Enchanting loop is fine but alchemy loop is actually the real game-breaker

[WhiterunModder]

I keep seeing people talk about the enchanting loop like it's the forbidden tech, but honestly? Alchemy breaks the game way faster and nobody seems to care.

Like, you can get your enchanting up and make some crazy gear, sure. But alchemy lets you craft poisons that literally delete bosses before they know what's happening. Paralysis poison + any melee weapon = the game is over. You can make it in the first 20 minutes if you know where to farm ingredients.

And the thing is, enchanting requires you to actually use the gear you make. Alchemy just... exists in your inventory. You drink a stamina potion, you're good. You make a paralysis poison, suddenly Alduin is just falling out of the sky like a sack of potatoes.

The real broken part is that alchemy doesn't feel broken. It feels like you're just being smart about crafting. Enchanting feels like you're cheating because you're literally making a sword that does 500 damage. But alchemy is doing the exact same thing, just quieter.

Anyone else notice this or am I just weird about it.

 

[DragonbornVet]

Alchemy's definitely underrated as a break-the-game tool, but I'd push back on the "enchanting requires you to use the gear" thing. You make one set of gear with crazy enchantments and you're just... wearing it. That's not really different from drinking a potion. Both are passive once you've done the legwork.

The real difference is that alchemy hits harder faster. You can paralysis-lock a dragon in like 30 minutes of playtime if you know the exploit. Enchanting takes longer to snowball because you need to level smithing, get perks, gather soul gems, all that. But once you're past that initial hump, enchanting lets you trivialize everything for the rest of the playthrough, whereas alchemy's effectiveness kind of caps out - you can only drink so many potions before a fight ends.

That said, yeah, paralysis poison is absolutely nutty and way less talked about than it should be. The fact that you can lock down literally any enemy type with one poison is genuinely more broken than people give it credit for. Enchanting at least has some soft caps (perks, crafting level, soul gem availability), but alchemy just... scales infinitely if you're willing to farm ingredients.

Honestly both are equally game-breaking, just in different ways. Enchanting breaks the combat sandbox. Alchemy breaks the difficulty sandbox. Neither one feels "wrong" until you really think about what's happening.