The Alchemist Guild is a special guild.  The Alchemists are the masters of
the
Elements.  Members can fight from the middle row with their thundersticks,
demonstrating deadly accuracy, while blasting foes with raw elemental
power.
Alchemist is also a service guild, which provides services, such as
enchantments
and imbuing equipment with the power of the elements, which can earn you
much
needed gold for later. For flavor purposes, advanced Alchemists can put
together
golems for castle defense.
 
Before training any spells or skills, the first thing that a newbie
Alchemist
should do is explore.  Exploring cities and areas, but not outerworld maps,
or
the places on a world between areas, gives experience for the first time
you go
through them.  If you have questions about how something in Alchemist
works, feel
free to ask over the alchemist channel or, if there are no other alchemists
on,
the mentor channel (help mentor).  The newbie guide (help guide, help
newbie
advantages) can be very helpful in answering general questions and other
functions.
 
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|Levels  1-7|
-------------
 
Highly Recommended Skills-
Blasting (level 1) - Determines ability to hit with your thunderstick, the
signature weapon of the Alchemist.  (Who else would use a tube filled with
explosive powder and slugs as a weapon?)
Targetting (level 1) - Allows you to choose who you're aiming your
thunderstick
at.  Don't aim at yourself!
Smother Fire (level 2) - Allows you to extinguish raging fires with ease. 
Very
important to have at the ready in case of a fire spell/skill fumble once
you are
no longer a newbie!
Slugmaking (level 3) - Creates ammunition for your thunderstick, requires
mineral
components.
Thuderstick (level 3) - Influences damage done by your thunderstick.
Strengthen Armor (level 4) - Not usually asked for, but very useful.  Adds
protection value to bulk 2 (somewhat bulky) or higher armors (reducing the
damage
the wearer takes).
Geology (level 5) - Find mineral components in outerworld rooms.
Botany (level 5) - Find plant components in outerworld rooms.
Glass Blowing (level 6) - Create spheres (for holding fundamentals, the
prime
components of some of your spells), bottles (for potions) or vials. 
Requires a
sandbag with sand remaining and a glassblowing kit.
Zapping (level 6) - This allows you to use wands either found on creatures
in the
wild or made by fellow players.  Extremely useful for versatility, allowing
an
alchemist to cast any hermetic spell up to level 14.
 
Highly Recommended Spells-
Magic Missile (level 2) - Your first attack spell.  It's not very powerful,
but
it's quick.
Preserve Corpse (level 4) - Not extremely useful early on, but required for
others to craft items and for the construction of castle golems.
Feather Weight (level 7) - Reduces the weight of items, making them MUCH
easier
to carry.
 
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|Levels 8-10|
-------------
These levels are where the Alchemist gets their first tastes of true
freedom and
creativity.  Potion making and playing with the fundamentals, fundamental
parts
of the elements, starts here.
 
Highly Recommended Skills-
Fire Building (level 8) - Adds light, and a small amount of regeneration
value to
the room.  Great for those times when the group is healing up after a
fight.
Will also help you capture fire fundamentals.
Create Minor Potion (level 9) - The name says it all.  The potions you get
from
this skill can be donated to gain much needed guild dues, without which,
advancing to the higher levels is not possible.  Use of this skill requires
a
bottle (from the glassblowing skill), a glass distillation column, a bag of
herbs, and a fundamental, to bind the magic.
Enhance Fundamental (level 10): This lets you charge up your fundamental
for more
uses, allowing you to skip needing to create more fundamentals if you spend
a
little time preparing before using them.  VERY IMPORTANT.
 
Highly Recommended Spells-
Disenchant Item (level 8) - Not useful early, but once you're able to
enchant
equipment, this allows you to fix any errors you make while working on
them.
Capture Fundamental (level 9) - Catches one of the 8 fundamentals
(Lightning,
Ice, Flame, Stone, Void, Cloud, Sulfur, Rust).  TIP: To capture
fundamentals, go
where that element dominates, IE. mid-air for air, a cave/cavern for earth,
a
lake/river/stream for water, and a campfire for fire.  Requires a glass
sphere
(from the glassblowing skill).
Emit (level 9) - Adds light/dark value to a piece of equipment.  Great for
moving
the light value of a room to levels where you can see.
Flight (level 10) - Allows for magical flight.  Castable on others.  Some
exploration will require the ability to fly.
Fundamental Travel (level 10) - This spell will take you to a random spot
in the
outerworld on the world associated with the fundamental used in the
casting.
This could leave you up in the air, literally, so be sure to be flying
before
casting this spell.
 
--------------
|Levels 11-15|
--------------
Now the Alchemist starts showing more of their true power, mastery of the
elements and potion making.
 
Highly Recommended Skills-
Elementalize Ammo (level 11) - Enables ammunition to do damage types other
than
pure physical. Extremely handy for letting ranged combatants strike
weaknesses.
Mix Fundamentals (level 12) - Combine fundamentals to create secondary
fundamentals.  Requires 2 fundamentals and an empty sphere.
Deadeye (level 13) - Increase your chance for a critical strike next turn
when
attacking with a ranged weapon.  Quite strong!
Create Major Potion (level 14) - Offline for reworking.  Train it to
freemax, no
higher.
Quick Chant (level 15) - Decreases casting time on your spells. A MUST
TRAIN!
Straw Golem (level 15) - Creates a pet out of plants that will take hits
for you,
hit your foes, and let you use ranged combat while alone.  Very handy for
soloing!
 
