[Top 15] Skyrim Best Enchantments for Armor and Weapons

Enchanting is one of the most rewarding ways to help your character become more powerful.

In Skyrim, the enchanting skill is extremely valuable if you put in the time and effort. Enchanting offers the unique ability to fine-tune and upgrade your gear based on the specific stats you want to focus on. If you’ve preferred to buy enchanted gear in the past and are looking to get into the craft yourself, check out 15 of the best enchantments for all of your gear! 

15. Armor: Fortify Alchemy

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If you’re getting into the business of enchanting, alchemy is great to level up along the way. By having a piece of armor enchanted with Fortify Alchemy, the base magnitude is +8% potion strength to any potions you create. (Base magnitude meaning being what the enchantment menu shows based on using a grand soul with level 0 enchanting skill with no perks). 

What makes Fortify Alchemy great:

• Using Fortify Alchemy to create stronger potions can be helpful in a variety of ways: create stronger Fortify Enchanting potions to enchant better weapons
• Armor enchantment, so it doesn’t need to be recharged with soul gems as weapon enchantments do
• Creating stronger potions from the start makes the process of leveling skills much less tedious 

Fortify Alchemy details:

• Base magnitude: +8% potion strength
• Can be applied to: helmets, necklaces, gloves, and rings
• Items to disenchant: any bracers/gauntlets of Alchemy, helmets of Alchemy, Ring of Pure Mixtures, Muiri’s Ring

14. Weapon: Soul Trap

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Enchanting one of your weapons with Soul Trap will work in your favor as you level up your enchanting skill! If you have an appropriately sized empty soul gem handy, this will give you a window of time to kill an enemy where their soul will fill said gem. 

What makes Soul Trap great:

• As you level your enchanting skill, it will be nice to have soul gems easily available 
• The duration of the effect is affected by your enchantment level and perks
• Purchasing empty soul gems to fill in combat is much more cost-effective than filled gems

Soul Trap details:

• Base magnitude: 4 seconds to trap soul
• Can be applied to: any unenchanted weapon
• Items to disenchant: weapons of Animus, Binding, Damnation, Malediction, Soul Snares, or Souls

13. Armor: Fortify Carry Weight

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One of the great troubles of Skyrim is not having enough room to carry everything you want! With the Fortify Carry Weight enchantment, you can say goodbye to dropping apples and single potions to make room for a sword. 

What makes Fortify Carry Weight great:

• You can choose to enchant your gear with this or have pieces enchanted that you only use when you need more space
• It never hurts to have extra space for loot (or multiple sets of armor to switch between if you’re like me)
• Keep inexpensive rings/necklaces on hand to enchant when your skill increases 

Fortify Carry Weight details:

• Base magnitude: +15 to total carry weight
• Can be applied to: necklaces, gloves, rings, and boots
• Items to disenchant: all varieties of Boots of Brawn, Hauling, Lifting, the Mammoth, the Ox, and Strength, Charmed Necklace

12. Weapon: Absorb Magicka

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Enemies in Skyrim that are armed with spells can be especially deadly in the earlier levels. Multiple enemies can attack you with spells at once, which can drain your health faster than you can heal. Showing up to the battle with a weapon enchanted with Absorb Magicka will put mage enemies at a disadvantage. 

What makes Absorb Magicka great:

• Mage opponents will take damage from your weapon and have their Magicka drained at the same time
• This is a great enchantment to use against vampires as well as they often favor spells 
• You gain the Magicka you drain from enemies, which is good if you use spells alongside your weapon

Absorb Magicka details:

• Base magnitude: absorb 10 Magicka 
• Can be applied to: any unenchanted weapon
• Items to disenchant: weapons of the Sorcerer, Evoking, Harrowing, Siphoning, Winnowing, Gauldur Blackbow, Drainspell Bow

11. Armor: Fortify Magicka Regen

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Something that used to discourage me from playing as a mage was how quickly you run out of Magicka. The more powerful your spells get, the more Magicka they’re going to cost. This enchantment is going to be essential for casting spells.

