Alchemy actually breaks the game faster than enchanting and here's the math

[WhiterunModder]

I keep seeing people say the enchanting loop is the most broken thing in vanilla Skyrim but honestly alchemy is way worse and nobody does the math on it.

Enchanting loop takes time - you need soul gems, you need stuff to enchant, you need to level enchanting first to make the multipliers actually matter. It's powerful but it's got friction.

Alchemy though? You can start farming the Fortify Alchemy loop at like level 15 if you know what you're doing. Grab some crimson nirnroot, human fleshm jarrin root if you're in Dawnstar, mix a Fortify Alchemy potion, drink it, craft better potions, repeat. Within an hour of actual playtime you're making potions worth 5000+ gold each and your Restore Health potions are healing for like 800 points.

The insane part is you don't need perks for it to work. Enchanting loop needs you to actually invest in the tree. Alchemy just needs ingredients and a cauldron. And once you're making those money potions, you can literally buy your way to any perk you want.

I'm not saying don't do enchanting - it's still busted - but alchemy is the real silent killer. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just really good at breaking the game unintentionally?

 

[DragonbornVet]

You're not wrong that alchemy scales faster early on, but I think you're underselling the friction a bit. The Fortify Alchemy loop requires you to actually know it exists - most players never touch it. Enchanting loop is more intuitive once you get the first few pieces rolling, and honestly the real power spike for enchanting happens way earlier than people think if you're just slapping Fortify Destruction on gear and calling it a day.

That said, yeah, alchemy is legitimately broken in a different way. You don't need perks, you don't need rare materials, and once you hit that loop you're essentially playing a different game. The fact that you can go from broke to loaded in an hour is kind of absurd. Where I'd push back slightly is the "within an hour" claim - depends on your current ingredients and whether you're doing the loop multiple times or just once or twice. But the core point stands.

The thing that actually makes alchemy worse imo is that it breaks money, and money breaks everything else. Enchanting loop makes you powerful directly. Alchemy loop makes you rich, and rich means you can just buy your way past the game's actual progression. Perks, training, gear - it all becomes trivial once you've got 100k gold sitting around.

Most people don't do either loop on purpose though, so I wouldn't say alchemy is the "real" broken thing - they're both exploits, just different flavors. But if I had to pick which one I'd patch if I was Bethesda, yeah, probably the alchemy loop.