Elder Scrolls Enchanting Lore



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Lore is the term used by most fans to refer to the information about the setting of The Elder Scrolls universe. It covers a range of topics, such as the geography, history, and metaphysics, which combine to describe the nature of the setting. If you're following the Main Questline, chances are the first time you encounter an Arcane Enchanter is in Dragonsreach, where the court wizard Farengar explains about enchanting. Enchanting is the.

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by Fishes-for-Runes
A beginner's guidebook to enchanting with runestones
Anyone can become an enchanter—it doesn't matter who you are, or who you were. I spent twenty years pulling fish from the waters of Black Marsh before stumbling into the world of enchanting. If a former Argonian fisher-slave can figure it out, so can you!

Step One: Find Runes

Years ago I noticed glowing runes when I fished in Black Marsh. At first I thought they were wisps! You're most likely to find them in dangerous places, so be careful. Look for the angular stones where the runes sit.
—Red Aspect runes remind me of fish: the minnows are plentiful but don't have much flesh on their bones, while the old grandfathers are the rarest but the richest catch.
—Blue Potency runes make me think of a fish's flavor. The good ones can improve your day, while the bad ones are best fed to your enemies.
—Green Essence runes are like the type of fish. Frost fish, armor fish, poison fish … you get the idea.
Some people ask me why there are runes scattered throughout Tamriel, but that's a question for the Mages Guild. I've never asked where fish come from, just where I can find more of them.
(I should mention—I can't actually see colors. If you're like me, you want to look for the brightness of the rune. Aspect runes are quite dim, potency runes are bright, and essence runes glow very bright.)

Step Two: Create Enchantment

Once you have one rune each of aspect (fish age), potency (fish flavor), and essence (fish type), bring them to an enchanting station. Now, put the runes together and craft your first enchantment!
The best way you learn to fish is by fishing, and the same applies to enchanting. The act of creating an enchantment will reveal the meaning and function of unknown runes. Some will say 'You must comprehend how the rune resonates with your soul to truly understand it,' but that's Mages Guild talk.

Step Three: Enchanting Items

You have your first enchantment. Now you're ready to enchant your first item! Find the item you want to enchant and apply the enchantment. Easy, no? But of course, it's never that easy.
Enchantments are very particular. Some are best for weapons, others for armor, and still more bind only to jewelry. Some may require higher quality items than what you have on hand. Oh, and if you change your mind later you can re-enchant an item, but adding a new enchantment will remove the old one. 'Serve the right fish for the right occasion,' as my egg-sister says.

Appendix: Extracting Runes From Enchantments

If you have an enchantment you can't use, don't despair! Sell, trade, or gift them to friends who can use them.
Of course, you can also extract runes from enchantments at any enchanting station. I call this 'gutting the fish.' This destroys the enchantment in the process, but you'll get one of the runes back that you could use in another enchantment.
Retrieved from 'https://en.uesp.net/w/index.php?title=Lore:Enchanting_Made_Easy&oldid=2228472'

Enchanting provides Glyphs in Elder Scrolls Online. Glyphs are enchantments which are applied on gear. There’s three types of glyphs: armor glyphs, weapon glyphs, and jewelry glyphs . Glyphs are crafted at enchanting station, typically found in towns. The combination of runes used to craft the glyph affects the quality and effects of the final glyph, much like the combination of reagents does in Alchemy.

To craft glyphs, the enchanter needs Runes. These are gathered in the world. The runestone nodes visually appear to be very small-sized shrines, which come in different colors. The color of the shrine defines the type of the rune.

When an enchanter crafts new glyphs, they will learn the translation of the runes used in the process. The translations define what kind of effects the rune will have in a glyph.

Runes Explained

Elder Scrolls Lore Names

There’s three types of runestones in Elder Scrolls Online: Potency Runes, Essence Runes and Aspect Runes. In order to craft a glyph, you need all three of them, and each of the rune will define what the final glyph does.

Let’s say we have a weapon enchant glyph with the following effect: ‘Deals 15 Fire Damage’.

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Elder Scrolls Enchanting Lore

  • The Potency rune is needed to tell the glyph what it actually does, in this case it simply ‘deals damage’. It also determines how high level you must be to be able to use the Glyph.
  • The Essence rune tells the glyph what kind of damage it does, in this case ‘Fire Damage’. It determines the attribute or stat that the enchant affects.
  • The Aspect Rune tells the glyph how much damage it does, in this case ’15’. In short, the Aspect rune determines the quality of the Glyph.

