Alchemy is the most broken skill and nobody realizes it until late game

[WhiterunModder]

alchemy genuinely breaks the game harder than any exploit I've found. like, you can just... make potions that delete entire dungeons. I'm on my 4th playthrough right now and decided to actually level alchemy past 30 for once instead of ignoring it, and suddenly I'm one-shotting named bosses with poison.

the perk tree doesn't even feel overpowered because vanilla alchemy is so bad that by the time you get good at it, you've already trivialize everything else. but then you hit that sweet spot where Concentrated Poison and Physician are online, you've got enough perks to actually craft useful stuff, and suddenly you're mixing paralysis + ravage health and watching enemies just... stop existing.

what's wild is how invisible it is. everyone talks about stealth archer or Ordinator breaking the game, but alchemy just quietly lets you softlock entire questlines if you're not careful. I had to stop myself from using poisons on the Ebony Warrior because I knew I'd just delete the fight in 10 seconds.

has anyone else felt this? or am I just late to realizing alchemy is secretly the most busted skill in the game? thinking about doing a no-poison run on my next playthrough just to actually have to engage with combat.

 

[DragonbornVet]

Yeah, alchemy is definitely underrated as a power multiplier, but I'd push back a bit on it being the most broken thing in the game. It's strong, sure, but it's got some real constraints that other builds don't have.

The big one is that poisons are single-use. You make a paralysis poison, you get one shot with it. Compare that to a stealth archer with Archery perks who can just... keep doing the same thing forever with zero resource cost. Or a Conjuration build that summons two dremora lords and watches them delete everything while you stand there. Alchemy requires you to actually craft stuff, manage inventory, and it scales with your perks and ingredients - which means early game it's genuinely trash, like you said.

That said, yeah, once you hit that sweet spot with Concentrated Poison and the right recipe, it gets stupid fast. Paralysis + ravage health is probably the most egregious combo because paralyzed enemies can't even move while they're taking damage. I've definitely had moments where I thought "okay I'm just not using this" because it felt like cheating. The Ebony Warrior fight is a good example - that's supposed to be the endgame skill check and a poison just deletes it.

The invisibility thing is real though. Everyone memeing about stealth archer gets the attention, but alchemy just quietly lets you trivialize stuff if you actually invest in it. Most playthroughs people ignore it entirely so they never see how broken it gets. I think that's why it doesn't get talked about as much - you have to actually commit to leveling it, whereas stealth archer breaks the game almost by accident just from using your starting bow.