How to Exploit Alchemy in Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
How to do the Morrowind Alchemy Exploit (Video)
One of the most well known exploits in Morrowind is done through Alchemy. In Morrowind you can stack different Fortify Attribute buffs as many times as you want and you can use this to your advantage with the Alchemy profession. Basically, you create a bunch of Fortify Intelligence Potions with basic ingredients like Bloat and Ash Yam and keep using them as you make them.
As your Intelligence gets higher and higher you'll be able to make better and better potions. Eventually you'll be able to start making potions that increase your Intelligence by 1000+ and if you keep going you'll eventually be able to make complete game breaking potions. Like you see in the screenshot above I was able to get my Intelligence up to 41mil - but I don't recommend you go this far.
When you start making potions that increase your stats into the thousands and tens of thousands you have to pay attention to the timer on them too. My Intelligence Potions (shown in the screenshot below) last for 6.2mil seconds... which is about 69 (nice) days. This is in-game days, for what it is worth, not IRL time. Resting or traveling in-game will cause you to use up time on your potions.
You may be wondering what could possibly go wrong with raising your stats this high.... Well, if you take a look at my Strength you may notice it's above 2mil too. Every single weapon I swing breaks on the first swing. It also kills the enemy, so I pretty much one shot everything... but I have to constantly repair and carry around many weapons.
Keep this in mind if you plan to go wild with Alchemy and create totally overpowered potions for yourself. There are going to be massive downsides if you go too high with some stats, Speed would be another good one as you'll eventually go so fast that you can't even control your character well enough. High enough Fatigue makes jumping send you so high up that you'd be falling for 10-15min each time (and likely die on impact).
An insanely powerful Fortify Intelligence Potion in Morrowind.
The only practical reason I think there is for making a potion like the one you see in the screenshot above is to vendor it. As you can see the potion is worth a small fortune - no vendor carries around that much gold but you can buy Soul Gems from vendors then sell potions back to them or some combination like that.
If you plan to make potions strictly for money I recommend you visit the Creeper Merchant, the Mudcrab Merchant or any Merchants in the Great Bazaar of Mournhold. These NPCs have much more gold on their persons than other vendors throughout Morrowind and are the best for selling high priced items to for that reason.
As far as practical uses of the Alchemy Exploit, I typically keep a Fortify Intelligence potion on my character at all times for the bonus Magicka that comes with it. This is a bit game breaking but I like it because it allows me to cast the spells I want without being a caster. I also always keep Feather Potions with me. Weight limits in these games is very unappealing to me so I completely negate that mechanic with potions.
What I Recommend:
- If you plan on making super powerful potions to sell the best way to get rid of your super long Intelligence buff is rest repeatedly for 24hrs or to leave your character AFK all day while you're not playing.
- I strongly recommend you make a potion with the Feather buff to decrease how much all of your equipment weighs. Personally I hate fighting with weight in these games and love any method for getting rid of it.
- Do not use Fortify Strength to deal with your inventory weight. Too high of strength will cause your weapons to instantly break with each swing.
- On that same note, don't buff any of your major stats over 500 unless you want to break the game and make it less fun.
- Raising your Intelligence to 100k or so for making potions is all you'd ever need for potions like Feather, Water Breathing, Night Eye and any other effect you want to last very long
The vendor I recommend you visit for mass producing Fortify Intelligence Potions is Aunius Autrus who is found in the Imperial Shrine of Wolverine Hall. Probably the easiest way to reach this location is by interacting with any Mage Guild Guide and teleporting to the Wolverine Hall Mage Guild. Aunius Autrus is found in the same building just down the stairs from the Mage's Guild.
What makes Aunius Autrus good for this is he restocks both Netch Leather and Ash Yams - both of which offer you Fortify Intelligence effects. It's also possible to increase his stock of both these items; buy up about 30 of each then sell them back to him before closing the vendor window. When you do this you set the new normal for how much he has in stock.
For example, if you sell 30 Netch Leather to him instead of only restocking 5 Netch Leather each time he'll restock 35. You can do this with any vendor so long as it's with an item that they restock. If you'd like to see a video of exactly how this exploit is done, check out the video below.
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