Skyrim:Enchanting Effects

This page documents the Magical Effects that can be used for Enchanting items.

Enchantment Effects

Enchantment effects can only be put on items that are equipped to certain locations.

Apparel Effects

Apparel enchantments improve the player's attributes, or provide the player with useful new abilities or resistances. An enchantment's base magnitude is the number shown when you hover over that enchantment (in the enchanting menu) without selecting it. This number specifies the magnitude of the enchantment when a Grand soul is used by a player with level 0 enchanting skill and no enchanting perks.

Apparel Effect			Body Area							Base Magnitude	Base Cost	Disenchant
			Head	Neck	Chest	Hands	Finger	Feet	Shield
Fortify Skill		Alchemy	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes			+8% potion strength	167	All varieties of Bracers/Gauntlets, Helmets, and Necklaces of Alchemy Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Alchemy Muiri's Ring Ring of Pure Mixtures This item cannot be disenchanted while the related quest is active, but can at other times. Due to a bug, the Dwarven Helmet of Eminent Alteration also has an alchemy enchantment
		Alteration	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes			-8% casting cost	206	All varieties of Armor, Bracers, and Helmets of Alteration Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Alteration
		Archery	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes			+13% damage	352	All varieties of Bracers/Gauntlets, Circlets, Helmets, and Rings of Archery Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Archery
		Barter		Yes						Prices improved by 8%	206	All Necklaces of Haggling Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Barter
		Block		Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes	+13% damage blocked	235	All varieties of Shield of Blocking Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Fortify Block
		Conjuration	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes			-8% casting cost	246	All varieties of Armor, Bracers, and Helmet of Conjuring Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Fortify Conjuring All varieties of Circlets, and Imperial Helmets of Conjuration Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Conjuration
		Destruction	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes			-8% casting cost	256	All varieties of Armor, Bracers, Circlets, Helmets, Necklaces, and Rings of Destruction Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Destruction Hooded Thalmor Robes Thalmor Robes
		Heavy Armor		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes			+8 skill	157	Most varieties of Armor and Necklaces of the Knight Includes the enchantments of the [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Noble/Peerless] Knight
		Illusion	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes			-8% casting cost	226	All varieties of Armor, and Helmets of Illusion Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Illusion
		Light Armor		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes			+8 skill	137	All varieties of Armor and Necklaces of the Squire Includes the enchantments of the [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Noble/Peerless] Squire
		Lockpicking	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes			+13%	168	All varieties of Bracers/Gauntlets and Necklaces of Lockpicking Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Lockpicking
		One-Handed		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes		+13% damage	369	All varieties of Bracers/Gauntlets, Necklaces, and Rings of Wielding Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Wielding
		Pickpocket		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes		+13% multiplier to success chance	184	All varieties of Bracers/Gauntlets and Rings of Deft Hands Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Deft Hands
		Restoration	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes			-8% casting cost	231	All varieties of Armor, Circlets, Helmets, and Rings of Restoration Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Restoration
		Smithing		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes			+8% tempering strength	236	All varieties of Bracers/Gauntlets, Necklaces, and Rings of Smithing Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Smithing Silver-Blood Family Ring The Forgemaster's Fingers
		Sneak		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes		+13%	672	All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Rings of Sneaking Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Sneaking
		Two-Handed		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes		+13% damage	369	All varieties of Bracers/Gauntlets, Necklaces, and Rings of Sure Grip Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Sure Grip Ironhand Gauntlets Ring of Minor Striking
Fortify Attribute		Healing Rate		Yes	Yes		Yes			+10%	251	All varieties of Armor, Necklaces, and Rings of Mending All varieties of Armor, Necklaces, and Rings of Revival All varieties of Armor, Necklaces, and Rings of Regeneration All varieties of Armor, Necklaces, and Rings of Remedy
		Health		Yes	Yes		Yes		Yes	+20	202	All varieties of Armor of Health Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Health Enchanted Ring
