Alchemy Guide by Paitre

Alchemy is -not- a craft for those that want to make millions of gil in a single synth, but instead, like Cooking and Woodworking, it's all about volume synths. That isn't to say that there aren't big money synths, but they're pretty much all past the point where HQs are at least semi-easy to do.

So, with all this in mind, why did I decide to have Alchemy be the first I dedicate a mule to? A member of NewWorldOrder (Ricky's shell) basically asked what it would take to be able to synth a full set of the Crimson Abjuration set for him. Being that I was spending more time crafting than levelling, I thought it would be a semi-decent thing for me to do, to help him out in end-game the only way I really could (and as of this writing, as well). It also helped that two other RDMs in the shell could use the stuff, too:).

So - off to powerlevel Alchemy I went! This guide is the result of basically 6 or 8 weeks of crafting for skill and then for gil. The two weeks since I dinged 85 have been spent "relaxing" by mass-producing stuff for profit

The Guide

There are a number of "sequences" that you'll see in my guide. The first sequence, in fact, is what will take you through most of the "teen" levels - Poison Dust -> Mercury -> Poison Potions. Most of the other sequences are bolt-heads. Boltheads cap Smithing at 14, so you really should get it to 9 or 10 first, if not all the way to 14. If you stop early, you -will- get more breaks due to skilling both crafts up. I must say it's kinda cool seeing "Smithing +.2, Alchemy +.2" on consecutive synths, though. Other subcrafts that you will -need- for skillups: Cooking to 10 or 11 (see my Cooking Guide - it's cheap). Obviously you'll want to take these to 60 later on. Subcrafts for later profit: Woodworking and Goldsmithing.

Rank Up Items: 8 Animal Glue 18 Poison Potion 28 Blinding Potion 38 Firesand 48 Fire Sword 58 Hi-Potion 68 Acid Kukri 78 X-Potion 88 Bloody Sword

Gotta turn 'em in, or you end up capped at the 10's (10, 20, etc).

The Synths:

0-6 Tsurara Ice Crystal, Rock Salt, 2x Distilled Water It's cheap. Dirt cheap! And I think they may actually AH for slight profit, but no worse than break-even. When I initially did these on Paitre (some, 6 months ago) you could actually NPC for break-even/slight loss. That's no longer the case that's to Ice Crystal prices (and really, all crystal prices these days...)

6-~10 Poison Dust Lightning Crystal, 2x Yellow Globe Gotta love fish. Not. You can either fish these up yourself, or buy them. I bought them all. It kinda sucked. Save these for Poison Potions. Yes, I know the cap on this recipe is 12, but there -is- a method to my madness - Poison Potions. You'll really want advanced guide support until 8, and then regular support until 10, unless you don't care about fails. Stop at 10 or whenever you have 6 or 7 stacks of dust.

~10-~14 Mercury Lightning Crystal, 4x Cobalt Jellyfish This -really- sucked. 4 stacks of Cobalts per stack of synths, and you'll lose 2+ per fail almost every time you do fail one. Kinda the same deal as Poison Dust - this caps at 16, but we're stopping whenever we hit 14 or have 6 or 7 stacks of Mercury. You really should have the same amount of this and Poison Dust before moving on.

~14-~18 Poison Potions Water Crystal, Mercury, Poison Dust Yay! Now to empty your inventory of that 12-14 stacks of stuff you made for the previous 8 levels, or so. This caps at 18, but you may as well go through -all- of your Poison Dust and Mercury, even if you cap quickly. Why? You need to recover the gil spent somehow, and Poison Potions sell well, and for about 20-25k/stack. 4 to 6 stacks of these -should- make up for just about everything spent to this point. Ain't it great?

~18-20 Echo Drops OPTIONAL Water Crystal, Honey, Sage, Distilled Water Yes, an optional bridge synth, but one that -does- kinda make sense, especially if you didn't get to 18 on Poison Potions. Honey from AH, Sage from vendor in Southern San D'oria (Raimbroy's Grocery). It's reasonably cheap to make, and I want to say the AH value is about break even or slightly profitable. The only problem is that the sales rate kinda sucks, even if they -are- a mage's best friend when dealing with certain classes of Beastmen.

