World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Alchemy is one of the primary professions in World of Warcraft and focuses strongly on brewing potions and using herbs to create some fabulous cocktails. These destructive or curative elixirs can heal, damage, destroy, save, or annoy your allies and enemies in World of Warcraft. Don’t think that Alchemy is all about making snake oil, no no no, as it’s one of the most popular professions in the game thanks to the fact that it’s profitable and easy to use.

So what is Alchemy in World of Warcraft? Well, it’s a profession that allows you to brew potions, elixirs, oils, and flasks along with the ability to transmute certain metals and essences into a more valuable metal or essence. It also provides a huge gain in end game raiding since it’s a primary non-gathering profession. It’s also a huge source of income for many players because potions and the such are consumable, meaning there is always a high demand.

Our guide to Alchemy in World of Warcraft goes over the basics and is a central point for other helpful information, such as leveling alchemy, the best professions to pair with alchemy, and much more.

Important Note: As of patch 4.0.3 Blizzard was very kind to Alchemests and made all recipies require crystal flasks, instead of the various different flasks that once existed.

World of Warcraft Alchemy Guide

Alchemy can create the following items in the game (in most cases):

• Potions: Potions are consumable items that provide an INSTANT buff (such as restoring x amount of health or mana or applying a short duration buff (15 seconds or so)).  They are limited to one use per combat in addition to whatever time they normally have.
• Elixirs: Elixirs are consumable items that provide a MEDIUM-DURATION buff. There are two kinds, GUARDIAN ELIXIRS and BATTLE ELIXIRS. You can only have one of each type up at a certain time and the benefits end when you die.
• Flasks: Flasks are consumable items that provide a LONG-DURATION buff and count as both a guardian and battle elixir. These buffs persist throughout death and usually last for an hour (Alchemists can get a bonus of having one Flask last 2 hours, saving greatly in raiding costs). Flasks can also be obtained through Cauldrons, created by Alchemist, to serve their entire raid.
• Oils: Oils were depreciated a while ago, but still exist and can be sold to lower level players.

In addition, they have a special ability to transmute items from one type to another.

• Transmute: Transmute recipes take one type of material (Metal/Essences/etc.) and turns it into another. For instance, you can transmute a Monarch Topaz and Eternal Shadow into an Ametrine.

Alchemists get a special ability known as “Mixology” that increases the effect and duration of elixirs and flasks. This translates usually into a huge bonus on flasks to bring Alchemy on par to other professions (like Enchanting ring enchants) and double the duration. For instance, in Cataclysm, Mixology adds an additional 80 primary stat to a flask, making it the same as other professions.

It is important to remember that the bonus is only granted if it is a flask or elixir that you can make. As long as you have the recipie you get the bonus, if you don't then you are out of luck. This means you can buy flasks to use and still get the bonus, as long as you know how to make them yourself.

Alchemy Specialization

Alchemy has three different specializations: Master of Elixirs, Master of Potions, and Master of Transmutation. These masteries give you a chance to gain a “proc” which gives you up to five times the original product for the same amount of materials. You can specialize Alchemy with 475 skill points by completing a specific quest granted from your alchemy trainer in any capital city..

You can also change your Alchemy specialization by speaking to any alchemy trainer in a capitol city at a later date and completing the other specializations quest instead.

NOTE: As of Patch 4.3 you may no longer just pay a fee in gold to switch specializations like you used to be able to.

Master of Elixirs

Allows an Alchemist to sometimes create more than one (up to 5) elixirs. Flasks are considered Elixirs for Mastery of Elixirs, making this a very good specialization for any raiding guild Alchemists. For the more casual players who focus on potions or transmutes for cash then this wouldn’t be that great.

To gain a Mastery of Elixirs travel to any capital city and visit your alchemest trainer. There you must hand over several high level elixirs. You must hand in the following to be rewarded with the elixir mastery ability:

• 2x Flask of the Draconic Mind
• 2x Flask of the Winds
• 2x Flask of Steelskin
• 2x Flask of Titanic Strength

Master of Potions

Allows an Alchemist to sometimes create more than one (up to five) potions. This is a great mastery for anyone who brews potions often for PvP or to sell on the auction house. If you find yourself doing elixirs more often for your guild or for the buffs then this wouldn’t be that great of an idea.

To gain a Mastery of Potions travel to any capital city and visit your alchemest trainer. There you must hand over several high level potions. You must hand in the following to be rewarded with the potion mastery ability:

• 6x Mythical Healing Potion
• 6x Mythical Mana Potion
• 2x Potion of Treasure Finding

Master of Transmutation

Allows an Alchemist to get greater results when transmuting which basically means you can get up to five additional items during a transmute. Very useful for those who do transmuting often to take inexpensive metals/essences and turn them into something more profitable.

If you want to gain a Mastery of Transmutation, head to your Alchemy trainer and get the quest to become a transmutation master. To complete it you will have to hand in 4 truegold bars, while these are pretty expensive ranging from 300-600 gold each depending on your server, once you have the ability to create them you can easily sell them off for a profit when you proc creating additional ones.

Leveling an Alchemist

That’s about all you need to know to get started as an Alchemist in World of Warcraft. If you’re looking for more information, be sure to browse the other sections of our guide, or comment below to discuss Alchemy with other members of the community.

Especially check out the leveling guide on how to get from skill point 1 all the way to 525 as fast as possible. You can find it right here: Alchemy Leveling Guide.