Alchemy - Worth 18 Runes?

[deepblue9k]

So I've been playing on my mage and just reached level 9 with quite a few runes saved up. I have more than enough to upgrade Alchemy from level 1 to level 3 but I'm wondering: is it worth it?

I'm just not sure how hard crystals are to find. I know in KB:TL, I invested in alchemy and was happy with it since I probably would have run out of crystals without it. But Treasure Searcher seems to provide me with a good number more crystals than in KB:TL (it's two free chests EVERY battle). I don't want to invest in Alchemy only to find I have way more crystals than I need to upgrade all the spells I want.

So can anyone who has finished the game tell me if Alchemy is useful or just a waste of runes.

[TemjinGold]

I haven't finished but I'm level 43 currently and have most of the spells I'd want. I don't have any alchemy. However, I don't scribe things I don't use and I buy every artifact under the sun, breaking them for crystals with Neatness 3. If that doesn't sound like you, then you'll probably want alchemy.

[Starranger]

So can anyone who has finished the game tell me if Alchemy is useful or just a waste of runes.

I have made now two play through wit mage and paladin. And I think alchemy is not worth the runes. Due to Neatness and Treasure Digging you should have enough crystals to upgrade the important spells. Which spells depends from your style of playing. For me: Sacrifice, Resurrect, Geysir, Hypno, Sheep, Haste, Bless, Dragon Slayer, Stone Skin, Trap, Heal, Armagedon, Death Star
I think it is better to save the runes and (if you have some left as mage) change it at Montero to migth runes.

[travelingoz]

I think it depends on your style of play. If you like to use lots of different spells, as i do, then you will probably need at least level 2 in Alchemy otherwise, even with Neatness, you may find yourself running out of crystals quite often.
If however, like some of the other posters, you only use a few spells, then Neatness will give you more than enough to finish the game.

[ivra]

If you are curious, yes you need Alchemy. I found that even with buying and breaking every item i do not use, and digging 2 or 3 times per battle you do not get enough crystals to learn and upgrade all the spells. To do that you need Alchemy 3 before you upgrade any spell. By having alchemy 3 I was able to write all the spells in the game into the spellbook and upgrade them to level 3.

I played Paladin on Hard and wanted to complete the spell book just to learn every spell. I got the Forest Defender Set that gives +9 Intellect so I played using Phantom a lot. The game was not that hard so I could affort to learn all the three schools even if I hardly used damaging spells at all.

On the other hand, in the game I have just finished; a mage on impossible, I did not touch the alchemy skill at all. Well, at least not until level 50. Then I tried to learn all the mage skills just for the fun of it. In this game I maxed Chaos and the damaging skill + all the skills that gives you Intellect and mana as quickly as possible. And I was really selective about which spells to upgrade. Right before the battle with Baal (the very last battle), I broke all the items I did not use, but in this game it did not give enough crystals to upgrade all the spells. During the game I had upgraded some of the big damaging spells to level 3 without Alchemy, and probably used 100-200 more crystals than necessary if I had upgraded them after I got Alchemy 3.

[deepblue9k]

Thanks for the feedback. I tend to cast a variety of spells in combat and hate destroying items for crystals so I've decided that Alchemy is a good investment for me.

[Hento]

I always maxed out alchemy as early as possible and I never regretted it.

[Zechnophobe]

I also max out alchemy once I get some magic schools under my belt. I admit this is not the strongest way to play (Since you can get by on only learning a handful of spells) but I like to have lots of options in combat.