[Top 10] Skyrim Best Alchemy Recipes
Alchemy skill tree
Today we are going to discuss the BEST alchemy recipes within the realm of Skyrim. Not only are recipes helpful in promoting your ability to survive, but they also lessen the time it takes to learn new and powerful potions. So, stick around and take a gander, we are going to discuss the BEST recipes in Skyrim to make your gaming experience that much easier.
But first!
What are alchemy recipes?
Alchemy recipes can be discovered throughout Skyrim either within chests, on opponent bodies (usually mages), or from vendors. Some non-alchemic merchants do have recipes, but they can be tricky to find. Your best bet will be to head to an alchemy shop with the symbol shown below:
Alchemy Shop
Recipes show what ingredients are needed to create the desired potion and consist of only the name of the potion on the front of the paper, and the ingredients needed within.
You don’t always need recipes to make potions, as you can figure them out through trial and error. However, if you are not interested in donating hours of your time searching for ingredients and then using them at random in hopes of developing a new potion, then recipes are for you!
How Do You Create Potions?
If any of you are Elder Scrolls: Oblivion fans, you might recall the old school method of carrying around a mortar and pestle and the ability to create potions anywhere in the world so long as you have those two basic equipment pieces.
However, in Skyrim, this is not the case. To create potions, you need to locate an alchemy table.
Alchemy Table
Now, alchemy tables can be located throughout the world of Skyrim inside caves, dungeons, homes, castles, shops, and more. The easiest place and most reliable location to find a table is an alchemy shop.
Let’s talk about Buffs real’ quick! Trust me; you’ll want to know this.
Buffs are pretty much a time-specific effect that is placed on your character and provides an additional skill or improved skill.
An example of this is a potion that provides +25% to one-handed weapons for 120 seconds. This means that for 2 minutes, your character’s one-handed weapons will do +25% more damage. There are tons of different buffs that come with each potion, so the effects are limitless.
Now, I want to make this very clear.
Buffs are heavily level dependent. If you are playing a level 5 character, do not expect to craft a potion that provides invisibility for 60 seconds—these are high-level potions that require high-level skills.
The buffs I have included in this article are based around a level 55 character, so their affects will be different than what you might find at a beginning level.
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Now that we understand the basics, it’s time for the best part!
The BEST alchemical recipes!!
Throughout my hundreds of hours spent in this game, these are the Top 10 recipes I have found to be the MOST useful throughout the game regardless of your skillset.
#1. Restore Health Recipe
Restore Health potion
Restore health potions are great because they instantly restore your health, and this potion is one of the most easily accessible and least difficult to create. However, if your alchemy skills are lower, negative buffs can appear like shown above in the photo.
Collecting the required ingredients can be either bought from a vendor or obtained from farming, which does not take long as they are abundant in the realm of Skyrim.
RECIPE:
- Blue Mountain Flower + Butterfly Wing
- Blue Mountain Flower + Charred Skeever Hide
- Blue Mountain Flower + Swamp Fungal Pod
- Blue Mountain Flower + Blisterwort
- Butterfly Wing + Charred Skeever Hide
BUFF:
- Restore 72 pts. of health instantly.
- possible negative buff: damage 14 health from target
#2. Restore Stamina Recipe
Restore Stamina potion
A vast majority of activities and actions in Skyrim require stamina. For example, if you’re sprinting away from an enemy, you are consuming stamina.
Having a stamina potion on hand can provide more time to get away if your stamina level is low or you want to get from point A to point B quickly and are unable to fast travel.
RECIPE:
- Pine Thrush Egg + Purple Mountain Flower
- Orange Dartwing + Purple Mountain Flower
- Large Antlers + Mudcrab Chitin
BUFF:
- Restore 72 pts. of stamina
#3. Regenerate Health + Invisibility Recipe
Invisibility + Regen Health potion
This is a great recipe to have on hand if you engage in a fight and then realize you are not going to prevail. This potion will provide concealment (invisibility) as well as increase the rate at which you heal while you make your getaway. (i.e.+22% healing speed)
It is also a pretty simple recipe, only requiring two ingredients, though vampire dust can be slightly difficult to find if you don’t have the Dawnguard DLC.
RECIPE:
- Luna Moth Wing + Vampire Dust
BUFF:
- Health regenerates 39% faster
- Invisibility for 60 seconds.
#4. Paralysis + Damage Health Recipe
Paralysis + Damage Health potion
I highly recommend this recipe if you are not good at PvE, as it incapacitates your enemy, making it easier to kill them. Additionally, it gives you a few seconds to restore any health, magicka, or stamina you might have lost.
This is a magnificent potion to use if you have a lot of trouble in-game.
RECIPE:
- Canis Root + Imp Stool + River Betty
BUFF:
- Paralysis for 12 seconds
- 58pts of poison damage
#5. Water breathing Recipe
Water breathing potion
If you are like me and never choose an Argonian race, you always end up almost drowning.
If that is the case, you will want some of these potions on hand as they allow you to breathe underwater for a specific amount of time (time varies according to your alchemy level).
