You will find an overwhelming amount of items in Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. If that wasn’t enough you can craft different items by mastering different crafting skills.
Crafting is simple – level up perks for a crafting skill and find the much-needed ingredients and rest is self-explanatory. If you want to induce magical effects in your weapons and armor, master Enchanting.
If you want to create powerful potions and poisons, master Alchemy. Finally, if you want to create a good hand-made weapon to fight your foes, master Smithing.
Each crafting skill comes with its own set of benefits, which makes it harder to choose, which crafting skill you should master first. Anyway, Ingredients are of core importance in Crafting Items. Below you will find a mega-list of ingredients and can be used to craft different items in Skyrim.
You will get benefits with every crafting skill, so it is up to you to decide which benefits you should use. You need materials and ingredients to craft, we have a list down here for everything you would need.
You can craft or even buy Potions that would help you increase the skill of Smithing and Enchanting for about 30 seconds. If you crafting skills are already at 100 then it would work best and even better with max armor production and most of the skill trees filled in.
Another tip is to skip the poisons section in Alchemy but you should focus on getting the bonus from positive potions. Enchanting would be boosted by using Alchemy due to this process and with a boosted enchanting you would be able to boost your armor.
Please note that you cannot boost enchanting using enchanting but you can boost the enchanting skill by using potions for thirty seconds. For this purpose, you can use potions such as Spriggan Sap, Hagraven Claws, Blue Butterfly Wings, all boost Enchanting. For both Smithing and Alchemy you can also enchant jewelry with dual Enchantments. Alchemy can then Boosts your Enchantments in turn.
Potions with more than one effect are best for leveling up your alchemy and it works best you use multiple negative effect potions on your weapons
For more help on Skyrim, read our Leveling Guide, Guilds Guide, and Dragon Shouts.
Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Crafting
Enchanting
Induce magical characteristics in your weapons and armor. It may sound easy to say, it isn’t because it involves you learning the said magical effects because you can induce them in your equipment.
You also need a soul gem containing a soul. The size of the soul determines the strength of the enchantment that you create. Enchanting, like Smithing and Alchemy, can only be done at specified Enchanting Workbenches.
These workbenches also allow you to break down enchanted items that you have found and in turn, allow you to learn the new magical effects that were used in enchanting those items.
Enchantment Skill Perk Tree
You can read the full breakdown of Enchantment Skill Tree and Perk here.
How To Make an Enchanted Item
To make an enchanted item, you need to three things, an item, enchantment, and a soul gem. Once you have all three, go to any Enchanting Workbench and combine the three to create an enchanted item.
How To Get an Enchantment – Easiest way is to breakdown a magical item. When you will break it down, you will learn the enchantment that was used to create that item.
It’s worth noting that you can’t apply every enchantment on every item. Select an enchantment and see which items it supports – items in white can be enchanted by that enchantment but those items that are greyed out, can’t be enchanted with that enchantment.
Once you have all three items – Click Create to make an enchanted item. If you feel creative, you can even rename the name of the item.
Arkhane Enchanting Workbenches Locations
These are just few of the locations where you can enchant an item.
Dustman’s Cairn
It will unlock when you accept ‘Proving Honor’ quest from The Companions.
Orphan Rock
It is northeast of Helgen, south-east of Riverwood.
Whiterun
Near Farengar Secret-Fire.
Alchemy
The art of creating potions and poisons. To creation potions and poisons, you would need alchemical ingredients and then, you need ingredients that react positively and negatively with each other. Mixing positively reacting ingredients will create potion and mixing negatively reacting ingredients will create poison.
Each alchemical ingredient has four effects and you can check the first effect by tasting that ingredient. You can find the remaining three effects of the ingredient by testing and experimenting with these ingredients.
It is not finding ingredients that you should worry about but, the effects of these ingredients because Alchemy depends on that. Your goal is to find ingredients that have a common trait.
Mixing ingredients with common trait will create a potion and you can create a varied variety of these just by combing different ingredients with same basic properties.
You can even mix multiple ingredients at once, but they should be compatible. This way, you will a large varied number of potions, you can use under different circumstances.
Be careful though, you can easily mess it up – such as you can create a great health regeneration potion but it may also have a negative effect, damaging you at the same time.
To create potions and poisons, you will need to perform Alchemy at designated Alchemy Labs throughout Skyrim. I have pointed out several Alchemy Labs below, for when you can’t find one.
