Alchemy Skills for Everyone (even non-crafting consumers)

One rank in Keen Eye (available at skill level 2) might be useful at least on your first character to gather alchemy plants. It's not essential however; my girlfriend is frequently frustrated that she's invested 3 points and I still most often notice the plants from farther away than she does (with the exception of columbine which is so short I don't notice unless I trip over it). When skill points are abundant, I'd invest 3/3 in Keen Eye just to easily and consistently find the reagents.

Medicinal Use is about extending potion duration (10%, 20%, 30%) on potions you drink. With a 30 second cool-down, extending short durations by even a few seconds is significant for every consumer and definitely a worthwhile investment.

Another skill sometimes discussed for consumers is Snakeblood which reduces (50%, 80%, 100%) the duration of negative effects in potions. Since most alchemists are careful about unwanted reactions, this skill is not on our recommended list.

Skill Progression for the Alchemist

While 11 skill points are required to make the most of your alchemy crafting, immediately investing 2 skill points while learning reagent's traits as outlined below would suffice initially. Keep Solvent Proficiency in step with your most advanced character's level and invest in Chemistry as you gain sufficient skill points.

All About Solvents

Water-based solvents, used to create potions, are found in water skins in campsites or towns or at springs where "pure water" bubbles up into streams or lakes. Oil-based solvents, for creating poisons, may be acquired from the bodies of dead monsters.

Combine alchemical reagents in a water-based solvent to make a potion or in an oil-based solvent to make a poison. Stronger and/or longer lasting potions/poisons are made with higher level solvents. Potions are normally created one at a time while poisons are normally created in batches of 4; with enough points in the Chemistry skill line you may create up to 4 potions or 16 poisons simultaneously.

Potion Solvent		Item Name	Level	Inspiration	Poison Solvent		Item Name
Natural Water		Sip	Level 3	1,500	Grease		Poison I
Clear Water		Tincture	Level 10	5,000	Ichor		Poison II
Pristine Water		Dram	Level 20	8,000	Slime		Poison III
Cleansed Water		Potion	Level 30	12,000	Gall		Poison IV
Filtered Water		Solution	Level 40	16,000	Terebinthine		Poison V
Purified Water		Elixir	CP 10	20,000	Pitch-Bile		Poison VI
Cloud Mist		Panacea	CP 50	20,000	Tarblack		Poison VII
Star Dew		Distillate	CP 100	20,000	Night-Oil		Poison VIII
Lorkhan's Tears		Essence	CP 150	20,000	Alkahest		Poison IX

DLC zones scale which solvent you receive based off your points in Solvent Proficiency. If your Solvent Proficiency is of a higher level than you find while questing, you may need to farm DLC zones for solvents.

All About Alchemical Reagents

There are a total of 34 reagents and occasionally when harvesting plants you will also find Alchemical Resin which is used in furniture crafting. Some reagents, like nirnroot and water hyacinth, are found in locations near water. Mushrooms are found in the shade near the base of trees, rocks, or structures. The remaining plants are usually random nodes, typically found in fields. Animal reagents can be taken from the creatures' bodies. Summerset's new reagents, Clam Gall & Powdered Mother of Pearl, can be found in Giant Clam shells^* on the shores of Summerset or occasionally from Pyandonean bottles while fishing. Elsweyr/Dragonhold brought Dragon's Bile, Dragon's Blood, & Dragon Rheum, gained by slaying dragons in Northern & Southern Elsweyr. Greymoor brings Chaurus Egg, Crimson Nirnroot, and Vile Coagulant. Chaurus Eggs drop from defeated Chaurus monsters, Vile Coagulant is found by dispersing Harrowstorms, and Crimson Nirnroot is a new herb throughout Blackreach.

^* This "Giant Clam" is not truly so giant, perhaps the size of a boot, no bigger.

In the table below each reagent's beneficial effects are in black text while harmful effects are in red text; other reagents with which this reagent shares the same trait are listed below the trait. Any effect which is included in the mixture twice (and not cancelled out by the presence of the counter-effect on any reagent) will be one of the mixture's effects. Such combinations may be deduced from this chart.

