Do I Need To Remember Combinations?

[Akisohida]

Basically, I am as worried about playing an Alchemist as I was about playing a Monk; remembering all those combos.
I know each tree has a preferred combo..but are they the lynchpin of the class beyond that? Can I play an Alche without remembering what every potion combo does?

[Memnir]

I just kinda ignore em, to be honest. If I wind up doing one - awesome. But, it's not that bad - pretty basic color combos.

[GeoffWatson]

Most of the Alchemist spell icons match the Primer colour, so it isn't difficult to get the combos. It would be nice if they all matched.

The Reactions are nice, but not essential.

[Xgya]

I don't even know all their names by heart.
Buffs tend to be Blue, Attack spells are usually Red, and Yellow is usually healing and CC.

Bombardiers thus tend to use mostly Red spells, with a splash of Yellow. Makes sense, they're primarily DPS casters. Their usual stance is Orange for that reason.
Apothecaries are healers. Buffs and Healing. Blue + Yellow, their stance is usually Green.
Vile Chemist focus on weapon hits and poison SLAs. Mostly self-buffs (Blue) and some offensive poisons (Red). Makes their main stance Purple.

I know being in that stance makes you better at what the tree that normally uses it does, and that stance dancing temporarily makes you even better at that.

To be fair, I change stances very, very little on my own Alchemists. I could try to learn it a bit and become slightly better at being an Alchemist, but it's nowhere near as important as Monk abilities and using them in the proper sequence. Nowhere near.

Changing stances on an Alchemist is too much trouble for the gains I'd make. I do try to go back to my main tree's stance when I have to leave it (say, when I recast Displacement on my Bombardier), because the trees have abilities that only work when you're using their stance. That's the most you can expect.

[Alled78]

Basically, I am as worried about playing an Alchemist as I was about playing a Monk; remembering all those combos.
I know each tree has a preferred combo..but are they the lynchpin of the class beyond that? Can I play an Alche without remembering what every potion combo does?

If u play r10 color switch is very important.

If u play r1 u can stay all time in orange color and have fun

[MaDLAB]

Basically, I am as worried about playing an Alchemist as I was about playing a Monk; remembering all those combos.
I know each tree has a preferred combo..but are they the lynchpin of the class beyond that? Can I play an Alche without remembering what every potion combo does?

Once you play it, you will naturally remember it. Don't worry about it.

Reaction spike is the key to be a kick-ass alchemist that carries R10 groups. It also guarantees Sharn R6 solo/dual being not as arsenic.

But if you just play R1-4 sharn in groups, don't worry about reaction spikes or changing reactions at all. You will just kill it staying in whatever color you want/ happen to be in.

This assumes full sharn gear and all relevant caster past lives ofc. Without them, you need the reactions to make it up.