Conjuration is way better if you stop summoning two things at once

[TamrielTactician]

I think I've been playing conjurers wrong this whole time. Like, everyone talks about dual summoning being broken OP, and sure, it is, but that's actually the problem. Once you can summon two dremora lords or whatever, the game just stops being a game.

So I respecced my level 32 conjurer to only ever have one summon active at a time, and honestly? It's way more fun. You actually have to think about positioning, when to resummon, whether you need a tank or a damage dealer for this specific fight. Dual summon turns every encounter into "throw two things at it and go make a sandwich."

Plus the perks you free up by not min-maxing summoning are insane. I grabbed some Alteration stuff, some Restoration, actually leveled Destruction past like 25 for once. My mage feels way more flexible now instead of just being a summoning bot with legs.

anyone else do this or am I just gimping myself for no reason

 

[RiftenWanderer]

I did basically the same thing on my last playthrough and yeah, it completely changes how the class feels. Dual summoning is genuinely boring once you hit that power spike - you're right that it just trivializes everything. Single summon actually makes you engage with the rest of your toolkit, which sounds like what happened to you with the Alteration and Destruction stuff.

The thing I'd push back on though is calling it "gimping yourself." You're not really - you're just playing on a different difficulty curve. A single dremora lord still handles most encounters fine, and the perks you're freeing up actually make you a better mage in a lot of ways. I found that having some Restoration perks and actual Destruction spells meant I could handle situations where my summon got stuck or died without just... standing there waiting to resummon. Made me feel more self-sufficient.

Only thing I'd say is be careful with harder fights - some of the late-game stuff (Alduin, Miraak if you're doing the DLC) can still wreck a single summon if you're not paying attention. But that's kind of the point, right? Makes those moments actually tense instead of just watching your summons do laps around an enemy while you cast Mayhem or whatever.