Alchemy Ingredient Effects
If you don’t believe in experimenting, these are the alchemical effects of all the ingredients that you can use to create potions and poisons. You can combine the two positive ingredients to create a potion and negative ingredients to create poison. You can apply the poison to your weapons to make them more lethal.
Key
Positive or Negative Ingredient Effect
Ingredient (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary) – Each ingredient is followed by the () indicating whether the ingredient effect is primary (1), secondary (2), tertiary (3), or quaternary (4).
Cure Disease
- Charred Skeever Hide (2)
- Hawk Feathers (1)
- Mudcrab Chitin (2)
- Vampire Dust (4)
Damage Health
- Crimson Nirnroot (1)
- Deathbell (1)
- Ectoplasm (4)
- Falmer Ear (1)
- Human Flesh (1)
- Human Heart (1)
- Imp Stool (1)
- Jarrin Root (1)
- Nightshade (1)
- Nirnroot (1)
- Red Mountain Flower (4)
- River Betty (1)
- Skeever Tail (3)
- Small Antlers (4)
- Troll Fat (4)
- Void Salts (3)
Damage Magicka
- Butterfly Wing (4)
- Chaurus Eggs (3)
- Daedra Heart (3)
- Eye of Sabre Cat (3)
- Glow Dust (1)
- Hagraven Feathers (1)
- Hanging Moss (1)
- Human Heart (2)
- Jarrin Root (2)
- Luna Moth Wing (1)
- Namira’s Rot (1)
- Nordic Barnacle (1)
Damage Magicka Regen
- Bear Claws (4)
- Blue Butterfly Wing (3)
- Blue Mountain Flower (4)
- Chicken’s Egg (2)
- Glow Dust (2)
- Hanging Moss (3)
- Human Heart (3)
- Jarrin Root (4)
- Nightshade (2)
- Spider Egg (2)
- Spriggan Sap (1)
Damage Stamina
Berit’s Ashes (1)
- Blisterwort (1)
- Blue Butterfly Wing (1)
- Bone Meal (1)
- Canis Root (1)
- Crimson Nirnroot (2)
- Cyrodilic Spadetail (1)
- Giant’s Toe (1)
- Jarrin Root (3)
- Nirnroot (2)
- Rock Warbler Egg (3)
- Spider Egg (1)
Damage Stamina Regen
- Creep Cluster (2)
- Daedra Heart (2)
- Frost Mirriam (4)
- Giant’s Toe (4)
- Histcarp (3)
- Juniper Berries (4)
- Large Antlers (4)
- Silverside Perch (2)
- Skeever Tail (1)
- Wheat (3)
Fear
- Blue Dartwing (4)
- Cyrodilic Spadetail (3)
- Daedra Heart (4)
- Namira’s Rot (3)
- Powdered Mammoth Tusk (4)
Fortify Alteration
- Grass Pod (3)
- River Betty (2)
- Spriggan Sap (4)
Fortify Barter
- Butterfly Wing (2)
- Dragon’s Tongue (2)
- Hagraven Claw (4)
- Tundra Cotton (4)
Fortify Block
- Bleeding Crown (2)
- Briar Heart (2)
- Honeycomb (2)
- Pearl (2)
- Slaughterfish Scales (4)
- Tundra Cotton (3)
Fortify Carry Weight
- Creep Cluster (3)
- Giant’s Toe (3)
- Hawk Beak (3)
- River Betty (4)
- Scaly Pholiota (4)
- Wisp Wrappings (3)
Fortify Conjuration
- Berit’s Ashes (3)
- Blue Butterfly Wing (2)
- Blue Mountain Flower (2)
- Bone Meal (3)
- Frost Salts (4)
- Hagraven Feathers (2)
- Lavender (4)
Fortify Destruction
- Beehive Husk (4)
- Ectoplasm (2)
- Glow Dust (3)
- Glowing Mushroom (2)
- Nightshade (4)
- Wisp Wrappings (2)
Fortify Enchanting
- Blue Butterfly Wing (4)
- Hagraven Claw (3)
- Snowberries (2)
- Spriggan Sap (2)
Fortify Health
- Bear Claws (2)
- Blue Mountain Flower (3)
- Giant’s Toe (2)
- Glowing Mushroom (4)
- Hanging Moss (2)
- Wheat (2)
Fortify Heavy Armor
