Enchanting is a skill with two uses:
- It determines the odds of success when attaching a gem to a socketable item. When attaching a gem to an item, unless there is a 100% chance of success, there is a chance the gem is destroyed. You get nothing for destroyed gems, but the item you were attempting to add it is not harmed and no socket is used. The odds of success go down if the item already has a stat bonus that is the same type as the gem you are attaching. The higher the bonus, the lower your chance of success. For example, an item with three 2% gems has a greater success rate than an item that has a single 10% gem when adding same type gems.
- It determines the odds of getting a gem when disenchanting an item. Only one gem can be obtained from an item regardless of how many stat bonuses it has. Only stat bonuses can become gems. Furthermore, you may get a gem with a lower stat bonus that the original item had. The odds of this are unknown, but are likely related to your enchanting skill. The odds of getting a gem at 1000 enchanting are about 42.1%.
Enchanting can be trained in three ways:
- Attach gems to socketable items (expensive)
- Using a disenchanter on items (cheaper).
- Drinking a potion of training (good luck!; they are very rare, and the skill they train is random).