Alchemist

Razzil Darkbrew the Alchemist is a melee strength hero who utilises his alchemical prowess as a strange but versatile fighter. He is an unusual carry based upon transmuting fallen enemies into large amounts of bonus gold, with both an early game and late game presence due to his large health pool and the first strike nature of his spells. His balanced statistics and the sure promise of gold for items means he can be one of the most disparately built heroes in the game.

Unstable Concoction is his main contribution early on, dealing good damage and a lengthy stun. Acid Spray allows him to rapidly clear waves of creeps for his Greevil's Greed to contribute massive amounts of extra income. A well-equipped Alchemist can then use Chemical Rage to its fullest effect, as the incredible regeneration and base attack time reduction make it one of the best steroid abilities in the game.

Tips

 * An early point in Greevil's Greed will significantly increase Alchemist's income.
 * Smart opponents will make it difficult to land Unstable Concoction by juking and avoiding your vision, causing the backfire. It may be better to use it immediately when an enemy reaches the treeline, even if you lose damage and stun duration.
 * Fully brewed, Unstable Concoction is one of the most potent stuns in the game, in both damage and stun duration. While the enemy cannot see your timer, they will still be able to see the "shaking" animation (Alchemist shaking his vials). It is imperative that you either start channeling within range, or channel a few seconds of the concoction from within fog before revealing yourself. This skill is most devastating to low armor support heroes who almost take its full damage upon impact, especially if they are softened up by acid spray.
 * Use Acid Spray to dissuade enemies from defending their towers, or pushing into yours.
 * Feel free to use Chemical Rage for its healing effects; it will even regenerate its own mana cost over the duration, and even more if you have %mp regen from items like Sage's Mask or Perseverance.
 * Avoid skirmishes if your Chemical Rage is on cooldown, especially in the early/mid-game stage when you have few items.
 * If you are in a tight spot and nowhere to run with low HP especially without Town Portal Scroll or Boots of Travel, use Unstable Concoction to commit suicide if possible.
 * Chemical Rage is the strongest DPS booster in the game (giving a 70% boost in DPS at level 3). This means that Alchemist scales very strongly with right-click items, however at the same time Alchemist does very little damage without right-click items. This means if Alchemist is going to contribute into team battles down the road, it is imperative to get yourself some right-click.
 * With Acid Spray it is possible for Alchemist to farm Ancients safely early on. This, combined with Greevil's Greed can (if used efficiently) give Alchemist incredible amounts of gold over time. It is not uncommon to have Radiance or Mjollnir by 14 minutes with this strategy.
 * Beware! Heroes like Lifestealer, Slardar and Dazzle can remove the little armor you have, making you even more vulnerable and easy to kill. This is especially true in the case of Lifestealer, since Feast helps him break you down.
 * Though unlisted, Medallion of Courage is a very good item for Alchemist, helping add both armor and mana regen, as well as increasing damage dealt by him. Built it in place of Ring of Basilius.

Trivia

 * At one point during beta, Alchemist's bio consisted entirely of the following sentence: "Alchemist is named Al and is a chemist. "
 * Alchemist's third skill name remained unchanged from its DotA counterpart until after the Diretide event, when it was changed into "Greevil's Greed."
 * Alchemist has the lowest overall stat growth of any hero in game (+4.8 per level).
 * The Caustic Steel Set may be a reference to the anime Full Metal Alchemist, as the Young Alchemist's Knot and Protection resembles Edward Elric's hair style and armor, and the Ogre's armor looks like Edward's Brother armor, Alphonse.