Introduction
“Failure is just another kind of success. The wrong kind.”
Alchemist has traditionally been played as a hard carry, and indeed still is; he has one of the best ‘steroids’ in the game and a passive ability that lends itself to a farming carry. But throughout 2013 some professional teams flirted with playing Alchemist as a 4th or 5th position support, with only somewhat mixed success initially. Nonetheless pro teams persisted with this strategy until it finally seemed to pay off – Alchemist is now typically picked more for support or mid duties than carry duties in professional Dota.
Non-competitive Dota still lags behind in this respect, but it’s not unheard of to see Alchemist played as support there as well; indeed it has much to recommend it. As such this guide will actually detail both options in separate sections. Enjoy!
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Can be played as a hard carry or a support
- Amazing ‘Steroid’ ability that gives him huge DPS and makes him very tanky
- Powerful lockdown ability that deals physical damage
- Can deny himself
- All of his abilities are worth leveling
- Great lane sustainability
- Great push/anti-push AoE
- Great farming hero…
Cons
- …But it’s risky to go for a Greevil’s Greed build
- Stun can quite easily turn against you
- Fairly ineffective (and squishy) when ultimate is on cooldown
- Low armour
- Very bad stat gain
Carry Alchemist
When should you go carry Alchemist? When you’re likely to be the team’s primary DPS’er and can take the safe lane basically.
If someone else on your team wants/insists on having safe lane farm then the mid lane is an option for Alchemist, in which case you should probably go for the ‘Battle Build’ (i.e. you don’t level Greevil’s Greed early on - for more detail scroll down the page a bit).
If you don’t get the safe lane and you don’t opt to go mid then you really should consider being a 4th or 5th position support (in which case see the ‘Support Alchemist’ section towards the end of this page).
Item Build
OK, so you’ve decided to play Alchemist as a carry and you’re going to the safe lane.
A typical starting build is:
A set of Tangos, a Healing Salve, a Quelling Blade, and 3x Iron Branches.
You can swap those Iron Branches and one set of regen out for a Stout Shield if you expect the enemy to aggressively lane and try to contest your farm.
Core Items
You have three core item progression routes in the early-mid game, largely based on how the laning phase is panning out and what the opposing line-up consists of.
If you have uncontested free farm: rush a Hand of Midas and go super greedy, grab some basic Boots of Speed from the side shop and upgrade any Iron Branches you have into a Magic Wand. Next build Phase Boots or Power Treads.
If you’re struggling to farm go for an early teamfight build: upgrade any Iron Branches you have into a Magic Wand, get some Power Treads or Phase Boots, and work towards a Shadow Blade with which to combo your Concoction up with.
If the opposing team has an illusion-based carry (such as Phantom Lancer) or minion-based push go for an anti-illusion build: upgrade any Iron Branches you have into a Magic Wand, get some basic Boots of Speed from the side shop, and work into a Battle Fury. Next build Phase Boots or Power Treads.
Luxury Items
Once you’ve decide on, and gotten, your core items, you should aim to pick up your first luxury item. Good options on Alchemist are (in rough order):
Assault Cuirass – THE best luxury item for Alchemist. You have naturally low armour – Assault Cuirass fixes that. You’re a right-click carry – Assault Cuirass’s attack speed and minus armour aura both make your carry potential go through the roof. And it benefits your entire team. Definitely the ideal first luxury pick-up for Alchemist.
Black King Bar – BKB is one of the few items you may need to prioritise ahead of an Assault Cuirass. If the enemy team is able to lock you down hard then consider going Black King Bar as your first luxury item in order to be able to actually get stuck into the fights. It naturally makes you tankier as well.
Abyssal Blade – A nice chunk of health and damage, but most importantly two additional forms of lockdown that go through Spell Immunity – an active ability that will give you 2 seconds of stun and a passive that gives you a 25% chance of a 1.4 second stun.
