Over the past ten days, Alchemist has become almost twice as likely to appear in Dota 2 matchmaking. Moreover, the hero has been retrained as an offlaner. Until recently, Alchemist’s peak in third position meant automatically receiving four reports from allies, and now this is considered an interesting find that is banned in the first stage of DPC drafts. The character is actively conquering not only high-MMR matchmaking, but also the professional scene. Why is Alchemist so good in third position and how much Aghanim’s Scepter needs to be collected to win – in the material from Cybersport.ru.
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Alchemist – Generous Soul
Alchemist has not received major changes in the latest updates, interest in the hero appeared on the basis of a feature that has existed for a very long time – the ability to buy Aghanim’s Scepter for an ally. When this feature was first added, gamers tried to use the Alchemist forest support as a farm machine that distributes items to allies, but the experiment was not crowned with success. Now they returned to the idea, slightly upgrading. Alchemist moved from the forest to the offlane, but his main goal – non-stop farming of Aghanim’s Scepter – remained unchanged.
In case of successful hands, the character collects the first Aghanim’s Scepter by the 12-14th minute, after which he immediately awards it to his carry or mid. With 4 thousand values literally appearing out of thin air, the allied core gets the opportunity to dominate the map, demolish towers and feel at ease in fights. At this point, the team must get together and go to crush the opponents. In this situation, Alchemist has two options: to focus on their own items, even if they are not the usual Radiance and Basher, but more team artifacts, or to continue churning Aghanim’s Scepter.
This is such a gap in gold from opponents that a carry gets after a gift from Alchemist. The Alchemist himself falls to the support level in terms of total value. Virtus.pro vs NAVI match
Naturally, things are not always rosy with such an Alchemist patron. On high MMR, despite the character’s popularity, his offline winrate is less than 45%. After purchasing the first Aghanim’s Scepter, the hero falls to the bottom of the table in terms of total value. Alchemist cannot become a shield for the team without items: its initiation is limited to the second ability, which, with this style of play, they are in no hurry to pump it to the maximum level. If the core, who was given Aghanim’s Scepter, makes a mistake and dies several times or simply loses time in meaningless movements, then the team with Alchemist finds itself in a critical situation without a full-fledged “three”, the place of which is in fact replaced by a useless “five” that takes all the forest farm.
Talents, leveling and items
So far, professional players are just mastering the “three” Alchemist, so there is no well-established guide on subjects and pumping. However, certain general trends can be identified. Most esports players ignore the second ability, preferring the first and third for faster farming. Unstable Concoction is only taken closer to the tenth level, since immediately after the laning stage, Alchemist begins to pump out forest farming and safe lines. In rare cases, if the hero managed to quickly collect Aghanim’s Scepter and other artifacts for teammates, he does not plan to take, Unstable Concoction can be taken earlier – to make the fight more enjoyable.
Alchemist leveling with a high rating in matchmaking
In terms of talent, professional esports players at levels 10 and 15 preferred the right branch, increasing their attack speed and health. At level 20, the choice depends on the situation on the map: if Alchemist continues to farm and, for example, collects Aghanim’s Scepter for supports, then the right talent is taken for a bonus to cleave damage. If the character has abandoned further patronage and switched to an active game, then cybersportsmen often choose the left talent to increase the damage from the second ability.
But in DPC matches, players at level 10 more often chose the left talent. S4 talent selection
The initial purchase from most Alchemists is similar: at the laning stage, the character buys Urn of Shadows, boots and Soul Ring. On rare occasions, Boots of Speed improve into Phase Boots, but often professional players do without it and head straight into the forest. This is followed by a ten-minute fragment of Aghanim’s Scepter non-stop farming in varying amounts. As soon as the purchase of items for allies is complete, Alchemist goes into a combination of Blink Dagger and Solar Crest – the first artifact provides initiation under the Unstable Concoction, and the second is an effective support item.
Sometimes Vladmir’s Offering, Crimson Guard, Pipe of Insight, Lotus Orb, Force Staff and other items that can help teammates act as analogues. On the professional scene, such “triplets” of Alchemist did not try to go into physical damage, but in matchmaking the same Ceb repeatedly tested Maelstrom and Assault Cuirass. In addition, most esports players bought Aghanim’s Shard, which allows you to use a spell on an ally that gives a bonus to attack speed and health regeneration.
