Getting started with Illusion

[Bullwinkle]

I haven't done anything with magic yet. So far I'm a cat burglar/stealth archer. But I am interested in manipulating others with illusions. Where and how do you learn spells?

[Fayde]

Spell Tomes teach you straight away, early on that can help. read em once and they will be in your Magickal Repportoir.... or however you spell that....

[Ryika]

To level up, spam Muffle, You can find that spell, or buy it from Farengar.
Leveling Illusion the "normal" way is really annoying, because most enemies you find will just be immune to your spells until you've got a high level on illusion magic.

[Fayde]

Originally posted by Ryika:

To level up, spam Muffle, You can find that spell, or buy it from Farengar.
Leveling Illusion the "normal" way is really annoying, because most enemies you find will just be immune to your spells until you've got a high level on illusion magic.

What does "spam" a spell mean?

[Clever Monkey]

by spamming he means to cast over and over. no ememies/freinds need to be near you for your skill to increase. get dual casting perk to double the level of creature that can be effected. clairvoyance and invisibilty can be cast without enemies around but atleast freindlies must be for invisibility. all other spells must be cast on a target. So like fayde1 said just cast muffle everywhere you go at all times or just stand there cast it repeatedly no need for the spell to wear off before recasting

[Fayde]

Thanks Smile n Fire - I think it was Ryika who suggested spamming Muffle :) I wasn't sure what spamming it meant so Cheers for this :)

[Eternie]

He's suggesting using the spell very often ! Like any time your travelling anywhere on foot keep casting that spell. There are some spells that have a better result from casting them than others.
I'd suggest if you want to develope Illusion is use all the spells to see how you can use them to their best advantage !
Clairvoyance for example is a fantastic spell if you limit your quest marker to one quest then clairvoyance will lead you through all the little rocky trails to your quest marker and in some areas around markath finding your way can be confusing!
My suggestion is try all your spells!

Buy all spells you can afford and use them, Hot key your favourites but don't just grind or spam 1 spell use them all as you need them! Remember that you won't get to Buy spells that your not skilled enough to use ! So Invisiblity for example is not available until level 75!
So just have fun with them all !

[Fayde]

Originally posted by Eternie:

He's suggesting using the spell very often ! Like any time your travelling anywhere on foot keep casting that spell. There are some spells that have a better result from casting them than others.
I'd suggest if you want to develope Illusion is use all the spells to see how you can use them to their best advantage !
Clairvoyance for example is a fantastic spell if you limit your quest marker to one quest then clairvoyance will lead you through all the little rocky trails to your quest marker and in some areas around markath finding your way can be confusing!
My suggestion is try all your spells!

Buy all spells you can afford and use them, Hot key your favourites but don't just grind or spam 1 spell use them all as you need them! Remember that you won't get to Buy spells that your not skilled enough to use ! So Invisiblity for example is not available until level 75!
So just have fun with them all !

Cool - gunna spam the ones best for spamming (especially now I know what I'm talking about lmao) I read somewhere you get more skill-raising from using spells/weapons in battle etc than just whipping them out any old time? ie: with shield-bashing, bashing a foe levels up the skill differently than "spamming" shield-bashing (against thin air) Same with any spells?

[Clever Monkey]

bashing air wont level at all. a valid taget must be affected for any skill to level

[Fayde]

Yep - Same with any spells?

[Clever Monkey]

some spells can be cast on yourself . as long as a target is affected. destruction is the only school that doesnot have a spell that allows you to cast on yourself without affecting another. cloak is cast on yourself but it must damage an ememy to level. do you see what im saying? could be worded so much better
muffle is cast on yourself and affects yourself, same with clairvoyance. while invisibility is cast on yourself but affects others.
Alteration armor skin cast on yourself but doesnt level without being hit. and on and on

[Fayde]

Nah worded just fine, Smile n Fire - I get it now, thanks for the clarification :)

[Clever Monkey]

the higher the spell cast and/ or more targets affected will level skills quicker

[Clever Monkey]

same goes for weapons and armor. more damage you take or give the more you will level. basically the more effect you have whether its alchemy, enchanting or smithing to fireballs and paralysing spells, the greater output the greater skill learned

[gnewna]

Yeah, basically, in order for most non-crafting skills to level in Skyrim you have to be doing them at a valid target. So, weapon skills only increase if you are hitting (and doing damage to) another creature. Destruction skills, ditto. Same goes for block, and armour skills (in vanilla, at least) only increase when you actually get hit (meaning that brawls are a decent, if probably quite boring, way to 'train' your armour skill). Speech, lockpicking, pickpocket obviously can't be practiced on anything other than an NPC, lock or the pocket of an NPC. (Worth noting that you can increase lockpicking by picking *any* lock, and if you get caught trespassing but run straight out of the house, you don't get a bounty, so you can fairly safely roam around cities at night practicing your lockpicking skills - make sure you're in sneak mode and not seen by anyone when you start picking the lock, though). Stealth I *think* only increases when you're near hostile NPCs/creatures, although I'm not quite sure if it increases when you're successfully sneaking in a place where you're classed as trespassing - there's technically nobody hostile there, but they would become hostile if they spotted you, after a warning or two.

Most Alteration spells are cast on yourself, but with the -flesh (mage armour) spells, you only increase your skill if you have them cast while near an enemy (this sometimes alerts you to a nearby enemy if you have cast a -flesh spell 'just in case' and then notice your Alteration skill gets an increase!) - I *think* the -light spells will increase your skill wherever you are, although they will generally increase your skill level more slowly than the -flesh spells.

I've not done a lot of Conjuration, but the bound weapon spells level the same way as the -flesh spells, i.e. only when you're near an enemy NPC/creature. I *think* the raise undead spells might increase your skill when you use them, but I'm not sure. Pretty sure summoning Atronachs only increases your skill if there's an enemy nearby, too.

Illusion spells, as has been said, are also split into on-target and on-self, and some of the on-self ones can be 'trained' (more commonly known as 'grinding', generally done by 'spamming') without needing to be near an enemy, as has been mentioned. It's worth mentioning that Clairvoyance will increase your skill level verrrrry slowly, I used it constantly in my first few playthroughs, and I hardly ever noticed it increasing my Illusion skill. Muffle, on the other hand, will raise your Illusion skill quite quickly. You can also, generally, safely 'train' your Calm spell by casting it on pretty much any NPC (although do save before trying this out, just in case something in your setup makes them see it as an attack) - some of them will grumble, some will actually seem quite pleased - kids will generally say something like 'wow, that was FUN!' Fear, Fury and most other Illusion spells can NOT be trained in this way, as they are classed as an attack on that NPC, same as if you walked up and smacked them in the face. (That said, if you are successfully sneaking, and manage not to get found out, you can have some fun with these spells in a crowded marketplace, if you're feeling evil...)

Oh, and Restoration skill will generally only level when you use healing spells on injured targets, whether it's a heal self or heal other spell. There are also 'turn undead' Restoration spells, and obv you have to use those on undead creatures. I suppose if you wanted to train, you could keep using the turn undead spell on a few low-level Draugr/Skeletons until you got bored and killed them.

One other thing to note - non-combat skills will raise your overall level, which will raise the level of things that are trying to kill you. Don't go wild and get yourself to level 20 based mostly on Muffle, Alchemy and Lockpicking, or you may find you are in a LOT of trouble in fights!

[Clever Monkey]

thank you for writing that novel to explain it. i hate typing or i would have. man id be cramping so hard right now.