Scroll of enchant armour

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Scroll
Name	Scroll of enchant armour
Icon

A scroll that places an enchantment on a piece of armour chosen by the reader. Body armour and bardings can be enchanted up to the same value as their base armour rating. Bucklers, kite shields and tower shields can be enchanted up to +3, +5 or +8 respectively, and other armour can be enchanted up to +2. Magical artefacts cannot be enchanted at all.

Reading a scroll of enchant armour will immediately add +1 to the enchantment level of selected piece of armour in your inventory, increasing its AC or SH by 1.

Useful Info

These scrolls can affect any kind of armour, be it hats or helmets, gloves, cloaks, boots, shields, or body armour. However, scarves and orbs cannot be enchanted.

Artefacts cannot be enchanted by this scroll.

The enchantment cannot be increased once maximum enchant level (see below) is reached.

Maximum Enchantment Levels
Body armour	+(Armour's base AC)
Barding	+4
Shields	+3 for Bucklers, +5 for Kite shields, +8 for Tower shields
All other armour	+2

Strategy

When thinking about enchanting a piece of armour, bear these two things in mind:

1. How likely am I to replace this armour?

If you're wearing scale mail, and switch to a chain mail just 1 floor later, then the enchantment didn't really do much.

• In general, auxiliary slots and shields are less likely to be replaced than body armour. Items with an ego are even less likely to be replaced. For instance, a cloak of willpower is very difficult to beat. Body armours with a good ego (e.g. plate armour of fire resistance) can be good options to enchant as well.
• When comparing auxiliary slots, it's useful to consider the rarity of egos. Cloaks are the most likely to generate with an ego, such as poison resistance or willpower. In the order from least to most likely to have an ego: hats / helmets < boots < gloves < cloaks.
• It can be a strategy to spread enchantments out. Say you could have a +2 helmet and +0 cloak, or +1 helmet and +1 cloak. If you find a +2 helmet, or a +2 helmet of intelligence, then the latter arrangement would end up with a better result. (Note that you can also find a +1 cloak, though, in which case having a +2 helmet would be better)
• God choice can matter in this decision:
  • Followers of Okawaru will get an armour gift at 6*, which can change your equipment layout.
  • Followers of Gozag or Yredelemnul are unable to get dragon scales from dragons. For them, body armour (of a good ego) is harder to replace.

2. How much do I need help right now?

While it might be tempting to save these scrolls for an ideal set of dragon scales, you won't benefit from doing that for a long time. If your defenses are miserably low right now, then you're likely to die before getting any dragon scales at all. In contrast, having, say, a +8 plate armour {rPois} or +5 kite shield can really make a difference immediately.

• If you care about the early game at all, you should use these scrolls as soon as you find them (preferably when considering point #1).
• Scrolls of enchant armour can can help satisfy requirements for a trove. It's usually unwise to save your scrolls in anticipation for a trove, but keep it in mind.

History

• Prior to 0.19, scrolls of enchant armour would convert dragon hides into their respective dragon armours.
• Prior to 0.18, scrolls of enchant armour could remove curses on armour.
• Prior to 0.8, increasing the enchantment level could fail if it was already high.