		Magicka	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes			+20	188	All varieties of Circlets, Helmets, and Rings of Magicka Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Magicka Adept Hood Amulet of Julianos Apprentice Hood Black Mage Hood Executioner's Hood Mage's Circlet Novice Hood Savos Aren's Amulet
		Magicka Regen	Yes		Yes		Yes			+20%	53	All varieties of Helmets, Rings, and Robes of Recovery items All varieties of Armor, Helmets, Rings, and Robes of Replenishing All varieties of Helmets, Rings, and Robes of Resurgence Adept Robes Apprentice Robes Black Mage Robes Blue Mage Robes Expert Robes Hooded Black Mage Robes Hooded Necromancer Robes Master Robes Mythic Dawn Robes Necromancer Robes Novice Robes
		Stamina		Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes		+20	161	All varieties of Armor, Boots, Necklaces, and Rings of Stamina Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Stamina
		Stamina Regen		Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes		+10%	125	All varieties of Armor, Necklaces and Rings of Invigoration All varieties of Armor, Necklaces and Rings of Recuperation All varieties of Armor, Necklaces and Rings of Rejuvenation All varieties of Armor, Necklaces and Rings of Renewal
Fortify Other		Carry Weight		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes		+15	393	Charmed Necklace All varieties of Boots of Brawn All varieties of Boots of Hauling All varieties of Boots of Lifting All varieties of Boots of the Mammoth All varieties of Boots of the Ox All varieties of Boots of Strength
		Alteration & Magicka Regen			Yes					-5% casting cost +10% Magicka Regen	176	All varieties of Robes of Alteration Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Alteration
		Conjuration & Magicka Regen			Yes					-5% casting cost +10% Magicka Regen	199	All varieties of Robes and Vampire ArmorDG of Conjuration Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Conjuration
		Destruction & Magicka Regen			Yes					-5% casting cost +10% Magicka Regen	205	All varieties of Robes and Vampire ArmorDG of Destruction Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Destruction
		Illusion & Magicka Regen			Yes					-5% casting cost +10% Magicka Regen	182	All varieties of Robes of Illusion Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Illusion
		Dark Moon	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes			+40 Magicka -30% Health Regen	404	Elite and Ascendant Necromancer HoodsCC
		Empower Necromancy			Yes					Conjuration spell duration +5% Lesser undead summon limit +1	199	Elite and Ascendant Necromancer RobesCC
		Restoration & Magicka Regen			Yes					-5% casting cost +10% Magicka Regen	193	All varieties of Robes of Restoration Includes the enchantments of [Minor/Major/Eminent/Extreme/Peerless] Restoration
		Unarmed				Yes	Yes			+5 damage	88	Gloves of the Pugilist
Resist		Disease		Yes	Yes		Yes		Yes	+25%	55	Necklace of Disease Immunity Necklace of Disease Resistance
		Fire		Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes	+15%	176	All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Dwindling Flames All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Fire Abatement All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Fire Suppression All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Flame Suppression All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of the Firewalker All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Resist Fire All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Waning Fire Ancient Helmet of the Unburned Steel Shield of Fire Resist
		Frost		Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes	+15%	186	All varieties of Armor, Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Dwindling Frost All varieties of Armor, Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Frost Abatement All varieties of Armor, Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Frost Suppression All varieties of Armor, Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Resist Frost All varieties of Armor, Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Waning Frost All varieties of Armor, Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Warmth Helm of Yngol Herebane's Fortress Necklace of Frost Resist
		Magic		Yes			Yes		Yes	+8%	187	All varieties of Necklaces, Rings, and Shields of Dwindling Magic, of Resist Magic, of Waning Magic, of Magic Abatement, of Magic Suppression, and of Nullification A second version of the effect is available from one item: Shield of Solitude
		Poison		Yes	Yes		Yes		Yes	+15%	39	Necklace of Poison Immunity Necklace of Poison Resistance
		Shock		Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes	+15%	196	All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Dwindling Shock All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Grounding All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Resist Shock All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Shock Abatement All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Shock Suppression All varieties of Boots, Necklaces, and Shields of Waning Shock
Other		Muffle						Yes		n/a	105	All varieties of Boots of Muffling
		Waterbreathing	Yes	Yes			Yes			n/a	100	All varieties of Circlets, Helmets, and Necklaces of Waterbreathing
Apparel Effect			Head	Neck	Chest	Hands	Finger	Feet	Shield	Base Magnitude	Base Cost	Disenchant

