WoW Forever Transmutes: Cooldowns, Recipes and Sources

Beta caveat: built from beta data ahead of launch on 4 Nov UTC / 5 Nov AEDT. [Classic-based] = Classic Era data Forever may change; [Unconfirmed] = to recheck at launch; [Beta data: may change at launch] = Mount Hyjal content seen in the beta.

Forever has 13 Alchemy transmutes in Questing.wiki’s beta catalogue, including one new one, Legionite. The big change is the cooldowns: Iron to Gold and Mithril to Truesilver drop to one hour. This page covers every transmute, where to buy or find each recipe, and what it costs to run. For levelling Alchemy itself, use the Alchemy 1–300 guide.

What changed in Forever

These are the cooldowns printed on each spell’s Wowhead tooltip, Forever beta against Classic Era:

• Gold and Truesilver are now hourly. Both tooltips call them a “lesser transmutation” that “may only be performed once per hour”. One Alchemist can now turn out many more Gold and Truesilver Bars than in Classic.
• Elemental swaps reset an hour sooner. 23 hours means a daily transmute doesn’t creep later each day if you log in at the same time.
• Every transmute takes 25 seconds to cast and needs a Philosopher’s Stone in your bags.

The tooltips don’t say whether transmutes share one cooldown in Forever. [Unconfirmed]

Philosopher’s Stone first

Every transmute lists Philosopher’s Stone as a required tool. You make it at Alchemy 225 from 4 Iron Bar, 1 Black Vitriol, 4 Purple Lotus and 4 Firebloom. The recipe costs 80s from Alchemist Pestlezugg in Tanaris (/way 50.8 27.0), and it stays orange until 240, yellow to 260 and green to 280. The stone binds on pickup, so you can’t buy one from another player.

Every transmute in Forever

Skill colours and recipe sources come from Questing.wiki’s Forever Alchemy records. Cooldowns are from Wowhead Forever spell tooltips. All the 275 transmutes are already yellow when you learn them, so each early cast is a skill point. Questing.wiki lists each one as making a single bar or essence, except Elemental Fire, which makes 3.

Where to pick up the recipes

• Tanaris: Alchemist Pestlezugg sells the Philosopher’s Stone, Iron to Gold, Mithril to Truesilver and Arcanite recipes. Only Mithril to Truesilver is limited stock (1 copy), so check it each visit.
• Reputation: Air to Fire needs Argent Dawn Honored, Earth to Water needs Timbermaw Hold Friendly, and Elemental Fire needs Thorium Brotherhood Friendly. See Timbermaw Hold and Thorium Brotherhood.
• Plain vendors: Fire to Earth from Plugger Spazzring inside Blackrock Depths, and Water to Air from Magnus Frostwake in Western Plaguelands.
• Drops: Earth to Life, Life to Earth, Undeath to Water and Water to Undeath have no vendor in the records. They come from world drops, lockboxes and chests such as Solid Chests.

Legionite: the new transmute

Transmute: Legionite turns 1 Heavy Thorium Bar and 1 Fel Crystal into 1 Legionite Bar, on the same 1.958-day cooldown as Arcanite. The recipe reads at Alchemy 275, and no seller or drop is recorded for it yet. [Unconfirmed] Wowhead’s Forever Mining overview places Heavy Thorium Veins in Mount Hyjal, with Fel Crystal as an extra find, and Heavy Thorium Ore only smelts at a Molten Foundry. [Beta data: may change at launch]

Legionite is used in Forever-only Blacksmithing and Engineering recipes, such as the Enriched Thorium Breastplate (8 Legionite Bar). With one bar per Alchemist every two days, expect it to be scarce. The full chain is on the new materials page.

Alchemist’s Stone

The Alchemist’s Stone trinket can be used for transmutes in place of a Philosopher’s Stone. It also gives +4 Spirit and makes healing and mana potions 20% stronger on you. It needs level 45 and Alchemy 275 to wear, and it binds on pickup.

The recipe needs Alchemy 275 and Barkskin Burrow Exalted, a new furbolg faction tied to Mount Hyjal. [Beta data: may change at launch] Questing.wiki has no seller recorded for it yet. [Unconfirmed] Making it takes 8 each of Essence of Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Living Essence, plus 2 Black Vitriol and 4 Black Lotus, which is a lot of essence swaps.

Tips

• Buy Philosopher’s Stone materials early. Purple Lotus and Firebloom come from herb farming, Iron from ore farming.
• Iron to Gold is orange at 225 and yellow to 240, so an hourly cast can give a skill point while you level Alchemy past 225. It costs an Iron Bar each time.
• Check the auction house for Iron, Gold, Mithril and Truesilver Bar prices before you transmute. We don’t list prices because players set them at launch.
• Set a reminder for the 47-hour Arcanite and Legionite timers. The Forever value is 1.958 days, not a clean 2.

Related: Alchemy 1–300, Alchemy recipe sources, new Forever materials, ore farming, herb farming, crafting trainers, crafting for gold, consumables to sell at launch and all professions.

FAQ

What is the transmute cooldown in WoW Forever?

On the beta tooltips it’s 1 hour for Iron to Gold and Mithril to Truesilver, 23 hours for the essence swaps, 1.958 days for Arcanite and Legionite, and 10 minutes for Elemental Fire. [Unconfirmed]

Where do I learn Transmute: Arcanite?

Buy the recipe from Alchemist Pestlezugg in Tanaris for 5g. You need Alchemy 275, a Philosopher’s Stone, a Thorium Bar and an Arcane Crystal.

Can I transmute without a Philosopher’s Stone?

Only with an Alchemist’s Stone, which can be used in its place. Its recipe needs Barkskin Burrow Exalted. [Beta data: may change at launch]