Alchemy
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 Alchemy (Profession)
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| Ingredients · Quests · Recipes · Trainers · Economical Training |
- For lore on the alchemy profession, see Alchemist.
Alchemy is a primary profession that is useful to all character classes. Melee fighters can use alchemy to create buff and healing potions. Spell casting classes can use alchemy to create mana potions and related buffs. Players can create potions, sell them to others, or give them to their party members and friends. Alchemists are well loved when they hand out potions.
The alchemist mixes herbs found by Herbalism and reagents in order to generate elixirs, potions, oils, flasks and cauldrons with a variety of effects. A player can create healing, invisibility, elemental resistance, and mana potions; oils to coat weapons; and much more.
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Alchemy training
| Alchemy recipes | |
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| By skill |
Apprentice |
| By type |
Transmutations |
| Proficiency | Level | Skill |
|---|---|---|
| Apprentice | 5 | 1 - 75 |
| Journeyman | 10 | 50 - 150 |
| Expert | 20 | 125 - 225 |
| Artisan | 35 | 200 - 300 |
 Master |
50 | 275 - 375 |
 Grand Master |
65 | 350 - 450 |
 Illustrious Grand Master |
75 | 425 - 525 |
All Potions, Elixirs and Flasks will require a 
[Crystal Vial], which can be purchased from any trade goods or Alchemy vendor. Prior to Patch 4.0.1, there were five types of vials: Empty, previously used to create lower-level potions; Leaded, used to create mid-level potions; and Crystal, Imbued, or Enchanted Vials, used to create higher-level potions and flasks. Following the Cataclysm, all non-Crystal vials were converted to poor quality Shattered Vials.
Herbalism is not technically required, but is highly recommended as nearly every alchemy recipe requires Herbs to make, and herbalism can alleviate most of the cost of leveling up. Also, the wide variety of different herbs makes it difficult to simply purchase what you need from other players, because many potions will require more than one type of herb to make, and the herbs are often very expensive.
- Herbalism - You probably can't afford to buy all your herbs at the Auction House, so you might as well harvest them yourself.
- Enchanting - Not as good a second choice as Herbalism, but nice if you want to be a one stop item and buff shop.
Transmutation
High-level alchemists can also perform transmutations on gems, elemental materials, and some metals for use with other tradeskills. Arcanite, which is used in pre-TBC Blacksmithing recipes, cannot be mined – it can only be transmuted from 
[Arcane Crystal], which is derived from Thorium. Similarly, 
[Truegold] has no other source than alchemy. Many other transmutations are possible; see recipe lists.
Before an alchemist can perform any transmutations, he or she must create a 
[Philosopher's Stone]. This stone must be in the inventory or equipped to perform any transmutations, and it is not consumed when a transmutation is done. Making multiple Philosopher's Stones will not reduce the cooldown time. Philosopher's Stones are Soulbound and cannot be disenchanted, so it is not advised to create more than one.
Higher level alchemists can replace their Philosopher's Stone with any Alchemist's Stone, including the 
[Lifebound Alchemist Stone] introduced with Cataclysm.
Some transmutations have a cooldown. This cooldown is shared across any transmutation that requires a cooldown. The cooldown resets at 00:00 time on the server each day. So, a transmute performed at 23:00 server time will prevent any other transmutes requiring a cooldown from taking place for one hour, but a transmute performed at 08:00 server time will prevent cooldown-required transmutes for 16 hours.
(Previously, alchemy cooldowns required 24 hours and later 20 hours, but switched to a midnight reset system as of patch 4.0.1.)
For specific details on how elementals, gems, and ore can be transmuted, see Transmute.
Discoveries
[Super Rejuvenation Potion].Discovery is a mechanic used to learn certain alchemy and inscription recipes. You have a small chance every time you perform a transmutation or when you make a potion, elixir, or flask that was introduced in The Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King. The recipe is learned automatically.
Alchemy specializations
Once you reach an Alchemy skill of 475 and level 80, you may begin a quest to learn one of three specializations:
- Potion Master
- Elixir Master (Flasks also benefit from Elixir Mastery)
- Transmutation Master
Specializing gives you a chance to create an extra 1 to 4 (for a total of 5) items while crafting in the field you have selected. For example, a Master of Potions may be able to craft more than one [Super Mana Potion] for the same material cost as one. For more details on the probability, see below.
Note: It is sufficient to learn one of the three specializations and change to another one. It is usually a lot easier (and cheaper) to learn Potion Master and then change to the specialization you want. For how to do this, see the next section.
Changing specializations
To change a specialization in alchemy, you need to:
- First unlearn your current specialization.
- And then select a new specialization.
To unlearn a specialization, open your spellbook and click the small red icon next to your specialization icon. Much in the same way your unlearn a profession (the icon is next to your specialization, not left of your skill level bar.
Once unlearned, alchemy trainers in major cities will offer you a choice of three quests, one for each specialization. The quests involve bringing rare materials to a alchemy trainer. eg.: 4 Truegold for Transmutation Mastery.
The specialization NPCs are:
Note: You can change the specialization as often as you want.
Percentage explanation attempt
While the exact percentage of the specialization proc is unknown, people have speculated that this ability can happen as often as 10-25% of the time. A frequently cited figure in the official World of Warcraft Professions Forums is 15% [citation needed].
One theory is that each extra item created also has a 15% chance to create its own extra item. Probability in this type of case is multiplicative and luckily analytical – we do not have to do a Monte-Carlo analysis to determine the probability. It works the same way as the probability of flipping N number of heads in a row with a coin. The chance of flipping 1 head is 50% or a 0.5 probability. The chance of flipping 2 heads in a row is 0.5 *0.5 or .25 or 25%. The chance of flipping 3 heads in a row is 0.25 *0.5 or 0.125 or 12.5%
So, if the 15% assumption is correct, when creating an item, you have approximately a 15% chance of creating exactly two items instead of one, a (0.15*0.15) or 2.25% chance to create three items instead of one, a (0.15*0.15*0.15) or 0.3375% chance of creating four items instead of one, and a (0.15*0.15*0.15*0.15) or 0.050625% chance of creating exactly five items instead of one.
Abilities gained
Sufficiently skilled alchemists gain the passive 
[Mixology] ability.
Items only usable by alchemists
Artisan
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Master
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Grand Master
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Illustrious Grand Master
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Patch changes
- Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Alchemy recipes now require Crystal Vials. Deathwing broke all the others because he's mean (or because he didn't want alchemists to carry 5 different vials around with them).
- Patch 1.8.0 (2005-10-10): Expert Alchemy requires 125 skill now instead of 100 skill.
See also
External links
- For leveling guides please visit Tradeskill leveling guides
Professions Forum BC Alchemy FAQ
Crafter's Tome Crafting Recipes
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