- Ice Wraith Teeth (2)
- Sabre Cat Tooth (2)
- Slaughterfish Scales (3)
- Thistle Branch (4)
- White Cap (2
Fortify Illusion
- Beehive Husk (2)
- Hawk Feathers (2)
- Honeycomb (3)
- Luna Moth Wing (2)
- Skeever Tail (4)
Fortify Light Armor
- Beehive Husk (2)
- Hawk Feathers (2)
- Honeycomb (3)
- Luna Moth Wing (2)
- Skeever Tail (4)
Fortify Lockpicking
- Falmer Ear (4)
- Namira’s Rot (2)
- Pine Thrush Egg (2)
- Spider Egg (3)
Fortify Magicka
- Briar Heart (4)
- Ectoplasm (3)
- Histcarp (2)
- Jazbay Grapes (2)
- Red Mountain Flower (3)
- Tundra Cotton (2)
- Void Salts (4)
Fortify Marksman
- Canis Root (3)
- Elves Ear (2)
- Juniper Berries (2)
- Spider Egg (4)
Fortify One-handed
- Bear Claws (3)
- Canis Root (2)
- Hanging Moss (4)
- Hawk Feathers (3)
- Rock Warbler Egg (2)
- Small Pearl (2)
Fortify Pickpocket
- Blue Dartwing (2)
- Nordic Barnacle (4)
- Orange Dartwing (3)
- Slaughterfish Egg (2)
Fortify Restoration
- Abecean Longfin (4)
- Cyrodilic Spadetail (2)
- Salt Pile (2)
- Salt Pile (2)
- Small Antlers (2)
- Small Pearl (3)
Fortify Smithing
- Blisterwort (4)
- Glowing Mushroom (3)
- Sabre Cat Tooth (3)
- Spriggan Sap (3)
Fortify Sneak
- Abecean Longfin (2)
- Beehive Husk (3)
- Frost Mirriam (2)
- Hawk Feathers (4)
- Human Flesh (4)
- Powdered Mammoth Tusk (2)
- Purple Mountain Flower (2)
Fortify Stamina
- Chaurus Eggs (2)
- Garlic (2)
- Large Antlers (2)
- Lavender (2)
- Slaughterfish Egg (4)
- Torchbug Thorax (4)
Fortify Two-handed
- Dragon’s Tongue (4)
- Fly Amanita (2)
- Troll Fat (2)
Frenzy
- Blisterwort (2)
- Falmer Ear (2)
- Fly Amanita (3)
- Hagraven Feathers (3)
- Human Heart (4)
- Troll Fat (3
Invisibility
- Chaurus Eggs (4)
- Crimson Nirnroot (3)
- Ice Wraith Teeth (3)
- Luna Moth Wing (4)
- Nirnroot (3)
- Vampire Dust (1)
Lingering Damage Health
- Imp Stool (2)
- Mora Tapinella (2)
- Orange Dartwing (4)
- Slaughterfish Egg (3)
- Slaughterfish Scales (2)
Lingering Damage Magicka
- Hagraven Claw (2)
- Purple Mountain Flower (3)
- Swamp Fungal Pod (2)
- Torchbug Thorax (2)
- Wheat (4)
Lingering Damage Stamina
- Butterfly Wing (3)
- Chicken’s Egg (4)
- Nightshade (3)
- Small Antlers (3)
Paralysis
- Briar Heart (3)
- Canis Root (4)
- Human Flesh (2)
- Imp Stool (3)
- Swamp Fungal Pod (3)
Ravage Health
- Cyrodilic Spadetail (4)
- Eye of Sabre Cat (2)
- Giant Lichen (2)
- Jazbay Grapes (4)
- Silverside Perch (3)
- Skeever Tail (2)
Ravage Magicka
- Frost Mirriam (3)
- Grass Pod (2)
- Lavender (3)
- Orange Dartwing (2)
- Red Mountain Flower (2)
- White Cap (4)
Ravage Stamina
- Bee (2)
- Berit’s Ashes (4)
- Bone Meal (4)
- Deathbell (2)
- Honeycomb (4)
- Thistle Branch (2)
Regenerate Health
- Garlic (4)
- Juniper Berries (3)
- Luna Moth Wing (3)
- Namira’s Rot (4)
- Nordic Barnacle (3)
- Vampire Dust (3)
Regenerate Magicka
- Dwarven Oil (3)
- Fire Salts (4)
- Garlic (3)
- Jazbay Grapes (3)
- Moon Sugar (4)
- Salt Pile (4)
- Salt Pile (4)
- Taproot (3)
Regenerate Stamina
- Bee (3)
- Fly Amanita (4)
- Mora Tapinella (3)
- Scaly Pholiota (3)
Resist Fire
- Berit’s Ashes (2)
- Bone Meal (2)
- Dragon’s Tongue (1)
- Elves Ear (4)
