Hey, looking for help from people who've reached level 100 in illusion.

are any perks in this tree useless? I want to make a pure mage that specializes in all schools of magic, so I have very limited perks. What is important in this tree and what can be passed on?

Thanks.

Had a big thread asking this yesterday. A couple people told me that you really need every perk in that tree and, after looking it over, they were right. All of them are useful because you need to be able to use those spells on higher level enemies and people.

I use them all. With every perk in the tree you can pretty much control everything, also illusion allows for crowd control and that is useful for any mage.

Master is useless, as are the fear and rage specific perks although some disagree there. Personally, I get by far the most use out of pacify, have never used fear, and frenzy is mostly unnecessary although it has a certain novelty.


Dual casting is very important, quiet casting is one of the best spell casting perks available, and everything that improves the level your calm, and eventually pacify, spell can effect should be taken as soon as possible.

This is what I use out of illusion in the end -
http://chrizel.github.com/skyrim/#t/1/3ybif4,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

All are useful

I used them all except for master illusion. Didn't think I would use the the best calm, frenzy and fear spell since I had dual cast perk on the lesser ones.

After looking at the Illusion perk tree and reading the spells, I decided to put my mage perks elsewhere. You can make potions for invisibility the rest of the Illusion spells just didn't seem to stack up well against the other schools of magic.

Is it just me or is Illusion way less powerful in Skyrim than it was in Oblivion since there is no command spell in Skyrim? Is there a way to actually kill something in Skyrim using only Illusion magic? In Oblivion I was roleplaying a pure Illusionist and really enjoying it, but without a command spell is it really possible to do that in Skyrim? I am interested to hear from someone who has actually used Skyrim Illusion spells.

I've found frenzy helpful on many occasions, especially since many boss type characters are surrounded by their weaker minions, it's a good way to weaken them. i fnd it's more helpful than pacify in this particular situation. It can also help clear out a fort, especially with enemies you can't see behind the wall... just use it on the guys on the towers and they'll start shooting the people inside.

I do agree with the things you mentioned about dual casting and quiet casting.

Pacify IS the most useful out of all the perks, Frenzy is moderately useful, and Fear I largely ignore.

As far as which perks to invest in, Illusion is the tree that benefits the most from investing in everything. If you want to save a few perks, don't invest in the middle branch (Hypnotic Glaze, Aspect of Terror, and Rage). I'm at level 41, and I still find I can use illusion on the majority of enemies in the game. If they're powerful, I just dual cast.

Use all of the perks; they are not just useful, but essential. Controlling the tides of battle is spectacular and useful, whether against a mob or just one enemy (as you can calm or fear them away). Many posters will say that Master Illusion is a useless perk, but I disagree.

See, while all of the other spells can get the same effect as master spells (because of the enemy level cap) at a much lower cost, master spells have an enormous area of effect. If you find yourself in trouble, Invisibility+Muffle+Quiet Casting and a master spell may be everything you need, as opposed to trying to shoot off several lesser spells.


Way more powerful than Oblivion. You're mistaken if you think you can just use potions for the same or better effects than Illusion. It may lack command spells this time around, but that was hardly of use in Oblivion anyway; in Skyrim, Illusion can potentially affect every being in the game other than dragons, regardless of level.

The fury spells turn allies against eachother I use it all the time, then you got frenzy that can hot a group of enemies and they turn on eachother. I find it very useful. It turns groups of enemies against one another and they are not as focused on you which is good for a pure mage.

Really depends on your perspective. if you aren't just focused on the non-damage that Illusion spells create, I find it more useful than conjuration or destruction, especially at higher difficulty settings. You see, at higher difficulty settings such as expert and master, damage output and damage taken effect both you and your summons, so any offensive magic that you cast will effect you and your summons. Since Illusion spells are strictly level dependant, they are free from this restriction making them vastly more useful at higher difficulties or as you level up as enemies scale in level as well.

