Support Alchemist (6.80)

Author's Note

Hello and welcome to my guide on support Alchemist. This is my first guide so feel free to provide constructive criticism. This is guide and should not be followed without question. Mix and match items, skill builds and playstyle depending on the game. Also note that my opinions may not match your opinions.

Link to clan_iraq's original support alchemist guide if you don't want to read a wall of text.

Introduction

Alchemist is traditionally played as a hard carry but support and solo mid Alchemist has seem much more competitive and pub plays starting from 6.79. He works very well as a support with his Unstable Concoction and Acid Spray combo, which deals an absurd amount of damage, as well as a lengthy stun duration. His tankiness and massive hp regen from Chemical Rage allows him to do well in games against heroes such as Zeus and Nyx Assassin.

When to Pick Support Alchemist

Consider picking him when:

+The enemy have a a considerable number of low armour and/or squishy heroes.
+Your team is based around ganking.
+There are plenty of physical nukers or early dps carries in your team.
+There's another support that can provide minus armour.
+You have a great setup for your stun.
+You have 3+ core heroes.
+You need a Mekansm carrier
+You can safelane support.*

*You do not need safelane support but it would be preferable as you will get a faster Medallion of Courage from chain pulling or stacking and pulling.

Avoid picking him when:

-Your team is very defensive.
-They have plenty of ways to block your stun.
-They have a few heroes that counter you in their team.
-You are considerably lacking in physical damage.
-You are the only support.
-You are the offlane support on the dire side.
-You need to babysit your carry.

Pros and Cons

Pros + Quite tanky for a support with Chemical Rage. + Chemical Rage provides strong hp and mana regen. + Unstable Concoction is one of the stongest stuns in the game and the damage is increased by -armour. + Acid Spray has a massive AoE. + Greevil's Greed helps farm lategame support items or transition into a carry. + Strong killing power starting from level 2. + Can farm ancients/neutrals with Acid Spray.

Cons - Low armour. - Mana starved at early levels. - Can stun himself. - Melee. - Countered by silences.

Skills

Acid Spray

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

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

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Overview:
Acid Spray is an amazing multi purpose spell. It provides a massive AoE -armour in teamfights, increases your Unstable Concoction's damage, helps with splitpush, allows you to farm neutrals with ease, makes Roshan squishier, stacks camps and can zone out the enemy dueing the laning phase. You generally want to level this at level 2 as the Unstable Concoction is much more useful during the laning phase. If you are a solo mid Alchemist, this is a better choice at level 1 as it will help you harass the enemy.

Notes:

• Acid Spray deals composite (half magical, half physical) damage.
• Mechanical Units are affected by -armour, but not the damage.
• Does not stack if you get Refresher Orb.
• AoE is massive.
• Affects neutrals, allowing you to jungle them from level 1.
• Deals a total of 224/320/416/512 damage on a hero with 0 armour and 25% magic resist.

Tips

• Cast this while your Unstable Concoction is mid air unless you are blinking on top of the enemy.
• Good for split pushing and counter pushing.
• -Armour stacks and can reach -20.
• Cast it on the right side of the Roshan pit to hide your Rosh attempt.

Unstable Concoction

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Heroes

Alchemist brews up an unstable concoction that he can throw at an enemy hero, to stun and deal damage. The longer the concoction brews, the more damage it deals and the longer the target is stunned. 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. Unstable Concoction always affects a 175 area around where it explodes, including when it explodes on Alchemist.

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Overview:
Unstable Concoction and Medallion of Courage alone can make support Alchemist work. The damage of this spell can seem negligible (only 360?) but not that it does physical damage, which is amplified and decreased my armour values. This spell has only 16 seconds of cooldown and a level 7 Unstable Concoction+ Acid Spray+ Medallion of Courage can take an Enchantress at level 7 with no items from 100% hp to 12%, leaving her at 68 hp.

Note that it is not always a good idea to charge the stun for the maximum duration as you may get juked. If possible, aim for the most amount of heroes if initiating. A 2.5 second stun on 3 people is much more game changing, compared to a 4 second stun on one person. Note that this spell will backfire if charged fully without throwing, causing a self stun and damage, which can deny you.

