Sphere: Plant, small, water 1.
3: Merman: Demi-human, medium, water 2.
Geffen Field 12.
When to level here: Early on as an Alchemist.
Recommended equipment: A Bloody weapon, Cranial Buckler.
Items of worth: Buckler [1], Gladius [3], Cross Bow [3], Kobold Card.
40: Kobold Archer: Demi-human, small, fire 1.
30: Kobold (Hammer): Demi-human, medium, poison 2.
30: Kobold (Mace): Demi-human, medium, fire 2.
20: Kobold (Axe): Demi-human, medium, wind 2.
20: Poporing: Plant, medium, poison 1.
1: Kobold Leader: Demi-human, medium, wind 2.
Clock Tower Underground 2.
When to level here: Level 80+.
Recommended equipment: Ice/Fire weapons, Cranial/Gargantua Bucklers, Pasana armor.
Items of worth: Rough Elunium/Oridecon, White Herbs.
This map has a lot of potential experience, that tends to be ruined by mobbing Priest + Wizard parties. It's still great to level on if you have the equipment, and even better if you level during non-peak hours, but it can get frustrating with Wizards leaving frozen Orc Archers, Priests dumping Drainliars on you, etc. None of the rares are particulary valuable, but if you actually take the time to pick up some of the loot laying around, you can break even at the very least. High Orcs drop Orange Potions, and Orc Archers drop Reds, so you can Aid yourself with them whenever you find one. An ice endow with an anti-High Orc weapon and plenty of fly wings works wonders on this map.
40: High Orc: Demi-human, large, fire 2.
20: Orc Archer. Demi-human, large, earth 1.
20: Arclouze: Insect, small, earth 2.
20: Brilight: Insect, small, fire 1.
10: Drainliar: Brute, small, shadow 2.
Clock Tower Underground 4.
When to level here: As soon as you have enough hit. 140 is needed for a 100% hit rate on Bathories.
Recommended equipment: Bloody/Ancient/Formless weapons, any elemental, Cranial Buckler, Evil armor.
Items of worth: Witch Starsand, Fabric, Joker Card, Whisper Card, Bathory Card.
One of the best maps for leveling an Alchemist on. Bathories have low attack, low defense, are medium sized, and drop Witch Starsand; which can be used to produce Condensed White Potions. The few Whispers on the map will drop Fabrics, which are needed for Bottle Grenades. Quite often, there will be small mobs of Bathories in corners, which are easily Cart Revo'd into oblivion. The map does have some downsides, however. You need a Key of the Underground to access the map, which can be expensive depending on your server. The three swords will break various pieces of equipment; Mysteltainn will break your shield, Executioner your armor, and Tirfing your head gear. So if you plan to fight one of them, it's worth using the extra potions due to taking the piece of equipment off. They respawn a half hour after killed. Jokers require a hefty amount of hit, so an Ancient weapon is required; unless you have a very large amount of dex. Evil armor is required on this map, as the bulk of the damage from Bathories is in the form of their HP Drain attack. This is completely negated by using Evil armor. The armor also blocks their cursing attack, and the Joker's Jupitel Thunder. What can't be prevented is the net skill of Bathories. What this does is lock you into place, although you can still attack anything within range. This skill results in many frustrating location glitches, in which a mob of Bathories is capable of attacking you, but you can't fight back.
50: Bathory: Demi-human, medium, shadow 1.
10: Joker: Demi-human, large, varies.
10: Whisper: Demon, small, sense 3.
1: Mysteltainn: Formless, large, shadow 4.
1: Executioner: Formless, large, shadow 4.
1: Tirfing: Formless, medium, shadow 4.
Louyang Field.
When to level here: Once you have Summon Flora and enough int to inflict a reasonable amount of damage with Fire Bolt.
recommended equipment: Fire Blend, Buckler of Athena.
Items of worth: Rough Elunium, Gold.
This is a map for the int brewers. There's usually a fair amount of competition for Mi Gaos, from various Archers and Mages, so be prepared for the occasional conflict involving your flora. Oh, and there's a pillar that people can stand on to yell out things the entire map sees... it can get annoying as all hell at times.
25: Mi Gao. Formless, medium, earth 3.
