The International 2025: Support-Alchemist and the Aghanim’s Scepter strategy by PARIVISION

At The International 2025, PARIVISION showcased an intriguing approach to using Alchemist in the “position four” role. The team’s support, Edgar 9Class Natalkyan, focused not on his own farm but on accelerating the transfer of Aghanim’s Scepter to key allied heroes. This strategy has already appeared on the professional scene, but PVISION reminded everyone of it, drawing particular attention. Let’s break it down in more detail.

Core idea

Thanks to his ability Greevil’s Greed, Alchemist can maintain a high farming tempo even as a support. Instead of actively securing kills, he concentrates on creating conditions for the efficient growth of other heroes. His goal is to farm the jungle and lane resources in order to accumulate enough gold to gift Aghanim’s Scepter to his teammates.

This allows the cores to power up earlier than expected, enabling the team to catch opponents off guard, snowball their advantage, or create additional opportunities for comebacks.

Build and gameplay strategy for Support Alchemist

Early game

At the start, Alchemist typically buys Boots of Speed (later upgraded into Arcane Boots for mana sustain), Tango, Clarity, and situationally a Magic Stick or ward. Early on, he can stay in lane with the offlaner or support the carry and hard support, while occasionally farming nearby camps.

Later, one of the key tasks is stacking camps to accelerate gold income. With this approach, the “position three” often remains alone in lane, so timely support is crucial. The first major items usually include a Blink Dagger for mobility and faster farming, and if needed – Hand of Midas.

Mid game

After purchasing the core items, the hero focuses on farming Aghanim’s Scepter. In addition, it is important not to forget about survival items: Black King Bar and Ghost Scepter help deal with crowd control and threats from enemies. The main task of Alchemist in the mid game is to wisely distribute resources: directing part of the gold to strengthen the team, and part to his own survivability, in order to remain useful in fights and during pushes.

Late game

Later on, Alchemist can either become a full-fledged core hero or continue to fulfill the role of support, purchasing items that benefit the entire team. As a core, he can turn into a powerful combat unit and quickly destroy the enemy base, taking advantage of his gold lead. If he chooses the support path, he focuses on empowering his teammates, becoming a hero who provides them with everything necessary for victory.

Application against Heroic

In their first group stage match against Heroic, the team made an unusual decision by drafting Tinker in the carry role for Alan Satanic Galyamov. The game went into deep late stages, where 9Class handed over the Scepter to midlaner Vladimir No[o]ne Minenko on Puck. After receiving the item, No[o]ne used it to full potential: the improved Dream Coil allowed better teamfight control, compensated for the deficit, and ultimately enabled a comeback victory.

In the second game against Heroic, the priority remained the same. Vladimir once again received the first Aghanim’s, this time on Queen of Pain. The match lasted only 35 minutes, with the Scepter appearing at minute 26. The second Scepter went to offlaner Dmitry DM Dorokhin on Lycan, boosting his pushing potential and allowing PARIVISION to dictate the pace, leading to an overall series win.

Application against Nigma Galaxy

A similar plan was applied against Nigma Galaxy. Unsurprisingly, the midlaner once again received the Scepter, this time on Void Spirit. The additional control and mobility enabled him to take over the role of initiator, allowing the team to build fights around his activity and secure a much-needed advantage.

Strategy evaluation

The support Alchemist strategy is not a new discovery – it has appeared both in pubs and on the professional stage. Its strength lies in consistent and precise execution. The main objective is accelerating core heroes’ progression and empowering their abilities, helping compensate for deficits and creating comeback potential.

The main weakness of this approach is its reliance on the hero’s stable farm. If Alchemist is shut down early, the strategy collapses: farming tempo slows, and the team loses not only potential boosts but also a functional unit in fights.