Power Level Alchemy 1-60 Fast and Cheap Guide

version 2.0; created Feb. 13, 2005; version 2.1 August 8, 2005. version 2.2 October 10, 2005.

Alchemy is a good skill to level with any job.  Alchemy lets you make some vital supplies (silent oils, prism powders, potions, etc.) that you cannot go to some places without. In addition, it lets you repair certain fishing rods, make bullets, and certain type of bolt heads that will make rangers envy of you.  You can now bundle ninja tools with wijnruits if the nation is 1st in CQ.  If possible bundle them as you will get much better sales than otherwise.

I have found that it can be power leveled up to level 60 on the relatively cheap side. You can either break even or have a big profit if you read this carefully. You will need to level some subskills in advance to make this guide effective.  The route I took I highlighted in Orange.

Prerequisites: smithing skill 10-14, a farming job that can effectively farm morbol-type mobs and water/thunder elementals in pashhow marshlands, and level 20+ fishing skill. having a blm level 17 job for warp is a big help but not required.  An Airship pass is recommended but if you do not have it don't worry about it.

Amateur Part

First thing, get used to camping Rainbroy's Grocery in San D'Oria and the store in Upper Jeuno.  Almost all the materials you will need will come from either place.  Animal Glue and Tsurara are money makers in the Auction House, though I suggest saving all Animal Glue on a mule for later use.  Animal Glue is your guild test item.  Animal Glue can also be farmed from Goblin Ambushers, and Tsurara can be quivered with Wijnruit in the nation that is 1st in CQ.

Recruit Part

This is the part where you need the fishing skill.  Level 20 fishing skill is all you need.  Fish Port Bastok or Port Jeuno with Composite Rod - Sabiki Rig setup and you will easily get tons of Yellow Globe and Cobalt Jellyfish - this is the cheapest way in obtaining them (you can buy Cobalt Jellyfish from the guild in Bibiki Bay for 20 gil each).  The fish when bought through the AH is the most expensive in Bastok and cheapest in San D'Oria.  Save all Posion Dust and Mercury, they will be used in making your Posion Potions.  Poison Potions sell for a profit at the AH, because they are used in NM fights and other quests.  You will need to save one for your test item.  Echo Drops also sell at a profit as well, because they are always in demand due to certain mobs and for those devices in Beadeaux.  Kodoku when bundled in stacks of 12 will yield sales of over 200k at the Auction House, and the materials are inexpensive.

Initiate Part

Spend a lot of time at the Gob Shop in Lower Jeuno and Rainbroys Grocery in San D'Oria at first.  Sleepshroom are farmed by fungus type-mobs anywhere and they drop/steal easily.  You will be in front of the goblin npc that sells Poison Flour most of the time, because Poison Flour does not stack.  Save all Blinding Potion.  Eye Drops sell to the NPC for break-even rates, but you may want to move to Blind Bolt Heads.  Trade in a Blinding Potion for the guild test item.  At this point of the game, you can desynth Goblin Masks into Glass Fiber, which you should be doing whenever possible.  You will need all the glass fiber for later on.

Novice Part

First, this is time to work on your smithing subskill.  Level Smithing to 10 before moving on.  Once there, make sure to have mules in San D'Oria ready.  You can start doing Blind Bolt Heads when you get Alchemy to 27 and Smithing to 10.  These will give you a good excuse to use up Blinding Potion and Animal Glues you saved.  Best trick in getting Bronze Ingots is to desynth Bronze Swords at Helbort Blades in San D'Oria.  The sheep leather obtained will pay off the cost of the swords and lighting crystals.

Next part is to used the Glass Fiber obtained by desynthing Goblin Masks into Artificial Lens.  Store these on a mule, and a good warning: they do not stack.  You will use these later.  You can then move on to Bronze Bullets, Firesand, or Potions.  Potions will break even if sold to the NPC vendor, and for a profit at the Auction House.  Again, Potions do not stack.  Firesand is your test item.  Start moving onto Virtol by the time you hit level 36 or 37 alchemy.

Apprentice Part

Treant Bulbs are very cheap when bought in San D'Oria and expensive in Bastok.  Save the Virtol you made for a later synth.  If you did the Artificial Lens, go ahead and make the Prism Powder synth.  Later you will find out it is wise to do the synth with Ahirmen Lens as you get more per NQ synth.  To get Alchemy to 45, you can make the Acid Bolt Heads or Carbon Fiber.  Acid Bolt Heads will sell for a profit (and let you use that Virtol), Carbon Fiber is only viable if Bastok is 1st or 2nd in the conquest, as you can only buy Bomb Ash from NPC in Metalworks under those circumstances.  At level 45, move to Holy Water.  Trade a Fire Sword for the test item.

Journeyman Part

Before you start on Holy Water, do research on Light Cluster prices.  They are actually the cheapest in Jeuno and the most expensive in Bastok.  Buy all distilled water from the NPC.  You should be able to get to level 51 on just 100k.  Save the Holy Water.  Use them to make Holy Bolt Heads which have very high sell rate in San D'Oria and Jeuno.  If you got the goldsmithing sub, you should make Silver Bullets and AH them in Jeuno.  I made Sleeping Potion as a bridge synth.  Buy the Chamomile in Upper Jeuno and camp the gob shop for the Poison Flour.  Sleeping Potion does not sell as fast as other consumables, but they will sell within 3 or 4 days and it sells up to 17k per stack (which is a small profit depending on how you get sleepshrooms).  Hi-Potions sell for a profit even if you buy the Marlboro Vines, because they are in demand for COP missions.  They do not stack, so plan on stocking your mules.  As an alternative to Hi-Potion, you can make Venom Dust - all you need to do is go to Crawlers Nest or Ranguemont Pass where the scorpions have 100% drop rate on claws, and I suggest going with a bonecrafter that needs the scorpion shells for crafting.  None of the scorpion drops will stack.

Boom once you hit 60, you are pretty much done with Alchemy.  If you want to take this craft past level 60, I suggest viewing this guide.

I farmed Goblin Ambushers for Animal Glue (with best rates in Dangurf Wadi) and morbol-type mobs for the vines (100% drop rate in Ordelle's Caves).  When I did this, it cost me about 100k to get from 1 to 60, and the majority of the cost was for Light Crystals, Fire Crystals, and Ahirmen Tears.  Almost all other materials, I bought from NPC vendor whenever possible, or obtained by desynthing.  Some of the items on this list I did not do, because I had some of the subskills needed.  When it came down to profit, I made approximately 400k to 500k profit, mostly coming from bolt heads and Hi-Potion.

With smithing skill 14, you can desynth Bronze Swords with lightning crystals, which is a much cheaper way in obtaining Bronze Ingots. NQ is 1 Bronze Ingot, HQ1 is 2 Bronze Ingots, and HQ2 is Sheep Leather. Bronze Swords can be obtained very cheap at Helbort Blades.