25: Mantis. Insect, medium, earth 1.
15: Anacondaq. Brute, medium, poison 1.
15: Caramel. Brute, small, earth 1.
10: Bigfoot. Brute, large, earth 1.
10: Yellow Plant. Plant, small, earth 1.
4: Black Mushroom. Plant, small, earth 1.
Sphinx 4.
When to level here: 80+, or as soon as you have enough hit for Pasanas. They require 154 for a 100% hit rate.
Recommended equipment: Flammable/Ice/Formless weapons, Cranial/Brutal Bucklers, Pasana armor.
Items of worth: Rough Elunium/Oridecon, Pasana Card, Minorous Card.
The fact that this map consists almost entirely of a single element renders it one of the most effective maps to employ an endow on. Also, if you manage to find a Pasana Card here, it's great for blocking the high-powered fire attacks that tend to be fairly frequent. It won't do much for the Pasana's critical skill, however. The downside to this map is the map design itself. Monsters will either tend to get bunched up in a corner into a mob which wipes out half your hp in a single wave, or you'll find yourself desperately wandering about in search of anything to kill. Keeping to the center hallways is a decent idea, as it's easier to cover area that way. It's also somewhat hard to mob here, as the Minorouses and Pasanas will both use the /swt emoticon and ignore you after being dragged around for a bit. Marduks will also use Firewall, which while weak, can get in the way occasionally. The Axes and Falchions you'll get from Minorouses and Pasanas, respectively, can be used to keep your cart close to or at 8000 weight. And the cows drop potatoes!
50: Minorous: Brute, large, fire 2.
20: Pasana: Demi-human, medium, fire 2.
15: Marduk: Demi-human, large, fire 1.
4: Mimic: Formless, medium, normal 3.
West Kokomo Beach
When to level here: 80+.
Recommended equipment: Wind/Fire weapons, Swordfish armor.
Items of worth: Blue Herbs.
40: Shellfish: Fish, small, water 1.
32: Raggler: Brute, small, wind 1.
20: Seal: Brute, medium, water 1.
20: Galapago: Brute, small, earth 1.
20: Crab: Fish, small, water 1.
15: Cornutus: Fish, small, water 1.
10: Aster: Fish, small, earth 1.
10: Alligator: Brute, medium, water 1.
1: Mobster: Demi-human, medium, normal 1.
Turtle Island.
When to level here: 85+, or 200+ flee.
Recommended equipment: Fire/Earth/Clamorous weapons, Brutal/Gargantua Bucklers.
Items of worth: Cyfar, Brigan, Thara Frog Card, Rough Oridecon.
This map is much more suited to a high agility type than a vit type, unless you have strong armor or are willing to expend quite a bit of zeny on potions. Dragontails will put you to sleep, Spring Rabbits will Bash you/loot you and supply you with some herbs, Pests will Cloak and annoy the hell out of you, Permeters are also there to irritate you, Thara Frogs will generally accomplish nothing, and Hunters will attack everything in sight. This is also one of the few maps that you could use Bomb on; Dragontails and Pests charge directly into it due to being aggressive, and the resulting loot will attract Spring Rabbits, which will take a large amount of damage from the fire element Bomb. The Permeters have Aid Potion, and will use it to heal any monsters you're fighting. You can either use Mammonite to exact justice upon them, or simply ignore the turtles and move onto better experience in a different section of the map.
25: Dragon Tail: Insect, medium, wind 2.
25: Spring Rabbit: Brute, medium, earth 2.
15: Pest: Brute, small, shadow 2.
10: Perimeter: Brute, medium, normal 2.
10: Thara Frog: Fish, medium, water 2.
