I'm over 30 hours in and just went to the Inn at the Crossroads. I'm loving this alchemy build at level 5 and coming across points of interest. Spent 20 minutes whittling down a level 18 hag yesterday, it was awesome. Bit annoyed that most of the armor I'm finding is medium and heavy stuff, though.
Basically my strategy is to have always have a decoction up (usually Griffin), appropriate oil applied, and with my increased toxicity, I can use swallow and thunderbolt without overdosing from toxicity. Unfortunately, I don't have every oil yet so when I fight something that I don't have oils for, I switch out to the time slowing on counterattack skill since I don't have enough slots yet.
My current build.
My long term goal is a
build like this, prioritizing synergy with crit chance, crit damage, DOT procs, and decoction/potion drinking. Benefits include:
45% fast attack damage
10% fast attack crit chance (+50% more crit chance for each opponent killed when toxicity is over 0)
175% fast attack crit damage (+100% more crit damage when adrenaline points full)
25% chance of poisoning target
25% chance damage reduction
Bleeding procs from fast attacks
100% chance to use another potion for free
When toxicity is above 2, time slows on counterattack
25% damage reduction
Huge toxicity pool, room for two active decoctions and extra potions
Oils last forever
I may switch out the time slow on counter attacks or oil lasting forever for the mutagen multiplier. Both are conveniences, not necessities, and the mutagen bonus is huge. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the synergy here, assuming I have enough points in the trees to unlock higher tier stuff. I absolutely adore the skills in this game so I felt like gushing about them a little.