Notes:

• Unstable Concoction deals physical damage and is amplified by -armour.
• If you don't throw the concoction on an enemy, it will stun and damage you after it counts down to 0.
• Stun and damage depends on the charge time.
• Stuns enemies in a small AoE.
• Cannot target creeps.
• Reaches maximum stun and damage at 5 seconds of brewing (0.5 seconds on the countdown).
• Dying while charging this stun will hit enemies around you for a full concoction, regardless of the charge time.
• A flying concoction will provide 400 vision.
• Flies at a 900 move speed.
• Cannot be disjointed.
• Is not channeled. You can move around while charging the stun.
• Armour Mechanics
• Does not become stronger mid-air
• Does not become stronger every 0.5 seconds. The start of the 5.5 seconds (the millisecond you click your w) on the countdown will deal less damage compared to the end of the 5.5 seconds on the countdown (right before the 5.0 second mark).

Tips

• Standard combo is Unstable Concoction into Throw Unstable Concoction into Medallion of Courage's Valor into Acid Spray while the concoction is midair.
• You can start charging the stun and proceed to TP into a lane to hit an enemy with a fully charged concoction.
• Throw the stun once the enemy gets to the treeline to prevent juking the stun.
• Soul Ring makes denying yourself with this spell easier.
• Damage goes through magic immunity if the enemy goes magic immune whilst the concoction is midair. You cannot cast this spell on magic immune units.
• Stuns enemies around you when if you don't throw it. Use this to cancel Sand King's Sand Storm.
• Charging the stun in the fog of war will prevent enemies from hearing the charge sound.
• Is not blocked if Linken's Sphere's holder is in the AoE.

Greevil's Greed

Type: Targets:

Passive None

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.

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Overview:
This spell is pretty straightforward. Basically, you kill something and you get extra gold. The more you kill during 25 seconds, the more extra gold you get. Great passive for building big support items later into the game as your wave clearing potential is quite high with Acid Spray.

Notes:

• Works on hero kills.
• Works on dewards.
• Works on denies but denies give no bonus gold.

Tips

• Skipping this spell for stats when behind is perfectly acceptable.

Chemical Rage

Type: Targets:

Active Self

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

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Overview:
This is an amazing spell. This spell is also quite multi purpose, like Acid Spray. Use it during ganks, for chasing, to regenerate hp and mana, to tank, farm and dodge projectiles with the 0.35 invulnerability period (example in the notes). Remember this spell provides extra movement speed so you can catch up to the enemy to stun them. Use this spell often as the cooldown is not as long as it seems. Remember not to mindlessly use this spell as the mana cost is quite considerable early game.

Notes:

• Regenerates 1250/1875/2500 HP and 75/187.5/300 MP
• Has a 0.35 second transformation time.
• Bonus Mana Regen is affected my % based mana regen items, including Medallion of Courage and Eul's Scepter of Divinity.

Tips

• You can dodge spells and auto attacks in that 0.35 transformation time. Example: EE outplaying everyone.
• This is a strong spell for tower dives. You still need to back off once they receive TP in support. Also use this spell for tanking the tower in pushes and roshan.
• You regenerate the mp cost using this spell. Use it to heal.
• Despite your bonus BAT and HP Regen, do not run into a teamfight and start autoattacking. Only do so once their carries die. You can bully their supports or hide in the fog instead.

Playstyle

Early Game

Safelane Support
During this stage as support Alchemist, you generally want to gank often and chain pull the creeps. Once you get to level 2, you may want to consider ganking their mid, preferably with another support. If your offlaner(s) have good kill power, you may want to consider ganking their lane as well. You do not want to babysit your carry throughout the entire laning stage as it will waste your early game potential.

Offlane Support
Sometimes, you will be forced to go to the offlane. Leech exp until level 2 and start ganking mid or kill someone in their lane. You are not accomplishing anything leeching exp from the lane. You can also stack ancients or even ancient jungle and proceed to gank at 10 minutes with your Blink Dagger, Soul Ring and be close to a Medallion of Courage.

