alright, so I understand that if I have a sword of absorb health and 100% destruction reduction equipment on that I won't have to recharge the sword...

but what if I have a bow of paralyze and fire, will that weapon need charging as half of it is alteration?

thanks

I never knew that. You're saying that items that reduce the magicka cost for destruction spells also reduce the charge expenditure on weapons (with destruction effects)? Is this confirmed (no disrespect intended)?

No, that's not right. The two are independent from each other. When a weapon is enchanted it has a finite number of charges that deplete with each hit. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything else.

no, you're not right

I have two swords of absorb health and shock also a full set of destruction reduced armor (to 100%) neither sword ever requires charging and still absorbs health and shocks

Whatever. Then the game works like that for you and none of the other 7 million+ or so people who bought it. Congratulations.

I've heard some people say that a higher skill in the corresponding school will use the charges more slowly, but I've not found this to be true. I've never tested Fortify [school] enchantments.

give it a try, whatever school the enchantment corresponds to is what your reduction needs to be. Also my destruction skill is only 25, so I know it's the apperal as I removed te helm (providing 25%) and they started losing charge after attacking ... put it back on no more lost charge

Verifying that this feature does work, I have an Archmage with high destruction (75) that has used a weapon without needing to recharge if she wears Master Destruction Robes (+25), does not work with the standard Archmage Robes.

I was able to answer my own question, for those interested here is what I found:

when you place two enchantments on a weapon it takes on the physical characteristics of the strongest enchantment. For example, of I enchant a dagger with paralyze and frost the dagger will be green an it's energy based in alteration.

now let's say I place frost and fear, it will be blue and it's energy based in destruction.

what this means is that whatever the strongest enchantment is, that is what magic school it is controlled by. If I use the dagger with paralyze and frost with complete alteration cost reduction gear, the dagger never loses any charge ... however if I have all destruction reduction instead for the same dagger it will lose charge.

if you doubt this, test it out ... I know I'm enjoying never having to recharge my absorb health/shock twin swords.

Thank you so much for those informations. I'll try it.

Mother of Talos this information is wonderfully useful Infinite enchanted weapons FTW

Very odd but nice to never have to recharge.

Very nice, thanks!
I'll be enchanting a few rings/necklaces/circlets later so I can mix and match.....

glad I could help, I honestly thought many knew this. I don't use exploits very often, but I hated having to constantly recharge my weapons

I hate recharging too, which is why I stopped using enchanted weapons. But this. This is a very nice "glitch" to find out about.

This is basically how the Enchant skill (now Enchanting) worked in Morrowind. The higher your skill level got in Enchant, the fewer charges enchanted items used. This is all items btw, in Morrowind you could "use" items for spell casting, not just enchanted into weapons for extra damage.

The Enchanting skill in Skyrim is mainly a crafting skill so higher skill levels don't directly affect usage costs for magical weapons but rely instead on cost reductions due to magical armor and items. Wish they'd gone full in with restoring the skill Enchant(ing) to the way it used to work as it's only half way there as it stands now for me.

maybe this should be on the wiki - I don't contribute but seems like its new info to many.

thought I'd keep this alive a couple of days for those it's news to. I love using enchanted weapons now that I don't have to keep charging them

Fixed

Added your findings to UESP wiki. More people should know this! This was my second edit. My first edit was adding info about Mammoths having 33% Frost Resistance.

cool, thanks! I have really enjoyed it ... I hated recharging

I'm appreciative for the new info, too.

So, do I have to recharge less when wearing partial "destruction cost reduction" equipment? I mean, I'd probably never notice the difference, and I don't invest in a full (100%) "destruction cost reduction" equipment, but am I reaping any benefit from the one item I enchant with the destruction cost reduction enchantment?

Thanks.

That is correct. You will not have to recharge as often if you have destruction cost reduction.

This information inspired me to enchant and carry around a longbow with 81 fire damage + 81 cold damage. It's light, and I don't have any archery skill to speak of, and it still does 162 damage. It's a great trolling longbow. I also enchanted a dagger with 34 absorb health and 54 fire damage. Absorb health is really quite useful in melee fight, especially if you don't wear armor. Destruction + enchanting is pretty fun combination.

Thank you.