---
ι:
To create potions, you need to have Prepare Potion, the proper potion creation manual, a medicine bowl, and the ingredients in your inventory. Once you use Prepare Potion, the medicine bowl is consumed, and the list of all the potions that you can create with the manuals you have in your inventory pops up; select the potion you want to make, it shows the ingredients you need, then make your potion. Use your arrow keys and enter to speed through the windows, and if you're creating, say, alcohol, only have that manual in your inventory so you don't have to scroll through a large list of various potions. The ingredients are as follows:
Red Potion : 1 Red Herb + 1 Empty Potion Bottle. Yellow Potion : 1 Yellow Herb + 1 Empty Potion Bottle. White Potion : 1 White Herb + 1 Empty Potion Bottle. Blue Potion : 1 Blue Herb + 1 Scell + 1 Empty Potion Bottle. Condensed Red Potion : 1 Red Potion + 1 Cactus Needle + 1 Empty Test Tube. Condensed Yellow Potion : 1 Yellow Potion + 1 Mole Whiskers + 1 Empty Test Tube. Condensed White Potion : 1 White Potion + 1 Witch Starsand + 1 Empty Test Tube. Acid Bottle : 1 Immortal Heart + 1 Empty Bottle. Alcohol : 5 Poison Spores + 5 Stems + 1 Empty Bottle + 1 Empty Test Tube. Bottle Grenade : 1 Alcohol + 1 Fabric. Plant Bottle : 2 Maneater Blossoms + 1 Empty Bottle. Marine Sphere Bottle : 1 Detonator + 1 Tendon + 1 Empty Bottle. Glistening Coat : 1 Zenorc's Fang + 1 Heart of Mermaid + 1 Alcohol + 1 Empty Bottle. Anodyne : 1 Ment + 1 Alcohol + 1 Empty Bottle. Aloevera : 1 Aloe + 1 Honey + 1 Empty Bottle.A quest 'skill' was recently added to kRO for Alchemists. Upon completing the quest, you obtain a new potion creation manual that enables you to produce elemental resistance potions. Each potion provides a 20% resistance to the element, at the cost of a 15% increase in damage from the opposing element.
Resist Cold : 3 Heart of Mermaids + 1 Blue Gemstone. Resist Thunder : 3 Powder of Butterflies + 1 Blue Gemstone. Resist Earth : 2 Large Jellopies + 1 Yellow Gemstone. Resist Fire : 2 Frills + 1 Red Gemstone.Now, as for a potion creation formula, I stand by the one posted below. Sadly there is no 100% confirmed formula, but this one is accurate enough for me. And as an important note to remember, an adopted Alchemist will have halved success rates!
PR*1 + PP*3 + Joblv*0.2 + [Dex + Luk + (Int/2)] X 0.1 + a + 5
With a equating to:
Red, yellow, and white potions = 15.
Alcohol = 5.
Floras, marine spheres, bombs, and acids = -5.
Blue potions = -10.
Glistening coats and condensed potions = -15.
Following this formula, the stats that will result in the highest success rates for an Alchemist are: 42 int, 93 dex, and 93 luk. These are base states, without gear or buffs. If you know a Gypsy/Minstrel with Marionette Control, you can forgo a brewing build completely and go battle. Of course, you'll have to rely entirely on their presence in order to be an effective brewer, so there are downsides to it.
And here's a success rate calculator, thanks to Himeyasha!
κ: Hunting for ingredients.
Only a few items can be purchased from NPCs. Manuals and Medicine Bowls in the Alchemist guild, Empty Potion Bottles and Empty Test Tubes at the Mage guild in Geffen, and Scells/Blue Gemstones at the tool shop in Geffen. The best character to use for hunting items is a Rogue, due to their ability to use Steal and Gank. Now, as for decent places to hunt for the rest...
