My theories from trying it out this week.
- Halfling/Gnome don't really work for me. You can't spike the dungeon to death and you really just need your potion forms for key levels. Only exception I could think of is using JJ boosters.
- Orc should be good. Human should be a little less good than Orc but still alright.
- Dwarf. I want to like it but double health regen doesn't get you an early game boost like double mana regen does.
- Elf... nonono, you're dead wrong on this one. The Chemist is the only class who can get twice as many fireballs for the blackspace. That means you can regen-fight bosses who can't even retaliate once you hit level 8. Elf adds a small spike on top of that. Lower with the right boons and items. Elf also has real issues with getting refills and your big mana pool should allow you to save a lot of blackspace while levelling. Ideally have yourself a Crystal Ball or a Schadenfreude potion.
- Goblin will be doing goblin things. I don't think the synergy is amazing for the chemist, though obviously reaching higher levels with less black space spent makes the chemists' regen abilities better.
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Gods
Binlor, Mystera, EM, TT and JJ all generate piety through casting. Especially Mystera and Binlor. I think spending a mana potion at level 1 while you create a popcorn bowl and increment your resists is worthwhile just for the doubled piety gain. Hell, it might even be worth it just to piety farm with Mystera before switching over to 50 piety on your god of choice. On a sample not especially focussed game with prepped Mystera I just hit 3 mana boosts, 2 weakenings, mystic balance, flames, refreshment and 90-odd piety left over after cleaning up all the enemies (a total of about 355 mana).
My most satisfying combo so far was an Elf Chemist of Mystera. Through the roof piety generation leading to a ton of mana boosts and a full rack of spellcasting talents (Flames, MB, Refreshment). Then regen/spike fireballed the boss to death.
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For my own sake more than anything, when a chemist in mana form can regen fight a boss with no magic resistance with fireballs -
Damage required per fireball (I'm ignoring stacking burning, because maths makes my brain hurt and because it's a fringe case where you'll need to use this):
Without mystic balance: 29 (30-1 for burning)
With mystic balance: 24 (25-1 for burning)
Which is to say, level 8 (32) for characters without MB and level 7 (28) for characters with it. Throw in Flames or Battlemage ring and it's level 6 (30) or 5 (25) respectively. Throw in both and it's level 5 (30) for either, even level 4 with MB if you've got the absurd amount of blackspace you'd need just to kill them through the extra burning damage. This is regen fighting where you don't ever need to be able to take a hit, you just need the blackspace available.