Beetle Scuttle	Breach Lady's Smock Violet Coprinus	Increase Armor Imp Stool Mountain Flower Mudcrab Chitin	Protection Mudcrab Chitin Nightshade Powdered Mother of Pearl Vile Coagulant	Vitality Butterfly Wing Dragon's Bile Fleshfly Larva Powdered Mother of Pearl Torchbug Thorax
Blessed Thistle	Restore Stamina Chaurus Egg Columbine Dragon's Blood Dragonthorn Mountain Flower	Increase Weapon Power Dragonthorn Stinkhorn	Ravage Health Corn Flower Emetic Russula Nightshade Nirnroot Stinkhorn Vile Coagulant Violet Coprinus	Speed Dragon Rheum Namira's Rot Powdered Mother of Pearl Scrib Jelly

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Blue Entoloma	Ravage Magicka Chaurus Egg Emetic Russula Scrib Jelly Violet Coprinus White Cap	Cowardice Bugloss White Cap	Restore Health Bugloss Butterfly Wing Columbine Crimson Nirnroot Luminous Russula Mountain Flower Water Hyacinth	Invisible Dragon's Bile Namira's Rot Nirnroot Spider Egg
Bugloss	Increase Spell Resist Clam Gall Mudcrab Chitin White Cap	Restore Health Blue Entoloma Butterfly Wing Columbine Crimson Nirnroot Luminous Russula Mountain Flower Water Hyacinth	Cowardice Blue Entoloma White Cap	Restore Magicka Columbine Corn Flower Dragon Rheum Lady's Smock Vile Coagulant
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Butterfly Wing	Restore Health Blue Entoloma Bugloss Columbine Crimson Nirnroot Luminous Russula Mountain Flower Water Hyacinth	Uncertainty Nirnroot	Lingering Health Dragon's Blood Powdered Mother of Pearl Scrib Jelly Spider Egg	Vitality Beetle Scuttle Dragon's Bile Fleshfly Larva Powdered Mother of Pearl Torchbug Thorax
Chaurus Egg	Minor Timidity Crimson Nirnroot Vile Coagulant	Detection Corn Flower Torchbug Thorax White Cap Wormwood	Ravage Magicka Blue Entoloma Emetic Russula Scrib Jelly Violet Coprinus White Cap	Restore Stamina Blessed Thistle Columbine Dragon's Blood Dragonthorn Mountain Flower
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Clam Gall *	Increase Spell Resist Bugloss Mudcrab Chitin White Cap	Hindrance Luminous Russula Spider Egg Wormwood	Vulnerability Dragon's Bile Fleshfly Larva Scrib Jelly	Defile Dragon's Blood Mudcrab Chitin Nightshade Spider Egg
Columbine	Restore Health Blue Entoloma Bugloss Butterfly Wing Crimson Nirnroot Luminous Russula Mountain Flower Water Hyacinth	Restore Magicka Bugloss Corn Flower Dragon Rheum Lady's Smock Vile Coagulant	Restore Stamina Blessed Thistle Chaurus Egg Dragon's Blood Dragonthorn Mountain Flower	Unstoppable Namira's Rot Wormwood
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Corn Flower	Restore Magicka Bugloss Columbine Dragon Rheum Lady's Smock Vile Coagulant	Increase Spell Power Lady's Smock Violet Coprinus	Ravage Health Blessed Thistle Emetic Russula Nightshade Nirnroot Stinkhorn Vile Coagulant Violet Coprinus	Detection Chaurus Egg Torchbug Thorax White Cap Wormwood
Crimson Nirnroot	Minor Timidity Chaurus Egg Vile Coagulant	Gradual Ravage Health Fleshfly Larva Nightshade	Restore Health Blue Entoloma Bugloss Butterfly Wing Columbine Luminous Russula Mountain Flower Water Hyacinth	Increase Spell Critical Lady's Smock Namira's Rot Water Hyacinth
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Dragon's Bile	Heroism Dragon's Blood Dragon Rheum	Invisible Blue Entoloma Namira's Rot Nirnroot Spider Egg	Vitality Beetle Scuttle Butterfly Wing Fleshfly Larva Powdered Mother of Pearl Torchbug Thorax	Vulnerability Clam Gall Fleshfly Larva Scrib Jelly
