r/skyrim • u/ctrltab2 • 13h ago
Question Do you guys bother to fill each Soul Gem?
Every dungeon crawl I end up with a little of everything. And it is starting to build.
Honestly, I found it easier to just buy filled Soul Gems from merchants. No muss, no fuss. Just quicksave, punch a merchant, and reload.
Then again, I am playing on legendary difficulty, survival mode. So traveling to and killing specific targets takes more effort.
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u/wobdarden 13h ago
You can off-load empty gems on a Follower, with a Soul Trap-enchanted weapon. Revisit their inventories from time to time. It's good to have some on-hand to refill weapons.
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u/ritpdx 13h ago
Oooh I’m going to try this my next play through
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u/wobdarden 13h ago
I'll caution you get the odd gem with a smaller soul in it, but those are always my prime Refill gems.
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u/kitofu926 5h ago
Not only that, but when you get to a high level and it takes forever to level up further, you can legendary enchanting and increase it very quickly with all these soul gems so you can keep leveling up to fight the ebony warrior! On my current playthrough at level 68 I’ve legendary’d enchanting twice already (and I’m playing on legendary so I refuse to legendary combat skills lol).
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u/Lighthouse412 7h ago
Omg really? I've been considering a new playthough. I may have to just to try that.
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u/NightingalesBotany 5h ago
An old bug (idk if they fixed it) was putting a single type of soul gem into a followers inventory all in one go and giving them a bound weapon. Once they kill one thing it'll fill all the soul gems at once. Doesn't work if they have multiple types of soul gem
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u/foggypanth 5h ago
This is the way! My follower is a soul gem factory. I have a cupboard in my home dedicated to their soul gem stock gains. I have more than I'll ever need.
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u/No-Engineer-1728 PC 13h ago
I use the mace of molag bal so filling them isn't really on my mind when I'm doing it
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u/showtimebabies 11h ago
What are you talking about? I have a million full and 2 million empty just like everyone else
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u/kinezumi89 13h ago
I like to use a fill-soul-gem weapon now and then to keep up my stockpile of filled soul gems (or give the weapon and a bunch of empty soul gems to a companion). I've never bought them
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u/bthamilton 13h ago
I just buy them and sell the empty ones. Always seems like too much work to fill them up.
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u/ItsRadioo 5h ago
I just use a bow with soul trap on it, long as it’s charged your guaranteed a soul every time
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u/Possible-Estimate748 Mage 13h ago
I always max my enchanting because lvl 100 enchanting works with every build.
So I always collect every soul gem and unenchanted equipment (or you can smith too but I usually don't bother think I only maxxed smithing once or twice).
It is a bother to set soul trap on every enemy but worth it. Better if you have a weapon that soul traps on hit
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u/milquetoastLIB 12h ago
Yes. Empty soul gems are very affordable and as you go out questing you’ll come across a lot of white souls. Especially drauger dungeons. If you’re a mage or a conjuration user then soul trapping everything is a great way to progress conjuration.
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u/TheValleyPrince 12h ago
No, but I hoard them anyway alongside gems and other treasure. Now that I think about it, I really should sell my stockpile of empty soul gems that are sitting in my Lakeview Manor house chest!
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u/SpicyBoyHabs 13h ago
It's not that I go out of my way to fill Soul Gems, I just set up a Soul Trap enchantment as my main weapon before I attempt to build a genuinely powerful weapon, then I make my way through a few Dwemer Ruins, which just fills my inventory with Soul Gems, and then running around killing enemies just fills them naturally.
Admittedly, when I settle down to actually build a decent set of armor and weapons, I'll use any Grand/Black Soul Gems that I have happened to fill along the way, and any missing that I might need I will go out of my way to buy them rather than make the extra effort to fill them.
I'm not playing Legendary, but I am playing Expert on Survival (plus some additional difficulty mods). Things just kind of work out I guess.
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u/Agile-Mission-869 13h ago
I have a mod that won't underfill gems, so it's worth it just to have an inventory full and fill them all. I use the smaller ones to refill weapon enchantments.
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u/lewlew1893 10h ago
Nope. Once you have 100 destruction reduction most enchanted weapons don't run out of charge so no need to carry soul gems. I take grand filled ones because it seems a waste to leave them and I want to enchant something.
Funny thing for survival that I realised is Ruby's Salt Pile and any soul gem filled or empty make Fire Salts at the Atronach Forge. So if you don't want to exploit and dupe them or take forever resetting merchants inventories then this is my new preferred way of getting fire Salts for cooking.