RECIPE:
- Chicken’s Egg + Nordic Barnacle
BUFFS:
- Can breathe underwater for 60 seconds.
#6. Cure Disease Recipe
Cure Disease Potion
A must-have recipe as it purifies your character of any diseases they might have contracted on their journey.
You might be asking yourself, “why should I care enough to purge it from my character” and well, because each disease offers different negative buffs, and believe me, they suck.
Rockjoint, for example, gives a -25% decrease to One-Handed & Two-Handed weapons, meaning you are losing 25% of your weapon’s effectiveness due to this disease. That’s ¼ of your power gone, that’s a big deal, especially if you’re a warrior or you utilize weapons.
Using a cure disease potion will get rid of this illness, and you’ll get your lost 25% power back. Always make sure to check for active diseases on your character as you aren’t always regularly notified you contracted anything.
Additionally, you can always be healed of diseases from either a priest or a shrine. However, it is honestly more convenient to have a cure disease potion on hand, especially if you’re in the middle of a dungeon.
RECIPE:
- Vampire Dust + Charred Skeever Hide
- Vampire Dust + Mudcrab Chitin
- Hawk Feathers + Mudcrab Chitin
- Hawk Feathers + Vampire Dust
- Mudcrab Chitin + Charred Skeever Hide
(all these ingredients have the “cure disease” effect and therefore can be used interchangeably between each ingredient).
BUFF:
- Cures all active diseases. (This can cure vampirism IF you drink it soon enough after contracting the disease.)
#7. Fortify Carry Weight Recipe
Fortify Carry Weight potion
This recipe allows for the user to increase their overall inventory weight, or how much you can carry, similar to the ‘feather’ spell in Oblivion.
It’s handy for those of us who love collecting pretty much everything and then selling all of it to make as much money as possible.
Or maybe you’re a hoarder, either way—this is for you!
RECIPE:
- Creep Cluster + Giant’s Toe
- Hawk Beak + River Betty
- Scaly Pholiota + Wisp Wrappings
- Netch Jelly + Poison Bloom
(side note: be aware that netch jelly and poison bloom are only available if you have the Dragonborn DLC.)
BUFF:
- Carry weight increased by 46 for 300 seconds
- Potential negative buff: Decrease stamina regeneration by 100% for 46 seconds.
Hint: (no negative buffs if you have alchemy Purify perk- which removes all adverse effects from potions, and positive impacts from poisons.)
#8. Invisibility Recipe
Excellent to use if you want to sneak by some enemies without fighting them. They also fetch a friendly price if you're going to farm and sell.
Great to have on hand because you never know when you might need it. I pop these all the time with the Falmer—because, let’s be real, they’re a massive pain in the ass.
RECIPE:
- Chaurus Eggs + Nirnroot
- Vampire Dust + Nirnroot
- Luna Moth Wing + Nirnroot
- Luna Moth Wing + Vampire Dust
- Ice Wraith Teeth + Vampire Dust
- Ash Creep Cluster + Crimson Nirnroot
(note: Ash Creep Cluster is only found in Dragonborn DLC).
BUFFS:
- Invisibility for 40 seconds
#9. Cure Disease, Resist Poison, Restore Health, & Restore Stamina Recipe
This recipe pretty much covers all your basic needs, besides magicka. It’s like a big giant, “heal me of everything” potion. Great for people who hate searching for multiple potions, with this one, you got it all!
RECIPE:
- Blisterwert + Charred Skeever Hide + Mudcrab Chitin
BUFFS:
- Cures all diseases
- Resist poison 25%
- Restore 72 pts. health
- Restore 72 pts. of stamina
#10. Fortify Enchanting
If you are someone who likes enchanted weapons, armor, and jewelry, then you will want to invest your time into enchanting.
Enchanting provides permanent buffs onto whatever object you’re inscribing them on. An example would be a sword that does +15 fire damage. Enchantments are super helpful for defeating enemies and overall ease of gameplay. I highly recommend them.
Having potions on hand that temporarily increase your enchanting skill is a MUST.
RECIPE:
- Blue Butterfly Wing + Hagraven Claw
- Blue Butterfly Wing + Snowberries
BUFFS:
- For 30 seconds, items are enchanted 20% stronger.
(this means that once you ingest this potion, anything you enchant within that 30-second timeframe will automatically be 20% stronger. This is very helpful if you’re trying to add a few more points onto something.)
There you have it! My Top 10 Skyrim Best Alchemy Recipes!
Hopefully, this helps you with your travels throughout this beautiful game. For those of you wondering why a lot of the potions have the same bottle—a majority of self-made potions are in the generic red bottle, not all of them, but a vast majority of them are usually in red containers.
On a side note, I am well aware that there are numerous other recipes and potions throughout Skyrim, and while we all have our views on what is right and what is not, I wrote this article from the context of what will be most helpful to all player levels and classes alike. If there is anything you think I missed, be sure to leave a comment below and tell us what your go-to potion/recipe is!
Thanks for visiting! Happy hunting.
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