Dragon's Blood	Heroism Dragon's Bile Dragon Rheum	Defile Clam Gall Mudcrab Chitin Nightshade Spider Egg	Lingering Health Butterfly Wing Powdered Mother of Pearl Scrib Jelly Spider Egg	Restore Stamina Blessed Thistle Chaurus Egg Columbine Dragonthorn Mountain Flower
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Dragon Rheum	Heroism Dragon's Bile Dragon's Blood	Enervation Imp Stool Nirnroot Torchbug Thorax	Restore Magicka Bugloss Columbine Corn Flower Lady's Smock Vile Coagulant	Speed Blessed Thistle Namira's Rot Powdered Mother of Pearl Scrib Jelly
Dragonthorn	Increase Weapon Power Blessed Thistle Stinkhorn	Restore Stamina Blessed Thistle Chaurus Egg Columbine Dragon's Blood Mountain Flower	Fracture Stinkhorn Torchbug Thorax	Increase Weapon Critical Water Hyacinth Wormwood
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Emetic Russula	Ravage Health Blessed Thistle Corn Flower Nightshade Nirnroot Stinkhorn Vile Coagulant Violet Coprinus	Ravage Magicka Blue Entoloma Chaurus Egg Scrib Jelly Violet Coprinus White Cap	Ravage Stamina Fleshfly Larva Imp Stool Luminous Russula Stinkhorn	Entrapment Water Hyacinth
Fleshfly Larva	Ravage Stamina Emetic Russula Imp Stool Luminous Russula Stinkhorn	Vulnerability Clam Gall Dragon's Bile Scrib Jelly	Gradual Ravage Health Crimson Nirnroot Nightshade	Vitality Beetle Scuttle Butterfly Wing Dragon's Bile Powdered Mother of Pearl Torchbug Thorax
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Imp Stool	Maim Luminous Russula Mountain Flower	Ravage Stamina Emetic Russula Fleshfly Larva Luminous Russula Stinkhorn	Increase Armor Beetle Scuttle Mountain Flower Mudcrab Chitin	Enervation Dragon Rheum Nirnroot Torchbug Thorax
Lady's Smock	Increase Spell Power Corn Flower Violet Coprinus	Restore Magicka Bugloss Columbine Corn Flower Dragon Rheum Vile Coagulant	Breach Beetle Scuttle Violet Coprinus	Increase Spell Critical Crimson Nirnroot Namira's Rot Water Hyacinth
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Luminous Russula	Ravage Stamina Emetic Russula Fleshfly Larva Imp Stool Stinkhorn	Maim Imp Stool Mountain Flower	Restore Health Blue Entoloma Bugloss Butterfly Wing Columbine Crimson Nirnroot Mountain Flower Water Hyacinth	Hindrance Clam Gall Spider Egg Wormwood
Mountain Flower	Increase Armor Beetle Scuttle Imp Stool Mudcrab Chitin	Restore Health Blue Entoloma Bugloss Butterfly Wing Columbine Crimson Nirnroot Luminous Russula Water Hyacinth	Maim Imp Stool Luminous Russula	Restore Stamina Blessed Thistle Chaurus Egg Columbine Dragon's Blood Dragonthorn
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Mudcrab Chitin	Increase Spell Resist Bugloss Clam Gall White Cap	Increase Armor Beetle Scuttle Imp Stool Mountain Flower	Protection Beetle Scuttle Nightshade Powdered Mother of Pearl Vile Coagulant	Defile Clam Gall Dragon's Blood Nightshade Spider Egg
Namira's Rot	Increase Spell Critical Crimson Nirnroot Lady's Smock Water Hyacinth	Speed Blessed Thistle Dragon Rheum Powdered Mother of Pearl Scrib Jelly	Invisible Blue Entoloma Dragon's Bile Nirnroot Spider Egg	Unstoppable Columbine Wormwood
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Nightshade	Ravage Health Blessed Thistle Corn Flower Emetic Russula Nirnroot Stinkhorn Vile Coagulant Violet Coprinus	Protection Beetle Scuttle Mudcrab Chitin Powdered Mother of Pearl Vile Coagulant	Gradual Ravage Health Crimson Nirnroot Fleshfly Larva	Defile Clam Gall Dragon's Blood Mudcrab Chitin Spider Egg
