Potion-Making Tips
- 1 of 13: Read about the basics of potion-making on page 40 of the manual, then read the tips below for some advanced advice.
- 2 of 13: Before you start any serious potion-making, you should locate high-quality alchemical apparatus. It's really easy to steal all four master-level apparatus in the Caldera Mages Guild if you're willing to settle for that.
- 3 of 13: It's very handy to find a spot to store your apparatus when you're not using them, and to stockpile ingredients for when you're ready to make potions. As for a stockpile location, I suggest one at or near where you normally have your Mark spell set (the Creeper in Ghorak Manor in Caldera, for instance -- you can use the crates next to him for your ingredient and apparatus storage).
- 4 of 13: The weight of potions you make is the average of the weights of all the ingredients that go into it, even ones that don't contribute to the potion's effects. That means you can lighten a potion that you're making with two heavy ingredients by putting two very light ingredients (ones with a weight of 0.1, ideally) in the two empty slots. Also, try to use the lightest ingredients available to begin with.
- 5 of 13: The temporary effects of attribute-increasing potions are cumulative, which leads to two game exploitation gimmicks that can be very useful to the beginning character. The first gimmick is sujamma, and it's explained in the Combat Tips. The other gimmick is to drink several potions that fortify Intelligence and Luck before doing any potion-making. The increased Intelligence helps with the power of the created potions, and the increased Luck helps to ensure success in potion-making if your Alchemy skill is low.
- 6 of 13: If your potions keep failing, buy several good Fortify Luck potions and drink all of them before trying again. Then make and drink your own Fortify Luck potions to help keep your Luck up high enough to make more potions. (Or buy some Alchemy training from Galbedir in the Balmora Mages Guild. If your Alchemy skill is way low, this will be cheap and effective.)
- 7 of 13: Once you can make potions without failure most of the time, make and drink bunches of Fortify Intelligence potions until your Intelligence is at least 1,000. Then make a few spare Fortify Luck and Fortify Intelligence potions for future sessions, and then make whatever powerful utility potions you want (Fortify Strength, Restore Health, etc.).
- 8 of 13: See the Alchemical Ingredients list to figure out what ingredients to use for each type of potion. Also, look for guys who sell infinite amounts of the ingredients you most need. An example is Aunius Autrus in the Imperial Shrine in Sadrith Mora's Wolverine Hall -- he sells netch leather and ash yams (which can be used to make Fortify Intelligence potions), and always has some in stock no matter how many you buy from him.
- 9 of 13: Note, though, that even with a high Alchemy skill and an Intelligence of 1,000+, some potions (like for Reflect and Spell Absorption) turn out fairly cheap and low-power unless you use the tip below to vastly fortify your Alchemy skill.
- 10 of 13: If you have Tribunal or the Game of the Year edition installed, it's possible to enchant two exquisite rings and/or amulets to each fortify Alchemy by 400 points for 2 seconds when used. See my Enchanting Tips for details on how to make super Enchant-enhancing items -- Alchemy-enhancing items can be made the very same way (just have the items fortify Alchemy instead of Enchant).
- 11 of 13: Make sure you have plenty of ingredients for making Fortify Intelligence potions, then quickly use both Alchemy enhancement items and right-click to pause the game. Use your best apparatus to make several Fortify Intelligence potions, then drink them all to vastly increase your Intelligence. After you do that, reuse your two Alchemy-boosting items (if they've worn off) and then make more Fortify Intelligence potions -- this batch will be much more powerful than the last one because you made it with a much higher Intelligence.
- 12 of 13: After drinking your second round of Fortify Intelligence potions, get the ingredients you need to make whatever super-strong potions you want, like Reflect. Use your Alchemy boosters one more time, then mix up your potions. With your Alchemy skill over 800 and your Intelligence around 20,000, you can make truly wondrous potions, such as Reflect 155% for 455 seconds. With one of *those* in effect, you'll not have to worry about any type or strength of magical attack at all!
- 13 of 13: ALTERNATIVE: Instead of spending all that money on the Alchemy-enhancing enchanted items, you could go to a spellmaker and have her make you several different spells that each fortify Alchemy by 100 points. The spells are cheap to make, but your Restoration skill will have to be fairly high (preferably over 50), and you'll have to make each spell last a different amount of time. For instance, if you made four spells, one would need to last 8 seconds, another 6 seconds, another 4 seconds, and another 2 seconds. You'd cast them in descending order of duration so that the first one doesn't wear off before you cast the fourth one. (Note that you don't have to worry about your magicka points running out if you chug some high-power Fortify Intelligence potions right before casting these spells.)
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