ESO Alchemy Guide
Alchemy is one of the seven Crafting Professions in ESO. With Alchemy, players can create powerful Potions and Poisons in The Elder Scrolls Online that can help them in PVE and PVP activities. Potions and Poisons made with Alchemy can have various different effects from boosting your DPS to Weakening your enemies. Using the right Potion/Poison at the right time can save your life or help you deal faster with a tough target.
Specific Potions are essential in high-end PVE and certain Poisons will make any PVP encounter easy to deal with. It is possible to buy them from other players but is wiser to have the ability to craft them yourself. Like this you can cover your needs or sell the Potions you are making in order to make some gold.
Alchemy is one of the best ways to make gold with crafting! This ESO Alchemy Guide will show how to make Potions and Poisons but also share some Alchemy Recipes with you.
Table of Contents
Ingredients – ESO Alchemy
In order to create a Potion or a Poison you have to combine a Solvent with two or three Reagents.
Solvents
There are two types of Solvents, Potion Solvent that create Potions or Essences and Poison Solvents that create Poisons. Depending on your Alchemy Passives learned you can make up to four Potions or sixteen Poisons with one Solvent and Reagents.
Potion Solvents mostly come by collecting water nodes while Poison Solvent drop from defeated enemies. You can always buy Solvents from other players.
Reagents
Reagents are mostly herbs and plants that can be harvested from almost everywhere in Tamriel. There are other types of Reagents as well but the majority are plants you pick up or buy from other players.
Every Reagent has four Traits that determine the type of Potion/Poison they can create.
To become an effective Potion Maker you have first to discover all Traits for every available Reagent. This can happen by simply combining Solvents and Reagents randomly until you discover all Traits. The first Trait for every Reagent can also be found by simply eating that reagent.
To level up Alchemy fast, use a two-reagent cheap combination to make potions. Once you get more levels invest points to Alchemy that will allow you to use better solvents and keep creating Potions using the same reagents. For more details on Alchemy and the other Crafting Professions you can read my Ultimate Crafting Guide.
How to Make Potions and Poisons – ESO Alchemy
To start creating Potions or Poisons you need to combine at least two Reagents with the same Trait.
Bugloss and Butterfly Wings for example have both the “Restore Health” Trait and combined with a Lorkhan’s Tears( Top Rank Potion Solvent ) will give you an Essence of Health result. If the Reagents have more Traits in common the result will be a Potion with multiple effects.
Bugloss and Columbine for example have both the “Restore Health” and “Restore Magicka” Traits. The result now will be an Essence of Health that restores both Health and Magicka.
If you combine Reagents with opposing Traits you will not get the result you are after. For example Bugloss has the “Restore Health” Trait while Corn Flower the “Ravage Health” Trait. These two Traits negate each other so you will never get an Essence of Health from this combination.
By using an Alkahest(Top Rank Poison Solvent) instead of a Lorkhan’s Tears we can create a Poison with the same Reagents. Poison Solvents reverse Reagents’ Traits, creating a negative effect. Corn Flower combined with Columbine will give you an Essence of Magicka if you use a Potion Solvent, since they both have the “Restore Magicka” Trait. With a Poison Solvent this same combination will give you a Drain Magicka Poison.
By using three Reagents you can create more complex Potions/Poisons with multiple effects, that are more useful/effective and of course more valuable/expensive to buy.
ESO Alchemy Recipes
These are some of the most popular Potions and Poisons in ESO right now that can help you in PVE and PVP activities.
What are the Best Potions in ESO Alchemy
Below you can find the recipe for some of the Best Potions you can use in ESO.
| Name | Effect | Reagents | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essence of Spell Power | Spell Damage-Spell Critical-Restore Magicka | Corn Flower-Lady's Smock-Water Hyacinth | PVE |
| Essence of Spell Power | Spell Damage-Restore Magicka | Corn Flower-Lady's Smock | PVE |
| Essence of Spell Critical | Spell Critical-Restore Magicka | Lady's Smock-Bugloss-Namira's Rot | PVE |
| Essence of Weapon Power | Weapon Damage-Weapon Critical-Restore Stamina | Blessed Thistle-Dragonthorn-Water Hyacinth | PVE |
| Essence of Weapon Power | Weapon Damage-Restore Stamina | Blessed Thistle-Dragonthorn | PVE |
| Essence of Weapon Crit | Weapon Critical-Restore Stamina | Dragonthorn-Mountain Flower-Wormwood | PVE |
| Essence of Health | Restore Health/Magicka/Stamina | Bugloss-Columbine-Mountain Flower | PVE |
| Essence of Detection | Stealth Detection-Spell Damage-Restore Magicka | Corn Flower-Lady's Smock-Wormwood | PVP |
| Essence of Immovability | Immune to Knockback/Disabling Effects-Restore Health/Stamina | Columbine-Mountain Flower-Namira's Rot or Wormwood | PVP |
| Essence of Immovability | Immune to Knockback/Disabling Effects-Restore Health/Magicka | Columbine-Bugloss-Namira's Rot or Wormwood | PVP |
What are the Best Poisons in ESO Alchemy
Below you can find the recipe for some of the Best Poisons you can use in ESO.
| Name | Effect | Reagents | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Damage Health Poison IX | Poison Damage x2 | Fleshfly Larva-Nightshade-Nirnroot | PVE/PVP |
| Escapist's Poison IX | Immobilize target-Drain Health/Magicka | Bugloss-Columbine-Namira's Rot or Wormwood | PVP |
| Escapist's Poison IX | Immobilize target-Drain Health/Stamina | Mountain Flower-Columbine-Namira's Rot or Wormwood | PVP |
| Drain Health Poison IX | Drain Health/Magicka/Stamina | Bugloss-Columbine-Mountain Flower | PVP |
| Speed Draining Poison IX | Hindrance-Minor Maim-Drain Stamina | Blessed Thistle-Dragonthorn-Scrib Jelly | PVP |
Other Guides to Read
- Best Class Guide
- Best Solo Class Guide
- Race Guide
- Beginner Guide & Tips
- ESO How to Make Gold
- ESO Leveling Guide
- ESO Crafting Guide
- Undaunted Pledges Guide
- Transmute Crystals Guide
- Champion Points Guide
- ESO Daily Routine
- Best Addons Guide
Arzyel is a passionate Gamer and fan of the Elder Scrolls Series! A professional Content Creator and owner of the arzyelbuilds.com and arzyelarmory.com websites that are focusing on The Elder Scrolls Online with hundreds of Builds and Guides! Arzyel also publishes videos on his YouTube channel!
Thanks to his experience in Gaming and especially Online Gaming, Arzyel can create practical and effective Builds & Guides, perfect for new and veteran players! You can check his Twitter for his latest content, join his Discord Server and if you wish to find out more you can also check his About Me page.