How the heck do Absorb X spells work?

[Ignis Imperia]

Hey,

So I've never played the original and kind of just blindly trying to find my way on expert difficulty through the game right now, and when I saw Absorb X spells, I thought, that sounds handy, means I take some stat away from my enemy and eat it myself, right?

Well... I've been trying to use it for like 20 minutes now, every single type of them that is available to me, and I don't see any effect. There are some visual effects around the target, yes, but when I check my active buffs I don't see anything new.

So... um.. how do they work?

[Ammikaameri]

It is comparable to just combined Drain Attribute/Skill/Stat on the enemy and Fortify Attribute/Skill/Stat on the caster. The effect only lasts for the duration of the spell.

Note that absorb spells/enchants only work in melee range. So the effect will not work with bows.

Edit: Absorb health, fatigue and magicka are comparable with restore effects, not fortify on the caster.

[Ignis Imperia]

Originally posted by Ammikaameri:

It is comparable to just combined Drain Attribute/Skill/Stat on the enemy and Fortify Attribute/Skill/Stat on the caster. The effect only lasts for the duration of the spell.

Note that absorb spells/enchants only work in melee range. So the effect will not work with bows.

So if I use leech health and already have fortify health or something like that on me when I touch an enemy with it, it does nothing?

[Ammikaameri]

Originally posted by Ignis Imperia:

Originally posted by Ammikaameri:

It is comparable to just combined Drain Attribute/Skill/Stat on the enemy and Fortify Attribute/Skill/Stat on the caster. The effect only lasts for the duration of the spell.

Note that absorb spells/enchants only work in melee range. So the effect will not work with bows.

So if I use leech health and already have fortify health or something like that on me when I touch an enemy with it, it does nothing?

In case of health, fatigue and magicka it is a bit different actually. My mistake.
They are comparable to restore effects when using stats like health.

So it will not raise your maximum HP but it will heal you for the amount absorbed. Same with fatigue and magicka.

[GER420est.1996]

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Spell_Absorption

[Ammikaameri]

Originally posted by GER420est.1996:

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Spell_Absorption

This has nothing to do with the topic. Except having the word Absorb in it.

[R3sistance]

I usually just ignore absorb spells due to melee distance requirements, they can be paired with a paralyse effect when crafting a spell tho. Since a paralysed creature isn't moving it is easy to stay in melee range however some creatures are immune to paralyse... absorb Willpower, Health and Fatigue are all good but as absorb spells do not absorb past 0, magicka can be a bit more limited as not all creature have good magicka pools.

[Mightylink]

You have to stay within melee range to use them, even if you make a spell with 30 seconds, once you step backwards it will stop working.