Bound Sword (Skyrim)

Bound Sword
School of Magicka	Conjuration
Skill Level	Novice (0)
Effect	Creates a magic sword for 120 seconds. Sheathe it to dispel.
Spell Tome	Purchased Randomized loot
Tome ID	0009E2A9
ID	0001CE9F

For use in other games, see Bound Sword.

Bound Sword is a Novice-level Conjuration spell in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. When activated, an ethereal version of the Daedric Sword appears in the hand the spell was cast from (the overcharged version appears by default in the right hand). Sheathing dispels the Bound Sword, and other Bound items. Finishing moves may be performed with Bound Swords equipped. All bound weapons may be Poisoned and one-handed bound weapons may also be dual wielded, but they are not affected by the Elemental Fury shout.

Base damage

This weapon has a base damage of 9 without any perks, and a base damage of 14 when the Conjuration level 20 perk, "Mystic Binding", has been applied.

Skills

Casting the Bound Sword spell levels Conjuration, while landing successful blows with the weapon increases One-Handed. Thus, Conjuration governs the magicka cost of the spell, and One-Handed governs the damage of the weapon. Apparel enchanted with "Fortify One-Handed" increases the bound sword's damage, as it would with any physical one-handed sword.

Perks

• Soul Stealer - all bound weapons instantly Soul Trap enemies killed with them, if the Dragonborn has a large enough Soul Gem in their inventory.
• Oblivion Binding - banishes any summoned creature and turns any raised ones.
• Mystic Binding - increases the damage of all bound weapons.
• The Bound Sword is also affected by all One-Handed perks.
• Casting Bound Sword creates noise, which may cause the detection of the player while Sneaking. This can be resolved by learning the "Quiet Casting" perk.

Spell Tome

Attributes

• Weight: 1
• Value: 49
• See Spell Tome for a complete table of spell tomes, their descriptions, and their values.

Acquisition

• Phinis Gestor sells this spell at the College of Winterhold after the Dragonborn reaches Conjuration level 25.
• On a table in front of the Bandit Chief at Treva's Watch.
• Falion in Morthal. (do note that you might encounter a bug in which Falion sees you as a thief upon entering his house/shop)
• Any court-wizard in the major cities of Skyrim.

Usefulness

The appearance of a Bound Sword.

Mages who cannot accommodate for the weight of an offensive weapon may select the Bound Sword for instances when melee combat is more appropriate than spells or when the mage's magicka has expired.

With the "Soul Stealer" perk unlocked, Bound Swords automatically cast Soul Trap on foes. Because of this, characters who desire to make use of enchanting and need to fill soul gems quickly might find using Bound Sword advantageous.

It's also extremely powerful for low level players, as the casting cost is lower than 100, the Novice Conjuration perk has no prerequisites, and "Mystic Binding" can be attained in at most 5 skill levels.

As a spell, it can also be smuggled into areas where weapons are not supposed to be available, such as jail, Cidhna Mine, and the Thalmor Embassy. This is true for the other bound weapons, but the sword's availability to any profession means it's perfect for just these instances. Bound weapons also cannot be disarmed by a shout.

Trivia

• Thalmor Soldiers and Falmer favor this spell.
• When approaching some friendly characters with a Bound Sword equipped some people react to it and make positive remarks, such as, "Ooh, such pretty colors." and, "Beautiful!." Guards are unimpressed, though.
• When Dual Cast with Conjuration Dual Casting, the spell only summons one sword for an extra amount of time. It appears in the left hand, with the right hand still equipped with the spell. Pressing the buttons one after the other, instead of at the same time, can remedy this and equip both at the same time, but with no extended time.
• It is not necessary to do damage with the bound sword in order to level up Conjuration. As long as an aware enemy is near, Conjuration gains skill points. The spell can be cast many times in order to level up Conjuration quickly.
• The Bound Sword, like other Bound Weapons, appears to lose its solid purple aura as the spells time limit is soon to expire.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to Bound Sword (Skyrim). Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following: Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.

• Sometimes the blade does not appear, but it can be swung and deals damage.
• The above glitch not only happens from casting, but from drawing from a save in which the sword was equipped. Upon loading, the sword will be invisible.
• The appearance of the sword may delay or come too quickly. The sound effect may also be delayed or come too quickly, or even not at all.
•  PC   May crash to desktop when cast in right hand. Fix: Use resurrect console command on yourself. You will lose all your active effects. Add them again with console commands and re-equip all items.
•  360   If the player is hit by an Unrelenting Force shout while casting, the sword may generate the wrong way round in the animation of the player getting knocked back.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim