Skyrim Alchemy perks
Making potions and poisons from ingredients. Alchemy is a thief skill with 9 perks and 15 perk ranks.
- Perks
- 9 perks, 15 perk points to complete
- Skill type
- Thief (Stealth)
- Race bonus
- Wood Elf, Breton, Dark Elf, Khajiit +5
- XP 15 → 100
- 428,568 skill XP
- Training 15 → 90
- 120,450 gold (75 sessions)
Alchemy perk tree
| Perk | Rank | Skill | Requires | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alchemist | 1/5 | 0 | — | Potions and poisons are 20% stronger |
| 2/5 | 20 | Alchemist 1 | Potions and poisons are 40% stronger | |
| 3/5 | 40 | Alchemist 2 | Potions and poisons are 60% stronger | |
| 4/5 | 60 | Alchemist 3 | Potions and poisons are 80% stronger | |
| 5/5 | 80 | Alchemist 4 | Potions and poisons are twice as strong | |
| Physician | — | 20 | Alchemist | Restore Health, Magicka and Stamina potions are 25% stronger |
| Benefactor | — | 30 | Physician | Beneficial effects in potions are 25% stronger |
| Poisoner | — | 30 | Physician | Poisons are 25% more effective |
| Experimenter | 1/3 | 50 | Benefactor | Eating an ingredient reveals its first two effects |
| 2/3 | 70 | Experimenter 1 | Eating an ingredient reveals its first three effects | |
| 3/3 | 90 | Experimenter 2 | Eating an ingredient reveals all its effects | |
| Concentrated Poison | — | 60 | Poisoner | Poisons on weapons last for twice as many hits |
| Green Thumb | — | 70 | Concentrated Poison | Gather two ingredients from plants |
| Snakeblood | — | 80 | Experimenter or Concentrated Poison | 50% resistance to all poisons |
| Purity | — | 100 | Snakeblood | Potions lose their negative effects and poisons their positive ones |
When a perk lists two prerequisites, you need only one of them.
Planning your Alchemy perks
Completing the whole Alchemy tree costs 15 of the roughly 80 perk points you get by level 81, so most builds take only the perks they will really use. Start with the perks at the bottom of the tree, then follow the branch that suits your play style up to its top perk.
The highest perks in the tree need a skill of 90 or 100: Experimenter (90), Purity (100).
How to level Alchemy
Every time Alchemy goes up, your character earns experience equal to the new skill level, so a high Alchemy skill also helps you level up quickly. Raising it from 15 to 100 takes about 428,568 skill experience in total. Trainers can take it to 90 for about 120,450 gold, five sessions per character level. Use the skill XP calculator for exact numbers between any two levels.