A Guide to the Best Weapons and Armor (Includes "God" Armor)

[mchunthunt]

when you go to the table, if you select the two or three ingredients and press x, it should combine them into a potion/poison, discover their traits and give you the recipe.

[subject714]

Very well-written guide, really helped me.

[Hent High]

Where can I find armor with Fortify Smithing to disenchant?

[mchunthunt]

im so close to getting 100 on my alchemy. i'm at 93 right now.

nightmares for days though

"ahhh, so you're an alchemist then."

i'll be at peace if i never have to hear that again.

also, why was i not making my potions under with the thief stone activated? it makes leveling stealth skills (alchemy, sneak, light armor, etc) 20% faster. also, if you have activated the dark brotherhood quests, babette is a master trainer and can give you alchemy skill points up to 90. just some tips i just realized to make you build up faster.

[BSH 1975]

Originally Posted by mchunthunt

when you go to the table, if you select the two or three ingredients and press x, it should combine them into a potion/poison, discover their traits and give you the recipe.

ok thanks, will try this !!

[Ap3 Juice]

Arcadia doesn't have any of the ingredients you listed...

[mchunthunt]

Originally Posted by Ap3 Juice

Arcadia doesn't have any of the ingredients you listed...

yeah she does. she doesn't have them all at one time though and it's random what she will have. buy what you can to start and "restock" a few times and make potions. it'll be slow to start, but once you have enough money, start buying everything in her inventory at one time and brew whatever potion you can and sell it back to her. it's going to take a very long time to get your alchemy up to 100, but it will be worth it in the long run... i went from something like 48,000 gold when i started to about 84,000 gold when i got to 100 alchemy. i have a ton of potions left over too worth thousands of gold that i'll sell eventually, but that's not my concern rn.

[Method]

Originally Posted by JFAUDEL

whats a good way to sell any enchanted weapons over 1000 gold if i don't have any perks in speech? my speech is already 100.

I usually go to Belethor's and see if he has any filled Grand Soul gems. If he does, I buy them then sell my higher priced items to him to get my gold back plus a little more.

Originally Posted by mathgod9

Anyways, as far as best enchant for the iron daggers, assume all traits hold the following values:

- 38 enchanting
- 73 speech with 3/5 haggling (+20) -- though I don't think this increases value, I'll leave it up here anyways
- Enchanted with a petty soul gem
- Max amount of enchantment power, lowest charge
- First enchant on dagger ever -- in case diminishing returns are based on quantity made

With the following enchantment, my value was:

Absorb health - 632
Absorb Magicka - 424
Absorb Stamina - 440
Fear - 336
Fire Damage - 232
Frost Damage - 280
Paralyze - 696
Shock Damage - 280
Soul Trap - 192
Turn Undead - 600

Unless there is something I'm not factoring in, paralysis seems to be the best enchant for money. It should be noted that value is not synonymous with what you get paid for it. I suspect that after diminished prices and the merchants mark up, thus cutting your profits (even with speech up), the 400+ value spells (at 38 enchanting) probably are pretty similar in price. The higher values ones obviously take bigger cuts due to percentages.

One question I may have as I am currently working on enchanting: Did you only use petty/lesser filled soul gems from Farengar (after the initial purchases from the general goods store)? I probably didn't buy as many from general goods as I tried to rapidly get Alchemy up by only buying and selling with Arcadia to forgo load screens, but I'm only getting 2-4 gems per restock from Farengar. I could keep this pace up and get 100 enchanting relatively soon, I'm just wondering if there was a less tedious way -- such as, perhaps, splurging on common filled soul gems.

Thank you for this research. I edited the guide to reflect the paralyze and absorb health enchantments as the best. As far as the gems go, I just restocked Farengar over and over and over and..... I suppose you could splurge on common soul gems if you don't mind losing more gold to level up.

