Skyrim:Alchemy

Alchemy is the art of brewing potions and poisons by combining ingredients with matching effects, using an Alchemy Lab. Initially, you don't know the effects of ingredients and must discover them by eating ingredients, reading recipes, or brewing them into potions.  The alchemy skill tree has 9 perks, requiring 15 perk points to fill. Each level in the alchemy skill increases the effectiveness of crafted potions and poisons by 0.5% for +50% effectiveness at level 100 compared to level 0.      
In-game Description: An alchemist can create magical potions and deadly poisons.     

Alchemy is a useful complement to any character style. The most basic potions restore Health, Magicka or Stamina, while poisons cause weapons to inflict greater damage. With a more thorough understanding of the ingredients, you can brew formulas which produce the effects of many magic spells and enchantments. While many potions are available for sale, knowledge of alchemy gives you more flexible, and potentially more powerful, potions than can be bought. Unlike in previous Elder Scrolls games, you cannot carry around alchemy apparatus and make potions on demand, but may only do this at an Alchemy Lab.

Skill Perks
 
 
 


 
 

Skill Usage
thumb|right|An alchemy lab
Alchemy can only be performed at designated alchemy labs.

To create a potion (or poison) you must combine two or three ingredients which share a magical effect. If the shared effect is a beneficial one (e.g., Restore Health), you create a potion; if the shared effect is a negative one (e.g., Damage Health), you create a poison. Multiple-effect potions can be created if the combined ingredients have more than one effect in common. A list of some useful craftable potions is provided at Useful Potions.

Each ingredient has a total of four available effects. Eating the ingredient always allows you to discover an ingredient's first effect; the Experimenter perk causes additional effects to be discovered when you consume an ingredient. Additional effects can be discovered by experimenting to see what ingredient combinations successfully yield potions. When an ingredient is selected, it will grey out all other ingredients where a combination has previously been attempted and failed. Unlike in Oblivion, your Alchemy level does not affect which effects you can discover or use. When an effect has been identified, the effect will be listed in the Alchemy menu screen, allowing you to sort ingredients by effect.

Your Alchemy skill level, Alchemy perks, and Fortify Alchemy enchantments determine the strength of any potions or poisons that you create (see Alchemy Effects for details). In turn, mixing potions/poisons leads to Alchemy skill increases. The effects of multiple Fortify Skill potions generally do not stack; if you already have a Fortify Enchanting potion in your system, there is no benefit to drinking another. The exception to this rule is Fortify Restoration potions; since Restoration governs all Skills, a Fortify Restoration potion will reinforce any Fortify   potion if drunk together.

Formula
Result = fAlchemyIngredientInitMult x BaseMag x SkillMult x Alchemist Perk[1.0 to 2.0] x Benefactor Perk[1.25] x Physician Perk[1.25] x Poisoner Perk[1.25] x Sum of Enchantments[1.0+] x Seeker of Shadows[1.1]

fAlchemyIngredientInitMult: 4
fAlchemySkillFactor: 1.5
BaseMag: Alchemy effect base magnitude
SkillMult: 1 + (fAlchemySkillFactor - 1) x Skill / 100

If result  
Powtions | Skyrim Alchemy Calculator Includes all ingredients, including Creation Club releases up through Fishing
Skyrim Alchemy Lab— online calculator including Dawnguard and Hearthfire ingredients, plus saveable recipe list
AlcheMoney Skyrim Alchemy Calculator (open source)
Skyrim Online Alchemy Tool
Darliandor's Alchemy Lab - Alchemy Laboratory Wizard - includes Dawnguard and Hearthfire ingredients (archive, original page no longer available)
 

Phone Apps
 
Skyrim Alchemist - app for iPhone or iPad
Skyrim Herbarium - app for Windows Phone 7
Skyrim Alchemy Free - app for Android