Pacify on a bandit chief has gotten me out of many a bad situation because as I'm progressing in level, they are just tearing through my atronachs and taking less damage from my destruction magic.

As far as killing with illusion, not directly. I've managed to have enemies run into booby traps and a buddy of mine says he uses fear to have them running into runes he placed far away with rune master, but I haven't tried this myself.

I always loved manipulating NPC's, that's probably why I'm biased to it.

As Drevis Neloren says, illusion is often underestimated or something to that effect, but I really believe if all perks are used, illusion mages are the most powerful in the game.

Well that gives me something to think about. Illusion was the last school I used in Oblivion but when I finally got around to creating an Illusionist, it was really fun. The way I have allocated my Skyrim mage perk points so far, I can either invest in Illusion or Enchant, but probably not both (unless I start wearing heavy armor and using two handed weapons and picking pockets, etc just to get my level up for more perks). Enchant does not seem as useful for a mage as a warrior since I generally don't use weapons and you cannot make robes as good as the ones you can buy. But the master enchanting perk seems pretty powerful. Decisions . . .

Thing is, you can frenzy most enemies even without the perk, and you have to take the useless fear perk to reach the frenzy one. Basically, you won't be able to frenzy high level undead/daedra/machines, but you'll still be able to frenzy most men/mer with dual cast and they're the most common anyway.

I am sooo going to create an illusionist after reading this!!

Oh ok, you were referring to the actual perk itself, and not just the magic. i see what you mean.



I found it a great way to go about the game, especially after slicing and dicing my way through it with a previous melee character.

Problem is I seem to have a short attention span.
This would be three Times now I've gotten to level 30 and to the diplomatic immunity mission of the main quest and been like...ooo I wanna try X

Haha, I hear ya'! On my first playthrough as a warrior, I barely even touched the main mission until many, many hours in. I completed it after about 120 hrs I think.

On my second playthrough I barely touched the main quest after 60+ hrs. Just wanted to get to the part where you see your first dragon, just so I can fight them in the wild.

I'd be on my way to a quest site and I would've cleared 3 or 4 dungeons and then stop playing before I even reached to where I was supposed to go. Haha

The Illusion Ritual spell is wicked, and costs a crapload of magicka. So for that alone, I put perks into Master.

Illusion really depends on what level you are, and what level spells you plan on using.

All are useful, I took em all but the master reduc one. you'll need dual casting.

I have made a lot of characters and raised some of them to higher levels and by far my most powerful character is the one who is like this:

Major:
Sneak
Illusion
Conjuration

Minor:
Archery
One Handed
Smithing
Pick Pocket

She does not know how to dual cast any spell, but got all the other perks on Illusion.

General Strategy:

Muffle ==> Summon Minion ==> Invisibility ==> run toward target place ==> refresh previous effects when needed ==> sneak when near the target place ==> sometimes banish the minion ==> investigate the situation ==> make a big fight with "Fury" ==> stay hidden all the time ==> add minions if needed ==> fire some arrows if needed ==> sometimes add a final back-stab and collect the soul

Sneak=100
Illusion=9x
Conjuration=8x

Unstoppable!

Frenzy causes enemies to kill each other. Fear can drive them into traps, off cliffs, into other monsters (I herded an army of snow bears into a dragon nest with it once).

Technically, potions can achieve all the effects though (Except Calm?). There's invisibility and fortify sneak potions, and frenzy and fear poison.

illusion is so strong, you dont even need health points or armor, just run around invisible and use things like frenzy or calm and sneak attacks

Um... you can self enchant to make a school of magic free to cast, with the 100 perk, make that 2 schools of magic.

It just takes some serious investment to get to where the enchants equal what you find in game.

Illusion is crazy powerful, and even more so with 100 skill and all the perks. i think I might avoid it on a future character.

You'll need something form of direct damage skill to complement it, specifically for dragons and one on one fights.
But otherwise with frenzy/mayhem, and pacify/harmony, you've won 99% of encounters.