Alchemy Explained: Runes, Every Formula and the Cheapest Mixes

All of it happens in the Alchemy Lab, on the top floor of the Abandoned Tower next to the Keeper’s house. You get in during Dungeons and… that’s it, probably., when you let Albert, the Plague Doctor, into the tower, and the room comes furnished: Laboratory I, a Flask shelf, a Folio and the Study Table. The rest of the craft is bookkeeping with occasional explosions. Figures are for patch 1.008, though trader prices and Likes may have moved with that patch’s trading changes.

How alchemy works: the seven rules

1. Study first. The laboratory only accepts an ingredient you have studied at the Study Table. A study costs Science (and sometimes a little Faith), pays tech points once, keeps the item, and reveals its runes. The 19 Alchemic Powders count as studied from the start.
2. Add up the runes. Every ingredient carries a fixed number of red, green and blue runes. Laboratory I holds up to 2 ingredients, Laboratory II up to 3, and the same ingredient can fill several slots: each copy counts again.
3. Match exactly. The total must equal a formula’s target, colour by colour. One rune too many or too few brews nothing. No colour may go above 5, and the ingredient picker hides anything that would push past it.
4. Grades do not matter. A gold Onion carries the same 2 green runes as a bronze one. Brew with your worst stock and sell or cook the good stuff.
5. One flask per brew. Each brew takes one flask from the Flask shelf (shared storage in the same room also counts). Flasks in your backpack do not.
6. Unknown formulas still brew. A technology only reveals a formula’s target. A mix that hits an undiscovered target shows a question mark, brews anyway and records the formula in the Folio.
7. Every brew pays its runes. You earn tech points equal to the product’s runes, whatever went in, so the cheapest matching mix is the right one.

The brewing itself is quick: each potion needs 3 progress cells, and each hit advances by your Anatomy (blue) mastery, 1 to 3. You can queue up to 999 brews, but changing an ingredient resets the quantity to 1, and finished potions drop on the floor beside the lab. Neither laboratory takes a zombie worker, so every brew in the game is made by your own hands.

Alchemy runes: every ingredient’s values

Read a rune total as red/green/blue. The heavy hitters carry 3 of one colour: Iron Ore, Marble and Melted Fat for red, Fragrance and Pumpkin for green, Alcohol and gold Brain for blue. Salt and Cheese carry one of each.

The cheap one-rune fillers are what make the arithmetic work: Water, Leaf, Stick and Berry for 1 green; Clay, Sand and Flesh for 1 red; Blood, Blueberry and Seed oil for 1 blue. Study them early and you can top up almost any total.

Only the gold-grade Heart, Brain and Guts carry runes; ordinary organs carry none. Some players call them gold Heart, gold Brain and gold Guts, a community label; in game you see a gold-star Heart, Brain or Guts, and this page names them that way. You get them from the occasional top-grade corpse or by improving an ordinary organ (see the Organ Improver below).

Alchemic Powders: runes off the shelf

The Apothecary in Town sells 19 Alchemic Powders, one for every combination of 1 to 3 runes, and they count as studied. Nine single and double powders are on sale from its first tier, all 19 from tier II. Prices: 5 bronze for one rune, 10 for two, 20 for three of one colour, 25 for three runes over two colours, 30 for one of each. Every one of the 29 formulas can be brewed from powders alone, so a powder is the cleanest way to fill one missing rune. Example: a 1 red + 2 blue powder plus Alcohol makes Third Eye Salt at Laboratory I without any gold-grade organ.

Ingredients the lab refuses

• Cacao has runes but no study, so the laboratory never accepts it. Keep it for Chocolate.
• Firefly reads 1/0/2 on paper, but whether the Study Table and the laboratory take it is unconfirmed. Do not build a plan on it: gold Heart, Clay + Zombie goo or Clay + Night flower reach the same total.
• Ordinary organs carry no runes, and Comet’s Tail has none either: it belongs to the Formulation Bench.

Setting up the Alchemy Lab

The Folio records each formula’s rune target, never the ingredients you used. Write your favourite mixes down somewhere else, or keep this page open.

Flasks: the real currency of alchemy

• Alchemy Flasks I: each crate placed on the shelf becomes 5 flasks. The lab chest gives you 3 crates (15 brews) to start. The Apothecary sells them at 20 bronze base, about 4 bronze a brew, or make them at Furnace I or II: 2 Glass and 10 Fuel give 2 crates (3 with Glassworker) at Smithing 2, after Glass Blowing (45 red, 10 green).
• Alchemy Flasks II: 10 flasks per crate, but it is melted from 3 Flasks I, which held 15. Never make it for brewing. Make it only when a recipe asks for Flasks II itself, such as Science Kit II or the Good Alchemist’s kit.

