If multiple items have the same enchantment, does the bonus stack?

Certain enchantments can be applied to multiple items, such as both an amulet and a ring. If I wear two items that grant the same bonus, does the bonus stack? (e.g. if I wear an amulet of +12% Alchemy and a ring of +12% Alchemy, do I get +24% to Alchemy?)

Also, do some enchantments stack while others don't?

6 Answers

Instances of Fortify X (Where X is "Conjuration, Smithing, One-handed, etc.") stack if they're from separate items.

You cannot use the "Double Enchantment" perk in the enchanting tree to double-enchant a single item with the same enchantment, twice.

Unlike in Oblivion, stacking skills above 100 actually increases their effectiveness.

6

I can confirm that +carry weight, fortify alteration/destruction, better prices, +health, and +mana all stack. I have boots and gloves of +37 (I think) carry weight, and they stack additively to 374 total (from 300 base), and stack with my Voldun mask which adds another 20. Fortify alteration/destruction are additive, so four 25% mana reduction enchants stack to 100%, or zero mana cost. Voldun mask reduces prices, then equipping the Amulet of Zenithar reduces prices again, though I haven't checked to confirm it's additive (i.e., it should be 20% + 15% [I think] is a 35% reduction, which is close, but I haven't confirmed it). +health and +mana stack additively.

I know +weapon skill enchants stack, but I haven't really played with them. I believe they stack additively, then the combined percent is compared to the weapon damage. So if you have an improved weapon with perks and stuff, and it's sitting at 50 damage at a skill level of 75, then you get four +20% weapon skill enchants, they would add to +80%, and 75 + (80% * 75) = 180% * 75 = 135. Then, your actual damage would be measured as though you had a weapon skill of 135. As far as I can tell, skills scale linearly, so your final damage would be 180% * 50 = 90 (if this is true, you can just calculate +weapon skill enchants as though they are +weapon damage enchants).

Smithing stacks, but it does not fortify your smithing level, only the upgrade value of armor or weapon.

It should stack, but I can confirm that this is very buggy for Pickpocketing >100. I have lvl 60 Pickpocket (Legendary). I had on a ring and gauntlets that should combine to a 50% increase. I went to pickpocket a large sum of gold from a sleeping person, and it showed as 0%. I had an unused perk, so I got the "Night Thief" perk (for the second time, of course). The probability to steal that same gold went to 17%. I switched to my boots for an extra 15% and instead of increasing it went down to a mere 14%. I tried taking off all the pickpocketing gear and the probability went up to 26%.

I'm not in the mood to try to figure out the math on this whole thing, but it's plain that the stacking thing is super buggy. Which is very frustrating. I probably wouldn't have gone legendary with it if I'd known it would screw me up

1

Smithing doesn't stack. I have 27 Smithing skill and have 4 items of 20% smith fortify each. No smith perks.

I could only upgrade items to Superior (required: 31 smithing).

By the math I should have 27 + 80 smith skill, enough to do Flawless upgrading, but I couldn't.

4

I'm not sure about smithing improvements to weapon damage but I have been experimenting with armor on the workbench. I have around 50 smithing and 4 items with improved smithing perks. +22 Amulet, +16 Fine clothes, +16 Ring, +16 braces. When improving Ebony armor, I first used all items together and drank a smithing potion which was supposed to improve an additional 51%. My Armor went from a 78 rating to 102 flawless. After going back to the previous save, I tried it again with only the Amulet, ring, and potion. I still got a 102 flawless armor rating. For me, that means there was no improvement with the other two items, but I didn't pay attention to whether there was a price difference or not. Perhaps once you reach a certain level of flawless, it doesn't matter if you're stacking items or not. If anybody has experience with this, I would appreciate the advice. I've been carrying around extra items for stacking skills but I now think a lot of them are a waste of energy.

1