Highly Recommended Spells-
Elementalize (level 13) - Adds resistance to a piece of armor, or changes
damage
type on a melee weapon.  Requires 1 fundamental charge associated with
resistance/damage type and 1 earth fundamental charge (to bind the
elemental
energy)
Flame Arrow (level 13) - Attack spell, sending a bolt of flame at your
enemy.
Enchant Armor (level 14) - This adds up to +4 of a stat of your choosing,
per
slot on the armor. Slightly more for health regen, less for endurance point
regen
Enchant Weapon (level 14) - This adds up to +5 of a stat of your choosing
to the
weapon.
Recharge (level 14) - This adds more charges to a wand, but can shatter it.
Very
handy if you have a wand with a useful spell in it that you want to keep
using.
Major Electrical Resistance (level 15) - This spell grants the target 50%
resistance to electric damage, extremely important for fights that deal it.
 
--------------
|Levels 16-20|
--------------
The alchemist can finally bring forth their full power in the final steps
of
their training.
 
Vital skills-
Enhance Targetting (level 16): This allows your ranged combat criticals to
deal
much, much more damage.  Max this as soon as possible if you wish to use
any
sort of ranged implements.
Sniping (level 18): A very handy combat starter to use when soloing, it
allows
you to get a lot of shots in on a foe before they can hurt you or your
golem
companion!
Marksmanship (level 18): This skill increases the accuracy of your shots
with
ranged weapons, very handy if you find your slugs just aren't reaching the
mark.
Stone Golem (level 20: Make a tanking pet even stronger than a Straw Golem
out of
minerals. Very useful even in parties for the extra damage it brings.
 
Important Spells-
Major Acid/Fire/Cold Resistance (levels 16/17/18) These give 50% resistance
to
the respective element to the target, vital for any fight that inflicts
such
damage.
Repair Construct (level 16): Golem taking a beating?  Fix it up with this
spell
and get back in the action.  Also works on Construct-type players!
Sensitize (level 17): Foe doesn't have a weakness for you to hit?  Give it
one!
You can only inflict one vulnerability on any target and it does not
expire.
Make sure you coordinate with the party to make sure you help everyone's
overall
damage.
Protect Construct (level 17): 50% physical damage reduction to your golem
pets
AND to any construct-type players.  Amazingly handy spell, especially if
you are
with a construct tank like a Xodar.
Summon Minions (level 18): Cast this if you lose track of your golem and it
will
summon it to you from anywhere in the Retroverse.
Elemental Burst (level 19): Throw a fundamental-grenade at your foes to
deal
damage of your choice to all targets in the room.  Very helpful spell when
there's many foes you need dead now.
Elemental Ray (level 19): By focusing on an elemental, fire a beam of that
type
at your enemy to deal some solid single-target damage. Very versatile.
Greater Identify (level 20): This lets you know how powerful a piece of
equipment
can be.  If one offers up experience to power up the spell, it will give
exact
details to you.
 
Situational Spells-
Create Rack (level 16): Allows you to make a rack to hold specified objects
over
reboot inside a castle.  Very handy for stockpiling ammo ahead of time,
this
will allow you to refill ammo on the go and speed up your versatility in a
party.
Hardening (level 19): Lowers incoming damage on equipment.  While the
protection
offered is not as complete as Protect Armor/Protect Weapon, it is helpful
when a
merchant is not available and is preferred by some players since there is
no
gold cost for the spell. Also be sure you train it to max as a fumble can
destroy
the target instantly!
 
---------------------
|Further Suggestions|
---------------------
Guild Pathing (After level 20)-
This is where you start to specialize your alchemist and really create a
unique
character. There are three general paths you will want to look at. First is
the
magical damage route, similar to the path you would walk as a mage. Second
is
the ranged combat expert. Finally you can focus on versatility in all
things and
specialized services. As you become more familiar with the Retroverse you
can
also consider dual-priming with other primary guilds (Merchant,
Necromancer, etc)
or just dipping in for a few levels to get a particular skill you desire.
 
Magical Damage:
Asphyxiamancer: You focus on asphyxiation damage and drowning your enemies.
Corrosionist: You become a master of all things acid.
Cryomancer: You master the ability to freeze foes solid.
Discordian: You focus on chaos magic and random chance.
Electromancer: You focus on mastering electric damage and harnessing
lightning.
Geomancer: You learn the secrets of the earth and master disintegration
damage.
Illusionist: You focus on illusion damage and mastering the hoodwink.
Pyromancer: You become one with the flame and fire damage.
Toximancer: You learn to master poison and all its intricacies.
 
Ranged Combat Expert:
Geomancer: Along with providing a path to magical damage Geomancer also
provides
the ability to specialize with slings.
Sharpshooter: You learn to master the thunderstick, the epitome of
alchemical
weapons.
 
Versatility:
Telemancer: You learn the arts of quickly moving people anywhere in the
Retroverse, extremely useful but also very limited in long term pathing
choices.
Antiquarian, Chovihani, and Enochian: Very specialized and thematic guilds.
These
are rarely taken choices and should be carefully considered before being
chosen.
 
 
Newbie Areas-
Your newbie guide can send you to a newbie area on the world you are on.
While
they are all safe to explore, many can be too tough for a lone alchemist.
Always
feel free to ask on the mentor or retro channels to find people to help you
out.
 
Final Thoughts-
Make use of the mentor channel.  Some players may seem gruff, but there is
almost
always someone helpful listening.  When looking for parties, let people
know
that you are an alchemist, and helping you now may get them improved rates
on
your services when you get powerful enough.