Enchanting part 2 questions

[mrlymric]

Sorry for making a new post but i wanted to get my questions answered before my original Enchanting post gets lost's in the forums lol so here is a new post to further get answers please.

Ok i went and got the black star and the steel battleaxe of fiery souls, just in case i change my play style and rp later and take up enchanting. I have some questions------ i can disenchant the battle axe and recieve the fiery souls then i can enchant my bow with the fiery souls, am i correct on that part?

How do or does the Black Star works? please explain full detail so i can understand it

Then i shoot mobs/humans with my bow and it will fill my black star up?

Then when my bow loses its fiery soul magic, i can then use the black star to fill my bow fiery souls magic back up?

rinse and repeat thru out rest of my game play of skyrim?

Also since i have the black star and fiery souls do i need to keep the soul gems i have collected, on me anymore??

then last question, say i find me a better bow, can i disenchant the bow i put fiery souls on to put it on a new bow???

 

[Dagmar]

i can disenchant the battle axe and recieve the fiery souls then i can enchant my bow with the fiery souls, am i correct on that part?

Yes

How do or does the Black Star works? please explain full detail so i can understand it

The Black Star works as both a Black Soul Gem and a Grand Soul Gem so it can trap any soul. It's also unbreakable, meaning you can fill it up and use it repeatedly.

Then i shoot mobs/humans with my bow and it will fill my black star up?

Yes

Then when my bow loses its fiery soul magic, i can then use the black star to fill my bow fiery souls magic back up?

Yes

Also since i have the black star and fiery souls do i need to keep the soul gems i have collected, on me anymore??

I would. The Black Star can only hold one soul. You're going to want to have multiple souls when you go to the Arcane Enchanter table so you can enchant several items at once.

then last question, say i find me a better bow, can i disenchant the bow i put fiery souls on to put it on a new bow???

You don't lose the ability to use an enchantment on an item when you use it. You can enchant a dozen bows with Fiery Soul Trap if you want.

 

[mrlymric]

Awesome, that is all i needed to know atm TYVM

 

[mrlymric]

1 more question, i have 3 black soul gems and 1 grand soul gem and then my black star. Now if i been reading right on some enchanting sites, my grand soul gem and my 3 black soul gems will fill up first then when there all filled then my black star will be filled up on the next kill, correct?

 

[Moris]

Your black soul gems will fill up first with humanoid souls, but will also hold smaller souls if you kill lesser creatures first. Your grand soul gem will fill up with the first non-humanoid soul that you kill. If you don't have any smaller soul gems, that is. I have a ton of grands (and a few blacks) with lesser or petty souls in them because I ran out of lesser or petty soul gems. So if you don't want your grands to fill up with smaller souls, you'll need to either NOT soul trap lesser creatures, or carry soul gems of varying sizes. Since using petty soul gems for enchanting levels your enchanting quite efficiently, I carry a bunch of them while I'm levelling. I just don't use them to enchant the stuff I intend to wear myself.

I may be wrong, but I understand that the Black Star will only hold Black souls, that is, humanoid souls. At least, this is what Nelacar tells me, and my game experience suggests it's the case. Azura's Star will hold white souls, up to Grand, but only white souls. Nelacar also tells me this.

Black Star -- Black souls only (size grand)
Azura's Star -- White souls only (all sizes)
Black Soul Gem -- Black and white souls (all sizes)
Grand Soul Gem -- White souls only (all sizes)
Greater Soul Gem -- White souls only (all sizes, except Grand)
Common Soul Gem -- White souls only (all sizes, except Grand and Greater)
and so on

 

[mrlymric]

Awesome, i gotcha, tyvm

 

[jaredb]

I've found one of the advantages of the DLC is that it increases the amount of Grand/Black Soul Gems availbe at merchants, a quick shopping spree round most of the majpr holds should get yourself enough gems for you enchanting needs!

 

[Moris]

I've found one of the advantages of the DLC is that it increases the amount of Grand/Black Soul Gems availbe at merchants, a quick shopping spree round most of the majpr holds should get yourself enough gems for you enchanting needs!

Indeed, when it comes to grand soul gems, I generally just buy them pre-filled. Once you start collecting soul gems and levelling enchanting, money no longer become a problem as you are selling your enchanted items.

