Alchemist can acquire key items much earlier than a typical carry, then overwhelm his opponents with a gold advantage. If left alone in the jungle, by midgame the Alchemist will become the richest and most dangerous target on the map. Let’s take a look at who can disrupt his farming, how to weaken Chemical Rage, and which items help you survive his early power spike.

Hero Traits

The Alchemist’s main advantage is Greevil's Greed. The ability provides bonus gold for creeps and lets him quickly build several expensive items. Acid Spray speeds up farming waves and camps, reduces armor, and makes fighting in a confined area difficult. Unstable Concoction provides a long stun and deals a lot of damage, but the mixture needs to be charged in advance. If you silence or reliably disable the hero during that time, he risks stunning himself.

Chemical Rage drastically reduces the interval between attacks and provides powerful health regeneration. Under his ultimate, Alchemist is comfortable in prolonged fights, but becomes noticeably weaker without it. The hero also traditionally has low armor, especially before getting defensive items. Healing reduction, disarm, and physical damage quickly expose this weakness. Another problem for Alchemist is his dependence on tempo: if his first items arrive late, Greevil's Greed loses its purpose.

Best Heroes Against Alchemist

Alchemist usually plays in the carry or mid position. Sometimes he is picked as a support to get Aghanim's Scepter for his allies, but most often you’ll have to deal with the core version, which farms quickly and fights with right-clicks.

Carry

  • Lifestealer. Feast is especially effective against Alchemist’s large health pool, while Rage helps him withstand Acid Spray and Unstable Concoction. Lifestealer fights well on even footing in terms of items and prevents his opponent from winning a fight just by being tanky.
  • Ursa. Fury Swipes continually increases damage against a single target, so regeneration from Chemical Rage cannot keep up with a long series of attacks. Enrage helps Ursa survive the counter-focus and continue fighting.

Mid

  • Monkey King. Puts heavy pressure on Alchemist in lane, quickly builds Jingu Mastery, and forces him to leave the creeps early. Tree Dance lets Monkey King track his movements between camps and disrupt his peaceful farming.
  • Necrophos. Constant damage against his health pool weakens the advantage from Chemical Rage, while Reaper's Scythe helps finish off Alchemist before regeneration restores his health. Ghost Shroud protects against frequent attacks.

Offlaner

  • Doom. Doom prevents Alchemist from using abilities and regenerating health, completely changing the kind of fight he is used to. Infernal Blade deals bonus damage based on the target’s large health pool.
  • Slardar. Corrosive Haze turns Alchemist’s low armor into a serious vulnerability. A chain of stuns prevents him from attacking freely, while Slardar’s high movement speed lets him keep up the chase.

Support

  • Spirit Breaker. Charge of Darkness helps find Alchemist in the jungle and repeatedly disrupt his farming. Several stuns in a row prevent him from making use of his high attack speed, while Nether Strike remains useful control even after Black King Bar is acquired.
  • Skywrath Mage. Alchemist has low armor, but he is also vulnerable to fast magic damage combos before getting defensive items. Ancient Seal prevents him from using Chemical Rage in time, while Mystic Flare punishes a target disabled by an ally.

Hard Support

  • Ancient Apparition. Ice Blast completely prevents health regeneration. Under this effect, Chemical Rage loses its main defensive advantage, and even a huge health pool cannot save Alchemist from being quickly finished off.
  • Oracle. Fate's Edict can be used to disarm Alchemist, while False Promise saves an ally from his physical focus. Fortune's End helps dispel regular negative effects and prevents a single combo from deciding the fight.

What to Buy Against Alchemist

  • Spirit Vessel. Reduces regeneration from Chemical Rage and deals damage based on the target’s health pool.
  • Eye of Skadi. Reduces healing and attack speed, and also makes it harder for Alchemist to easily disengage from a fight.
  • Shiva's Guard. Provides armor, reduces health regeneration, and slows his frequent attacks.
  • Heaven's Halberd. Prevents Alchemist from attacking at the most dangerous moment of his ultimate.
  • Assault Cuirass. Increases the team’s armor and further reduces Alchemist’s already low armor.
  • Ghost Scepter. Helps a support survive physical focus and waste some of the duration of Chemical Rage.

How to Play Against Alchemist at Different Stages

Laning

Before level six, Alchemist has little regeneration, so you can harass him constantly and force him to spend gold on healing. Don’t stand inside Acid Spray for the sake of one creep: the armor reduction makes the subsequent trade far too favorable for your opponent. Watch for Unstable Concoction being charged. A silence, stun, or sudden retreat can force Alchemist to detonate the mixture on himself.

If he goes to the jungle early, don’t assume you’ve won the lane. Place an Observer Ward at the entrances, block several camps with a Sentry Ward, and invade after pushing the wave. It’s especially important to disrupt stacking and control bounty runes: the extra gold speeds up his first items.

Midgame

Compare not only levels, but also the heroes’ net worth. Alchemist may look weak, then return a few minutes later with two new items. After destroying the outer towers, take over his large jungle and maintain deep vision. Your pressure should lead to objectives: if the whole team spends a long time chasing Alchemist without killing him, the other opponents will get free rein across the map.

Don’t start focusing him in a fight without reducing his healing. Force Chemical Rage, create distance with defensive items, and return once some of the buff has been spent. As soon as his ultimate or Black King Bar expires, immediately force another fight—this is one of the best windows to kill him.

Late Game

Alchemist doesn’t automatically become weak in the late game: with a full set of items, he can still kill a single target quickly. His advantage shrinks only when the other cores catch up to him in net worth. Don’t face him alone, and coordinate disarms, healing reduction, and control among your heroes in advance.

Save your saves for the target Alchemist jumps on after charging Unstable Concoction. If he can’t attack for several seconds, most of Chemical Rage goes to waste. After a failed initiation, reduce his armor and focus him as a team: unnecessarily dragging out the fight is dangerous because of his high attack speed and regeneration.