Weapon Effects

Base magnitude is the number shown when you hover over an enchantment without selecting it, if you have no perks. It is equivalent to the magnitude with a Grand soul, 0 skill, and no perks. Base uses is defined the same way but cannot be seen directly without the use of the console.

Weapon Effect			School	Base Magnitude	Base Cost	Disenchant
Absorb		Health	Destruction	8	31	All weapons of Absorption All weapons of Consuming All weapons of Devouring All weapons of Leeching All weapons of the Vampire Blade of Woe Drainblood Battleaxe Gauldur Blackblade
		Magicka	Destruction	10	21	All weapons of the Sorcerer All weapons of Evoking All weapons of Harrowing All weapons of Siphoning All weapons of Winnowing Gauldur Blackbow Drainspell Bow - has unique version of effect
		Stamina	Destruction	10	22	All weapons of Subsuming All weapons of Garnering All weapons of Gleaning All weapons of Harvesting All weapons of Reaping Drainheart Sword – has unique version of effect
Damage		ChaosDB	Destruction	10	19	All weapons of Chaos All weapons of Extreme Chaos All weapons of High Chaos All weapons of Ultimate Chaos Champion's Cudgel
		Fire	Destruction	10	11	All weapons of Burning All weapons of Scorching All weapons of Embers All weapons of Fire All weapons of Flames All weapons of the Blaze All weapons of the Inferno Herebane's Courage
		Frost	Destruction	10 50% slow for 2 seconds	13	All weapons of Chills All weapons of Blizzards All weapons of Cold All weapons of Freezing All weapons of Frost All weapons of Ice All weapons of Winter Aegisbane Eduj Firiniel's End Grimsever Okin
		Magicka	Destruction	15	15	All weapons of Depleting All weapons of Diminishing All weapons of Draining All weapons of Enervating All weapons of Nullifying All weapons of Sapping
		Shock	Destruction	10	14	All weapons of Sparks All weapons of Arcing All weapons of Shocks All weapons of Thunderbolts All weapons of Lightning All weapons of Storms
		Stamina	Destruction	15	29	All weapons of Debilitation All weapons of Exhaustion All weapons of Fatigue All weapons of Lethargy All weapons of Torpor All weapons of Weariness Froki's Bow
Repel		Banish	Conjuration	Level 10	113	All weapons of Annihilating All weapons of Banishing All weapons of Expelling
		Fear	Illusion	Level 10, for 30 seconds	16	All weapons of Cowardice All weapons of Despair All weapons of Dismay All weapons of Dread All weapons of Fear All weapons of Terror
		Turn Undead	Restoration	Level 10, for 30 seconds	29	All varieties of Blessed weapons All varieties of Hallowed weapons All varieties of Holy weapons All varieties of Reverent weapons All varieties of Sanctified weapons All varieties of Virtuous weapons
Apply Effect		Paralyze	Alteration	26% chance for 2 seconds	34	All weapons of Immobilizing All weapons of Petrifying All weapons of Stunning
		Soul Trap	Conjuration	4 seconds	9	All weapons of Animus All weapons of Binding All weapons of Damnation All weapons of Malediction All weapons of Soul Snares All weapons of Souls
Special		Briarheart Geis	Destruction	+5 damage vs. Nords	0	Briarheart Geis
		Fiery Soul Trap	Conjuration	5 seconds 10 fire damage	11	Steel Battleaxe of Fiery Souls
		Huntsman's Prowess	Destruction	+3 damage vs. Animals	3	Poacher's Axe
		Silent Moons Enchant	Destruction	+10 damage between 9pm and 5am	5	Lunar Iron Mace Lunar Iron Sword Lunar Iron War Axe Lunar Steel Mace Lunar Steel Sword Lunar Steel War Axe
		Smithing Expertise	Destruction	5 shock damage +5 Smithing	11	Notched Pickaxe

Skill and Perk Interaction

• Elemental effects are affected by the appropriate Destruction perks. If you have an elemental effect and the corresponding Destruction perk(s), and a second effect, the perk(s) affect both effects. If you have two elemental effects and their corresponding Destruction perks, both perks apply multiplicatively to both effects, giving up to a x2.25 multiplier.
• Stability affects the duration of Paralyze effects.
• Kindred Mage affects the level of Fear effects against appropriate NPCs. Animage likewise boosts the effective level versus animals.
• Aspect of Terror does NOT affect the level of Fear effects.
• Necromage affects the magnitude (damage or level) of all effects used against undead targets. In particular, this allows Turn Undead effects of level 40 or higher to work on Dragon Priests (level 50).
• Necromage also improves the enchantments on items by 25% if the player is a Vampire.
  • This is likely a bug.
• The total number of charges is increased by magicka cost reducing equipment and a high skill level in the respective magic school, but not by the Novice-Master perks.
• Damage Stamina is affected by both Fire Enchanter and Augmented Flames due to an erroneous keyword.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.3.2, fixes this bug. (details)

