Conjuration

Conjuration is the art of letting someone else do the fighting. Its spells pull Daedra out of Oblivion, drag the recently deceased back onto their feet, forge glowing weapons out of pure magicka and catch souls for later use. It is one of the six Magic skills and is boosted by The Mage Stone, the guardian stone that makes all magic schools improve faster.

Few skills change how you play as dramatically. A conjurer can stand back while a Flame Atronach soaks up the hits, or skip armour and weapons entirely in favour of a Bound Bow. Conjuration also feeds Enchanting through Soul Trap, and at the top of the tree it lets you keep two minions at once – a build that comfortably carries a character through the whole game.

How Conjuration works

Three kinds of spells

Conjuration spells fall into three families. Summons call atronachs, a familiar or a Dremora Lord to a point you aim at. Reanimation spells such as Raise Zombie bring a corpse back to fight for you, and each tier can only raise bodies up to a certain strength. Bound weapons like Bound Sword create a weightless weapon that vanishes when you sheathe it. The school also covers Soul Trap and the anti-summon spells Banish Daedra and Command Daedra.

What raises the skill

Experience comes from using the magic with a purpose. Summoning or raising a valid target levels the skill, but summons generally only count while enemies are aware of you, so practice is best done mid-fight. Casting bound weapons in combat, banishing summoned creatures and hitting things with your minions all add progress, and Soul Trap rewards you when it lands on a target.

The Master ritual

Master-level tomes are not sold freely. Once your Conjuration reaches 90, Phinis Gestor at the College of Winterhold offers the ritual quest that unlocks the permanent thralls – Flame Thrall, Frost Thrall, Storm Thrall and Dead Thrall. A Flame Thrall is given as the reward; the others can then be bought from him. Bretons, incidentally, start the game already knowing Conjure Familiar.

Conjuration perk tree

The Conjuration tree has 15 perks with 16 ranks in total. Required levels are the Conjuration skill level needed for each rank.

Perk guide

The tree splits into three branches, and the first decision is whether you are an atronach summoner, a necromancer or a bound-weapon fighter. Most conjurers pick one minion branch and dabble in the other only for Twin Souls.

Cost perks first. Novice Conjuration halves the cost of Novice spells, and Apprentice (25), Adept (50), Expert (75) and Master (100) do the same for their tiers. Summons are expensive, so take each one as soon as you start using spells of that level. Conjuration Dual Casting (20) makes dual-cast spells last longer, which is handy for bound weapons and long summons but not essential.

Summoner branch. Summoner (30/70) lets you place atronachs and raise undead twice, then three times, as far away – one rank is a real quality-of-life upgrade, especially for reaching corpses across a room. Atromancy (40) doubles atronach duration, and Elemental Potency (80) makes conjured atronachs 50% more powerful. This is the strongest route for a dedicated summoner, since a Storm Atronach or Dremora Lord at full strength trivialises a lot of fights.

Necromancy branch. Necromancy (40) extends the duration of reanimated undead and Dark Souls (70) adds 100 points of health to them. Zombies scale with the corpses around you, so this branch shines in crypts full of Draugr and against tough humanoid enemies you can then recruit.

Twin Souls (100) is the capstone: two atronachs or two reanimated zombies at once. It requires either Dark Souls or Elemental Potency, so you never need both lines.

Bound weapons branch. Mystic Binding (20) raises bound weapon damage, Soul Stealer (30) makes them cast Soul Trap on what they hit, and Oblivion Binding (50) lets them banish summoned creatures and turn raised ones. Soul Stealer is a gift for Enchanting characters who hate recasting Soul Trap. Pair this line with One-handed or Archery perks, as bound weapons count as ordinary swords, axes and bows for those trees.

How to level Conjuration fast

• Spam bound weapons in combat. Casting a bound weapon while enemies are fighting you gives steady experience and costs little once the Novice and Adept perks are in place.
• Summon, then banish. Conjure a creature and banish it, or summon one and attack it with a Bound Sword or Bound Dagger – a well-known loop that levels the skill quickly.
• Soul Trap on bodies and safe targets. Repeatedly casting Soul Trap on a fresh corpse, or on Shadowmere, who never turns hostile, is a classic slow-but-safe grind.
• Fight from safety. Stand where enemies cannot reach you – behind a locked door or on a ledge – and keep summoning or reanimating while they stay aware of you. Luring a giant or mammoth to the Western Watchtower and casting Soul Trap on it is a popular variant.
• Flaming Familiar against big targets. Flaming Familiar is cheap and explodes on contact; firing them at a giant or a Draugr Deathlord means many casts per fight.
• Refill magicka quickly. Use Calm or Harmony to pause a fight so out-of-combat regeneration kicks in, or wait an hour when your pool runs dry.
• Cut costs. The Mage Stone, the cost-reduction perks and gear with Fortify Conjuration all multiply how many casts you get per minute.
• Read and train. Train with Falion in Morthal (Master trainer) or Runil in Falkreath, and pick up every Conjuration skill book you find, such as The Doors of Oblivion.

Trainers

Each trainer can teach up to five levels per character level, and training costs more gold the higher your skill is.

Conjuration skill books

Reading each of these books for the first time raises Conjuration by one level:

• 2920, Frostfall, v10
• 2920, Hearth Fire, v9
• Liminal Bridges
• The Doors of Oblivion
• The Warrior's Charge

Conjuration spells

Novice

• Bound Dagger (add-on)
• Bound Sword
• Conjure Familiar
• Raise Zombie

Apprentice

• Bound Battleaxe
• Conjure Boneman (add-on)
• Conjure Flame Atronach
• Flaming Familiar
• Reanimate Corpse
• Soul Trap

Adept

• Banish Daedra
• Bound Bow
• Conjure Ash Spawn (add-on)
• Conjure Frost Atronach
• Conjure Mistman (add-on)
• Conjure Seeker (add-on)
• Revenant

Expert

• Command Daedra
• Conjure Ash Guardian (add-on)
• Conjure Dremora Lord
• Conjure Storm Atronach
• Conjure Wrathman (add-on)
• Dread Zombie
• Expel Daedra

Master

• Dead Thrall
• Flame Thrall
• Frost Thrall
• Storm Thrall

Tips and notes

• Since the Mysticism school no longer exists in Skyrim, Soul Trap and the banish and command spells all moved into Conjuration.
• Finding Pantea’s lost flute in the Pantea’s Flute quest for Pantea Ateia trains Conjuration along with several other magic skills.
• Completing Arniel’s Endeavor unlocks a summon of an unusual sort: Arniel’s Shade.
• Bound weapons are weightless and never need repairing or upgrading, which makes them a favourite for mage-warriors who want to skip Smithing.
• Command Daedra and Expel Daedra are among the few direct counters to enemy conjurers, who are common among necromancers and Daedra-worshipping cultists.

Perk tree, required levels and trainer levels from the Skyrim LE 1.9 master files (AVIF AVConjuration, PERK and CLAS records).