Illusion (Skyrim)

"You're the one that casts those illusions. Impressive."

- Hold Guard

Illusion is one of the six skills that fall under The Mage play-style. Targeted Illusion spells include Calm, Frenzy, Fear, or Courage and spells cast on one's self such as Invisibility. Casting Illusion spells raise the corresponding skill. Casting Illusion spells consumes Magicka. The effectiveness of Illusion spells depends on the caster's skill and the foe's resistance to the spells or spells in general. Some beings are entirely immune to Illusion magic. Only one race begins the game with an Illusion spell; an Altmer Dragonborn, with the rage-inducing spell Fury. Those of meri blood excel at Illusion and begin the game with increased ranks in the skill. Altmer begin with 25, while Bretons and Dunmeri individuals begin with 20.

Illusion can be advanced by casting spells governed by the school, by reading books associated with the topic, performing certain quests or services for others, or by employing a teacher proficient in the field such as Drevis Neloren, a professor of Illusion at the College of Winterhold. Illusion is used to avoid confrontations with law enforcement or hostile beings, evade battles, and also buy time in battle for further maneuvering. This magic group is more commonly used by the stealthy characters in Skyrim.

Changes from previous game ()
Light (Magelight and Candlelight) and Paralyze have been moved to the Alteration school. Command Daedra is now the only command type spell and is in the conjuration school. Fear has replaced Demoralize but both have the same effect.

Nighteye is now only a racial power of the Khajiit.

Charm, Silence and Chameleon are entirely absent.

Skill Books
The Daedric artifact Oghma Infinium raises Illusion and all other magicka-based skills by 5, if the "path of the Mage" is taken.
 * 2920, Sun's Dawn, v.2
 * Before the Ages of Man
 * Incident at Necrom
 * Mystery of Talara, Part 4
 * The Black Arts on Trial

Quests

 * Defeat the Master Vampire for Sybille Stentor in Solitude.
 * Find Pantea's Flute for Pantea Ateia in the Bards College in Solitude to raise Illusion and all other magicka-based skills.

Spells
The following is a complete list of Illusion spells:

Master (skill level 100)
Master spells cannot be purchased initially. To unlock Master Illusion spells, the Illusion Ritual Spell quest must be completed upon reaching level 100 Illusion.

Starting spells
Altmer start the game with Fury.

Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up:

Trainers

 * Atub (Expert): Largashbur in the Rift.
 * Drevis Neloren (Master): College of Winterhold.

Where to practice

 * The Muffle spell, which can be obtained at the beginning of the game from Farengar Secret-Fire, can be continually cast to level up the Illusion skill. This allows for extremely fast leveling, with minimal effort required.
 * Once Animage is obtained, the player can just cast buffs like Calm and Courage on the Cow that's sitting in the pen in Whiterun. This technique works in the Labyrinthian Tribune, using the infinite magicka trick after the fight with Morokei.
 * Calm can be cast alternately with Fear or Fury to level up Illusion.
 * One way to quickly level Illusion is to exploit the Magicka Regen bonus instilled by the Mystic Tuning Gloves Drevis Neloren relinquishes for fixing the focal points at the College of Winterhold. With those, Muffle can be infinitely dual-cast due to the virtually instantaneous rate at which magicka regenerates. The bonus expires in two real-time hours.
 * Casting spells like Pacify, Rally, and Courage on the Jarls in the basement of the Blue Palace, or any other group of essential characters.
 * In the College of Winterhold, cast Illusion Spells like Pacify and Rally on Nirya. Almost all Illusion Spells can be cast on her because of her weak level.
 * Use the spell Harmony, set the difficulty to Legendary, and have gear that reduces the cost of Illusion spells to 0. Cast Harmony in a heavily populated area and go from 15 skill to 100 from casting the spell about 9 times. 50 levels can be gained in approximately one hour using this method. Guards threaten the caster for using Harmony, but no authoritative action is taken and no bounty accrued.
 * Casting Courage on any NPC repeatedly is a very fast way to level the skill. Or, if in a crowded area (such as Whiterun during the daytime), casting Courage on all NPCs in the area is an effective and easy way to level the skill.