Notes

• Many Fortify Skill enchantments actually affect the action directly instead of increasing your skill.
• Fortify Archery, One-Handed, and Two-Handed are the most powerful offensive enchantments. At 100 Enchanting and with the appropriate perks, if you have the maximum four items enchanted with these, you will do +160% damage. Drinking a "+32% Fortify Enchanting" potion while enchanting further increases this to +188%. For comparison, the difference between having zero perks for a weapon and having all perks for a weapon is +100% damage.
• Resist Magic is probably the most powerful defensive enchantment, as it protects from a wide range of attacks. With the maximum of 85% Resist Magic you can ignore elemental traps and stand in a dragon's breath attack without taking significant damage.
• Nearly all enchantments are available at level 1. Known exceptions are Resist Poison at level 5, Resist Disease at level 10, Muffle at level 11, Healing Rate and Stamina Regen at level 16, and also Banish and Paralyze at level 22.

Enchanting for Profit

• If you are mass enchanting your items, weapons offer a greater profit per soul gem used. Weapon enchantment prices are calculated by base uses; the fewer base uses an enchantment has, the more expensive the enchantment will be. The Banish enchantment is by far the most profitable weapon enchantment, followed by Paralyze and Absorb Health.
• Although weapons are more profitable overall, the price difference from higher soul gems is greater for apparel. So, if you have fewer soul gems than you have weapons to enchant, it's usually more profitable to use the smaller soul gems on the weapons, and save the larger ones for apparel.
• If you wish to mass enchant apparel, the most profitable enchantments at the petty soul level are usually Waterbreathing and Muffle, though Fortify Sneak can edge them out at high levels. Waterbreathing can be applied to helms, rings, and necklaces, while Muffle can be applied to footwear. (Waterbreathing and Muffle have no magnitude or duration, so they are just as effective and valuable with a petty soul as with a grand one.) If you use at least lesser souls, Fortify Sneak will surpass it. However, no wearable item enchantments are as profitable as the above-mentioned weapon ones per soul used.
• Regardless of what you're enchanting, at very low skill levels with smaller soul gems, enchanting prices will vary somewhat from their base cost, so check other enchantments to see which is the most profitable. For example, you may find that an item enchanted with Fortify Destruction & Magicka Regen is worth more than one enchanted with Fortify Destruction, even though Fortify Destruction is normally the more profitable of the two.

Effect Charges and Strength

Apparel

The net magnitude of the effect follows this formula, rounded down:

net magnitude = base magnitude * soul multiplier * skill multiplier  * (1 + PotionEffect) * (1 + Enchanter perk) * (1 + specific perk modifier) * (1 + Seeker of Sorcery effect)

if you have Unofficial Patch installed or

net magnitude = base magnitude * soul multiplier * skill multiplier1 * (1 + Enchanter perk) * (1 + specific perk modifier) * (1 + Seeker of Sorcery effect)

if you do not have Unofficial Patch installed.

Soul multiplier is as follows:

Class	Multiplier
Grand	x1
Greater	x2/3
Common	x1/3
Lesser	x1/6
Petty	x1/12

Skill multiplier is 1 + (skill/100) * (skill/100 - 0.14) / 3.4. Overall, 100 skill points will grant 25% increase over the base magnitude.

Skill multiplier1 is 1 + (skill * (1 + Potion effect)/100) * (skill * (1 + Potion effect)/100 - 0.14) / 3.4

Maximum possible natural (without potions) multiplier with 100 Enchanting, 5 levels in Enchanter, appropriate +25% perk and Grand soul is 3.125x. With potions (without exploiting fortify restoration effect) the maximum is 4.21875x.

Weapons

For weapons, you can select the magnitude of the effect up to a maximum. The maximum magnitude is similar to apparel, but generally not affected by the soul used. However, if the soul is so small that the Number of Uses can not reach 1, then the maximum magnitude will be adjusted to make sure the weapon has 1 use:

Maximum Magnitude = floor(floor(base enchantment magnitude * skill multiplier * (1 + Potion effect) * (1 + Enchanter perk modifier) * (1 + specific Enchanting perk modifier) * (1 + Seeker of Sorcery effect)) * (1 + elemental Destruction perk modifier))

Where skill multiplier is the same as for apparel, including the difference when installing Unofficial Patch. Note that multiple perk modifiers continue to add up - for example, the Chaos effect can incorporate up to 3 specific Enchanting perk modifiers and 3 elemental Destruction perk modifiers.