What to study first

The lab chest also holds a Science Kit I and a Clean Paper, 31 Science on the spot, plus 3 Water and 3 Blood. Study in this order:

1. Water and Blood (1 Science each, no Faith). Water + Blood is Dream Dust, the first formula you need.
2. The other 1-Science studies: Stone, Clay, Sand, Leaf, Stick, Berry, Blueberry and Flesh. Leaf needs no Faith, the other seven take 1 Faith each.
3. Salt and Ash (3 Science and 2 Faith each).

Those twelve cheap studies already reach 10 formulas at Laboratory I and 19 once Laboratory II stands. When Science runs dry, the science points guide shows how corpse Skin becomes paper, and how five sheets, a flask and an Ink become Science Kits worth 90 Science a batch.

Every alchemy recipe: the 29 formulas

“Lab” is the cheapest laboratory that can brew it. Mixes separated by “·” are alternatives; every one adds up exactly.

Six formulas have no one- or two-ingredient mix at all, so they need Laboratory II: Berserker Potion III, Reanimation Liquid, Tannin Liquid, Alkali, Umami and the Philosopher Stone. Everything else brews at Laboratory I.

Battle potions by grade

All four families are drunk only during a battle. The Keeper has 100 health.

Prices are base values. The Alchemist sells grade I potions from his first tier, grade II from his second and Healing, Damage and Zombie Motivator III at his third; his shelves carry no Berserker Potion III, so brew that one yourself. When to drink what is covered in the battles guide.

The key solutions and mixtures

Dream Dust: the first formula

Alchemy, Basic costs nothing: it arrives when Albert reaches 10 reputation, or through the tower quest that lets him in. It hands you Laboratory I, the Flask shelf and Dream Dust. Sweet Dreams only checks that you carry 1 Dream Dust and leaves it in your pocket. Later, Dream Dust goes into Crop Boosting Fertilizer I (2 Peat + 1 Dream Dust), Fancy Incense, and the one-time Fairy summoning at the Kitchen Table during Chasing Fairy Lights (with a Comet’s Tail and a Tooth), which earns A Little Magic. The Alchemist pays about 75 bronze a dose plus a few Likes.

Paint and Lacquer: the Port pair

Paint is two Water, the most famous free lunch in the game. The formula is revealed by Safe Harbor, where Linda wants Paint for her club. The Trademaster pays about 2 silver each once his shop opens (Crystal Clear), and the Alchemist about 1 silver 40 plus Likes. Keep a few for Printed Money and Church Shrine III. The selling details are in the money-making guide.

Lacquer is one Night flower or two Blood. The technology is free, handed over during Varnish Before You Fiddle, where Albert wants 1 Lacquer for his sister’s violin (since 1.007 the hand-in also needs 20 Albert reputation). Once you have Fishing IV, Lacquer + Flesh makes 4 Live Bait at the Kitchen Table, the bait every legendary fish spot calls for.

Reanimation Liquid: one per zombie

Every resurrection uses one. The Reanimation Liquid technology (30 red, 40 green, 50 blue) is hidden behind 20 reputation with Gunter and revealed by one of his quests. The same node unlocks Alcohol at the Distillation Cube and the Solution for Zombies. Stone + Alcohol + Ash is the everyday recipe; before your first Alcohol, Copper Nugget + Night flower + Night flower or Copper Nugget + Zombie goo + Zombie goo reach the same 2/1/4.

Before you can brew it: Gunter sells 3 from his second tier, the Alchemist stocks it from his first, and chests hold 2 in the Old Mine, 2 in the Sawmill and 3 in the Resurrection Lab. Albert also hands you 2 during Personal Zombie Zone, but they are meant for that quest’s own 8-red-skull zombie. What to raise and why is in the zombies guide.

Preservative and embalming fluids

Preservative is a single Pumpkin or Fragrance, and it is the base of all four embalming fluids, made at the Formulation Bench. Corpse fluids use Melted Fat, zombie fluids use Alcohol, and injections add a Comet’s Tail.

These are star crafts: the grade depends on how many ticks succeed, silver at half, gold at all of them. Embalming I (50 red, 10 blue) sits behind Autopsy, Advanced and Embalming III (150 red, 150 blue) behind Reanimation II. Comet’s Tail costs 10 bronze at Gunter or the Apothecary. What each fluid does to a body is explained in the corpse quality guide.

