Enchantments
Note that enchantments are clearly not in a good place nowadays. They may be subject to change, and new enchantments might come to cover the new main ratings. You're not losing much by having rank 9s instead of rank 15s, so do not invest in them too much, unless you have nothing else to invest in and you can afford them. The Weapon enchantment is important for Damage Dealers (Healers and Tanks can make the group benefit from debuff ones, but weapon enchantments are not that great overall for them, as they mostly improve the damage dealt and not much more), and the Armor enchantment makes a difference for Tanks (Healers and Damage Dealers are good with them, but having a high rank one is less of a priority).
- Offense enchantments
- Defense enchantments
- Utility enchantments
- Overload enchantments
- Weapon enchantment
- Armor enchantment
- Best Enchantments
- Upgrading Enchantments
Enchantments are a very big investment for extremely low returns. Rank 8-9 enchantments are cheap and usually good enough. Upgrading these is not a priority. You should focus on everything else first.
You can have a total of 18 regular enchantments (in Offense, Defense, and Utility slots) + 1 Weapon enchantment + 1 Armor enchantment.
- 5-9 Offense enchantments
- 4-8 Defense enchantments
- 5-6 Utility enchantments
- 2 Overload enchantments
- 1 Weapon enchantment
- 1 Armor enchantment
Offense Enchantments
Here is the list of all the enchantments you can put into Offense slots, and their effect at rank 15 (200 item level).
Single stat :
- Radiant : 300 Power + 180 CR (+0.28% Power, -0.02% in other stats)
- Dark : 300 Critical Severity + 180 CR (+0.28% Critical Severity, -0.02% in other stats)
- Azure : 300 Critical Strike + 180 CR (+0.28% Critical Strike, -0.02% in other stats)
- Silvery : 300 Accuracy + 180 CR (+0.28% Accuracy, -0.02% in other stats)
- Tactical : 300 Combat Advantage + 180 CR (+0.28% Combat Advantage, -0.02% in other stats)
Double stats :
- Vicious : 150 Power + 150 Critical Severity + 180 CR (+0.13% Power, +0.13% Critical Severity, -0.02% in other stats)
- Brutal : 150 Power + 150 Critical Strike + 180 CR (+0.13% Power, +0.13% Critical Strike, -0.02% in other stats)
- Cruel : 150 Power + 150 Accuracy + 180 CR (+0.13% Power, +0.13% Accuracy, -0.02% in other stats)
- Savage : 150 Critical Strike + 150 Critical Severity + 180 CR (+0.13% Critical Strike, +0.13% Critical Severity, -0.02% in other stats)
- Ruthless : 150 Critical Strike + 150 Accuracy + 180 CR (+0.13% Critical Strike, +0.13% Accuracy, -0.02% in other stats)
- Wicked : 150 Accuracy + 150 Critical Severity + 180 CR (+0.13% Accuracy, +0.13% Critical Severity, -0.02% in other stats)
Triple stats :
- Black Ice : 240 Power + 120 Critical Strike + 120 Accuracy + 168 CR (+0.208% Power, +0.088% Critical Strike, +0.088% Accuracy, -0.032% in other stats)
- Draconic : 240 Critical Severity + 120 Power + 120 Accuracy + 168 CR (+0.208% Critical Severity, +0.088% Power, +0.088% Accuracy, -0.032% in other stats)
- Demonic : 240 Critical Severity + 120 Power + 120 Critical Strike + 168 CR (+0.208% Critical Severity, +0.088% Power, +0.088% Critical Strike, -0.032% in other stats)
- Gigantic : 240 Critical Strike + 120 Critical Severity + 120 Accuracy + 168 CR (+0.208% Critical Strike, +0.088% Critical Severity, +0.088% Accuracy, -0.032% in other stats)
- Assassin's : 240 Combat Advantage + 120 Critical Strike + 120 Accuracy + 168 CR (+0.208% Combat Advantage, +0.088% Critical Strike, +0.088% Accuracy, -0.032% in other stats)
Damage :
- Tenebrous : once every second, when striking a foe, you have a 8% chance to deal 8% of your current HP in damage, up to a maximum of 24k damage (with 300k HP), multiple enchantments increase the chance, up to a maximum of 30% + 180 CR (-0.02% in every stat). Enchantments of the same rank won't stack, so get a rank 15 + a rank 14 to benefit from a better chance to proc. 2 rank 15 won't have a better effect than a single rank 15. The weapon enchantment and many other things (tales set, lostmauth set...) can actually proc the Tenebrous enchantment, which means it can proc quite frequently !
First thing to note is that all of the enchantments have the same item level (200 at rank 15) and give the same amount of stat points (3000 at rank 15, except the Tenebrous one that gives 2700 stat points). That means that with any enchantment, your total amount of stat percentages will stay the same. So they are really just reallocating your stats ratings. Except with Tenebrous, that will decrease them by a total 0.3% (but will give you pure damage instead).
Triple stat enchantments give a bit less Combined Ratings, which means that they will give you more of specific stats and decrease your other stats more. As such, they are great for Damage Dealers, who will benefit from better offensive stats, but not as great for Tanks and Healers who benefit from defensive and utility stats.
