I'm currently playing a mage character, and I'm thinking of investing perks in Conjuration, but will it be of any use in high levels? Or will my summons become useless at high levels? I have already enchanted the possible equipments with Fortify Destruction and Fortify Restoration so I have no space for Fortify Conjuration to make the spell cost perks for Conjuration useless.

The Atronachs can be upgraded and work well at high levels.

But once you get the Dremora you'll never use another Atronach again. And once you get TWO Dremora you can just sit back and watch the carnage for everything. Some say they even "break" the game because they're so good, but I disagree with those people. Those people don't know how to have fun.

You get some very nice Summons at higher levels.

Dremora Lords are very tough and aggressive, with the highest perk you can have two active at once I believe. (I don't have that perk just yet so haven't tested).
Even without those walking destroyers, as a mage having a summon to distract and tank while you fling spells from a distance is very handy.

Also, at high skill levels you will get access to the Atronach forge if you like that kind of thing.

Yeah, even one Dremora Lord is a huge help in battle. 2, with the final perk, is just awesome.

They'll wipe the floor with most baddies. However very powerful baddies like Draugr Death Overlords, Centurion Masters, Falmer Shadowmasters and Dragon Priests can still kill dremoras pretty quickly. But they're great. Extremely hard-hitting and tons of hp.

Also, I end up using Expel Daedra sometimes to quickly eliminate threats of summoned atronachs. Doesn't happen often, but is very handy when it does.

Alright, thanks for the replies! I loved watching npcs fight my summons in Oblivion so I think I'll be taking up Conjuration as well, seeing as the Dremora Lords have a very good reputation.

Should I get the cost reduction perks or sacrifice my fortify restoration for fortify conjuration?

Get the cost reduction. You're not constantly casting and recasting summon spells in the middle of a fight. I have up to the Expert perk for the Dremora just so I can cast one in each hand at the same time without using fortify enchants. Mind you I also have about 300 magicka because I totally didn't know about the -100% magicka cost reduction thing until I was like level 40.

Okay thanks a lot for the help! I also have 300+ magicka because I knew I would be limited to only 2 schools of 100% reduction and I wanted to use more spells than that. What's the cost for summoning the dremora lord with the perks?

If you end up liking Conjuration, you might consider moving on to Illusion next. Illusion gives you the perk of your illusion spells working on your summons. So you can use something like http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Call_to_Arms on your dremora dudes.

edit: Also the Illusion perk for silent spell casting will let you stay hidden while summoning dudes and buffing them for preparation of a fight.

Having 100 skill in Conjuration will decrease the cost of those spells by 33%. That is before perks. Since the base cost of Conjure Dremora Lord is about 316, then that will be decreased to around 212. Your cost reduction perks subtract from this amount next. 212 would then become 106 after the associated perk. Finally, Fortify "School" enchants take place, so with a -25% cost reduction enchantment, it would then cost about 80.


So with all that being said. Your Conjure Dremora Lord will cost somewhere around 106 points of Magicka. (If you plan to use only perks.)

Yes... it is always good! (except rasing dead IMO... that svcks)

In the beginning-mid you need to think if you want to summon frost, fire or lightning atronachs since different mibs have different resistances, but when you get Dremora lord you will only use that

Dremora or you can get some super strong armor and weapons and get the Deadthrall spell. u bring a humanoid back to life and you can give them armor and weapons so they can be overpowered and when they die you can just ressurect them back up and they still have the gear you gave them! but u need 90 conjuration to get their skill

Great, thanks for the info. Now I realise that if I just add some more magicka I can summon 2 dremora lords at once without getting the cost reduction perks. Of course, that would entirely drain my magicka.

You might find that after getting used to conjuration, that you can drop the resto cost reduction gear. Summons can quickly draw aggro from enemies.

Don't forget the sanguine rose quest: no-cost dremora.

huzzah, say what now? I never knew this.
Where to get!
I have to look for that quest now.

There is also Arniel's Shade that can be summoned. It costs no magicka and he is decent enough to get enemies to focus on him instead of the player.

lol you don't really get all magic at 100% reduction, its possible to doube enchant items and get closer to it, but its a game mechanic, i have super low destructive magic costs but i still use up my magic pool using other fields of magic like conjuring, alteration, illusion, so its not free magic, you're suppose to be able to reduce a field of magic down to zero, its not a gltich..you still need a magic pool to be able to use all the areas of magic in a battle, even with zero destructive magic cost, i'm always using alteration, illusion, conjuring and they all use up my magic still...so i make sure my magic pool without any clothing etc is over 400, just so i have enough for everything else in a battle.

in this certain mead hall i forgot which one. i think the one in riverwood this guy asks you to a drinking contest. u accept and u eventually unlock that staff! lol

Is this for Sanguine Rose? I'll have to start hunting for that guy then. Thanks Krotem!

Actually, he can be in any tavern, it's random.

oh,., then yea enter any tavern till a guy asks you to a drinking contest xD

No he is in EVERY tavern.

I'm having lots of fun with my Revenant necromancy spell.

This quest wont start until you reach level 14

If he was then my lvl 52 Mage would have met him by now.
As I'm doing all town quest from east to west there are still a few towns left to visit for this character, including Markarth so I'm hoping he will be there.
My warrior found him in Whiterun at an early level.

Nope he's only in cities' tavern. Not in the ones you can find near the road during a trip.