Combination with other schools

 * Combine Illusion with Conjuration to let others do the fighting, instead. A player with decent levels in both skill trees can clear a dungeon without personally killing a single enemy. It is especially fun to observe the effect of Fear on the enemy attacked by conjured beings.
 * A high level in Illusion can make a high level in Restoration obsolete. The use of powerful charm spells opens the opportunity to restore health using lower level spells. Turn undead spells are not as effective as Illusion with the right perks (i.e., Master of the Mind).

Stealth usage

 * Players using Invisibility and Muffle in conjunction with Sneak can become completely undetectable.
 * Illusion and Sneak, with the right perks (i.e., Hypnotic Gaze, Kindred Mage, Quiet Casting), can permit those enemies not invulnerable to Illusion to be calmed. When an enemy is calmed, it returns to its original location, thus rendering it vulnerable to back-stabbing, charm, theft, or evasion.
 * In addition to using Calm to sneak-attack enemies, the expert-level Illusion spell Invisibility, combined with the Sneak perk Shadow Warrior, can be used to escape almost any enemy temporarily. While in combat, cast Invisibility, flee, and crouch to activate Shadow Warrior just before leaving the enemy's line of sight. This works well when casting Frenzy spells or when accompanied by allies.
 * Casting Frenzy automatically breaks stealth; detection goes from Hidden to fully Detected. The perk "Quiet Casting" does not prevent detection like it does for Fury.
 * Any spell that generates light (i.e. Candlelight) increases the chance of detection, even while sneaking. Magelight may be less revealing, since it creates light but "attaches" to the ground rather than following the caster around and revealing their position.
 * Vampirism increases stealth by 25% and the power of Illusion spells by 25%.

Usefulness of Illusion spells

 * Invisibility is invariably useful for thieves. Casting the spell will allow the player to steal any item at will. However, this causes the invisible effect to end, requiring the player to use the spell multiple times to steal more than one item. The spell can also help with pickpocketing, as being hidden allows for greater chances to successfully steal items.
 * Calm, Fury, and Courage spells can be useful for hunting skittish prey.
 * When cast on a horse, Rally and Courage increases their stamina, allowing them to sprint much longer.
 * Wards block Illusion spells.
 * Calm spells are useful for avoiding confrontations, as a stall tactic, or to perform back-stabs.
 * Fury spells cause the target to attack friends and foes alike indiscriminately, potentially causing all actors within the area of the spell to attack each other—sometimes until death. The caster can be damaged in the commotion. Casting Invisibility then retreating can prevent this.
 * Courage spells can be used to prevent fleeing foes from fleeing and drawing additional allies into battle to assist it.
 * Fear spells can be used to escape or buy time in a fight.
 * Muffle allows silent-moving, regardless of whether the Sneaking skill is active.
 * Invisibility renders to caster completely transparent to all beings not possessing magical sight enhancement such as Detect Life. Others can detect the caster if the caster is moving quickly, thus creating noise, if they are carrying a torch or using an illumination spell such as Candlelight, or if the caster comes in close proximity to another. Casting Muffle beforehand, or combining it with stealth, can help reduce the chances of being detected.
 * Combined with the Illusion perk "Quiet Casting," projectile spells can be used for misdirection by targeting areas you want the enemy to move toward.

Trivia

 * When casting spells such as Courage or Calm, those that are affected may be heard saying, "Hey, I didn't ask you to magic me."
 * Dual Casting can make most Illusion spells more powerful than Master Illusion spells.
 * Despite not doing any actual damage, most Illusion spells can kill Hawks, Bone Hawks, Felsaad Terns, Birds and Salmon in a single hit.
 * Using Illusion spells (such as Courage) on Roggvir before he is executed in Solitude may cause him to attack the guards who will in turn attack the player despite the action not generating hold bounty.
 * Illusion spells are seen as the least used spell type in Skyrim (by NPCs).
 * In a loading screen quote about Illusion, it mentions that Illusion is used to cast "Charm," though this spell does not make an appearance in.

Appearances


Iluzja Иллюзия (Skyrim) Illusion Ilusión (Skyrim)