Originally Posted by mathgod9

Also, one error - you can only have alchemy on helmets, not smithing. On gloves, however, you can have both. In the guide it says 2 on the helmet, one on the gloves. Minor error, same overall alchemy/smithing bonuses.

Fixed this error. Thanks for noting it.

Originally Posted by BSH 1975

I've started on buying ingredients and I've got almost everything except the above.

But I still can't make any potions. When I'm on that table i can't choose anything to make.
Do I have to buy the recipes of her first to be able to make any potions

No buying of recipes is necessary. If you haven't ever made a potion with an ingredient you need to manually select from the ingredients menu at the alchemy table and combine it with other ingredients of the same potion recipe.

Originally Posted by Hent High

Where can I find armor with Fortify Smithing to disenchant?

Belethor sells rings and amulets enchanted with this and Warmaiden's sells gloves and armor with it as well.

Originally Posted by mchunthunt

also, why was i not making my potions under with the thief stone activated? it makes leveling stealth skills (alchemy, sneak, light armor, etc) 20% faster. also, if you have activated the dark brotherhood quests, babette is a master trainer and can give you alchemy skill points up to 90. just some tips i just realized to make you build up faster.

You must've just missed this part of the guide. I said to do this in the second sentence of step 1


Thanks for all the comments everyone. I'll keep editing the guide with anything else you find.

[Kraderic]

Originally Posted by Method

Thank you for this research. I edited the guide to reflect the paralyze and absorb health enchantments as the best. As far as the gems go, I just restocked Farengar over and over and over and..... I suppose you could splurge on common soul gems if you don't mind losing more gold to level up.

The best enchantment to have on your weapons is the only enchantment he didn't list: Banish. I can typically sell any iron dagger enchanted with Banish for anywhere between 1,400-1,800 gold, depending on the gender of the merchant. I can sell them for around 2,000-2,500 gold if I dual-enchant them with Absorb Health & Banish. I don't know if Paralyze/Banish would sell more, though.

It's recommended that you either invest in the merchant's business or increase their bartering price by 1,000 if you decide to sell these daggers, as most merchants most likely won't have 2,000 gold to give you for a single dagger.

[Angelus01]

Originally Posted by DeZmonD88

Any idea why my Enchanting for Fortify Alchemy has a base of 20%? I have all the necessary perks in enchanting and 7 relevant perks in Alchemy.

My equipment enchantment cap at 22% and my potions cap at 28%.

I managed to get to 23% on equipment and 32% on potions only by using a Falmer Helment, where you have 2 head pieces equipped (together with a circlet).

So I actually have +23%, +22%, +22%, +22%, +22%.



What I'm wondering is why everyone seems to have a base of Fortify Alchemy 25% (no potion use, just 100 in Enchanting). A poster on Gamefaqs claimed that it was because of an update. But I'm running the latest version and my base is still 20%...

me too... no way to get past the 22% cap on xbox360 i think....

[oooo yeah]

Originally Posted by Angelus01

me too... no way to get past the 22% cap on xbox360 i think....

Not true. I've been getting +25 base enchantments with no potion beforehand and +29% Alchemy and Smithing enchants after downing one. And while wearing these I get a +32% Fortify Enchants potion.

One thing I have noticed is when it comes to enchants on clothes and jewelery, if you check in the magic menu under "active effects" sometimes it doesn't list all the things you know you should have. This can be remedied by unequiping and reequiping your gear.

[mchunthunt]

is there a quest that gives a permanent bonus similar to "ancient knowledge" (+15% skill increase to smithing, 25% dwarven armor rating) but for enchanting instead. i'm at 86 enchanting, 100 smithing, and 100 alchemy so i'm almoooooost done power leveling my skills. i'm just losing patience because enchanting sucks since you can't mass enchant. you have to reload the enchanting table for each dagger and it is almost painful how long it takes to enchant 100+ daggers, not to mention how hard it is to come by the petty/lesser soul gems for all of them. i just want to make this as easy as possible. i found a warhammer with a soul trap enchant on it if an enemy is killed within 7seconds. i'm thinking of disenchanting it and then enchanting one of my swords (since i am way stronger with one-handed) and going out there and killing wildlife to fill up my azura's star. i kind of regret not choosing the black star instead so i could fill it with humanoid souls too. i wasn't thinking at the time... oh well.

