Forums » Elder Scrolls

Most Underused Spells

    • 6 posts
    May 10, 2015 11:14 AM EDT

    Well I don't know if I do it correctly but for me it goes like this:

    Conjuration: I don't use conjuration at all. In my mind I find it disturbing that you put up a wall of bodies/atronachs and you stay behind them casting your spells from a safe distance it almost negates the need for flesh spells,wards and healing (minus Soul Trap).

    Illusion:I don't use illusion because I find it overpowered. You can dual cast Frenzy followed by Invisibility and be done with almost every opponent in skyrim. With 100 in illusion the game loses it's meaning you're a walking god among people. Some like this and I can respect that but not for me.

    Alteration: I only use flesh spells and that's because I try to get the +30 magic resist. I also use them when I really need i.e. against bandits with weapons and not just any enemy just to increase it. I've used waterbreathing some times but that was like 5-6 times in a whole playthrough. I find alteration a bit useless but it adds a nice roleplaying effect in my character and the alteration tree itself is kinda nice.

    Restoration: Anything that has the word "undead" in it is off of my list. Same goes for wards. Fast healing however is always in my favorites list.

    Destruction: My absolutely favorite school of magic (oooh how original!). I use the novice,apprentice,adept and depending if I use shock or fire spells (I never combine two elements in my mages and I've never used frost) master spells except from runes. I only use  what I'm given in the college for equipment so I don't go for the 100% magica cost reduction. The expert spells are only a bit more damaging than their apprentice counterparts but cost a lot more so in terms of dps apprentice spells deal more damage. I never had a taste for runes though and unfortunately I don't own the Dragonborn DLC to see for myself all the cool new spells.

    I know that anyone who'll read this will disagree with me but trust me I have a lot more fun with depriving myself from going overpowered and following some sort of roleplaying path. I don't exactly roleplay but I try to keep it as lore friendly and realistic as I can that's why I use an altmer for a mage and never finish the main quest with. I actually don't even start it so I can't shout and don't become the dragonborn.

    • 19 posts
    May 10, 2015 12:25 PM EDT

    Personally, the spells I use the least are:

    Conjuration: Bound Battleaxe, Flaming Familiar, Soul Trap 

    Illusion: Fear & Courage spells

    Destruction: Walls & Runes, Freeze, Ignite, Whirlwind Cloak, Arniel's Convection

    Restoration: Wards

    Alteration: Transmute, Ash Shell, Ash Rune, Mass Paralysis, Equilibrium

    • 237 posts
    May 11, 2015 1:06 AM EDT

    Someone do something!

    ......

    Somebody help!

    ......

    A fight!

    • 95 posts
    May 11, 2015 12:10 PM EDT
    Destruction: Runes, walls, cloaks (maybe ww cloak)
    Illusion: I use only invisibility if My character is that type but nothing else.
    Alteration: only the armor spells, I rather use this school for good passives like stability or resistance.
    Restoration: I use all of them if I go for it heavily, e.g an undead killer paladin or something like that, othervise just healings and wards.
    Conjuration: I use all.

    Reason:the ones that I do not use, i find them either completely useless (e.g. Walls and Runes - Or I use them incorrectly, but they do very small damage and are not affected by perks/potions), or i find them boring/game-breakingly powerful like paralyse, fear, calm and fury spells.
    • 125 posts
    May 11, 2015 1:42 PM EDT

    I rarely ever use the "Transmute Iron Ore" spell, or pretty much all the Alteration and Illusion spells.  I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot, but I'm fairly comfortable with my swords and arrows already. No real need to pursue a lot of magic.

  • Tom
    • 624 posts
    May 11, 2015 4:06 PM EDT

    I'm 100% certain they threw transmute into the game at such an early level and a minute from Whiterun just for mage characters. Spellbooks are freaking expensive, and you need that gold in early game to afford all your spellbooks. Mages are far more reliant on enchanted gear as well, even more so at lower levels, which again costs a ton.