Potency Runes

Potency Runes are one of the three required runestones for Glyphs. Potency runes determine how high level you must be to be able to use the Glyph. They are gathered from blue rune nodes, and are square-shaped.

Potency Runes can be either additive or subtractive. As an example, you can combine any of the additive potency runes together with the Essence rune ‘Rakeipa’ (translation is Fire) to create a weapon enchant glyph which deals x Fire damage. If you use a subtractive rune instead of an additive rune, you get a different glyph. In this case it would be a Fire Resistance jewelry enchant glyph.

Scrolls

Special thanks to beta tester SirAndy for compiling a list of the rune translations and glyph combinations.

Additive Potency Runes

RuneTranslationGlyph PrefixPotency LevelGear Level
JoraDevelopTriflingLevel 1Level 1—10
PoradeAddInferiorLevel 1Level 5—15
JeraIncreasePettyLevel 2Level 10—20
JejoraRaiseSlightLevel 2Level 15—25
OdraGainMinorLevel 3Level 20—30
PojoraSupplementLesserLevel 3Level 25—35
EdoraBoostModerateLevel 4Level 30—40
JaeraAdvanceAverageLevel 4Level 35—45
PoraAugmentStrongLevel 5Level 40—50
DenaraStrenghtenMajorLevel 5Level VR1—VR3
ReraExaggerateGreaterLevel 6Level VR3—VR5
DeradoEmpowerGrandLevel 7Level VR5—VR7
RecuraMagnifySplendidLevel 8Level VR7—VR9
CuraIntensifyMonumentalLevel 9Level VR10—VR14

Subtractive Potency Runes

RuneTranslationGlyph PrefixPotency LevelGear Level
JodeReduceTriflingLevel 1Level 1—10
NotadeSubtractInferiorLevel 1Level 5—15
OdeShrinkPettyLevel 2Level 10—20
TadeDecreaseSlightLevel 2Level 15—25
JaydeDeductMinorLevel 3Level 20—30
EdodeLowerLesserLevel 3Level 25—35
PojodeDiminishModerateLevel 4Level 30—40
RekudeWeakenAverageLevel 4Level 35—45
HadeLessenStrongLevel 5Level 40—50
IdodeImpairMajorLevel 5Level VR1—VR3
PodeRemoveGreaterLevel 6Level VR3—VR5
KedekoDrainGrandLevel 7Level VR5—VR7
RedeDepriveSplendidLevel 8Level VR7—VR9
KudeNegateMonumentalLevel 9Level VR10—VR14

Essence Runes

Essence Runes are the second type of runestones. They determine the attribute or stat that the enchant affects. Essence runes are gathered from yellow runestone nodes, and are trapezoid-shaped.

The stats and attributes will not be too strange to Elder Scrolls players. The standard elemental damage types, Magicka, Health and Stamina boosts and regenerations exist in ESO as well as a couple of other effects.

RuneTranslation
DekeipaFrost
DeniStamina
DenimaStamina Regen
DeteriArmor
HaokoDisease
JaediShield
KaderiShield
KuokoPoison
LirePhysical Harm
MakderiSpell Harm
MakkoMagicka
MakkomaMagicka Regen
MeipShock
OkoHealth
OkomaHealth Regen
OkoriPower
OruAlchemist
RakeipaFire
TaderiPhysical Harm

Aspect Runes

Elder Scrolls Enchanting Lore

Aspect Runes are the third and final type of runestones. Aspect runes determine the quality of the crafted Glyph. They are gathered from red runestone nodes, and are round-shaped.

The translation of aspect runes directly matches their rarity/quality, which visually shows as item color, ranging from white (base/common) to gold (legendary).

RuneTranslationGlyph QualityAspect Level
TaBaseWhiteLevel 1
JejotaFineGreenLevel 1
DenataSuperiorBlueLevel 2
RekutaArtifactPurpleLevel 3
KutaLegendaryGoldLevel 4

List of Glyphs in Elder Scrolls Online

As mentioned earlier, there’s three types of glyphs: Armor glyphs, weapon glyphs and jewelry glyphs. Here’s a list of all possible rune combinations, glyph names and glyph descriptions under each category.