EDIT
nm... i realized that while you can use the star an infinite amount of times you cant store an infinite amount of souls on it :/

anyway... i basically want to know if anybody has any tips or suggestions to make these last 14 enchanting points go by as quickly and pain free as possible.

[oooo yeah]

Originally Posted by mchunthunt

is there a quest that gives a permanent bonus similar to "ancient knowledge" (+15% skill increase to smithing, 25% dwarven armor rating) but for enchanting instead. i'm at 86 enchanting, 100 smithing, and 100 alchemy so i'm almoooooost done power leveling my skills. i'm just losing patience because enchanting sucks since you can't mass enchant. you have to reload the enchanting table for each dagger and it is almost painful how long it takes to enchant 100+ daggers, not to mention how hard it is to come by the petty/lesser soul gems for all of them. i just want to make this as easy as possible. i found a warhammer with a soul trap enchant on it if an enemy is killed within 7seconds. i'm thinking of disenchanting it and then enchanting one of my swords (since i am way stronger with one-handed) and going out there and killing wildlife to fill up my azura's star. i kind of regret not choosing the black star instead so i could fill it with humanoid souls too. i wasn't thinking at the time... oh well.

EDIT
nm... i realized that while you can use the star an infinite amount of times you cant store an infinite amount of souls on it :/

anyway... i basically want to know if anybody has any tips or suggestions to make these last 14 enchanting points go by as quickly and pain free as possible.

As far as I know (by looking up the guide) there is no quest reward bonus, shrine, standing stone or item of any kind that improves the actual enchantment. The max % increase you can get is 157%

100% from the perk "Enchanter" 5/5
25% from the perk "Insightful Enchanter"
32% from the best potion that can be made

Getting the enchanting skill to 100 obviously will be good too but I don't know how to measure that %?

As for the last 14 levels, just keep doing what you're doing. If you got plenty of money just buy the petty and lesser filled up gems from the guy in Dragonsreach as described in the guide above.
Also I would recommend you disenchant that soul trap warhammer and then make your own bow, improve it best you can and then enchant it with soul trap. Move the slider over to the left for a soul trap of only 1 second as that's all you'll need to capture your own souls. This is only if you don't want to just buy them.
Oh, and don't forget as you're enchanting all those daggers/bracers, to enchant it with the most expensive enchantment you have. Skill progression is based on $$$ it's worth.

"The Mage" Standing Stone makes your magic skills (including enchanting) level up 20% faster. This lasts until you activate another stone.
If you're "Well Rested" you get another 10% (15% if you sleep in same house as spouse) this lasts only 8 hours.

[mathgod9]

Originally Posted by Kraderic

The best enchantment to have on your weapons is the only enchantment he didn't list: Banish. I can typically sell any iron dagger enchanted with Banish for anywhere between 1,400-1,800 gold, depending on the gender of the merchant. I can sell them for around 2,000-2,500 gold if I dual-enchant them with Absorb Health & Banish. I don't know if Paralyze/Banish would sell more, though.

It's recommended that you either invest in the merchant's business or increase their bartering price by 1,000 if you decide to sell these daggers, as most merchants most likely won't have 2,000 gold to give you for a single dagger.

I just came across Banish for the first time today, after I finished my leveling and acquiring of armor. It was expensive and from what I can tell, pretty rare (never saw it while restocking to find the others).

