So i finally decided to make a character that uses alchemy. And i must say poison seems rather...weak. The poison part of alchemy doesnt seem all that good, because poison is totally useless in a draugr dungeon and dwemer dungeon. And useless against vampires as well. I suppose its only useful against dragons (SPAM ALL THE POISONS!) but in other cases, meh.

Also, i once shot a bear with a 50% slow poison, and the bear galloped over to me like it was nothing What sorcery is this?! But honestly, being useless against undead is a big minus point considering we have so many undead dungeons. (and that the deathlords are always a pain in the ass; cue disarm and fus ro dah shout)

It's very useful against human enemies. Forsworn, bandits, warlocks, enemy soldiers... Poison your bow and sneakshoot someone, win. Or use paralysis poison

Of course, poisons won't be very strong until you've reached a higher level of alchemy and have taken a few perks.

Good for the hunt too. Use frostbite venom on your bow and you kill a deer in one shot.

A poison that slows and does 80 points of health damage. Yeah totally useless >.>

I'd think it should be fairly obvious that poisons would not work against undead and automations. Besides, they make up only a portion of the game's enemies. Furthermore, you don't actually plan to use poison on every shot.

I think poison is quite a valid and very powerful addition to a character's armament. Dealing 90 damage on strike and an additional 60ps over 60 seconds (total 450) is hardly useless. Especially if it is preceded with a WtP application.

I use damage health and also the DOT damage health sometimes, can give you the edge on higher difficulty settings I find. I have several perks in alchemy and also enchanted gear to make potions stronger.

But yeah slow doesnt seem to work does it? Usually just sell those.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Imp_Stool, http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Mora_Tapinella and http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Canis_Root make a paralysis poison of lingering damage health, how is that useless?

I always hoard poisons for that one time when I'm going to need them.

I do this as well though when the time comes I forget about them

Someone complained many years ago about regular weapons not doing any damage to ghosts and they dumbed that down in Skyrim 'cause it was too confusing for most people. Hopefully they make poisons effective against undead in future games as part of the dumbing down process, because apparently it's too confusing that poisons don't affect robots or already dead people without blood. :/

the conclusion we get here is : Poison is Really usefull if you know how to use it!

Paralysis posions are fun to use. Get Troll to attack you on a Mountain, paralyse it when it swings to attack you, watch it fly down the mountain.

And when you invest in Alchemy.

I love doing this, either with paralysis or the ice form shout. Hit them with it as they rush towards you and watch as their momentum sends them tumbling down the mountain never to be seen again.

The slow poisons are the my friend, especially against giants when im a lower level. Paralysis because eventually if im fighting a tough mob I can take out the toughest guy temporarily.

My characters usually use weapons and armor that are in the lower tiers. So using potions and posions are very helpful.

"You can tell when it's....hmmm...just right, when the flesh falls off the face!"

"Ah the waiting, it's killing you!"

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru0qBYz2Y94 Like that?

Your missing the point of alchemy,poisons are only part of it.

Against undead you use those awsesome fortify potions.

Fortify one-handed,two-handed or archery,wich ever type of weapon you use.

These fortify potions can be even more powerfull than poisons,when you can fortify your weapon type to do + 15o% damage each hit or shot for 60 seconds is down right devestating to most enemies.

Its more of annoying than confusing. Anyway we dont even have ghost enemies now Or maybe its because i've been tending towards undead dungeons due to shouts -.-

It makes money though, i'll give you that lots of money.

That being said, i havent went to markath yet. I remember those archers that used to deal massive damage >_> maybe poison will do wonders on them hah. Im past the point where giants are trouble though, been levelling too much without exploring much. All that pickpocketing, pff.

Poison is VERY useful. Not really sure why you are complaining about poison not working on creatures that don't have a metabolic rate.

I love me slow poisons against Giants. Also Paralyzing poisons too, when I can make them. Beyond that I don't use poisons much. On my latest character she can make some pretty hefty damage health poisons though, so I have a few of those on me for tough bosses (50+ poison dmg). Lingering poison would be useful for hunting animals, though I haven't done much of that yet its something I will be doing.

You know why they deal such massive damage, right? They use poisons. So Resist Poison is another potion that could come in handy.

I try not to travel without a good stock of paralysis poisons and health poisons.

They are good on human enemies as someone pointed out above.

They have saved my hide more times than I can remember, esp paralysis

against a sudden bear or sabre cat attack, buying me a very CRUCIAL couple

of seconds to respond and defend myself.

For me they work very good. But, for the undead yes they have no use, that makes

it more intense for me personally.

This is funny, I was just going to start a thread asking about poisons. I'm playing my first Ranger, and I want him to use Alchemy. I’ve seen a number of builds that list Ranger tactics as “rapidly fire 5 x poisoned arrows…” What am I missing? I thought poison only worked on one arrow at a time, and I didn’t think you could “pre-poison” a whole bunch of them.

Poisons are alright, the mechanics of using them are god awful though.