The Staff of Magnus (Skyrim)

Labyrinthian
It is strongly recommended to first get some shock resistant armor before arriving as the boss uses very powerful shock magic and can summon a Storm Atronach. Note in Savos Aren's room there is a pair of 40% shock resistant boots next to his bed. Upon arriving at the Labyrinthian, the staircase to the right leads to a large stone door. Opening this door requires the Torq of Labyrinthian obtained from Savos Aren's death.

Here you see what appears to be a remnant memory of the place. You can see the mages of the college all discussing entering the Labyrinthian. One of the mages is a young Savos Aren. Note, on the right side of the foyer inside the entrance, there is a randomly generated spell tome. Known Spell Tomes: Detect Life, Ironflesh, Telekinesis, Waterbreathing, Equilibrium. After watching them talk, go into the next room, where you will see a lever and iron bars. On the other side are several skeletons and a Skeletal Dragon (note, this dragon does not have a soul to absorb).
 * For an easy way to defeat the skeletons and the dragon, pick them off through the gate while kneeling with a destruction spell. When you have defeated enough skeletons to pass through with out much of a fight, use the unrelenting force shout to attract the dragon. It will approach the gate and try to breathe on you, but it will not pass through the gate. You can pick it off with a destruction spell or arrows.
 * If you are having trouble with this section, pull the lever, but do not go through to doorway. The fence will eventually close, but you can cast a few spells before it does. This makes for an extremely easy fight where you will likely take no damage.
 * For Conjurers, the EASIEST way to finish this fight is to conjure an Atronach, pull the lever, and let it inside without actually going in. After it finishes off all the skeletons you can go in. Only when you enter the dragon will spawn and you can kill it. It is much easier to kill than regular dragons if you don't go too close to it. This is much easier and you will take no damage and when your conjured follower dies/expires, you can just re-cast another. Even at point blank range, the Skeletal Dragon's Breath does nothing. (However, if there are other attacking creatures, your follower will not kill it when it yields, so you must perform the final blow or it will regain full health.)
 * For Sneak/Archers, you can sneak to the rocks on the left side of the room and hide between stairs and a rock. If you have high skill/perks, you can 1 hit skeletons one by one and takes about 5 hits for the dragon without being detected.
 * Speak to J'zargo (a fellow apprentice mage) at Winterhold. He will give you 10 Flame-Cloak Scrolls (J'zargo's Experiment Quest) that can kill every skeleton and the Skeletal Dragon very easily.

After this room is another vision, describing their encounter with the dragon the first time around. Standing in the hall is an Etched Tablet which reads:

"Hail All - Brave City Bromjunaar Forever These Walls Shall Stand May Enemies See Her Majesty May all Quake to Behold Her"

The next room holds a frozen door and two guardians. A voice speaks to you before entering the room, which drains you of all your magicka, out of the frozen door comes a frost spirit that will attack you. To pass, you must melt the door with Flames. Despite all races starting with this spell, there is a book to teach you it in the same room.

Down the path a little ways is a room guarded by two Draugr Wights or a troll depending on your level. A Door sealed with a Lightning Rune lies behind them. This rune does approximately 100 points of lightning damage, and wards do not protect against any of it. However, an enemy can open the door from the other side and not set off the rune—shoot an arrow against the door and a Draugr will investigate causing the rune to activate, so stand back. You can also cast Fireball on the door which will also cause the rune to activate, so again stand back.

In this room is a spell book for Equilibrium which turns 25 points of life into magicka per second. There is also an Alchemy Lab and an Arcane Enchanter, along with some supplies.

At the bottom lies a river. Follow it through several doors, defeating Draugr as you go. Partway along you should find four malachite ores in a shallow pool in a side area of one of the halls (You may need to kick them around until they become accessible).

There is a vertical shaft with a waterfall, and a grate partway up that you can look down through. If you open the grate, you can fire arrows or spells at the two Draugr at the bottom. When you make your way to the bottom, there is small deep pool containing a gold ore and some malachite ore.

You will eventually come to a room which has grated windows along one side, and a chest at the other end of the room. A troll waits in ambush on the way out. You may stand up at the grates and shoot at some of the skeletons with a ranged attack of choice that are in the next room.

The next room has another spell-power reducing gate, which is opened with a lever. Below the windows you previously looked through is two gold ore veins, although one is placed incorrectly and is inaccessible. The bridge in the middle of the room leads to a small side-cave that is the lair for a few more trolls and a chest.

