Skyrim:Waterbreathing (effect)

	Waterbreathing
School	Alteration
Type	Defensive
Alchemy
ID	0003ac2d
Base Cost	30
Base Mag	0
Base Dur	5
Enchanting
ID	00092a48
Base Cost	100
Items	Head, Neck, Finger
Availability (Click on any item for details)
Apparel Built-In Potions

Alchemy description: Can breathe underwater for <dur> seconds.
Enchanting description: Can swim underwater without drowning.
Waterbreathing gives the target the ability to breathe underwater for the duration of the effect. Argonians naturally possess this ability.

Alchemy

The following alchemy ingredients can be used to create a potion of Waterbreathing:

• Angelfish^CC
• Angler Larvae^CC
• Chicken's Egg
• Fungus Stalk^CC (1.6×,1.67×)
• Goldfish^CC
• Hackle-Lo Leaf^CC (1.6×,1.67×)
• Hawk's Egg^HF
• Histcarp
• Luminous Russula^CC (1.6×,1.67×)
• Nordic Barnacle
• Red Kelp Gas Bladder^CC (1.6×,1.67×)
• Salmon Roe^HF (12×,15.4×)
• Scalon Fin^CC (1.6×,1.67×) (1st effect)
• Scrib Jerky^CC (1.6×,1.67×)

Enchanting

The following items use this effect. You can learn how to enchant custom items with Waterbreathing if you find one of the following items and disenchant it:

• A necklace and all varieties of helmets of Waterbreathing
• Circlet of Waterbreathing^DG

Artifacts and unique items that use the effect but cannot be disenchanted include:

• Deathbrand Helm^DB
• Volsung

There is no difference in effect strength or item cost resulting from using stronger or weaker souls to enchant an item with Waterbreathing. A petty soul will yield the same result as grand. This makes the Waterbreathing enchantment an extremely profitable enchantment for those looking to earn money in Skyrim. Cheap items of jewelry can be converted into valuable artifacts simply by applying the Waterbreathing enchantment using a petty soul gem.

This enchantment can be applied to rings, amulets, circlets and helmets.

The probability of finding a disenchantable item of Waterbreathing is extremely low. Because it is a "fixed" effect that does not scale with your level, the probability of finding one is further reduced as your character advances in level. This is due to the fact that items with "more valuable" enchantments are given increasingly dominant odds. Furthermore, in the base version of the game, there are no guaranteed locations for disenchantable items of Waterbreathing; it can only be found via merchants or random loot.

• Add-ons add two guaranteed disenchantable items:
  • A Circlet of Waterbreathing is held by one of the frozen Falmer located in the Inner Sanctum towards the end of the Dawnguard main questline.
  • An Ebony Helmet of Waterbreathing is worn by the Ebony Warrior, who can be encountered at level 80 after installing Dragonborn.
• You can use the Atronach Forge to obtain a random enchanted piece of Daedric armor, which has an equal chance of being a Daedric Helmet of Waterbreathing as any other Daedric armor. Since it is random, make sure to save before activating the forge if you want to get that specific item. Your chances of getting the helmet on any given attempt with this method are about 1%, regardless of your level.

Spells

• Waterbreathing: Waterbreathing (0001ea73; WaterbreathingFFSelf)
• Orum's Aquatic Escape^CC: Orum's Aquatic Escape (FExxx848; ccBGSSSE014_OrumsAquaticEscape_InvisibillityFFSelf)

Notes

• Even if you can breathe underwater, you will still take a deep breath when you surface.
• Argonians have a natural ability to breathe underwater for an unlimited amount of time without any enchanted gear, spells or potions.
• Waterbreathing is one of two enchantments that do not increase in power with increased Enchanting skill or perks. The other is Muffle. Whether you have a 15 or 100 Enchanting skill or use a Petty or Grand/Black Soul Gem, the enchantment's power will always be the same. It also does not increase in power if you drink a Fortify Restoration potion before equipping an item with the enchantment.
• If you used the Fortify Restoration glitch to create super-powered Fortify Alchemy apparel, you can create incredibly long-lasting potions with Salmon Roe and another Waterbreathing Alchemy ingredient, exceeding 1,500 seconds of time you can be underwater without drowning.
• Built-in potions (those that can be found or bought in the game world) max out at 60 seconds of waterbreathing time; the shortest possible length is 15 seconds, offered by the base-strength potion. If you plan on deep diving (such as the boats found at Pilgrim's Trench, or harvesting lots of clams and barnacles off the northern coasts), an enchanted item might serve you better than potions, unless you utilize the glitch mentioned in the previous note.

Bugs

• Even though Argonians have Waterbreathing as a constant effect, they still take a breath after surfacing from water.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.0, fixes this bug.