Alchemist in Verdanite

[cru121]

I am very slowly leveling through my first alchemist life. It's a caster and I like my temporary HP and speed. For these reasons, I think I would like to stay in Green / Verdanite. However, it seems that I am giving up a lot damage by avoiding red / Crimsonite spells. Here's my experience so far:

1-8 was a struggle. For DPS, I tried using the T3 chemist SLA poison dot, Core 3 apothecary Inflict SLA, and a bunch of level 2 single target conjurations. And I thwacked monsters with my club.

At level 9 I picked up the first level 4 spell, and it seems level 4 has four nice yellow conjurations that deal solid AoE DPS and come with a debuff or CC.
At level 10 comes the second level 4 spell... and Ravenloft gear with a lot of extra spell power.

So here I stand at level 10 right now, feeling actually quite powerful at this point. Finally.

Looking ahead in the DPS department
* there's not much in the Apothecary tree. Spill the Bad Stuff could be decent in theory.
* there are no further DPS non-red spells ahead.

Is it feasible to stay without Red spells and SLAs in late heroics? It feels like I would have to give away tons of DPS for that.

[HungarianRhapsody]

I am very slowly leveling through my first alchemist life. It's a caster and I like my temporary HP and speed. For these reasons, I think I would like to stay in Green / Verdanite. However, it seems that I am giving up a lot damage by avoiding red / Crimsonite spells. Here's my experience so far:

1-8 was a struggle. For DPS, I tried using the T3 chemist SLA poison dot, Core 3 apothecary Inflict SLA, and a bunch of level 2 single target conjurations. And I thwacked monsters with my club.

At level 9 I picked up the first level 4 spell, and it seems level 4 has four nice yellow conjurations that deal solid AoE DPS and come with a debuff or CC.
At level 10 comes the second level 4 spell... and Ravenloft gear with a lot of extra spell power.

So here I stand at level 10 right now, feeling actually quite powerful at this point. Finally.

Looking ahead in the DPS department
* there's not much in the Apothecary tree. Spill the Bad Stuff could be decent in theory.
* there are no further DPS non-red spells ahead.

Is it feasible to stay without Red spells and SLAs in late heroics? It feels like I would have to give away tons of DPS for that.

I go into Verdanite when I want to run fast.

I cast red spells when I want to kill stuff.

Once you're at level 12, you'll wreck stuff like crazy no matter what immunities it has. And you'll still be annoyed that you can't just sit in Green, but those red spells are doing all the work of killing, so just accept that murdering huge numbers of enemies with ease has a cost. And the cost is not getting the Verdanite benefits.

[cru121]

I go into Verdanite when I want to run fast.

I cast red spells when I want to kill stuff.

Once you're at level 12, you'll wreck stuff like crazy no matter what immunities it has. And you'll still be annoyed that you can't just sit in Green, but those red spells are doing all the work of killing, so just accept that murdering huge numbers of enemies with ease has a cost. And the cost is not getting the Verdanite benefits.

Yeah, so my impression was correct. I guess I need to figure out/read about combos for quick reaction swaps. ty

[DrawingGuy]

I go into Verdanite when I want to run fast.

I cast red spells when I want to kill stuff.

Once you're at level 12, you'll wreck stuff like crazy no matter what immunities it has. And you'll still be annoyed that you can't just sit in Green, but those red spells are doing all the work of killing, so just accept that murdering huge numbers of enemies with ease has a cost. And the cost is not getting the Verdanite benefits.

I consider this to be the wrong impression. You go into Verdanite (Green) when you want to CC/Frog things, and Pyrite (Orange) when you want to kill things. The run speed of Verdanite is a convenience buff and is by far overshadowed by reactions. Heck, I stopped even using Verdanite between mob groups unless I know they will be far apart. They even set up a pretty easy and effective cycle: Blue Primer is your default stance when prepping. The simple act of buffing should put you into this. When approaching a mob group Smoke Bomb and unload your CC combo. What that should be depends on the mob group type: Cinder + Flash stunnable groups, Glue Bomb (to keep them grouped on run-up) + Freeze other group types. Obliterate to remove immunities and prime yourself Red > Voltaic to -5 MRR and set yourself Orange and unload your DPS. Comboing in this way improves your CC capabilities (with +5 to DCs for CC in Verdanite reaction) and your killing power and SP efficiency (+130 spell power and -50% SP costs in Pyrite reaction while nuking). It allows me to run full meta magics without needing SP pots (outside of extreme situations of course, but that affects any caster). Makes low-mid reapers cake-walks if you don't ignore your DCs. On higher difficulties you'll likely be staying in Verdanite longer as you can't afford stragglers and will want to Confuse Reapers on run-up, but you should still be able to CC/Frog everything within 10s and then Pyrite and unload.

The only "problem" is in heroics where you are so OP you don't need to bother with combos since everything already dies with a single multi-vial. For those you can either just sit in Pyrite, or if SP is a concern, cycle into Verdanite between mob groups so you burst into Pyrite when you go for a group. Temporarily investing into Condensation for Heroics gives you a yellow you can cast quickened/accelerated for 2 SP (plus gives you 20% conceal for an extra layer of defense when you're not bothering with CC). Vial SLA is only 1 SP. Displace and Sprint Boost make useful breaks into Blue, but Lesser Restoration and Stiffen Skin can make cheap ones if needed. In short, though, as long as you are not wasteful, cycling can save you more SP than turning off meta magics while letting you still have full power.