The Tenebrous enchantment (at rank 15) deals 24k damage when your current health is above 300k (if you get hit and fall below 300k, the damage will be reduced). This amount of HP is not that hard to reach, even in scaled content (at least in epic dungeons). The damage is reduced by the enemy's Defense. So, without any debuff, it will actually deal 16k damage, and it can also be deflected (11248 damage if your accuracy is at 50%). It cannot crit, nor benefit from combat advantage, but it will benefit from Defense or Deflect debuffs. Assuming you have 50% Accuracy, the Tenebrous enchantment will deal 13624 damage on average. It can only proc on a single target, once per second, which means once every 1s + 12.5 "hits" on average with 1 rank 15 enchantment, up to once every 1s + 3.33 "hits" on average with 5 enchantments (R15 + R14 + R13 + R12 + R11). That means effectively about 4.5k damage per second on average with 1 enchantment, up to 9k+ damage with 5 enchantments. On the other hand, a rank 15 Radiant or Tactical enchantment will improve your overall damage by about 0.15% through the Power or Combat Advantage given by the enchantment (about 0.2% if we take the Assassin's enchantment for reference, omitting the loss of other stats). It means that, as long as you deal less than 511k damage per second on average, Tenebrous enchantments are better (taking the most favorable approach for stat enchantments, closer to 700k if we take a more realistic approach). I do not think it's currently possible to deal that much damage on a single target (without debuffs). But it may be possible if you are fighting large groups of monsters. So Tenebrous are the best to fight against boss monsters, and still good against multiple enemies, though they may be occasionnaly outperformed if you are fighting crowds of monsters.
The best enchantments for Tanks are either Radiant or Tactical ones (depending on which of your Power or Combat Advantage is lower : improving both together gives the best returns). Tenebrous could help damage more, but are not very reliable in terms of aggro.
The best enchantments for Healers are Radiant. Demonic give the highest amount of useful stats, but due to Critical Stats being as they are for healing, and Demonic also reducing defensive stats, Outgoing Healing and Forte more than Radiant... Radiant are just better. But any enchantment boosting Critical Strike or Critical Severity (preferably the one with your lowest percentage) are good options if your Power is capped already.
The best enchantments for Damage Dealers are 2-4 Tenebrous enchantments (with at least one of them at rank 15, and different ranks for the others : 2 rank 15 won't stack, but a rank 15 and a rank 14 will) and any of the triple stat enchantments (as long as you cap your most important offensive stats first, Assassin's being the best if none of your stats are capped). But the difference with single or double stats enchantments is pretty marginal... So Tactical or Radiant rank 9 can do the job well enough when you start the game, for you only really care about the TIL.
Defense Enchantments
Here is the list of all the enchantments you can put into Defense slots, and their effect at rank 15 (200 item level).
Single stat :
- Radiant : 1200 HP + 180 CR (1200 HP, -0.02% to all stats)
- Azure : 300 Defense + 180 CR (+0.28% Defense, -0.02% in other stats)
- Dark : 300 Critical Avoidance + 180 CR (+0.28% Critical Avoidance, -0.02% in other stats)
- Silvery : 300 Deflection + 180 CR (+0.28% Deflection, -0.02% in other stats)
- Tactical : 300 Awareness + 180 CR (+0.28% Awareness, -0.02% in other stats)
Double stats :
- Brutal : 600 HP + 150 Defense + 180 CR (600 HP, +0.13% Defense, -0.02% in other stats)
- Savage : 600 HP + 150 Critical Avoidance + 180 CR (600 HP, +0.13% Critical Avoidance, -0.02% in other stats)
- Wicked : 600 HP + 150 Deflection + 180 CR (600 HP, +0.13% Deflection, -0.02% in other stats)
- Ruthless : 150 Defense + 150 Critical Avoidance + 180 CR (+0.13% Defense, +0.13% Critical Avoidance, -0.02% in other stats)
- Cruel : 150 Defense + 150 Deflection + 180 CR (+0.13% Defense, +0.13% Deflection, -0.02% in other stats)
- Vicious : 150 Deflection + 150 Critical Avoidance + 180 CR (+0.13% Deflection, +0.13% Critical Avoidance, -0.02% in other stats)
Triple stats :
- Draconic : 960 HP + 120 Defense + 120 Critical Avoidance + 168 CR (960 HP, +0.088% Defense, +0.088% Critical Avoidance, -0.032% in other stats)
- Demonic : 960 HP + 120 Deflection + 120 Critical Avoidance + 168 CR (960 HP, +0.088% Deflection, +0.088% Critical Avoidance, -0.032% in other stats)
- Black Ice : 240 Defense + 120 Deflection + 120 Critical Avoidance + 168 CR (+0.208% Defense, +0.088% Deflection, +0.088% Critical Avoidance, -0.032% in other stats)
- Gigantic : 240 Deflection + 480 HP + 120 Defense + 168 CR (+0.208% Deflection, 480 HP, +0.088% Defense, -0.032% in other stats)
- Assassin's : 240 Awareness + 120 Deflection + 120 Critical Avoidance + 168 CR (+0.208% Awareness, +0.088% Deflection, +0.088% Critical Avoidance, -0.032% in other stats)
First thing to note is that all of the enchantments that do not give HP will keep your total percentages the same, while any enchantment that gives HP will reduce your total percentages (but give you HP instead). Enchantments do not improve your percentages, only reallocate them.
Triple stat enchantments give a bit less Combined Ratings, which means that they will give you more of specific stats and decrease your other stats more. As such, they are great for Tanks, who will benefit from better defensive stats, but not as great for Damage Dealers and Healers who benefit more from offensive and utility stats.
HP given by equipment is boosted by Constitution and by the Bulkwark campaign boons, so a Radiant enchantment will give you more than 1200 HP (about 1400 HP if you have the HP boons and a decent Constitution score). In that regard, Radiant enchantments are better than Assassin's enchantments while your HP is below 470k. That means that Radiant enchantments are best in scaled content while Assassin's enchantments are best in regular content. What was the first goal of the rework already ? "Improved Scaling: Smooth scaling downward and upward to content that allows for it, without requiring players to change gear to optimize it.", you failed !
The best enchantments for Tanks are Assassin's, or Black Ice if your Awareness is capped. At low level, and in the lower item level scaled content, Radiant may make more of a difference though.
The best enchantments for Healers and Damage Dealers are Radiant if you have below 470k HP (that is at least in scaled content). Above 470k HP, Assassin's are the best, if you are ready to sacrifice a bit more of your offensive and utility stats. Above 650k HP, Tactical are better than Radiant and won't decrease offensive or utility stats as much as Assasssin's (though Assassin's offer better defensive stats). Azure are also an option at that point, if your Defense is below 45%.
Utility Enchantments
Here is the list of all the enchantments you can put into Utility slots, and their effect at rank 15.
Single stat :
- Tactical : 300 Incoming Healing + 180 CR (+0.28% Incoming Healing, -0.02% in other stats)
- Dark : 300 Forte + 180 CR (+0.28% Forte, -0.02% in other stats)
- Azure : 5% XP Bonus (down from 118% in mod 19... In mod 21, Azure enchantments will give movement speed instead) + 180 CR (+5% XP Bonus, -0.02% in other stats)
- Radiant : 10% Gold Bonus (down from 60%) + 180 CR (+10% Gold Bonus, -0.02% in other stats)
- Silvery : 10% Glory Bonus (down from 60%) + 180 CR (+10% Glory Bonus, -0.02% in other stats)
Double stats :
- Wicked : 150 Incoming Healing + 2.5% Gold Bonus + 180 CR (+0.13% Incoming Healing, +2.5% Gold Bonus, -0.02% in other stats)
- Cruel : 150 Incoming Healing + 2.5% Glory Bonus + 180 CR (+0.13% Incoming Healing, +2.5% Glory Bonus, -0.02% in other stats)
- Brutal : 5% XP Bonus + 150 Forte + 180 CR (+5% XP Bonus, +0.13% Forte, -0.02% in other stats)
- Savage : 5% XP Bonus + 2.5% Gold Bonus + 180 CR (+5% XP Bonus, +2.5% Gold Bonus, -0.02% in other stats)
- Vicious : 5% XP Bonus + 2.5% Glory Bonus + 180 CR (+5% XP Bonus, +2.5% Glory Bonus, -0.02% in other stats)
- Ruthless : 2.5% Glory Bonus + 2.5% Gold Bonus + 180 CR (+2.5% Glory Bonus, +2.5% Gold Bonus, -0.02% in other stats)
Refinement :
- Quartermaster's : 5% chance after killing a foe to find a bag of goods (refinement, campaign currency, bound enchantments up to rank 7) + 180 CR (-0.02% in every stat)
- Dragon's Hoard : 7.5% chance after killing a foe to find a gemstone (refinement) + 180 CR (-0.02% in every stat)
- Fey Blessing : 7.5% chance after killing a foe to spawn a Will o' the Wisp to find an enchantment + 180 CR (-0.02% in every stat)
- Tymora's Lucky : 7.5% chance after killing a foe to find a hidden pouch (gold, potions, refinement, items) + 180 CR (-0.02% in every stat)
Let's not even talk about the discrepancy between XP/Gold/Glory enchantments (that's what you get when the lead designer is a first year student who doesn't care about anything and there's no quality control whatsoever...).
So there are only 2 choices : either you want Incoming Healing or you want Forte. Damage Dealers and Healers are definitely best with Dark enchantments. Tanks are also best with Dark enchantments, but Tactical enchantments can be an option (especially if their Defense is capped). In mod 21, Azure enchantments will give movement and will very likely be best in slot
If you are playing solo, refinement enchantments are great ! The chance stacks up when you have multiple enchantments. People say the best one to get is the Quatermaster's one. The bags stack up to 999, and you'll get double refinement items from them if you open them during a Double Refinement event ! Make sure you equip enough Quartermaster enchantments, when you open the bags, for your chance to be at 10.5% or more (11% if you use 6 utility slots for your Quatermasters. You can get a 6th slot from Makos Signet, a ring obtained in the Storm King Thunder campaign), so that the enchantments you get are at least rank 6. Dragon's Hoard and Fey Blessing are also very nice to have to get some refinement points. Apparently, there's a limit to how many items you can get from refinement enchantments every day, so having different ones can yield better results than having only Quatermasters enchantments. Getting some of them at rank 9 early on is a very good idea to be able to upgrade your weapons and artifacts. Upgrading them to higher ranks may not be very worth it though.