Nirnroot	Ravage Health Blessed Thistle Corn Flower Emetic Russula Nightshade Stinkhorn Vile Coagulant Violet Coprinus	Uncertainty Butterfly Wing	Enervation Dragon Rheum Imp Stool Torchbug Thorax	Invisible Blue Entoloma Dragon's Bile Namira's Rot Spider Egg
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Powdered Mother of Pearl *	Lingering Health Butterfly Wing Dragon's Blood Scrib Jelly Spider Egg	Speed Blessed Thistle Dragon Rheum Namira's Rot Scrib Jelly	Vitality Beetle Scuttle Butterfly Wing Dragon's Bile Fleshfly Larva Torchbug Thorax	Protection Beetle Scuttle Mudcrab Chitin Nightshade Vile Coagulant
Scrib Jelly	Ravage Magicka Blue Entoloma Chaurus Egg Emetic Russula Violet Coprinus White Cap	Speed Blessed Thistle Dragon Rheum Namira's Rot Powdered Mother of Pearl	Vulnerability Clam Gall Dragon's Bile Fleshfly Larva	Lingering Health Butterfly Wing Dragon's Blood Powdered Mother of Pearl Spider Egg
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Spider Egg	Hindrance Clam Gall Luminous Russula Wormwood	Invisible Blue Entoloma Dragon's Bile Namira's Rot Nirnroot	Lingering Health Butterfly Wing Dragon's Blood Powdered Mother of Pearl Scrib Jelly	Defile Clam Gall Dragon's Blood Mudcrab Chitin Nightshade
Stinkhorn	Fracture Dragonthorn Torchbug Thorax	Ravage Health Blessed Thistle Corn Flower Emetic Russula Nightshade Nirnroot Vile Coagulant Violet Coprinus	Increase Weapon Power Blessed Thistle Dragonthorn	Ravage Stamina Emetic Russula Fleshfly Larva Imp Stool Luminous Russula
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Torchbug Thorax	Fracture Dragonthorn Stinkhorn	Enervation Dragon Rheum Imp Stool Nirnroot	Detection Chaurus Egg Corn Flower White Cap Wormwood	Vitality Beetle Scuttle Butterfly Wing Dragon's Bile Fleshfly Larva Powdered Mother of Pearl
Vile Coagulant	Minor Timidity Chaurus Egg Crimson Nirnroot	Protection Beetle Scuttle Mudcrab Chitin Nightshade Powdered Mother of Pearl	Ravage Health Blessed Thistle Corn Flower Emetic Russula Nightshade Nirnroot Stinkhorn Violet Coprinus	Restore Magicka Bugloss Columbine Corn Flower Dragon Rheum Lady's Smock
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Violet Coprinus	Breach Beetle Scuttle Lady's Smock	Ravage Health Blessed Thistle Corn Flower Emetic Russula Nightshade Nirnroot Stinkhorn Vile Coagulant	Increase Spell Power Corn Flower Lady's Smock	Ravage Magicka Blue Entoloma Chaurus Egg Emetic Russula Scrib Jelly White Cap
Water Hyacinth	Restore Health Blue Entoloma Bugloss Butterfly Wing Columbine Crimson Nirnroot Luminous Russula Mountain Flower	Increase Spell Critical Crimson Nirnroot Lady's Smock Namira's Rot	Increase Weapon Crit Dragonthorn Wormwood	Entrapment Emetic Russula
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White Cap	Cowardice Blue Entoloma Bugloss	Ravage Magicka Blue Entoloma Chaurus Egg Emetic Russula Scrib Jelly Violet Coprinus	Increase Spell Resist Bugloss Clam Gall Mudcrab Chitin	Detection Chaurus Egg Corn Flower Torchbug Thorax Wormwood
Wormwood	Increase Weapon Crit Dragonthorn Water Hyacinth	Hindrance Clam Gall Luminous Russula Spider Egg	Detection Chaurus Egg Corn Flower Torchbug Thorax White Cap	Unstoppable Columbine Namira's Rot

