What does it cost to level Alchemy right now?

429g in reagents at today's TW auction prices, over about 80 crafts. Sell the results and it comes back to 385g.

Where do these numbers come from?

The skill thresholds are read from the game client data for build 12.1.0.68914. The prices are the region-wide auction house, refreshed every few minutes; these are the snapshot taken at 17:54 UTC.

Why does the route change when I reload?

Because the prices did. The cheapest recipe for a stretch of skill is whichever one's reagents are cheapest at that moment, and that moves through the day.

Profession leveling · Pandaria Alchemy · TW · prices as of 17:54 UTC

Alchemy leveling 1 → 75 · Pandaria Alchemy

429g in reagents over about 80 crafts. Sell what you make and it comes back to 385g.

Start skill

Trainer recipes only

Recipe names carry the colour the profession window gives them: orange is a point every craft, yellow is three in four, green is one in four.

Before the first craft — buy it all at once

One trip to the auction house. Vendor lines are cheaper from the profession vendor than from the board.

ReagentNeedEachTotal

Total429

Step 1 · Skill 1 → 5

Yellow

Master Healing Potion

About 6 crafts.18

per skill point4

Crystal Vial×6

Green Tea Leaf×6

Step 2 · Skill 5 → 52

Orange→Yellow

Potion of Mogu Power

trainer

About 51 crafts.204

per skill point4

Crystal Vial×51

Green Tea Leaf×51

Fool's Cap×51

Step 3 · Skill 52 → 75

Orange

Master Mana Potion

trainer

About 23 crafts.207

per skill point9

Skill 75 — done. Now sell what you made.

Crafted itemUnitsEachTotal

Master Mana Potion4660

4627

Potion of Mogu Power5125

5112

Master Healing Potion660

Capped at what the market takes in 3 days, so a route never pretends to sell hundreds at once.

Back in your pocket385

What's worth crafting with Alchemy right now

Questions

How this route is built

What does it cost to level Alchemy right now?: 429g in reagents at today's TW auction prices, over about 80 crafts. Sell the results and it comes back to 385g.
Where do these numbers come from?: The skill thresholds are read from the game client data for build 12.1.0.68914. The prices are the region-wide auction house, refreshed every few minutes; these are the snapshot taken at 17:54 UTC.
Why does the route change when I reload?: Because the prices did. The cheapest recipe for a stretch of skill is whichever one's reagents are cheapest at that moment, and that moves through the day.

A first craft pays Knowledge, not skill, so it is shown as a badge and left out of the craft count. Vendor reagents are priced at the lower of the vendor and the auction house.