Enchanting

Enchanting lets you take an unenchanted weapon, piece of armor, ring or necklace and bind a magical effect to it at an arcane enchanter, using the soul trapped in a soul gem as fuel. Weapons gain on-hit effects such as fire damage or paralysis, while apparel gains permanent bonuses such as extra health, cheaper spells or a quieter step. It is one of the three crafting skills, next to Smithing and Alchemy, and falls under the Magic group, so the Mage Stone accelerates it.

No other skill shapes a build quite so much. With enough practice you can make your spells nearly free, multiply your weapon damage, carry more loot or turn a sneak build into a ghost. Since enchanted items sell for far more than their plain versions, the skill also pays for itself. Altmer, Imperials and Orcs begin with a small head start.

How Enchanting works

Learning enchantments

You start knowing nothing. To learn an effect, disenchant a magic item carrying it at an arcane enchanter: the item is destroyed and the base enchantment is yours for good. The strength of the item you destroy does not matter. Quest items, Daedric artifacts, staves and many uniquely named items cannot be disenchanted.

Crafting at the enchanter

Arcane enchanters stand in most court wizards’ quarters, for example Farengar‘s corner of Dragonsreach, at the College of Winterhold, in mage and necromancer lairs, and in most player homes. To enchant you need an unenchanted item, a known enchantment and a filled soul gem. Soul gems are filled by killing a creature under Soul Trap or with a weapon carrying that effect; black soul gems are needed for human souls. Once an item is enchanted it is locked, so choose carefully.

Weapons versus apparel

Weapon enchantments use charges: a bigger soul gives more strikes before the weapon runs dry, and you recharge it with another filled gem. Apparel enchantments are constant and never run out; a bigger soul gives a stronger effect. All-or-nothing effects such as Muffle and Waterbreathing work the same with any soul size.

What earns experience

Enchanting an item (experience depends on soul size, not on which effect you choose), disenchanting (more for stronger enchantments) and recharging weapons with soul gems all raise the skill.

Enchanting perk tree

The Enchanting tree has 9 perks with 13 ranks in total. Required levels are the Enchanting skill level needed for each rank.

Perk guide

Every serious enchanter starts with Enchanter, which makes new enchantments 20% stronger per rank, from rank one at level 0 through rank five at 80 for a full doubling. Take each rank the moment it opens; it affects literally everything you make.

From there the tree offers three paths. The left branch is about weapon upkeep: Soul Squeezer (20) gives soul gems extra recharge power, and Soul Siphon (40) recharges your weapon by 5% of a creature’s soul on a killing blow (people do not count). Both are nice for melee fighters who lean on enchanted weapons but easy to skip otherwise.

The middle branch is the one most builds want. Insightful Enchanter (50) makes skill enchantments on armor 25% stronger, so Fortify One-handed, Fortify Destruction, Fortify Sneak and the like all go up. Corpus Enchanter (70) does the same for Fortify Health, Magicka and Stamina on armor.

The right branch, Fire Enchanter (30), Frost Enchanter (40) and Storm Enchanter (50), boosts elemental enchantments on weapons and armor by 25% each. It mainly helps elemental weapon builds and fire, frost or shock resistance gear.

The crown is Extra Effect (100), reached through Corpus Enchanter or Storm Enchanter, which lets you place two enchantments on a single item. Most players head for it via Insightful and Corpus. For synergy, wear Fortify Enchanting gear or drink Fortify Enchanting potions from Alchemy before crafting, and enchant your gear with Fortify Smithing to temper it further. Mages get the most from it: stacking reduced spell cost on four slots is how Destruction and Conjuration become nearly free.

How to level Enchanting fast

• Disenchant everything new. Every unknown enchantment you break down gives experience as well as a new effect to use.
• Enchant cheap items in bulk. Iron daggers, leather bracers and plain rings are cheap to make with Smithing. Enchant them, sell them, and spend the gold on more soul gems and materials.
• Turn ore into rings. Learn Transmute Mineral Ore (the tome is at Halted Stream Camp), convert iron ore to silver and gold, smelt it and forge rings. One routine levels Alteration, Smithing, Enchanting and Speech at once.
• Use the biggest souls you can. Experience depends on soul size, so filled greater and grand gems give much more per enchantment than petty ones.
• Get a reusable gem. Azura’s Star (or the Black Star, from The Black Star) can be refilled endlessly, saving you a fortune in soul gems.
• Recharge weapons. Topping up an enchanted weapon with a soul gem gives experience based on the soul used, even if the weapon barely needed charge.
• Train and read. Sergius Turrianus at the College trains up to Expert and Hamal in Markarth to Master once The Heart of Dibella is done. Pantea’s Flute also gives a level in each magic skill.

Trainers

Each trainer can teach up to five levels per character level, and training costs more gold the higher your skill is.

Enchanting skill books

Reading each of these books for the first time raises Enchanting by one level:

• A Tragedy in Black
• Catalogue of Armor Enchantments
• Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments
• Enchanter's Primer
• Twin Secrets

Tips and notes

• The percentages shown in the enchanting menu assume a grand soul; pick a smaller gem and the preview drops accordingly.
• A handful of items can be enchanted despite already carrying magic, including the Silver Sword and Silver Greatsword.
• Staff enchanting is separate: with Dragonborn you can enchant staves at the Staff Enchanter on Solstheim (unlocked through Neloth), but your Enchanting perks do not apply to staves.
• With Dragonborn, the Conjure Ash Guardian spell summons a creature that can be soul trapped, giving a greater soul whenever you need one.
• Enchanted weapons that run dry still swing, they just stop applying their effect until recharged.

Perk tree, required levels and trainer levels from the Skyrim LE 1.9 master files (AVIF AVEnchanting, PERK and CLAS records).