Defensive Trilane Support
You will need prior knowledge on how to trilane properly. Generally chain pull/stack and pull camps and try kill their offlaner(s) or offensive trilaners. Once you have secured your carry's farm, proceed to gank other lanes with your other support. Use your spells to zone out the offlaner if possible as you are melee.

Offensive Trilane Support
You will need to kill their defensive trilaners often or your trilane will fail. It is quite easy with a proper setup, a fully charged Unstable Concoction and a carry with a nuke. Proceed to gank the offlane or mid after your carry's farm has been secured. You may also want to farm their jungle with you Acid Spray if their positioning is perfect.

Mid Game

You should have your Medallion of Courage by now. Don't stop ganking as your potential is at its peak. Try to focus on their carries with a roaming support buddy.

Late Game
Stand on the sides of teamfight, hit everyone (or at least their carries with your Acid Spray. Try to get 3-5 man Unstable Concoctions. If this isn't possible, the carry is the number one priority, followed by their mid, offlaner and finally, their supports. If you can kill a support like Lich quickly, ignore the prior tip and kill him to prevent the ult. Use Greevil's Greed to farm up luxuries or transition into a semi carry.

Synergies, Counters and Food

Synergies

Strong Early Roamers
These heroes will help you acquire early kills easily. Communicate with them often!

• Crystal Maiden
• Venomancer
• Vengeful Spirit
• Sand King

Setups for Concoction
These heroes will provide good setups for your stun with their long disables.

• Bane
• Naga Siren
• Shadow Demon
• Slark
• Shadow Shaman
• Lion
• Chaos Knight
• Dark Seer: Not a great setup stunner early game but a well timed Vacuum can be huge in teamfights.

-Armour and Damage Amplifiers
These heroes will buff your Unstable Concoction damage. Shadow Fiend isn't a good synergy as he doesn't usually get his aura early.

• Bristleback
• Vengeful Spirit
• Slardar
• Naga Siren
• Shadow Demon
• Elder Titan
• Dazzle
• Weaver
• Templar Assassin
• Invoker

Early DPSers
These carries are good for laning with as they can make good use of your -armour.

• Weaver
• Riki
• Ursa
• Razor
• Lifestealer

Note that I have listed melee carries. Trilaning works but it will be a weak trilane as you will have 2 melees.

Food

Low Armour
These heroes will melt to your combo, if not just the Unstable Concoction.

• Visage
• Io
• Timbersaw
• Skywrath Mage
• Doom Bringer
• Tiny
• Drow Ranger: Get up close or she will have a lot of armour from her ult!
• Witch Doctor
• Pudge
• Rubick
• Weaver
• Ember Spirit
• Chen
• Keeper of the Light
• Lion
• Crystal Maiden
• Lina
• Windranger
• Silencer
• Zeus
• Phoenix
• Enchantress

Counters

Silencers
These heroes will prevent you from throwing your Unstable Concoction. Consider getting Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Diffusal Blade or Black King Bar to purge off the silence and possibly prevent self stuns. Force Staff is a useful item to have against Riki.

• Silencer
• Riki
• Drow Ranger
• Puck
• Earth Spirit
• Bloodseeker
• Death Prophet
• Disruptor
• Night Stalker
• Silencer
• Skywrath Mage
• Orchid Malevolence

Early Magic Immunity
These heroes will prevent you from stunning them. You may want a Diffusal Blade against Omniknight if no one on your team will get it.

• Lifestealer
• Omniknight
• Juggernaut

Banishers
These heroes will prevent you from throwing your stun of prevent your stun from hitting. There is nothing you can do about it, sadly.

• Shadow Demon
• Outworld Devourer
• Puck

Miscellaneous

• Sven: Increases the armour of allies. Carry Svens usually skip extra Warcry levels but support Svens will usually get extra levels of this spell over some stats.
• Lifestealer: This hero melts you. You will need a Ghost Scepter to prevent the damage or a Force Staff to kite him.

Situational Common Items

The Flying Courier and Boots of Speed are cores for every game.