Red Herbs : You'll get these all over the place; but the first level of Payon caves is great for them. Spores, Familiars, and Red Plants. Yellow Herbs
: Lots of Yellow Plants spawn in Sograt desert. Just look around the
maps near Morroc and you should find some. Goats also drop these at a
decent rate. White Herbs
: If you level in High Orcs, you should get a good amount of these from
the Archers and Brilights. Geffen 3 also has a decent supply of White
Plants. Blue Herbs
: There's several Blue Plants that spawn in Goblin Forest, however,
these are usually camped. There's also three that spawn behind the house
in Orc Village that leads to Orc Zombies, but again, they're usually
camped, and then there's several blue plants scattered around the Kobold
map. They're generally in corners in the bushes. Seals near Comodo,
Spring Rabbits on Turtle Island, and Goats south of Juno all have
somewhat decent drop rates on Blue Herbs. Cactus Needles : The map two south of Morroc has a respectable amount of Mukas. Mole Whiskers : Any of the Coal Mines maps. Witch Starsand
: Clock Tower Basement 4 is awesome for these; just watch out for the
Jokers who will loot you now and then, along the three swords, and enjoy
the mobs of Bathories. Immortal Heart
: Pyramids is where you should head to if you're after these. It's a
choice between the basement, with Minorouses; or level three, with a
myriad of other monsters. Poison Spore : Three south of Payon is decent for these. Stems
: Either the Mandragora map one north and one east of Prontera, or the
Flora map three north and one west of Prontera, two south and one west
of Al De Baran. Fabric : Graveyard has a good amount of Wraiths. Clock Tower Basement 4 is nice as well. Maneater Blossoms : If you can handle them, the Geographers near Juno drop these, otherwise head to the Flora map. Detonator : Byalan 4. Tendon : Byalan 4. Zenorc's Fang : Orcs 2. Quite easy to gather these. Heart of Mermaid : Byalan. Hunt for these along with Marine Sphere goodies! Ment : Just smack up any Red Plants you find. There's a decent amount of these in Payon 1. Aloe : Head off to Floras again. Honey
: Vitatas in Ant Hell, or Bigfoot on the map west of the Flora map.
Also, Soldiers in TI drop them quite frequently. Zipper Bears at Gonryun
are great for them, and the Royal Jellies they drop are quite nice. Scell : Tool shop in Geffen. Frill : Drillers at Juno, or Frilldora at Comodo Field 05. Stick to the west side. Powder of Butterfly : Creamies at Prontera Field 04, or practically any map with Fabres/Pupa. Large Jellopy : Firelock Soldiers at Amatsu Dungeon 01, or use Marin Cards and kill anything. Blue Gemstone : Tool shop at Geffen. Red Gemstone : Drillers at Juno, or the gemstone converter at Payon. Yellow Gemstone : Drillers at Juno, or the gemstone converter at Payon. Medicine Bowls : Alchemist Guild, in Al De Baran. Empty Potion Bottles : Mage Guild, in Geffen. Empty Test Tube : Mage Guild, in Geffen. Empty Bottles
: The Toad map three west of Prontera has plenty of Roda Frogs; and
Toad itself also drops Honey. Ant Eggs drop Empty Bottles at a decent
rate, just watch out for irritating looting ants that'll charge off to
some Swordman bot after taking your bottles. And don't forget about
Goats.As for how much to charge when you're making potions for someone... I only charge enough to cover my bowls and bottles, so I couldn't suggest any standard prices, so it's pretty much just a personal choice.
Condensed Potions.
Here are my suggested prices for condensed potions; you don't have to sell them for these amounts, but they're good standard prices that make for decent profit, without sacrificing future earnings by ruining the market. For example, settting the standard at 2000 zeny per condensed white by selling them for minimal profit in an attempt to draw customers away from competitors.
Reds: 250 zeny.
Yellows: 1500 zeny.
Whites: 3500 zeny.
Selling these before WoE is a good idea, as people are more willing to spend the cash then. Each potion weighs roughly three times less then the normal variety; reds at 2, yellows at 3, and whites at 5. They heal for the same amount as their heavier counterparts. If you plan on using them, you have to take into consideration that they don't stack with normal potions when slotted unto your hotkey list, and they can't be thrown via Aid Potion.
Oh, and one other thing. If possible, use store bought potions to make condensed over home made, purely for marketing reasons. No sense selling store bought potions when you can sell ones that have your name on 'em.
Eventually, a patch implementing the fame system will come to iRO. The fame system functions by assiging rank points to Alchemists based on their brewing performance. The points are gained when your Alchemist creates a certain number of condensed potions in a row without failure. The ten Alchemists with the highest amount of rank points on the server will gain a few bonuses.
* +1 Rank Point: 3 condensed potions created without failure in a row.
* +3 Rank Point: 5 condensed potions created without failure in a row.
* +10 Rank Point: 7 condensed potions created without failure in a row.
* +50 Rank Point: 10 condensed potions created without failure in a row.
