Restoration is the school of magic that keeps you alive. It covers healing spells, magical wards that block incoming spells, and holy magic that sends undead running. Every new character starts the game knowing Healing, so almost everyone touches this skill at some point. It belongs to the Magic category, so the Mage Stone speeds up its progress.
Health is the one resource no build can do without, which makes Restoration useful far beyond pure mages. Warriors use it to patch themselves up between swings, spellswords lean on its magicka regeneration, and vampire hunters love its sun and anti-undead spells. Its perk tree also hides some real gems, from faster magicka regeneration to Avoid Death, which quietly saves your life once a day.
How Restoration works
What Restoration covers
The school has three main families. Healing spells range from Healing and Fast Healing up to Close Wounds and Grand Healing, with Healing Hands and Heal Other for your followers. Wards (Lesser Ward, Steadfast Ward, Greater Ward) raise armor rating and negate a set amount of incoming spell damage. Finally, the anti-undead spells – Turn Undead, Circle of Protection and the master spells Guardian Circle and Bane of the Undead – make the dead flee. The Dawnguard expansion adds sun-damage spells such as Sun Fire and Vampire’s Bane.
How the skill rises
Restoration rewards useful casting. Healing only counts when it actually restores lost health, so casting it at full health does nothing for the skill. Wards count when they absorb damage. Circles are the exception: casting them gives experience even with no enemies around. Experience is based on the spell’s base power, not perk-boosted results.
Master spells
Master tomes are not on sale from the start. Once Restoration reaches 90, the Restoration Ritual Spell quest at the College of Winterhold unlocks them.
Restoration perk tree
The Restoration tree has 12 perks with 13 ranks in total. Required levels are the Restoration skill level needed for each rank.
| Perk | Ranks | Skill level | Requires | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Novice Restoration | 1 | 0 | – | Cast Novice level Restoration spells for half magicka. |
| Regeneration | 1 | 20 | Novice Restoration | Healing spells cure 50% more. |
| Restoration Dual Casting | 1 | 20 | Novice Restoration | Dual casting a Restoration spell overcharges the effects into an even more powerful version. |
| Apprentice Restoration | 1 | 25 | Novice Restoration | Cast Apprentice level Restoration spells for half magicka. |
| Recovery | 2 | 30 / 60 | Novice Restoration | Rank 1: Magicka regenerates 25% faster. Rank 2: Magicka regenerates 50% faster. |
| Respite | 1 | 40 | Novice Restoration | Healing spells also restore Stamina. |
| Adept Restoration | 1 | 50 | Apprentice Restoration | Cast Adept level Restoration spells for half magicka. |
| Ward Absorb | 1 | 60 | Novice Restoration | Wards recharge your magicka when hit with spells. |
| Necromage | 1 | 70 | Regeneration | All spells are more effective against undead. |
| Expert Restoration | 1 | 75 | Adept Restoration | Cast Expert level Restoration spells for half magicka. |
| Avoid Death | 1 | 90 | Recovery | Once a day, heals 250 points automatically if you fall below 10% health. |
| Master Restoration | 1 | 100 | Expert Restoration | Cast Master level Restoration spells for half magicka. |
Perk guide
The tree is wide rather than deep: almost every branch hangs directly off Novice Restoration, so you can cherry-pick. The cost-reduction chain – Novice, Apprentice (25), Adept (50), Expert (75) and Master Restoration (100) – halves the magicka cost of each tier. Novice and Apprentice are cheap wins for anyone who heals often; take the higher tiers only if you rely on those spells.
Regeneration (20) makes healing spells cure 50% more and is one of the best early perks for any healer. It leads to Necromage (70), which makes all your spells more effective against undead – an obvious pick for Dawnguard hunters. Respite (40) lets healing spells restore Stamina too, a great choice for warriors who heal between power attacks and sprints.
Recovery (30/60) makes magicka regenerate 25% and then 50% faster. This is arguably the most valuable perk in the tree for any spellcaster, healer or not, and it also offsets the Atronach Stone’s slower regeneration. Recovery leads to Avoid Death (90): once a day, you are healed for 250 points automatically when you drop below 10% health. It is a free second chance and alone justifies pushing Restoration to 90.
Ward Absorb (60) makes your wards recharge your magicka when spells hit them, which pairs nicely with the Atronach perk in Alteration and the Atronach Stone for mages who duel other casters. Restoration Dual Casting (20) overcharges dual-cast spells; it is handy for big heals but skippable if you keep a weapon or shield in one hand.
A solid order for most builds: Novice, Regeneration, Recovery rank 1, Apprentice, Respite (warriors) or Ward Absorb (mages), Recovery rank 2 at 60, then Avoid Death at 90.
How to level Restoration fast
- Heal real damage: since only actual healing counts, find safe ways to get hurt. Standing in a blacksmith’s forge burns you a little at a time, giving you something to heal.
- Equilibrium plus Healing: put Equilibrium in one hand and Healing in the other, trade health for magicka and heal it right back. Watch your health bar – Equilibrium can kill you.
- Traps that reset: continuous flame traps such as the one outside Morvunskar or in Raldbthar, or the spike traps in Darklight Tower, deal steady damage that you can heal through.
- Turn Undead on the dead: repeatedly casting Turn Undead and similar spells on undead enemies raises the skill quickly.
- Circle of Protection anywhere: circles grant experience even with no enemies nearby, so cast them while traveling or running errands.
- Heal followers and fights: heal a follower or horse with Healing Hands after a fight, or level Restoration and Block together by blocking a weak enemy’s blows and healing as needed.
- Trainers: Colette Marence and Keeper Carcette train up to 75, Danica Pure-Spring up to 90 after The Blessings of Nature, and Aphia Velothi in Raven Rock (Dragonborn) up to 50.
Trainers
| Trainer | Trains up to | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aphia Velothi | Journeyman (up to 50) | Dragonborn add-on (Solstheim) |
| Keeper Carcette | Expert (up to 75) | |
| Colette Marence | Expert (up to 75) | |
| Danica Pure-Spring | Master (up to 90) |
Each trainer can teach up to five levels per character level, and training costs more gold the higher your skill is.
Restoration skill books
Reading each of these books for the first time raises Restoration by one level:
Restoration spells
Novice
Apprentice
- Fast Healing
- Healing Hands
- Necromantic Healing (add-on)
- Steadfast Ward
- Sun Fire (add-on)
- Turn Lesser Undead
Adept
- Close Wounds
- Greater Ward
- Heal Other
- Heal Undead (add-on)
- Poison Rune (add-on)
- Repel Lesser Undead
- Stendarr's Aura (add-on)
- Turn Undead
- Vampire's Bane (add-on)
Expert
Master
Tips and notes
- The Regeneration perk can slow leveling down, because experience is calculated from the spell’s base power while the perk makes each heal finish the job faster.
- Keeper Carcette lives at the Hall of the Vigilant, which is destroyed during Dawnguard, and a bug can stop her offering training above 50. Florentius Baenius becomes a master trainer at Fort Dawnguard instead.
- Pantea’s Flute raises Restoration along with the other magic schools, and clearing Frostflow Abyss grants Sailor’s Repose, a permanent 10% bonus to healing spells.
- Necromage also affects spells cast on yourself while you are a vampire, since you then count as undead – a well-known synergy for vampire builds.
- Avoid Death only triggers once a day, so do not count on it twice in the same dragon fight.
Perk tree, required levels and trainer levels from the Skyrim LE 1.9 master files (AVIF AVRestoration, PERK and CLAS records).
