How to Make Health Potions in Skyrim: Recipes, Ingredients, Tips, & More

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Learn all the various ways to make health restoration potions in Skyrim

Co-authored by Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: August 22, 2024 Fact Checked

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Making Basic Health Potions

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Other Health Potions

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Advanced Health Potions

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Alchemy Perks

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Health Restoring Ingredients

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Video

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Tips

Are you wondering how you make a health potion in Skyrim? The Alchemy system in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a little bit advanced, simply because there are so many ways to make different potions. There isn't one single way to brew a health potion in Skyrim, so in this guide, we'll teach you a super basic health potion recipe, then go over all the different ways you can make potions to heal yourself in this classic RPG.

Things You Should Know

Two simple recipes to make a health potion in Skyrim are Blue Mountain Flower & Butterfly Wing or Blisterwort & Wheat.
Some ingredient combos will make potions that heal you and give other effects.
Level up your Alchemy perk tree to create even more potent potions.

Section 1 of 5:

Making Basic Health Potions

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A full list of these materials is listed below, but Blue Mountain Flower and Butterfly Wings are two easy ingredients to obtain. Another set of easy ingredients is Blisterwort and Wheat.
Alchemy labs are found all over Skyrim, most often in inns or alchemy shops. You can also find them in houses (including player-owned houses), caves, shrines, Orc strongholds, and more.^{[1]
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Take note of what other effects your potion has, if any. For example, combining Blue Mountain Flower and Butterfly Wing will make a potion that just restores health, but combining Blue Mountain Flower and Wheat will make a potion that restores health and fortifies your health.

Section 2 of 5:

Other Healing-Related Potions

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Some potions will fortify or regenerate health. When your health is fortified, your HP maximum is increased for a short time. When you're regenerating health, you will slowly regain health over time.
- Some potions combine these effects with the "restore health" effect, which can lead to the creation of very powerful health potions. Try different combinations, specifically with ingredients that can restore, fortify, and regenerate health, such as Ambrosia, Blue Mountain Flower, Heart of Order, Void Essence, and Wheat.
- Many other ingredients have the effect of fortifying health and regenerating health. The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages has a wealth of knowledge on what ingredients fortify health and which regenerate health.

Section 3 of 5:

Advanced Health Potions

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Combining certain ingredients can create more advanced potions. These potions can have multiple desired effects, usually two (sometimes three). Below are some advanced health potion recipes, though this is not an exhaustive list:
- Fortify Health, Regenerate Health, Restore Health: Ambrosia and Void Essence
- Fortify Light Armor, Restore Health: Ash Hopper Jelly and Felsaad Tern Feathers
- Resist Shock, Restore Health: Ash Hopper Jelly, Blue Dartwing, Corkbulb Root, Swamp Fungal Pod
- Fortify Pickpocket, Restore Health: Blue Dartwing and Spadefish
- Fortify Health, Restore Health: Blue Mountain Flower, Ambrosia, Heart of Order, Void Essence, Wheat
- Restore Health, Restore Stamina: Saltrice, Charred Skeever Hide, Eye of Sabre Cat
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Some ingredients, when combined, can make unhelpful potions or poisons. Avoid the following combinations, as they will make either potions that hurt you or poisons that heal your enemies, though this is not an exhaustive list:
- Damage Stamina, Restore Health: Blisterwort, Marshmerrow, Rock Warbler Egg
- Fear, Restore Health: Blue Dartwing and Daedra Heart
- Damage Magicka, Restore Health: Butterfly Wing, Daedra Heart, Eye of Sabre Cat
- Paralysis, Restore Health: Imp Stool, Corkbulb Root, Swamp Fungal Pod

Section 4 of 5:

Perks to Help Make Stronger Potions

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Level up perks in the Alchemy tree to make stronger potions. There are a handful of perks to focus on leveling up that will make the potions you brew even stronger:
- Alchemist: There are five ranks to this perk. The first rank will increase your potion and poison strength by 20%, and this will increase to doubling potion and poison strength at the fifth rank.
- Physician: Increases the strength of potions that restore Health, Magicka, or Stamina by 25%.
- Benefactor: Increases the strength of potions with beneficial effects by 25%.
- Purity: Removes all negative effects from brewed potions and removes all positive effects from brewed poisons.

Section 5 of 5:

Ingredients That Restore Health

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A handful of ingredients have the "restore health" effect. Using these ingredients when doing alchemy will create potions that heal you—though depending on what ingredients you combine, you may get some additional beneficial (or negative) effects as well.
- Ash Hopper Jelly: Dropped by ash hoppers (found in southern Solstheim), though one guaranteed sample can be found in Severin Manor in Raven Rock
- Blisterwort: a red mushroom found commonly growing in caves
- Blue Mountain Flower: found commonly in mountain foothills across Skyrim
- Blue Dartwing: obtained by catching dragonflies (though some dragonflies will yield Orange Dartwing instead)
- Butterfly Wing: obtained after catching orange monarch butterflies (blue butterflies will give Blue Butterfly Wings, which have different alchemical properties)
- Charred Skeever Hide: collected from charred skeevers being roasted over fires, usually found in bandit or giant camps (you cannot cook your own skeevers to get the hides)
- Daedra Heart: collected from slain Dremora (found only in the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, Shalidor's Maze, Azura's Star Interior, and the Deadlands)
- Eye of Sabre Cat: dropped by sabre cats (found in the Pale, Winterhold, or other snowy areas, though there are two fixed sabre cat spawns northeast of Thalmor Embassy)
- Felsaad Tern Feathers: dropped by Felsaad terns (found in Solstheim with the Dragonborn DLC)
- Imp Stool: an orange/brown mushroom found in caves near the edges where the wall and floor meet
- Rock Warbler Egg: harvested from birds' nests in rocky areas, notably The Reach
- Swamp Fungal Pod: white mushroom found in the marshes of Hjaalmarch
- Wheat: found on farms across Skyrim
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Certain Creation Club packs add further ingredients for healing potions. If you have the Rare Curios, Saints and Seducers, and/or Fishing Creations installed, the following additional ingredients will be available:
- Ambrosia: purchased from Khajiit caravans (Rare Curios)
- Corkbulb Root: purchased from Khajiit caravans (Rare Curios)
- Flame Stalk: purchased from Khajiit caravans (Rare Curios) or harvested from Flame Stalk plants in the Solitude Sewers (Saints & Seducers)
- Heart of Order: purchased from Khajiit caravans (Rare Curios) or obtained from Thoron, who has two guaranteed samples (Satins & Seducers)
- Marshmerrow: purchased from Khajiit caravans (Rare Curios)
- Saltrice: purchased from Khajiit caravans (Rare Curios)
- Spadefish: caught in temperate streams when raining, guaranteed in Eldergleam Sanctuary, Evergreen Grove, Ancestor Glade, and under the waterfall south of Salvius Farm (Fishing)
- Void Essence: purchased from Khajiit caravans (Rare Curios) or found in hollow stumps in the Solitude Sewers (Saints & Seducers)

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Tips

To really min-max your Alchemy skill, consider starting the game as a Bosmer, Breton, Dunmer, or Khajiit. These races have a +5 bonus to Alchemy.^{[2]
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