The /alchemist command will display a list of the top ten Alchemists. Potions made by one of these Alchemists will receive a 50% bonus to their potency. However, this effect does not apply to potions used via Aid Potion/Aid Condensed Potion.
---
λ: Biochemists.
The advanced second class for Alchemists is the Biochemist. So far they've recieved four new skills. More could possibly be released according to Gravity, and those currently planned could easily be changed or removed completely.
Biochemist job bonuses.
Biochemist skills :
Aid Condensed Potion, active. 10 levels.Sp use : 30.
Bottle : Condensed Red, Yellow, and White potions.
Casting time: 1 second.
Cast delay: 1 second.
Prerequisites : 5 Aid Potion.
Throw a condensed potion. This skill heals all party, guild, and allied guild members in a 7x7 area around the target cell with a thrown condensed potion. Even when they're dead. It also consumes the potion at the beginning of the cast, in the same manner as Acid Terror. Currently, there's a minor sprite glitch with the skill. When your cast is completed, your sprite will remain in the throwing position, but it has no adverse effect. Just like Aid Potion, the level you have determines the increase in potency, and the level you use will be what decides which potion is thrown.
1 : 10% more effective. [Condensed Red]
2 : 20% more effective. [Condensed Red]
3 : 30% more effective. [Condensed Red]
4 : 40% more effective. [Condensed Red]
5 : 50% more effective. [Condensed Red]
6 : 60% more effective. [Condensed Yellow]
7 : 70% more effective. [Condensed Yellow]
8 : 80% more effective. [Condensed Yellow]
9 : 90% more effective. [Condensed Yellow]
10 : 100% more effective. [Condensed White]
Full Chemical Protection, active.Sp use : 40
Bottle : Glistening Coat.
Prerequisites : All four Chemical Protection skills maxed.
All four kinds of chemical protection will be applied at once using a single glistening coat.
1 : Lasts 120 seconds.
2 : Lasts 240 seconds.
3 : Lasts 360 seconds.
4 : Lasts 480 seconds.
5 : Lasts 600 seconds.
The following two skills are not yet implemented on iRO.
Acid Demonstration, active. 10 levels.Sp use : 30
Bottle: Acid Bottle, Bottle Grenade.
Casting time : 1 second.
Cast delay : 1 second.
Prerequisites: 5 Bomb, 5 Acid Terror.
Inflict a target with neutral damage x-times consecutively (x = skill level) by using one acid bottle and one bottle grenade. When used on another player, it will only deal 50% of it's original damage. Each skill level increases the chance to break both the target's weapon and armor by 1%. Damage is increased by the caster's int, and the target's vit, and it ignores armor and vit defense. It is similiar to Acid Terror, in that it ignores flee, and is a ranged attack. As such, it will ignore Safety Wall, and have the damage reduced to zero by Pneuma. However, the armor and weapon breaking chance remains. Also, wearing elemental weapons and damage boosting cards will not raise your damage. Unless they also boost your int.
And now, a damage chart. It assumes you have level 10 Acid Demonstration. The number on the top is your int, while the numbers on the left are the target’s vit. The chart tops off at 149 vit, as that’s the highest vit a target can possibly have; this title belongs to Orc Lord.
Much like brewing, there isn't a formula that's confirmed to be entirely accurate. However, we do have one that will give you a fairly accurate idea of what kind of damage you'll do, and that formula is (INT×0.28)×(1+VIT×141/100)×skill level.
1 : Hits 1 time, 1% chance to break.
2 : Hits 2 times, 2% chance to break.
3 : Hits 3 times, 3% chance to break.
4 : Hits 4 times, 4% chance to break.
5 : Hits 5 times, 5% chance to break.
6 : Hits 6 times, 6% chance to break.
7 : Hits 7 times, 7% chance to break.
8 : Hits 8 times, 8% chance to break.
9 : Hits 9 times, 9% chance to break.
10 : Hits 10 times, 10% chance to break.
Plant Cultivation, active. 2 levels.Sp use : 10
Prerequisites: None.
Using either one mushroom spore or one stem, grow a mushroom or a plant on nearby ground, respectively. The resulting mushroom/plant is selected randomly from the potential results. There is a 50% chance of failure.