Mjollnir – If you need anti-push/anti-illusion then Mjollnir is a perfect extension to the Battle Fury build. Between your ultimate and Mjollnir you’ll be ‘chopping wood’ insanely quickly; you’ll be able to farm jungle camps and creep waves that much faster and will hit hard and fast in teamfights.
Monkey King Bar – Huge attack damage, mini-bash, and a little bit of attack speed. It also grants you True Strike, making it the ideal pick-up to combat agility carries that would typically build into a Butterfly or which have evasion built-in (such as Phantom Assassin).
Other good damage items include: Desolator (the minus armour stacks with Assault Cuirass and it works on enemy buildings, making it a great mid-game push item), and Daedalus (high damage and critical strike chance)
Heart of Tarrasque – Will make you a full on tank. Your health pool will be enormous and you’ll also hit a lot harder. A good luxury item if you feel you’re falling in teamfights too quickly, but I prefer…
Heaven’s Halberd – If you do feel you die too quickly in teamfights consider Heaven’s Halberd instead of Heart of Tarrasque. You get a nice chunk of health, damage, and bonus effective health (through evasion), but you also become an anti-carry thanks to the Disarm active.
Boots of Travel – Alchemist tends to get 6 slotted much faster than most carries thanks to Greevil’s Greed. When you are at that stage of the game swap out your initial set of boots for Boots of Travel. It frees up a slot you would otherwise have reserved for a TP Scroll and makes you much less susceptible to split-push.
Radiance – Traditionally an oft-recommended item on Alchemist. It’s lowest down on my list because ideally you want to get Radiance quickly in order to get value out of it. The problem is your core items were fairly expensive and there a luxury items that give you so much more, so you likely won’t be able to get it in a timely manner and in any case it’s a very one dimensional item build. It’s not a bad option by any means, but I strongly recommend the items listed above ahead of it.
Skill Build
I’m going to detail two different skill builds for carry Alchemist. The first is the greedy ‘Goblin’s Greed’ build.The second is the more active 'Battle Build' which allows you to engage in fights earlier.
Goblin’s Greed
This build focusses on maxing Greevil’s Greed first (‘cos FREE GOLD!), and is for when you have uncontested safe lane farm. Even then it’s still a really risky build – if the enemy team decide to force fights early you’ll have very little to contribute to engagements. Risky, but popular, and I’m sure we’ve all done it when we shouldn’t have; it’s so damn tempting!
So for this build you skill Greevil’s Greed whenever you can and max it out by level 7. Unstable Concoction at levels 2 and 4 gives you a certain amount of protection in the laning phase against dives and will also allow you to contribute at least something to early engagements.
Always get Chemical Rage (levels 6, 11 and 16), and don’t be afraid to pop it in the lane just to regenerate your health if you’ve been brought down fairly low. The mana regen you get during the ultimate actually means it pays for itself in terms of mana and then some, so the only downside is that it’ll be on cooldown for 45 seconds.
If you do get dived early on, pop your ultimate and seek the protection of your tower; the huge health regen from Chemical Rage will mean you live through all but the largest amounts of burst damage and the tower hits will punish them for waiting your ultimate out.
Max Unstable Concoction second for the additional damage and lockdown, and then finally Acid Spray, which will give you some AoE push/anti-push and a large amount of AoE minus armour in teamfights.
Battle Build
The second build for carry Alchemist is the ‘Battle Build’. It’s actually the same build support Alchemist uses. The upside is you contribute so much more to early teamfights, become a potent ganker, and don’t just leave your team to 4v5 for the first 25 minutes. The downside is you won’t be getting the bonus gold from Greevil’s Greed until level 10, so during the laning phase you’ll have to make do with farm like an ordinary carry.
