Forums » Elder Scrolls

Least Favorite Crafting Skill

    • 285 posts
    June 23, 2014 7:29 PM EDT
    So, as the title essentially says, what is your least favorite crafting skill in Skyrim and why?
    • 1483 posts
    June 23, 2014 7:31 PM EDT

    Enchanting. Many custom-enchanted items are no match for preenchanted ones, it has that RP-nightmare element to it with all soul trapping etc., it levels even when you don't want it to...

    • 185 posts
    June 23, 2014 7:33 PM EDT
    Smithing, I've trained it with Eorlund in the KOI, can't stand it
    • 185 posts
    June 23, 2014 7:38 PM EDT
    And the fact that it can be replaced by MfD without many problems doesn't help either.
  • June 23, 2014 8:03 PM EDT
    Enchanting for me. I feel like it cheapens finding/receiving unique gear when you can just make stuff that's better at home. I also mostly use something to upgrade stuff for the same reason.
    Alchemy I like, but it's also the biggest PITA to level...
    • 490 posts
    June 23, 2014 8:05 PM EDT

    Alchemy!

    No, I do not want to run around looking at the ground to pick a bunch of plants and stuff.

    Smithing is a close second. Not only gather, but grind on the forge.

    Enchanting is at least somewhat organic with found loot. Easy to find amongst other needed items (no need to scrounge extensively) and can be leveled through actual non-stop gameplay with supplying soul trapped gems to staves and items!

    • 1483 posts
    June 23, 2014 8:13 PM EDT
    Blasphemy!
  • June 23, 2014 8:22 PM EDT
    Aww, but searching for ingredients is half the fun! ;D
    • 74 posts
    June 23, 2014 8:22 PM EDT

    Enchanting. Actually, I like all of them, but enchanting I like least.

    Smithing is usually fitting to the characters I like to play and I love installing mods that provide custom things to smith. Also, I've smithed a little bit in real life, so the idea of it just suits me.

    Alchemy... well, I'm a bit of a hoarder/klepto in the game, so Alchemy is just a natural extension of that and a useful justification.

    Enchanting... it just feels less natural. I have to think about it and plan it out and I hate, for some strange reason, enchanting anything with less than the most powerful possible enchantments. I will often just not use it.

    • 1441 posts
    June 23, 2014 8:22 PM EDT
    I love Enchanting. Even though some characters don't actively enchant, the main reason I take it, is for naming items at the least. Probably alchemy would be my least favorite. The reason being that,while it is good for money making, finding what ingredients do what,is kind of annoying at times.
    • 700 posts
    June 23, 2014 8:33 PM EDT

    Hate smithing.  So much.  It's why I rarely play armored characters anymore.  The upkeep is just too much.  

    • 22 posts
    June 23, 2014 11:59 PM EDT
    Enchanting is by far the worst. At high levels yes it is very useful. But anything less than that is just pointless. The whole system is flawed. And perhaps what is most degrading is the fact that you cannot upgrade or modify an enchantment after it is done. I also don't like how we are slaves of soul gems to recharge the weapon. And flawed idea that nords hate necromancy but face it, enchanting is just another form of necromancy. Also how the game doesn't incentive you to enchant at all. First it is painfully hard to level up, it requires an absurd amount of time wasting, the perk system isn't that good. I belive the double enchantment perk shouldn't be the lvl100 perk and items found in the game or for sale will from the start have much better enchantments than you can create unless you have enchantment lvl at least 60. But by that time you are quite high level and the enchantments appearing are again stronger than what you can make.
    • 22 posts
    June 24, 2014 12:01 AM EDT
    Alchemy is pretty easy and finding out what ingredients do isn't hard at all of you actually experiment. Just buy lots of random ingredients and mix and match.
    • 22 posts
    June 24, 2014 12:01 AM EDT
    Or get the perks
    • 22 posts
    June 24, 2014 12:05 AM EDT
    Agree with you, and I feel the same way about enchanting and I can tell you why. Because we cannot upgrade an enchantment once it is done.
    • 285 posts
    June 24, 2014 12:08 AM EDT
    Agreed, I don't care how powerful the Dovahkiin is, he has no business making most of the artifacts of gods inferior.
    • 22 posts
    June 24, 2014 12:08 AM EDT
    Most ingredients are found in alchemists. So no big deal. Only a few DLC ingredients are easy to get
  • Ben
    • 21 posts
    June 24, 2014 2:49 PM EDT

    Alchemy by far is the worst.  I loathe it.  I hate it.  When I see a build that relies on it, I cringe.  I hate farming mats.  I hate grinding the skill.  I hate experimenting and losing mats, time, and skill points you would have gotten otherwise.  And even if you learn a few powerful poison/potion recipes, you find you never have the ingredients you need unless you go "farm" the mats.  I'm sorry, but I've done enough farming of herbalist mats in my life. 

    • 185 posts
    June 24, 2014 2:59 PM EDT

    Alchemy is my favorite (Even without Grinding it levels so fast!) And every ingredient needed can be bought at any alchemy shop, and has some awesome benefits!

    Enchanting - I'm pretty neutral on this one, but I like to level it by recharging my Soul-Trap weapon with every kill using Azura's Star, then I can go on a kill-spree and level a crafting skill at the same time!

    Smithing - Hate! Absolutely Hate it! I've trained it most of the times, and then either sell Banish Daggers or Potions to get the money back (KOI) Or just Steal it (With Ice Form or not!) It's just so... slow to level, and boring, and useless, since I will find those itens late-game anyway, And MfD is everything I need to augment damage and make every weapon viable, not some boring-as-hell skill

    • 22 posts
    June 24, 2014 8:47 PM EDT
    You clearly don't know where to find the alchemy shops
    • 22 posts
    June 24, 2014 8:50 PM EDT
    A good way to level smithing is constantly upgrading your own weapons and armor
  • Ben
    • 21 posts
    June 24, 2014 9:17 PM EDT

    You clearly don't know you can just buy most potions from the same shops you just mentioned and skip all the farming, experimenting, dealing with potions with negative side effects or poisons that help targets.  

    Unlike smithing, where there is NO guarantee that a weapons/armor vendor will have the armor you want, alchemy shops always stock up on generic healing pots, poisons, and basic buff potions.  The same goes for enchanting.  You can spend most of the game and never get the item you want with the enchant you desire on it.  But alchemy...it is so much easier to just buy the potions as the quality of the potions level with you from the vendors.


    If enchanting were like alchemy, then sometimes you'd get a weapon that would heal your enemies.

    If enchanting were like alchemy, then sometimes your health regenerate enchant would suck stamina out of you, or drain your magicka.

    If enchanting were like alchemy, then you'd have to mix different types of soul gems together with different enchants to get "hopefully" the enchant you want.

  • Ben
    • 21 posts
    June 24, 2014 9:20 PM EDT

    I see you play on the xbox.  Not a lot of options, and I admit vanilla smithing really does suck to level.  
    If someone sees this and plays on PC, there are plenty of mods out there that let you smelt down weapons for ingots.  It definitely expedites a rather boring process.

    • 856 posts
    June 24, 2014 9:22 PM EDT

    Agreed. I expand on this idea by upgrading all of my weapon and armor loot before I sell.

    • 1217 posts
    June 24, 2014 10:21 PM EDT

    Alchemy is my least favorite. I don't hate it, but I find it hard to motivate myself to put the time into it to make it truly useful. And the "new potion" noise is really annoying. I usually end up with a ton of potions that I don't use. It just doesn't go well with my tendency to hoard.