Medallion of Courage: You generally will want this item every game. Don't build your Magic Stick into a Magic Wand before you get this. You may want to skip the Magic Stick as well for the earliest possible Medallion of Courage. Skipping this item is a viable choice is you're behind and the 15 minutes has passed. This item does not make you squishier. It gives you a passive 6 armour and the active decreases your armour by 6. 6 - 6 = 0.

Blink Dagger: The best initiation items for support Alchemist. Radiance may cause problems and Shadow Blade or Force Staff are decent alternatives.

Bracer: Get this item for some extra hp if you're falling behind.

Cloak: If a/some spellcaster(s) are causing problems, a cloak can increase your EHP by a good amount.

Gem of True Sight: If an invis focused hero (like Weaver and Riki) is causing some massive problems, get this item.

Blade mail: You are quite tanky for a support. Get this item to deal with carries focusing you. Strong against glass cannons but don't get this item once they get Black King Bar. Alternatively, you can use this items to counter AoE spells.

Force Staff: A good item to provide some utility. Allows you to push enemies into your team, help you/a teammate chase and escape. +Most ranged heroes have a range of 600. Force staff them if they are dewarding the rune wards or uberwards and they will usually get cliffed.

Ghost Scepter: An amazing item to negate physical damage from enemy carries. Also blocks damage from your Unstable Concoction and other physical nukes. +You take 40% extra magical damage when this is active.

Mekansm: Support Alchemist is a great holder of the Mekansm. You have the mana regen and mana pool for it. Get this item after your cores if no one else want to purchase it. +Do not buy this item if there is already a Mekansm on your team. You can only be healed by one Mekansm every 25 seconds.

Orb of Venom: 12% Perma Slow for 275 gold is amazing. The problem is having inventory slots to support it.

Phase Boots: Very good boots for Alchemist as it allows you to catch up to your enemies to cast Throw Unstable Concoction. +You move through units while this is active. The active is dispelled when you use items and cast spells.

Power Treads: A good item if you are falling behind or close to feeding (1-3 early deaths). Also good to deal some extra dps in ganks.

Soul Ring: Allows you to jungle ancients. Also good for some burst of mana early into the game.

Dust of Appearance: Buy this item against invis heroes. If you are up against Phantom Lancer, use dust preemptively to prevent yourself from stunning an illusion. +Slows invisible units by 10%

Drum of Endurance: Very good item for chasing, pushing and providing an edge in teamfights. Do not build this item every game as there are better items you can buy most of the time.

Uncommon Situational Items

Black King Bar: A strong item for semi carry transition. Very greedy pickup however and provides no utility for your team.

Boots of Travel: Get this item late game so you can fill that item slot with another item. Also good for split pushing Acid Spray. +Does not dispel Ghost Scepter. +Shares cooldown with Town Portal Scroll. +You cannot teleport around towers like Town Portal Scroll. Only right on top of them.

Eul's Specter of Divinity: Using this item on yourself will dispel negative debuffs, including silence. Get this item if you are stunning yourself. You can also Cyclone enemies for a stronger Unstable Concoction or to shift queue Blink Dagger. +You are invulnerable during the cyclone. You can use this to dodge damage. Almost anything can be dodged, including Finger of Death and Laguna Blade. +Shift queue Blink Dagger to survive most situations.

Necronomicon: Get this item for some good anti AoE and splitpush. +The Necronomicon Atcher has an active called Mana Burn. You will need to micro it to cast it. +Level three Necronomicon Warriors have True Sight.

Scythe of Vyse: Arguably the best item ingame. Prevents their carry from activating Black King Bar. If they have a good reaction time, shift queue.

Urn of Shadows:A good item to heal up your team. You should be getting a decent amount of kills. Using this item on enemies is also a good idea as it deals a 150 HP Removal (Pure damage that you can heal through) damage nuke overtime.

Tranquil Boots: The 12 hp per second isn't great as you have Chemical Rage. Get this item for the amazingly cheap +4 armour and move speed. Generally not a great item on Alchemist though.

Heaven's Halberd: Get this item against carries that don't build Black King Bar. The evasion and extra health is amazing. +Does not go through Magic Immunity.

