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Why does the armor rating of my Dwarf Armor decrease when I enchant it?

It didn't happen when I enchanted the sword but strangely this happens when enchanting the dwarf armor and helm and probably for the gloves and boots aswell.

Libssa
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    Had you previously improved the armor, turning it into (Fine) or (Superior)? – bwarner Nov 14 '11 at 14:13
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    Yes I had improved it to flawless before I wanted to enchant it. I was thinking that that might be it but it didn't happen to the sword which I also improved to flawless, so it didn't make sense to believe that that could have affected something. – Libssa Nov 14 '11 at 15:22
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    I believe it may be the effect of smithing and magic items. When you upgrade a normal item, it increases by a greater amount than a magic item would. – Domocus Nov 14 '11 at 16:45
  • Ok, so what I'm getting from the answers is that it is supposed to happen with armor only and not with weapons? As I can recall the perk increases the strength of the enchantment and I haven't invested in it but it's still weird that the decrease didn't happen with the sword. Unless like skizzlefrits answered to me, it's only supposed to happen with armor as like some sort of compensation (you're enchanting it so we decrease the armor rating because you're getting something extra on the item). –  Nov 14 '11 at 23:05
  • The user's comment continues: And that's where it's pretty weird concerning the rest of skizzlefrits' answer about the item giving more protection because I tried enchanting it with the effect that gives stronger resto spells and magicka regen. Now I don't see why the armor rating would decrease in that case because that enchant isn't giving me extra protection.

    So all in all this is a pretty weird mechanic that's blowing my mind in why it's implemented.

     – Mana Nov 15 '11 at 06:36

5 Answers5

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I just enchanted - Glass Armor (Epic) with Magicka Regen (25%)

Before the enchant it had: 134 armor After the enchant it had: 134 armor

While enchanting at the table, it had 90 armor. This seems to be a display bug with the enchanting menu.

I do have the glass smithing perk, I don't have the arcane blacksmithing perk

Amy B
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    Maybe the enchanting table shows the base value, without adjusting for skill level? – Mauricio Nov 23 '11 at 18:01
  • Perhaps, but I recall the armor having 90 armor before upgrading. I guess I could do another test. Or someone else could (people enchant stuff all the time I would think). My heavy armor skill is low and unperked, so I could compare a steel armor piece. – Amy B Nov 23 '11 at 19:11
  • Point. I forgot we are talking upgraded armors here. Then it's probably showing base armor rating, as the AR from improvements is, IIRC, stored separately. Therefore, the enchant table shows base armor, but the inventory later adds the quality value. – Mauricio Nov 23 '11 at 20:33
  • @Kyte that's what I'm saying - this enchanting table display bug is misleading people about what enchanting is doing to their upgraded gear. – Amy B Nov 23 '11 at 22:02
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Its because you don't have the arcane enchanter perk.

Just tested it, with dragon armor. Legendary gauntlets started at 51 armor. When I enchanted it with a grand soul gem, the black star :), the base defense displayed as 26 on the enchanter. However when I checked the bow damage induced gauntlets in my inventory the armor was 51 again.

l I
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oblivioncth
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it is because you do not have the arcane smith perk under the smithing tree. need 60 smithing in order to purchase this one,

Random Stranger
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What's happening is you're enchanting your item of armor, meaning you're giving it abilities that take from the overall protection of the item. So if you enchanted it with a form of defense, it would be better armor for protection but the rating would decrease even if it protects you because it doesn't count the enchantment.

Skizzlefrits
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Keeano Martin
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When you enchant an item which had been upgraded with Smithing, such as Iron Dagger (Superior), it reverts to the basic item unless you have the Arcane Enchanter perk. Once you take that perk, you can go to the forge and re-upgrade the item.

Joe Dovahkiin
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