Thread: Ranking Alchemy: 1-10, 11-20, 21-30

So, you want to become an Alchemist like yours truly, do you? Well, I'll tell you now: It's going to involve a lot of time, effort, and perhaps even your left arm. *chuckle*

What's that?! It was his right arm?? Well then, my bad. It looks like this is going to be the start of several questions and corrections on my methods...

Anyways, regardless of that earlier screw up, this small guide is going to give you a quick synopsis of how to rank your Alchemist all the way from 1 through to 30 with the utmost of convenience whilst still enjoying a regular balanced diet of adventuring, harvesting, and of course, destruction of armor and equipment.

Please note, I'm not making any promises that this is the fastest method of gaining ranks. However, in my experience, this is quite simply the easiest and most cost-effective way to level your Alchemist, Culinarian, and Fisher all at the same time, as well as involving your main class and adventures as part of the conundrum as well.

STEP 1: Do you have what it takes!?

First, go to your nearest vendor and purchase yourself a Weathered Alembic.

What?! That milling wheel? Fogettabout it! At this point, you'll only be making Alembic-based items, and when you will need one, you'll already be buying a Brass version anyways.

Okay, so that was the easy step. In fact, many of you may have already done that. Now, let's tap into the essence that is [Aspect]'s Alchemy 1-10 walkthrough.
*** My bad, for some reason, I thought it was Zissling who wrote this. (It was only 3 or 4 weeks ago...)
Apologies!

STEP 2: Read [Aspect]'s Alchemy 1-10 walkthrough

Wuzzat?! You never read it? Very well. I'll explain the basic idea behind it:

 

In your local marketplace, there is an NPC vendor that will be selling Muddy Water reagents. Now, as you would know, the most basic chemistry any lamen knows how to do is to boil water and remove the impurities. What we have here is dirty water. Let's boil it!

Buy about 100 Muddy Waters (I am not joking), and make sure you have about 100 Fire Shards. In my experience, it took 14 to go from 1 to 5, and the remaining 86 should get you to 10-12ish. With both, you will produce - Yes - One Thousand, Two Hundred (1200) bottles of Distilled Water. Oh, and by the by: Don't throw away any of these. You're going to need -every- -single- -last- -one- later.

*** MATH POLICE: 300, you fool! *kick*

Now, CRAFT!! Craft like your life depended on it!!! What are you doing? Stop reading this and craft those bottles! That water isn't going to boil itself! This is not FFXI.

... Whew...

Say whaaaaaat?! You didn't get Rank 10 crafting those, or you want your crafting experience to be slightly more interesting than just making Distilled Water, or you want to make lots of money?? Well, try some of these for some easy low rank profit:

Bee Baskets (Money,Skill,Interest):
If you have any Bee Baskets, note that these turn into 12 Beehive Chips, which in turn become 48 Beeswax or Honey. They drop off of Bee Swarm mobs quite often-- Sometimes in pairs of two. You can make an average of 800-1000 SP simply off of converting one of these, and sell those Beeswax to a Tanner for quite a penny (Honey is quite useless so far, however).



... Excusez-moi? That was only one?? Well, sue me. I can't think of any others
At least, ones that won't hollow your wallet.

*cough*Rye Flour*cough*Animal Glue*cough*Flax*sniffle*
My, I better make myself some medicine.

Okay, you are now Rank 10-12-ish. It's time to start something fun and wonderful!

PART 3: The Fun and Wonderful World of Fishing-- Aka, the horrible, horrible world of fishing!

*** UPDATE: It seems Aspect wrote a guide on using Malm Kelp for 11-20 in full depth on the front page!! (I wasn't even aware )
Anyways, props to Aspect, you better go check that out-- Errr, as well as my guide too!
(Wonder if he'll cover my part on 21-30 also... )

Firstly, find a vendor and buy yourself a frying pan. I hope you like seafood!!

Now, go over to your nearest Fishing vendor and buy yourself a fishing rod, as well as a Fly Lure.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL THAT THE BAIT WHICH YOU BUY IS A FLY LURE.
Fly Lure-- As in Chocobo Fly, or Crow Fly, or whatever you prefer. In the case you can't find a fly lure, I bought mine from the Limsa Lominsa Fishing Guild. Don't worry, you'll want to hang out there for a while anyways.

¿Qué es eso? You bought live bait!? Well, if you bought Live bait, you will have to make sure you watch what you fish/skin later when I get to that.

Next, get ur butt over to the sea and start fishing. Oh yeah, and don't forget to bring your "patience" with you. Personally, I start blasting loud music into my ears, or begin watching YouTube on my laptop. Either way, you are going to be doing this for a LONG time, so get used to it.

すみません！あなたは魚がどのように多くの知っているか？？

Well, god knows how many I had to fish up to get to rank 20, so bare with me: It's going to be a wonderfully useful synthesis recipe for the next 10-12 levels (even -I'm- still doing it at rank 22, getting an easy and steady stream of 180-220 per synth )

<etc etc etc> you're only rank 22?? Well, time is money, and I'll tell you: I'm not very rich due to 36 hours between leves. Despite this, I've found plenty of time to research some good recipes and strategies to rank up quickly, despite crafting only 20% of the time that I play.
(It should tell you how effective this guide is )

Now, as I was saying: Fish in Limsa Lominsa's Coast, on the docks, or hell, even in their fountains (I find the fountain most effective for this-- Though I cringe at the Jellyfish I occasionally fish up inside of it when using live bait. Gross.)

