Skyrim: Best Enchantments for Weapons and Armor

Bethesda Game Studios / Ariana Honavar-Hiro

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Human Made

Penned by Ariana Honavar-Hiro

Ariana loves playing immersive video games like Cyberpunk 2077, the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and any Assassin's Creed game. She hopes to share her love for games through her writing!

Reviewed by Sarah Arnold

Enchantment is a skill you can learn in Skyrim that allows you to add magical effects to your armor, jewelry, and weapons. These effects enhance gameplay with several different types of magical improvements some with rare, devastating effects.

Today, I’ll cover the best enchantments in Skyrim and explain how to improve your game with these helpful buffs and debuffs. Let’s get started!

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Helpful Tips for Enchanting

If you’re just getting started with enchantments, here are a few useful tips to help you out on your journey!

• To learn more about Enchantment, train with Sergius Turrianus at the College of Winterhold. He can train you to Enchantment Level 75, as well as give you quests to search for enchanted items and soul gems. You can also train with Hamal at the Temple of Dibella in Markarth up to Level 90.
• To create stronger enchanted items, start by enchanting your armor with Fortify Alchemy. You can then create a strengthened Fortify Enchanting potion. This boosts the enchantment stats of any item enchanted while the potion is effective.
• Practice enchanting different throwaway items to improve your skills. Enchanted items also sell for more gold!

Best Weapon Enchantments in Skyrim

Now that I’ve covered the basics, let’s look at the four best weapon enchantments in Skyrim.

1. Fiery Soul Trap

Fiery Soul Trap is one of the best enchantments in Skyrim because it’s two abilities in one. You’ll deal fire damage with successful weapon hits, and trap your enemy’s soul once you’ve defeated them.

This enchantment is incredibly helpful in fights, as you won’t have to cast a separate Soul Trap spell after you kill your enemy. If you plan on collecting a lot of souls for enchantment later, Fiery Soul Trap makes the process a lot easier.

To get this enchantment, travel to Ironbind Barrow south of Dawnstar. Pick up the Steel Battleaxe of Fiery Souls from behind the throne. You can either use this weapon or disenchant it to apply the enchantment on another weapon.

2. Paralyze

The Paralyze enchantment freezes enemies for up to ten seconds, allowing you to deal large amounts of damage without backlash. This can be extremely useful early on, as lower-level enemies cannot resist the enchantment.

Pick up this enchantment by visiting the College of Winterhold and speaking to Tolfdir, a Master of Alteration. Though it’s not the most powerful at higher levels, it can be useful for getting beginners out of tough situations!

3. Chaos Damage

Chaos Damage is a formidable weapon enchantment that gives you a 50% chance of dealing frost, flame, and spark damage with each hit. You even have a chance of dealing more than one type of damage at once!

To get this enchantment, seek out the Champion’s Cudgel by doing the quest “March of the Dead.” Defeat General Falx Carius to receive the weapon. This enchantment can also be found on some Nordic and Stalhrim weapons. 

4. Absorb Health

The Absorb Health enchantment allows you to steal health from your enemy in a fight. This can be a game-changing perk, especially if you’re not interested in going down the vampire route for Vampiric Drain.

To locate this enchantment, complete “The Staff of Magnus” quest given by Mirabelle Ervine at the College of Winterhold. You can also get this enchantment from the Blade of Woe, found by joining the Dark Brotherhood. You can disenchant either item and place the effect on other weapons.

Best Armor Enchantments in Skyrim

Now it’s time for the best armor enchantments in Skyrim.

1. Resist Poison

The Resist Poison enchantment allows players to avoid taking poison damage. Though it may not be the strongest ability on the list, it’s good insurance when fighting spiders, Falmer, and other poisonous enemies.

You can pick up this enchantment from Ancient Shrouded Armor, which has 100% poison resistance. Simple Shrouded Armor has a lesser effect, though it still provides 50% poison resistance.

2. Fortify Alchemy

Wearing an item or armor piece enchanted with Fortify Alchemy boosts the potency of any potions you brew while active. As I mentioned in my tips above, you can use this to create a more powerful Fortify Enchantment potion that makes for more powerful enchantments in turn! This is a handy enchantment for any Alchemist build.

To locate the Fortify Alchemy enchantment, visit your local blacksmith or general store.

3. Fortify Smithing

If you’re going with the Smithing route, Fortify Smithing provides a similar boost. Any items you smith with this enchantment equipped will be more powerful and better-quality. It also helps with the leveling process for the Smithing skill!

You can pick up this enchantment from various items across Skyrim, whether you purchase them from a blacksmith or loot them from a chest. You can then disenchant those items and apply them wherever you’d like.

4. Resist Magic

Resisting magic is one of the most useful abilities in Skyrim because of how many enemies use magic, from mages to dragons. The Resist Magic enchantment lets you resist up to 85% of magic effects being used against you. It’s well worth your time!

The Resist Magic enchantment can be found on armor sold by blacksmiths or a general wares trader. This effect is similar to the one granted by the Vampiric Blood Rested, if you’re going down the vampire route.

5. Fortify Destruction

If you enjoy playing as a Mage, Fortify Destruction is one of the best enchantments you can use in Skyrim. This enchantment increases the damage of any spell you cast. Better yet, this effect scales with the strength of the enchantment (from Minor to Peerless). The more damage you do, the faster you can level up your Destruction Magic skill tree. 

To locate this enchantment, search for Thalmor Robes or Hooded Thalmor Robes. 

6. Fortify Archery

If you choose an Archer build in Skyrim, the Fortify Archery enchantment will help you put out more damage and level up your Archery skills faster. Any time you use your bow, your stats will be boosted and you can kill enemies much faster. Paired with the Sneak ability, players can do a lot more ranged damage to targets. This is an overall fantastic enchantment to have on a bow even if you don’t plan on being an Archer.

To locate the enchantment, join the Dark Brotherhood to pick up the Ancient Shrouded Cowl or the Shrouded Cowl Mask. This enchantment can be removed and reapplied to other armor, if you’d like.