r/DotA2•12 yr. ago

Hero Discussion of this Day: Alchemist (18 March 2014)

Razzil Darkbrew, the Alchemist

The Alchemist is a difficult foe to handle, but if left to his own devices he can amass enormous amounts of gold at an alarming rate. His Acid Spray covers a large area with toxic chemicals, which deal physical damage and reduce the armour of any foe caught in the cloud. Attempting to fight the Alchemist while in an acid cloud is foolhardy at best, especially if he uses his Chemical Rage transformation skill. Chemical Rage drastically increases the life, regeneration, and attack speed of the Alchemist, transforming him into a deadly fighter. Possibly his most dangerous skill, however, is Unstable Concoction. Although it takes some time to charge, Unstable Concoction results in one of the longest stuns in the game and causes a good deal of damage. Although the Alchemist can be annoying to fight, it's best to keep a close eye on him. Goblin's Greed directly increases the amount of gold the Alchemist gains when killing creeps, and as he kills more the bonus increases. Unless kept in check, this Goblin/Ogre combo can cause a lot of mayhem late in the game.

Lore

The sacred science of Chymistry was a Darkbrew family tradition, but no Darkbrew had ever shown the kind of creativity, ambition, and recklessness of young Razzil. However, when adulthood came calling he pushed aside the family trade to try his hand at manufacturing gold through Alchemy. In an act of audacity befitting his reputation, Razzil announced he would transmute an entire mountain into gold. Following two decades of research and spending and preparation, he failed spectacularly, quickly finding himself imprisoned for the widespread destruction his experiment wrought. Yet Razzil was never one to take a setback lightly, and sought escape to continue his research. When his new cellmate turned out to be a fierce ogre, he found just the opportunity he needed. After convincing the ogre not to eat him, Razzil set about carefully concocting a tincture for it to drink, made from the moulds and mosses growing in the prison stone work. In a week’s time, it seemed ready. When the ogre drank the potion, it flew into an unstoppable berserker rage, destroying the cell bars and exploding through walls and guards alike. They soon found themselves lost somewhere in the forest surrounding the city with a trail of wreckage in their wake and no signs of pursuit. In the tonic’s afterglow, the ogre seemed serene, happy, and even eager. Resolving to work together, the pair set off to collect the materials needed to attempt Razzil’s Alchemic transmutation once more.

Roles: Durable, Carry, Disabler

Strength: 25 + 1.8

Agility: 11 + 1.2

Intelligence: 25 + 1.8

Damage: 49-58

Armour: 1.54

Movement Speed: 295

Attack Range: 128 (Melee)

Missile Speed: N/A

Base Attack Time: 1.7

Sight Range: 1800 (Day) / 800 (Night)

Turn Rate: 0.6

Spells

Acid Spray

Sprays high-pressure acid across a target area. Enemy units who step across the contaminated terrain take composite damage per second and have their armour reduced.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	130	22	900	625	16 seconds	14 Damage per second and 3 Armour Reduction
2	140	22	900	625	16 seconds	20 Damage per second and 4 Armour Reduction
3	150	22	900	625	16 seconds	26 Damage per second and 5 Armour Reduction
4	160	22	900	625	16 seconds	32 Damage per second and 6 Armour Reduction

Composite Damage
Not blocked by magic immunity
Mechanical units suffer the armour reduction but do not take the composite damage
Can deal up to 224/320/416/512 damage before reductions/amplifications
As it deals composite damage, damage is reduced by magic resistance (usually 25% for heroes)
Damage can be further reduced by +armor, or further amplified by -armor
Will deal significantly more damage to creeps than heroes, as creeps have no magic resistance, and tend to have lower armor

Using traditional Alchemy from the Darkbrew family, Razzil concocts an acid that dissolves even the toughest metals.

Unstable Concoction

Alchemist brews up an unstable concoction that he can throw at an enemy hero, to stun and deal damage in an area around the explosion. The longer the concoction brews, the more damage it deals and the longer the stun. After 5 seconds, the brew reaches its maximum damage and stun time. However, after 5.5 seconds, the concoction will explode on Alchemist himself if not thrown.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	120	16	775	175	Up to 1.75	Stuns for up to 1.75 seconds and damages for up 150 Physical Damage
2	120	16	775	175	Up to 2.5	Stuns for up to 2.5 seconds and damages for up 220 Physical Damage
3	120	16	775	175	Up to 3.25	Stuns for up to 3.25 seconds and damages for up 290 Physical Damage
4	120	16	775	175	Up to 4	Stuns for up to 4 seconds and damages for up 360 Physical Damage

