U45 Preview 1: Alchemist Base Class

[DRoark]

Well, after seeing a poison critical for over 5k... with a staff, and "meh" gear, I can see where this is heading.
Interesting concept, though the vials are very strong for the level, and I don't think we need a druid anymore.

The thing that threw me, was Evasion, as a selectable feat. I didn't know labrats were all closet ninja.

[Yamani]

That being said, we're still looking at how it all feels and plays in action. Let us know how it feels playing around with it.

Manageable for some. Others might find themselves recasting poison weapon imbue quite often to re up purple state. Multivial of venom wasn't apply the red primer sub state, so I went with poison imbue for when I tested it, I'll play around with more spells later when I have some time and try to find ways to quickly re enter purple state after emergency healing ppl.

Was doing this as a vile chemist so wasn't too worried about picking up damage spells when I focus on simple weapons.

[BrotherDog]

First off, not sure we can try the higher level stuff. Second, this class needs access to the Sling weapon. The simple sling, like a jai alai racket, not the twirly complicated to animate and use type.
Here is a link to an image if it helps.

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos...61?s=2048x2048

[Strimtom]

Here are all the things I found that were either bugs or suggestions for adjustment:

Alchemist Spells:

[BUG]salt crystals count at range
[BUG]bottle throw doesn't change reaction
[BUG]flash freeze works at range
[BUG]iron shavings works at range
[BUG]Caustic overload is aoe
[BUG]smoke bomb doesn't have long cooldown or give dodge
[BUG]flashbang stuns blind targets, but alchemists can't blind ?!?
[BUG]flesh to gold mass works at range
[BUG]poison breath doesn't work at all. Animation plays, no effect
[BUG]stoneskin, greater stone skin, and goldskin stack, but it eats away at goldskin first then the rest

[JQP]

The past life is +1 Transmutation DC and 20 Maximum Spell Points.

I really like the transmutation DC boost for flavor, but seems a little weak. How about +1 transmutation DC and +3 MRR?

[dozkal-ne]

Feat Issue:

- Doesn't look like Insightful Courage is working.

Also on Lam in general - I can't buy throwing weapons.

[ninevalkyries]

Haven't played on lama yet but I'm a potion-flinger fan, generally. Looking forward to the new flingy effects!

Just a tiny weird suggestion on the Stiffen Skin spell: change the spell name to Thick Skin or Leather Skin. Or maybe Leatherskin (like Stoneskin, Barkskin, Goldskin)? Stiffen skin sounds, I don't know, unpleasant?

[SpardaX]

This might be just my wishful thinking, but what's the chance we can get Alchemist added to the classes proficient with the Alchemist Grenades? They are darts, and the class is literally in their name Picture given as example to what I'm referring.



And if I might be so bold as to push my own luck, if you guys give Alchemists proficiency with the Alchemist Grenades, would you be able to make their damage scale off Ranged power or Spell power? I would be so happy, and you'd be making some old thing relevant again. Maybe take the explosion damage, and make that the [W] damage instead of the weapon damage being "1" to make it scale? Maybe do the same with the https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Gloaming_Philter since it's one of the few named darts, and it's a similar weapon? (And to my knowledge, never really been worth having despite being ML 27)

I'd ask for the weapon effects like the Alchemist's Vile Chemist Poison damage on the AoE explosion too, but I know you guys said you want to move away from ranged doing AoE, so, I'll ask for it, but I assume the answer is no on that one lol.

[Shedrakzo]

Since alchemist is favoring the use of orbs, could the SWF chain be added to the bonus feats list for melee alchemists?

Additionally, could the Swords to Plowshares feat be added there as well?

[Hipparan]

I played Alchemist for a while yesterday on Lamannia. Altogether, I would have to say that I like it. I played as a spellcaster and I moved between Fire, Cold, and Acid spell types to see which I enjoyed most. I think I like the Acid version the most. It reminds me of how I feel an Earth Savant should be in terms of damage. The only major change I'd like to see is some Spellpoints added to the cores for Bombadier. If you're going to be using spells as your primary form of damage, you're going to need a lot of Spellpoints.

Speaking of which, I selected Mental Toughness but then as I leveled up I never got the option for Improved Mental Toughness. It would be nice to have that to eventually get Epic Mental Toughness, especially for a class that has fewer spellpoints than a Wizard.

[Ballrus]

No repair pots?

[MaeveTuohy]

The thing that threw me, was Evasion, as a selectable feat. I didn't know labrats were all closet ninja.

Yes, it is completely out of place thematically.

If the devs want the class to be able to better resist magic damage, give it a stacking resistance to poison/fire/cold/elec/acid that increases every 4 alchemist levels and tops out at, say 25%.

