Alchemy (Skyrim)

"Hey, you mix potions right? Can you brew me an ale?"

- Guard

Alchemy is a skill in and is one of the six skills that falls under The Thief play-style. Alchemy is the art of combining raw ingredients with matching effects to produce potions and poison. It is one of the three crafting skills in Skyrim, falling under The Thief with parallels to Smithing for The Warrior and Enchanting for The Mage. As such it is affected by The Thief Stone and, as with all skills, is affected by The Lover Stone.

Racial bonuses
Bosmeri, Breton, Khajiit, and Dunmer gain a +5 boost to Alchemy at the start of the game.

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Ingredients
Ingredients are used to create potions. Each ingredient in Skyrim has four possible effects that are unknown until they are discovered by the Dragonborn during play. Effects can be revealed by brewing a potion with two or more ingredients that share an effect. The first effect is also revealed by 'eating' the ingredient, which immediately causes the effect on the player after consumption. With perks, all four effects can be found by eating a single ingredient.

Recipes
All alchemy merchants sell recipes from time to time and they can also be found as loot. Recipes will list ingredients that share a given effect which helps limit the experimentation required to find the effects of each ingredient.

Alchemy Labs
Brewing potions requires an Alchemy Lab which can be found in various locations throughout Skyrim such as alchemy supply shops, private studies, occasionally inns, court wizard's quarters, and can be purchased for player-owned homes. When interacting with an Alchemy Lab the Dragonborn will see a menu. At the top is 'ingredients' which opens a sub-menu which lists all the ingredients in inventory. Below ingredients will be a list of all known effects on all ingredients in inventory which each open a sub-menu which lists only ingredients that share that effect.

Potions and poisons


Potions and poisons are items produced as the result of brewing at an Alchemy Lab. Their effects can fill or increase stats like Magicka or Health, strengthen skills like One-Handed, Smithing, alter the player with Invisibility, or produce strong poisons like Slow, Paralyze or Lingering Damage Magicka. Brewed potions always have a name describing the dominant effect given by the potion. Unlike found potions, which can have alternate names and usually only one effect, brewed potions always have one consistent name, regardless of the number of effects contained. This can lead to some confusion when finding a potion to consume from your inventory. The value of a potion is derived from the number of effects and their magnitude regardless of if the effects are all beneficial or harmful.

Leveling
The following actions raise the alchemy skill:
 * Mixing a potion at an Alchemy Lab. More valuable potions increase Alchemy skill faster. The most valuable potion known up to date needs The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire DLC to be installed, and can be brewed by mixing Garlic, Nordic Barnacle and Salmon Roe.
 * Eating a raw ingredient and learning a new effect.

Books
The following books provide a permanent one-time increase to the player's Alchemy Skill. See each book's page for a list of possible locations.


 * A Game at Dinner
 * De Rerum Dirennis
 * Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim
 * Mannimarco, King of Worms
 * Song of the Alchemists

Quests
The following Miscellaneous Quests increases Alchemy or improve the results of Alchemy. Completing a quest for the Alchemist merchants will also allow you to take the ingredients on display without stealing.


 * In Dawnstar at The Mortar and Pestle for Frida - Retrieve Ring of Pure Mixtures for Frida
 * Find Song of the Alchemists for Lami in Morthal
 * In Whiterun at Arcadia's Cauldron for Arcadia- bring frost salts to Arcadia.
 * Retrieve Finn's Lute for Inge Six Fingers at the Bard's College in Solitude awards the player with one level of every Thief governed skill, including Alchemy.
 * Discerning the Transmundane can award the player with five levels of every Thief governed skill, including Alchemy.
 * A Return To Your Roots awards the player with the alchemy boosting effect Sinderion's Serendipity which provides a 25% chance of producing an extra potion.

Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up: