Well there, hows that dragon slaying going? You know, I used to be an adventurer like you... but then I took some skooma in the slums! Now I just play around on the alchemy workbench. Guess I've learned a few things... well, more than a few. More like 21,974 recipes, if you want to be picky about it.

So, if you need any alchemy advice, just ask here - I'll be glad to run some research and get the answers. I've already got my workbench set up and fully stocked, though its not open to the public yet.

Or drop by the shop sometime, it'll be open soon at http://skyalcwb.wiers.us - the tools there are a bit confusing, so I'll be glad to answer any questions you might post.

disclaimer - Uncle Alchy is a sock-puppet created by swiers for role play purposes.

Ah, I've been looking for something like this.


My first question is how do I start alchemy? Eat berries? I'd be interested in health/Magicka potions.

You don't actually need to know any effects to use alchemy, so eating things is a bit of a waste, unless you just need to get rid of them and don't know the first effect yet.

Instead, just walk up to an alchemy workbench and start mixing things together. If they share any effects, you get a potion or poison with all those effects (plus alchemy xp based on the mixtures vlaue and any new effects you discovered). Lists of what effects come from what ingredients ingredients are pretty easy to find; my workbench has one built in along with other features, but I got my information from http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Alchemy and http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Alchemy_(Skyrim)

"Health / magicka potions" is pretty vauge; there's 2834 potions that either restore or fortify health or magicka. I'll focus on the good ones that have multiple effects and are easy to get ingredients for.

For a simple health potion that is hard to beat, try this:
Wheat, Blue Mountain Flower => Restore Health, Fortify Health

Ingredients for Fortify Magicka are a bit more exotic, but here's a few good recipes that aren't TO hard to find ingredients for:
Briar Heart, Ectoplasm => Restore Magicka, Fortify Magicka
Briar Heart, Red Mountain Flower => Restore Magicka, Fortify Magicka
Tundra Cotton, Red Mountain Flower => Fortify Magicka

For restore magica potions you have a lot of easy options, by mixing up any two of Elves Ear, Creep Cluster, Giant Lichen, Grass Pod, Red Mountian Flower, Mora Tapinella, or White Cap. Some of those mixtures may be poisions; the following are not:
Elves Ear, Creep Cluster
Elves Ear, Giant Lichen
Elves Ear, Grass Pod
Elves Ear, Red Mountain Flower
Elves Ear, White Cap
Giant Lichen, Creep Cluster
Giant Lichen, Grass Pod
Giant Lichen, Mora Tapinella
Red Mountain Flower, Creep Cluster
Red Mountain Flower, Giant Lichen
White Cap, Red Mountain Flower
White Cap, Mora Tapinella
White Cap, Grass Pod

Smart kid like you who can learn dragon shouts can probably figure it out from there!

All right, got it

Thanks

Recently I've started up a new character that is an archer and a stealth oriented one, and I was wandering if poisons with the arrows would be extremely good... I'd like to make some, but I don't really know how to get into Alchemy. Any ideas Uncle Alchy?

Recently I've started up a new character that is an archer and a stealth oriented one, and I was wandering if poisons with the arrows would be extremely good... I'd like to make some, but I don't really know how to get into Alchemy. Any ideas Uncle Alchy?

Bows and poison go together like orcs and armor! A lot of poisons work better at range, where you either have time to let them work, or they buy you time to shoot more arrows, or they set the target up to take more damage from other attacks. There's almost to many options to list, but the paralysis poisons are among my favorites. With those, killing a giant is EASY- but mind you, they don't work on dragons! Mix any two of Imp Stool, Swamp Fungal Pod, and Cains Root, and you'll get a Paralysis poison with no other effects. The last tow are fairly abundant in the swamp outside Morthal, or as I call it "Poison Town".
Slightly nastier paralysis poisons are easy to make with three ingredients; I've left out those that use human body parts or other exotic ingredients. Again, most of this stuff is abundant around Morthal or otherwise easy to find:
Canis Root, Small Antlers, Human Flesh => Paralysis, Damage Health
Imp Stool, Canis Root, Mora Tapinella => Paralysis, Lingering Damage Health
Imp Stool, Canis Root, Orange Dartwing => Paralysis, Lingering Damage Health
Imp Stool, Canis Root, Red Mountain Flower => Paralysis, Damage Health
Imp Stool, Canis Root, Small Antlers => Paralysis, Damage Health
Imp Stool, Deathbell, Canis Root => Damage Health, Paralysis
Nightshade, Imp Stool, Canis Root => Damage Health, Paralysis
Skeever Tail, Imp Stool, Canis Root => Damage Health, Paralysis

One awesomely nasty (and easy) brew for pure damage output is this:
Skeever Tail, Deathbell, Giant Lichen => Ravage Health, Damage Health, Weakness to Poison

Aside from the good old paralysis & damage combos, you can mix up poisons for you bow that will slow the enemy, make them more vulnerable to fire / frost / shock effects (excellent if used on an enchangted bow, obviously) or drain their stamina / magicka to make it so they can't hurt you.

You'll have to ask the Uncle for the good recipes,but i know from experience that a few good Damage Health ingredients can make some very potent poisons.
And though it may be a bit tedious to poison each arrow,those first,carefully aimed stealth arrows can wreck havoc on those unaware Dragons perched on their Walls.
A single shot can often be enough to decimate the beast's health,and if the poison's effects are lingering,they can continue to lose health while flapping around way up there.
Iv'e had dragons go down with no more than 2 shots,because the poison ate away at them till they dropped out of the sky.

And for frequent poison users,i suggest hotkeying/favoriting their poisons for quickly coating their weapon.

Ah, thank you very much Uncle Alchy, . With these, I will be able to finish off some high level monsters without being butchered to death.

Note that I may have added a few more. My drunken rambling often requires editing.

Edit - its also worth noting that your initial efforts at making poisons may be a bit underwhelming - they won't do much damage until you get you learn to make stronger mixtures (raising Alchmey Skill, using Alchemy boosting enchantements, and having various perks that boost strength of alchemy effects). That's one reason I suggested Paralysis poisons; even for a rank novice alchemist, they have a 3 second duration, which is long enough to help a fair bit. As you get better at Alchemy, the duration gets longer, and you damage dealing poisons (particularly the lingering damage ones) get much more deadly; that's where you get into the stuff that can help you kill dragons.

Edit 2- an oddity of bow & poison use is that the poison effect applies to (the first, maybe second for "ravage" poisons) arrows that HIT when using the poisoned bow. Wierd, but otherwise would be much less useful, and it makes it so you don;t have to apply the poison after each (missed) shot.

River Betty.... nasty poisonous fish, goes best when combined with deathbell, for a slow and damage health effect.

I love Alchemy and all the poisons and potions you can make.
But do plants ever regrow so I can pick them again?Or do I just have to be very carefull with how I use those few canis roots I have right now?

Most plants (and anything else you harvest, like minerals) will eventually regrow, but it takes time. I've harvested the same flowers in Solitude and Whiterun several times. Most plants take 1 week, and minerals 1 month afaik. A week seems like a long time when you are the dragonborn (especially if you use the freeze time shout), so it may seem like they aren't coming back.
Some plants (and likely other things) do never come back again once harvested; Crimson Nirnroot, for example, and maybe regular Nirnroot too.

Do you have to stay away from the area for the whole time or something?
It's been close to a month now and the plants I harvested in Whiterun still haven't regrown.

You wouldn't need to stay away, no. I could just be wrong, or you could have a glitch.

On my 360 they grew back in Blackreach.
On my initial run-through I was frustrated at finding them all, then I found they'd grown back later on. Yay!

Not sure about regular nirnroots.

EDIT:
I did come up with a question, though:
Any simple recipes for expensive potions using fairly common ingredients?

I want to make high-valued potions to increase Alchemy through the 90's more quickly. Problem is, they normally have a semi-rare ingredient involved.

Uncle alchy,
I have a question. Can you explain the difference between damage health, lingering damage health and ravage health?
Also what happened to fire , shock and freeze poisons? I miss them. I really miss the paralyze/fire damage/damage health arrows from oblivion.

Thanks. Dr D.

Ok. Can anyone answer this question and also what happened to fire arrows?

Uncle Alchy. In your opinion, what's the best way to serve Giant's Toe?

From what I have noticed...

Damage Health = direct damage
Lingering Damage = damage over time
Ravage Health = lowers max health