1 : Use one mushroom spore, grow a red or black mushroom.
2 : Use one stem, grow a red/yellow/white/blue/shining plant.
Originally, Biochemists had two skills planned for them. Neither of these skills have been implemented since that point in time, nor has any mention been made of them. It appears as if Gravity has no intention of completing them.
Alchemy, active. 5 levels.Prerequisites : 5 Prepare Potion.
You can create many items that are used via Prepare Potion. You can easily create Empty Bottles, Empty Potion Bottles, and Empty Test Tubes to help you with other skills that require those items.
Potion Synthesis, active. 5 levels.Prerequisites : 6 Prepare Potion, 2 Alchemy.
Combine many different potions to create new potions. There are already set rules to what can be mixed, and the problem is the success rate. You can create potions that weigh less, but perform the same... or create heavier potions that heal for far more. For potions that summon creatures to attack, they might have better attack rate, or have a new skill to use.
---
μ: The Homunculus.
The Homunculus has been partially implemented on kRO; please refer to these threads for the information concerning them.
As there is some confusion, the Homunculus is available to both Alchemists and Biochemists.
The Homunculus, reduced to the most basic description, is a pet that assists you. Be it by supporting you, or attacking with you. You create them via Prepare Potion, using one of each of the following items:
Dew of Yggdrasil:
Seed of Life:
Glass Tube:
Which results in an Embryo:
The Embryo then remains in your inventory until you use the skill Call Homunculus. You then receive a Homunculus. The type is selected at random. There are currently four types of Homunculi, each type offering two different Homunculi. The difference between the two is purely cosmetic. They all have initial forms, and a developed version. In order to mature them into their secondary forms, you need to first raise their intimacy to "Best Friend" status, then use a...
Philosopher's Stone:
Much like a pet, a Homunculus requires feeding on a regular basis, or they'll run away/starve to death, depending on how you look at it. They eat the following foods:
Amistr: Zargon.
Filir: Garlet.
Lif: Pet Food.
Vanilmirth: Scell.
As mentioned previously, the Homunculi have a rating of how friendly they are to you. The intimacy is raised via feeding them, much like pets. Upon death, the Homunculus loses intimacy rather than experience. If the intimacy drops to zero, the Homunculus runs away.
Your Homunculus will also gain skill points upon leveling up that can be used on the following skills. These require no skill points on the part of the Alchemist to obtain.
Amistr.
/ Castling, active.Instantaneously switch the location of the player and Amistr. The monsters that were attacking the player will now attack Amistr instead.
1: 20% chance of success.
2: 40% chance of success.
3: 60% chance of success.
4: 80% chance of success.
5: 100% chance of success.
Defense, active.Temporarily increase the defense of both Amistr and the player.
1: 2 defense, 40 second duration.
2: 4 defense, 35 second duration.
3: 6 defense, 30 second duration.
4: 8 defense, 25 second duration.
5: 10 defense, 20 second duration.
Adamantium Skin, passive.Increase Amistr's defense, maximum hp, and hp regeneration.
1: 2% hp, 5% regen, 4 defense.
2: 4% hp, 10% regen, 8 defense.
3: 6% hp, 15% regen, 12 defense.
4: 8% hp, 20% regen, 16 defense.
5: 10% hp, 25% regen, 20 defense.
Blood Lust, active.For a five minute duration, Amistr's damage is increased and every attack has a chance to leech 20% of the damage as HP.
1: 1 minute duration, 130% damage increase, 3% chance to leech, 5 minute cast delay.
2: 3 minute duration, 140% damage increase, 6% chance to leech, 10 minute cast delay.
3: 5 minute duration, 150% damage increase, 9% chance to leech, 15 minute cast delay.
Filir.
/ Moonlight, active.Filir attacks a target with its beak.
1: 1 hit, 220% damage.
2: 2 hits, 330% damage.
3: 2 hits, 440% damage.
4: 2 hits, 550% damage.
5: 3 hits, 660% damage.
Fleeting Move, active.Temporarily increase Filir's attack and aspd.
1: +3% aspd, 110% damage, lasts for 60 seconds, 60 second delay.