What makes Fortify Magicka Regen great:

• Having your Magicka regenerate faster will help you to keep casting spells freely
• Combined with potions, you can cast multiple powerful spells in a short amount of time
• Faster Magicka regeneration used with Restoration magic can cut down on the need for potions

Fortify Magicka Regen details:

• Base magnitude: regenerate Magicka +20% faster
• Can be applied to: helmets, necklaces, gloves, and rings
• Items to disenchant: all varieties of circlets, helmets, and rings of Magicka, hoods (adept, apprentice, black mage, executioner’s, and novice), Amulet of Julianos, Savos Aren’s Amulet, Mage’s Circlet

10. Weapon: Absorb Health

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One thing that will surely have your enemies dropping like flies is absorbing their health! The more health you can drain from them in battle, the bigger advantage you have over them.

What makes Absorb Health great:

• Absorb Health drains your enemies health along with the base damage your weapon is doing
• Combining this with stealth can have enemies dead before they even know you’re there
• Placing this enchantment on a dagger can allow you to stack the damage with the sneak attack bonus for daggers 

Absorb Health details:

• Base magnitude: absorb 8 health
• Can be applied to: any unenchanted weapon
• Items to disenchant: all weapons of Absorption, Consuming, Devouring, Leeching, and the Vampire, Blade of Woe, Drainblood Battleaxe, Gauldur Blackbalde

9. Armor: Fortify One-Handed

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Anything that increases your damage for one-handed weapons is beneficial for a lot of characters. Considering that you can have two one-handed weapons equipped, anything that increases your damage applies to both of those weapons.

What makes Fortify One-Handed great:

• This enchantment can stack with one-handed bonuses in the perk tree
• The Blessing of Boethiah adds an extra 10% Fortify One-Handed effect that will stack with your enchanted gear
• Gives you an advantage with a huge variety of weapons since so many one-handed weapons exist in the game

Fortify One-Handed details:

• Base magnitude: +13% damage
• Can be applied to: necklaces, gloves, rings, and boots
• Items to disenchant: all bracers/gauntlets of Wielding, necklaces, and rings of Wielding

8. Weapon: Fire Damage

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Fire damage is one of the most powerful magic elements in Skyrim. This is due to extra damage effects that occur if the enemy is set on fire. This makes Fire Damage a great enchantment for your weapon!

What makes Fire Damage great:

• Combining this enchantment with Aversion to Fire poisons will kill enemies even faster
• Huge advantage against vampires as they have a weakness to fire
• Many difficult enemies like Frost Trolls have a weakness to fire, so you will have an advantage over them as well

Fire Damage details:

• Base magnitude: 10 points fire damage (additional chance to set the target on fire causing extra damage)
• Can be applied to: any unenchanted weapon
• Items to disenchant: weapons of Burning, Scorching, Embers, Fire, Flames, the Blaze, and the Inferno, Herebane’s Courage

7. Armor: Fortify Barter

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Gold can be hard to come by in Skyrim, and if you’re enchanting gear, you’ll need to at least buy some empty soul gems. Enchanting a necklace with the Fortify Barter enchantment to wear when doing business will keep your pockets full of money. 

What makes Fortify Barter great:

• Helps you get good prices early on when speech perks are still relatively low
• Combining this enchantment with Fortify Barter potions will further better your prices
• Having more money and better prices early on is helpful in countless ways

Fortify Barter details:

• Base magnitude: prices are 8% better
• Can be applied to necklaces
• Items to disenchant: all necklaces of Haggling 

6. Weapon: Fear

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Fear is a very interesting mechanic that is often forgotten about. Fear will have creatures up to a certain level fleeing from combat for a certain amount of time, giving you a break from the fight. 

What makes Fear great:

• Provided your enemies meet the level restrictions, you get a moment in combat to heal up or flee for yourself 
• Can be used to turn away animal enemies for characters roleplaying as a druid not wanting to (fatally) harm them
• Beneficial for characters that use other Illusion spells 

Fear details:

• Base magnitude: enemies up to level 10 for 30 seconds
• Can be applied to: any unenchanted weapon
• Items to disenchant: all weapons of Cowardice, Despair, Dismay, Dread, Fear, and Terror

5. Armor: Fortify Light Armor

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Light Armor is often the favorite choice between light and heavy armor, especially for stealthy characters. If you want to sneak around in your battles, this enchantment will help improve your light armor skill.

