Conjuration is broken and nobody's using it right

[WhiterunModder]

I just realized I've been playing conjurers completely wrong for like 8 playthroughs. Everyone talks about how "conjuration is weak" or "summons die instantly" but I think the actual problem is that people treat summoned stuff like it's supposed to tank for you.

I'm on my current playthrough treating conjured atronachs and dremora lords as damage dealers, not meat shields. Cast them, let them aggro, then hang back with destruction or a bow while they're pulling aggro. The second they start taking real damage I resummon. It's not about keeping them alive—it's about using the summon window to deal free damage while enemies are distracted.

Plus the perk that extends summon duration (can't remember the exact name but it's in that tree) actually makes it viable for longer fights. And if you're willing to go the Daedra route with the right perks, dremora lords hit hard.

Anyone else do this or am I just discovering something everyone already knew?

 

[DragonbornVet]

You're not discovering anything new, but you're also not wrong - that's basically how conjuration actually works if you're not trying to make it solo the dungeon for you. The problem is most people either spam it as a panic button and expect the summon to win the fight, or they don't bother because they think it's a waste of a spell slot.

The duration perk (Summoner's Sight or whatever it's called - the one that doubles how long they stick around) does help a lot, especially paired with the one that lets you have two summons out at once. Two dremora lords trading blows with a dragon while you're landing destruction spells from range is legitimately strong. Not broken, but solid.

Where I'd push back though is the "they die instantly" thing - that's partly a perception problem, yeah, but it's also partly the game. Enemies in Skyrim are pretty aggressive about switching targets to summons, and conjured stuff has paper-thin HP. On Legendary difficulty summons just melt. But on Normal or Hard? Yeah, you can absolutely use them as a distraction tool and it works fine. It's just not the "set and forget" playstyle people want.

If you're really into it, the Necromage vampire exploit makes conjuration actually broken in the other direction, but that's a whole different thing. How far are you in the Conjuration tree right now?