[mchunthunt]

i'm up to 100 alchemy/100 enchanting/100 smithing.

if i never have to hear arcadia, belenthor, or farengar again, my life will be perfect. god their voices are excruciating. not much longer until i have some flawless dragon armor though

now, should i upgrade along the heavy armor route (right, 6 nodes) so i get access to the daedra smithing? is it worth it? yeah daedra weapons are awesome but i don't want to be completely uber. i can't decide if that extra perk point from going the light armor route is worth it (left, 5 nodes). i could use that for my 5/5 light armor perk or i could start investing in archery which i like dabbling in. decisions decisions. if only you could make weapons out of dragon bone. smh.

THIS GUIDE IS AMAZING. SPECTACULARLY THOROUGH. thanks for the help/inspiration/encouragement guys!! i've never gotten so invested in a game before. i mean yeah i've played fallout and oblivion, but i've never dabbled in crafting and such in them... i mainly stick to the main quest, side/guild quests, errand quests that i would run across. skyrim will be the first game i've played 100+hours and earned 1000gp on. i'm usually not an achievements junkie, so this is really cool for me

[Ser Snow]

Brilliant Guide.

Struggling with the Alchemy parts of this (perhaps because I don't want to use any perks up in it), it just isn't turning any real profit. No retailers have the optimal ingredients and I am way to impatient to continuously re stock them.

Smithing and Enchanting is working a treat though, will be at 100 for those tonight then start on my Dragon Scale!

[mchunthunt]

Originally Posted by Ser Snow

Brilliant Guide.

Struggling with the Alchemy parts of this (perhaps because I don't want to use any perks up in it), it just isn't turning any real profit. No retailers have the optimal ingredients and I am way to impatient to continuously re stock them.

Smithing and Enchanting is working a treat though, will be at 100 for those tonight then start on my Dragon Scale!

you really want to spend the time doing the alchemy though. it's frustrating and slow to start, but it picks up. just "restock", buy, "restock", buy, brew, sell, lather, rinse and repeat. at first, you're going to only want to buy the ingredients that allow you to make the high profit potions. after awhile, you can just go crazy and start clearing her out of everything. i went from about 46,000g to 82,000g when i got to 100 and i still have a bunch of potions left over. it nets you mad bank and eventually, through method's process, it gives you the ability to make the fortify smithing potion that skyrocket's your armor's rating. that's the really important part. there is a big difference between a fortify smithing potion @ 50% than one @ 130%.



and i'm all done
i have my light dragon armor set (armor, boots, gauntlets, helmet) with an 1156 rating (1310 with the shield). a bit excessive, but come at me bro lol. however, i prefer to use the dragon guardian masks for right now. i've been using the "Morokei" mask since it has a 100% faster magicka regen perk, so really i only have a 940 rating. still a lot more than i could ask for . now i just have to figure out what to enchant the set with... i like method's idea of basically free restoration/destructive magic use, but i don't know how to go about getting that, or even if it's the most effective for my guy. any suggestions?

[Ser Snow]

Originally Posted by mchunthunt

you really want to spend the time doing the alchemy though. it's frustrating and slow to start, but it picks up. just "restock", buy, "restock", buy, brew, sell, lather, rinse and repeat. at first, you're going to only want to buy the ingredients that allow you to make the high profit potions. after awhile, you can just go crazy and start clearing her out of everything. i went from about 46,000g to 82,000g when i got to 100 and i still have a bunch of potions left over. it nets you mad bank and eventually, through method's process, it gives you the ability to make the fortify smithing potion that skyrocket's your armor's rating. that's the really important part. there is a big difference between a fortify smithing potion @ 50% than one @ 130%.

Yeah I do want the 130% bonus. I have made myself a decent amount of money on smithing and enchanting now so I guess I'll do mine back to front.

I'll crack on with the expert training too.

[UR ShiZZle]

After reading the guide, I have one question. If you have built that Uber weapon/armor, doesn't that take the fun out of the whole game when you are preety much immortal and one-hit kill everything? I fear that I will spend hours after hours grinding and then having no real reward, because the whole game is no challenge at all...