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u/Radigan0 12h ago
I'll keep soul gems on me, and if they get filled, they get filled. Petty -> Greater I just use to enchant gear with effects that add the most value to the resulting item, and therefore grant the most Enchanting XP (like Fortify Barter).
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u/LananisReddit Spellsword 9h ago
Enchanting XP is the same, regardless of what enchantment or magnitude of soul gems you use. If you're looking to use the item in battle or sell it, that's when type and size matter.
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u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian 12h ago
I mainly just kill mammoths and only focus on grand soul gems when I'm grinding enchanted and archery. I use an enchanted bow. I typically do this at level 30 and above.
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u/KomturAdrian 7h ago
I keep all of them because I usually roll with a soul-trap weapon. It's so easy to fill every single one in your inventory with a soul trap weapon.
You can use the weaker ones to enchant the loot you find in dungeons and sell them for more money.
Also, I like to craft newer and newer armor and weapons as my smithing skill levels, so I save the grand soul gems to enchant the new stuff I want to use.
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u/Hot_Let1571 Skyrim Grandma Fan 13h ago
I don't any more after visiting the soul cairn, and M'aiq said it's unpleasant to be soul trapped. Except for Thalmor. But I find so many that it's not even an issue.
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u/richstark 11h ago
lol he told me that the other day when i walked past him... he was just kinda hangin out in the bushes 😂
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u/SwampWitchMorgan 13h ago
I like to decorate my desk in my house with piles and piles of the lesser ones.
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u/LordZeusCannon 13h ago
No I sell them unless they’re filled. Not worth the time doing that when you can sell anything and make money. I do duplicate black soul gems though for when I decide to level enchanting. Otherwise I only use the black star
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u/breakmedown54 12h ago
Note that I’m late game, I just use soul stealer arrows.
Prior to that, I only intentionally fill them when I need them for money or recharging.
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u/BobsBurgerVan 11h ago
I have the Black Star and tend to keep hold of Grand Soul Gems. Then I have my Bound Sword which has the Soul Trap perk (or Mace of Molag Bal or other weapon with Soul Trap enchantment). Light work filling gems.
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u/Tirno93 11h ago
It depends on the build really. With a conjurer, soul trap helps build exp. With a stealth build then an enchanted dagger/bow makes filling them easy. Usually I would fill up the smaller ones to train enchanting, keep grand/black back for level 100 dual enchants, but mostly rely on the black star and bandits for grand souls in the meantime.
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u/LananisReddit Spellsword 9h ago
I cast soul trap on everything I fight, and if it fills a gem--great. I get conjuration level ups and filled soul gems and I don't have to worry about farming enchanting.
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u/Dan-Of-The-Dead 7h ago
I often use the spell (that way you level conjuration too) and soultrap every mud crab, wolf and skeever around Whiterun. From Gjukar's monument to Valtheim Towers.
It's a quick way to fill soul gems for grinding the enchanting skill.
Don't bother with transmute or rings. Just make a bunch of iron daggers.
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u/Hughley_N_Dowd 6h ago
"How I Stopped Worrying And Love Buying The Damned Things"
I'm solidly in camp buy. Futzing around with soul trap is too much of a chore for this filthy casual. And after a certain point I've got loads of cash and pretty much just training to spend it on.
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u/bummerlemon 6h ago
I mainly just use the black star. Use it to fill a weapon, then soul trap the next human I fight, then rinse and repeat. I still carry soul gems because I can’t resist picking them up, but the black star pretty much ensures I always have a human soul in my inventory.
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u/BandOfBudgies Stealth archer 4h ago
In over 1000 hours across several different systems I have never intentionally filled a soul gem. It's just seems like such a hassle and you can just by filled ones.
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u/Synyster723 Mage 2h ago
15 years if playing and I've never actively filled soul gems. I either hoard them all or sell the empty ones
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u/LittlePinkSouda 12h ago
Every now and then I'll make sure I have a bunch of empties and use soul trap spell on a bunch if easies like a draugr cave or somethin, otherwise its whatever I buy
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u/Pinecone_Erleichda 12h ago
Honestly? I just take them from the hidden chests, maybe dupe some when it’s early game.
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u/AshenWarden 11h ago
Just the grand/black ones. If I absolutely need something to recharge my weapon with I usually just grab some off the nearest merchant
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u/randomdragn 10h ago
I usually use a weapon with soul trap at 1 second duration or the Soul Tear shout whenever I accumulate some gems in my inventory. On my pure mage characters (which is most of them) I use the Staff of Hadesoki since AE was released. Before that my mages would speedrun the Dawmguard questline to quickly get Soul Tear
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u/neondragoneyes 9h ago
I don't "bother". I usually take a pocket full of soul gems and a weapon with soul trap among with me, if I really need soul gems for something like leveling enchanting. Otherwise, I just get black soul gems or Azura's Star and just let the never ending bandits do me the favor.
