So I've decided to make a one of these "maxed" characters that do obscene amounts of damage etc. I've came across a few things that say Fortify Health potions are the best for levelling alchemy. Can anyone confirm this?
Has anyone calculated approximately how many of these it takes to get to 100 alchemy? I know a couple of people have already worked out exactly how many iron daggers it takes for 100 smithing and a couple of other things.

Cheers.

you cannot really speed up the alchemy thing. this skills takes by far the longest to max the second beeing speech without the riften glitch.

the value (gold) of the potion you make decides how much exp you gain. but even when making potions that cost 400 gold each it takes a very long time to level this. i recommenced using trainers until atleast 75 skill level.

since you can steal your money back without perks in pickpocket (you can steal 800 back after 51 at most simply exit place where trainer is and the money of over 1500 will decrase to 800. does not work on ALL trainers. thiefs guild ones keep 1500) this is by far the fastest way of power leveling alchemy.

did get to 100 alchemy in a single day by using only trainers up to 90 and then reading the 5 skill books. rest was done by hand. unfortunatly the master trainer for alchemy is a child body so after 75 no stealing back of anything is possible :/ costs about 50k gold to reach 90 from 75. but still way faster than normal leveling i say.

You have to take note of the alchemy ingredients. In essence, the higher value the potion/poison, the faster skill gain you get. What I did was to run around Skyrim's various alchemy shops and shop for ingredients. It is only when I decide to level up that I become selective since the ingredients used for potions to level alchemy are quite different from combat potions and poisons. For instance, fortify smithing/enchanting/1h/2h/destruction/marksman/weakness to magic//shock etc.

Some basics:

- get the Thieves Stone for + 20% skill gain
- if you have your own bed, sleep in it for + 10% skill gain for 8 hours
- if you have smithing/enchanting maxed and already crafted the 4 pieces of +29% alchemy gear, use those. It powers the potions you make, increasing its value and thus increasing your skill gains.

There is one post at Gamefaqs that gave the details on this, I'll repost it with the appropriate credits given.

Thread started by: Silver1717
contributors: BigBob, PlightedPersona, simonbelmont2 and Notchy44

Alchemy

make damage magicka regen, damage stamina regen, invisibility, paralysis, and slow potions
these are worth the most and thus give the most experience

Dmg mag regen ingreds:
bear claws, blue butterfly wing, blue mountain flower, hanging moss, nightshade, spriggan sap, glow dust, spider egg, chicken egg

Dmg stam regen ingreds:
creep cluster, frost mirriam, giants toe (use these with wheat, trust me), histcarp, juniper berries, large antlers, silverside perch, skeever tail, wheat

Invisibility:
chaurus eggs, ice wraith teeth, luna moth wing, nirnroot, vampire dust

Slow:
deathbell, large antlers, river betty, salt pile

paralysis
briar heart, canis root, imp stool, swamp fungal pod

my favorites are hanging moss and blue mountain flowers... very easy to acquire and very good exp/value

Original thread: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615803-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/61022659

Wow, thank you, very informative.