Alchemist/Guide

Carry
Alchemist is usually played as a carry. This build requires him to level, thus allowing him to quickly farm key items like or. is also leveled early to aid in clearing creep waves, especially if Alchemist goes solo in lane. A successful player aims to overwhelm the opposing team during the mid game, when makes Alchemist extremely hard to kill.

Support
Alchemist is sometimes played as a support. This build requires him throw out stuns with, and zone out enemies with. A support Alchemist is expected to purchase wards. Due to the extra gold from, support Alchemists can still transition into damage dealers in the late game. Some players may opt to farm an for their teammates, but this is not a common strategy.

General

 * Alchemist is a fairly heavy carry, but may still have trouble dealing with other hard carries, such as.


 * Use Acid Spray to farm in lane if your opponents are harassing you heavily.
 * Acid Spray is useful in farming creeps. Ask a support to stack camps for you.
 * It is possible for Alchemist to farm ancient creeps safely early on with Acid Spray. Combined with Greevil's Greed, this can give Alchemist incredible amounts of gold over time. It is not uncommon to have have expensive items like or  by 14 minutes with this strategy.
 * Acid Spray can also be used to stack creeps from a distance. Using it on creeps will cause them to automatically pursue Alchemist, and therefore move away from the camp.
 * Use Acid Spray to dissuade enemies from defending their towers, or pushing into yours.
 * If playing mid, use Acid Spray to push the wave before you pick up the rune every two minutes.


 * One point in Unstable Concoction is usually enough until other abilities have been leveled.
 * Smart opponents can 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.
 * Enemies will attempt to disable Alchemist while Unstable Concoction is brewing, preventing him from throwing it and causing him to suffer a long stun in addition to the first enemy disable. Try to stay out of reach until you are ready to throw Unstable Concoction.
 * Fully brewed, Unstable Concoction is one of the most potent stuns in the game, in both damage and stun duration. The enemy is able to see your timer. 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 ability is most devastating to low armor heroes that almost take its full damage upon impact, especially if they are softened up by Acid Spray.
 * If you are in a tight spot and have no way to escape with low health, Unstable Concoction can be used to deny yourself.
 * It may not be a good idea to charge Unstable Concoction if you believe you are about to lose vision of an enemy (such as when chasing through trees), as you could end up stunning yourself.
 * Begin charging Unstable Concoction before using or  to take enemies by surprise.
 * Unstable Concoction can be used to deny yourself. If you find yourself in a sticky situation with Chemical Rage on cooldown and no means of escape, you can channel this spell in the hopes of denying yourself.


 * An early point significantly increases Alchemist's gold income.
 * Putting your first skill point into it can gain you a 200 gold advantage if your team can secure the on your side of the map. You may even be able to double it if you can get both Bounty Runes on your side of the map.
 * If you are feeling particularly lucky or daring, you can try to steal the Bounty Runes on your opponent's end before claiming the runes on your side of the map.
 * Don't be to quick to learn this skill immediately when the match starts. You should invest the your first point into this skill only if you can guarantee that you will claim the rune, as if your teammates or opponents happen to steal it from you, you will be at a severe disadvantage during the early laning stages, as Alchemist's melee range, poor damage and attack speed makes it difficult for him to last-hit effectively.


 * Chemical Rage disjoints projectiles, but can be difficult to time properly.
 * Feel free to use Chemical Rage for its healing effects; it even regenerates its own mana cost over the duration, and even more if you have percentage bonuses for mana regeneration from items like or.
 * When Chemical Rage is on cooldown, Alchemist is extremely squishy due to his poor strength gain and low armor.
 * Chemical Rage is the strongest single target DPS booster in the game (giving a 70% boost in DPS at level 3). This means that Alchemist scales very strongly with attack damage boosting items, however at the same time Alchemist does very little damage without such items. This means if Alchemist is going to contribute into team battles down the road, it is imperative to get yourself some attack damage.
 * It is important to understand that the Base Attack Time change of Chemical Rage does not alter the value of attack speed, either up or down. You still want to have a good mix of items that give attack speed and damage.

Items
Starting:
 * es and a, along with a allow Alchemist to take a bit of damage while going for last hits.
 * es are very cheap and give small attribute bonuses.

Early-game:
 * give a nice movement speed boost.
 * gives Alchemist's low starting armor a nice little boost.
 * gives some armor and health regeneration. It builds into.

Core:
 * gives a damage boost and the phase active works well with Chemical Rage movement speed bonus to chase opponents.
 * is useful on Alchemist because Chemical Rage health regeneration counters the item's health draining effect.

Situational:
 * allows Alchemist to farm anything in no time, also you can farm it within 6 minutes with Battle Fury you can get Aghanim's Scepter for all your team.
 * allows Alchemist to be uninterrupted in his attacks.
 * is a good pickup since Alchemist can get it very quickly with Greevil's Greed, when the burn damage hurts the most. It can also deal heavy damage to the enemy team, as Alchemist can stay alive for prolonged periods with Chemical Rage.
 * lowers enemies' armor, which stacks with the armor reduction from Acid Spray. It also provides a useful aura to the rest of your team.
 * provides a useful aura and uses a as one of its components.
 * forces enemies to think twice about fighting back against Alchemist.
 * is excellent for sieging buildings, and also provides Alchemist with a much needed disjoint mechanism.
 * increases Alchemist's attack speed greatly, and also gives a useful Static Charge to protect Alchemist or his teammates. Its lightning attack will also trigger often under Chemical Rage.
 * goes well with Alchemist's high attack speed, and helps greatly in securing an enemy. It also gives bonus attack damage and greater survivability providing bonus HP and blocking damage from incoming attacks.
 * gives some strength and evasion, and also gives the ability to disarm a threatening enemy.
 * gives Alchemist a massive amount of health. Combined with the health regeneration from Chemical Rage, Alchemist is extremely hard to take down.
 * is a valid alternative for Ring of Basilius, helping add both armor and mana regen, as well as increasing damage dealt by physical attacks and spells as well.
 * allows Alchemist to further reduce the armor of his enemies, makes it easier to fight them with his Ultimate, and allows him to further support allies.
 * grants Alchemist invisibility to brew up his Unstable Concoction. He can break the invisibility by attacking the enemy for additional bonus damage and at the same time launch his concoction.
 * is a natural upgrade to, and as such it should be purchased as an upgrade after Shadow Blade itself.
 * serves as a cheap, permanent upgrade to Alchemist without using any inventory slots.