Through the gate, there is a pathway to the left which takes you above to the battlements of the gateway. There is a chest and a skull up there. Continuing along, three wisps float around a fire and stones. They are non-hostile until you run past them. After defeating the Wispmother, continue to a door which is on fire. Use frost magic on the door, which may summon a Fire Spirit for you to defeat, to be able to continue - there is a Frostbite Tome and Scroll of Ice Spike near the door.

A small room here shows another vision of Savos Aren and his expedition. Ahead, a skeleton and some ghostly apparitions (a Draugr Wight and his pet Spectral Warhound) await you. Look carefully, as the Wight may drop Drainheart Sword or a simlilar item, as do most of the other spectral foes in theis dungeon. Your magicka will be drained as you go through that hallway, so it may be best to wait back and let them come to you, provided you have suitable ranged offensive capabilities.

In the next room, you will find two spectral foes, and a skeletal compatriot below them. In this room note there is a Gold ingot on the shelf, and a soul gem above it. The next door will again drain your magicka, and two spectral foes lie in wait beyond it. Next you will find the door to the Labyrinthian Tribune.

Labyrinthian Tribune
The Tribune is a tomb, with more spectral foes to defeat. Almost immediately you will come across a spell tome of Steadfast Ward. The next hallway contains runes and fireball and ice storm traps. The traps can be deactivated with anything that dislodges the soul gems powering them (e.g., arrows or a Fireball spell), or one can simply run in and take the gem before it fires. Destruction magic can also be used to set off the runes. A strong mage character can use a ward. or you can use the "Become Ethereal" shout and pick up the soul gems one by one.

At the end of the hallway, you find yourself in a tower of sorts. There are some alchamical ingredients in the higher floor, reached by exiting through the door and turning left, along with two chests and a malachite ore in a broken vase. Below the tower, in the pool, is a gold ore and a malachite ore.

At the next intersection, behind a locked (Adept) gate, is an enchanted sword, some potions, and the Ancient Helmet of the Unburned.

To the right, the Word of Power for Slow Time can be found after defeating a Draugr Deathlord. The Deathlord is dormant until you wake him, so a sneak attack can be very effective in ending the fight quickly. There is also a chest hidden on the right hand side of the room. Another hallway sontains a few foes and you are greeted at the far end with another vision of Savos and friends making a pact to stay until death... Seems like Savos chickened out!

At the end stands Morokei, the dragon priest, wielding The Staff of Magnus. To defeat him, you must first kill the enthralled Mages holding him in his bubble. Which, as you'll find out, are two colleagues of Savos Aren sacrificed to hold Morokei here. Then the fight against Morokei begins.

Fighting Morokei
He uses wards, shouts, and shock spells, but also has a spell which may convert summons or zombies against you, although he doesn't use it if player character is on lower levels or summoned creatures stay away from him or the creature was summoned using a scroll. If he has a line of sight on you he will not move, so as long as he can not hit you because of cover you can easily shoot him with arrows. As he has very strong magicka, he will be a tough fight up close, and ranged attacks are effective. It is suggested that the player use shock resistant armor as it can be higly effective, especially if your shock resistance is over 80%, as it makes the player nearly invulnerable to his lightning attacks. Most of the Draugr in the cavers leading up to the fight carry draining weapons, including drainspell weapons. If you can loot a drainspell bow off of one of the Draugr before the fight, it will help to reduce Morokei's effectiveness.

It is actually possible to sneak up on Morokei before he equips the staff. There is a glass mace in a chest at the back of the room behind the ruins that the mages are standing on. Take the mace because it does a lot of damage. Once you reach Morokei without being spotted, hit him with the mace, if possible push him back into the pool of water using unrelented force, he can't get out. Keep hitting him until you defeat him.

If you sneak attack the two mages keeping Morokei prisoner, but do not kill them, remaining hidden, they will stop imprisoning Morokei. This may seem like more competition, or danger, but it actually allows the player to attack Morokei without being attacked themselves. Morokei will face the player, but not attack. You can then use any ranged equipment (bows, magic, etc.) to attack Morokei until his death.

