Item Enchantment Alternatives

The Item Enchantment skill has two abilities: First, the ability to buff and debuff weapons, armor, and other objects, and second, the ability to use Planar Magic, a subset of of item enchantment dealing with portal spells.

Buffing

Armor

Item Enchantment can improve clothing, a shield, or a piece of armor with the following spells: Impenetrability, Blade Bane, Bludgeon Bane, Piercing Bane, Acid Bane, Flame Bane, Frost Bane, and Lightning Bane.

Alternatives:

Use Covenant Armor/Olthoi Armor. These types of loot generated armor cannot be enchanted or tinkered with Steel, and instead have a higher base a base armor level and may be tinkered with the salvaged materials which increase protections to the 7 types of damage: Alabaster, Bronze, Marble, Armoredillo Hide, Ceramic, Wool, and Reedshark Hide. Note that built-in enchantments on these two types of armor still enchant the piece, so pieces with built in Impenetrability and banes are the highly recommended.

Use certain quest sets and armor which fully buff themselves. Armor that self-buffs includes:
- Armor of Darkness
- Empowered Armor of the Perfect Light
- Hieromancer's Armor and the upgrades: Luminescent Thaumaturgic Armor and Auroric Exarch Armor
- Nanjou Shou-jen Armor
- Helm of the Abyssal Totem, Helm of the Black Totem, and the Helm of the White Totem
- Harbinger Arm Guard
- Empowered Empyrean Robe

Have a friend, Alternative Character, or Buff Bot buff your armor.

No Alternatives:

Without item enchantment, there is no way to self-buff your clothing.
Without item enchantment, there is no way to buff other players' clothing, shields, or armor.

Weapons

Item Enchantment can improve Weapons with the following spells: Blood Drinker, Heart Seeker, Defender, Swift Killer, Hermetic Link, and Spirit Drinker.

Alternatives:

Use Loot generated weapons that have built-in enchantments. Note that for melee and missile weapons, a swift killer enchantment is not always necessary as a tinker with Oak will improve the speed of a weapon by 50 points.

Use quest weapons that have built-in enchantments. This is a common feature on quest weapons. For a complete listing of available quest weapons, see Weapons.

Have a friend, Alternative Character, or Buff Bot buff your weapons.

No Alternatives:

Without item enchantment, there is no way to buff other players' weapons.

Locks

While seldom used, Item Enchantment has the ability to increase the resistance of a lock with the Strengthen Lock spell, making it harder to pick. There is no way to do this without Item Enchantment.

Debuffing

Armor

Item Enchantment can worsen clothing, a shield, or a piece of armor with the following spells: Brittlemail, Blade Lure, Bludgeon Lure, Piercing Lure, Acid Lure, Flame Lure, Frost Lure, and Lightning Lure. In actual combat however, players only have the ability to worsen a sheild being wielded by a creature or player.

Alternatives:

The Composite Bow, Crossbow, and Atlatl have the varying levels of Brittlemail as a Cast on Strike spell. This allows players with missile skills to target a creature wielding a shield and worsen its shield level. To do so however, the player must first land a hit, the cast on strike ability must activate, and the creature must not resist the spell.
Note that while the Rift Orb (Umbral Rift) has a built-in Brittlemail spell, the orb itself requires 350 Item Enchantment to activate, making this not an alternative to item enchantment.

No Alternatives:

Without item enchantment, there is no way to cast lure spells on a target's shield.

Weapons

Item Enchantment can worsen Weapons with the following spells: Blood Loather, Turn Blade, Lure Blade, Leaden Weapon, Hermetic Void, and Spirit Loather. There are no alternative methods to worsen weapons.

Locks

Item Enchantment has the ability to decrease the resistance of a lock with the Weaken Lock spell, making it easier to pick. There is no way to do this without Item Enchantment. However, you will find it easier to pick a lock by using a higher quality Lockpick, or by buffing your Lockpick, Coordination, and Focus.

Planar Magic

Item Enchantment contains the Planar Magic spells - what is commonly referred to as portal magic. This grants players the ability to tie to lifestones and portals, recall to the ties, summon their tied portals, and use a vast number of special quest recalls.

Alternatives:

The following table lists the alternatives to special quest recalls, if any exist:

Quest Recall Spell	Alternative
Aerlinthe Recall	None, use traditional routes
Bur Recall	None, use traditional routes
Call of Mhoire Forge	None, use traditional routes
Colosseum Recall	None, use traditional routes
Gear Knight Invasion Area Camp Recall	Give Merkitz ibn'Akadh in Xarabydun one Trade Note (250,000).
Glenden Wood Recall	Glenden Wood Recall Orb, Town Network
Lifestone Sending	/lifestone command
Mount Lethe Recall	None, use traditional routes
Paradox-touched Olthoi Infested Area Recall	None, use traditional routes
Portal Recall	Dansha-Ki's Gem of Portal Recall
Recall Aphus Lassel	Aphus Lassel Portal Gem, Town Network
Recall the Sanctuary	Invitation Ithanc Cathedral, Ithaenc Archipelago (Portal) via Master Statue of 'Freebooter Isle' Transport
Recall to the Singularity Caul	None, use traditional routes
Ulgrim's Recall	Whispering Blade Chapterhouse Recall Orb/Rossu Morta Chapterhouse Recall Orb to Ayan Baqur

While travel without planar magic is seen by some as too difficult, there are a variety of options available to everyone, including those with item enchantment, that make traversing Dereth a much easier experience:
- Use Portal Gems - items which when used summon a portal to a specific area.
- Use Recall Orbs - These are Magic Casters which have a built-in spell that teleports the user to a specific Location. Available Recall Orbs are: Glenden Wood Recall Orb, Whispering Blade Chapterhouse Recall Orb or Rossu Morta Chapterhouse Recall Orb, and the Teleportation Device.
  - Note that while the Scepter of the Portal Currents has a built-in recall spell to Candeth Keep, it requires a base item enchantment skill to wield, making this not an alternative to item enchantment.
- Use Portal Nexus Dungeons such as the Town Network, Desert March, and Direlands Subway.
- Use Portal Devices - housing items which teleport the user to a specific location. These may only be hooked on mansions, however most major allegiances will have them.
- Have a friend, Alternative Character, or Buff Bot summon portals for you.

No Alternatives:

Without item enchantment, there is no way to tie to portals or gain a secondary, non-attuned lifestone tie.
Without item enchantment, there is no way to summon portals to tied locations.