This is why I usually enchant clothing and jewelry rather than armor/weapons. Unless you have the merchant perk that changes this, the best source of soul gems (court wizards and wizards at the College) won't buy weapons or armor. But they will buy clothing and jewelry. So I buy their gems (filled and unfilled), go out adventuring to fill the empty gems, enchant some clothing, sell them the enchanted clothing, buy more gems.... on and on until enchanting is levelled.

But others find enchanting higher level weapons to be the most efficient method. I haven't tried it, so I can't really say. They're probably right.

 

[jaredb]

Indeed, when it comes to grand soul gems, I generally just buy them pre-filled. Once you start collecting soul gems and levelling enchanting, money no longer become a problem as you are selling your enchanted items.

This is why I usually enchant clothing and jewelry rather than armor/weapons. Unless you have the merchant perk that changes this, the best source of soul gems (court wizards and wizards at the College) won't buy weapons or armor. But they will buy clothing and jewelry. So I buy their gems (filled and unfilled), go out adventuring to fill the empty gems, enchant some clothing, sell them the enchanted clothing, buy more gems.... on and on until enchanting is levelled.

But others find enchanting higher level weapons to be the most efficient method. I haven't tried it, so I can't really say. They're probably right.

A useful little perk in the speach tree that lets you sell all goods to any merchant type, once you got that you can sell anything to anyone (unless its stolen) and you quicky make a serious amount of dough, i've got around 20564 gold coins at the mo. Enchanted weapons will get you the best price, but some are so valuable that no ones ever got enough cash to take it of you hands, was trying to unload a Daedric Battle Axe that was double enchanted tonight but no one would buy it for less that 9300 something and so i coulndt sell it without making a loss of around 5000

 

[mrlymric]

ok stupid question or i am bind but i am at the enchanter table i need to fill my bow of fiery souls but i don't see how to do that i have my black star filled so how do i fill my bow back up using my black star?

 

[Moris]

You don't fill your bow at the enchanting station. You can do it whenever. Just go to your inventory and select the bow. Somewhere on the bottom of your screen it should tell you which button will recharge the weapon. When you click it, you will be given a list of available gems to use to recharge. On the xbox controller, it's RB. Same with PS3. I don't know what it is on keyboard/mouse, however.

 

[jaredb]

ok stupid question or i am bind but i am at the enchanter table i need to fill my bow of fiery souls but i don't see how to do that i have my black star filled so how do i fill my bow back up using my black star?

you dont need to refill your enchanted items at the enchanter table just go into your inventory and select the bow and then press your recharge button & a list of your soul gems /black star will jump up!

 

[mrlymric]

Ah ha tyvm

 

[Lady Imp]

I may be wrong, but I understand that the Black Star will only hold Black souls, that is, humanoid souls. At least, this is what Nelacar tells me, and my game experience suggests it's the case. Azura's Star will hold white souls, up to Grand, but only white souls. Nelacar also tells me this.

The Black Star will hold any size soul...I don't know where the web got that info (it's not the first place I've seen it), I don't know if Bethesda intended the Black Star to only hold a black soul and it just didn't work out that way, or if people just don't pay attention. But you can put a petty soul into the Black Star. I just did it to double-check.

UESP confirms it in the Bugs section: Skyrim:The Black Star - UESPWiki

 

[Moris]

The Black Star will hold any size soul...I don't know where the web got that info (it's not the first place I've seen it), I don't know if Bethesda intended the Black Star to only hold a black soul and it just didn't work out that way, or if people just don't pay attention. But you can put a petty soul into the Black Star. I just did it to double-check.

I have never seen it do it. Ever. Not in over 1100 hours of play.

But... I have also never carried the Black Star alone.

All I can say is, it's always going to be the last gem to fill as long as there is another gem that can take the soul. Since we don't usually have a lot of black gems, it will fill from black souls quite readily.

So, if you carry any other unfilled gems of the appropriate sizes, the Black Star will never fill with anything other than a black soul.

I guess if you carry it alone, it will fill with whatever. I'll take your word for it, because I've never tried.

ETA: I didn't get the info from the web. I just listened to what Nelacar says.

 

[Lady Imp]

I have never seen it do it. Ever. Not in over 1100 hours of play.

But... I have also never carried the Black Star alone.

All I can say is, it's always going to be the last gem to fill as long as there is another gem that can take the soul. Since we don't usually have a lot of black gems, it will fill those quite readily.

So, if you carry any other unfilled gems of the appropriate sizes, the Black Star will never fill with anything other than a black soul.

