If we were to rank all of the skills available in Skyrim, Alchemy would probably rank somewhere at the top – of the most underrated.
Most Skyrim players pay no mind to potions outside of the rare few instances when they actually need one to save themselves from dying, and for good reason, you don’t really need potions to survive in the game.
But, not needing potions don’t necessarily mean that they’re not useful.
In fact, Skyrim could be made a lot easier as a game if you only knew your way about potions and Alchemy.
Sadly, most players don’t, which is a shame. Here’s to hoping our list below helps change that.
Below, we took the time to round up some of the best potions available in Skyrim, as well as the ingredients necessary to whip them up.
Also, in case you didn’t know, making potions is one of the best and easiest ways to make a lot of money in Skyrim.
This can come in extremely handy when you’re trying to build up a wealth of reserves for whatever reason you see fit.
10. The Five-Effect Potion
Ingredients:
- Bear Claws
- Eye of Sabre Cat
- Hanging Moss
Effects:
- Damage Magicka
- Damage Magicka Regen
- Fortify Health
- Fortify One-Handed
- Restore Stamina
Having trouble taking down those pesky Dragon Priests and Mages in Skyrim?
If you’re a one-handed melee warrior who likes to keep combat up close, then this Five-Effect potion is definitely for you.
Upping both your health and one-handed skill as well as restoring your stamina and allowing you to do a lot of Magicka damage per swing, those Dragon Priests will be troubling you no more after taking a swig out of this potion.
If nothing else, because of how relatively common the ingredients are, making this Five-Effect potion is a great way to level up your Alchemy skill.
9. Fortify Smithing Potion
Ingredients (any one of the following):
- Blisterwort
- Glowing Mushroom
- Sabre Cat Tooth
- Spriggan Sap
Effects:
- Fortify Smithing
At first glance, you already know that these ingredients are not that easy to come by.
However, since you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing no armor, or at least, non-fortified armor in Skyrim, this is a potion well worth having at your person at all times.
The Fortify Smithing potion is especially useful in the earlier stages of the game when you could definitely use better gear but can’t really get much out of using Workbenches and Grindstones yet.
Later on, you can use a maxed-out Fortify Smithing potion with a 174% bonus to create the most powerful gears in the game.
8. Fortify Barter Potion
Ingredients (any one of the following):
- Butterfly Wing
- Dragon’s Tongue
- Hagraven Claw
- Tundra Cotton
Effects:
- Fortify Barter
Fortify Smithing is arguably more useful than Fortify Barter, but, then again, outside of the few seconds that you’ll be using the potions to create the gear, you really won’t be needing the Fortify Smithing potion.
On the other hand, you’re going to be needing a lot of Fortify Barter potions if you want to take advantage of all the loot that the NPC’s of Skyrim have without resorting to literally sneaking behind their backs and stealing it from them.
A great way to drive down the buying prices and drive up the selling prices, the Fortify Barter is a must-have potion for before you go selling and shopping.
7. Cure Disease
Ingredients (any two of the following):
- Charred Skeever Hide
- Felsaad Tern Feathers
- Hawk Feathers
- Mudcrap Chitin
- Scrib Jelly
- Vampire Dust
Effects:
- Cures all diseases in Skyrim, including Sanguinare Vampiris if taken within the initial 3 days of infection.
There are only very few must-have potions in Skyrim, and the Cure Disease potion is one of them.
In fact, we’d rank it up a bit higher if there were far more diseases to worry about in Skyrim, or if they were more deadly, but they aren’t.
Nevertheless, it never hurts to have a couple of these in hand.
This is essentially a cure-all for all of the 9 different diseases that you can get while exploring in Skyrim.
This includes the all-too common Ataxia from Skeevers and Sanguinare Vampiris from battling with vampires.
Keep in mind, Sanguinare Vampiris is different from Vampirism.
The former is pretty much the name for incubation stage.
It’s also still curable.
However, once it has progressed to full-on Vampirism, which happens after three days of the initial infection if not cured, then you’ll have to figure out for yourself how to cure Vampirism.
Or, you know, you could just be a Vampire.
That’s completely up to you.
6. Invisibility Potion
Ingredients (any two of the following):
- Ash Creep Cluster
- Chaurus Eggs
- Crimson Nirnroot
- Ice Wraith Teeth
- Luna Moth Wing
- Nirnroot
- Vampire Dust
Effects:
- Grants invisibility to the user for a limited amount of time
Becoming invisible in Skyrim sounds like a great way to have fun, and in a way, it truly is.