What makes Fortify Light Armor great:

• Provides a good bonus to your light armor skill, stacking with light armor perks such as Custom Fit
• Stacking this enchantment with potions can greatly increase your skill for a duration even at lower levels
• The skill increase this enchantment provides can improve your skill when your character is still at a relatively low level

Fortify Light Armor details:

•  Base magnitude: +8 light armor skill
• Can be applied to: necklaces, body armor, gloves, and rings
• Items to disenchant: all varieties of armor and necklaces of the Squire

4. Weapon: Chaos Damage

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Chaos damage is a type of damage enchantment that was added in the Dragonborn DLC. It has a very unique advantage as it uses three types of magic damage: fire, frost, and shock. Enchanting a weapon with this will give you the upper hand in many of your battles.

What makes Chaos Damage great:

• This enchantment requires some adventure as you have to travel to Solstheim to get it
• Combining a chance for three types of magic damage gives you the chance to take advantage of many enemies elemental weaknesses
•  This enchantment benefits from the perk increases in the skill trees for the elemental magic types

Chaos Damage details:

• Base magnitude: 10 chaos damage 
• Can be applied to: any unenchanted weapon
• Items to disenchant: all weapons of Chaos, Extreme Chaos, High Chaos, and Ultimate Chaos, Champion’s Cudgel

3. Armor: Fortify Restoration

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Restoration is an extremely beneficial school of magic to hone your skills in, as it makes healing a breeze. Having any piece of gear enchanted with Fortify Restoration will only make your healing that much quicker.

What makes Fortify Restoration great:

• Decreases the cost of restoration spells, so you can conserve Magicka and heal faster
• No potions, no problem: better restoration means less need to rely on (and run out of) healing potions
• Combining this enchantment with the restoration skill tree perks will have you healing yourself and your allies in less time than before

Fortify Restoration details:

• Base magnitude: -8% casting cost for restoration spells
• Can be applied to: helmets, necklaces, body armor, and rings
• Items to disenchant: all varieties of armor, circlets, helmets, and rings of Restoration

2. Weapon: Fortify Archery

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Archery will forever be known as one of the most powerful skills in Skyrim. Combined with sneak perks, using the Fortify Archery enchantment on your gear will make each arrow more deadly than before.

What makes Fortify Archery great:

• This enchantment applies to not only bows, but the crossbows added in the Dragonborn DLC, allowing you to switch up your weapons 
• The Blessing of Auriel provides 10% Fortify Marksman, which you can stack with your enchanted gear
• Combining with potions of Fortify Marksman can have you dealing even more damage in a pinch or with a tough enemy 

Fortify Archery details:

• Base magnitude: +13 damage 
• Can be applied to: helmets, necklaces, gloves, and rings
• Items to disenchant: all varieties of bracers/gauntlets of Archery, circlets, helmets, and rings of Archery

1. Armor: Fortify Health Regen

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Increasing the speed at which your health regenerates is an extremely powerful tool, but is especially beneficial at lower levels. When you haven’t had the chance to increase your base health points much, having your health regenerate quicker can keep you alive with a lot fewer potions. 

What makes Fortify Health Regen great:

• Gear to disenchant to learn Fortify Health Regen is most easy to find at Radiant Raiment in the form of necklaces and rings
• The effects of Regenerate Health potions don’t stack with this enchantment, but player-cooked meals like vegetable soup and venison stew will stack
• Having health regenerate quicker can be beneficial when you haven’t been able to level your restoration skill yet or are low on potions

Fortify Health Regen details:

• Base magnitude: +10% 
• Can be applied to: necklaces, body armor, and rings
• Items to disenchant: all varieties of armor, necklaces, and rings of Mending, Revival, Regeneration, and Remedy 

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