Mage Skills in Skyrim, despite being utterly essential to Magicka-based classes and character builds, are some of the hardest to level up. For the most part, that's because they simply aren't used often enough: one Alteration skill use for some Mage Armor before combat, when Alteration doesn't level any faster than a multi-use school like, say, Destruction, means your level's going to increase at an absolute crawl.
Spell School of Magicka Skill Level Source DLC; Candlelight: Alteration: Novice: Spell Tome: Equilibrium: Alteration: Novice: Quest: Oakflesh: Alteration: Novice. Elder Scrolls Skyrim offers a variety of destruction spells divided into three elemental categories: Fire, Frost and Shock. All three categories have spells that rank from novice to master. The skill level of spells that can be acquired for use is determined by the characters Destruction Level.
Fortunately, now that you have maximum level Enchanting - you did read our Power-Levelling guide and Crafting Skills guide, right? - all of the below skills which require magicka to cast are much easier to power-level. Unlock all of the Perks for 'Enchanter', 'Corpus Enchanter', and 'Insightful Enchanter' and enchant yourself a set of armor or clothing - head, hands, chest and feet - which has the enchantment of 25% reduction in magicka cost for the skill you have in mind. With all four pieces combined, you'll be able to cast spells for free in that school, meaning you can infinitely cast them for power-levelling.
Below, we take you through the best, most efficient ways to spam your spells for levelling each school of magic.
The fastest way to level Alteration, Conjuration, and Destruction
How to reach level 100 Alteration
With the 100% magicka cost reduction enchantment mentioned above, there's a very easy way to get this skill to maximum level.
- Cast the Telekinesis spell on a random item, and whilst holding down the cast button, fast-travel to the furthest possible point on the map. Because the game processes your journey to the new location as if you've been travelling there on foot, and because your magicka now never runs out, it will massively level up your Alteration skill, thinking you've been casting Telekinesis for hours of in-game time.
- If this mini-glitch doesn't work for you, you can also simply dual-cast the spell on an item and leave your triggers held down for several hours, and you'll have been levelling up the entire time manually.
How to reach level 100 Conjuration
Conjuration is very slow to level up organically, but fortunately it's pretty fast to power level.
- Simply cast Soul Trap on either a corpse (of any NPC, even creatures) or the ever-durable mount Shadowmere, who is obtained via the Dark Brotherhood questline. It's a rapid way to level, although it's also considered a bug by some.
- Alternatively, you can continuously use the spell Bound Weapon whilst in combat. Pick a fight with something easy to avoid, like Slaughterfish, and stay nearby. You can resummon the weapon as soon as you hear the noise it makes on activating the spell, making it very easy to repeat at high speed.
How to reach level 100 Destruction
Another fairly easy one to level, Destruction can also be combined with Restoration when used against foes like Shadowmere which won't turn hostile, but can be healed.
- Shadowmere's the victim again here, as simply dual-casting Destruction spells on the indestructable horse (or any other indestructable or 'essential' character which won't turn hostile) is the fastest way to grind it to maximum.
- Destruction's XP yields depend on both the base cost of the spell and the damage inflicted on the target, and therefore changing the difficulty won't actually affect your XP yields either way.
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Want more help with Skyrim? Find out how to join every guild and faction, how to earn Gold fast, learning about XP and levelling to 100, max Crafting skills, max Warrior skills, max Thief skills and max Mage skills, how to get married, where to buy a house, how to start Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn DLC expansions. If you're on PC, we have a list of console commands and cheats, and you can learn about the remastered version and how to install mods with our Skyrim guide. Finally, with Switch owners, we have Skyrim amiibo support explained to help unlock special Zelda-themed items.
The fastest way to level Illusion and Restoration
How to reach level 100 Illusion
There are a couple of ways to very quickly level Illusion, particuarly with the above enchantments fortifying the skill.
- Firstly, you can cast Rally on NPCs without turning them hostile, meaning that spamming it in heavily-populated areas is a fast way to level. Second, you can also cast Rout and Pacify on a single enemy, equipping one spell to each hand.
- As noted on the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages wiki, it's often wise to cast it on someone in an enclosed space, to avoid a bounty and stop them from moving away whilst you spam your spells.
How to reach level 100 Restoration
You'll need to actually heal damage to level your Restoration skill, meaning you can't simply run about healing yourself when already at full health. Some methods we've encountered include:
- Dual-casting the Alteration spell Equilibrium, which converts your health into magicka, with a strong Restoration spell.
- You can also use Shadowmere once again, by damaging her with destruction in one hand and healing with another.
- Restoration can be combined well with Heavy or Light Armor skill levelling, as you can take damage from enemies at a similar level to your character and continuously heal at the same time.
- Dwemer Ruins often house flamethrower traps, which deal continuous damage which can be healed infinitely with Restoration, as does the wind in certain areas by High Hrothgar.
- It's also possible to repeatedly cast spells such as Circle of Protection and Guardian Circle anywhere - although they give you more experience if anything classed as undead (including you and followers if you're vampires, for instance) is inside the circle.
The School of Destruction focuses on the mastery of fire, frost and shock, and is used to cast spells like Fireball, Ice Spike, and Lightning Bolt. It is one of the eighteen skills that are going to be available in Skyrim. The Destruction skill can be raised by the use of spells by the in-game character, these spells will identify themselves as Destruction spells. They focus on causing damage with fire, frost, and lightning.
Spells can be purchased from the court mages in most castles. These spells can also be augmented with potions to Fortify Destruction.