^* The "Giant Clam" is not truly so giant, perhaps the size of a boot, no bigger.

Quickly Discover Every Alchemical Reagent's Traits

By starting with learning the traits we eliminate the threat of destroying ingredients with failures to create potions/poisons. The following process will gain you many skill levels, all achievements based on reagents and the Botanist & Toxicoligist achievements using no more than 100 plants in total.

If you have already achieved Alchemy level 15 & have the Laboratory Use skill, then you can proceed with our fastest and cheapest method to learn all alchemical traits available, including those new with Greymoor!

If you're just starting out with alchemy and not a high enough level to put a point into Laboratory Use then, with 2 skill points at the ready, take the following ingredients to an alchemy table:

Create one each of the following 19 combinations using Clear Water or Ichor to maximize XP gain.

You've reached alchemy level 10. Add a skill point in Solvent Proficiency and continue with Pristine Water or Slime as the solvent.

Up to this point we've used exclusively the older reagents that many players had stockpiled. However since Dark Brotherhood changed White Cap's traits, we've not yet completed Nirnroot's or White Cap's achievements. We've not discovered that Nirnroot lowers spell critical or that White Cap grants detection, but those traits will be learned in a few moments. Our focus now shifts to learning the traits on the reagents which Dark Brotherhood brought to the game.

Before continuing with our final set of combinations you must be alchemy level 15 to put a skill point in Laboratory Use.

Congratulations, you have now achieved the Botanist & Toxicologist achievements (as well as the achievements for every alchemical reagent) and your crafting skill level should be level 18 or better -- all by spending 2 skill points and creating at most 47 combinations.

Addendum

After gaining the Botanist & Toxicologist achievements, just a few more combinations will unlock the newer reagents' traits.

Leveling Alchemy

Our original primer wherein you discovered the traits on various reagents brought you to level 18-19 (depending on inspiration boosts). The alchemy skill line goes to level 50 and leveling without the bonus inspiration we were gaining from discovering traits will feel slower.

With all traits known, never attempt to create something which says it will yield an "Unknown" potion (it will fail to make any potion and will cost ingredients). Make any other potion using surplus plants to level up your skills.

Creating a potion with 3 reagents yields no more inspiration than using 2 reagents. Inspiration gain is granted based only upon the level of solvent used, as follows:

Potion Solvent		Potion	Level	Inspiration	Poison Solvent		Poison
Natural Water		Sip	Level 3	1,500	Grease		Poison I
Clear Water		Tincture	Level 10	5,000	Ichor		Poison II
Pristine Water		Dram	Level 20	8,000	Slime		Poison III
Cleansed Water		Potion	Level 30	12,000	Gall		Poison IV
Filtered Water		Solution	Level 40	16,000	Terebinthine		Poison V
CP-level Water Purified Water -or- Cloud Mist -or- Star Dew		Elixir, Panacea, Distillate	CP	20,000	CP-level Oil Pitch-Bile -or- Tarblack -or- Night-Oil		Poison VI, Poison VII, Poison VIII
(no difference in inspiration among CP-level solvents)

Although experience elixirs do not help level crafts more quickly, there are several forms of Inspiration Boost which make leveling the craft faster. Common sources of inspiration boost include joining ESO+ which grants a 10% boost to inspiration gain or spending thirty (30) Champion Points in The Tower for a passive 20% boost to inspiration gain. However as these bonuses are not available to all players, they are not reflected in the data above which displays base values without any inspiration bonus.

