Enchanting (Skyrim)

The more powerful the enchanter, the stronger the magic he can bind to his weapons and armor.

Enchanting is a skill in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Enchanting falls under The Mage play-style. As such, this acts as The Mage's crafting skill as opposed to The Thief's Alchemy and The Warrior's Smithing.

To enchant items, first an item with a pre-existing enchantment must be disenchanted, using an Arcane Enchanter. The item is permanently destroyed after doing so. Henceforth, the character can imbue items with that quality using filled Soul Gems. Soul Gems also restore the depleted enchantments of weapons, with the perk Soul Squeezer giving additional effect to this feature. The quality of soul gem used for weapons determines the amount of charge the weapon has to begin with, while on armor and jewelry it determines the magnitude of the enchantment.

Leveling
The following actions raise the Enchanting skill
 * Disenchanting items that have an enchantment that you do not know on them.
 * Enchanting items that do not currently posses an enchantment.
 * Using Soul Gems to recharge weapons (Soul Siphon does not count).

If the player owns Azura's Star (gained from the quest The Black Star) he can enchant a weapon with Soul Trap for 1 second and reload it after every kill for cheap and easy progress.

Enchanting an item appears to give the same skill regardless of materials used. A cheap method to level enchanting would be to craft Iron Daggers, or use found items from adventuring, and enchanting using Petty Soul Gems before selling for the cost of materials. If you are trying to maximize your gold return from the items you are enchanting in order to buy more soul gems, pay attention to the value of the item as you place enchantments on it as some enchantments raise an items' value more than others.

Since Enchanting falls under the Mage play-style, activating the The Mage Stone will increase the speed the skill levels at.

You can also obtain a Rested Effect from sleeping in a bed for an additional bonus to skill gain.

Books
The following is a list of books that raise the Enchanting skill:


 * A Tragedy in Black
 * Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments
 * Complete Catalogue of Enchantments for Armor
 * Enchanter's Primer
 * Twin Secrets

Training

 * Sergius Turranius at The College of Winterhold teaches up to Expert level Enchanting.
 * Hamal in Temple of Dibella in Markath teaches up to Master level Enchanting(after completing The Heart of Dibella quest).

Obtaining Enchantments
Players do not start with any Enchantments, but Altmer, Imperial, and Orc characters gain a +5 boost to Enchanting at the start of the game. To gain enchantments to place on items, you must first disenchant a magic item. This destroys the object but allows you to use the learned enchantment for enchanting your own items.

Weapon Enchantments

 * Absorb Health
 * Absorb Magicka
 * Absorb Stamina
 * Banish
 * Binding
 * Fear
 * Fiery Soul Trap
 * Fire Damage
 * Frost Damage
 * Huntsman's Prowess (Bonus damage to animals)
 * Silent Moons Enchant (Burns target if the moons are out)
 * Magicka Damage
 * Notched Pickaxe
 * Paralyze (Chance on hit)
 * Shock Damage
 * Soul Trap
 * Stamina Damage
 * Turn Undead

Enchanting Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Note: it will usually be more worthwhile to take an extra rank in Enchanter vs. taking something like Fire or Frost enchanter unless you've maxed out Enchanter already.