Overload Enchantments
Overload enchantments have an expiration date. You can only use them for 1 to 10 hours of combat (depending on the enchantment). Two of the same overload enchantments do not stack, so use different ones. The fact they are pretty small boosts and they don’t last long doesn’t make them good investments in my opinion (of course, for end game trials, any little thing helps).
Dragon Glyphs Enchantments (obtained in dungeons and events related to the Tyranny of Dragons campaign), Lesser ones last for 1H of combat, while Greater ones last for 2H :
- Lesser / Greater White Dragon Glyph : when dealing damage or healing your allies, 25% chance to gain 400 / 800 Power and 7% / 10% Outgoing Healing for 20s. Can only trigger once every 60s.
- Lesser / Greater Blue Dragon Glyph : when dealing or taking damage, 25% chance to gain 400 / 800 Defense and dealing 400 / 600 damage to targets who hit you for 20s. Can only trigger once every 60s.
- Lesser / Greater Red Dragon Glyph : when dealing damage, 25% chance to gain 400 / 800 Armor Penetration and dealing additionnal 400 / 600 damage for 20s. Can only trigger once every 60s.
- Lesser / Greater Green Dragon Glyph : when dealing or taking damage, 25% chance to gain 400 / 800 Deflect and dealing 200 / 300 damage to targets around you (30' range) every 2s, for 20s, + 2000 / 3000 damage when the effect ends. Can only trigger once every 60s.
- Lesser / Greater Black Dragon Glyph : when dealing damage, 25% chance to gain 400 / 800 Critical Strike and dealing additionnal 600 / 900 damage over 6s (stacks 3 times) for 20s. Can only trigger once every 60s.
Black Ice Enchantments (from the Caer-Konig forge in Icewind Dale). These last for 8H of combat :
- Lesser / Greater Purified Black Ice : when taking damage, 25% chance to gain 300 / 800 Defense and 2000 / 5500 HP for 8s. Can only trigger once every 70s.
- Lesser / Greater Purified Restoration : when taking damage, 25% chance to gain 300 / 800 Critical Avoidance and 2000 / 5500 HP for 8s. Can only trigger once every 70s.
- Lesser / Greater Purified Tempered : when taking damage, 25% chance to gain 300 / 800 Deflect and 2000 / 5500 HP for 8s. Can only trigger once every 70s.
- Lesser / Greater Corrup Black Ice : when dealing damage, 25% chance to gain 300 / 800 Power and 0.5% / 1.25% AP per second for 8s. Can only trigger once every 70s.
- Lesser / Greater Corrupt Piercing : when dealing damage, 25% chance to gain 300 / 800 Armor Penetration and 0.5% / 1.25% AP per second for 8s. Can only trigger once every 70s.
- Lesser / Greater Corrup Lethal : when dealing damage, 25% chance to gain 300 / 800 Critical Strike and 0.5% / 1.25% AP per second for 8s. Can only trigger once every 70s.
Stronghold Enchantments (from the Gemmonger in the Stronghold). These last for 2H of combat :
- Mark of the Giant / Troll / Dragon / Demon / Elemental / Fey / Lycanthrope / Orc / Thayan / Undead Slayer, rank 1 / 2 : powers deal 5% / 10% more damage against the specific type of ennemies.
- Mark of the Giant / Troll / Dragon / Demon / Elemental / Fey / Lycanthrope / Orc / Thayan / Undead Ward, rank 1 / 2 : ennemies of the specific type who hit you deal 5% / 10% less damage for 10s. Allies healed by your spells can also trigger the effect for 10s on monsters when the monsters hit them.
- Companion's Mark of the Giant / Troll / Dragon / Demon / Elemental / Fey / Lycanthrope / Orc / Thayan / Undead Slayer, rank 1 / 2 : companions deal 25% / 50% more damage against the specific type of ennemies.
- Companion's Mark of the Giant / Troll / Dragon / Demon / Elemental / Fey / Lycanthrope / Orc / Thayan / Undead Ward, rank 1 / 2 : ennemies of the specific type who hit your companion deal 5% / 10% less damage for 10s. Allies healed by your companion can also trigger the effect for 10s on monsters when the monsters hit them.
PvP Enchantments (also from the Gemmonger in the Stronghold). These last for 2H of combat :
- Mark of the Cleric / Fighter / Guardian / Paladin / Ranger / Rogue / Warlock / Wizard Slayer, rank 1 / 2 : powers deal 5% / 10% more damage against the specific class of ennemies.
- Mark of AP Drain, rank 1 / 2 : your daily powers drain 10% / 20% of an ennemy player's Action Points.
- Mark of Stamina Drain, rank 1 / 2 : your powers drain 2% / 4% of an ennemy player's Stamina.