The number of uses does depend on the soul used, but not on perks (assuming maximum magnitude is used).

 Charges Per Use = 3 * (base enchantment cost * magnitude / maximum magnitude)^1.1 * (1 - sqrt(skill/200))
 Net Number of Uses = soul charge capacity / charges per use

Note: base enchantment cost must be calculated according to the formula listed here when the enchantment is set to "Auto-Calculate".

To give you a rough idea of how this scales, removing the flooring from the maximum magnitude calculation allows the terms to be rearranged:

 Approximate Maximum Magnitude = base enchantment magnitude * (1+(skill/100)*(skill/100-0.14)/3.4) * (1 + fortify enchanting potion) * (1 + (number of enchanter perks)/5) * (1 + other perk modifier) * (1 + other perk modifier) ...
 Approximate Charges Per Use = 3 * (base enchantment cost / base enchantment magnitude)^1.1 * magnitude^1.1 * (1 - sqrt(skill/200)) / (1+(skill/100)*(skill/100-0.14)/3.4)^1.1 / product(potion and perk modifiers)^1.1

The charges per use are approximately a constant set by the enchantment, multiplied by a value set by skill, then modified upwards by magnitude raised to 1.1 and downwards by other modifiers raised to 1.1; those first two are:

 Constant Portion = 3 * (base enchantment cost / base enchantment magnitude)^1.1
 Skill Portion = (1 - (skill/200)^0.5)/((1 + ((skill-14)/100)*skill/340)^1.1)

As net uses goes up as charges per use go down, this effectively gives you a net use multiplier based on skill of:

 Net Use Skill Multiplier = ((1 + ((skill-14)/100)*skill/340)^1.1)/(1 - (skill/200)^0.5)

This has a value of 1.38 at skill level 15, and a value of 4.375 at skill level 100. Again, this is approximate, as the flooring operations that occur when setting the maximum magnitude introduce important rounding errors later when determining actual net uses. At skill level 200, Charges Per Use is 0 and Net Uses is infinity, and beyond that, Charges Per Use ceases to be a real number, which is why Fortify Enchanting Potions fortify enchantments directly, rather than adding to skill - it is fundamental to how enchanting works that the skill number used in the above arithmetic never be above 200, and as just explained, even equaling 200 is problematic. The highest Enchanting skill reachable in the game, without mods, is 110, using Ahzidal's GeniusDB, which has a Net Use Skill Multiplier of 5.21.

Soul charge capacities are as follows:

Class	Capacity
Grand	3000
Greater	2000
Common	1000
Lesser	500
Petty	250

If the weapon has two effects, the charges per use are added together, resulting in fewer uses.

A graph of the net use multiplier by Enchanting skill level:

Notes

• The exponent of 1.1 in the number of charges consumed per use means that weapons are more efficient if a lower magnitude is picked. However, the effect is quite weak--halving the magnitude of an effect only improves the efficiency by about 7%. Therefore, for most enchantments it is best to use the maximum magnitude. Possible exceptions are enchantments which apply effects with a duration--since you can swing/fire your weapon fairly quickly, using a duration of more than a couple seconds is usually overkill and will drain your weapon much faster.
• The number of uses formula has an asymptote at 200 skill. For example, if you could get up to 199 Enchanting, your weapon would have x399.5 charges.
• The formula is based on the displayed number when enchanting the weapon. It is possible this does not work as advertised--see the talk page.
• The number of uses and charges per use is not fixed at the time of the enchanting. If you use a Fortify Enchanting by 99% potion with 100 enchanting skill to enchant a weapon with a powerful enchant, and then use it later (while not under effect of said potion), it will run out of charges very fast, because number of charges per use is calculated at the moment of the usage.

• Some enchantment effects cannot be applied to followers, or do not confer the expected benefits to them. See here.
• Enchantment effects stack with one another and with alchemy effects.
• There are traces of a Fortify Enchanting Enchantment in the leveled lists, but no items that have the effect (let alone ones you can disenchant) appear in-game.

Bugs

• If you equip a shield with magical effects and a one-handed weapon, then equip a two-handed weapon, and then switch back to the one-handed weapon, the shield will be automatically re-equipped but without the magical effects.
  • Unequipping and re-equipping the shield fixes this.
• Game erroneously modifies Enchanting instead of Enchanting Power Modifier like other alchemy effects.
  • This bug is solved by Unofficial Skyrim Patch.