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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition/Gathering crafting materials
Use vendor ingredients to round out recipes — guide illustration
Gathering crafting materials

Use vendor ingredients to round out recipes

Buying a few missing ingredients can complete a useful brew without forcing a long detour or waiting for a wild source to be available.

PC / Global, Special Edition with Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn
WHERE & HOW TO FARM

Where to farm

Alchemy shops and general merchants in Skyrim’s towns.

Alchemy shops and general merchants can supply ingredients that fill gaps in your recipe stock. Use vendors to round out a brew you already intend to make, then harvest common ingredients during normal exploration. This is a gold-for-convenience loop, not a guaranteed inventory or unlimited source.

See farming steps ↓
GET STARTED

How to farm

Before you go

  • Have gold available for purchases.
  • Reach a town merchant or alchemist.
  • Know a recipe or effect you are trying to complete.
  1. Open the merchant’s ingredient inventory and compare it with the recipe ingredients you lack.
  2. Buy only enough to finish a specific batch or test a recipe.
  3. Check that the purchased ingredients share an effect with ingredients already in your inventory.
  4. Take the ingredients to an Alchemy Lab and brew the planned potion or poison.
  5. Keep useful outputs for your current objective and sell surplus products when appropriate.
  6. Harvest common ingredients on future travels so gold is not the only way you replenish stock.

Farming tips

  • Merchant stock varies; check more than one town vendor only when the missing ingredient is important to your plan.
  • Use wild ingredients for common components and reserve purchases for the one item blocking a recipe.

Repeat, collect and use

Repeat when visiting towns and when vendors have relevant stock. Restocking is limited by available inventory and your gold; it is not a guaranteed fixed supply.

Common mistakes

  • Do not buy ingredients without a recipe goal; unsuited purchases can sit unused and consume gold.
  • Do not assume a merchant carries the same stock every visit.
  • Do not confuse buying ingredients with farming them; the loop spends gold and depends on vendor availability.

When to stop or switch

Stop purchasing when the planned batch is complete or when its cost exceeds the value of the potions and effects you expect to use.

Sources & fact checks
primagames.com ↗
REWARD DETAILS & CONDITIONS

Sources & rewards

Farming route

Use vendor ingredients to round out recipes

Alchemy shops and general merchants in Skyrim’s towns.

  • Have gold available for purchases.
  • Reach a town merchant or alchemist.
  • Know a recipe or effect you are trying to complete.
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