Skyrim Conjuration Guide

Conjuration Spells List, Perks, Summons and Dead Thralls

By Leto Kersten

Conjuration is the art of summoning or resurrecting people to fight for you or work as a living shields. With Dead Thralls Conjurers can resurrect a dead NPC permanently. Not only can they be given gear to upgrade their damage, they also function as extra pack mules that can carry an unlimited amount of goodies. By raising the dead or summoning Atronachs, conjuruers can turn the tide of battle in a second. They can also conjure powerful bound weapons that can deal very respectable damage without the carry weight of a real weapon. This magic school also features the Soul Trap spell that allows you to fill soul gems to enchant your equipment or recharge magical weapons.

Be aware that playing with the dead is not appreciated by most common town folk and they often will call you out on that by saying things like: "That spell looks dangerous. Keep your distance" while you're walking through town with a Dead Thrall (or two).

Benefits of Training Conjuration
This school is mostly based on letting others fight for you, be it summoned Atronachs or risen zombies. Also, especially in the beginning of the game, some players use Bound Sword, Bound Battleaxe or Bound Bow in combat. The benefit of these weapons is that they don't have a carry weight, and the bow even gets free arrows while active. The conjured weapons are stronger than most that can be found in the beginning of the game.

The most powerful spell in Conjuration is with no doubt Dead Thrall, which can bring back one zombie permanently (two if you've invested in the Twin Souls perk), until it dies at which point you can bring it back again. And again. So long as they aren't disintegrated by lightning, there is no limit on how many times you can bring someone back. If you do not want to tinker with the dead, you can also learn spells to summon permanent Atronachs in the form of the Flame, Frost, and Storm Thrall spells. These cannot be outfitted with gear or used as pack mules, but are highly disposable so have their own advantages.

Raising the Conjuration Skill
Because Conjuration can be easily trained, it can be used like a few other skills to level up your character - even if it's just to have more perk points to spend on other things. Whenever you summon a bound weapon or a dead body to the land of the living, you are training Conjuration. In order to get experience for summoning creatures you need to be in combat, however. In addition to the initial cast experience, you will get a little experience for any damage your summoned creatures do. Leveling strictly through combat might take a while, so if you want to speed up the process I'd advise you to cast Soul Trap on a dead body repeatedly while using the blessing of the Mage Stone. You can push this further by applying four +25% Fortify Conjuration enchants to your equipment to cast the spell without having to wait for your Magicka pool to replenish. If mana's a problem, cast then wait over and over again to raise the skill.

Finding Conjuration Spell Books and Master-Level Spells
Conjuration spells can be found as loot like most others. Some races, like the Wood Elf and Breton start with the spell Summon Familiar right from the start of the game. Calcelmo from Markarth or Falion from Morthal can both teach you conjuration, but the master is Phinis Gestor from the College of Winterhold, who can teach you the highest level spells with a quest at level 90. Afterward, he will sell the rest of the Master spells - so check back! Almost all other mages who sell a variety of spells will sell Conjuration spellbooks as well. Look inside Jarl Houses. Most of them have a court wizard who can sell you a book or two.

The Dead Thrall Spell
This spell earns a special note as being one of the best Master level Conjuration spells: it will reanimate a dead body to fight for you constantly, although it only works on people. It can be purchased from Phinis Gestor at the College of Winterhold after completing the quest Conjuration Ritual Spell.

A Dead Thrall will use any weapon you give them, no matter what enchantment that particular weapon has. Depending on their skills when they were living some work better with swords and others with bows. It might be obvious that a Dead Thrall mage doesn't need a weapon though they may fight with one if you give it to them.

To change the weapons (and armor) of a Dead Thrall they must be killed again. Either kill them or summon another creature to let them die, and you can search their bodies for the armor you want to enchant or smith to a higher quality. Unlike followers, a Dead Thrall will benefit from most enchantments you give them.

Be aware, however, that Dead Thralls only use armor or clothing they used while living. That means that placing your own overpowered Daedric Armor has no effect if your Thrall wasn't equipped with one while being alive. That said, they will only accept that particular armor they were wearing and nothing else. Because of the way Skyrim is coded, they do see the difference between their own orcish armor and the one you're giving them. Because of that it is a good idea to change the name of the armor when enchanting it to something which includes the name of the Dead Thrall.