    • 4 posts
    May 11, 2015 8:01 PM EDT
    • 1467 posts
    May 11, 2015 8:57 PM EDT

    Yessir that's the tag, stolen as the Tag says

    • 22 posts
    May 13, 2015 11:45 PM EDT
    I really hope Bethesda reads this post.

    Now, I only play in expert or master difficulty. So spells must be effective in that gameplay for me.


    Destruction: runes are useless. All of them. Too costly and not powerful enough. Fire storm and blizzard are also kind useless. Mostly because of the master spell Casting animation.

    Conjuration: banish expel daedra are good spells but useless in the game. Familiar is also useless

    Restoration: the master spells aren't just worth it. The guardian circle has a nice regeneration effect but by the time you acquire master restoration your level is so high that it won't affect the high level undead which actually scares you. Other repel undead and circle of protection aren't so bad but problem is that you don't normally find yourself surrounded by more than 3 or 4 undead that you can't handle. Ward spells are very useful.

    Alteration: paralyse is very good and useful. Dragonskin flesh isn't long enough. The spell lasts not much longer than the time it takes to cast it. Transmute is totally useless. Telekinesis is awesome, but almost no situations where you can actually use it. The only one I know of is in mzulft where you can use it to grab a key to enter a room where you find an alteration skill book.

    Illusion: all courage spells. A great concept but useless in the game as you rarely , almost never find yourself in a situation with more than a couple of melee allies that would take advantage of it. I really wish I could use it more often. In illusion school I actually
    Belive there is a lack of spells.


    Also all spells added by dragonborn dlc are crap.
    • 22 posts
    May 13, 2015 11:49 PM EDT
    You probably don't play in master or legendary.
    • 22 posts
    May 13, 2015 11:56 PM EDT
    One other possibility would be. Use turn undead to push all undead to one corner and blast them with aoe thus making your destruction more cost effective.
    • 237 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:11 AM EDT
    Uh oh, don't say that about familiars too loud! You don't want Alastor to hear :p

    I disagree about Dragonborn spells btw. Those ash spells <3
    • 22 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:26 AM EDT
    I personally hate almost everything about the dragonborn dlc. It's quite hard to get things and when you do it just doesn't seem worth for the stage you are now in game.
    • 485 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:28 AM EDT

    Illusion catches so much flak from people despite being such a high maintenance, high cost school of magic. 

    • 627 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:29 AM EDT

    Summon ash spawn gives you more experience than most of the other summon/conjure spells.

    • 22 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:32 AM EDT
    Only costs a lot if you are using it secondarily.
    • 367 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:34 AM EDT

    How can you say that the Familiar is useless? He howls... Howls. And on top of that he looks cool. Mix him with his girl,  (Flaming Familiar) then things realy heat up.

    • 627 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:42 AM EDT

    Or combine him with an ash rune to get an impenetrable shield 

    • 367 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:43 AM EDT

    Yea that too and he howls...

    • 237 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:44 AM EDT

    If all you want is Conjuration power leveling, Bound Sword or Soul Trap are the better options to go with.

    • 627 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:48 AM EDT

    Yeah for power leveling, but if you want it to increase fast organically and your character isn't a necromancer then spawns are a good choice. And my comment was more pointing out that they are better than the vanilla summons in that regard 

    • 627 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:48 AM EDT

    How could I forget that 

    • 237 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:51 AM EDT

    Transmuting is one of the best ways to make money!  You can sell gold ore directly to Pavo at Kolskeggr to bypass bartering price adjustment.  And there are plenty of iron mines you can fast travel between to minimize exposure to scary things that want to eat your low-level wizard.

    • 1467 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:52 AM EDT

    And Bound Dagger is great for any melee warrior who uses Daggers. Best in the game because of that glitch which gives it the normal Dual Wield Power Attack

    • 1467 posts
    May 14, 2015 12:53 AM EDT