Hi everyone. A few days ago I started a Conjuration character with the focus on raising zombies. I'm really enjoying this, but there is something that I haven't figured out yet. I am wondering if some experienced Conjurers can give me a few tips. As the title suggests, I'm talking about Atronachs and zombies.

I'm currently about lv 52 Conjuration and to me the Atronachs are clearly superior to the raised dead. The cast time is quick, the amount of Magicka with the perk is negligible, the amount of hp they have is acceptable and the damage they do is great.

The zombies take a long time to summon. They do this animation where they rise up, and it's cool, but not combat effective. If you don't put their weapon on their body before you raise them, they are unarmed and sometimes run away from the fight to get a pickaxe, while their original weapon was at their feet. Once they are in combat they are good though, no problems there. Raised mages are great IMO.

TL;DR: how do you effectively use your Zombies in combat?
Thanks.

I had issues with zombies as well. I heard you could use the ritual stone to get perma zombies.

I found that the zombies that I rise up are too damn weak and so I decided to depend on dremora lords instead.