Summary
- Combine Fortify Health with Fortify Healing Rate for increased survivability in any playstyle.
- Enhance magicka pool and decrease spell costs with Fortify Magicka and any magical school enchantment.
- Use Muffle + Fortify Pickpocket on boots for stealthy theft, aided by the Poisoner perk for deadly results.
Enchanting in Skyrim is one of the most useful skills in the game. With it, players can add effects to their weapons and armor, customizing them to fit any playstyle they choose. With the Extra Effect perk, the most skillful of enchanters in Skyrim can put two enchantments on a single item. This perk is at the top of the Enchanting skill tree, requiring a maxed-out Enchanting skill to purchase.
Combining enchantments on armor is a bit trickier than doing so for weapons, since not every enchantment can be placed on every piece of gear. The following combinations, though, all share at least one piece of gear that they can be applied to. For Skyrim's best enchanters, these are the best effects that work in tandem with each other to improve armor.
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9 Fortify Health + Fortify Healing Rate
Make Yourself Harder To Kill
- Apply To: Chest Pieces, Amulets, Rings
This is a pretty obvious one as far as armor enchantments go. With this combination, the Dragonborn not only has a larger health pool, but also regains that health faster, making them that much harder to kill in their next encounter with a bandit, draugr, or dragon.
The best part about this combination is that it's useful for any build in the game. From the sneakiest thief to the tankiest warrior, every Dragonborn can benefit from an addition to their health pool.
8 Fortify Magicka + Fortify Any Magical School
Casting Spells Becomes A Breeze
- Apply To: Headpieces, Gloves, Amulets, Rings
This combination is another no-brainer. By wearing a piece enchanted with these two effects, the player both gives themselves a larger pool of magicka, and decreases the magicka cost of their favorite spells.
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The exact nature of the second enchantment is up to the player. Fortify Restoration is a generally good choice, making healing less costly. Destruction is best for players who prefer to destroy foes with arcane fire, while Conjuration is preferable for summoners and necromancers. No matter what type of mage the Dragonborn chooses to play, fortifying their specialty is never a bad idea.
7 Muffle + Fortify Pickpocket
Objects Vanish Into Thin Air
- Apply To: Boots
For the sneakiest of thieves, this combo makes it easy to lift priceless trinkets out of the pockets of NPCs. Muffle allows the player to approach unheard, silencing their footsteps, while Fortify Pickpocket increases their chances of thieving success.
Equip this enchantment combination to complete "fishing jobs" from Delvin at the Thieves' Guild, get quest items that characters don't want to give up, or just to strike it rich. With the Poisoner perk, which allows players to slip poison into NPCs' pockets to harm them, this combination can even become deadly.
6 Fortify Destruction + Fortify Restoration
For The Wizard On The Front Lines
- Apply To: Headpieces, Chest Pieces, Amulets, Rings
This one is for mages who like to go charging into battle. With the cost of Destruction spells reduced, players can fling their Blizzards and Fireballs with abandon, obliterating foes with fire, lightning, or frost.
Of course, approaching enemies head-on leaves the Dragonborn vulnerable, but that's where Restoration comes in. Fortifying this skill makes it cheaper to cast healing and warding spells, keeping the player alive as they rain death upon their enemies.
5 Fortify Stamina Regen + Fortify Two-Handed
A Powerful Warrior Becomes Unstoppable
- Apply To: Boots, Amulets
Any two-handed weapon user is going to invest a lot in stamina, but all those power attacks can drain that green bar faster than some players might expect. Increasing the speed at which that bar refills is a huge boon to any warrior.
Meanwhile, it never hurts to boost the damage that those power attacks can do. If the Dragonborn has a fondness for greatswords, war hammers, or battleaxes, they can't go wrong with this buff.
4 Fortify Sneak + Fortify One-Handed
Backstabs Galore
- Apply To: Gloves, Boots, Amulets, Rings
This combination is perfect for members of the Dark Brotherhood and other stealthy assassins of Skyrim. With the Backstab perk in the One-Handed skill tree, typical sneak attack damage is multiplied, letting players one-shot targets if they're stealthy enough.
Fortify Sneak gives players a better chance of approaching their targets without being detected, while Fortify One-Handed increases stabbing damage even more. For players who enjoy the thrill of sneaking up on their targets, this is the perfect combination.
3 Fortify Stamina + Fortify Archery
Bows Use a Surprising Amount Of Stamina
- Apply To: Gloves, Amulets, Rings
Players who spec heavily into Archery will soon find themselves using stamina levels that rival those of two-handed weapon users. The Eagle Eye perk lets players zoom in on targets, but uses stamina to do so.
The more stamina the Dragonborn has, the more precision they can shoot with. And with an increased Archery skill, that shot will deal more damage when it hits. This combination is perfect for a player who prefers to fight from afar, riddling their targets with arrows while staying safely out of melee range.
2 Fortify Carry Weight + Fortify Heavy Armor
Move Freely Despite Armor Weight
- Apply To: Gloves, Amulets, Rings
The one downside of heavy armor in Skyrim is, unsurprisingly, its weight. Even if the Dragonborn has a bit of wiggle room at the start of an adventure, collecting loot can quickly cause heavily armored players to become overencumbered. Applying the Fortify Carry Weight enchantment to a piece of Heavy Armor can help mitigate this problem.
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For the Skyrim player who likes a close-combat, heavy-damage Dragonborn, they'll need a sturdy, heavy armor set, like Daedric or Ebony.
It goes without saying, meanwhile, that the Fortify Heavy Armor enchantment is a perfect addition to a heavy armor build. If players equip an item that has both of these enchantments, their Heavy Armor will not only protect them more effectively, but it won't be as big of an issue for encumbrance either.
1 Fortify Sneak + Fortify Illusion
Cause Mayhem As A Stealthy Mage
- Apply To: Amulets, Rings
The stealth mage is an underrated build in Skyrim. With high Illusion and Steath skills, the Dragonborn can get past enemies without having to enter combat at all. Players can use Fear spells to make enemies flee, or Frenzy spells to make them fight each other, all while they remain hidden.
Fortify Illusion lets players cast these powerful spells for a lower magicka cost, and Fortify Sneak makes it easier for them to remain hidden while doing so. If the player also has the Quiet Casting perk, this combination turns them into a nigh undetectable force of chaos.
- Released
- November 11, 2011
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Engine
- Creation
- Expansions
- Skyrim: Dragonborn, Skyrim: Hearthfire, Skyrim: Dawnguard
- Franchise
- The Elder Scrolls