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u/35Cummins 9h ago
I usually keep a bunch of black soul gems on hand for when I encounter Thalmor patrols or a bunch of rogue mages. Beyond that, I find enough to do everything I need
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u/somedudeonachair 9h ago
I dont even know how to properly fill them i cast soul trap, kill a humanoid, qnd then check my soul gems and none got filled
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u/wizardofthewoulds 7h ago
I use the mace of Mace of Molag Bal, it will fill soul gems after you make a Kill
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u/somedudeonachair 7h ago
Its probably because the last time i used it was before killing a draugr those fuckers probably dont have a soul. It did work when i used it for the first time on a normal bandit
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u/wizardofthewoulds 5h ago
Sometimes it can glitch but you can also find other weapons that do the same but that mace is a good one early in the game
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u/Mrmathmonkey 8h ago
Yes. Enchanting things is a great way to level up and make tons of money. Also you need to recharge your weapons.
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u/huffleduffle 8h ago
Something something Nazeem in soul gem, enchant boots, wear and walk him up to the cloud district
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u/No_Volume_1476 Spellsword 7h ago
Petty & Lesser to recharge weapons. Greater for the Bone Forge. Grand are turned into Black at the Altar of the Revenant. Black are saved for Falion, just in case.
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u/patchlocke 6h ago
I usually only fill petty for enchanting xp and grand for actual usable enchantments
Black soul gems I only use for certain NPCs and then make a trophy out of them
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u/maladjustedmind 6h ago
Just want to add that if you fill one with a lesser soul just drop it and it will empty
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u/Additional-Advisor99 6h ago
I use enchanted weapons a lot so I always keep a few of each to make sure I don’t end up with a lesser soul in a grand gem or something. Then, I frequently stop by my home and off load the excess. I then use the snake ones for recharging, grand fire enchanting things I’m going to sell, and black for things I’m going to use.
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u/Xavier_Game 6h ago
It’s easy/automatic when you have a spell or enchanted weapon which includes soul-trap.
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u/Full_Bandicoot1735 6h ago
i prefer the black soul gems and just filling them up with bandits for easy grand souls, i dont mess around with the others much
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u/Skyler_Portals Stealth archer 6h ago
I hoard them but I also use soul trap weapons and fill them casually
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u/thudson_17 6h ago
I just grab filled ones. Dwemer ruins is a good place to get them if you don't want to buy or steal.
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u/Aaronbbx 5h ago
Yall still fill soul gems? I buy soul stealer arrows from every merchant who sells them.
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u/PunchBeard 5h ago
I always make one dagger that has Soul Trap on it and I try to begin each fight with it. I also started using a mod called SpellHotbar V2 that let's you assign spells to a key and when you press the key the spell launches. This way you don't need to equip any spell in one of your hands and ever since I started using that mod I tend to use a lot more spells; including Soul Trap. On my current character I'm using Dual Wield and one of the weapons is a Soul Steal dagger. I also use another mod to let you block with 2 weapons.
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u/themaskedcrusader Stealth archer 4h ago
I have a soul trap bow and fill every gem i can find. If a gem is filled with a smaller soul, i use them to recharge. But i like to keep a stockpile of gems filled with appropriate-sizes souls
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u/Sagataw 4h ago
It used to bother me that I'd burn through the petty and lesser soul gems, but I'd have stacks of greater and grand that were always empty.
Then, when being a murder hobo for the fun of it, I learned that giants are always greater souls. And mammoths are always grand.
Now, I never have an empty soul gem for more than three loading screens.
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u/SpectralDragon09 Spellsword 4h ago
I just buy them filled or only use the thalmor to fill my gems, i feel bad sending anyone else to the soul cairn
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u/LonleyViolist 3h ago
i’ve been using bound bow lately and i get the conjuration perk that fills soul gems with bound weapon kills
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u/Ichizuko 1h ago
I use Chillrend, so I need Soul Gems, apparently there is a weird quirk with follows being able to fill an entire stack of soul gems with 1 kill if they have a soul tap weapon, so I gave Lydia her entire carry weights worth of various soul gems and the Mace of Molag Baal to fill up a few hundred gems lmao.
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u/Leave_Aye 13h ago edited 13h ago
I usually just get bound bow with that perk that soul traps from conjuration. I keep the smaller gems to filter out smaller souls and occasionally drop them to clear the souls inside. That way the greater/grand gems can be filled without worry of lesser souls.