Alchemy

Alchemy lets a practitioner brew potions that mimic spells their class combination might not otherwise have — run speed, invisibility, cures, teleports, mana regen, and more. It is one of the three restricted trades: only Shamans can learn it, the way only Rogues can Make Poison and only Gnomes can Tinker.

Where to combine

• Medicine Bag — bought from a vendor; holds only 8 slots.
• Reinforced Medicine Bag — tailored from a Thick Grizzly Bear Skin plus a Silk Cord (trivial 68). Any recipe with more than 8 components needs this one.

The governing stat

Intelligence or Wisdom, whichever is higher, governs your chance to gain a skill point on a combine. Buff the higher one before a skilling session — both successes and failures can grant skill-ups.

EQL potion rules

• No 5-dose or 10-dose potions here — most EQL potions simply stack to 10.
• Failed combines keep the bag but lose the ingredients, so buy in bulk.
• Alchemy isn't cheap, but the leveling path below uses vendor-bought herbs for most of the climb.

If you have the points, train Alchemy to 20 at your class guildmaster before your first combine. Then buy a Medicine Bag and settle in with the workhorse recipe:

All three herbs are cheap vendor ingredients — no foraging, no farming, no auction camping. Make this potion from 1 to 83 and sell or stack what you brew; stat potions are always useful while leveling.

The community path to 255 uses one workhorse recipe per stretch. Each is built from vendor-bought herbs, keeping merchant micro-managing to a minimum:

Valerian Root, Violet Tri-Tube Sap, Yerbhimba, and Duskglow Vine are pricier than the starter herbs, so expect this stretch to cost more per combine — the results are among the most in-demand potions in the game, which softens the blow.

If platinum is tight, the wiki's budget path needs only three ingredients and costs about 1 platinum per combine — but it takes a lot of manual combines, since you have to succeed on a potion before the recipe is learned. Buy all three from Sithgok in Innothule Swamp or Sven Felligan in Everfrost Peaks:

Slower, cheaper, simpler. Pick this if you'd rather spend time than platinum — pick section 3 if you'd rather spend platinum than time.

After Potion of Mystical Aptitude there is a large gap before the next craftable recipes, which sit at trivial 302 (the Distillate IX line — Comfrey + Deepwater Ink + one signature herb + 5 Small Vials).

Fair warning: most Distillate IX recipes do not currently combine — the exception is Distillate of Replenishment IX (level 60 to use), and one line requires farming in Kedge Keep. For practical purposes, the alchemy journey can be considered complete at 255, and everything the guild needs brews fine at that skill.

The full EQL trivial list is long — these are the brews worth knowing by name, grouped by what they do. Trivials in parentheses.

Movement & travel

Regen & heals

Cures

Combat

Illusions

The Essences (trivials 162–174) grant racial illusions — Barbarian, Erudite, Human, Dark Elf, Ogre, Wood Elf, Half Elf, Guktan, High Elf, Halfling, Dwarf, Gnome, Troll, and Froglok. Each combines Wormwood + the matching race meat or parts. Pure flavor, endless fun at guild gatherings.

Alchemy won't dethrone Jewelcraft as the platinum king, but the right potions are steady sellers — consumables everyone burns through:

• Blood of the Wolf — run speed for everyone. Cheap to brew at trivial 37, always in demand.
• Gate Potions — a get-out-of-jail card in a bottle.
• Distillates of Clarity / Celestial Healing — the mana and health regen every caster and tank wants stocked.
• Elixirs of Concentration — high-end mana regen with a real market.
• Cures and stat potions — low margin, but they move in volume and keep the guild stocked for raids.

The guild play: be the alchemist who keeps the bank stocked with Wolf, Gate, and regen potions. Nobody tips for jewelcraft they can't afford, but everybody tips the potion supplier.

Alchemy reagents are scattered across Norrath and different vendors stock different ingredients — expect some travel. Charisma and faction with the vendor can swing material prices noticeably.

Evil vendors

• Innothule Swamp — Clork, Murak, and Sithgok on the northern stone hand carry most ingredients.
• Grobb — Bahagg, Blergagg, Blergab, and Grabah near the shaman guild; Raztara around the corner north.
• Oggok — Bardopa, Garakbar, Garakpor, and Pordopa in the floating-skull room.
• Paineel — Yvonne Ani at The Poisoned Petal, upstairs near the bank.

Good vendors

• Halas — Berit, Dargon, Petra, and Spirita by the shaman guild; Murtog MacYee at Yee Majik.
• Everfrost Peaks — Guri, Hern Bearjumper, and Sven Felligan at the northern temple.
• Ak'Anon — the Clockwork Alchemist near the palace.
• Rivervale — Kizzie Mintopp, south of the bank.

Bags

• Medicine Bag — vendor-bought, 8 slots.
• Reinforced Medicine Bag — tailored (trivial 68): Thick Grizzly Bear Skin + Silk Cord.

Alchemy sits at a busy intersection of the trade web:

• Alchemy → Dyeing: shaman-brewed extracts (trivial 36) give each armor dye its color — see the Blacksmithing guide's dye section.
• Rogue Make Poison brews the parallel set of extracts for the same dyes.
• Pottery → Alchemy: fired vials and unfired components flow into potion combines.
• Tailoring → Alchemy: the Reinforced Medicine Bag itself is a tailoring combine.

A shaman who levels Alchemy alongside a tailor and a potter never has to wait on anyone for supplies — and the dye brewers always need extracts.

Step-by-step and reference

• EQL Wiki: Skill Alchemy — the full trivial list, the 1–255 path, vendors, and bag locations.
• EQTraders: Learn Alchemy — classic-era alchemy fundamentals (bags, AAs, trophies).
• EQL Patch Notes (official) — tradeskill rules change; check here first.

Guild references

• Guild Blacksmithing Guide — the forge trade, fine plate, and the 17 armor dyes (brewed with your extracts).
• EQL Crafting hub — all twelve trades, skill-up mechanics, and platinum strategies.