Arcane Boots: Not amazing boots for Alchemist. Amazing boots for the team, though. Get this item if your team is cast intensive.

Pipe of Insight: Strong anti-AoE item. Great if there are plenty of AoE spells on the enemy team or if there's a Keeper of the Light.

Rare Situational Items

Orchid Malevolence: Get this item if there is a rampant Storm Spirit or mobile heroes. Generally better for the carry and mid as you will get it late and the enemy hero can get a Black King Bar or any sot of purge.

Dagon

Dagon: Dagon is surprisingly good on support Alchemist. If you can get this item by 15-20 minutes, go ahead. Ignore this item otherwise. Great for bursting down squishies.

Diffusal Blade: Get this item to counter Omniknight. If there are certain buffs and debuffs you may want to purge, go for this item as well. Treating this item as a glorified slow is a bad idea.

Vanguard: Vanguard is not a great item. If your team has no Mekansm, don't get this item. Get this item around or before the 20 minute mark for stonger impact until the the 30 minute mark. Building utility items are a better choice most of the time.

Helm of the Dominator: Decent pickup if you want to backdoor their base, create a place to tp to with Boots of Travel or for the spells of neutrals.

Shadow Blade: Invisible initiations are difficult to counter as it is difficult to keep sentries everywhere and gems are risky. Still a very counterable item and shouldn't be used often. Good pickup if you have a considerably low mmr and detection is rarely bought.

Vladmir's Offering: A good item if you need to push. This makes breaking the highground easier and provides melee heroes with lifesteal, a damage boost, armour and mana regen. The Ring of Basilius is not a good pickup on Alchemist, however.

Assault Cuirass: A decent pickup if the game goes very late and your team needs a considerable edge in teamfights to win the game. Also great for pushing. Most items outshine this item, however.

Rod of Atos: Really expensive item but provides really good stats and an active. Great pickup for mid game gank-centric lineups. +The range of the slow is 1200.

Alchemist Balance Changelogs

6.80
Night Vision decreased from 1400 to 800
Unstable Concoction
Maximum shaking duration decreased from 7 seconds to 5.5 seconds.
No longer gets stronger while in the air.
6.79
Chemical Rage:
No longer provides 250/500/750 bonus HP.
HP regen increased from 15/30/60 to 50/75/100.
6.78c
Chemical Rage bonus HP reduced from 300/600/900 to 250/500/750.
6.76
Unstable Concoction now explodes around you if you are killed while charging it up.
Greevil's Greed cap increased from 26 to 30.
6.75
Acid Spray:
Damage per second increased from 8/16/24/32 to 14/20/26/32.
Manacost rescaled from 160 to 130/140/150/160.
Unstable Concoction:
Max damage increased from 130/200/270/340 to 150/220/290/360.
No longer displays the countdown numbers to enemies.
Always affects a 175 area around where it explodes (Includes when it explodes on Alchemist).
Greevil's Greed:
Counter duration increased from 20 to 25 seconds.
Bonus gold scaling adjusted from 2/4/6/8 + 2 to 4/6/8/10 + 1/2/3/4.
Chemical Rage Base Attack Time decreased from 1.45/1.3/1.15 to 1.4/1.2/1.0.

Guide Changelogs

12/02/2014

-Discovered you need to press publish to save changes on guide...

11/02/2014:

-Added a chapter on when to pick support alchemist.
-Added overviews to alchemist's spells.
-Added/Removed some heroes in counters, food and synergies.
-Added some builds.

3/02/2014:

-Updated Alchemist's Balance changelogs
-Added Phoenix to counters

1/02/2014:

-Updated unstable concoction for 6.80.

20/1/2014:

-Added tips for items.
-Added Rod of Atos to Rare Situational items.

14/1/2014:

-Forgot to save some fixes ._.
-Also added a miscellaneous section on the support alchemist counters.

13/1/2014:

Guide started

Shoutouts

• Dr.D and NubTrain for their guides on making guides.
• clan_iraq (aka GodlyKha) for support Alchemist
• IceFrog and Valve for their work.
• Dota 2 Wiki for some info.
• Everyone in the comment section who justified support alchemist. :)