Note that the potency rune you use in crafting the glyphs will affect its name and its level. If you use the additive potency rune ‘Pora’, for example, the Glyph’s prefix will be ‘strong’: ‘Glyph of Magicka’ then changes to ‘Strong Glyph of Magicka’, and so on.

Armor Glyphs

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The list of armor glyphs is pretty short. There’s only three ways to enchant your armor; the glyphs will either add Magicka, Health or Stamina on an armor piece.

Glyph NameGlyph DescriptionPotency RuneEssence Rune
Glyph of Magicka
  • Adds Max Magicka
Any Additive Potency RuneMakko
Glyph of Health
  • Adds Max Health
Any Additive Potency RuneOko
Glyph of Stamina
  • Adds Max Stamina
Any Additive Potency RuneDeni

Small Armor slots vs Normal Armor slots

Something to consider with Armor Glyphs is that they come in two sizes: normal enchants and small enchants. Small enchants don’t give you the full bonus of the glyph that the tooltip promises. In reality it’s only around 40% of the tooltip’s value. All glyphs applied on Shoulders, Waist, Hands and Feet slots will be small enchants. If you apply the same glyph on other armor slots, you’ll get the full benefit of the enchant.

Armor SlotEnchant Type
HeadNormal enchant
ChestNormal enchant
LegsNormal enchant
ShieldNormal enchant
FeetSmall enchant
ShouldersSmall enchant
HandsSmall enchant
WaistSmall enchant

Weapon Glyphs

As you can see there’s quite a few ways to enchant your weapon in ESO. The standard ‘deal elemental damage’ enchants and ‘absorb Stamina/Magicka/Health’ enchants from previous Elder Scrolls games exist in ESO as well. There’s new ones, too, such as Glyph of Rage: Increase your power.

Glyph NameGlyph DescriptionPotency RuneEssence Rune
Glyph of Frost
  • Deals Frost Damage
Any Additive Potency RuneDekeipa
Glyph of Foulness
  • Deals Disease Damage
Any Additive Potency RuneHaoko
Glyph of Poison
  • Deals Poison Damage
Any Additive Potency RuneKuoko
Glyph of Shock
  • Deals Shock Damage
Any Additive Potency RuneMeip
Glyph of Rage
  • Increases your Power by ‘x’ for ‘y’ seconds
Any Additive Potency RuneOkori
Glyph of Flame
  • Deals Fire Damage
Any Additive Potency RuneRakeipa
Glyph of Hardening
  • Grants a ‘x’ point Damage Shield for ‘y’ seconds
Any Additive Potency RuneDeteri
Glyph of Absorb Magicka
  • Deals Magic Damage and recovers Magicka
Any Subtractive Potency RuneMakko
Glyph of Absorb Health
  • Deals Magic Damage and recovers Health
Any Subtractive Potency RuneOko
Glyph of Decrease Health
  • Deals unresistable damage
Any Subtractive Potency RuneOkoma
Glyph of Weakening
  • Reduce target’s Power by ‘x’ for ‘y’ seconds
Any Subtractive Potency RuneOkori
Glyph of Absorb Stamina
  • Deals Magic Damage and recovers Stamina
Any Subtractive Potency RuneDeni
Glyph of Crushing
  • Reduce target’s Armor by ‘x’ for ‘y’ seconds
Any Subtractive Potency RuneDeteri

Elder Scrolls Enchanting Lore Eso

Jewelry Glyphs

Considering that there’s only three item slots for jewelry (two rings and a necklace), the number of different jewelry glyphs is huge. You can reduce magicka/stamina costs of abilities, increase resistances, improve regeneration rates and much more.