Spells[edit | edit source]
List Of Destruction Spells In Skyrim Quest
Novice[edit | edit source]
- Flames - Fire damage per second in a short range stream, extra damage to targets already on fire
- Frostbite - Ice damage per second in a short range stream, also damages stamina
- Sparks - Lightning damage per second in a short range stream, also damages magicka
- Arniel's Convection - Burns the target 1 point per second
- Vampiric Drain - Absorb 6 – 17 points of health per second from the target [1]
Apprentice[edit | edit source]
- Firebolt - Fire missile that damages one target on hit, extra damage to targets already on fire
- Freeze - A spike of ice that does 20 points of frost damage to Health and Stamina and slows the target for 15 seconds [2]
- Ice Spike - Ice missile that damages one target on hit, also damages stamina
- Ignite - A blast of flame that sets targets of fire, doing 4 damage per second for 15 seconds [2]
- Lightning Bolt - Lightning damage on target within range, also damages magicka
Adept[edit | edit source]
- Fireball - Fire missile that explodes on hit, dealing fire damage in a small radius near the impact
- Flame Cloak - Flame surrounds caster and melee range enemies take small flame damage over time
- Ice Storm - Ice damage in an area of effect that moves forward slowly, also damages stamina
- Frost Cloak - Frost surrounds caster and melee range enemies take small frost and stamina damage over time
- Chain Lightning - Lightning damage that hits a target and bounces to any nearby target
- Lightning Cloak - Lightning surrounds caster and melee range enemies take shock and half magicka damage
- Whirlwind Cloak - For 60 seconds, opponents in melee range have a chance of being flung away [2]
Expert[edit | edit source]
- Incinerate - Fire missile that damages one target for moderately high damage. Extra damage if target is on fire. Long range.
- Wall of Flames - Gout of flames that burns on the floor for a while, doing moderate damage over time.
- Icy Spear - Large ice missile that causes moderately high frost and stamina damage. Long range.
- Wall of Frost - Spray ice on the floor and it stays for a while, causing moderate frost and stamina damage over time.
- Thunderbolt - Large bolt of lightning that does moderately high damage. Does not chain. Moderately long range.
- Wall of Storms - Lightning that sticks to the ground and does moderate shock damage. In game description does not say if it does magicka damage.
Master[edit | edit source]
- Fire Storm - A large-radius explosion centered on caster. Deals high fire damage. Damage is greater to closer targets.
- Lightning Storm - After charging you fire a constant beam of lightning (must be aimed). Deals high lightning damage. If target is killed, it disintegrates them (also disintegrates dragon but you can still get their soul). Note: Will disintegrate the target even if you don't have the disintegrate perk.
- Blizzard - Conjures a large, swirling cloud of ice that damages everything. (warning: in some cases it will even hurt the caster.)
Perks[edit | edit source]
| Perks | Requirements | Description (Ranks) |
|---|---|---|
| Novice Destruction | None | Cast Novice level Destruction spells for half magicka. |
| Destruction Dual Casting | Destruction 20, Novice Destruction | Dual casting a Destruction spell overcharges the effects into an even more powerful version. |
| Apprentice Destruction | Destruction 25, Novice Destruction | Cast Apprentice level Destruction spells for half magicka. |
| Augmented Flames | Destruction 30, Novice Destruction | Fire spells do 25% more damage. |
| Destruction 60 | Fire spells do 50% more damage. Increases blast radius of Fireball. | |
| Augmented Frost | Destruction 30, Novice Destruction | Frost spells do 25% more damage. |
| Destruction 60 | Frost spells do 50% more damage. Increases radius of Ice Storm. | |
| Augmented Shock | Destruction 30, Novice Destruction | Shock spells do 25% more damage. |
| Destruction 60 | Shock spells do 50% more damage. Chain Lightning jumps one additional target. | |
| Impact | Destruction 40, Destruction Dual Casting | Dual Casting will stagger foes (note doesn't work with novice level spells) |
| Rune Master | Destruction 40, Apprentice Destruction | Place runes 5 times farther away |
| Adept Destruction | Destruction 50, Apprentice Destruction | Cast Adept level Destruction spells for half magicka. |
| Intense Flames | Destruction 50, Augmented Flames | Fire damage causes targets to flee if their health is under 10%. |
| Deep Freeze | Destruction 60, Augmented Frost | Frost damage chance to paralyze targets if health low |
| Disintegrate | Destruction 70, Augmented Shock | Shock damage chance to disintegrates targets if health low |
| Expert Destruction | Destruction 75, Adept Destruction | Cast Expert level Destruction spells for half magicka. |
| Master Destruction | Destruction 100, Expert Destruction | Cast Master level Destruction spells for half magicka. |
Trainers[edit | edit source]
- Wuunferth the Unliving in Windhelm
- Sybille Stentor in Solitude
- Faralda in the College of Winterhold
Most Powerful Spell In Skyrim
Skillbooks[edit | edit source]
Apparel[edit | edit source]
| Minor Destruction | Destruction | Major Destruction | Eminent Destruction | Exteme Destruction | Peerless Destruction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| + Regenerate Magicka | |||||
List Of Destruction Spells In Skyrim Mod
Notes[edit | edit source]
List Of Destruction Spells In Skyrim
- ↑Cannot be purchased, acquired upon becoming a vampire
- ↑ 2.02.12.2Only with Dragonborn DLC
- ↑The variation of the Glass Armor of Eminent Destruction is misspelled, i.e. missing the space between 'Armor' and 'of'.
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