Organ Improver: making dark organs

Both versions are called Organ Improver in game: the red-skull one (4/1/0) and the white-skull one (0/4/0, two Flour). Both work at the Formulation Bench after Practical Potions (100 green, 100 blue), each turning an organ of any grade into its gold version in that skull colour: Skin, Bones or Skull at Anatomy 5, Heart, Brain or Guts at Anatomy 7. Mind the white version on corpses: white gold Skin, Bones and Guts still carry 1 red skull each, and that is intended. That closes a loop: a gold Heart carries runes, ready for Third Eye Salt or Zombie Motivator Potion II.

Spices and Umami: grade upgrades

At the Kitchen Table, a bronze Wine, Grape Juice, Vegetable salad or Bowl of sauerkraut plus Spices becomes silver (Farming 4, Transmutation I), and a silver one plus Umami becomes gold (Farming 6, Alchemy, Advanced). Spices is two Ash; Umami needs three ingredients and Laboratory II. The Alchemist sells Spices from tier II and Umami at tier III, and pays about 11 silver 25 for an Umami. The cooking guide lists the dishes you upgrade, Honey comes from the beekeeping guide, and the wine guide does the sums on gold Wine.

Philosopher Stone: iron into gold

The formula and the transmutation recipes come with Alchemy, Advanced (200 red, 100 blue); the brew itself needs Laboratory II. Three Salt add up to exactly 3/3/3, and Salt costs 20 bronze at the Apothecary or Baker or falls out of every cremation. Marble + Alcohol + Pumpkin works too, and Melted Fat + Alcohol + Fragrance can be bought entirely at the Apothecary.

At the Formulation Bench the stone turns 1 Iron Ore into 1 Golden nugget (Anatomy 6) or 1 Iron Ingot into 1 Golden ingot (Anatomy 8). A nugget is worth about 1 silver, an ingot about 1 gold: same stone, same bench, a hundred times the value. Feed it ingots as soon as you reach Anatomy 8. The gold guide takes the ingot all the way to jewellery.

Third Eye Salt: the one potion for daily work

Every other potion is battle-only. Third Eye Salt adds +2 to all five masteries (Building, Smithing, Farming, Book writing, Anatomy) for 7 minutes 30 seconds, anywhere. Drink it before a star craft, a hard planting or a gold transmutation at Anatomy 8. A gold Heart + Alcohol is the two-slot mix; without gold organs, use a 1 red + 2 blue powder with Alcohol, or Clay + Alcohol + Night flower at Laboratory II.

Explosive Dust, Tannin Liquid and Alkali

• Explosive Dust (Tin + Blood) becomes Dynamite at the Formulation Bench: 2 Explosive Dust + 1 Alcohol at Anatomy 5. The technology stays hidden until Can’t See The Forest for the Iron, and the Old Mine chest holds 2 Explosive Dust. Plan a Dynamite in the crafting calculator.
• Tannin Liquid and Alkali exist for one item each: Master Armor and the Master Sword. Both come with Crafting Potions (100 red, 80 green) and both need Laboratory II. Beeswax + Ash + Ash is the Alkali mix that needs no gold organ.
• Growth elixirs only exist to be mixed with Peat at the Formulation Bench into Farming or Headstart Fertilizer (table below). A single Beeswax or Coal is a whole Weak growth elixir. Where fertilizer pays off is covered in the farming guide.

The alchemy technologies, in order

Almost everything sits on the Anatomy and Alchemy tab. Costs are red/green/blue.

From other tabs you also need Fertilizers II, III and IV on Farming (0/30/10, 0/60/15 and 0/150/30) for the three elixirs, Church Lighting I on Theology for the Formulation Bench, Church Smells I (10/50/30) for Fragrance at the cube, and Glass Blowing on Metallurgy for flasks.

Counting everything beneath it, Alchemy, Advanced costs 355 red, 185 green and 255 blue from scratch; Practical Potions brings the bill to 355/285/355. The tech priorities guide shows where that fits in a full research order.

Distillation Cube: Melted Fat, Fragrance and Alcohol

The cube is an auto-crafter: load it and it finishes alone, burning 20 Fuel a batch, and a zombie can tend it. Every batch also needs 2 clay vessels: Clay Plates for fat, Clay Urns for the rest.

• A new cube cannot make Alcohol. Alchemy, Distillation only gives you Melted Fat; Alcohol arrives with the Reanimation Liquid technology.
• Fat comes free. It is a corpse pocket item, removed with no failure chance, and 1 Fat gives more Melted Fat than 3 Seed oil.
• Distil bronze Wine: the grade changes nothing.
• Vessels: 2 Clay make 3 Clay Plates, and 4 Clay make 2 Clay Urns at the Potter’s Wheel.
• Shortcut: the Apothecary sells Melted Fat and Fragrance from tier I and Alcohol from tier II.