Daily writs provide a nice boost to inspiration upon delivery and occasionally provide survey maps to help replenish your supplies. Sunshine Daydream's Chart of Alchemical Reactions (preview at the top of this guide) is organized toward which reagents make a particular Potion//Poison: and may be helpful when completing writs.

Introducing Poisons

Poisons are equipped to apply their effects to some of your weapon attacks. Any light attack, heavy attack, or weapon ability will have a 20% chance to apply poison effects. However weapon enchantments will be suppressed if a poison is equipped, so choose carefully which you prefer. When a poison is equipped, the weapon enchant and charge will be suppressed and replaced by the poison description and count. (PTS Patch Notes)

Maximum duration for most effects is 10 seconds but some effects (as shown in the table below) max out at 6 seconds. The dilution effect of multiple poison effects also reduces duration. If more than 2 reagents have a particular trait (i.e. mixing 3 reagents with the same trait), then the poison's duration will increase.

The duration of low level poisons is so short (oftentimes literally 1-2 seconds depending on its effect) that it seems foolish to consume valuable reagents to create them, or even to suppress an enchantment in their favor. Those effects with a longer duration may be viable as early as level 20-30, but the more powerful effects have a shorter base duration and won't be worthwhile until later.

PTS had the following known issue: In several cases, applying two different poisons to your target will result in the first poison being overwritten by the second poison. This is not intended, and all different poison types will be able to coexist on the same target in a future patch. (PTS Patch Notes). Can anyone confirm if this has been cleared up? (please message Tevalaur on PC-NA if you know)

Our Alchemical Cookbook: Multi-Effect Poisons

Many players find poisons less desirable than the (recently boosted) enchantments they'd override; nevertheless, I'll describe here how to make a few that sound interesting to me. One of the more limiting factors is the difficulty swapping poisons mid-combat, so we want poisons which will be useful in as wide a variety of situations as possible. Everyone is harmed by losing health, and better yet if we drain our opponent's health to healing ourselves, hence my top interests would be Gradual Health Drain poisons and/or Drain Health poisons. Perhaps destined to be one of the most popular poisons is the Escapist's poison which immobilizes your victim while making you immune to crowd control effects, even while breaking you free of existing effects. Another effect I could see being commonly desirable is found on a Conspicuous poison which causes you to become stealthed while allowing you to see a stealthed victim. Magicka-based characters could explore Ward-Draining poisons which lower the target's spell resistance. The stamina counterpart is Protection-Reversing poisons which lower Physical Resistance.

Poisons are diluted based on the number of effects rather than the number of reagents. One additional poison effect reduces all durations by more than 50%; two additional effects cause approximately a 75% reduction in duration. For this reason I don't believe multi-effect poisons should be explored until at least level 40 poisons for effects with a long duration or CP 100 poisons for effects with a shorter base duration.

The following tables shows some of what I would suppose the more potentially useful multi-effect combinations, although I'm not sure if the multiple effects are worth the trade-off in loss of duration. The first effect is the one for which the poison will be named. Where multiple reagent options are possible the most common ingredient is underlined. Poisons which protect or heal you are shown in red, poisons which benefit a stamina-based player or boost damage with a weapon are shown in green, and poisons which benefit a magicka-based player or boost the effectiveness of spells are shown in blue.

(3-reagent multi-effect poisons are charted on the next page)

Because the following multi-effect poisons have 3 effects they also have shorter durations on each effect:

Our Alchemical Cookbook: Super Potions

Preferred Combinations (cheapest effective ingredients) for Master Writs

Further Experimentation

When creating combinations not described in our alchemical cookbook, we strongly recommend the Alchemy Calculator designed by UESP for simulating new combinations to double-check your mixture prior to crafting it at an Alchemy Table.