The Eye of Magnus

Into the Eye of the Maelstrom
Approach the College of Winterhold, now caught in an increasingly unstable maelstrom of magic. Equip the Staff of Magnus, and use it to force clear the way across the courtyard and into the Hall of the Elements. Ancano is waiting within the mass of crackling and ethereal discharge. Face Ancano and attack the Eye of Magnus and the Thalmor traitor directly.

Upon arriving at the Hall of the Elements, Ancano is well aware of yhe Dragonborn's presence. The mad elf spots the player and Tolfdir, taunting and crowing that he’s so far beyond any pitiful attempts at magic that he cannot be touched.

Unfortunately, this is true, asTolfdir’s aimed fireball dissipates harmlessly. The old mage has just enough time to tell the player to bring out the Staff of Magnus and use it on the Eye before an enraged Ancano strikes him—and anyone else (such as Followers) in the vicinity—with a Mass Paralysis spell, leaving you standing alone.

Ancano decides to finish the Dragonborn himself, opening the Eye of Magnus and tapping into its full and incredible power.

Defeating Ancano
While Ancano opens the Eye, he’s still invincible. Wait until the Eye is fully open. When this occurs, a casting from your Staff of Magnus absorbs its energy, and the Eye begins to close.

Now is the time to thwart Ancano! Strike often and hard, because eventually the Eye reopens and Ancano becomes invincible again. When the Eye is pried open a second time, several Magic Anomalies are also let loose. Although you must deal with them, their presence has the potential to be very useful, as the Soul Gems they drop can recharge the staff if it is out of charge. Additionally, the Magic Anomalies attack Ancano if you are not near him.

Use the chamber’s topography to your advantage, keeping your distance from Ancano, which gives you more time to maneuver around his spells. If possible, stand behind one of the chamber’s many pillars, or the Eye itself, blocking the full force of Ancano’s attacks. Your own summoned creatures can also provide temporary distractions.

Switching between Favorites and utilizing your different weapon combinations is imperative, too. However, equip the Staff of Magnus in one hand to remove Ancano’s invulnerability and power up a spell in your other hand, readying it for the moment you can hit Ancano.

Then immediately switch to spells in both hands to deal the maximum amount of damage before the Eye reopens. Keep this up, and you may rid the College of this enormous anomaly!

It is possible to wait for Ancano to fight with Magic Anomalies and kill him with one power swing melee attack.

An alternative method, if you have completed A Night to Remember, is to use the Sanguine Rose to summon a Dremora after Ancano casts his paralyzing spell. The Dremora will attack Ancano, leaving you free to use the Staff of Magnus on the Eye. The Dremora will make short work of Ancano as soon as the protection of the eye is removed.

Another way of quickly dispatching Ancano is if the Dragon born is a high Archery character, has health damaging poison and a powerful bow and arrows. it is possible to use the Staff to close the Orb, and immedaiatly after it starts to close switch to a poisned bow and shoot Ancano. It is possible to Kill him in 3 hits of a potently poisoned ebony bow with glass or above arrows,

The Nick of Time
With the hated High Elf now dispatched for good, you can return to Tolfdir. He is thankful you have stopped Ancano but has no idea how to dispel the gathering crescendo of power that the Eye of Magnus is magnifying. Fortunately, Quaranir has appeared just in the nick of time.

Speak to him, and although he is as cryptic as ever, he tells you that the Psijic Order always believed in you, and your actions have proved that you are ready to lead the College of Winterhold. Now that the Eye has grown unstable, it may not only destroy the College, but also the entire world!

Ancano’s actions proved that this world is not ready for such power; Quaranir prepares to secure the Eye. The Psijic Order will maintain the Eye for now, and he summons his brethren, Gelebros and Tandil, to perform a binding ritual. The monks and the Eye soon disappear from this world.

Bugs

 * If you encounter a Dragon before entering the college and do not kill it, the cut scene will fail to start, rendering the quest unable to be completed. After Defeating Ancano, it is possible to go back outside to kill the dragon. Upon reentry, the cut scene with Tolfdir will start after you walk up to him (confirmed on Xbox 360).
 * Upon completing this quest it is possible to acquire double or triple the rewards, two (2) arch-mage robes & two (2) arch-mage keys. This has been seen on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and is likely a rare occurrence (Confirmed on Xbox 360).
 * Upon completing this quest, you receive the achievement on your 360. If you open this achievement while talking to Tolfdir you will get stuck in the conversation and won't be able to exit for about 2 minutes.
 * After fighting Ancano, the game will tell you to speak to Tolfdir. Once you do that, he may say something about the Psijics being there even if no one appears. To fix this, just keep talking to Tolfdir until Quaranir appears(Or run around a bit, it's very picky). Once you have your chat with Quaranir, two Psijics are supposed to teleport in, however in my game they did no such thing, to fix this I had to just run back to Ancano's body and search it again, that seemed to fix any problems that I was having. (Xbox 360)
 * When entering the Hall of the Elements, it is possible that Tolfdir will just run straight into one of the windows behind the pillars and will not move after that, and will never shoot his firebolt, rendering the quest uncompletable. Exiting and re-entering the Hall of the Elements seems to fix this (Xbox 360)
 * Sometimes if you use the Staff of Magnus on the Eye of Magnus before Ancano casts his paralyze spell on Tolfdir, Ancano will begin attacking you and will be invincible in addition you will see Tolfdir laying on the ground with a flame spell in his hands at this point the only way to fix this is to restart from your last hard save or autosave. It is also possible to cast Fire Breath shout at Ancano if this bug occurs and he will take damage. After defeating him Tolfdir will stand back up (Xbox 360).
 * Once you got the Staff of Magnus and use it to break the ward Ancano made, the ward will disappear but you cannot go enter the college. The only way to fix this is to reload the last save.
 * If the Staff of Magnus runs out of charges during the battle, using the Sparks spell will also close the Eye. It's unknown whether this is a glitch or intentional. (Tolfdir uses Sparks to close the Eye in Sarthaal).
 * There is a PC bug where, no matter how long you wait outside the Hall and re-enter, Quaranir never appears, and Tolfdir continually repeats his line. To fix this, use the player.placeatme command and Quaranir's reference ID (0002ba3c) to make Quaranir appear. This will cause the rest of the quest to proceed as normal.
 * If you dismiss your companion after entering the Hall of the Elements, they may then attack Acano of their own accord. This can lead to a disruption of the normally scripted sequence of conversation and actions, although may not have any impact on your ability to complete the quest.
 * Sometimes if you enter the college after obtaining the staff, Ancano will not be there. The only known fix at this time would be to start from a save before you enter Winterhold.
 * If the Staff does not work on the eye, leave the college, and try again. The eye should be open.
 * When you are fighting Ancano he will sometimes just sit there and do nothing, and he will be invincible. To fix this just fast travel to Winterhold and he should be unfrozen.