I had a very difficult time finding any solid information on the key points of Transmution Mastery when I was leveling my alchemy, so I decided to write this guide. Hope you learn something!
Transmution Mastery is one of three specialization of alchemy, and provides the ability to 'proc' additional bonus items on a variety of different alchemy recipes. The main reason it's useful these days is the ability to create an epic gem from some cheap materials on a 20 hour cooldown.
So why would you pick transmution mastery over potion or elixir specs? You can make more gold with those right?
Yes. If you put in a lot of effort, elixir will probably make more money, and maybe potion too. The advantage of choosing transmution is that you can make ~100 gold a day from your epic gem transmute, and all it takes is 20 seconds to log on, transmute and post it on the AH. 100g might not seem like much but that is garuanteed money that will be in your mailbox every day, and if you're lucky you could proc bonuses of up to 4 additional gems as well. The process is risk free, if a particular gem colour dives in price you can just start producing another.
So you could have a bunch of transmute mastery alchemist alts and do a transmute on each of them every day for effortless money?
That's right. Some players with a lot of resources could have a 'factory' of transmute alchemists, say with 8 alchemists and a ~20% proc rate for bonus gems, you could be making 1200g a day doing practically nothing.
This sounds great, so how do I get started?
First of all, you'll need a toon capable of learning 450 alchemy. You need to be level 65 to do this, however in order to specialize into transmution you must be level 68. If you don't already have a DK, these are the perfect toon to be a transmute master, considering the level bonus. Otherwise, any alt with a profession slot will do fine.
1. Be at least level 68
2. Be a Master of Alchemy - I recommend this 1-450 leveling guide
3. Take 4 primal mights to Zarevhi in the stormspire in netherstorm, in order to specialize (Master Of Transmution)
4. Make sure you have a transmuting device, such as (Mercurial Stone)
5. Be high enough level to learn an epic gem transmute from the trainer in Dalaran. The trainer will give you all colours except red, which you will learn to do with a quest from her which is completed by transmuting any gem a total of 5 times.
6. You're ready to start making easy money!
What other things can I transmute besides epic gems?
As well as gems, there are Eternal Transmutes (WOTLK), Primal Transmutes (BC) and Essence Tranmutes (Vanilla) which function in basically the same way. Unfortunately they all share a cooldown with the epic gem transmute, so hence it's usually most profitable to just make the gem.
Like the gems, they have a chance to proc 1-4 additional items. Some of these are discovered by using the transmute, on rep venders, or even just a world drop recipe you might be able to find on the AH.
There's also the primal might transmute which was a big part of Burning Crusade, but is now fairly obsolete. You might find it's more profitable making any of these over gems depending on server economy, but it's unlikely.
There's also a few transmutes which don't have cooldowns. The only one from wrath of the lich king is the ability to transmute 8 Saronite bars into a Titanium Bar. Even without a cooldown it still benefits from the 20% chance to proc free bonuses, so if saronite bars are very cheap on your server it can be a great earner on the side too.
Here's a list of possible transmutes
Anything else I should know?
Although all the gem transmutes are vender trained, you can learn to transmute eternals with the Discovery process. By doing a transmute like your gem, you have a high chance to discover new transmutes.
Here's an example of me transmuting a King's Amber. I get a double proc, and learn a new transmute ability as well.
Don't forget, even though you don't have the ability to proc extra potions/elixirs/flasks as a transmution master, these can still be profitable, so don't be afraid to try it out if you come accross some cheap materials!
When it comes to selling your gems, you can boost your profits even more by combining this method with a JC with epic gem recipes, however you can still make easy reliable cash just selling the raws on the auction house, they usually don't stay up for long on raid nights ^_^
Hope you enjoyed the guide, feel free to ask any questions or comment on things that could be added.