18-28 Sairui-ran Earth Crystal, Kazham Peppers, Bomb Ash, Bird Egg, Bast Parchment Ninja Tools are -wonderful- skill synths, in my opinion, with few exceptions (Shihei, Makibishi...). Pray for Bastok to have control of Elshimo Lowlands when you do this, so you don't have to trek all the way across the world for the peppers (and you really do want to buy these from vendor). Bomb Ash is easily obtained in the Metalworks, and Bird Eggs are always available from the #1 and #2 Nation's AH Vendor shops for ~650/stack. Bast Parchment's the only crappy ingredient. Advanced support is -required- until at least 23, and thank SE for allowing Ninja tools to be bundled now. I didn't have that luxury when I did these, either time.


 * NOTE: You are now 28. Unless you are saving GPs for another guild, or you're planning on stopping Alchemy at 60, you -really- want to do Alchemy GPs for 71-75 and ~80 to 85. If you are stopping at 60, then ignore this note.

28-31 Blind Boltheads Wind Crystal, Bronze Ingot, Blinding Potion, Animal Glue -Buy- your Blinding Potions from the AH. Trust me. MAKE your Bronze Ingots. You'll probably go through 4 or 5 stacks. Better 25k than 60k. Can't HQ the glue yet, but if you know a high-level Alchemist (53+), I'm sure they'd be willing to make it for you if you provide the materials and a small fee for their time. *cough* AH these in San d'Oria. Preferably from a mule. They -can- take some time to sell, and sometimes they sell like hotcakes.

31-37 Jusatsu Dark Crystal, Black Ink, Beastman Blood, Bast Parchment Before going "What?! This is expensive, Batman!", take a look at the sales price of Jusatsu, and more importantly, Jusatsu bundles. Done? Good. -NOW- you understand why these instead of Kongou Inaho, Little Comets, etc. And remember - all Ninja Tools (and bolts, for that matter...) return 4 stacks of product, NQ with no breaks. As with other synths with more than a 5 level gap, you want advanced support when you start. Black Ink - same as with Animal Glue - find your friendly neighborhood Alchemist (again, mid-50's or higher) and bribe them. Bast Parchment you can get from a mid-40's Woodworker, too, provided they have adequately skilled Alchemy.

37-43 Vitriol Water Crystal, Treant Bulb x2 It's cheap. It's used to make Acid Boltheads. What more do y'want in a synth?

43-45 Acid Boltheads Wind Crystal, Bronze Ingot, Vitriol, Animal Glue These sell rather quickly on the AH for some reason...

45-51 Holy Water Light Crystal, Distilled Water Whatever you don't end up using to make Holy Boltheads will sell on the AH. For 8k/stack or so. Crystals are 6-7k, so you should come out ahead, here.

51-53 Holy Boltheads Wind Crystal, Bronze Ingot, Holy Water x2 Again - Boltheads! Boltheads! Boltheads! These, like Acids, sell well in Jueno or San d'Oria. Any left-over holy waters (and there prolly won't be...) can be dumped on the Jeunoan AH.

NOTE: The stretch from here to 60 sucks. There's no single synth to get through here easily, unless you really, -really- want to do Hi-Potions for 7 levels. I didn't. I was powerlevelling, remember? I'll give several options for getting through here - it's up to the reader to pick the one or two that best suits them, and the market.

53-56 Sleeping Potion Alternative #1 Water Crystal, Chamomile, Sleepshroom, Poison Flour Get the 'shrooms via farming, or from the AH. I ended up having to farm a stack or three. It's not a bad synth, since you will save these for Sleep Boltheads later on, but I think one of the other alternatives might just be slightly better (and profitable...)

