Alchemy Overview: Perks, Tools, & Discoveries
The Alchemy profession offers players the chance to make their own potions, elixirs, and flasks, saving gold on their endgame consumables and providing easy access to some unique and powerful buffs and effects. You will also be able to transmute ore and gems and gain additional benefits from your flasks.
What You Get From Alchemy
Alchemists benefit from the Mixology perk and some unique crafted items. They can also make many consumables to use or sell.
Mixology Perk & Alchemist’s Flask
The main endgame perk that you get for having Alchemy is Mixology, a passive effect that gives you an extra 320 stat buff from your flasks and causes them to last twice as long. The downside of this perk is that you can only benefit from it by using a flask — it does not act as a constant, passive stat increase like most other profession bonuses. But as long as you are using a flask, this will buff you and also save you some gold or materials, making it a good economic benefit as well.
The Alchemist’s Flask is a reusable, less powerful flask that you can use when you don’t want to waste one of your consumable flasks. Its effect is less than the consumable version and it does not benefit from your Mixology perk, but it’s still a nice little buff you can have up for any farm or solo content where you don’t care to use expensive consumables.
Alchemy Trinket
You can also make a Zen Alchemist Stone, which is a decent pre-raid trinket that increases the effect of health and mana potions by 40% along with its flat 809 Mastery and a main stat proc.
Alchemy Mount
The Vial of the Sands remains a valuable item that only Alchemists can craft.
Cauldrons
There are no new cauldrons in Mists of Pandaria, so you won’t be able to put them down for your group. Each player will instead need to have their own flask or elixirs.
Flasks
| Flask | Buff |
|---|---|
| Flask of the Earth | Stamina |
| Flask of Falling Leaves | Spirit |
| Flask of Spring Blossoms | Agility |
| Flask of the Warm Sun | Intellect |
| Flask of Winter’s Bite | Strength |
Elixirs
Battle Elixirs
| Elixir | Buff |
|---|---|
| Elixir of Peace | Spirit |
| Elixir of Perfection | Hit |
| Elixir of the Rapids | Haste |
| Elixir of Weaponry | Expertise |
| Mad Hozen Elixir | Critical Strike |
| Monk’s Elixir | Mastery |
Guardian Elixirs
| Elixir | Buff |
|---|---|
| Elixir of Mirrors | Dodge |
| Mantid Elixir | Armor |
Potions
Restorative Potions
| Potion | Restores |
|---|---|
| Alchemist’s Rejuvenation | Health and Mana |
| Master Healing Potion | Health |
| Master Mana Potion | Mana |
| Potion of Focus | Mana |
| Mighty Rage Potion | Rage |
Buff Potions
| Potion | Buff |
|---|---|
| Potion of Mogu Power | Strength |
| Potion of the Jade Serpent | Intellect |
| Potion of the Mountains | Armor |
| Virmen’s Bite | Agility |
Utility Potions & Elixirs
| Potion | Effect |
|---|---|
| Catseye Elixir | Improved stealth detection |
| Darkwater Potion | Increased movement speed and swim speed |
| Greater Potion of Luck Potion of Luck | Extra loot in outdoor Pandaria zones |
| Potion of Treasure Finding | Extra loot in outdoor Cataclysm zones |
| Elixir of Camouflage | Prevents other players from seeing your location on the minimap |
| Elixir of Detect Demon | Allows you to see the locations of demons on the minimap |
| Elixir of Detect Undead | Allows you to see the locations of undead on the minimap |
| Elixir of Detect Lesser Invisibility | Allows you to see some invisible enemies |
| Elixir of Dream Vision | Lets you move around in a disembodied/ethereal form |
| Elixir of Greater Water Breathing Elixir of Water Breathing | Allows you to breathe underwater |
| Elixir of the Searching Eye | Improved stealth detection |
| Elixir of Water Walking | Walk on water |
| Invisibility Potion Lesser Invisibility Potion | Makes you invisible |
| Free Action Potion | Prevents stuns and movement impairing effects |
| Living Action Potion | Prevents/removes stuns and movement impairing effects |
| Purification Potion | Dispels a curse, a disease, and/or a poison |
| Shrouding Potion | Reduces the radius at which mobs will aggro to you |
| Sneaking Potion | Increases stealth |
| Swiftness Potion | Increased run speed |
| Swim Speed Potion | Increased swim speed |
Cosmetic Potions & Elixirs
| Potion | Effect |
|---|---|
| Deepstone Oil | Stone statue effect |
| Desecrated Oil | Black and white cosmetic effect |
| Ethereal Oil | Translucent effect |
| Elixir of Giant Growth | Makes you larger |
| Potion of Illusion | Copies another character’s appearance |
| Pygmy Oil | Makes you smaller |
Transmutes
There are no elemental transmute recipes for Mists of Pandaria. You can still transmute many lower-level bars, elementals, and gems.
Tools
Alchemists will need a Philosopher’s Stone in their bags if they want to craft any Transmute recipes. This item is not needed for creating flasks, elixirs, or potions. No other basic tools are required for Alchemy.
There aren’t any bags specific to Alchemy, but you can store most of your herbs and other supplies in an Herb Bag.
Racial Bonuses
Goblins get Better Living Through Chemistry, which gives you a +15 bonus to your Alchemy skill. This bonus isn’t useful once you have maxed out the profession, but while you are leveling it can allow you to craft higher level items a little sooner. Their Pack Hobgoblin ability is also nice for any crafting profession since it reduces the need to carry all of your supplies with you.
Specializations
Alchemists can choose from three specializations for their profession: Elixir Master, Potion Master, or Transmutation Master. Your specialization will allow you a chance to proc extra items each time you craft a recipe of that type. You can only have one specialization at a time. Note that flasks are included in the Elixir Master bonus.
If you already learned an Alchemy specialization before Mists of Pandaria, you will still have that specialization. If you don’t have a specialization, or if you want to know how to change it, we have a full walkthrough in our Alchemy Specializations Guide.
Discovering New Recipes
Only three Alchemy recipes can be learned from your Alchemy Trainer at the Zen Master skill level. The rest of the Pandaria-level Alchemy recipes must be learned through discovery.
Discoveries happen randomly when you are crafting items with Alchemy. They are not tied to the type of item you are crafting or the experience it gives. Just craft any other Pandaria recipes you want to craft and you will discover all of the recipes eventually.
Some lower-level Alchemy recipes can also be learned through discovery by crafting recipes from the same expansion. Others can be learned from Alchemy Trainers, from recipes found throughout the world, or from Northrend Alchemy Research.
Author
I've been playing World of Warcraft on and off since vanilla, usually as a healer or caster and often as a guild leader. I play both retail and classic. I also love RPGs, sandboxes, and sims.