Glyph NameGlyph DescriptionPotency RuneEssence Rune
Glyph of Increase Physical Harm
  • Adds Weapon Damage
AdditiveTaderi
Glyph of Health Regen
  • Adds Health Recovery
AdditiveOkoma
Glyph of Magicka Regen
  • Adds Magicka Recovery
AdditiveMakkoma
Glyph of Bashing
  • Increase Bash Damage
AdditiveKaderi / Jaedi
Glyph of Stamina Regen
  • Adds Stamina Recovery
AdditiveDenima
Glyph of Potion Boost
  • Increase Potion effect
AdditiveOru
Glyph of Increase Magical Harm
  • Adds Spell Damage
AdditiveMakderi
Glyph of Frost Resist
  • Adds Frost Resistance
SubtractiveDekeipa
Glyph of Poison Resist
  • Adds Poison Resistance
SubtractiveKuoko
Glyph of Decrease Spell Harm
  • Adds Spell Resistance
SubtractiveMakderi
Glyph of Decrease Physical Harm
  • Adds Armor
SubtractiveTaderi / Lire
Glyph of Reduce Feat Cost
  • Reduce Stamina cost of abilities
SubtractiveDenima
Glyph of Disease Resist
  • Adds Disease Resistance
SubtractiveHaoko
Glyph of Shielding
  • Reduce cost of Bash and reduce cost of Blocking
SubtractiveKaderi
Glyph of Reduce Spell Cost
  • Reduce Magicka cost of Spells
SubtractiveMakkoma
Glyph of Shock Resist
  • Adds Shock Resistance
SubtractiveMeip
Glyph of Potion Speed
  • Reduce the cooldown of Potions below this item’s level by ‘x’ seconds
SubtractiveOru
Glyph of Fire Resist
  • Adds Fire Resistance
SubtractiveRakeipa

How to Use Glyphs

A question you constantly see pop up in ESO beta is how to enchant your items or how to apply glyphs on your gear. Since this is not clear to a great number of players, we’ll show you how to do it.

Using Glyphs is simple. First you must either open your inventory or current gear, then right click on the item you wish to enchant. A menu will pop up, and if the item can be enchanted, it will have the ‘enchant’ option.

Choosing ‘enchant’ will open another window, showing the Glyphs you have in your inventory that can be applied on the item. Again, note that there are three types of glyphs: armor glyphs, jewelry glyphs and weapon glyphs. Only the right types of Glyph will show up in this menu.

You can click on the desired Glyph and choose to enchant your item. By default the Enchant button is bound to ‘E’ in this window. You will also see a preview of your item’s stats with the enchantment.

Once you’ve completed these steps, the Glyph will disappear from your inventory and the enchant will appear on the item.

Glyph Extraction

Glyphs can be extracted at an enchanting station. This is the process of breaking down the glyph. Once you extract a glyph, it will be destroyed. Extracting a glyph will yield runes and inspiration points for enchanting, also known as crafting experience. You can increase the chance of getting getting runestones from extraction with the enchanting skill line passive Aspect Extraction.

Enchanting Skill Line

Names

The Enchanting skill line offers five passive skills which provide bonuses to Enchanting.

Potency Improvement is the passive skill you must invest skill points in if you want to advance as an enchanter. Putting points in this passive will allow you to craft higher level glyphs.

Aspect Improvement allows you to use higher quality Aspect runes for Enchanting. The higher the quality of your Aspect rune, the better the stats of your glyph. Any serious enchanter will invest all three skill points in this passive.

Keen Eye: Rune Stones gives the rune stone nodes a glow in the world, making them easier to see. I find that in general the rune stones are quite easy to see as it is, but if taking this passive means you’ll have an easier time spotting the nodes, go ahead and take it.

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Enchanting

Hireling will send you rune stones every day. Investing in this skill will increase the frequency and quantity at which the runes are sent. It’s free runes, what can you say? As long as you have the skill points, it’s a nice passive to have if you care about Enchanting.

Aspect Extraction increases the chance of extracting Aspect runes from glyphs. Maxing out at 15%, the value of this passive isn’t amazing. It does mean you can extract the legendary Aspect runes easier, which will come in handy once you want to craft more powerful glyphs for your gear. Again, if you are into Enchanting, you probably want to take this anyway.

Enchanting Skills
PassivePotency Improvement (1/9)
  • Allows the use of different Potency Rune stones to craft
    higher level glyphs.
PassiveAspect Improvement (1/4)
  • Allows the use of different Aspect Rune stones [Common
    (White), Standard (Green), Superior (Blue), Artifact (Purple),
    Legendary (Orange)] to craft glyphs of higher quality.
PassiveKeen Eye: Rune Stones (0/3)
  • Runes in the world will be easier to see within 20/30/40
    meters.
PassiveHireling (0/3)
  • A hireling will send you runes every day.
PassiveAspect Extraction (0/3)
  • Increases the chance of extracting Aspect rune stones by
    5%.