So my first ever character who has a human arcane blade died a horrible death in the maze while i was trying to learn the rules for the game. Then i made a Shalore alchemist and things went a lot better this time around. I have not managed to kill myself yet.
I was just scrolling through GoG looking for some fun RPG to play that was still below the 20€ price and so i bought Tales of Maj'Eyal
Here is both my skill setup. My Shalore Alchemist is about to reach level 10 soon.. The arcane blade did not make it past level 6.
Here's some advice: you should max out the first 3 bomb talents before spending more than one point in any of the golem stuff, as maxed out bombs do tremendous damage over a huge area. You should put one point in each of the infusions in case you meet enemies with high elemental resistances. Advanced golemancy is a really good early pickup, energy alchemy has some good stuff, but if you get it, should probably wait until much later in the game.
As for your generics, you can buy the combat training category in last hope, then use gear that gives +str and +con to meet the prerequisites for armor training and thick skin, which will make you a lot more durable (remember you can use your golem as a pack mule.), as well as expand your equipment options. You should also hoard dex items so you can take the crafty hands prodigy. Remember to put points into the extract gems to meet the requirements for what tier of items you are finding, as you need higher tier gems. Turn everything you can into gems, as not only do they almost always sell for much more than the normal items, but you need higher tier gems as they make any talent that uses alchemist gems much stronger. Imbue item is also a good pickup, the third talent in that tree you probably only want one point in (as it's an escape that can get you out of trouble at times), and the fourth is kind of a luxury. For staff combat, the second talent increases channel staff damage, not just melee strikes (which you should never do as you won't have accuracy). The third talent gives kind of low benefits, especially at higher levels, and the fourth talent you need to get to level 5 (level 4 with the multiplier) so it never misses to be useful. Skip unlocking cunning. Another good use of category points is getting the celestial light tree from an escort.
