The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Max Fortify Enchanting, Alchemy, Smithing

How to get maximum Fortify gear and potions in Skyrim Special Edition.

Intro

All credit goes to Keen!

In this guide I will show you how to use the alchemy and enchanting loop in order to gain the max % increase boost in fortify alchemy, enchanting and smithing, combined with a few items: Ahzidals armor set, Black Book: Sallow Regent and Notched Pickaxe.

I’ll keep it as shot and simple as its possible.

Preparation

First off make sure to have both Alchemy and Enchanting at 100 and the following perks installed:

• Alchemy perks: Alchemist (5), Physician (1), Benefactor(1)
• Enchanting perks: Enchanter(5), Insightful Enchanter(1)
• *(x)= Perks points needed

Next make sure you obtain Ahzidals set thru the quest Unearthed. 4 items are required to gain the active power Ahzidals Genius giving you a 10% increase on Enchanting(Boots are the most important, skip the rings as they wont help).

And obtain the Black Book: The Sallow Regent from White Ridge Barrow in Solstheim and complete the quest, giving you a switchable boon of 10% increase in any skill category:

Seeker of Might (Combat skills), Seeker of Sorcery (Magic skills), Seeker of Shadows (Stealth skills)

Geather Fortify Enchanting potion ingredients:

• Blue Butterfly Wing (Easy to obtain)
• Snowberries (Easy to obtain)
• Spawn Ash (Easy to obtain)

Also: Spriggan Sap, Chaurus Hunter Antennae, Ancestor Moth Wing, Hagraven Claw.

You need to combine 2 to make a potion, I suggest getting a lot of them to at least make 15 potions.

Get unenchanted items: Gloves, Head, Armor, Ring, Necklace at least 6-7 of each as we will be using them to steadily upgrade our gear.

And make sure you have previously obtained an item that has the Fortify Alchemy enchantment so you can disenchant it and learn the enchantment.

As well as atleast 30 Grand soul gems or Black Soul gems filled with grand souls needed for enchanting.

Having the Severin Manor house as your own will help a lot in this process as you can jump in and out of the Black Book realm(Apocrypha) and it having an Alchemy and Enchanting table.

Once you have this mega shopping list checked you can start!

What Sorcery Is This?!

Start off by reading the Black Book Sallow Regent and use the Seeker of Sorcery boon to get an increase in Magic skills (enchanting), read the book again to get out. Equipt Ahzidal set and start enchanting:

First round you will get a set of 28% increase in Alchemy, make the 4 items (Head, Armor, Ring, Necklace).

Jump into the book again(read it) and use the Seeker of Shadows this time to get an increase in Stealth skills (Alchemy), get out of the book, equipt the alchemy set and go to the alchemy table. Craft a Fortify Enchanting potion, you will get an 35% enchanting potion.

Now read the book again, and use the Seeker of Sorcery boon, get out, get to the enchanting table, equipt the Ahzidal set, drink the potion you made and craft the next set of gear to Fortify Alchemy!
You should now have a 38% increase in Alchemy per item.

Back into the book you go and get Seeker of Sorcery again, get out, equip the new alchemy gear, make the potion again, get 42% increase in enchanting potion.

Repeat the process to get the 40% increase alchemy gear, and a 43% potion.

Last time around is 41% increase in Alchemy and 44% in Enchanting!

The whole process is simple but sometimes confusing:

1. Make a set of gear to increase alchemy with Sorcery boon.
2. Equipt Alchemy set with Shadow boon = Fortify Enchanting potion.
3. Equipt Ahzidal set + Sorcery boon + drink potion = Fortify Alchemy set.
4. Repeat 2 and 3.

Just make sure you have the right boon active and the right gear equipted, you can see this is in the Active Powers tab.

I believe this is the cap for these 2 Fortify options, if you have any information please feel free to share, more below.

Smithing

Every level of Smithing increases fortification results, having 100 is best.

Using the 41% Alchemy gear with Seeker of Shadows boon you can make a Fortify Smithing potion that gives you 174% increased smithing.

Using the potion to Fortify Enchanting by 44%(along side the Seeker of Sorcery boon) gives a 41% increase in smithing on gear, you can enchant a set of 4 items (Armor, Gloves, Ring, Necklace).

Using the boon Seeker of might gives you an additional 10% in all Combat skills (including smithing).

Using (equipping) the Notched Pickaxe (Found on top of the highest mountain in Skyrim, up from where Paarthurnax is) will give you a 5 point increase in smithing.

Additional Info

Making the alchemy gear first instead of making the potion first made the process a bit faster.

Potion effects last 30 seconds, this pauses during some dialog boxes but keep track of the enchantment results, or just click and press buttons fast.

You can have 2 enchanting options with the Enchanting perk Extra Effect.

Having OP gear can kill the game challange, you can one hit most enemies which can be fun for a while but gets borring pretty fast, can suggest mods that rev up the game difficulty if you already make op gear.

Also having mods installed may affect the process in some way, the only bigger mod that changes any mechanics of the game that I use is Unofficial Skyrim Patch but as far as I could see on the changelog there is no tweak that affects this process, I’d test it out on Vanilla but rather not deactivate my mod list with 250+ mods in fear that something might break.