If you are using Fly, good for you. However, if you're using Live bait, here's what you should do:

Often, what you fish up will be something -other- than Malm Kelp. Most fish you discover will be easy to skin, but beware of Ocean Clouds: They require 2 Wind Shards, which is a subtle warning that this is too hard to skin.

Huh!? What means I by skinning? Well, refer to my [incomplete] guide on "Skinning Fish" in the Culinarians section of the forums. If you're too lazy to read it, I'll summarize:

 

Every and ALL fish can be synthed by itself to produce an item known as either "River Sand" or "Sea Sand". Saltfare will produce Sea Sand, whilst Riverfare will produce River Sand.

NOTE that for this particular recipe, you MUST use Sea Sand, and River Sand is absolutely unacceptable. If you are fishing and you are acquiring Riverfare-- STOP EVERYTHING you are doing!! You are making a mistake!
(Why aren't you at Limsa Lominsa anyways?)

Quite fortunately, Malm Kelp is both the reagent and the catalyst in this recipe. It is Saltfare, and so, can be converted into Sea Sand quite conveniently if you run out. THIS is why it is strongly encouraged that you simply use Fly lure in order to get 100% Malm Kelp in your struggles! It will also prevent having to do the annoying tabulation of a Saltfare and keeping a ratio of 1:1.
(Fair warning: This recipe is -quite- rocky around 12-15, but becomes very easy after that)
(Also make sure you've bought yourself a Brass Alembic, as it helps the results come along quite nicely)

... ... ... Not even a nibble!
... ... ... Not even a nibble!
... ... ... Something's biting!

So, we can now assume you have been doing this for hours, or maybe even days, and have managed to bring yourself up to 20. Now, the fun part's about to begin!

PART 4: You tired of fish yet? Well, try JELLYFISH!!

I hope you've been keeping that sword of yours sharpened, because now, it's finally time for your Alchemy endeavors to intertwine with your adventuring endeavors. Your target is now Jellyfish.

Eh?! What's a Jellyfish?? It's those big ugly pink floating things which go squish-squish whenever you hit them! If your nationality is Limsa Lominsa, you might have recognized a huge swarm of them in the intro.

Whositwhatsit?! Why Jellyfish?? These mobs have 4 different items they can drop, all of which will be indispensible to your endeavors:

1. Miter Shell - Relatively easy Rank 5ish Saltfare. Turn into Sea Sand and make Table Salt. (1 Wind Shard)
2. Scalop Shell - Slightly more difficult Rank 8ish Saltfare. Turn into Sea Sand and make Table Salt. It can also be converted into Chalk with Alchemy, but this is an old and worthless recipe now. (1 Wind Shard)
3. Jellyfish Cnida - If Jellyfish slaying were Mining, these would be your gold. Much like Bee Baskets, 6 Cnida will produce 4 Paralysis Powders, which (with a bit of Quicksilver) can each produce 3 Paralysis Potions, making a total of 5 synths (as well as a beautiful stack of paralysis-inducing throwing battle weapons).
4. Jellyfish Umbrella - These are runner-up as second. Two will produce Jellyfish Humours, which can then be used in the creation of Coloring Enamel with all those useless Silexes you may have been collecting.

*** Mmmm! Add Finger Shrimp to that list! Do what you do with all fish; It's 1 Wind Shard!

Here are a few tips for finding the Jellyfish that's right for you:

• If you are Rank 1-10: You may be too low to pursue this, but regardless, head to Limsa Lominsa and check the south coast of Bearded Rock. IIRC, there are quite simple Jellyfish you can challenge there.
• If you are Rank 11-20: Head East of the Bloodshore Camp. There's an entire coast full of Jellyfish. In the case that this spot is taken, you can go to a secret hideout at the far north-east of the map by entering a cave system. You will reach a paradise of Jellyfish.
• If you are Rank 21-30: Head into Cassiopeia Hollow and start slaying some Cassiopeia. Ain't that simple?

That about wraps up this guide on Alchemy. This as far as I've gotten into research so far. The Jellyfish recipe, however, is reliable straight onwards up to Rank 28-30ish, and so far, Malm Kelp has kept strong, and looks reliable straight to 25. Good luck boys, and remember:

Do it... Do it... FOR SCIENCE!!


*** ALSO NOTE: I've recently glimpsed the sight of a breakthrough-- A perhaps new 25-35ish recipe involving Maple Syrup and Maple Sap. If I do find out anything new about this, it will be in a new post covering what to do with Alchemy after 22ish. It will also cover what kind of equipment you should be wearing at the time and how to align your elements for optimal output!
(aren't I awesome?)
*** UPDATE: It appears not only has SE disclosed the secrets of crafting, but have also explained the nature of elements in affecting your synthing results. As such, it will save me a lot of trouble, and I will just extend the guide to Rank 35ish instead, explaining how to get and find Maple Sap for synthesizing.