The scroll of enchant armor allows you to raise the enchantment on armor which you are wearing. The scroll chooses at random which armor receives the enhancement. Thus, before reading the scroll, most players normally remove all of their armor except for the piece that they want to enchant.
An uncursed scroll normally raises enchantment by 1 (for example, changing a +0 iron helm into a +1 iron helm), while a blessed scroll can sometimes raise enchantment by 2 or 3. For example, a blessed scroll might raise a +0 iron helm to +1, +2, or +3, and it might raise a +3 iron helm to +4 or +5. However, to avoid vaporising your armor, do not overenchant it. Armor currently at +3 or below is safe to enchant; if you try to enchant armor currently at +4 or more, you might vaporise the armor instead of enchanting it. For some elven armor, the boundary is between +5 and +6. In practice, this means that players with enough scrolls of enchant armor will enchant up to +4 (or +5 if a blessed scroll enchants from +3 to +5). If the message received when enchanting indicates that the item glows for 'a moment', it has received only an enhancement of +1, whilst an increase of 2 or more is signified by glowing for 'a while'.
- If you have plenty of extra armor and scrolls of enchant armor, perhaps you could enchant an second pair of speed boots to +5, then try for +6 and fall back on your first +5 pair if it fails. That is wasteful though; why not just buy more protection from a priest? If you want to enchant a second pair of boots, maybe they could be a +5 pair of water-walking boots.
To make fixed (or rustproof, fireproof, ...) armor instead of enchanting it, read the scroll while confused. This action also heals existing damage, so it is a good idea to do this for burnt, corroded, rotted, or rusty armor.
A cursed scroll of enchant armor will actually harm your armor (decrease its enhancement bonus). This is useful if you just have to have that +5 armor but don't want to risk vaporization.
A scroll of enchant armor may also change the BUC status of your armor. A cursed or blessed scroll will cause the armor it affects to become cursed or blessed respectively. An uncursed scroll will uncurse cursed armor, but have no effect on blessed or uncursed armor.
Reading a scroll of enchant armor while confused will make a random piece of armor rustproof or fireproof as suits its type, as well as repair any damage dealt to it. A cursed scroll of destroy armor will do the same, though it will not repair any damage.