- Mark of the Cleric / Fighter / Guardian / Paladin / Ranger / Rogue / Warlock / Wizard Ward, rank 1 / 2 : ennemies of the specific type who hit you deal 5% / 10% less damage for 10s. Allies healed by your spells can also trigger the effect for 10s on monsters when the monsters hit them.
- Mark of AP Ward, rank 1 / 2 : protects you against the Mark of AP Drain (half the effect if you use a rank 1 and your opponent has a rank 2).
- Mark of Stamina Ward, rank 1 / 2 : protects you against the Mark of Stamina Drain (half the effect if you use a rank 1 and your opponent has a rank 2).
- Companion's Mark of the Cleric / Fighter / Guardian / Paladin / Ranger / Rogue / Warlock / Wizard Slayer, rank 1 / 2 : companions deal 25% / 50% more damage against the specific class of ennemy players.
- Companion's Mark of the Cleric / Fighter / Guardian / Paladin / Ranger / Rogue / Warlock / Wizard Ward, rank 1 / 2 : ennemy players of the specific class who hit your companion deal 5% / 10% less damage for 10s. Allies healed by your companion can also trigger the effect for 10s on players when the players hit them.
Event Enchantments (can be bought during specific events, but pretty expensive for temporary items). These last for 10H :
- Rage of Flames : +5% Physical Damage.
- Devil's Precision : +5% Critical Strike and Accuracy.
- Resiliency of the Depths : +5% Physical Damage Reduction.
- Demonic Empowerment : +5% Action Points gain.
- Bulwark of Brimstone : +5% Maximum Hit Points.
- Unholy Protection : +5% Critical Avoidance and Deflection.
The best overload enchantments for a Tank are the Greater Purified Black Ice and Greater Corrup Black Ice enchantments. Marks of the "Type" Ward are also very potent, but too specific and do not work on the current high end trial bosses. If you are going to buy event enchantments, the Resiliency of the Depths one is the best.
The best overload enchantments for a Healer are the Lesser and Greater White Dragon Glyphs. Nothing else is half as good.
The best overload enchantments for a Damage Dealer are the Greater Red Dragon Glyph and Greater Corrup Black Ice enchantments. Marks of the "Type" Slayer are also very potent, but too specific and do not work on the current high end trial bosses. If you are going to buy event enchantments, the Rage of Flames one is the best for physical damage dealers.
Armor Enchantments
Stats are written for rank 14 enchantments (800 item level, no combined ratings = -0.8% in every stat... yes, that sucks !).
Survivability :
- Soulforged : when your hit points reach 0, you resurrect, get 40k HP + 13333 every second for 3s, you are immune to controls for 3s, and deal 16% damage to foes around you. This can only happen once every 75s (rank 7 is almost as good as rank 14).
- Barkshield : every 6 seconds you gain a charge, up to 4 charges. Every time you get hit and you have charges, the damage is reduced by 12800/25600/38400/51200, depending on how many charges you have, and you lose a charge.
- Elven Battle : slows, immobilizes, disables, and stuns, have their duration reduced by 85% on you. Your stamina regeneration is also improved by 40%.
- Bloodtheft : 10% chance, upon dealing damage, to heal yourself for 50% of the damage dealt, can only heal once every 3s.
- Negation : once per second, when you receive damage, get 4% damage reduction for 3s (stacks 10 times, time is refreshed with each new stack, up to 40% damage reduction). When you reach 10 stacks, after 3s, the stacks are removed and you are healed for 8% of your maximum HP.
- Shadowclad : when you receive damage, increases your Deflection by 8% and your Defense by 4%, for 6s. Can stack 8 times, but stacks are removed when you deflect. When you deflect an attack with 8 stacks, foes around you are dazed for 2s, and you become stealthed for 4s. This can only occur once every 30s.
- Eclipse : increases Deflection by 8%. When your stamina drops below 20%, it is refiled and no longer depletes for 3s. This can only occur once every 60s.
- Frostburn : 10% chance, when you receive damage, to slow your attacker by 30% and to reduce their Critical Strike by 8% (for monsters, that means a 4.9% to 0% damage reduction, the higher your Critical Avoidance the less interesting it becomes, 2.9% at 45% Critical Avoidance), for 5s. Can only occur once every 5s.
- Fireburst : when you receive damage, once every 15s, releases a fireball to your attacker and up to 5 foes around them (15' range), for 120 magnitude damage. When you receive a critical hit, your damage resistance is increased by 5.3% for 5s, and once every 10s, when you get hit during this time, releases a second fireball that deals 3.6 magnitude damage (that should be a lot more... but I cannot test this ingame as I do not have this enchantment, especially not at max rank, previous rank have proper magnitudes) to up to 6 targets (20' range) around your attacker.
Damage :
- Briartwine : you reflect 6% of the damage dealt to you and have a 10% chance, when struck, to root your attacker for 2s. This can only occur once every 10s.
- Loamweave : 10% chance to deal magnitude 240 damage to your attacker, and root them for 3s (1s for players), when you receive damage. Can only occur once every 5s.
