Hints and Tips

Enchanting and Spell Casting Tips


There are many different kinds of spell, nearly all of which can be used in enchantments.  So here are some ideas for useful and effective enchantments and spells for you to create in the spell maker and enchantment process. Most of these are equally useful in either, although if you can cast the spell, you have another option for levelling your magic skills.

Intervention Spells, plus mark and recall:
If you have mysticism anywhere above 20, or the ability to imbue these effects into items, these are vital abilities. They let you mark your house, quest giver or stronghold for easy returning after an adventure, and can be used to transport extra loot. If you are in a dungeon and can't carry any more back to town, mark the dungeon, then use Almsivi or Divine Intervention to get back to town, dump your stuff, then recall back to the rest of the treasure.

Chameleon and Invisibility:
Note that classic constant effect invisibility items are pointless because you have to reequip after every action. If you can combine enough items to give you 100% chameleon, then you will be almost invulnerable, but will find talking to NPCs difficult unless you remove your gear. For a similar effect, try enchanting a weapon so that it casts chameleon 80+% on you when it strikes. This will stop your enemy fighting back, and will let you get an easy critical strike on your next attack. The duration only needs to be a few seconds.

For theft, I recommend five second invisibility spells for picking up items from under people's noses, and five second 100% chameleon for taking books or items from containers.

Healing Spells:
Healing spells are very useful between fights, but if you need a quick fix, you are better off with a potion., since the time delay between magic and weapon in combat will get you stunned very quickly. Restore attribute spells are useful as well, particularly for strength, since damage strength spells can render you immobile if you end up fighting a bonewalker or wizard. Long term healing spells are good if you expect to enter a hard fight, since they can keep you alive without having to be recast all the time. I recommend as many points as your skill allows for about 15-20 seconds. Few fights will last longer.

Constant effect restore health is a valuable effect, since only a few points will keep you alive for a long time. The pre-patch robe of St Roris made you more or less invincible with its 15 pt constant heal. Combine some rings and a shield to try and equal this power and you will become very strong.

Fortify Attribute:
I only really recommend these for constant effect. A few in strength or agility before a fight, maybe, but these really come into their own as constant effects. Strength, intelligence, personality and speed are all good choices since they give a visible effect. I favour the first two particularly since they give you a higher maximum encumbrance and more spell points, respectively.

Paralyse:
A one or two second paralyse on your main weapon is useful, but I only advise longer spells for preliminary strike weapons (hit with paralyse dagger then switch to main weapon, for example) or spells to use at the start of fights. Don't use these on enemies with reflect abilities, because they are fairly deadly if you end up immobile. Incidentally, cure paralysis scrolls are the least useful item in the game. The potions, on the other hand, come in very handy.

Calm, Charm and Frenzy:
These can be useful for pacifying hostile foes such as the master of enchantment. Charm spells are indispensable because they are permanent. Always set their duration to 1 for the lowest cost, and you can make every merchant or disgruntled quest target love you for ever. Frenzy and charm together can let you finish almost any quest either avoiding combat or making sure that you get no bounty if the worst comes to the worst. 100 point frenzy spells are also very cheap.

Soul Trap:
Very cheap and useful. Either a minute on touch or a minute with a small area at range. I always give spells a small area because I find targeting the target at range spells rather tough. If you plan on enchanting, but don't have a reliable mysticism skill, build a soul trap amulet.

The Movement Spells:
Levitate is invaluable for several reasons. Firstly, you can use it to place yourself where melee only foes cannot reach you. Secondly, it is generally useful for navigating mountains and tall buildings like Vivec cantons or Telvanni towers. Thirdly, it almost completely replaces slowfall - a one second levitate spell just before you hit the ground will reduce your velocity to zero, enabling a safe landing from massive jumps. Note that your speed and the magnitude of the spell determine how rapidly you can fly.

Jump itself is probably the best fast travel method around. 100 point jump spells are fairly lethal at low levels, but later on they can transport you great distances very quickly, particularly with a good speed attribute. Fifty pointers are good for short distances, and so on. Rings with constant effect jumps can give you a good boost to speed over short distances. Combine with slowfall or levitate when you start coming in to land.

Water walking makes irritating Slaughterfish filled journeys much quicker and easier. Water breathing can be useful if you know you will be exploring underwater, but there are only a few worthwhile locations for aquatic adventures. Swift swim is fairly pointless.

Sanctuary:
This spell effect gives you a percentage chance of avoiding any blow. Thus, if you reach 100 point sanctuary, you cannot be struck in melee combat. Fitting all your armour and clothing with sanctuary constant effects can make you extremely dangerous in battle. The Thief birthsign gives you an extra ten points for this.