You skill and max Unstable Concoction first for the bonus damage and lockdown it provides, and max Acid Spray second, for the AoE minus armour and damage over time.
| Tip: Throw out Acid Spray onto enemies before you stun them with Concoction – Concoction’s damage is actually physical, so the minus armour from Acid Spray will make it hurt enemies that much more. |
As with the Greevil’s Greed-centric build always get Chemical Rage whenever you can (levels 6, 11 and 16). This steroid ability is what makes you a DPS’er, so use it during teamfights to pound on enemies whilst regenerating your health insanely quickly. Finally you max Greevil's Greed last.
Support Alchemist
When should you go support Alchemist? When the safe lane is taken by a carry and there’s a more suitable mid-laner in your line-up (or the match-up at mid would be strongly in the enemy hero’s favour).
…Or when you’re bored of playing carry Alchemist and fancy playing the fun support build instead!
Item Build
You’re playing as a support, so act like one. Make sure your team has both a Courier and a set of Observer Wards at the start. Often you can split the cost between yourself and another support, but if not then you need to buy both.
After that, for starting items you want to get plenty of regen: a set of Tangos, a Healing Salve, and a Clarity. If someone else on your team bought Wards or Courier at the start then you can grab a couple of Iron Branches and an extra Clarity.
Early Game Core
Observer Wards are core whenever they’re off cooldown, naturally. Make sure the Courier is upgraded into a Flying Courier when it comes off cooldown at the 3 minute mark.
Grab some basic Boots of Speed as soon as possible, and upgrade any Iron Branches you may have into a Magic Wand. Your first ‘major’ support item is a Medallion. Medallion is 100% core on support Alchemist and here’s why:
Unstable Concoction is you main ganking/lockdown skill. It is the reason you can function as a support in the first place, being one of the most potent stuns in the game. Concoction doesn’t just stun, it deals quite a lot of damage (360 at level 4), and this damage is physical. That fact is crucial. You can burn through enemy armour by first casting Acid Spray on the enemy (-3 to -6 armour) and Medallion on top of that (-6 armour) before you land your stun. If you pull it off successfully you’re almost certainly dealing pure damage on top of a 4 second stun.
Mid Game Core
Wards (again).
You can upgrade your basic Boots of Speed into Power Treads at this stage if you want. The main reason you should get Power Treads instead of Phase Boots is that you first ‘big ticket’ support item will be a mobility item, so you don’t need the bonus move speed that Phase Boots give you in order to gank and actually land your stun before it blows up in your face.
Blink Dagger is your core big ticket pick up. It will allow you to charge up and land Unstable Concoction virtually every time. One of the major downsides of support Alchemist is that he can struggle to get off a full duration Concoction because he will telegraph its charge to enemies, giving them chance to get out of cast range and causing you to stun yourself. Blink Dagger allows you to prevent this from happening because of the superb positioning power it will grant you.
The downside of Blink Dagger is that it is one dimensional and largely offensive, it also does little to directly benefit your team beyond you being able to land your stun. For these reasons a Force Staff can be picked up instead of a Blink Dagger if you prefer. The positioning capability of Force Staff is inferior, so your stuns won’t be quite as easy to land, but it can be used defensively to get yourself and/or teammates out of trouble.
Luxury Items
Wards (yes, really).
At this stage you have your core – your team has a Flying Courier, you have Observer Wards, a Magic Wand, Power Treads, Medallion, and a mobility item. Now you can pick your luxury item(s). Great options on support Alchemist include:
Mekanism – You may need to buy this ahead of a mobility item if your team desperately needs it and/or the other support player on your team is not building into it. Good stats, good armour, an armour and health regen aura, and 250 burst heal for your entire team. It’s the primary support item in the game for good reason.
Drums of Endurance – Great all-round stats to help tank you up, cost-efficient, easy to build into, and gives your entire team bonus attack speed and move speed auras. Always a good luxury item on supports.
Pipe of Insight – A very expensive item for a support, and not an ideal pick-up if you bought the team’s Mekanism (having both on one hero is very risky), but always a good item to have if the enemy team has any magic damage (which they almost certainly will). You probably won’t be able to afford it though in most games.