Patch 1.008 corrected wrong requirement text in the cube’s craft tooltip without saying which line changed, so a screenshot of that tooltip from before 1.008 may show a wrong requirement.

Formulation Bench: where alchemy products end up

The bench is a manual workbench on Anatomy mastery, from 1 to 8, with 36 recipes. You can place it in the Alchemy Lab or the Writing Room, and unlike the laboratories it accepts a zombie worker.

The Keeper’s Alchemist talent and the zombie perk Dead alchemist give a 40 to 80% chance of a bonus item on many of these, depending on the recipe. Candles and incense matter for the church: see church, sermons and faith.

Alchemy for tech points

Rule 7 makes the laboratory a points machine: each brew pays the product’s runes, so a richer formula pays more for the same flask. Undiscovered formulas brew too, so you do not need the technology first.

Two extras. The first copy of each product is worth more at the Study Table than in your pocket: Dream Dust pays 50 blue, Healing Potion and Paint 30 red and 10 blue, a Philosopher Stone 50 red, 30 green and 25 blue. Keep one of each before you sell. And the Novice Alchemist achievement asks for 25 laboratory brews; every laboratory craft appears to count, so a morning of Paint takes care of it.

Selling alchemy

• Price rule: a trader pays about three quarters of the item’s base price while he holds his usual stock, and less as his shelf fills. Spread sales over several visits.
• Paint goes to the Trademaster (about 2 silver) or the Alchemist (about 1 silver 40 plus Likes); Dream Dust fetches about 75 bronze at the Alchemist.
• The Alchemist buys almost every potion and mixture, the expensive ones from his higher tiers (no trader buys Explosive Dust); his shop opens with Market Stalls III. Town has only seven stall plots for eight stall shops, so keep one free for him, and one for the Apothecary, if you plan to trade alchemy. A Philosopher Stone carries a 50 silver base and earns 2 Likes each, up to 20 a week; Umami and Third Eye Salt pay about 11 silver 25.
• Mind the purse. Town shops start with 1 silver and refill 20, 50 or 100 bronze a day by tier, so a 50-silver stone rarely clears in coin. Only the balance of a trade window is checked: take some of his stock in the same trade.
• Gunter buys Reanimation Liquid, Zombie goo, Firefly and Comet’s Tail.

Price lists and Likes caps are in the town orders and trading guide.

Talents, perks and kits that help

• Alchemist’s kits in the tool belt add Anatomy, which means fewer hits per brew and access to the Anatomy 8 bench recipes. All three are made at the Jewelry Table: Starter +1 (1 Polished Bronze + 3 Glass, Smithing 3), Alchemist’s Kit +2 (1 Iron Ingot + 2 Alchemy Flasks I, Smithing 6), Good Alchemist’s kit +4 (1 Golden ingot + 1 Alchemy Flasks II, Smithing 10).
• Bonus output: Alchemist and Dead alchemist at the bench, Cube distillations and Dead distiller at the cube, Glassworker on flasks (3 crates instead of 2).
• Studies: Researcher cuts the ticks and the energy each study takes; Scientist adds a 30% chance per study of a bonus Story or extra tech points.
• Fertilizer: Fertilizer Expert (zombie, +3 Anatomy when making fertilizer) and Compost Chemist (double Peat, +1 fertilizer per batch).

The talents and inspirations guide explains how to unlock them.

Common mistakes

• Carrying flasks instead of shelving them. Only flasks on the Flask shelf, or in shared storage in the lab, count.
• Trying an unstudied ingredient, or Cacao, which can never be studied.
• Brewing with gold crops. Grades never change runes; use bronze.
• Crafting Alchemy Flasks II to brew. Three crates of 5 become one crate of 10.
• Hunting for a grade III potion technology. There is none: brew the total.
• Expecting Laboratory I to make Reanimation Liquid, Umami or the Philosopher Stone. They need a third slot.
• Expecting a new Distillation Cube to make Alcohol. That recipe comes with Reanimation Liquid.
• Using a Philosopher Stone on Iron Ore. A 1-silver nugget instead of a 1-gold ingot.
• Buying the Baker’s Spices. It is a different item (70 bronze) that only feeds the Study Table; the Kitchen Table upgrade needs the alchemical Spices.
• Trusting the Folio to remember your mix. It records the target runes, not the ingredients.
• Selling the first copy of everything. Study one of each product first.

For the bodies that supply your Blood, Fat and dark organs, read the corpse quality guide; for the gardens that grow Pumpkins and Onions, the farming guide.