For those of you who have completed this, are there any challenges left, any enemies that could become dangerous?

[Jarimy123]

When you are restocking and you say "hit the guide button at almost the same time" what button are you talking about? I'm not sure what the "guide button" is, and you say it will make the waiting 48 hours faster. I couldn't figure out what the guide button was, I prob should of just looked at the controls section in the game, but was too busy grinding out potions hahaha. Thanks! Great guide, that to me feels more like grinding then some sort of glitch, which just feels I dunno "clean" hahaha.

[Method]

Originally Posted by UR ShiZZle

After reading the guide, I have one question. If you have built that Uber weapon/armor, doesn't that take the fun out of the whole game when you are preety much immortal and one-hit kill everything? I fear that I will spend hours after hours grinding and then having no real reward, because the whole game is no challenge at all...

For those of you who have completed this, are there any challenges left, any enemies that could become dangerous?

There's still plenty of challenge at Master difficulty. Plus if you don't use any resist magic enchantments, mages can still hurt you pretty bad. Also, on master you don't one hit kill everything. Even with my swords that do 534 damage each I still can't one hit kill dragons, guards, giants and other higher level enemies.

Originally Posted by Jarimy123

When you are restocking and you say "hit the guide button at almost the same time" what button are you talking about? I'm not sure what the "guide button" is, and you say it will make the waiting 48 hours faster. I couldn't figure out what the guide button was, I prob should of just looked at the controls section in the game, but was too busy grinding out potions hahaha. Thanks! Great guide, that to me feels more like grinding then some sort of glitch, which just feels I dunno "clean" hahaha.

The guide button is the button with the xbox symbol in the middle of the controller. The one you use to bring up the friends/achievements/messages menus.

Originally Posted by Kraderic

The best enchantment to have on your weapons is the only enchantment he didn't list: Banish. I can typically sell any iron dagger enchanted with Banish for anywhere between 1,400-1,800 gold, depending on the gender of the merchant. I can sell them for around 2,000-2,500 gold if I dual-enchant them with Absorb Health & Banish. I don't know if Paralyze/Banish would sell more, though.

It's recommended that you either invest in the merchant's business or increase their bartering price by 1,000 if you decide to sell these daggers, as most merchants most likely won't have 2,000 gold to give you for a single dagger.

Added the banish enchantment info into the guide. I've seen this enchantment a few rimes but never thought to test it out. It's not the rarest enchantment to find though (at least for me). I restocked the Khajit merchant in front of Riften 75+ times until I finally found a pair of boots with the muffle enchantment. Totally worth it though as muffle makes you a ninja...

[Ser Snow]

Originally Posted by Jarimy123

When you are restocking and you say "hit the guide button at almost the same time" what button are you talking about? I'm not sure what the "guide button" is, and you say it will make the waiting 48 hours faster. I couldn't figure out what the guide button was, I prob should of just looked at the controls section in the game, but was too busy grinding out potions hahaha. Thanks! Great guide, that to me feels more like grinding then some sort of glitch, which just feels I dunno "clean" hahaha.

The xbox guide button, the main, switch on controller button (silver X in the middle of the controller) it makes the countdown way faster, almost makes waiting bearable lol

[Jarimy123]

Oh ok, thanks guys!

I don't think I'm going to create armor that is as high of level as the guide takes it (for my first play through). But I don't want to drop the difficulty level, and it seems like I keep getting killed all the time. This guide will help allow me to make some decent armor so I can at lest have some fun, but still be challenging, while out doing quests. So thanks again.

[Raging Slash]

Really good. Thank you.

[Ap3 Juice]

how the hell do you get fortify smithing apparel... i've reset radiant ramant's stock around 15 times and have seen every skill except smithing...

[matt.reeves]

This is one of the best guides I've ever read. I took me almost 13 hours of gameplay to complete this, but I feel that it was well worth the time. I got my character all they way to level 35!

What are your personal favorite enchantments to put on your armor/weapon?

