The alchemy craft in ESO is how you can create potions to quickly recover stats, become invisible or more. You also use alchemy to create poisons to use against your enemies. If you prefer a video guide, you can check out my quick alchemy guide here, or my extended alchemy guide here.

First we will take a look at the alchemy skill tree.

Icon/Name	Game Description	Bizz Description
Solvent Proficiency	Allows the Alchemist to use Natural Water and Grease to make Level 3 potions and poisons and Clear Water and Ichor to make Level 10 potions and poisons.	This passive dictates what the highest level of potions or poisons you can craft. The highest level potion/poison you can craft will also dictate what half of the oils and waters you find are. (The other half matches your character level)
Keen Eye: Reagents	Herbs and fungi in the world will be easier to see at 20/30/xy meters or closer.	Adds a light/smoke effects to alchemy plants, solvent water spots and water skins.
Medicinal Use	When using potions, resulting effects last 30% longer.	When you drink a potion, it lasts longer. This applies when drinking the potion, not when crafting it. Good passive to have on all characters.
Chemistry	Produces 3 extra potions or 12 extra poisons per crafting attempt	Using the same amount of materials, you make more potions and poisons!
Laboratory Use	Allows the use of up to 3 reagents while mixing Potions or Poisons.	Initially you can only use 2 reagents in a potion/poison, this passive allows for a 3rd – to make better potions, or potions with more effects.
Snakeblood	Reduces duration of negative effects in potions by 50% when consumed.	The most useless passive in the entire game. It only reduces effects with a duration, it does NOT eliminate immediate negative effects. Don’t waste your skill points here – just don’t make bad potions.

To craft a potion you will need a solvent and at least 2 reagents – which are plants. If you use a water solvent you will create a potion. If you use oil as the solvent, you will create a poison.

 

Solvents are what will determine the level range of the potion. You can drink potions that are below your character level, although they will be less effective than a potion at your level – even with potion scaling. Solvents can be found in water skins, or harvested from bodies of water – where you will see a “bubbling” section of water, or purchased from other players in game. Oils drop from monsters such as trolls.
Solvents found will match either your crafting skill in alchemy (how high of level potion you can craft) or it will match your character level.

Water Spot With Keen Eye Water Skin With Keen Eye

Reagents are plants, and the combination you use will determine what effect your potion or poison has. You get reagents by harvesting resource nodes, or by purchasing them from other players. Some reagents are harvested from mobs such as mudcrabs or torch bugs. Each reagent has 4 effects, or traits, that will help determine what the potion does.

Reagent W/ Keen Eye

Once you have gathered the necessary items to craft some potions, head to an alchemy station like this. You can find them on your map by this icon.

When you first start alchemy, your character will not know any of the effects or traits of each reagent, you will also not know the level range of the solvents. You will need to experiment (or google) to find out what each item does.
To craft an item you need to select a solvent, and at least 2 reagents. When starting out, you will only be able to use 2 reagents in a potion – but after levelling and investing a skill point, you will be able to use 3 reagents so you can craft better potions. Once you craft a potion, putting those same items together in the creation screen will actually show you what potion you are about to craft.

When first learning alchemy you will also start to learn the effects of each reagent – if the potion you crafted uses that effect. Not every combination of reagents work, and after you fail at making a potion the game will tell you if the reagents will not react. You can learn the first effect of a reagent by eating it (‘use’ when in your inventory).

Potion effects are determined by traits that are either shared by the reagents, or countered. If two reagents have the “restore magicka” effect, your potion will restore magicka.

If one reagent has “restore magicka” and the other has “ravage magicka” these will counter each other and no magicka effect will be in the potion. Once you start to know the effects of the reagents, the effect will light up on screen to show any matching or countered effects.

For poisons, you must use oil are your solvent instead of water. It also uses the same trait matching mechanic but any positive effects will create a drain poison, which harms your enemy and benefits you. Selecting reagents with matching negative effects will only cause harm to your enemy.

There is no deconstruction in alchemy, only creation.

If you have any questions about alchemy, be sure to leave a comment, or check out my alchemy video guides!