53-56 Glass Sheet Alternative #2 Fire Crystal, Rock Salt, Shell Powder, Silica x6 Uses -lots- of Silica, so it's probably not as viable for skillup as the other two, but it's also currently looking like it's profitable, so...

53-57 Ice Arrowheads Alternative #3 Ice Crystal, Copper Ingot, Cermet Chunk Make the Ingots yourselves, and buy the Cermet. Seriously. I managed to make a small amount of gil off the level, or so, of these that I did. It was nice, and if I were to do Alchemy again (God, I hope not...) I'd probaby end up doing these and/or Lightning Arrowheads (recipe not given here) instead of the Sleeping Potions, entirely. At the -very- least, do these from 56 to 57.

NOTE:Now there's the pain of actually getting to 60. Hi-potions are definately an option now - but you'd still have to try to dump upwards of 90 of them. Ew. There's also Venom Dust and Flint Stone Glass Fibre recipe. Both are given below - pick whichever and take to cap.

57-61 Glass Fibre Alternative #1 Fire Crystal, Flint Stone x8 Ayup. You really need -that- many Flint Stones. It's really the main reason I don't like this recipe - you've got to go through more Flint Stones than I think the server can really support for more than one person at a time doing these. I, personally, bought the server out for a weekend.

57-62 Venom Dust Alternative #2 Lightning Crystal, Ogre Eel x2 I fished most of mine up for this - and I did end up capping on this recipe. It's still sucky, but noone said you wouldn't lose money here...just that I'd try to keep it to a minimum.

62-67 Sleep Boltheads Wind Crystal, Animal Glue, Bronze Ingot, Sleeping Potion More arrowheads. These also sell pretty well in either Jeuno or San d'Oria. 5-6k/stack for the end product, so you're going to want to make your own ingots and glue.

67-71 Spartan Bullets Fire Crystal, Bronze Ingot, Twinkle Powder, Bronze Ingot, Firesand You -can- buy all your ingots for this, and the firesand, and vendor the Twinkle Powder, and break even. Or you can make the Ingots, and buy the Firesand (still not high enough to HQ here, guys...) and maybe come out slightly ahead. AH in Jeuno - 9-11k/stack.

71-75 Elemental Anima Earth Crystal, Mercury, Rock Salt, Sulfur, Burning Memory x4 OR Profane Memory x4 OR Somber Memory x4 OR Fleeting Memory x4 OR Bitter Memory x4 OR Startling Memory x4 OR Radiant Memory x4 OR Malevolent Memory x4 You really, _REALLY_ want to make sure you have approximately the same number of Anima, per type, at the end of this run for ~80-85. Slightly under 2 stacks of each will be enough, one and a half stacks would really be enough, actually. That means you'll need to do ~18 synths per type of memory (or 144 synths). Radiant Memories and Somber Memories were the most difficult for me to get ahold of, but far. The rest weren't that bad. Just be patient getting through here.
 * Anima Synthesis Key Item (20k GPs)

75-~80 Bloody Boltheads Wind Crystal, Bronze Ingot, Beastman Blood, Revival Root. You -really- want mules in both San d'Oria and Jeuno to sell all of these. 30-40 synths per level, each succes == half a stack of boltheads. That's as many as 20 stacks per level (but more likely 12). And 5 or 6 levels. Yeah. I thought so. Get to 80, then switch to Photoanima. Might even want to consider the switch from the mid-79's (I started Photoanima at 79.8 or so). This sell, sell quickly, but you'll be unloading a lot of them. If you can, find a Woodworker to sell to directly at roughly cost.

~80-85 Photoanima Fire Crystal, 1/ea of the Elemental Anima (Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Ice, Lightning, Light and Dark) Not much to say here - buy a crapload of fire crystals, sit down, and cut down on the number of MH slots you have being chewed up by the elementals.
 * Anima Synthesis Key Item (20k GPs)

And that's where I'm at. At 85 you can HQ the hell out of things like Silent Oils, so I've stopped to take a break, make some mad gil, and prepare for the final dash to 100. And it's gonna suck. lol.