The High Alchemist (in-game name Ylialkemisti) is a boss encountered in the Ancient Laboratory, to the west of the Dark Cave. It guards the Abandoned Alchemy Lab. Though the High Alchemist moves very slowly, its powerful projectile attacks can be hard to dodge, and it is a fearsome foe for any player who decides to traverse the Ancient Laboratory.
Behavior[]
The High Alchemist will remain idle in the center of its arena until the player approaches, at which point it will become aggressive, and the fight will begin. Be wary, as the High Alchemist can see the player about a full screen away, and may begin attacking before the player sees it.
The High Alchemist moves by floating around very slowly, pursuing the player in a manner similar to Limanuljaska and the many other floating enemies of the world. It passively generates a special shield around itself - any projectiles that the player fires at this shield will be redirected at the player, changing the projectile's ownership and dealing damage,or casts Explosion dealing massive damage. The shield lasts for 10s. This shield turns off and on at even intervals throughout the fight, and the player must take care when to fire their wands.
While the player is in its sight, the High Alchemist will periodically fire a bouncy, homing orb projectile, which dissipates after a short time. As the orb travels through the air, it will summon three large, ethereal wands that aim at the player before firing, telegraphing their attacks similarly to the Intense Concentrated Light spell. There are four different types of ethereal wands the High Alchemist's orbs can summon, and each orb will only summon one type of wand.
Dark Wand[]
A ghastly purple wand that fires a tight cluster of fast, potentially-bouncy beams; nearly identical to the above-mentioned Intense Concentrated Light spell. Very deadly in enclosed spaces, especially if all three instances of the wand are angled properly.
Glowing Wand[]
A shimmering white wand that fires a burst of explosive lasers, similar to the Pinpoint of Light spell. The lasers can cleave through most terrain, and are likely to hit the player if they are hiding behind fragile cover.
Volatile Wand[]
A fiery orange wand that shoots a Meteor at the player. Can set the player on fire, and can even instantly kill the player on a direct hit unless they have accrued a large amount of HP.
Thunder Wand[]
A cyan electrical wand that fires a Lightning Bolt at the player. Although short ranged, it can be terrible in closed spaces, stunning the player, and leading to deadly follow ups.
Rewards[]
Upon death, the High Alchemist will violently dissolve into a cloud of magic particles, leaving behind a full heal (only on first kill), Crystal Key and 4 random spells from the list below. Also, all of the following Spells, except Wand Refresh which has to be one of the dropped spells to unlock, will be permanently unlocked for the player:
| Spells | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alpha | Gamma | Omega |
| Zeta | Sigma | Tau |
| Mu | Phi | Wand Refresh |
Combat Tips[]
- Be very careful about your position throughout the fight - each time a wand spell is spawned, it will be aimed directly at where you currently are, and then fire after a short delay. Prediction of when, where, and how the wands will fire is key to survival.
- Each summon orb will summon multiple spectral wand spells, aimed at where you are when that spell is cast. Take care that avoiding the first attack does not leave you in the path of the second attack.
- Unlike a typical projectile shield, everything that hits the High Alchemist's shield will be reflected at the player. The Tentacle spell can be very deadly towards the player if reflected, but can still be very effective against the High Alchemist when the shield is down. However there is no animation when the shield activates so it is advised to only go in for damage shortly after the shield is gone, then stop and wait for it to go up again.
- The High Alchemist raises its shield after receiving 50 damage in a single hit or 75 damage across multiple hits. It will also raise its shield once every 10 seconds. These checks are done independently and can result in overlapping shields.
- Due to the nature of its shield and vulnerabilities, a reliable method of killing the High Alchemist for longer runs is to acquire a wand with Lightning Bolt, Thunder Charge, Explosion of Thunder or Ball Lightning (behind a trigger for safety) midway through a standard run along the Main Path and return to the surface via the shaft from the Snowy Depths up to the Lava Lake; with a teleport wand or the right perks and potions, it should be a simple matter to reach the arena, and from there a few shots will be enough to take down the Alchemist quickly.
- If you have ways to increase your movement and flight speed&time such as Hastium or the right combination of Perks, you can fly around the alchemist in circles and consistently avoid the wands, shooting when his shield is down.
- Using Teleport Bolt to move behind the High Alchemist after it throws an orb also guarantees you'll have enough distance from the spawned wands to dodge their spells (or even fully stay out of range for the lightning wand)
- The High Alchemist will easily erase large amounts of terrain to get to the player, if necessary.
- Patsas can be lured in from the Ancient Laboratory and can fight the High Alchemist on its own, as Patsas are immune to all of its attacks.
- The High Alchemist can hit himself with his own spells, they deal very decent damage in case you don't have a good damage wand but have a travel/teleport wand.
- If utilizing Chain Bolt to bypass the High Alchemist's shield, be aware that the shield still functions as intended -- it will change the ownership of the projectile, but due to Chain Bolt's behavior, it will not reflect and will instead continue on to damage the Alchemist (remember that spells owned by the Alchemist still hurt him, such as Prickly Spore Pod). If this happens, credit for the kill does not go to the player, which means he won't unlock in the progress menu. I managed to kill 1 High Alchemist and 5 Alchemist's Shadows this way, and a total of zero kills were recorded. To guarantee your kill is recorded, finish him off with a high-damage projectile when his shield is completely down.
- A small pool of Ambrosia makes the combat a lot easier.
- However, be aware that because The High Alchemist bleeds slime, a wand with a high fire rate can end up drowning the player in slime, causing the Ambrosia to wash off.
- The Summon Rock Spirit spell can be somewhat effective against The High Alchemist, as the rock spirits home in on him, do solid single hit damage if they detonate on him when his shield is down (potentially upwards of 100), stun him briefly after hitting him, which causes him to fall, and aren't reflected by his shield (instead detonating when they touch it.) However, their AI is kind of janky and has some trouble properly hitting The High Alchemist, even when his shield is down, so you would probably want either want multiple sets of the spell or the Unlimited Spells Perk, so that you don't run out of rock spirits before he dies. Note that this isn't a super fast way of killing him, but does make the fight significantly less difficult due to the fact you don't need to worry about him reflecting your projectiles.
- The spirits may also distract The High Alchemist briefly, which could potentially be lifesaving.
Builds[]
For long runs or when the spells are available. The following wand builds kill the High Alchemist in a single hit, as long as his shield is down.
The spark bolt with trigger can be replaced with any other trigger.
Parallel Worlds[]
In Parallel Worlds, the Alchemist's Shadow (or Alkemistin Varjo) can be found anywhere on the surface, along with the shadow version of Sauvojen Tuntija. These pink-shaded copies do not drop anything besides gold.