Depending on your thrall you still have a limited amount of armor your thrall can choose from. There is a trick to determine which armor they have, which can also be used to reset their gear if you lose something or need to put more powerful enchants on it. Go inside one of your houses and kill the Dead Thrall, loot his body and bring him back to life. Then, when you enter a new area (go outside) your naked Thrall will have generated a new outfit. You can kill him again and repeat the process before going back into the house (entering a new area again) to see what more he loaded. Mages will come with a different amount of robes which are already enchanted, so it is up to you which one they might put to best use. If a Thrall is then loaded with gear, he can wear it so you can outfit him in the best possible gear this way.

Whenever you have upgraded or enchanted the armor and weapons of your thrall, simply kill them again, loot their bodies, and place the new gear into the corpse. When risen again, their improved armoury should be equipped. Doing this, you also can use your thralls to be another pack mule for you as they cannot be overencumbered. When they die, they will have what they were carrying so can be resurrected after you store or sell the gear from their body.

If you have the perk Twin Souls you can have two Dead Thralls to fight at your side. Thrall the best enemies and equip them with their best upgraded armor while healing them from a distance in battle. This can provide you with the ultimate living shields in game.

It is also possible to start your own little army be using the follower glitch to have 4 followers (three if you've killed Cicero during the Dark Brotherhood quest line), 2 Dead Thralls, one horse and one dog with all (except the animals) wearing your equipped armor and weapons. You will find yourself having more time in dungeons searching for treasure while your "Army of Destruction" is cleaning out the room for you. Be aware that it can become pretty crowded in small rooms and you might find yourself having a Thrall (or two) blocking the entrance to the next. Ancient Dragons can be slain in seconds this way. This might make the game too easy for you even on Master Difficulty.

It is worth noting that the chance of bringing someone back to life in some cases depends on your level. This mainly applies to named NPCs. For example, if you are below level 30 and have just finished the Civil War quest line on the Imperial side, you can Dead Thrall Ulfric Stormcloack, and he will use his shouts during battle and talk as though he is alive. He can't be thralled again after you've passed level 30, as it will say he is too powerful.

Some unique characters such as Ulfric and Cicero can be looted for their unique outfits over and over using the noted strategy above to regenerate their outfit. That is one easy money maker.

Skyrim Conjuration Spell List

Here is a list of all the Conjuration spells in Skyrim by type, from least to most difficult. Please note Magicka cost is base. That is, what the spell would cost if you were casting it at lowest level without any perk for that spell rank (ie Expert Conjuration Perk).

The spells at any magic vendor are based on your Conjuration level, so if you want Adept or Expert spells get closer to Conjuration 50 or 75. Vendors restock every two days or so on average. Anything Expert or above must come from Phinis Gestor at the College of Winterhold.

Atronachs can be handy when you are facing something weak to any of these elements. The most common weakness is Fire, given the game has frost dragons, frost trolls, etc. Not many opponents are weak to cold, but I summon the Frost Atronach when I need a tank. Storm Atronachs are only strong against things like Dwemer machines, but they are not usually resisted.

The Necromage Perk from Restoration will make your raised NPCs 25% higher level, which can make them stronger than they were originally!

To dispel all bound weapons, sheathe them. The Daedra spells work on Flame, Frost and Storm Atronachs you encounter which when summoned by an enemy can still yield loot.

Skyrim Conjuration Skill Perks

To fill up this tree to the max the Dragonborn needs to invest 16 points, but depending on your build you may not need them all. For example: to 'just' be able to use Death Thralls all you need to do is spend 4 points in this tree from Novice Conjuration through Necromancy and Dark Souls up to Twin Souls. With the right enchantments, this spell can be cast for free as well.

Just like any other magical school Conjuration has five specific perks that can be used to cast Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert and Master spells for half Magicka. If you need this depends on your build, and on if you are willing to use enchantments on your characters clothing instead to cast Conjuration spells for nothing.