[Kraderic]

Also, a more effective way of stockpiling filled soul gems is to fast-travel to Winterhold College and enter the door on the right-hand side of the courtyard. Around 2-4AM there's typically 4 mage merchants/trainers sleeping in their beds, along with an Enchanting Apparatus on the second floor of the quarters. You can generally purchase around 10-15 soul gems in one go depending on what they're selling, ideally common/lesser/petty.

Here is what I did:

1. Wait until around 2-3AM for the mage merchants to all sleep (to get them all in the same area).

2. Purchase every filled common/lesser/petty soul gem from them.

2a) If you have any enchanted daggers on you at the time of purchasing soul gems from them, go ahead and sell them to them now.

3. Go to the enchanting table on the second floor and enchant your daggers.

3a) If the merchants still have gold to barter with after enchanting, go ahead and sell them more of your daggers.

4. Wait 48hrs, then rinse and repeat, selling your daggers as you restock their bartering gold and purchasing soul gems.

note: it's best to do the above steps with a large cache of normal daggers, so you don't have to keep traveling between cities to re-smith more daggers.

[DeZmonD88]

Originally Posted by MaicoWin

Are you sure that 29% is the maximum for alchemy and smithing? I can't get past 27% on alchemy:

• Had a mixed set of alchemy gear, 20%, 20%, 14%, and 14%
• Was able to make a 21% enchanting potion
• Made some more gear with the 21% enchanting potion
• Now had Helmet, Gloves, Ring, and Necklace all with 26% alchemy
• Was able to make a 29% enchanting potion with all four 26% alchemy gear equipped
• Used the 29% enchanting potion and was able to make 27% alchemy gear
• Equipped all four of the 27% alchemy gear but was only still able to make 29% enchanting potions

Good thing I came across DezMonD88's post about the Falmer Helmet being able to be equipped with a circlet. I was able to make a Falmer Helmet with 27% alchemy, and then I had a Circlet of Eminent Alchemy with 20% alchemy, along with my other three 27% alchemy gear, and now my enchanting potions are 32%.

Just made a Circlet with 27% alchemy, so that now I have five pieces of 27% alchemy gear, and now my enchanting potions are 33%. I drank the 33% enchanting potion, but it would still only let me make 27% alchemy gear, so 27% is definitely the alchemy cap and 33% for enchanting. Not sure how you got your numbers.

So the best possible set of Fortify gear is as follows:

1. Falmer Helmet (27% Fortify Alchemy)
2. Circlet (27% Fortify Alchemy)
3. Gloves (27% Fortify Alchemy / 27% Fortify Smithing)
4. Ring (27% Fortify Alchemy / 27% Fortify Smithing)
5. Necklace (27% Fortify Alchemy / 27% Fortify Smithing)
6. Armor (27% Fortify Smithing)
   
7. 33% Fortify Enchanting Potion
8. 132% Fortify Smithing Potion
   

I have the exact same set up, except mine caps at 23% for Fortify alchemy/smithing.

I make 32% fortify enchanting potion and 129% fortify smithing potion, so I guess the difference is quite negligible...

[mchunthunt]

i wish you could put fortify destruction/magicka regeneration and fortify one-handed on the same peice of armor!! it's making it hard deciding which enchantments to pair on my armor set... any suggestions?

[infernoterrorize]

Im nearing 100 in alchemy. I had Arcadia train me at lower levels then I would pickpocket my gold back from her. Never got caught. Then one day I enter her shop after looking around town for a fortify alchemy/smithing item and there's this guy talking with her behind the counter, another leaning against the wall, and another sitting in the chair near the door I came in. Everyone looks at me and Arcadia says "You need to get out" just as the three guys start after me. I bolt out the door and a huge fight ensues around the town well. I kill them and on one of their bodies is a contract from Arcadia to kill me. She's lucky I still needed her; otherwise I'd have slain her where she stood for sending HiredThugs after me.