Hearth and Hamlet Alchemy: Potions, Elixirs & Effects
Hearth and Hamlet alchemy is a later-game system unlocked through research. See the Alchemist building tiers, potion effects, and their item costs.
Hearth and Hamlet alchemy is a later-game crafting system that turns resources into timed production boosts, and it is confirmed by the Steam page, which promises “alchemical labs” alongside “magical academies” as systems you unlock as your city advances. The Alchemist building has five tiers, its first tier is enabled in build 0.80, and every potion it sells is recorded as later-game data. In practice, alchemy is a tool for smoothing out bottlenecks rather than a replacement for your production buildings.
The short answer
- Alchemy is a confirmed, later-game system unlocked through research and the Alchemist building
- The Alchemist has five tiers; only the first, Alchemist’s Hovel, is enabled in build 0.80
- Its six shop items are timed, single-resource boosts plus one iron-to-gold transmutation
- Ten research upgrades (healing, fertility, potions, and more) are attached to the building
- All potion effects and costs are build 0.80 later-game data, not verified current-release values
What alchemy is in Hearth and Hamlet
The official material confirms the system exists without publishing its rules. The Steam page invites you to “discover wild new possibilities, such as alchemical labs and magical academies,” and its feature list adds “Discover magic, alchemy and more.” That establishes alchemy as a real, research-gated layer rather than decorative fantasy language, while leaving the exact recipes and costs to the release build.
The confirmed progression runs in a chain. Settlement upgrades open access to advanced systems, research permanently unlocks alchemy-related capabilities, the kingdom produces or accumulates power, and alchemy converts that progress into concrete effects. The last step is deliberately broad, because the precise uses must come from the game rather than from assumptions borrowed from other city builders. See magic for the power side of the same progression.
The Alchemist building
The community game database records the Alchemist as a five-tier building, with only the first tier enabled in build 0.80 (Steam build 23713558). Each higher tier unlocks new concoctions, and from tier three onward the costs also include Magic, which is where the sixth resource enters the alchemy economy.
| Level | Building | Status | Cost | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alchemist’s Hovel | Build enabled | 3,000 wood · 600 stone · 2,400 food | Unlocks the Alchemical Shop |
| 2 | Elixir Den | Later-game | 13,500 wood · 13,500 stone · 9,000 gold · 9,000 iron | Unlocks new alchemical concoctions |
| 3 | Alchemist’s Shop | Later-game | 31,500 wood · 26,250 stone · 15,750 gold · 21,000 iron · 10,500 magic | Unlocks new alchemical concoctions (1 advanced blueprint) |
| 4 | Alchemist’s Sanctum | Later-game | 72,000 wood · 60,000 stone · 36,000 gold · 48,000 iron · 24,000 magic | Unlocks new alchemical concoctions |
| 5 | Grand Alchemist Spire | Later-game | 162,000 wood · 135,000 stone · 81,000 gold · 108,000 iron · 54,000 magic | Unlocks new alchemical concoctions |
The first tier is the only one you can reach in the current build, and it is what opens the shop in the first place. The four tiers above it are embedded later-game entries, so treat their cost curve and the Magic requirement as a preview of direction rather than a confirmed launch plan.
Alchemy research upgrades
Ten research upgrades are attached to the Alchemist in the same data. They include Healing Potions, Fertility Elixirs, Elixir of Vitality, and several single-resource “finding potion” lines, alongside Herbal Remedies, Preserving Salts, Grand Transmutation, and Philosopher’s Brew. These names are data entries rather than a confirmed launch list, and their exact effects have not been published. See the research tree for how they sit inside the wider tech system.
Four of those research names — Healing Potions, Gold Finding Potion, Iron Finding Potion, and Stone Breaking Powder — also appear in the shop’s item list. That overlap hints at the real structure: research likely unlocks a potion for sale before you can actually buy it. The exact unlock chain is to be confirmed.
Alchemy shop items
The Alchemical Shop sells timed boosts that target one production line at a time, plus a single transmutation. All six are later-game data from build 0.80, so the numbers below are a preview, not a launch formula.
| Item | Effect | Cost | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timber Growth Potion | +50% wood production | 500 food · 500 iron | 120 seconds |
| Stone Breaking Powder | +50% stone production | 50 wood · 30 food | 120 seconds |
| Iron Finding Potion | +50% iron production | 50 wood · 20 stone | 120 seconds |
| Gold Finding Potion | +50% gold production | 100 wood · 50 stone | 120 seconds |
| Healing Potions | +10 soldier defence | 50 food · 100 gold × soldiers | 120 seconds |
| Convert Iron to Gold | Converts 10,000 iron into gold | 10,000 iron | One-time |
The pattern is consistent: each potion is a temporary, single-resource multiplier that keeps alchemy a bottleneck-smoother instead of a replacement for production buildings. Healing Potions are the one combat item, scaling their cost with your soldier count. Demo footage shows potions activating the moment you buy them, ticking down from a 120-second timer rather than sitting in an inventory.
How alchemy fits the economy
Because every potion lasts only two minutes, alchemy rewards timing. The right use is a burst on whichever resource is currently short — a wood potion before a building push, a stone powder before a wall upgrade, or healing potions before a raid. It does not change your base rates, so it cannot rescue a town whose permanent production is already failing. That is the same logic as the rest of the kingdom: temporary buffs sit on top of a healthy worker allocation, never in place of one.
The one exception is Convert Iron to Gold, a one-time transmutation that trades a stockpile of iron for gold instead of a timed effect. It is the closest alchemy comes to a permanent-value move, which means a late-game iron surplus is never simply wasted.
Alchemy vs magic
Alchemy and magic are two halves of one late-game system rather than competitors. Magic is the accumulated power resource, and alchemy is the craft that spends it — the Alchemist’s higher tiers literally cost Magic to build. The Mage Tower sells its own timed effects, including armour and weapon enchantments, while the Alchemist focuses on resource potions and transmutation. For the full picture of the magic side, see magic.
What is still unconfirmed
The official material does not yet publish a complete potion list, ingredient database, production formula, research path, cost table, duration, or cooldown structure. Everything above that is not straight from the Steam description comes from build 0.80 static data, which is not presented as verified current-release content. Named recipes, exact effects, and final costs remain to be confirmed in-game.
Plan around alchemy as a later research-linked layer. The research tree and buildings references cover the progression that gates it, and the beginner guide covers the early loop you should stabilize first.
Sources: Steam store page · Hearth and Hamlet game database — alchemist · game database — items