2: +6% aspd, 115% damage, lasts for 55 seconds, 70 second delay.
3: +9% aspd, 120% damage, lasts for 50 seconds, 80 second delay.
4: +12% aspd, 125% damage, lasts for 45 seconds, 90 second delay.
5: +15% aspd, 130% damage, lasts for 40 seconds, 120 second delay.
Over Speed, active.Temporarily increase Filir's flee.
1: 20 flee, lasts for 60 seconds, 60 second delay.
2: 30 flee, lasts for 55 seconds, 70 second delay.
3: 40 flee, lasts for 50 seconds, 80 second delay.
4: 50 flee, lasts for 45 seconds, 90 second delay.
5: 60 flee, lasts for 40 seconds, 120 second delay.
SBR44, active.Lower your Filir's intimacy level in exchange for high damage to a single target.
Lif.
/ Healing Touch, active.Heals the player, or another player if specifically targeted. The skill consumes a Condensed Red Potion, but otherwise functions exactly like an Acolyte's Heal. In order to clear up some confusion there's been regarding this, your int has no relevance to the amount healed. It is calcuated using the Lif's int.
1: 13 sp.
2: 16 sp.
3: 19 sp.
4: 22 sp.
5: 25 sp.
Emergency Evasion, active.Temporarily increase the moving speed of both Lif and the player.
1: 10% faster, 40 second duration.
2: 20% faster, 35 second duration.
3: 30% faster, 30 second duration.
4: 40% faster, 25 second duration.
5: 50% faster, 20 second duration.
Brain Surgery, passive.Increase Lif's max sp and sp regeneration rate, as well as the amount healied via Healing Touch.
1: 1% sp, 3% regen, 2% Healing Touch bonus.
2: 2% sp, 6% regen, 4% Healing Touch bonus.
3: 3% sp, 9% regen, 6% Healing Touch bonus.
4: 4% sp, 12% regen, 8% Healing Touch bonus.
5: 5% sp, 15% regen, 10% Healing Touch bonus.
Mental Change, active.For a period of five minutes, Lif's maximum HP and SP are switched. After activating the skill, HP is fully healed. Non-skill attacks are increased by the Lif's MATK value. After the skill duration has ended, HP and SP are set to 10.
1: 1 minute duration, 10 minute cast delay.
2: 3 minute duration, 15 minute cast delay.
3: 5 minute duration, 20 minute cast delay.
Vanilmirth.
/ Caprice, active.Randomly use one of the Bolt-type spells. The skill level used for the spell is determined by the skill level of Caprice.
1: Can use level 1 Bolt-type spell.
2: Can use level 2 Bolt-type spell.
3: Can use level 3 Bolt-type spell.
4: Can use level 4 Bolt-type spell.
5: Can use level 5 Bolt-type spell.
Benediction of Chaos, activeRandomly uses Heal on you, the enemy that you are attacking, or Vanilmirth itself.
1: Heal level 1: Enemy: 50% / Vanilmirth: 20% / Player: 30%.
2: Heal level 1 - 2: - Enemy: 40% / Vanilmirth: 50% / Player: 10%.
3: Heal level 1 - 3: - Enemy: 25% / Vanilmirth: 25% / Player: 50%.
4: Heal level 1 - 4: - Enemy: 36% / Vanilmirth: 60% / Player: 4%.
5: Heal level 1 - 5: - Enemy: 33% / Vanilmirth: 34% / Player: 33%.
Change Instruction, passive.Increase Vanilmirth's int and str.
1: 1 int / 1 str.
2: 2 int / 1 str.
3: 2 int / 3 str.
4: 4 int / 4 str.
5: 5 int / 4 str.
Bio Explosion, active.Vanilmirth self destructs and inflicts defense ignoring damage on everything within a 9x9 square around it. The damage is based off it's maximum HP, and after the attack, intimacy is reduced to 1.
1: Max HP * 1.
2: Max HP * 1.5.
3: Max HP * 2.
---
Thanks for reading, and I hope this was helpful.
thias guide is pure gold, thanks
ReplyDeletehttps://irowiki.org/wiki/Homunculus_Resurrection
ReplyDeleteHigher level = less SP cost, more homunculus HP when resurrected