How much Aghanim’s Scepter should I take?
One of the biggest questions for all Position 3 Alchemists is when to stop farming scepters. Judging by the games of professional cybersportsmen in matchmaking and at tournaments, there is no single correct solution – you should always start from the draft and evaluate the effectiveness of the artifact presented to an ally.
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Alchemist statistics on DPC for Europe – ten times a character was taken and sent to the ban in eight maps
For example, Faith_bian practices different styles of play: in several matches, by the 24th minute, he already bought the third Aghanim’s Scepter for his allies, after which he slowed down the farming pace, giving most of the creeps to the cores, and began to enter Blink Dagger and Solar Crest. In another fight, the Chinese esportsman, on the contrary, after the first donated artifact, focused on his own network and very soon became almost the main fighting unit of the team. Febby and March are also involved in charity throughout the match. They farm non-stop and do not participate in team fights until they buy three or four Aghanim’s Scepter. Only after that, e-sportsmen connect to teammates and start collecting items that give useful auras.
Faith_bian often does not skimp on podakri for teammates
Ceb, in turn, opted for a less altruistic strategy. In both matchmaking and pro scene, he is limited to one or a maximum of two Aghanim’s Scepter, and then focuses on his own artifacts. S4 in the match against Team Liquid also collected Aghanim’s Scepter only for carry, after which he immediately joined the team and stopped actively farming. The choice of the number of “gifts” for teammates also depends on the situation on the map at a particular point in time. For example, s4 did not defend the line in the best way – by the eighth minute he was sixth in terms of overall value, and his partners suffered all over the map, in fact remaining in the minority. Therefore, Alchemist abandoned the idea of supplying the coveted artifact Lion, which had a high level, and began to try to take on the role of a tank in fights, thereby removing the focus from Phantom Assassin.
Which characters are the most useful to sponsor
Naturally, the Alchemist troika is a rather specific thing, since its effectiveness directly depends on the team’s draft. After all, if Aghanim’s Scepter is not very useful for a carry or a mid lane, then the strategy itself becomes meaningless. Therefore, at the peak of Alchemist, crust is needed, which receive a noticeable boost from the purchase of this artifact, especially at the early stage of the game.
Based on the matches of professional players, we can say that Void Spirit, Ember Spirit and Monkey King achieved the greatest efficiency in conjunction with Alchemist – Aghanim’s Scepter gives them a noticeable bonus to damage, allowing them to realize themselves in gangs and mass fights.
Among the carry characters, Riki, Gyrocopter, Phantom Assassin and Morphling look good in the same draft as the Alchemist troika. Quite often in games at high MMR, Aghanim’s Scepter was first collected for Troll Warlord. But on Medusa, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Specter or Anti-Mage, early Aghanim’s Scepter does not provide such a tangible advantage, for which it would make sense to sacrifice an offlaner.
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Not every character has an early Aghanim’s Scepter that can give a noticeable advantage. For example, in a match between Virtus.pro and NAVI, Slark was awarded the coveted artifact, which could not turn the game on the map
If you want to try out the Alchemist “three” in matchmaking, then do not forget to ban Bounty Hunter – against him the hero has 32% winrate on high MMR. BH can easily prevent you from farming quietly and will knock out Aghanim’s Scepter build timings. Alchemist also has an extremely low win rate against Queen of Pain, which is a fairly tempo mid lane, actively moving around the map. She can crush your teammates while you are farming the coveted Aghanim’s Scepter, or she can catch you in the forest several times and kill you for procasting.
Be careful with Alchemist in matchmaking
In recent days, within the framework of DPC, the character began to be banned in the first stage, although, probably, many esports players have not yet fully figured out how exactly it is best to use it in team interactions. Analysts and professional gamers note the character’s strength, but at the same time admit that he has enough weaknesses. It will clearly take time for teams to fine-tune the strategies with Alchemist. Therefore, do not rush to take the character to the first pick in matchmaking – teammates may still not understand you or simply not adapt to the peculiarities of the play style with such an unusual offlaner.
Have you tried Alchemist in third position? If so, how successful was your experience?
