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Stabbey Offline OP
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Alchemy and Enchanting seem complicated, but the formulas are actually much simpler than they appear at first glance. The key thing to remember is that each formula is composed of a key ingredient (either a plant or a gemstone) which determines what the item does, and one or more potency ingredient(s), which determines the strength of the enchantment.

To save space in the first half of the game, it is recommended that you only pick up items that you have an immediate use for. For Example: If your character doesn't use Dexterity potions, don't fill your inventory with Fatferns. If you're in Broken Valley, you're unlikely to have the formulas which require you to use Black Rock or Fanny Blossoms, so don't pick those up.

(Credit goes to seroin for compiling the original formulas in his Ego Draconis FAQ.)


Alchemy - Key Ingredients

Healing Potions: Ginseng
Mana Potions: Earth Root
Rejuvenation Potions: Ginseng, Earth Root
Strength Potions: Farhangite
Dexterity Potions: Fatfern
Intelligence Potions: Stardust
Armor potions: Whisperwood


Alchemy - Potency Ingredients

Potion Quality 3-5: Black Rose
Potion Quality 6-8: Dragon Nail
Potion Quality 9-10: Fanny Blossom

Never, ever pick up Moonshine, Holy Basil, or Oak Tears, as they aren't even used for anything (except Holy Basil, and even then only if you chose Allan as your Alchemist.)



Enchantments (somewhat simplified)

The enchanting system is very complicated, it can be hard to know what you should pick up to get the effect you want.

Each Enchantment has a gemstone as the basis of an enchantment. The specific quality of the enchantment requires a specific combination of ores and/or gemstones.

Black Rock is only useful for rank 9 and 10 enchantments, Malachite Ore is only required for rank 10 enchantments, Malachite Gems are only required for Rank 10 enchantments and all ranks of Healing Aura. So you are unlikely to find a use for those while you’re still in Broken Valley. Spontaneous Combustion is an enchantment for Jewellery, not weapons, but it follows the ore pattern for weapons. So if you have a specific enchantment in mind, you will want to pick up only certain types of gems, and if you know the quality of the enchantment, you'll know what ores to seek out.

All Jewellery enchantments except two are simple, requiring a gemstone and Gold Ore for all levels.


Weapon Enchantments:

Base Gemstone (Key Ingredient):
Life Leech: Amber
Poison: Aquamarine, Venom Stone
Fire Curse: Crystal
Mana Leech: Emerald
Increased Physical Damage: Moonstone
Increased Magical Damage: Diamond
Butcher: Obsidian
Spontaneous Combustion (Jewellery): Diamond


Armor Enchantments

Base Gemstone (Key Ingredient):
Increased Mana: Opal
Life Line: Pearl
Melee Protection: Pyrite
Ranged Protection: Quartz
Magic Protection: Ruby
Magic Damage Aura: Topaz
Retribution Aura: Spinel


Weapon/Armor Ores (Potency Ingredient):

Rank 1-2: Iron
Rank 3-4: Droxlerite, Fossil
Rank 4-10: Red Ore (Weapons ONLY)
Rank 4-10: Venom Stone (Armor ONLY)
Rank 5-6: Gold Ore
Rank 7-8: Droxlerite
Rank 9-10: Black Rock
Rank 10: Malachite Gem, Malachite Ore

Jewellery Ore (Potency Ingredient):
Rank 1-10: Gold Ore
(All Jewellery enchantments (except spontaneous combustion) require Gold Ore.)


Jewellery Enchantments (Key Ingredient):
Healing Aura: Malachite Gem, Sapphire
Retribution Aura: Spinel
Static Charge Aura: Tiger’s Eye
Damage Aura: Topaz
Magic Damage Aura: Topaz
Poison Aura: Aquamarine, Venom Stone


I don't have a full guide about what gemstones can be found in what ore, but when I get that I'll add it to this post (if possible).

