My friend came over the over day and I shown him a High Elf Assassin I had made that also used Invisibility. I used Bows from long-range and up close I would use Invisibility for daggers and stuff. He said using Invisibility on an assassin is cheap, and I've seen a lot of hate directed towards the spell on videos on Youtube.

My question: is it cheap to use Invisibility to get easy sneak attacks, etc?

Well... Depends on who you ask. I would say both yes and no. Yes, because you already have a sneak perk that you can develop. And some of the moves when you got a high level in sneak is pretty awesome And you get a slow motion view when you do some of them
And no because ... well, I don't really have a good answer for that, sorry. You just play as you'd like. Ain't nobody but you playing your character in the game so If It works for you, just go right on ahead, love

Its been my experience that casting Invisibility (absolutely useless) somehow alerts everything within a ten mile radius that youve done so!

Id say youre a much braver assassin letting that flashbang off every time.

It would only be more obvious if you played the trombone while sneaking!

I've never tried using invisibility in any way so I shouldn't really be talking. Since I don't know much about it. But based on that it alerts things around I wouldn't say it's "cheap", as the OP put it. However, if one plays an assassin, isn't much of the point not getting caught by hiding in places nearby and around corners and stuff? There are no invisible assassins in real life, and for those wanting to make the game as real as possible (dunno if that applies to Raixir), using invisibility would be cheating. But of course, that's just my opinion I wouldn't scold anyone for playing the game in their own way

I only have invisibility for RP purposes, and to get away sometimes, but my mage doesnt sneak at all. The spells not even useful if you dont have quiet casting. Everyone near you is alerted to your presence when you use the spell without it.

Sounds like one is better off without invisibility

There's a lot of potential for cheapness in everything in skyrim. Invisiblity is just one on the list.

On my stealth-mage character (who has silent casting )I use it to escape annoying dragon attacks or to escape combat entirely, so itsa more of a tool than a weapon. On my fighter and thief characters I dont use it at all.

Illusion is the cheapest school of magic, but I also think that it is by far and away the best. It makes offense completely unnecessary. When you can calm hostiles, force NPC's to strangle one another, and disappear entirely with a finger-snap, the world becomes yours for the taking.
I'm playing with an master of illusion assassin currently, and it has been great fun! Invisibility is becoming redundant as my sneak skill increases, so I've been trying to save it for dire circumstances or to make a point (i.e. Infiltrating an fortress and killing only the boss is kinda neat).

I don't think it really is. You have to level up illusion pretty high and it costs quite a bit. In OB you could have a invis spell for ten seconds that didn't take too high of a level. Also in SK, NPC's can hear footsteps unlike OB. I think it's pretty balanced as far as being invisible is concerned.

If being more effective in your field of profession is cheap, I guess so. Though I guess that means that Barbarians shouldn't use any armor, because you know it helps them stay alive in close quarters combat. Since, people think doing something well is cheap.

If I'm playing a first person shooter, I'm going to use the best guns, the best gear and the best spots on the map, regardless of what anyone tries to tell me.

Be invisible, kill your foes, there's no reason to handicap yourself because others think so.

'Cheap' is a subjective thing, depends on what each person who uses it thinks of it- it is a solo single-player game, after all. If you like something, use it. If it feels cheap and takes away from the fun of the game, don't use it. Personally, once I got to where I could cast it with my Illusion/Sneak dagger assassin, it took most of the fun out of it all. You basically no longer have any risk to your char, every kill is easy and guaranteed.... yes, in my opinion, it makes your character totally cheap and ruins the fun for me. It is basically god mode in a can. Bye-bye challenge. How long do you honestly think the gameplay will remain fun, playing in 100% god mode?

Seconded

In my opinion:

"An assassin will utilise any and all means necessary to do the job that they are tasked with, practicality is what keeps them alive, not a sense of honour or dignity for their victims"

On a more realistic level, invisibility is an advanced illusion spell. It's loud and costs a sh*tload of magic. I find it well balanced because you need many other skills and perks in order for it to work effectively, hell, you can even hear your own footsteps and whenever you activate an object it wears off.

In short, no, it's not "cheap"

Um, so where does 'challenge' fit into your game picture? If you're on PC, you can just enable god-mode from the console, and don't even have to invest in the Illusion tree. Same end result. Of course, after a couple of hours of that, I'd be looking for a different game to play.