This way they don't get damage reduction against spinning blades (wha?) but do get reduction from dot damage (which evasion does not give).

[Grugmak]

Yes, it is completely out of place thematically.

If the devs want the class to be able to better resist magic damage, give it a stacking resistance to poison/fire/cold/elec/acid that increases every 4 alchemist levels and tops out at, say 25%.

This way they don't get damage reduction against spinning blades (wha?) but do get reduction from dot damage (which evasion does not give).

Except it isn't a resistance thing, same thing with their feat slotable evasion, the icons and descriptions both describe them as a permanent potion effect. It isn't a natural occurring thing they're all hopped up on magical stimulants. Basically alchemists are the crack/meth heads of the adventuring world.

[LurkingVeteran]

Seems interesting, but the patch notes are missing essential data to comment and I'm too busy to test it now.

Some concerns:
-What is the actual cast time of the spells, and do they trigger spell GCD?
-Multvials seem potentially better than sorc DPS if you can chain all of them together at a rate of ~1 per second. That's 15 dmg/CL, while comparable sorc/wiz nukes have 10/CL and only gets boosts in one element. The exception is the SL9 arcane nukes, but only Meteor Storm has low CD. If you do the math, I think sorc rotations average about 13-15dmg/CL. Complicating this is that it's harder to stack spell power crit in multiple elements, but tiefling/domain splashes can help w/ that.
-Is there a reason that the L1 spells do +1 dmg/CL more than the arcane ones and have +5MCL? Can we get some of this retroactively on other classes in that case?
-Many spells are missing essential damage/save details, e.g. Bitter Frost Burst just says "big spike of Cold damage". Same for the poison breath. Some CC spells are missing type of CC, save/spell pen, and CD, details that can turn them from bad to OP.

Since Alch's can heal and get evasion, I think they should be closer to divines than arcanes in spell DPS. Granted divine spell damage is currently a bit weak (except for the AoV bolt SLA).

Their "EK" poison tree also looks better than the EK tree, at least offensively. EK would also really benefit from some way to reduce immunity/resistance, which is extremely painful in epic reaper.

[Carrow12]

For a pure caster build - the DCs are pretty weak. There is very little conjuration/transmutation support. The trees are a little lackluster, leveling a pure alchemist from level 1 is going to be an exercise in torture. To properly gear you have to go back a few updates (it seems the slave lords staff is the only item with insightful conjuration, which doesn't work with the orb bonuses you get in the trees), and then piecemeal with RL. Set bonuses are going to be very hard to come by. Even after all of that - you're going to be lucky if you can squeak out 100 dc. 100 sounds impressive until you remember that the base dc requirement in sharn is around 115.


Will saves are abysmal, but that could be just because some of the feats aren't working at this time. Dots from Elemental Combination aren't applying. Some spells (poison breath I believe) don't have any effect at all.

I love casters - but this one is going to be one I'm dreading I think.

[MaeveTuohy]

Except it isn't a resistance thing, same thing with their feat slotable evasion, the icons and descriptions both describe them as a permanent potion effect. It isn't a natural occurring thing they're all hopped up on magical stimulants. Basically alchemists are the crack/meth heads of the adventuring world.

I find it weak, but if that's their backstory, that's their backstory.

[Kebtid]

I do not know if people reported this, but veil freeze, flesh to gold nor the stun aspect from flashbang work vs reapers, reapers are immune to any of the hard cc effects from alchemist.
Makes the class way less attractive to myself if the cc can be used only vs normal mobs. This is WAI?

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

Well, after seeing a poison critical for over 5k...

My highest was 12 at level one, and that was very rare.

I really don't see why the highest levels are so important. Writing about the lowest levels is like as if I was fighting an uphill battle against the end game crowd. No-one is interested in gameplay in the lowest levels. people just see low-level play as a dark, ugly tunnel they've got to go through until they reach the bright, shining light of end game or/and Reaper - or so it appears to me.

[DRoark]

No repair pots?

I think they have a potion that overrides your healing to positive, sort of like the Renegade has one for repair, someone mentioned.

[DRoark]

No-one is interested in gameplay in the lowest levels. people just see low-level play as a dark, ugly tunnel they've got to go through until they reach the bright, shining light of end game or/and Reaper - or so it appears to me.

I actually enjoy heroics, just TR'd again just so I could be casual about it, and see how badly this patch murders ranged builds (pretty badly so far) before I decide.

My test level 7 was hitting for 2-300, the guy we had doing a 20+ melee poison build was frequently seeing numbers for 4-5k on crits, with subpar gear and a stick,
so I'm going to wait out the barrage of nerfbats before I figure out if this game's worth paying money for anymore.