Physical Damage
Unstable Concoction always affects a 175 area around where it explodes, including when it explodes on Alchemist
While brewing the concoction, Alchemist can still move around and take action
It will blow up on Alchemist if built up for more than 5.5 seconds without throwing, checking at 0.5 second intervals
As soon as it is thrown, the counter freezes. The concoction will not get stronger while flying or blow up mid-air
Unstable Concoction cannot be disjointed
The concoction moves at 900 speed, and provides 400/400 sight range
Damages but does not stun Alchemist if he is magic immune when it explodes on him
It is possible to deny yourself with this ability
If the Alchemist is affected by Crowd Control effects (such as disables and silences), the concoction will continue to be brewed, and can still explode and stun the Alchemist

A silver lining to the failure of turning a mountain into gold, this volatile solution has destructive potential.

Greevil's Greed

Alchemist gets bonus gold for killing creeps; the bonus stacks if the creeps are killed within a period of time, after which the count is reset. The bonus gold is capped at 30 gold.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	-	-	-	-	25	Will always get 4 bonus gold per kill which will grow by 1 gold per kill if killed in a 25 second window
2	-	-	-	-	25	Will always get 6 bonus gold per kill which will grow by 2 gold per kill if killed in a 25 second window
3	-	-	-	-	25	Will always get 8 bonus gold per kill which will grow by 3 gold per kill if killed in a 25 second window
4	-	-	-	-	25	Will always get 10 bonus gold per kill which will grow by 4 gold per kill if killed in a 25 second window

Skill description "resets after 25 seconds" can be misleading. It's really +1 to counter when you kill a unit, -1 to counter 25 seconds after the kill
Works on Hero kills, sight wards, most summons, in addition to mechanical units (such as Plague Wards, Serpent Wards, Tombstone and some others)
Greed is currently bugged to not increase the counter on denies. Note that the denies themselves do not give Alchemist gold either way; they are just supposed to increase the counter.
Works on both creeps and heroes

While it is not a mountain, Razzil has mastered the conversion of smaller compounds to line his pockets.

Chemical Rage

Ultimate

Alchemist causes his Ogre to enter a chemically induced rage, reducing base attack cooldown and increasing movement speed and regeneration.

Level	Mana Cost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	50	45	N/A	N/A	25	Gains 1.4 Base Attack Time, 50 Bonus HP Regen, 3 Bonus Mana Regen and 30 Bonus Movespeed
2	100	45	N/A	N/A	25	Gains 1.2 Base Attack Time, 75 Bonus HP Regen, 7.5 Bonus Mana Regen and 40 Bonus Movespeed
3	150	45	N/A	N/A	25	Gains 1.0 Base Attack Time, 100 Bonus HP Regen, 12 Bonus Mana Regen and 60 Bonus Movespeed

Has a 0.35 second transformation time, which can be used to dodge projectiles and stuns
Regenerates a total of 1250/1875/2500 health and 75/187.5/300 mana (less when taking the mp cost of the ability itself into account)
Bonus mana regeneration is affected by mana regeneration multipliers such as Sage's Mask

The brew Razzil gave to the Ogre during their prison bust has become a useful potion in the midst of combat.

Recent Changes from 6.80

Night vision reduced from 1400 to 800
Unstable Concoction maximum shaking duration reduced from 7 to 5.5. Max power is still reached after 5 seconds
Unstable Concoction no longer continues to get stronger while it is in the air

Recent Changes from 6.79

Chemical Rage no longer provides 250/500/750 bonus HP
Chemical Rage HP regen increased from 15/30/60 to 50/75/100

Tips:

Consider whether it's worth holding Unstable Concoction for the max duration when using it as the target may get out of vision or out of range.

The previous Alchemist discussion.

If you want a specific hero to be discussed next, feel free to post or message me. Request list

Posts are every two or four days.

Important Meepo tip of last thread by 50centandeconometric:

"One of the keys to playing a good meepo is to poof BEFORE you blink with your main meepo. Too many times i see a Meepo blink, earthbind, then pooftab. This style of play basically means a forcestaff hard counters your poof nuke. If you get the poof timing down, you are an absolutely nightmare for supports late game, because they dont really have a way to survive a full meepo poof blink. It will happen within .5 seconds of the blink, rather than like 2 seconds after if you channel after blinking and binding."

Posted Mar 19, 2014, 8:27 AM UTC

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