You need silent casting, which is in the same tree. (.... der?)

I am amazed at how many people still don't put 2 and 2 together for this.


As to its "cheapness": It requires heavy perk investment and magica investment, so it is rightfully a powerful weapon/skill. It is not "cheap" IMO given that there are a million ways to get superior power in this game. Pick your flavor.

I myself wouldn't have used invisibility. To me that is wrong when it comes to the picture I have of an assassin. That way the challenge may be easier after a while, but at least one has to work for it in the beginning.
But as I've said, you have to play your own way. If someone wants to use invisibility, let them, without worrying about all these people saying it's cheap. It just their way of playing. We have ours

Invisibility has always worked that you are unseen until you do something. So, you use it to sneak past someone or to a tactical position. However, once you do anything, then you are seen or noticed.

If you're an assassin, you've already invested an intelligent level of points into Stealth perks. What else is an assassin char going to invest in? Thus, you are already dead silent by the time you've built Illusion up to where you can cast invisibility. And after all, being one to 'utilise any and all means necessary to do your assassin job', you've also built your magicka up to around 200 points, so that you can easily make a steady stream of invisibility casts, as needed. Sneak in close, cast invis, kill, cast invis again, go hide, magicka quickly refills, rinse, repeat ad infinitum. I know, I made my char that way, it was completely easy to manage, all along the way. Unless you deliberately decide not to take any perks in Stealth, and leave your magicka at default bare bones level, it truly is cheap to cast, resource-wise.

And as long as you don't stand up while running and invisible, nobody is going to hear you (especially since, of course, being a brilliant assassin, you're also wearing the DB boots that completely silence you), The times I've dinked around with it, there was never any kind of resource issue, always plenty of magicka when needed. Even with default magicka, that would probably still be the case, since all you really ever need is two casts- one to get in, another to escape (if that). The actual time you need to be invisible, to do a successful assassination, is rather short. Most of the time, you are just stealthing, not invis'ing. And when you cast invis from stealth, nobody sees or hears you do it, since of course, you also got the 'Silent Casting' perk much lower down in the Illusion tree.

If you've done your build intelligently, casting invisibility is completely silent, costs a reasonable and sustainable amount of magicka, and only takes the expected amount of perks that any stealthy assassin specializing in Invisibility would normally make.

In short, if that is the build you were deliberately making anyway, and if you did it the right way, yes, it's pretty cheap.

Yep, I built my sneaker up that way, and the challenge literally dropped off from 'fairly easy', to 'none', as soon as I attained invisibility. :: each their own.

To add, if you do decide to use invisibility and have access to muffle (via spells or boots) you can skip the entire left side of the steath tree, saving 6 perks, and only spending 4 for quiet casting. 2 free perks and any spells are silent. It is a good option for certain builds.

That's why, as a designer myself, if an Invisibility spell exists in the game, at higher levels of difficulty (and/or certain mobs) will begin to gain such things as Detect Life, or some dungeons will have "Null Magic" zones to negate enchant and spell effects, or have invisible traps that the player can't see to catch them when they are sneaking about, etc.

What I actually found much more entertaining and tactically useful, were all the other spells in the Illusion tree- fury/frenzy to make them kill themselves off while I got the popcorn, and calm/pacify for easy solo kills when getting close was difficult, and for crowd control when the odds were rough. I only got invisibility as a sideshow, while making my Illusion/Stealth/1H char. I seldom used the fear spells, as having enemies running off and drawing in more adds in a lot of cases, didn't appeal to me.

get the quite cast perk then nobody will here it, and this isn't oblivion invisibility doesn't mean you don't make noise. I'v noticed that when either my sneak was a high level or if i had on a certain pair of boots and can't be heard invisibility works perfectly. they can't see you but they can still hear you is what i'm getting at.

It's a little bit more balanced then it was in Oblivion, I say no.

My assassin doesn't use the spell. He is an alchemist and makes the invisibility potions. I spend a lot of time in game collecting the ingrediants for the potions. I know where they all grow now from exploration. I didn't look any of it up online. So I feel I work hard for the ability to disappear when I like and I don't abuse it. I mostly use it to escape when I am detected for some reason or when I need to sneak in broad daylight where I am sure to be seen. To me it doesn't feel cheap because I don't abuse it and I am limited to the potions I make and carry in my inventory.