Iron Ore - Tiger's Eye,
Red Ore - Moonstone, Crystal
Droxerlite - Spinel, Ruby
Fossil - Obsidian, Pearl
Venom Stone - Sapphire
Malachite Ore - Malachite Gem, Aquamarine
Gold Ore - Topaz

Last edited by Stabbey; 19/03/11 08:08 PM. Reason: added request for gemstone-ore relationship
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I would add:

Except for Malachite Gems, all ingredients are available in unlimited quantities later on in the game. So I think you should save your malachite gems and go wild with everything else.

Also: you can make your crafting life simpler by using crafting skills (one for making potions efficiently and one for carrying ingredients). Most guides will tell you that these skills are "a waste", but if you want a fun, fast-paced game, you should probably take advantage of your ability to forget skills you do not need. So: a point or two to help you carry things late in broken valley and on sentinel island might be useful, and 5 points in master herbalist and a bunch in wisdom (depending on how much you can get from gear) before you reskill for the end game might make things go smoother for you.

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Interesting thoughts.

I'm one of the people who considers those skills a waste, actually. They occupy spaces which are better suited for skills which help you survive. I would only consider using those if you know where all the extra skill points in Broken Valley are. Yes, you can respec, but that's 5000 gold which is better spent increasing the survival of the runners so they spend more time harvesting and less time draining your gold to be healed.


One or two points into Encumbrance might help by letting you hold more things... but those detract from your ability to be effective in combat, and more efficient packing can compensate for that. That's the POINT of this guide: I'm telling you the formulas in a different way so that decisions on what to keep and discard are easier. If you want to use level 4 or 6 enchantments, no point clogging your inventory with Iron Ore (used only on rank 1 and 2 enchantments). If you aren't interested in using the Retribution Aura in your armor or jewelry, don't hold on to Spinel. If you're not concerned with making Dexterity potions, don't fill up on Fatfern.


Master Herbalist can't even be used until level 15, and by that time you're so close to obtaining the Battle Tower and infinite plants that it doesn't matter much. You need three points to reduce 3x <Ingredient> to 2x <Ingredient>, four points to reduce 4x to 2x, five points to reduce 5x to 1x. Only the highest level formulas are noticeably affected by this, and you have the Battle Tower already by the time those start showing up.


Points into Wisdom have nothing to do with Alchemy or Enchanting, so advice on that one way or another has no place in this guide.

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Thanks for the info Stabbey !

And to add this Stabbey:

I've found so far (only in Brocken Valley) in Veins the following Gems :
Iron Ore Vein : Amber, Diamond, Opal(? not 100% sure about Opal)
Gold Ore Vein: Quartz, Crystal
Red Ore Vein: Ruby, Moonstone, Opal
Droxlerite Ore Vein : Opal, Spinel
Black Rock Ore Vein : Obsidian, Pyrite

I make myself a file where I write down all info about my current hero and so naturally also info about Alchemy & Enchanting wink

I personal put no points in Wisdom or Encumbrance. The last one can be handy, but I make my own plan to not take all Gems & Ores with me, but write down were I can find them (for later).
I think I put points in Master Herbaslist just to make potions on a cheap way and sell them afterwards to make more money :hihi: ...
I try to find/buy all kind of Formula's for all kind of potions and for Enchanting I always first disenchant an item if it has an enchantment I haven't yet. Just the "lust" to collect biggrin almost all kind of Enchantment Formula's (& of each level),
for sure the Enchantments I like most.
Sometimes I only buy a weapon/armour or jewellery for his "enchantment" because (if I'm right) it's still cheaper way to get new Enchantings via disenchanting than buy Formula's.


On 7th of february 2015 : I start a new adventure in the Divinity world of Original Sin,
it's a Fantastic Freaking Fabulous Funny ... it's my All Time Favorite One !
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I've wandered around checking ores. My list mostly corresponds with Joram's. There are 17 gemstones, and 8 types of ore. Each ore seems to give out only two specific types of gemstones (which makes sense), and they are as follows:

Iron Ore: Amber, Diamond
Red Ore: Moonstone, Ruby
Droxerlite: Spinel, Opal
Black Rock: Obsidian, Pyrite
Fossil: Topaz, Sapphire
Venom Stone: Emerald, Tiger’s Eye
Malachite Ore: Malachite Gem, Aquamarine
Gold Ore: Quartz, Crystal
???: Pearl


Each ore has a level of commonality in the game.

