Alchemist question

[Falco]

Hey, I'm new to this game. I made a dwarf alchemist and finished the dwarf intro place and now I'm lv5. I noticed a few things and would like some help.

1- The magical gems seems to go quite quickly. My golem died a couple of times and every bomb I throw consumes them. Is it normal? Will I have plenty available through the game?

2- I've been focusing all stats on magic, what should be the secondary stat?

3- I've been spending all the points in golem and the bomb throwing itself, so far 0 on inbuing the bombs. Anything wrong there?

4- The class skills seems to be the slower ones to get. I spent most on the staff but I thinkl it might have been a mistake since the staff does low damage and the bombs do a lot more. What is adviced to spend the points on? Are those gems inbue on equipment even worth it?

Any advices in general are appreciated, ty!

[JacksonTriggs Fan]

1) The alchemist starts with an ability (in the generic side of their skill tree) to turn any metal item into a gem of the same tier. They ALSO start with an ability to turn any gem into 40 or so alchemist gems. So every dagger, boot, and helmet you pick up is 10 alchemist bombs and 2 golem revives. NEVER transmute metal items with the transmogrification chest. Gems are worth more if you want money, worth more as energy for the fortress, and they're worth more as gems for ammo, too. Never waste metal items by transmogrifying them. Alchemist Gems are ammo, equip them liek you would arrows, but yes, they're finite (but I'm usually rocking 1000+ of them by level 5-6.)

2) Secondary stats for Alchemist are Will and Cunning. Focus Will first.

3) The later abilities in the elemental imbuing are really good. Acid has one that wipes off all the buffs of enemies, and Ice has one that takes zero cast time that deals huge AoE damage (free damage with no time to use it!). You also miss out on beating enemies with their weaknesses, which will hurt you long-term when physically resistant enemies start showing up. Also keep in mind diminishing returns: The more points you put into something, the less it improves. The first two points add a LOT of power to an ability, the next one or two add a little, and the fifth is almost always optional for all abilities, it usually adds only a small amount of damage, usually (but if it adds range or AoE, still worth taking).

That said...

4) Staff sucks. Your staff should exist (using "command staff") to buff the element of your alchemist bombs (currently Physical), and that's about it. End-game, a command staff deals against 1 enemy about 150 damage, while an Alchmist bomb wil regularly deal 10+ enemies 1500+ damage, 3000 if you're hitting their weak element. .

On that note, and for that reason, my alchemist build goes as follows: 1 point in Acid and Ice bombs to unlock the trees, then everything in alchemist bomb skill tree until it's 5/5/5/0. Then I build up ice and acid to get the Acid Bath and Ice Nova abilities (or whatever their names are), and then work on getting the golem up and running with the Advanced Golemancy tree.

Imbuing gems on equipment is definitely worth it. It's a huge stat boost in many cases, and even if it's only a minor one, you've got infinite gems as an alchemist, you'll get more later on.

"But won't ignoring the golem tree for 15 levels make it weak?"

A tiny bit, but I go Magic golem. Do not forget that your golem levels up too, and you need to allocate its stats and abilities. You can either go through the "communicate with golem" interface which IMO is clunky, or you can just click on its picture in the top left beside yours, take control over it, and then level up as if it were you. Golems gain less stats and ability points than you, but that's fine. Golem eye beams (the first ability in their magic golem tree) will more than make up for any weakness in the golem's offensive power, and defensive power can be improved by giving the golem better armor (remember to make it equip it!) and imbuing gems into the armor.

[Arsonium]

2 . Cunning for crits or Constituon/Dexterity for some defence. Maybe put some points in Willpower, if you find yourself mana-starved, but I hadn't that happened as Alchemist.

3. Nothing wrong. The first two/three (reducing friendly fire is optional, but certainly convenient and allows you to shoot golem for "skin" talents) basic bomb talents are probably the most important ones. If you intend to rely heavily on golem (as in: play as golem with some fire support), than you should max weapon and armor talents in golemancy. At the start putting 1 point in talents from imbuing category of your choice should be enough.

4. Well, you can easily go around bashing with staff in late game, but early on staves are weak as weapons. Channel staff on the other hand is somewhat useful at the beginning when you don't have anything better to do during cooldowns, but it is useless later on. Better buy training in Last Hope shop and put some points into Armor training. Gems are certainly worth it, even if you get them as another class. While boosts from imbuing are small early on, you can sell some of those gems which makes it much easier to buy stuff instead of waiting for something useful to drop. You don't need to hurry with maxing gem talents though, since it will be a while until you get tier 5 items.

[Falco]

Wow thats really helpful, didn't even know golems level up.

What is this transmogrification chest you mentioned?

And I should focus my generic points on stone alchemy then?

[JacksonTriggs Fan]

Let your golem's eye beams shine! Seriously, early-game it's some nice extra damage, and don't worry, your golem will never hurt you on purpose, even with its AoEs.

The transmogrification Chest is an item gotten fairly early-game that allows you to auto-sell things in your inventory as if you were selling them to a shop for gold. Very useful all-around, but for an alchemist, there's more money to be made in Stone Alchemy.

On which note, you'll want to bring your ability to transform metal items into gems to Steel-level early-on (level 2), but Dwarven-steel (level 3) can wait until level 14 or so, and levels 4+5 can wait until later than level 20.

Imbuing gems into equipment should be increasing at about the same pace as making them into gems, so about a level in it every 7 levels or so, give or take spare points.

I'll agree on the other poster, go to Last Hope and get "generic weapons and armor training", which opens the tree to get armor training and, if you have the constitution score for it (by equipment ideally since CON is an awful stat to raise), the Thick Skin talent.

If you worry you over-invested in Channel Staff, in towns you can "undo" training the last three talents you took, so that might help a bit if those were Channel Staff. 1-2 points is good for when you've nothing else to do, but it's not a talent to over-invest in.

Also remember that while it's not an "exciting" action, moving instead of attacking is a valid choice if the bombs are on cooldown. Keeping a good position is important for all mages, and while the golem helps offset that, it's good practice to make sure you're in a good position to fight.

[Samseng Yik]

Alchemist is 1 of the slow starter yet powerful in late game.
- Maximize the bomb immunity. You don't want to kill your golem or yourself.
- Focus at least 2 elements bomb. Because Ice/Fire/Storm dragons immune to those elements.
- There is talent in Frost Infusion tree can let you INSTANTLY freeze enemies leg around you.
This can buy you some times to escape.
- Try to put at least 1 point into "Supercharge Golem" (Need unlock that tree category)
You can revive your golem without costing gems and "much turn" to do it.
- Enlarge the bomb radius !! This will also increase bomb damage if the area is smaller than bomb radius.
- Always transmute your unwanted gears to gem. Higher level gems increase bomb damage and provide stronger side effects.
- Never forget to equip your Golem. If you unlocked Advance Golemancy, you can "socket" gems into golem slot. This give golem bonus based on gem and damage converted to other element.
- When you hiding behind your golem, throw bombs and channel staff to your enemies.
Also repair golem if needed.
- Golem can use Runes ! Let him take 2 shield runes and don't forget give stronger shield.

About Inscriptions, You will always want "WILD" which can cure physical.
Because stun is deadly and easily available by much enemies.

As TOME is a Roguelike game. New player will encounter a lot failure.
Learn from mistake and never give up. The game is actually beatable and not insanely hard.