Running around without any care for the world is great, especially since other people and creatures can see you for the complete duration of the effect.
The only problem?
It’s not as fun as it should be.
There are far too many instances in Skyrim that break invisibility, including interacting with chests, doors, levers, or other items.
Not to mention, using other potions, scrolls, or spells breaks the effect.
So does pickpocketing, speaking, or attacking.
This all pretty much leaves your list of causing havoc in Skyrim as an invisible guy rather short, which is why the Invisibility potion finds itself rather low on our list.
5. Fortify Enchanting Potion
Ingredients (any two of the following):
- Ancestor Moth Wing
- Blue Butterfly Wing
- Chaurus Hunter Atennae
- Hagraven Claw
- Snowberries
- Spawn Ash
- Spriggan Sap
Effects:
- Increases the potency of enchantments on weapons, armor, and accessories
Enchantments are far more important than armor in Skyrim.
You could make the most powerful set of armor in Skyrim, but with little to no enchantments, they’re pretty much dead weight.
But, even if the armor is relatively weak, if it’s enchanted with strong enchantments, then it’s going to be a lot more useful.
Drink this whenever you’re putting enchantments on whatever you plan on putting an enchantment on in Skyrim.
Just like with the Fortify Smithing potion, do make sure that you drink the Fortify Enchanting potion, or better yet, create the most potent kind of the potion that you possibly can, whenever you’re placing enchantments, for maximum effect.
4. Elemental Resistance Potion
Ingredients:
- Fly Amanita
- Hawk Beak
- Snowberries
Effects:
- Resist Fire
- Resist Frost
- Resist Shock
So, this isn’t the actual name of the potion, but it works, and it’s quite catchy, so we’re sticking with.
Feel free to change it any way you want.
Either way, the point is, making this potion grants you additional resistance against fire, frost, and shock, which can come in especially handy against enemies that love to throw Destruction magic your way.
Just keep in mind that the effects aren’t permanent, so you might want to get the battle over quickly and try not to soak up too much damage.
3. The Five Effect Poison
Ingredients:
- Jarrin Root
- Blisterwort
- Human Heart
Effects:
- Damage Health
- Damage Magicka
- Damage Magicka Regen
- Damage Stamina
- Frenzy
Easily the most devastating poison that you could ever make in Skyrim, the Five Effect poison is not something that you’d wish on even your worst enemies.
But, you know, just in case someone is really pissing you off, or you just want someone or something to die an agonizing death, it’s great to have this ready.
Unfortunately, because you can only get Jarrin Root once in Skyrim from following “The Dark Brotherhood” questline, the Five Effect poison is essentially one of a kind.
For that reason, it finds itself “only” in No. 3 on our list.
2. Triple Ravage Poison
Ingredients:
- Jazbay Grapes
- Scathecraw
- Spawn Ash
Effects:
- Ravage Magicka
- Ravage Health
- Ravage Stamina
Arguably just as effective and cruel if not more deadly than the Five Effect poison is what we’d like to call as the Triple Ravage poison.
Made from ingredients available exclusively in Solstheim from the Dragonborn add-on DLC of Skyrim, this poison causes enemies to lose a huge chunk of their Magicka, Health, and Stamina right from the get go.
This is especially useful against enemies with a tendency to regenerate any and all three, as the damage done is actually quite substantial.
1. Fortify Health Potion
Ingredients:
- Blue Mountain Flower
- Imp Tool
- Giant’s Toe
Effects:
- Fortify Health
- Restore Health
You’ll never know just how big of a baddie that next boss is going to be, which is why it’s important that you carry around potions that restore your health with you in Skyrim.
If we might recommend it, though, make sure that you get a Fortify Health potion, and not just the Restore Health kind.
Because it boosts your maximum health potions for 300 seconds by a substantial amount, all the while restoring some if not all of it, a quick swig of this potion will give you the strength that you need to take down any and all who dare challenge the might of the Dragonborn.
You know, it’s a huge shame that Bethesda didn’t make Alchemy as necessary of a skill in Skyrim.
Even so, it’s fun to know that your journey could have gone a lot easier if you just decided to dabble a little bit in potion making.
Now that you know just how useful Alchemy in Skyrim can be, there’s literally no reason why you shouldn’t put these recipes to good use.