- Fire Salts (2)
- Fly Amanita (1)
- Mudcrab Chitin (4)
- Snowberries (1)
Resist Frost
- Frost Mirriam (1)
- Frost Salts (2)
- Hawk Beak (2)
- Moon Sugar (2)
- Purple Mountain Flower (4)
- Silverside Perch (4)
- Slaughterfish Scales (1)
- Small Pearl (4)
- Snowberries (3)
- Thistle Branch (1)
Resist Magic
- Bleeding Crown (4)
- Chicken’s Egg (1)
- Crimson Nirnroot (4)
- Hagraven Claw (1)
- Lavender (1)
- Nirnroot (4)
- Tundra Cotton (1)
- Void Salts (2)
- Wisp Wrappings (4)
Resist Poison
- Beehive Husk (1)
- Charred Skeever Hide (3)
- Falmer Ear (3)
- Garlic (1)
- Grass Pod (1)
- Mudcrab Chitin (3)
- Slaughterfish Egg (1)
- Thistle Branch (3)
- Troll Fat (1)
Resist Shock
- Blue Dartwing (1)
- Glow Dust (4)
- Glowing Mushroom (1)
- Hawk Beak (4)
- Pearl (4)
- Pine Thrush Egg (4)
- Snowberries (4)
- Swamp Fungal Pod (1)
Restore Health
- Blisterwort (3)
- Blue Dartwing (3)
- Blue Mountain Flower (1)
- Butterfly Wing (1)
- Charred Skeever Hide (4)
- Daedra Heart (1)
- Eye of Sabre Cat (4)
- Imp Stool (4)
- Rock Warbler Egg (1)
- Swamp Fungal Pod (4)
- Wheat (1)
Restore Magicka
- Briar Heart (1)
- Creep Cluster (1)
- Dwarven Oil (4)
- Ectoplasm (1)
- Elves Ear (1)
- Fire Salts (3)
- Frost Salts (3)
- Giant Lichen (4)
- Grass Pod (4)
- Human Flesh (3)
- Moon Sugar (3)
- Mora Tapinella (1)
- Pearl (3)
- Red Mountain Flower (1)
- Taproot (4)
- Vampire Dust (2)
- White Cap (3)
Restore Stamina
- Bear Claws (1)
- Bee (1)
- Charred Skeever Hide (1)
- Eye of Sabre Cat (1)
- Hawk Beak (1)
- Histcarp (1)
- Honeycomb (1)
- Large Antlers (1)
- Mudcrab Chitin (1)
- Orange Dartwing (1)
- Pearl (1)
- Pine Thrush Egg (1)
- Powdered Mammoth Tusk (1)
- Purple Mountain Flower (1)
- Sabre Cat Tooth (1)
- Silverside Perch (1)
- Small Pearl (1)
- Torchbug Thorax (1)
- Wisp Wrappings (1)
Slow
- Deathbell (3)
- Large Antlers (3)
- River Betty (3)
- Salt Pile (3)
- Salt Pile (3)
Waterbreathing
- Chicken’s Egg (3)
- Histcarp (4)
- Nordic Barnacle (2)
Weakness to Fire
- Bleeding Crown (1)
- Frost Salts (1)
- Ice Wraith Teeth (4)
- Juniper Berries (1)
- Moon Sugar (1)
- Powdered Mammoth Tusk
Weakness to Frost
- Abecean Longfin (1)
- Elves Ear (3)
- Fire Salts (1)
- Ice Wraith Teeth (1)
- White Cap (1)
Weakness to Magic
- Creep Cluster (4)
- Dwarven Oil (1)
- Jazbay Grapes (1)
- Rock Warbler Egg (4)
- Salt Pile (1)
- Salt Pile (1)
- Scaly Pholiota (1)
- Taproot (1)
- Torchbug Thorax (3)
Weakness to Poison
- Abecean Longfin (3)
- Bleeding Crown (3)
- Chaurus Eggs (1)
- Deathbell (4)
- Giant Lichen (3)
- Pine Thrush Egg (3)
- Sabre Cat Tooth (4)
- Small Antlers (1)
Weakness to Shock
- Bee (4)
- Giant Lichen (1)
- Hagraven Feathers (4)
- Void Salts (1)
Potion making
- Alchemist**
- Physician (20 skill)**
- Benefactor (30 skill)
- Experimenter (50 skill)
- Snakeblood (80 skill)*
- Purity (100 skill)*
Poison making
- Alchemist**
- Physician (20 skill)**
- Poisoner (30 skill)
- Concentrated Poison (60 skill)
- Snakeblood (80 skill)*
- Purity (100 skill)*
Alchemy Skill Perk Tree
You can read full break down of Alchemy Skill and Perk Tree here.
