Most Wizard Alchemy guides answer one question at a time — best race, best potion, best wand — without saying when in your run that decision actually matters. This roadmap puts every major decision on a timeline: what to do in your first session, what to farm through the midgame, and what separates a stalled endgame push from a smooth one. If you just need first-hour tips, the beginner guide covers that narrower slice; this page is the full arc from session one through endgame, and every stage below links to the deeper guide for that topic.
Quick answer
The run breaks into four stages: Day 1 (codes, starter potions, first race reroll), early-mid game (goblin and dwarf materials, first real damage potion around 45–70 Magic), midgame (mutant enemies, shard and Copper Earring farming, Dwarf King attempts), and endgame (Furnace Core stacking, Ember Staff, Night Wraith or Radiant Sword). Rushing past any one stage without its prerequisite Magic Power target is the single most common reason players get stuck.
Step-by-step: the full roadmap
Stage 1 — Day 1: setup and starter loop
- Redeem RELEASE and WIZARD immediately. Both are source-backed launch codes worth 5 Race Rerolls each — 10 free rerolls before you’ve spent anything. Check the codes page for current status, since code availability changes over time.
- Learn the brewing minigame before you farm blind. Brewing is a three-step process — Grind, Pour, and Stir. Grind is untimed, so mistakes there don’t cost you anything. Pour is a meter you hold until the cursor lands on the target zone; overshooting or undershooting drops quality. Stir is a timing minigame where you click as rings around markers overlap. Getting comfortable with Pour and Stir early saves wasted materials later, since low-quality brews still consume the same ingredients.
- Roll your first race reroll batch. With 10 rerolls, most players land a 10%+ tier race like Undead or Werewolf — see the reroll math breakdown for the actual odds before you spend them all chasing Thestrals on day one.
- Brew your first starter potion. Wind Blade (6 Magic), Rock Blast (8 Magic), and Ice Spike (10 Magic) are all reachable from starter materials like Blueberry and Seagull Egg. None of these need a mutant kill or a boss fight.
Stage 2 — Early-mid game: goblin and dwarf materials
- Farm Knife Goblin and Archer Goblin for Goblin Finger and Goblin Bone. These feed midgame Magic stacking without requiring you to fight anything dangerous yet.
- Farm Pickaxe Dwarf and Warhammer Dwarf for Golden Tooth and Dwarf Emblem. Combined with goblin materials, this is enough to push past 40–50 Magic Power.
- Upgrade your wand from Wingbird to Azure, then Demon Trident as your Gold accumulates — see the full wand tier list for prices and bonuses at each stage.
- Brew your first real damage potion. Fire Arrow (45 Magic) or Earth Shield (48 Magic) are the natural targets here — both are realistic once goblin and dwarf materials start accumulating. Run your inventory through the potion planner to check exactly where you stand.
Stage 3 — Midgame: mutants, shards, and your first boss attempt
- Confirm you can survive a mutant enemy before farming one. Mutant Archer Goblin and Mutant Warhammer Dwarf both hit harder than base enemies — a 70+ Magic damage potion like Tornado or Meteorite is the realistic gear check.
- Start farming Copper Earring and Flame Crest from mutants. Both drop at roughly 43% from either mutant — see the Copper Earring farming route for the exact math on which source to prioritize.
- Pick up Light and Dark Shards as a byproduct. They drop from the same two mutant enemies at roughly 50% each — no separate farming session needed if you’re already grinding for Copper Earring.
- Attempt the Dwarf King once you clear ~70 Magic Power. Bring a damage potion, a survival potion, and a race with a safety net — the full boss mechanics breakdown covers the ground-slam timing and three loadout options depending on your goal.
Stage 4 — Endgame: Furnace Core, Ember Staff, and your final potion
- Switch your farming target to Furnace Core once you’re chasing 100+ Magic. At 43 Magic Power per drop from Mutant Warhammer Dwarf (43% rate), it closes the gap on Radiant Sword or Night Wraith faster than Copper Earring alone — see the Furnace Core guide for the full drop-rate comparison.
- Save Gold for Ember Staff (30,000 Gold). It’s the strongest wand in the current data, though its exact spawn location carries a source conflict — confirm it in-game before committing a session to finding it.
- Commit to one element build for your final potion push. Radiant Sword (105 Magic, Light) and Night Wraith (130 Magic, Dark) both require a matching shard and, ideally, a race that boosts that element — Thestrals for Dark, or a Light-focused build for Radiant Sword. Check the full potions tier list before committing your last farming stretch to one or the other.
Comparison: Magic Power targets by stage
| Stage | Magic Power target | Unlocks | Key farm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | 0–10 | Wind Blade, Rock Blast, Ice Spike | Starter chests |
| Early-mid | 40–50 | Fire Arrow, Earth Shield | Goblin Finger, Golden Tooth, Dwarf Emblem |
| Midgame | 70–80 | Tornado, Meteorite, Ice Turtle, Frost Thorns | Mutant Archer Goblin, Mutant Warhammer Dwarf |
| Endgame | 100–130 | Radiant Sword, Night Wraith | Furnace Core, Light/Dark Shard |
This table is the single most useful reference on this page: if your farming route doesn’t match your current Magic Power band, you’re either wasting time on materials you’ve outgrown or attempting content you’re not geared for yet.
Why the stage order matters more than any single “best” pick
A recurring mistake is optimizing one decision — best race, best wand, best potion — in isolation, without checking whether the rest of the build supports it. Thestrals is the best race in the tier list, but at a 1% roll chance it’s the wrong target for a Day 1 reroll session; Night Wraith is the best potion, but chasing it before you’ve built a Copper Earring and Furnace Core pipeline just stalls your run. The roadmap above exists because each stage’s recommended pick assumes you’ve already cleared the Magic Power target from the stage before it — skipping ahead usually costs more time than it saves.
FAQ
What should I do in my very first session? Redeem RELEASE and WIZARD for 10 free rerolls, learn the Grind/Pour/Stir brewing minigame on a cheap starter potion, and don’t worry about your race tier yet — any 10%+ race is a fine stopping point for session one.
When should I attempt the Dwarf King? Once you can reliably brew a 70+ Magic damage potion like Tornado or Meteorite, and ideally with a race that has a survival mechanic, such as Undead. Attempting it earlier just wastes potions on a fight you’re not geared for.
Is it worth rerolling for Thestrals early? Not with your Day 1 rerolls. At a 1% chance, the expected number of rerolls is around 100 — a B-tier race like Undead or Werewolf is the realistic Day 1 outcome, with Thestrals as a long-term goal funded by rerolls earned later.
What’s the single biggest progression bottleneck? The jump from base enemies to mutant enemies around 70 Magic Power. That’s where Copper Earring, Furnace Core, and Light/Dark Shard farming all start, and it’s also the gear check for your first Dwarf King attempt — treat it as the real midpoint of the run, not the early game.