- Thunderhead : 10% chance to deal 160 magnitude damage to that foe and enemies around you (20' radius), when you receive damage. This can only occur once every 10s.
For real, there’s no better enchantment than a low level Soulforged enchantment to start with. It will save you very often, from very bad situations. Bigby’s hand, permafrost… Your team didn’t help you, or you were somewhere you shouldn’t have been ? You resurrect. No need for a scroll. And rank 7 is almost as good as rank 14, no need to upgrade it. I absolutely love this enchantment. The only drawback is that sometimes you suffer from multiple stacks of Resurrection Disease and you cannot choose when you will get revived. So, it's fantastic, but not always super convenient.
Tanks are best with the Elven Battle enchantment when in end game trials (facing a single enemy that hits not too often), for stamina regeneration equals damage you can block, or extra HP as a Barbarian. In other content, they are best with a Negation enchantment (as long as it doesn't get nerfed... for it really does reduce damage by up to 40%, though you won't reach that number very often). Damage Dealers and Healers are best with the Barkshield enchantment to block damage if they are hit less often than once every 6 seconds (usually what happens in very end game trials if you're playing well enough). If they are hit more often than once every 8 seconds, the Shadowclad enchantment is pretty good. If you are hit more than once every 3s (mostly for solo), then the Negation enchantment is the best. Alternatively, the Bloodtheft enchantment is great on Damage Dealers for self healing. And the Soulforged enchantment is still awesome in most of the group content (especially when you're learning, a rank 7 is good enough). Damage enchantments are an option if you can survive well enough, in order to deal a bit more damage.
Weapon Enchantments
Stats are written for rank 14 enchantments (800 item level, no combined ratings = -0.8% in every stat... yes, that sucks !).
Resistance Debuffs :
- Bronzewood : you powers deal 8% more damage and targets are marked and take 6% more damage for the next 10s. Targets can only be marked every 20s.
- Dread : your powers deal 8% more damage and targets take 8 magnitude damage every second for 4s, and have their defense reduced by 4% (which means they take 2.74% more damage, up to 4% more damage depending on the amount of other debuffs you put on them).
- Frost : your powers deal 8% more damage and targets receive a 30% slow and a 4% Defense reduction (which means they take 2.74% more damage, up to 4% more damage depending on the amount of other debuffs you put on them) for 7.5s. Targets can only be affected once every 7.5s.
- Flaming : your powers deal 8% more damage and targets are affected by a damage over time which deals 24 magnitude damage every 1s for 3s, and they have their Deflect Severity reduced by 4% (which means they take between 0.74% and 1.96% more damage, depending on your Accuracy), both effects stack 3 times. If a target is affected by 3 stacks, an explosion occurs, which deals 60 magnitude damage around the target. The explosion can only occur once every 20s.
- Feytouched : your powers deal 8% more damage and daily powers decrease target damage dealt by 2% and reduce their Deflection by 2% (which means they take between 0.36% and 1% more damage, the higher your Accuracy, the more damage you deal) for 10s. This can only happen every 30s.
Damage Debuffs :
- Terror : your powers deal 8% more damage and your Daily Powers reduce your foes Combat Advantage by 4% for 10s, and have a 30% chance to root your target for 3s. This effect can only occur once every 20s.
Healing :
- Holy Avenger : your powers deal 8% more damage and have a 10% change to improve your allies' Defense by 3% which means between +3% and +1.6% effective HP, +2.1% at 45% Defense, the higher the Defense, the less effective it becomes) and heal them for 60 magnitude every second for 10s. This effect can only occur once every 15s (that means that if you use your powers once per second, it will proc once every 25s, which means the heal is equivalent to a 24 magnitude heal over time on average... But it won't heal anything when people are full life, and it may not proc when you need it), the cooldown is really the worst part of this enchantment.
- Prominence : your powers deal 8% more damage and generate a 20 magnitude shield which stacks 20 times and lasts 10s. When it reaches the maximum, stacks are converted to Prominent. Then, you deal 32 magnitude damage to enemies around you every 3s, for 12s (40' range), but you cannot gain new stacks until the effect ends.
- Lifedrinker : your powers deal 8% more damage and give you a 10% chance to gain 120 magnitude damage HP.
Damage :
- Vorpal : your powers deal 8% more damage and your Critical Strike and Critical Severity are increased by 4% (which means between 0.2% and 4.02% more damage depending on your Critical Stats, or between 0.1% and 2.57% better heals depending on your Critical Stats).
- Bilethorn : your powers deal 8% more damage and enemies take 60 magnitude damage after 4s. Furthermore, enemies have their movement speed reduced by 7%, stackable 3 times (up to 21%, lasts for 3s).
- Lightning : your powers deal 8% more damage and there's a 50% chance that up to 3 foes around the target take 60 magnitude damage.
- Plague Fire : your powers deal 8% more damage and targets are affected by a damage over time which deals 8 magnitude damage every 1s for 3s, and they have their Critical Avoidance reduced by 1.5%, both effects stack 3 times. If a target is affected by 3 stacks, an explosion occurs, which deals 120 magnitude damage around the target. The explosion can only occur once every 20s.