How To Make a Potion, Poison
First you will need to find a perfect recipe to create a potion or a poison and there is only one way to find out – Experiment in the Alchemy Lab with different ingredients.
Once you have found a recipe, go find its ingredients – which should be found throughout Skyrim or purchased from Merchants. When you have the ingredients, visit your nearest Alchemy Lab and mix these ingredients to create the potion/poison.
For example, mix blue mountain flower (common ingredient) with Sabre Cat Eyeball (Can be picked up off the carcass of a dead Sabre Cat – Which are found around Honeystrand Cave area, south of Iverstead) to create a restoration potion.
Alchemy Lab Locations
- Arcadia’s in Whiterun.
- Inside Rannveig’s Fast’s Dungeon.
- Dustman’s Cairn
Smithing
It’s crafting skill for combat. You can craft your favorite armor, weapon, and even jewelry using this crafting skill. You can perform Smithing at set locations and will need raw ingredients like Ingots and Leather, which can be bought from Merchants or by Mining Nodes and Animal Skins. Higher your skill level, the more you can improve your weapon or armor.
Branches of Smithing
Smithing has two branches i.e. for light armor and heavy armor separately. These are:
Light Armor Smithing
- Elven Smithing (30 skill)
- Advanced Armors (50 skill)
- Glass Smithing (70 skill)
- Dragon armor (100 skill)*
Heavy Armor Smithing
- Steel Smithing**
- Dwarven Smithing (30 skill)
- Orcish Smithing (50 skill)
- Ebony Smithing (80 skill)
- Daedric Smithing (90 skill)
Smithing Tools
Just as you can perform Alchemy at Alchemy Labs, you can perform Smithing at designated Smithing locations. In these locations, you will find different tools that serve different purposes. Following is the complete rundown of these tools:
Grindstone
You can sharpen your weapons at Grindstone for extra damage. Higher your Smithing Skill, more you can improve the damage of your weapon.
Workbench
It allows you to improve your armor. High your Smithing Skill, more effective will be the armor.
Forge
You can create new weapons and armor by combining raw materials at the Forge.
Tanning Rack
You can process hides into Leather and Leather Strips at the Tanning Rack.
Smelter
You can create Ingots (Crafting Ingredient) from raw ores – Iron and Gold.
How To Obtain Raw Materials For Smithing
You can get raw materials for Smithing by mining ores and smelting them at Smelter. You can get Hides by killing animals and then process them at Tanning Rock to create Leather Strips – which in turn, help you customize your items.
Mine/Vein Locations
Ore veins can be found mostly at higher elevations in mines – which can be mined to extract all types of ores. These Veins are represented by a crossed hammer and pickaxe symbol on your compass and map. They typically yield two pieces of ore – but can yield more than that. You may also receive a random gem when you mine veins.
Smithing Skill Perk Tree
You can read full rundown of Smithing Skill and Perk Tree here.
How To Make Smithed Item
There is a Forging place in Whiterun in the main town area, by the first building. It also has a Smelter so it would be easy to make a Smithed item. To get the first ingredients to make a Smithed Item, talk to Adrianne Avenicci outside Warmaiden Shop, by Smithing area. Offer to help him and you will get first ingredients to make Smithed Item as a reward.
Use these ingredients to create your first Smithed item. It’s easy to make Smithed Items, you just need the required raw ingredients. Let’s say you want to create an Iron Helmet, you need 3 Iron Ingots and 2 Leather Strips for that.
Once you have these items, click on the item and select create. If you haven’t, then find these items. You can loot, purchase or steal these items for NPCs. Follow any path you want and everything else is self explanatory.
How To Create Iron Ingots – Mine some iron ore and then smelt that at any Smelter location and you should have Iron Ingots.
How To Create Leather Strips – Kill animals and get Hides. Process Hides in Tanning Rock to create Leather Stripes.
Workbench, Grindstones, Tanning Rack, Smelter, Forge Locations
- Workbench, Grindstone, Forge and Tanning Rack can be found in Riverwood.
- There is a Grindstone, Tanning Rack and Forge in Orotheim.
- There is a Forge, Smelter, Grindstone, Tanning Rack and Workbench in Whiterun.
If you have tips and suggestions on how to go about crafting in Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, recommend them in comments, and we will improve this guide with your suggestions. I will definitely like more crafting locations.
