Alchemy for Beginners

[Darkmere]

I always used the +% damage ones as well. I made big stockpiles of others for "situational use" that never got used for anything at all.

Good idea on the level-up plan. I'll add in a rough guide to how I did it momentarily. Sorry it's taken so long, I had hoped to have a working mouse for easier editing by now, but I'll just muddle along without.

[peacedog]

Oh, right, I completely spaced out and forgot about Advanced Golemancy when saying that. Sorry about that.

Anyways, no, that's a fine decision-Advanced Golemancy should be taken at 10 or 20, Celestial/Light at 10/20, then either two inscriptions or one and Fire Alchemy later, or Fire Alchemy->Advanced Golemancy->Celestial/Light->One inscription(or a different Generic sink, or two inscriptions).

You should always take Advanced Golemancy, for Supercharge(and other skills to a lesser degree, but Supercharge is really good). I feel stupid making that mistake when detailing that, it's fixed now.

Wow, yeah, supercharge is pretty amazing though it still took me forever to kill the master because I kept getting frozen. Cant' stand that. This is a throwaway character as I ease back into things, but my current build has gone much better than the previous attempt. Fire Alchemy definitely would have been useful based on your explanation of how it works; I think in the futre I will prioritize it and Advanced Golemancy over Celestial Light if it's available. Barrier has been useful (can't find a shielding rune to save my life) and so has the heal, but they just mean I can stay in fights longer before teleporting and I'd probably get more from more offensive options in the mean time (bomb, something fire alchemy, then maybe a staff blast as opposed to bomb, staff, staff).

[Darkmere]

New version is up. I tried to make everything more indexed, organized, complete, and readable. I think I caught the big things I missed from the first guide, but if there's anything else, do let me know.

[peacedog]

The guide looks good. Why are we so focused on an infusion that protects against mental effects? Is it because that category has the most stuff that shuts down the various "I win" buttons the Alchemist? When I was last playing I was just starting to get in my head how all the different possible status effects and sources were categorized, but I've forgotten it all.

[Darkmere]

I listed mental effects for a few reasons. Foremost, Mental status effects (specifically Confuse, the most dangerous one) tend to happen at range often enough for us to get hit with them. We'll have decent spell saves from our Magic stat, but our will is base, which leaves our mental saves lacking.

Physical effects like pin and knockback don't keep us from teleporting to safety if we need to, or casting invoke golem to bring our tank in to taunt things off of us. The mental effect Confuse causes us to take a random action (attack that rare berserk champion in melee! Wander helplessly into the swarm of knife-wielding orcs!) on some turns instead of what we actually want to do (teleport away so we don't die). Spending several turns helpless as the game ignores your commands is a frustrating way to die, so I recommend a mental infusion to clear that as fast as possible, so you can run away and try again.

By the time many status effects may be a problem, you'll also have Relentless pursuit, which uses your saves to reduce the duration of all your status effects by a certain amount. That works fine for most things, but Confuse is one of those game-enders that you really want dealt with as fast as possible.

[tylor]

I think Fire Alchemy should be taken first, because of Smoke Bomb. I don't know how I would survive "dropped in a room full of casters" situations (which game is forcing increasingly often on you) without it. Smoke bomb, Throw Bomb (quartz for knockback), Arcane Eye (or similar scrying spell) - and then fight is mostly one-sided.

[Nimmy]

Great guide, it is only lacking a levelup guide for the golem. How should I use his stat points, what equipment, etc.. Thanks !

[Darkmere]

Great guide, it is only lacking a levelup guide for the golem. How should I use his stat points, what equipment, etc.. Thanks !

I'm glad you're finding it useful!

I'm not sure where to put this in the guide, so I'll just post here until I decide.

Stats: Str: Enough to get 1 point in all combat skills, then enough as needed to wear massive armors.
Magic: enough to get all the skills in arcane golem that you desire.
Constitution: Whatever is left.

Keep in mind, if you took the gem golem skill, you can boost all of its stats by socketing gems into it to make requirements for gear. You can also imbue gems into their chestpieces for more stat bonuses.

I equipped my golem with weapon+shield+massive armor. They will use Block often, and you want them to negate all the damage they can. +Con is always good, as you want them tanking for you as long as possible. If in doubt, this setup will serve you well.

[jotwebe]

Just a little update for any newbies reading this:

With the recent patches (1.0.3/1.0.4 I think) the Higher and Shalore races got some boosts that should make them a lot more attractive Alchemist choices.

Higher's vision range now also gives some extra infravision/light range, helping with early dark dungeons. And their 3rd racial now gives a 15% bonus for 5 turns to whatever damage you did. This cools down every 5 turns at 1 point and is near-constant at 5. So I'd say they'd rate a 4/5 now.

Shalore's first talent, the global speed bonus, now scales with either Magic or Dexterity. It's not all that useful for Alchemists since you're mainly limited by bomb cooldown, but global speed is still nice to have for everybody. The second talent now boosts critical damage as well as crit chance, which is very nice in the endgame, the third talent's invisibility kicks in easier and is quite nice at 1 point. Timeless is awesome for some classes, for Alchemists it's just regular nice. But also worth it just for the bad status reduction and the ability to tack some extra turns on regen infusions and shielding runes. Probably also 4/5.

[Sianist]

can your golem use potions? if so it might be viable to hand it the +2Class Points and the +3str/con potions

[Mewtarthio]

Your golem can most definitely enjoy the benefit of alchemical potions.

[Throckmorton]

I have a few Alchemist questions. I am a beginner at alchemist, so they belong in this thread...

I put a point into Golem Resilience, the text of which states "The golem can always use any kind of armour, including massive armours". Yet when I try to put armor on my Golem, it says he doesn't have the skill. I can't remember the exact phrase it said, but I think it was referring to "Armor Training". So do i have to give my golem a point or more in Armor Training? How? Or maybe he isn't strong enough yet.

I'm confused on how my Golem levels up, if he does. I re-created him after he died, and he was stronger. So do I occasionally let him die so I (now at greater level myself) can create a stronger golem?

How do I give my Golem runes? He has a shield rune (by default), but I found a better one.

THANKS to any and all who reply...

[Doctornull]

Golems don't need Armor Training, they get hidden secret golem armor training.

Your golem has a Strength stat, which you may have to increase in order to use heavier armors. IIRC they start at 14 Str which is barely enough for iron mail.

To get an item into your golem's inventory, right-click on the item and select "transfer to party", then select your golem.

Now left-click on the golem icon on the top of your screen. You're in direct control of your golem at this point: his outline turns yellow, your Alchemist's outline turns green. Hit "i" for inventory, and you're at your golem's inventory.

Now you can equip armor directly, and you can right-click to 'Use' runes which will install them into your golem.

Your golem can have 3 runes, plus up to 2 more with the right talent.

Good luck out there!

[HousePet]

Actually the golem can have up to 3 more with the right talents.
Golem can have 6 runes total.

[Doctornull]

Actually the golem can have up to 3 more with the right talents.
Golem can have 6 runes total.

The talent says you can put in 3 more, but there's a bug preventing the 6th... or is that fixed now?

If it's fixed, that would be great!