If you want to make the most out of your weapons and armour in Skyrim, you’re going to want to invest some of your time in enchanting.
Mastering this skill will allow you to transform your gear in magical, powerful ways. Wanted to set your opponents ablaze from afar? Enchanting is the way to do it. How about making your boots silent so you can sneak past all of your foes? There’s only one way to do that, and it’s via enchanting.
Skyrim Enchanting Guide Step One – Disenchanting
To get started with enchanting, you’ll first need to find some enchanted gear. There are hundreds if not thousands of enchanted items out there in the world of Skyrim, all of which are waiting for you to strip them of their abilities. Enchanted items usually glow with a subtle aurora, occasionally with a light colourful tinge. To view an item’s enchantment, simply find it in your inventory and read the item description.
You’ll want to collect as many enchanted items as you can while on your journey across Skyrim. The only way to learn an enchantment for yourself is to disenchant an item that’s already been imbued with power. To disenchant an item, take it to one of the several Arcane Enchanter tables around Skyrim. There’s an easily accessible one in Dragonsreach, located at the top of the hill in Whiterun. Find it in the room to the right of the Jarl’s dining table.
Once there, you will see an option to disenchant the item to learn its power. Be warned, however – learning an item’s enchantment will destroy the item in the process. Only disenchant an item if you’re sure you don’t want to use it any longer. Once done, you’ll be able to enchant another item with the power you’ve just learned.
Skyrim Enchanting Guide Step One – Soul Gems
Once you’ve learned an enchantment, you’ll be able to imbue it onto another item. To do this you’ll require an item and a charged Soul Gem. Soul Gems are the backbone of enchantments. They determine how powerful an enchantment will be and how long it will last. They range in power and rarity and can be found scattered across Skyrim, some of which are already powered.
As you might have inferred, Soul Gems are powered by the souls of enemies. You can charge them up yourself by killing enemies with items enchanted with Soul Trap, but you’ll need to discover that enchantment first. To begin, you should look to find a Soul Gem that’s already charged. These can be found on the bodies of enemies, in loot containers, or purchased from vendors.
Once you’ve obtained a Soul Gem, take it to an Arcane Enchanter along with the item you want to enchant and select which power you’d like to use. Congratulations! You’ve just enchanted your first item.
Skyrim Enchanting Guide Step One – Grind, Grind, Grind
Enchanting items is all well and good, but you’ll want to max out your enchanting level to get the most out of your newfound power. Enchanting experience can be earned by performing any action relating to the skill. That includes disenchanting items, charging items with Soul Gems, or enchanting any item.
A good way to level up quickly is to horde a bunch of low level items and enchant them with low level enchantments. If you’re also looking to level your Smithing skill by creating Iron Daggers, it might be a good idea to keep these to enchant. To speed up this process, try and obtain the Soul Trap enchantment as soon as possible. This will ensure that you can harvest a healthy collection of Soul Gems to keep the process speedy.
It’s absolutely worth levelling up your Enchanting Skill as far as possible. Doing so will allow you to give your items increasingly powerful abilities. The final perk unlocked at enchanting level 100 is called “Extra Effect” and allows you to place two enchantments on one item. If you truly want to get the most out of your gear in Skyrim, this is a perk you should make a bee-line for.
This is our guide to enchanting in Skyrim. Hopefully this sets you well on your way to becoming the most powerful Dragonborn in all of Tamriel. For more Skyrim guides and tips, check out our articles on weapons, standing stones, fishing, farming, alchemy, and earning money quickly. Check out our extensive Skyrim guide bible for more, or check out some of our other guides for Halo Infinite and Call of Duty: Vanguard, too.
Shop with GameByte!
Don’t forget, you can find some of these great games and more through the new GameByte Shop! The GameByte Shop is stocked up with the latest games, merch and accessories. We might even have a new-gen console or two! Sign up for our newsletter to be notified of our console drops. Please note the GameByte Shop is available for UK customers only.
[Featured Image Credit: Bethesda/Xbox]