The best weapon enchantment for a Tank is the Bronzewood enchantment (it doesn't stack, so no need to have many of them in the group).
The best enchantment for a Healer is the No Enchantment = keep your 0.8% in all of your stats (FU Cryptic... In scaled content, if you have your healing stats at 50%, you're really better not having a Weapon Enchantment rather than a Vorpal one, and the maximum you can get from a rank 14 Vorpal compared to nothing is less than 1% better healing, assuming your stats are high in the first place, at the cost of all of your other stats)... A debuff enchantment to help your team is honestly the best option. The Vorpal enchantment (if you have high stats in the first place, and mostly for regular content) or Holy Avenger are still possible options, though the first one is clearly not as good as it was in the past and the second one is unreliable (but can make a real difference).
The best enchantment for a Damage Dealer is either a debuff enchantment (for group content, having different ones in the group is much better), or the Bilethorn enchantment (works for any content, though the delay doesn't help if you kill monsters in less than 4s). The Vorpal enchantment is still an option... but Flaming is probably a better option (if you cannot afford a Bilethorn, or you kill monsters too fast, in solo content)... Prominence or Lifedrinker are also good options if you need the damage mitigation (assuming the shield really stacks up, Prominence gives better returns than Lifedrinker... but the shield won't build while Prominent, so it deals damage but the mitigation won't always work... on the other hand, 10% chance from Lifedrinker is not that reliable in the first place...).
Best Enchantments
For a Tank
The best Offense enchantments are either Radiant or Tactical ones (depending on which of your Power or Combat Advantage is lower : improving both together gives the best returns). Tenebrous could help damage more, but are not very reliable in terms of aggro.
The best Defense enchantments are Assassin's, or Black Ice if your Awareness is capped. At low level, and in the lower item level scaled content, Radiant may make more of a difference though.
The best Utility enchantments are Dark enchantments, but Tactical enchantments can be an option (especially if your Defense is capped).
The best Armor enchantment is the Elven Battle enchantment when in end game trials (facing a single enemy that hits not too often), for stamina regeneration equals damage you can block, or extra HP as a Barbarian. In other content, the best is a Negation enchantment (as long as it doesn't get nerfed... for it really does reduce damage by up to 40%, though you won't reach that number very often).
The best Weapon enchantment is the Bronzewood enchantment (it doesn't stack, so no need to have many of them in the group). Or any other debuff enchantment, as long as people have different ones in the group.
For a Healer
The best Offense enchantments are Radiant. Demonic give the highest amount of useful stats, but due to Critical Stats being as they are for healing, and Demonic also reducing defensive stats, Outgoing Healing and Forte more than Radiant... Radiant are just better. But any enchantment boosting Critical Strike or Critical Severity (preferably the one with your lowest percentage) are good options if your Power is capped already.
The best Defense enchantments are Radiant if you have below 470k HP (that is at least in scaled content). Above 470k HP, Assassin's are the best, if you are ready to sacrifice a bit more of your offensive and utility stats. Above 650k HP, Tactical are better than Radiant and won't decrease offensive or utility stats as much as Assasssin's (though Assassin's offer better defensive stats). Azure are also an option at that point, if your Defense is below 45%.
The best Utility enchantments are Dark enchantments.
The best Armor enchantment is the Barkshield enchantment to block damage if you are hit less often than once every 6 seconds (usually what happens in very end game trials if you're playing well enough). If you are hit more often than once every 8 seconds, the Shadowclad enchantment is pretty good. If you are hit more than once every 3s (mostly for solo... though don't play as a Healer for solo content, unless you are a Paladin...), then the Negation enchantment is the best. And the Soulforged enchantment is still awesome in most of the group content (especially when you're learning, a rank 7 is good enough).
The best Weapon enchantment is the No Enchantment = keep your 0.8% in all of your stats (FU Cryptic... In scaled content, if you have your healing stats at 50%, you're really better not having a Weapon Enchantment rather than a Vorpal one, and the maximum you can get from a rank 14 Vorpal compared to nothing is less than 1% better healing, assuming your stats are high in the first place, at the cost of all of your other stats)... A debuff enchantment to help your team is honestly the best option. The Vorpal enchantment (if you have high stats in the first place, and mostly for regular content) or Holy Avenger are still possible options, though the first one is clearly not as good as it was in the past and the second one is unreliable (but can make a real difference).
For a Damage Dealer
The best Offense enchantments are 2 Tenebrous enchantments (with at least one of them at rank 15, and different ranks for the others : 2 rank 15 won't stack, but a rank 15 and a rank 14 will) and any of the triple stat enchantments (as long as you cap your most important offensive stats first, Assassin's being the best if none of your stats are capped). But the difference with single or double stats enchantments is pretty marginal... So Tactical or Radiant rank 9 can do the job well enough when you start the game, for you only really care about the TIL.
The best Defense enchantments are Radiant enchantments, if you have below 470k HP (that is at least in scaled content). Above 470k HP, Assassin's are the best, if you are ready to sacrifice a bit more of your offensive and utility stats. Above 650k HP, Tactical are better than Radiant and won't decrease offensive or utility stats as much as Assasssin's (though Assassin's offer better defensive stats). Azure are also an option at that point, if your Defense is below 45%.