Below are the names of the Perks, the descriptions the game gives them and what they do for your character.

Conjuration Dual Casting
(level 20 Conjuration Magic required)
Dual casting a Conjuration spell overcharges the effect, allowing it to last longer. This is great for everything you will summon, be it creatures or weapons. You will get a much longer duration out of most of your spells. Summoning for a regular fight, you might want to single cast if you have no means to heal your summoned creature. Being a Necromage Vampire (see Restoration guide) overcharges this effect even more.

Mystic Binding
(level 20 Conjuration Magic required)
Bound weapons do more damage. In the early game this might be a very good perk to invest in. The Bound Bow can be used to take an early step into the Bow Conjurer strategy, but be aware that depending on the perks invested in Archery and smithing, eventually real bows can do more damage. That doesn't mean you couldn't be perfectly successful sticking with Bound Weapons for most if not all of your gameplay.

Soul Stealer
(level 30 Conjuration Magic required)
Bound Weapons cast Soul Trap on targets. Once again, effective as a Bow Conjurer. You shoot the target whose soul you'd like to collect (you need to have empty Soul Gems of sufficient size) and your minions will take care of the rest. Despite the enchantment and spell that also traps souls, the effect from this weapon doesn't seem to have a duration and lasts until the target's demise.

Oblivion Binding
(level 50 Conjuration Magic required)
Bound weapons will banish summoned creatures and turn raised ones. This perk is very useful when facing another Conjurer but you do not face them that often, so most builds can skip this.

Summoner (2 ranks)
(level 30/70 Conjuration Magic required)
Can summon Atronachs or raise undead (twice/three times) as far away. Handy for the sneaky Conjurer. Just hide in a corner and do your job.

Atromancy
(level 40 Conjuration Magic required)
Double duration for conjured Atronachs. Not that useful except as a prerequisite for Elemental Potency and Twin Souls.

Elemental Potency
(level 80 Conjuration Magic required)
Conjured Atronachs are 50% more powerful. Does exactly what the description says and is quite helpful for keeping Atronachs useful later into the game.

Necromancy
(level 40 Conjuration Magic required)
Greater duration for reanimated undead. Raised undead will last longer.

Dark Souls
(level 70 Conjuration Magic required)
Reanimated undead has 100 points more health. This bonus is lost when you use enchanted items on Dead Thralls. Since those are permanent anyway, you do not really need this perk or the double duration for Necromancy late into the game. Consider whether you need these to help you level. Having stronger Atronachs to do extra elemental damage when leveling is likely more useful as they do not require dead bodies.

Twin Souls
(level 100 Conjuration Magic required)
You can have two Atronachs or Two reanimated zombies. That is exactly what makes the Dead Thrall spell double its value, literarily. It's worth noting that this spell does affect the Conjure Dremora Lord spell, so you can use it along with your Atronachs or Thralls.

Conjuration Battle Strategies

Conjurer: The Conjurer uses his minions to fight for him and uses them as his pack mules. He often has Perks invested in Sneak as well to backstab the enemy from behind when they have no time spending attention to him. Or, he uses his minions to avoid combat all together. Know that for a Pacifist, Conjuration is not an option, as everything your minions kill does count to your Combat list.

Bow Conjurer: The strategy of doing a lot of damage and receiving less or even none of it. The Bow Conjurer is just like the average conjurer but, like the name implies, he will shoot the enemy with arrows from afar. What makes this even better: the Bound Bow does benefit from perks and levels from both the Archery skill as well as the Sneak skill and can turn a Bow Conjurer who is hard to reach into a very difficult opponent. Especially if he's constantly sneaking away with Muffle and Invisibility spells. At a high level the usefulness of the Bound Bow can even outride that of a Legendary Daedric Bow, though it will not be enchantable. The perks (see above) for bound weapons can make up for this for most Bow Conjurers.

Supporter: The Supporter is like a monk or healer himself, who constantly heals his (often tank) thralls during battle. Wearing armor that reaches the Armor Cap,and having a lot of health and enchantments to reduce Magicka cost for Restoration is recommended.

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