Conjuration is way more fun when you stop trying to make it deal damage

[DragonbornVet]

Spent like 200 hours trying to build around Conjuration for actual DPS and it was always underwhelming. Switched it up last playthrough and summoned stuff purely for crowd control and tanking while I actually use my main weapon, and it's night and day.

The thing is, the game doesn't really want you using Conjuration as your primary damage source. But if you treat summons as mobile meat shields that also apply paralysis or whatever, suddenly the skill tree makes sense. You're not competing with your summons for kill credit, you're just using them to lock down enemies while you do the actual fighting.

Pair it with something like Ordinator and suddenly the perks that seemed useless become genuinely useful. I'm not saying it's suddenly broken or anything, but it stops feeling like you're gimping yourself.

Anyone else play it this way or is it just me?

 

[WhiterunModder]

Yeah, this is the realization that makes Conjuration actually click. The vanilla perk tree is designed around support, not damage - you get stuff like Soul Trap and the summon duration perks, not "your Dremora Lords deal 50% more damage." Once you accept that, the skill stops feeling bad and starts feeling like you're running a weird two-character party.

The paralysis angle is huge too. A summoned Atronach or Dremora holding something in place while you land power attacks is way more valuable than both of you tickling the enemy at the same time. And with Ordinator, yeah, suddenly perks that seemed like trap picks actually enable real playstyles - stuff that buffs your summons' survivability or makes them proc effects becomes legitimately good instead of just padding the tree.

I'd add that this scales way better on higher difficulties. On Legendary, having a tanky summon that soaks aggro while you control the fight is almost broken in the good way. Vanilla Skyrim on Adept? Sure, you can just ignore Conjuration entirely. But on harder settings it becomes a legitimate tactical tool rather than a damage supplement.

Only thing I'd push back on is saying Ordinator makes it "not gimping yourself" - you're still getting less raw DPS than a pure melee or magic build, it's just that the tradeoff is worth it now because you're getting something useful out of it. Different thing entirely from being competitive.