The best Utility enchantments are definitely Dark enchantments.
The best Armor enchantment is the Barkshield enchantment, to block damage if you are hit less often than once every 6 seconds (usually what happens in very end game trials if you're playing well enough). If you are hit more often than once every 8 seconds, the Shadowclad enchantment is pretty good. If you are hit more than once every 3s (mostly for solo), then the Negation enchantment is the best. Alternatively, the Bloodtheft enchantment is great for self healing. And the Soulforged enchantment is still awesome in most of the group content (especially when you're learning, a rank 7 is good enough). Damage enchantments are an option if you can survive well enough, in order to deal a bit more damage.
The best Weapon enchantment is either a Debuff enchantment (for group content, having different ones in the group is much better), or the Bilethorn enchantment (works for any content, though the delay doesn't help if you kill monsters in less than 4s). The Vorpal enchantment is still an option... but Flaming is probably a better option (if you cannot afford a Bilethorn, or you kill monsters too fast, in solo content)... Prominence or Lifedrinker are also good options if you need the damage mitigation (assuming the shield really stacks up, Prominence gives better returns than Lifedrinker... but the shield won't build while Prominent, so it deals damage but the mitigation won't always work... on the other hand, 10% chance from Lifedrinker is not that reliable in the first place...).
How to upgrade enchantments ?
Wards
There are many ways to get wards :
- Free wards during events like the Summer or Winter Festival
- Free coalescent wards from Coffer of the Celestial Artifacts (invocation rewards, about 1 chance out of 30, so about 1 a year per character if you only invoke your god once a day on each of them)
- 100 Zen / 10 wards (never buy them at full price, wait for a sale or a 25% coupon from invoking your god)
- 1000 Zen / Coalescent ward (not worth it, unless there's a 50% sale on them, usually only for VIPs, : on average you need 77 regular wards to upgrade something with a 1% chance of success)
I advise buying character slots and invoking your god once a day on each of your characters for free Coalescent wards. These will be useful for upgrading your enchantments to the highest rank (especially your Weapon enchantment if you are a Damage Dealer, or your Armor enchantment if you are a Tank).
Never use a coalescent ward for anything but a 1% chance of success. And never buy Coalescent wards, even for a 1% chance of success : regular wards (from the Zen market, bought with coupons or during a sale) are much more cost efficient on the long run (the only exception is if you can buy a coalescent ward at -50%). There’s a 36% chance you will use more than 100 wards on a single upgrade, 9% chance you will use more than 1000 wards on 10 upgrades, 1% chance you will use more than 3000 wards on 30 upgrades. Unless you are very unlucky, buying regular wards will save you about 23% of the cost on the long run (compared to buying Coalescent wards). Of course, if you have a Coalescent Ward, use it. Here is the table for the details and average number of wards required for any upgrade.
Always use a ward when upgrading anything that requires rank 4 or higher marks of potency, or rank 5 or higher enchanting stones. Wards are cheaper than the materials you would lose if you failed (you never lose the item, only the materials to upgrade it).
Enchanting Stones
You can get plenty of enchanting stones from the Dread Ring campaign. Farm the campaign and exchange currency to get keys for the lairs. When a Double Refinement event comes, farm the Phantasmal Fortress (eastern lair) on a Thurday, Saturday, or Sunday (you only get enchanting stones on these days in this lair, and it’s the fastest lair to run. Other lairs loot enchanting stones on other days). Make sure to start after the time the events start, not at the daily reset (event reset is about 8h after daily reset). Dread Ring days are reset at the same time events are, so if you come on Saturday before the time events reset, you won’t get enchanting stones. You can get enchanting stones up to rank 5 with this method.
Enchanting stones rank 6 are found in higher end dungeons (T9G, CR, LoMM, CoDG, ToMM…). You can get them in both chests, and they are doubled during Double Refinement events. Cradle of the Death God (CoDG) is often run during this event : it can be done in less than 15 minutes with a proper group, but the mechanics are a bit hard to get. Just run whatever dungeon you like the most that drop them. You will eventually get plenty. Reroll tokens from VIP are great to use in these dungeons to get more of them.
You can also get them from time to time from lootboxes (you get a daily key with VIP).
Marks of Potency
Marks of Potency can be bought in the Wondrous Bazaar with Astral Diamonds. They are pretty expensive but VIP 12 reduces their price by 25%. Their price is reduced by 15% more (for a total 40% reduction) during Wondrous Bazaar sale events.
You can also get them from Sybella in Protector’s Enclave by completing her quests (and advancing Legacy Campaigns faster).
You can also get up to rank 5 Marks of Potency from the Gauntlet in the Dread Ring campaign.
And you can get them from time to time from lootboxes (you get a daily key with VIP).
DO NOT sell and buy the next upgrade !
You are only getting 90% of whatever you sell in the auction house. 10% go to fees. If you want to buy from the auction house, buy the highest rank you can afford, then upgrade them to the maximum rank yourself. You can sell rank 9 enchantments, but higher ranks cost a lot of auction house fees.