Restoration | Skills TES V: Skyrim Guide
Last update: 05 December 2019
This TES V: Skyrim World Atlas page describes Restoration skills. These skills are related to the magician archetype (these are different areas of magic). Our tutorial in addition to describing the skills will tell you how to develop them, and what related best features are worth unlocking.
How to increase skill: This skill can be increased by casting spells from the restoration school of magic. The skill growth will take place only if a spell has achieved its result. In this case it's mostly about successfully healing/protecting the main character and/or his allies, however it's not the only way, because some of the spells are about changing the behavior of the undead. In these situations the growth will take place only if a spell has influenced at least one monster.
Main purpose of developing this skill: Lowering the mana costs of casting restoration spells.
Available perks: 13.
Best perks: Regeneration, Recovery, Avoid Death.
Comments:
- Restoration has at least one thing in common with other schools of magic. You must remember that casting even the basic spells from this school can very quickly drain your mana bar. Furthermore, some of the more advanced spells may even be blocked at the beginning of the game, because they may require more mana points than the main character has at the moment. This all leads to one obvious conclusion - you must constantly work on increasing the mana pool and improving mana regeneration rate.
- Most of the restoration spells are about healing the main character and the rest of his team, however it's not the only thing this school of magic has to offer. Protection spells are a nice addition, because they may temporarily increase armor rating or help in decreasing the strength of enemy magic attacks. There are also a few spells about driving off the undead and they may come in handy in certain battles.
- Most of the perks described below improve the healing process, however some of them are also about regenerating mana and stamina. You shouldn't ignore them, especially if your character doesn't specialize only in magic.
- NOVICE RESTORATION
- RESPITE
- REGENERATION
- NECROMAGE
- WARD ABSORB
- APPRENTICE RESTORATION
- ADEPT RESTORATION
- EXPERT RESTORATION
- MASTER RESTORATION
- RECOVERY
- AVOID DEATH
- RESTORATION DUAL CASTING
NOVICE RESTORATION
Requirements: None.
Description: Ability of casting novice restoration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: It's very important that you unlock this perk at the very beginning of the game, because you'll start your journey with the first restoration spell and therefore you'll be allowed to proceed with developing this skill group skill right away.
RESPITE
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 40 points. Unlocked Novice Restoration perk.
Description: Casting a healing restoration spell also regenerates stamina.
Comments: This perk isn't useful to a 100% mage, because such a character only cares about health and mana. If your character is part mage and part warrior you should definitely consider unlocking it, because warriors require a lot of stamina (mostly for weapon power attacks).
REGENERATION
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 20 points. Unlocked Novice Restoration perk.
Description: Effectiveness of healing spells increased by 50%.
Comments: This is one of the important perks from this entire category and it's absolutely crucial that you unlock it in the early part of the game, especially since it doesn't have high requirements.
NECROMAGE
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 70 points. Unlocked Regeneration perk.
Description: Increased effectiveness of all spells when cast on the undead.
Comments: This perk is far more valuable and useful then you might think. The best thing about it is that it doesn't work only with restoration spells, because its effects can be combined with all schools of magic. This means you can use it not only to draw away the undead more efficiently, but also to kill them much easier. Consider unlocking this one as soon as it becomes available.
WARD ABSORB
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 60 points. Unlocked Novice Restoration perk.
Description: Ability to absorb mana from an enemy spell if a ward was used to block it.
Comments: You should know that you can absorb about 25% of the mana that was originally used by an enemy mage to cast the spell. That's a lot and it can definitely help you in maintaining your mana on decent levels (and of course to sustain magic wards to absorb more of it).
APPRENTICE RESTORATION
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 25 points. Unlocked Novice Restoration perk.
Description: Ability of casting apprentice restoration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: I recommend buying this perk early in the game so that you'll have a good reason to switch from novice to apprentice spells.
ADEPT RESTORATION
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 50 points. Unlocked Apprentice Restoration perk.
Description: Ability of casting adept restoration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: The adept level of the restoration school of magic is represented by a bunch of very good spells, so you shouldn't wait too long before unlocking this perk.
EXPERT RESTORATION
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 75 points. Unlocked Adept Restoration perk.
Description: Ability of casting expert restoration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: I strongly recommend that you unlock this perk as soon as you've developed the Restoration skill to 75 points, because there are some really helpful spells in this group, including the one used to heal all of the main character's allies at the same time.
MASTER RESTORATION
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to 100 points. Unlocked Expert Restoration perk.
Description: Ability of casting master restoration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: The master level of the restoration school of magic adds mostly the spells used to repel the undead, so there's no rush and you should consider this perk only if you've already bought more useful ones.
RECOVERY
This perk has two ranks and unlocking the second rank makes it better.
Requirements (rank 1): Restoration skill increased to at least 30 points. Unlocked Novice Restoration perk.
Requirements (rank 2): Restoration skill increased to at least 60 points.
Description (rank 1): Mana regeneration rate improved by 25%.
Description (rank 2): Mana regeneration rate improved by a total of 50%.
Comments: Both perks are among the useful ones offered by this skill group. Make sure to unlock them the first chance you get, because having a fast mana regeneration rate is crucial even if your character isn't a full mage.
AVOID DEATH
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 90 points. Unlocked Recovery perk (rank 1).l
Description: Ability to automatically regain 250 health points if the main character's health falls below 10% (can happen only once a day).
Comments: This is an extremely helpful perk, especially if you don't constantly monitor the health bar of the main character or if you don't want to risk sudden death when going against much stronger opponents. The additional advantages of this perks are that it's fully automated and that it doesn't need any mana or potions to work.
RESTORATION DUAL CASTING
Requirements: Restoration skill increased to at least 20 points. Unlocked Novice Restoration perk.
Description: Ability to dual cast restoration spells which improves their effectiveness (number of health points regained, duration etc).
Comments: Unlocking this perk is not recommended. The main reason is that restoration school is based mostly on defensive spells so if you occupy both hands you won't be able to defend yourself. The only exception is if you're leading a strong team (normal follower and magical companions) which is capable of distracting enemy units from the main character.