Commonality:

Iron Ore: Very Common
Red Ore: Very Common
Venom Stone: Very Common
Droxerlite: Common
Black Rock: Rare
Gold Ore: Rare
Fossil: Extremely Rare
Malachite Ore: Extremely Rare
???: Pearl



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I've only found so far 2 Pearl Gems: one from Viper and one in the Delerect tunnels, side Waterfall in a chest or barrel ...

Some of the Gold ore Veins are well hidden !! So, for example, I discovered recently for the first time - after all the many times I used the Quarry Scrine - there's a Gold Ore Vein behind some bushes nearby this Scrine ! laugh





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it's a Fantastic Freaking Fabulous Funny ... it's my All Time Favorite One !
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Small question, is there an easy way to get enchantment formulas? I've disenchanted what I did not use but did not get very lucky so I mostly have crappy enchants formulas. I just reached battle tower and would like to begin some serious enchanting (just got razakel warhammer that is a nice weapon with 3 empty enchant slots...). But I lack +magical damage enchantment formulas.

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You can check merchants each time you level for weapons or armour with higher level enchantments, and a couple can carry enchantment formula (though usually not as high as you can get from equipment). Save before approaching merchants (the first time you talk to them after leveling) and you can reload a couple times to see if they offer anything you can use.
Equipment and formula can also show up in chests and as quest rewards.

Other than some of the DKS set pieces or unique equipment, there isn't really anywhere that you can go get a specific enchantment. Even then, when there are pre-determined enchantments, they tend not to be higher than you can find randomly.
From a search of Lancet's DKS FAQ/Guide, there were a couple weapons with Increased Magical Damage in Broken Valley, a bow with level 1 can be bought in High Hall after you do a quest there, and then there are more once you get to FoV.

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Ok thanks. I find it a bit annoying right after getting battle tower, as you lose access to all merchants from BV and SI.
I'll have to find my way through the fjords, somehow there are some barriers I cannot go through and thus I can't access all the map.

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If you fly out over the water from the start of the fjords, you should see a bunker high in the mountains behind some anti-dragon shields and defenses. That is where you need to get to lower the barrier and disable the shields (there are a couple traders in there, as well, after they surrender).
You can either use a teleporter to get up there (the Camp Sentinel View teleporter, on the west side of the island in the middle of the channel, on a ledge directly above the left Nest Tower as you approach the cliff, will bring you to Camp Eagle's Nest, where you can access the bunker) or it is also possible to fly above the anti-dragon shield and drop down in human form, if you find the right spot.

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Thanks! I actually ended figuring how to get there by myself, I had missed the teleporter. So now I got much more access to the area and more traders (the ones in the tower are out of cash already!). Got lucky with one of the new trader and I purchased a +50 magical damage weapon that I disenchanted. Was expensive but now I do awesome damage.

Last edited by Sigwald; 14/08/11 05:13 PM.
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I usually find that enchanting is not worth it on lower levels (before hitting the fjords and even during most parts of them) - and lateron you find enough good formulas/items to dis-enchant.

So I'd not bother with enchanting at all if you do not think it's worth it (any echantment below tier 6, most are only useful between 8 and 10) - just play on and sooner or later, you'll find everything you wish for (as I said as items or scrolls). There are only very few enchantments that you need on tier 10 (the normal and magical weapon-damage of +100), basically every other enchantment, imo, works nearly as well on tier 8 or 9.

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i just don't waste my Malachite Gems on the low level Healing enchantments. i like enchanting my gear at low levels, in fact the Broken Valley enchanter is usually the first place i go after the Talana scene.
i can grab the Slayerbane enroute.


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