Is 'Fear' (aka Demoralize) really worth anything?

[Johnny Casey]

Back when I was playing Oblivion, I used to cast Demoralize(which does the same what Fear does in Skyrim) to enemy's summonings, for as soon as I kill its summoning, it will just re-summon almost instantly. So it was better off just shoving them off with Demoralize rather than fighting it.

But now in Skyrim, since there's really not many enemy that summons anything, I don't think there's any need for Fear. Calm and Frenzy are still useful, but I see no reason to use Fear over... well, anything, really.

I wish Aspect of Terror and Rage perks switched their places. So I don't have to waste my perk point for the spells that I will never use.

[voehringer_nitron]

I very rarely use Fear effects in this or any other game. Depends on the game, but sometimes they run around in circles, or try to get as far away from you as they can. It might buy you some time, but when it wears off, you still need to deal with them. I'd rather incapacitate them with a stun/paralyze/hold effect, or use a charm/confusion spell to get them to attack their (former) allies.

[RaineyAllTheTime]

Illusion spells in general are incrediby effective if you base your entire build around them (my Dark Brotherhood illusionist remains one of my favorite playthroughs I ever did) however if you don't focus on them almost exclusively they are pretty meh at best.

[Eternie]

The biggest drawback is fear spells is they are level dependant of your target so unless you get these spells incredibly early or get the perks to make higher level targets susceptible to them they won't work. Also fear spells are an attack so any innocent you accidentally hit can give you a bounty. As shown here, How quickly do you get past level 9 in this game.

"Fear is an apprentice level Illusion spell that causes a creature or person up to level 9 to flee from combat for 30 seconds"

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Fear_(spell)

[Alkpaz]

Originally posted by Eternie:

As shown here, How quickly do you get past level 9 in this game.

You could edit uncapper to keep you at level 9 almost indefinitely, but then, where is the "fun" in that?

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by Eternie:

How quickly do you get past level 9 in this game.

Pretty quick! even with exploring and messing around I can get to level 9 in about six hours, if I concentrate and do it properly, and three. So I generally outgrow that spell before I even find it to buy.

[Johnny Casey]

I should have mention that I have third party mod that alters the overall magics in Skyrim.
Basically more I put my level up attribute point to Magicka, more the maginitude or durations of spells are increased. So "Illusion spell will not work if you're high level" doesn't go against me.

If that was the case, I wouldn't mention Calm and Frenzy are still useful in my original post, would I?

Rout, expert Fear spell for my charater can affect up to like 44 level enemy, plus with the effect of Animage and Kindred Mage perks.

[Eternie]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Originally posted by Eternie:

How quickly do you get past level 9 in this game.

Pretty quick! even with exploring and messing around I can get to level 9 in about six hours, if I concentrate and do it properly, and three. So I generally outgrow that spell before I even find it to buy.

Why only illusion spells have these weird level restrictions is beyond me. Makes no sense at all. Even the master level spells only effect people up to level 25 and take what seems like half a year to cast.
The only fun use of frenzy spells for me has been escorting the diplomats to the peace conference at high Hrothgar and forcing them to fight bandits or guards enroute. Once had Elisif fighting a giant barehanded, Another time had Imperial guards escorting a stormcloak prisoner, attack Ulfric and Galmar. So it can still have some limited uses for some general fun.

[Johnny Casey]

Originally posted by Eternie:

Why only illusion spells have these weird level restrictions is beyond me. Makes no sense at all. Even the master level spells only effect people up to level 25 and take what seems like half a year to cast.
The only fun use of frenzy spells for me has been escorting the diplomats to the peace conference at high Hrothgar and forcing them to fight bandits or guards enroute. Once had Elisif fighting a giant barehanded, Another time had Imperial guards escorting a stormcloak prisoner, attack Ulfric and Galmar. So it can still have some limited uses for some general fun.

Illusion spells are always like this in TES games. But back in Oblivion era, where you can craft and adjust the magnitude of the spell, there was absolutely no problem about "Illusion spells become too weak as the level progress" as long as you matched the requirement and had an affordable Magicka, you can cast a spell like "Demoralize up to level 50 in 30 Seconds on Target"

But when they were making Skyrim, they removed Spellcrafting system. So the only way to magify spells is to pick a related perk which barely helps anything, or drink Fortify Magic School potion to do so TEMPERATELY.

[dcain3456]

The one time I used Fear was when I accidently picked up an item belonging to a shopkeeper and they tried to fight me. I didn't want to kill them and I didn't have Calm yet, so I used Fear.

[Johnny Casey]

Originally posted by dcain3456:

I didn't have Calm yet, so I used Fear.

Does that mean if you had Calm spell, you would rather use it instead of Fear? Well that explains something.