When entering the room, with a high enough sneak skill it is entirely possible to kill the two wizard thralls with one hit stealth attacks or bow, allowing you to remain hidden. If you do so, Morokei will not be aware of you. If you time it right, it is possible to not only kill him in 1, 2, or 3 hits (depending on weapon and skill), but it is also easy to go through the entire section without getting hit once. To do this, all you have to do is equip the Drainspell Bow, sneak under the bridge, and keep shooting him. This is time consuming, but this method will allow you to completely deplete his life while remaining hidden. (Confirmed) Stealth attacks can easily be performed from the staircase near the entrance to the room. Also, if you do not have any arrows you can go to the area on top and use the Ice Spike spell to kill him. They do a decent amount of damage each time if you use it on both hands at the same time. It is advised to save before attempting, as with all boss fights.

If you are a Breton, and/or have the Atronach perk from Alteration, this fight is much easier; Morokei relies entirely on spellcasting, and the magicka gained from his attacks is more than enough to keep your magicka bar full for self healing, as well as any follower you may be using.

It is possible to kill Morokei by trapping him in the large dip in the wall to the right of the door and repeatedly hit him with a two handed weapon, a Warhammer does this best. He will not be able to use his magic and can be finished relatively quickly.

Upon entry, procede up the steps where the first enthralled wizard will be. Kill him first, then procede up to the second wizard, and then kill him. Morokei will now be free, but if you stay at the top, he should just stand there and shoot spells at you. Now, simpaly use long range attacks to finish him off.

Upon leaving, you will see a memory of Savos Aren, despairing about sacrificing his friends to contain Morokei, and says he will seal the place away. Estormo, a Thalmor mage, attempts to kill you to retrieve the Staff of Magnus from you for Ancano.

Bugs

 * When beginning The Staff of Magnus quest, it is possible that the entire faculty of Winterhold will be stuck discussing The Eye of Magnus and it's adverse effects on the college, and you will not be able to complete any other quests until you complete The Staff of Magnus (Thieves' Guild quests are an exception).
 * When entering the Labyrinthian Thoroughfare, the game will crash upon hearing the ominous voice talk to you, after walking past the Novice-locked gate. Dropping all staff (except the Staff of Magnus) from your inventory seems to fix that bug.
 * The staff may not work on the Eye of Magnus to lower Ancano's shield. No known fix.
 * Solution: Open console, select the door and type 'disable'.
 * Cutscenes including Savos, may not include other characters: "Savos: we should continue" (another character's line is missing) "Savos: agreed we'll all stick together".
 * The ominous voice will sometimes not occur, the visuals will occur, the voice won't. No known fix.
 * Sometimes the scenes involving Savos and his companions will cease working all together for the rest of the dungeon.
 * When fighting the skeletal dragon the subtitles show that the dragon uses the power-word "Yol" for fire, but the actual attack is an ice attack.
 * When crouching at the entrance of with Morokei, there may be a bug where he does not see you if you are hidden and then runs up to you.
 * When you approach the college after defeating Morokei, the mages may be on the bridge, battling another Anomaly, which may fall down the hill, where it won't move and their attacks can't reach it. The quest tells you to speak to one of the mages, however, he cannot be spoken to while in combat. This can be easily fixed by defeating the anomaly yourself.
 * It is possible that you receive two Staff of Magnus when you loot Morokei though this is probably extremely rare
 * It is also possible that you won't even be able to loot the Staff of Magnus at all. Sometimes only the Morokei mask is on Morokei but no Staff of Magnus.
 * After exiting the room with The Eye Of Magnus a dragon may appear, and while fighting, kill Savos (knocking him off grid through the floor).
 * It is entirely possible to skip the battle between Estormo, a Thalmor mage. The game continues as normal and you just saved some time.
 * The Word of Power may not be available when approaching you can hear the chant and the ominous wind but no glowing words.
 * Sometimes if you kill the lower mage containing Morokei, he will glitch out of his bubble and float around the room while the upper mage still is casting the bubble.
 * If you kill one of the mages holding Morokei, the beam he emits will disappear and the other mage will still encase him. If you leave and come back to Morokei, there will be two beams again: one from the mage you left alive and one from the spot you killed the other. When you kill the second mage this time around to engage Morokei, his beam will disappear, but the other one won't. This shouldn't affect gameplay however as Morokei should be free to move after you kill the second mage.
 * When dealing woth the mages holding Morokei I got curious and pickpocketed him. He had nothing useful but when I left he said something along the lines of "I sense a presence." He went looking for me but gave up. He didn't return to holding back Morokei and when I killed the other mage Morokei never attacked me back. This makes for an easy fight, obviously, but it also takes away from the missions challenge, in my opinion. Just an FYI.