Homunculus

The Homunculus is a special companion for the Alchemist classes. It can support its owner, act as an instant party member, or even be sacrificed. Before an Alchemist can create one, it has to finish the Bioethics Quest, which unlocks the passive skill Bioethics and opens the rest of the Homunculus skill branch for skill points.

Unlike a pet, a Homunculus has its own levels, stats and skills. It is different from a mercenary, which any class can hire, and an owner can use both at the same time.

There are four base Homunculi, each with its own role, food and four skills. The fourth skill only opens after evolution.

Icon	Name	Role	Food	Skills
	Lif	Support	Pet Food	Healing Hands, Urgent Escape, Brain Surgery, Mental Charge
	Amistr	Tank	Zargon	Castling, Amistr Bulwark, Adamantium Skin, Blood Lust
	Filir	Speedster	Garlet	Moonlight, Flitting, Accelerated Flight, S.B.R.44
	Vanilmirth	Magic user	Scell	Caprice, Chaotic Blessings, Instruction Change, Self-Destruction

• Lif: seen by the source as mostly a novelty; its heal is weak and its speed boost is later replaced by the Geneticist's Cart Boost.
• Amistr: usually the best base for a Homunculus S. Amistr Bulwark helps when fighting MVPs, Castling helps you escape, and its high HP scales well.
• Filir: can reach high dodge that is not lowered by many monsters, but it lacks VIT.
• Vanilmirth: good for brewing, with high VIT and HP. Caprice uses a random element and Instruction Change raises the brewing success rate.

Everything starts with an Embryo. You can buy one from another Alchemist or make it yourself with Prepare Potion, using materials sold by the material seller in the Alchemist Guild of Al De Baran. The maker's INT, DEX and LUK mostly decide the success rate.

• Medicine Bowl
• Glass Tube
• Morning Dew of Yggdrasil
• Seed of Life
• Potion Creation Guide (kept, not used up)

With an Embryo in hand, use Call Homunculus. You get one of the four types at random, with one of two looks for each. A summoned Homunculus now stays for 1,800 seconds (30 minutes) and then leaves; every new summon needs a Seed of Life. If it dies before the time is up, Homunculus Resurrection brings it back without a seed.

Like a pet, a Homunculus must be fed. The best moment is when its hunger is between 11% and 25%, which gives one full point of intimacy. Starving it costs 18 intimacy per hour, and if intimacy falls below zero it leaves for good. Its death, your death or vaporizing it do not change intimacy.

An Alchemist can also brew a Homunculus Tablet (Yellow Herb, Empty Bottle and Seed of Life) that adds 50 intimacy when used. Since February 2020 there is an auto-feeding system.

When intimacy reaches Loyal, double-click a Stone of Sage to evolve the Homunculus; its level does not matter. It gets random bonuses to every stat, more HP and SP, a new look and its fourth skill. After evolving, intimacy drops back to 10 (Hate).

Geneticists, one of the third classes, can turn their Homunculus into a Homunculus S through a quest. The five Homunculus S forms are Bayeri, Dieter, Eira, Eleanor and Sera, each with its own skills. The source advises keeping the Homunculus vaporized above level 99 until that quest is done, because it grows less HP, SP and stats than a Homunculus S would.

When you kill a monster with your Homunculus out, you get 90% of the base and job Experience and the Homunculus gets 10%. It earns one skill point every three levels and has no job level. Its stat growth is random. Under an Alchemist its level cap is 99, and it rises once the owner becomes a Geneticist.

• If you die while its HP is above 80%, it vaporizes on its own; otherwise it keeps fighting and you keep getting experience, but you cannot give it orders.
• Since February 2020 it no longer attacks on its own: you order an attack with Alt + right-click.
• Its behaviour runs on an AI script. Custom scripts are allowed, but third-party programs are not, and you are responsible for what your Homunculus does.
• Change log in the source: level cap 175 (February 2020), 185 (December 2021) and 200 (April 2023); summon time cut from permanent to 1,800 seconds (October 2022).