Getting into nightmare: Doomelf Alchemist

[terri]

after winning some normals and following some random suggestions in the chat while playing, i'm trying to make a character going in an higher difficulty, to my surprise, I'm doing fine atm, aside a random death for autoexploring (i'll never autoexplore again ).
the character
i got some nice escorts going imho (2 seers for arcane eye and vision, the light tree from the anorithil and chant of fortress for me, plus a level of piercing sight to avoid people sneaking on me :c)
my next cat point will go to the advanced golemancy so i can revive my golem when needed and to infuse him with gems.
my build will focalize in acid damage because i like that tree, is the least resisted against most enemies and the blind/slow in the tree helps and the strip of effects is strong imho
i've choosen doomelf for the escape mostly, but other actives can still give me an hand.
im now in the alt maze (dunno if i have to say thanks or not, since i dont have any confusion resistance and the minotaur isnt ready to screw me up) :C
since i wish to win, people who know a little how to play alchemist or the game in general, can u give me some suggestions for points in trees, if my equipement is bad, if im doing fine or other things like that? :S
the name of my character btw is an anagram of pre"pare" to die :C

[grobblewobble]

Let's see..

- Talent trees: it is best to choose one type of damage and increase the infusion of that damage type to 5/5 for maximum damage.

- Equipment: Withering orbs is worthless for an alchemist (it only helps melee attacks vs hidden/invisible monsters afaik). Replace it with anything better. Your rings don't help much, either, they boost damage types that are irrelevant to you.

(Looking at your equipment, you might actually want to specialize in cold damage. Frost threads and Silk Current both boost it.)

The Kor's Fall staff is bad for the same reason: you want a staff that gives a big boost to the one type of damage you use, not a staff that gives small boosts to a lot of damage types you don't use.

Crystle's Astral bindings are a very nice find for an alchemist, keep them!

And, perhaps the most important: find yourself a torque of psychoportation and equip it as soon as possible, it can save your life.

- Never use Mana Surge runes with an alchemist. Just wait more if you run out out of mana. A single mana recharge item will easily cover your needs. Get another escape option instead, like teleportation or a movement infusion.

- I can't see the stats of your golem on the sheet, but the focus should be on magic and Eye Beams, with enough strength to equip a good armor. Also make sure your golem has the maximum number of runes. One or two shields and the best damage runes you can find. Also use the Rune of the Rift on him once you get it.

[Mordy]

Crystle's Astral bindings actually kill your golem. I killed mine with those by channelling my staff on an enemy on the other side of the golem and I critted the Dust to Dust which promptly killed my pet and the monster..

[grobblewobble]

Well, the monster was dead, wasn´t it? Great succes.

[terri]

many thanks for the tips, the problem was that i never find the damage modifier i want, good thing now i got 2 acid items so my damage gets higher.
now im in dreadfell and im doing fine, got a torque of psychoportation but for now i will keep my wand of clairvoyance
close to level 30 im looking for a prodigy, the blighted summoning gives extra damage to my golem but i may thin there are other prodigies that i can take
maxing cun now, after that i may think i will take some willpower or con depending on what i wish.

[Mordy]

Well you could solve your wand/psychoportation issue with the Swift Hands prodigy for example :p

[grobblewobble]

I would not recommend blighted summoning. In my opinion it´s a gimmick option, cute but not terribly effective.

Swift hands would indeed give you great flexibility with item usage. Some other prodigies you might want to consider:

- Windblade.
I will try this with my next alchemist. Since you're already maxing Staff Training, this might be a great damage talent for when Bomb is on cooldown. Dealing 50k damage with dual weapons is easy, use a training dummy. (This will also hurt your golem, but personally I don't care, self sacrifice is his job.)

- Crafty hands.
Classic alchemist prodigy, although I prefer to take this one at level 42, when you can use it on endgame equipment and when you might possibly have already found an artifact gem like Goedelath Rock.

- Corrupted Shell
Personally I think this prodigy is underrated. 250 HP is a lot and armor hardiness bonus turns your robe into a real armor, too.

- Cauterize
The best protection from burst damage. Absolutely requires that you have an escape ready to recover, it would be risky to choose this without permanently equipping a torque of psychoportation.

- Meteoric Crash
Maybe not the optimal choice, but not bad either. And fun!

[jaumito]

Eye of the Tiger can be really good on Alchemists, as it can mean ~33% extra damage output from bombs as long as you can reliably crit.

Arcane Might, too. Going from 80% to 130% damage from your main stat is a big improvement if you plan to use Staff Combat a lot.

[terri]

i finished the run, lost 1 life to a stair boss (bone giants rare worst rares) and 1 during the last fight, good thing that if you close the portal they stay closed even if u lose a life.
before getting into the sanctum i tried to avoid almost all bosses and enemies, didnt needed to get exp or artifact or other things, i just made my way most of the times digging around any enemy, and teleportin onto stairs to avoid the fights.
my second prodigy was the meteoric crash that boosted a lot my burst, but it killed my golem a lot of times, and its reflective skin dealt some non negligible damage to me, i dont think i will take that anymore on him. :c
anyway, i think that until my mind gets better i wont touch nighmare for now :S
thanks for any reply, i appreciated it a lot :D

[grobblewobble]

Well done on the victory! Alchemist is not the easiest class for nightmare, you did very well.

Arcane Might, too. Going from 80% to 130% damage from your main stat is a big improvement if you plan to use Staff Combat a lot.

Ah, of course.. Ok, now I want to try an alchemist with Arcane Might + Windblade. Going to start a new character.