just found a couple of pearls and a small pearl by the boss chest in geirmunds hall.

What about Berit's Ashes?

Not really. When I searched for the normal Nirnroots on that particular quest, they weren't very hard to find, particularly as you can not only hear them, but you can spot their glow from quite a distance. I've found lots of them, even after the quest, so they must respawn.


Took me a good hour in Blackreach to get all the Crimson ones. Then I returned to Blackreach later on because I found about the secret dragon that's lurking, and noticed that more crimsons had respawned.

They will respawn in the arch mage quarters, just give it time.

Dwarven Oil appears in shops, albeit in small quantities. If you plan to use it regularly, hit up 2-3 Dwemer Ruins and you'll have all you'll ever really need.

Spriggans, for some odd reason, do not have the Sap in their Death Item list; the only place I know of that has a guaranteed sample is the Alchemy section of the upper floor of the Hall of Countenance in the Mages' College. It does respawn, but it's on the 30-day timer. It can also be found in random loot, especially when fighting mages.

Jazbay Graqes can be found in large quantities in the steam fields between Kynesgrove and Steamcrag Camp; if you are diligent about checking flat surfaces, you can get up to 50 per pass. This is also a good source for Creep Cluster and Dragon's Tongue.

Except for Human Hearts and Flesh, all the rare items mentioned by the OP can be bought in Alchemy shops provided you have the Merchant perk. They also sell Daedra Hearts, but they're classed as Rare so are often not in stock; when they are, you can get 1-2 per shop.

Speaking of Hearts and Flesh: whoever decided not to put them in the Human races' Death Item lists needs a good beating, as that should have been a no-brainer.

As for the most common ingredients: Salt Pile and Juniper Berries, by a large margin. in one pass around the map, while checking every barrel and plant, respectively, you can get well over 200 of the former and 150 of the latter, if not more. This is especially true if you help a couple of people in Riften*, since doing so removes the 'Steal' label from the Fish Barrels around the Fishery, from which you can then get Salt Piles (and various fish) in bulk lots.



*Any two or more people will do, it seems, as that gets you in good there; From-Deepest-Fathoms (wanders around outside the Fishery) sends you into a Dwemer Ruin (Oil, ingots, scrap to smelt), and the blacksmith wants Fire Salts (10 of them), which you'll find in Alchemy shops, so those are probably the best choices.

Just to add to this, was in Forelhost last night and got more than a dozen Ectoplasm out of there from mostly looting the ghosts.

I think that's just a 'named' version of Bone Meal (maybe Vampire dust) and behaves the same. Kinda' like Fine Cut Void Salts are basically Void Salts.

Pearls really. Hawk Beak and feathers can be found by shooting the hawks down in Solitude with Lightning.

Just completed the quest Waking Nightmare in Dawnstar. Speak with a guy at the Inn named Erandur and he will give you a give a daedric quest giving you a staff. This quest has a lot of alchemy ingredients in this quest including one pearl. The quest is up the mountain in Dawnstar in a tower. You get a daedric staff, alchemy ingredients and one step close to achieving the daedric relic quest called "Oblivion Walker" on the xbox. Hope this helps!

Nirnroots will grow back, and they have specific places they like to grow (near water).
Spriggan Sap will drop occasionally, appears frequently in Hagraven havens, and is sometimes sold at vendors.
Dwarven Oil is ultra common as soon as you can survive Dwemer dungeons, which is usually very soon.

Hawkbeaks on the other hand, are only rarely sold at the vendor and you can't hunt for them.

Pearls are even worse. I think I've found 4 of them EVER, across 4 characters.

Pearls definitely. Only found one, ever, and it was random dungeon loot.

You can hunt for them. You need to shoot the hawks out of the sky. Try Solitude and the harbour area. Hawks will give 1 beak and 3 feathers each.

For real? I thought they were just fancy environmental effects, not actual entities.

How much more? It's been many months in-game time since I first picked up ('stole', I think) most of those ingredients. I say they will not respawn!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kWxEtrqTcc

Heh, never occurred to me either. I also thought they were there for visual effect only.

You need to not revisit the cell for a full 30 days, if you go back the timer resets. If you're using the Archmage's quarters as your Base of Operations, you'll probably be in and out and keep resetting the timer, thus making it appear nothing respawns.

Thanks for the hints on the Jazbay graqes. I never saw them in the hot springs area before. Made life a lot easier.

I just use Blisterwort and Glowing Mushrooms for that, which can be got at large quantities in certain caves.

As for rarest ingredients I'd have to say human hearts and skin. Which is odd, since I wear Namira's ring so I should be harvesting them in large quantities

Powdered Mammoth Tusks and Pearls have been the rarest for me. Never found a pearl in a clam. Human hearts and flesh are almost as rare. Daedra hearts can be farmed in a respawning location.

Probably pearls because I have found a couple of all those ingredients but I only ever found one pearl and 2 small pearls. They were in a dungeon or building somewhere. I wish I remembered where...
Also, nirnroot does regrow. (unless my game is weird). I have found nirnroot in the same spot in Ivarstead once or twice.

I think I found pearls as dungeon loot on mage bodies.

There's one each pearl and small pearl in Giermund's Hall IIRC. After you kill the boss and find the chest, they're on a plate by the chest.

Oh really? They may be hard to see there. Especailly if there has been a lot of blasting.