Talk:Alchemy

The very first thing I'd like to say is that Alchemy takes a massive amount of time, simply because you need to gather all the materials. The amount of time increases as your Alchemy level rises and you start requiring the higher level herbs. So remember: If you want to seriously raise your alchemy (to the point where it will be useful to you in higher levels) be prepared to dedicate a lot of time to it.

Well, now that that has been said, let me outline the structure of this guide. You can also just Ctrl+F to skip to a specific portion if you're using it for reference.

1) Starting Off 2) Alchemy Recipes

2a) NPC   2b) Drop Only

3) Materials Required

3a) Primary   3b) Secondary 3c) Combine Runes

4) General Material Locations

4a) Primary   4b) Secondary 4c) Combine Runes

1) To start off your Alchemy, you'll need to learn how to gather the herbs and ores necessary in making potions. To learn how to gather herbs, talk to Alice [Herbalism Instructor] in Pioneer Colony. She can be found near the western exit of the Colony, heading to the Pioneer's Mine. Before passing the fence, look to your left, and there she'll be. From there, talk to her and say that you would like to learn Herbalism. You will receive your very first refinement recipe, Mountain Poplar Bundle. With that, you can bring the Mountain Poplar that you gather to a set of Alchemy Tools, and refine them into useful bundles (which are then used for pots). To refine, press K, and look at the skill listing under your very first tab. You will see now that you have a skill called Extraction. Click on it. There you will see in the left hand pane your first recipe! Refining is simple from there. Just be sure that you are near the Alchemy Tools, and, after setting the number of bundles to make, click Craft.

After you've talked to Alice, head further west until you see more NPCs. There you will find the Mining Instructor. Undertake the same routine you took with Alice, and he will teach you Mining and give you a recipe for refining Brass Ores.

To learn the Alchemy craft, talk to Hinhus [Alchemy Instructor]. He can be found at the Western most part of Logar. Look for the set of Alchemy Tools (most notably a large green bottle). Talk to him and tell him you want to learn Alchemy, and he will give you a recipe to make health potions. Now, under your Normal Skills tab, you will have Alchemy. Again, click on it to open your Alchemy production window.

Now you're all set to begin making potions! So gather your herbs, gather your ores, and make some potions!

Note: Some times, you will fail to make a potion. Don't worry. The materials aren't wasted by the failed production. Just simply attempt to produce the potion again.

2) As you level your Alchemy, you will be able learn recipes which enable you to make new potions every odd level. For example, you will be able to learn a new NPC sold recipe at 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. I highly recommend that you learn these new recipes, as producing higher level potions generally give more experience towards your Alchemy level. There are two types of recipes, which I will cover in the next two sections.

2a) NPC recipes are recipes that can be bought from any Alchemy Instructor. The level of recipes that they will have will vary from Instructor to Instructor. Instructors in lower level areas will carry lower level recipes. On the other hand, Instructors in high level areas will carry high level recipes. These are convenient in that you can expect to be able to buy a new recipe when you level, enabling you to level your Alchemy more efficiently.

2b) Drop only recipes are recipes that ONLY drop from monsters. As such, they give better effects than that of NPC recipes. However, these recipes are different in that the materials that they require are much more demanding. For example, the NPC recipe for a mana potion requires 3 Poplar Bundles. On the other hand, the drop only recipe for a mana potion requires 3 Poplar SAP. The production of sap requires 6 Bundles (or 12 poplar). In simple terms, NPC recipe requires 6 Poplar. Drop only requires 36. In addition, these drop only recipes require a secondary herb, which cannot be found as often as primary herbs. I will discuss this issue in section 3. As a whole, if your aim is to level your alchemy, then stay away from using these recipes. Time wise, it is very inefficient. In terms of usefulness...well, I will leave that up to you.

3) There are two types of herbs, Primary, and Secondary.

3a) Primary herbs are always a requirement in a recipe, whether it be NPC or Drop Only. These are the most common ones that you'll see. To see a list of Primary Herbs, look at section 6.

3b) Secondary herbs are the hard-to-find herbs. These are only called upon by drop only recipes. At no other time will you need them for Alchemy in NPC recipes. Luckily, drop only recipes only demand a very small number of these herbs, generally 2 herbs (unrefined) per production.

3c) At higher levels of Alchemy, you will find that you begin needing Combine runes for all your recipes. If I remember right, this begins at the recipe you learn at 11. Now, Combine runes are a bit of a problem. The drop rate is somewhat low, unlike Link runes which can be found in abundance. Very few mobs drop these. If you really want to progress, you have 3 options: 1] Buy them off of players 2] Make alts and farm the mobs that do drop them until your level is too high. 3] Level your primary character to be able to farm the higher level mobs which do drop combine runes (they can drop more than one at a time). At beginning levels, you will usually find that your Alchemy leveling is only slowed down by this requirement. I can only offer you good luck in getting these runes, although, look at section 4c to see what mobs drop Combine runes (as far as I know).

4) General Material Locations: This is a very rough guide on where to find nearly all the in-game herbs. I realize that my directions may not be entirely accurate, simply due to the limited space I have in posting, and in the limitations of language.

4a)Primary Herbs (in Ascending order)

Mountain Poplar can be found in abundance south of Logar, that region in its entirety. Also, Poplar can be found in the Sevaida Woods, west of Logar.

Wild Berries can be found North of Logar, throughout the entire region, before the Silverspring area.

Bitterleaf can be found north of Silverspring, most notably around the Tagena area. They can be continued to be found west of Tagena until you reach the end of the Qilana Camp (up to the river).

Moxa can be found all throughout the Aslan area, west of the river, up until the Distillery and New Moon Forest.

Dusk Orchids can be found in the area surrounding the New Moon Camp and Distillery, and further south into the Ystra Highlands, ending at Frostwood valley on the south side, and the Harf Trading Post on the western side.

Barsaroot can be found in the general area of Frostwood Valley and the Sea of Snow.

Moon Orchids can be found West of Harf's Trading Post, up north into Dust Devil Canyon's Qilara Plateau.

Sinner's Palm (shown in-game as Sin Cactus) can be found west of the Obsidian Order Garrison, and up north to Hawk's Cliff.

Dragon Mallow can be found inside the Cyclops instance.

4b) Secondary Herbs (in Ascending order)

Rosemary can be found all throughout the Howling Mountains.

Bison Grass (shown in-game as Aromatic Grass) can be found all throughout Silverspring.

Foloin Nuts can be found all throughout Aslan and the north easter most parts of Ystra Highland.

Green Thistle can be found in the southernmost points of Silverspring (very hard to find though) and throughout the Ystra Highlands, up until Qilar's Watchtower.

Straw Mushroom (shown in-game as Rotting Mushroom) can be found West of Qilar's Watchtower. Of all the secondary herbs, this is proving to be the hardest to find.

4c) Combine runes can be found off the spiders in the Sevaida Woods (West of Logar, Howling Mountains), Zurhidon Mages (Zurhidon Camp, Silverspring), Mummified Man, Female Withered Souls, and Yeda Witch Doctors.