Semi-Daily hero tips. Day 2: Alchemist

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PREVIOUS HEROES

Abaddon

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DISCLAIMER

A lot of you probably know about the weekly hero discussion, but that often ends up in a meta discussion (whether or not the hero needs buffs, etc) or a meme war than actual tips to play, itemize and build the hero.

This is what I'd like to do. Please discuss any notes I made and possible improvements while also giving tips of your own if you have them.

The roles, skill builds and item builds, as well as a lot of the notes are my opinion on matters and should not be seen as a must do or don't. Also remember that almost every single build or role is situationally possible.

A lot of the tips on heroes were also mentioned in tsunami's amazing hero tips series he did over the last couple of years.

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Alchemist

Role: Mid, hard carry(, support)

Skill build:

• Greed --> Acid spray --> Concoction
• Ganking/Support build: Concoction --> Acid Spray

Item build:

• support: Medallion, (Urn, Drum, Vlad's, Blink, Aghs, Solar crest)
• ganking: Armlet, (Solar crest,) Shadow blade/Blink, BKB, AC, (See carry extension/situationals)
• carry: Armlet, Radiance, Manta, Travels <-> Octarine, (Aghs, BKB, Blink, Abyssal, Mjollnir, AC, Shiva's, Moon shard)

Notes:

• Concoction is physical => cast acid spray before throwing concoction or during its flight for armor reduction if you have the chance
• Max stun duration is reached after 5 of the possible 5.5 sec
• Concoction sound can be heard if you're not in the fog of war
• Mana problems? Get Basi and disassemble during ult --> percentage base regen from sage mask will make you regen mana faster
• Versus: Don't stand close to teammates (or alchemist when he's going to self stun) when concoction is brewing
• Versus: Don't stand in acid spray!
• Friends: TA (double minus armor and invis hit when in acid spray), VS (double minus armor and double stun + swap in acid spray), Bane + Visage, SD (also radiance illusions), Nyx, CM, Rubick, Other supports with stuns (Concoction setup), Greedy carries (Alchemist can reach a peak in mid-game while your extreme late game carry can keep farming)
• Counters: SD, OD (stun is fucked, mostly against support alch!), QoP, AM (heroes with blink) (EDIT: Very arguable as they have disadvantages in the laning stage and timing wise), AA (ult + armlet are worthless when ice blasted) (/u/anarbekin), Timber (STR reduction from whirling death, reactive armor, high burst on low cooldown) (/u/RETheUgly), PA, Ursa (shreds quickly through alch, especially if he has too little armor) (/u/Apocalypses)
• Good versus: Squishy supports, high armor carries/offlaners, Sven (needs more farm to be strong which he won't get vs alch)
• If someone is diving a tower you can Start the concoction before you TP in for max stun as soon as you arrive. (/u/BearBuddha)
• His ult is an instant disjoint. So having some patience and activating it before a stun hits can save your life. (/u/BearBuddha)
• Alchemist illusions have Greevils greed so if alch has radiance Morphling could use it to massively accelerate his farm. (/u/BearBuddha) (Changed in 6.87c)