Illusion (Skyrim)

''The School of Illusion involves manipulating the mind of the enemy. This skill makes it easier to cast spells like Fear, Charm, and Invisibility.''

 "You are the one casts those illusions. Impressive."

Illusion is a skill in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Illusion is one of the 6 skills that fall under The Mage play-style. Illusion skill is raised by the use of certain kinds of spells that the in-game character can use; these spells will identify themselves as Illusion spells and will generally focus on manipulation of NPCs.

Illusion spells that have appeared in past games include targeted spells such as charm, calm, frenzy, silence, demoralize, command or rally and spells cast on one's self such as invisibility, chameleon, light or night-eye.

Governing Guardian Stone: The Mage

Books and Quests
The following Miscellaneous Quest increases the Illusion Skill:
 * 2920, Sun's Dawn, v2
 * Before the Ages of Man
 * Incident at Necrom
 * Mystery of Talara, Part 4
 * The Black Arts on Trial
 * Defeat the Master Vampite for Sybille Stentor in Solitude


 * Retreive Pantea's Flute for Pantea Ateia in the Bards College in Solitude (Note: also increases Alteration, Enchanting, Conjuration, Destruction and Restoration)

Illusion Spells
The following are the spells that are governed by the Illusion class of magic * Special Spells

Note: Master Spells can't be bought in Winterhold College or any shops initially. To get Master Illusion spells, you must reach 90 Illusion magic and complete the Illusion Ritual Spell quest starting with Drevis Neloren, at The College of Winterhold.

Illusion Starting Spells
The following are confirmed Illusion spells that the character can start with if the correct race is selected:
 * High Elves begin 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): The College of Winterhold.

Tips & Tricks
Illusion is often overlooked because it is associated with staying out of combat, the opposite of what most players want. Illusion can be compared to the crowd control spells in other games. Here are some tips to bring the illusion skill to its full potential.


 * Illusion and Sneak: with the right perks (Hypnotic Gaze; Kindered Mage) in Illusion, you will be able to calm almost any enemy not immune to Illusion magic. When you calm an enemy, it will return its original location, thus turning its back to you. This allows you to sneak behind and backstab. Charm, backstab, charm, backstab.


 * Fury and frenzy: if you can cast fury on one enemy before you are noticed by others, all enemies will attack the one you targetted. Probably because they see their raged friend as a danger.


 * Fear spells can be very dangerous in dungeons. A scared enemy will run away until it hits a closed door. This will trigger/wake all enemies on its path. When the fear effect ends, the enemy will return to you, bringing along all other enemies. This can be a problem for low level players. Players with a high level in Illusion can counter this with a well placed Frenzy spell.


 * Combine Illusion with Conjuration to let others do the fighting for you! A player with decent levels in both skill trees can clear a dungeon without killing a single enemy him/herself.


 * When fighting one or two strong enemies, you can use charm to stop one fighting, allowing you to focus on one enemy at a time. Or charm both and use the 30 seconds to heal or let your magicka recharge.


 * A high level in Illusion can make a high level in Restoration obsolete. The use of powerful charm spells will give you enough time to heal with lower level spells. Turn undead spells are not as effective as Illusion with the right perks (Master of the Mind).
 * An easy way to power level illusion is to cast courage on heimskr in whiterun. He stands in one place so you can just wait when your magicka runs out.
 * An alternative leveling method for illusion is casting muffle. It can be cast anywhere at anytime.