I guess if you carry it alone, it will fill with whatever. I'll take your word for it, because I've never tried.

Yeah, you pretty much have to be carrying the Black Star as your only unfilled soul gem for it to do it, cause it will fill last. I had to drop all my empty soul gems to run my test. Only to check what UESP had to say on the subject, and they confirmed lol. I coulda just done it the easy way...

 

[JoeReese]

A useful little perk in the speach tree that lets you sell all goods to any merchant type, once you got that you can sell anything to anyone (unless its stolen) and you quicky make a serious amount of dough, i've got around 20564 gold coins at the mo. Enchanted weapons will get you the best price, but some are so valuable that no ones ever got enough cash to take it of you hands, was trying to unload a Daedric Battle Axe that was double enchanted tonight but no one would buy it for less that 9300 something and so i coulndt sell it without making a loss of around 5000

Jared, your next step in the speech tree should be "investor." Most investments I've seen (I don't know all of them) only increase the merchant's available cash by about $500, sometimes $1000 in the case of some of the blacksmiths, but Riverwood Trader jumps up to $10,700. I've done this with two characters, and my gf has done it with all of hers, and it's always $10,700 for us. That helps A LOT with selling high value enchantments.

 

[JoeReese]

Lymric, I have been pretty heavy into enchanting for every character and it can really be a boon to your gameplay, although so can alchemy.

The way enchanting works is this. You find/buy a magical item, we'll say a weapon, since they require recharging...say fire damage. You can either keep it and use it as-is, or you can take it to the enchanter and disenchant it for later use on other weapons. On disenchanting, you "learn the secret" of the enchantment. You retain this knowledge forever, though your early enchantments may not be as powerful as what you've found or bought. (ie: you find a sword that does 20 fire damage, early on, you probably want to keep and use it for a while, because (a) you're not likely to be able to match 20 points with your own enchantments, and (b) there are plenty of fire and frost weapons out there. Other enchantments, like water breathing or muffle, are very uncommon, so I recommend disenchanting them immediately. You never lose the knowledge, but you could lose the item itself. So you're not learning "20 points of fire" but you're just learning "fire" and as you get more experience at enchanting, your damage levels start to climb. This is also true for other enchantments. If you find and disenchant a 15% better prices necklace, you may only be able to enchant a 7% to start.

When you enchant, as someone else mentioned, you want to take into account the result you want from the enchantment, and then choose the correct soul gem for the job. Go to the table with a few weapons and other items, and with one of each soul gem on you. Select your item to be enchanted, then select the enchantment you wish to put on it. Then move down to soul gem and click on the grand. It should lock in the strength and amount of charge. Without finalizing the enchantment, move down to the next smaller gem, click and see the difference in the enchantment, both power and price. Do this all the way down to a petty soul gem, without hitting the final button, then back out of the enchanter and digest what you've found. Weapons generally allow you to balance your power with your number of charges, whereas armor enchantments become weaker with the smaller gems. You'll see what you want to use for carried weapons vs. things just to be sold for cash.

Muffle and water breathing, unlike most, do not vary in charge or power, so don't waste anything higher than a petty soul gem on those, though both will prove valuable to you in game play. I recommend a ring for water breathing, keeping your helm open for archery or magicka enhancements. Muffled boots work wonders for your sneaking, provided that you muffle your follower's boots as well.

One of your biggest friends, in the cash department, is banish. If you find a banish item, even if you have to spend your last septim, buy it and disenchant it. Banish is a ludicrously high value enchantment, and can make a 10 septim dagger into a 1700 septim dagger, with nothing more than a petty soul gem. Watch your wallet grow, and your enchanting level rise.

Alchemy and Smithing items I also recommend disenchanting, but that will require four grand/black soul gems to work best. In your case, you could use the black star, then go fill it, come back and do another piece, fill, use, etc. Even if you find a 25% smithing or alchemy item and cannot enchant that high, you can enchant four different pieces of gear to use at once. That usually trumps even a high initial enchantment. Four 8% items gives you 32%, etc. If you make a point of stopping into the alchemist's shop in every town you visit, you can get a few Enchanter's potions. (Elixirs are best until you can create a stronger potion, but you may not get them yet.) Don't waste them on sale items, but you definitely want to use them on your weapons and armor, and any smithing or alchemy gear you create.

Hope it helps some.