Vladmir’s Offering – Your entire team will benefit from the bonus damage, mana regeneration, and armour auras. It’s doubly good if any of your team’s core heroes are melee DPS’ers thanks to the lifesteal aura.
Ghost Scepter – 4 seconds of physical immunity will feel like a lifetime to the enemy carry. It will buy both yourself and your team a lot of time. Always a good pick-up if you find yourself dying quickly to right clicks.
Black King Bar – On the other side of the coin is BKB, which will give you Spell Immunity, protecting you from spell casters and stuns. It will make you a lot more tanky as well.
Heaven’s Halberd – I love picking this up on non-traditional supports like Alchemist or Naga Siren. At this stage of the game you’re actually becoming difficult to deal with yourself and transitioning into a semi-carry. Heaven’s Halberd will make you even harder to take down and also gives you the ability to disarm enemies for 3-4.5 seconds.
Necronomicon – Great if you’re part of a pushing line-up or your team is struggling to break the base. Also a great item for teamfights and for countering any invis enemy heroes.
Situational Items
Sentry Wards, Dust of Appearance, Gem of True Sight – all-important detection. You’ll need at least one of these in your inventory if the enemy line-up features an invis hero. Sentry Wards will also allow you to deward rune spots, and Gem will give you superior vision going into the mid and late game.
Smoke of Deceit – If you roam with another support in the early stages of the game a Smoke will allow you to do so more quickly and without being spotted by enemy wards. Smoke will also come in handy in the post-laning phase if your team wants to gank as 5.
Skill Build
Support Alchemist’s skill build is similar to that of the Battle Build for a carry Alchemist. You want to skill and max Unstable Concoction first for the bonus damage and lockdown it provides, and max Acid Spray second, for the AoE minus armour and damage over time.
As noted earlier in the guide, you should throw out Acid Spray onto enemies before you stun them with Concoction because Concoction’s damage is actually physical, so the minus armour from Acid Spray will make it hurt enemies that much more.
With these two skills used in conjunction you become a very dangerous roaming support and give your team a lot of utility in teamfights.
Always get Chemical Rage whenever you can (levels 6, 11 and 16). On a carry Alchemist it’s a steroid ability that makes him a fearsome DPS’er, but on support Alchemist it makes you ridiculously tanky for a support hero, forcing the enemy team to either waste time focussing on a lowly, but very tank support, or ignoring you and your damage output. It also allows you to regenerate your health quickly, and gives you bonus mana regeneration so you can use it ‘for free’.
You max Greevil’s Greed last, but you do get it ahead of stats. Towards the mid-game support Alchemist can transition into a semi-carry and Greevil’s Greed accelerates his ability to do so.
General Gameplay Tips
Concoction doesn’t just stun, it deals quite a lot of damage (360 at level 4), and this damage is physical. That fact is crucial, as explained earlier in the guide. You can burn through enemy armour by first casting Acid Spray on the enemy (-4 to -7 armour) before you land your stun. If you pull it off successfully you’re going to deal a lot more damage on top of a 4 second stun.
| Tip: You can actually use Unstable Concoction to deny yourself if you know you have no chance of surviving. |
| Tip: You can start charging Unstable Concoction and then TP to one of your towers to hit a diving enemy with a fully charged Concoction. |
Acid Spray deals quite considerable damage over time – lay it down in front of your tower/base when the enemy team is pushing, or on top of/slightly behind the enemy tower if your are pushing them.
| Tip: Always cast Acid Spray in teamfights if only to apply the minus armour debuff to enemy heroes in the AoE. |
Chemical Rage pays for its mana cost itself over the course of its duration (75/187.5/300 mana is regenerated in total), so feel free to cast it to regenerate your health when necessary without worrying about losing mana, but avoid teamfighting without Chemical Rage.
| Tip: You can dodge spells and auto attacks by activating Chemical Rage at the right time; during the 0.35 transformation time you dodge attacks. |
Last updated - patch 6.83.
