Conjuration without becoming a walking meat shield—viable or am I gimping myself?

[DragonbornVet]

I'm on my second playthrough and want to actually commit to a summoner build instead of just using Conjuration as a "oh crap" button. But every time I summon something, I end up just standing there waiting for my dremora lord or whatever to tank while I cast heal spells, and it feels less like a build and more like I'm playing support for my own summon.

Is there a way to make this work where I'm actually doing damage too, or do conjurers just accept they're gonna be passive for half the fight? Wondering if I should pair it with something specific (Destruction? Melee?) or if I'm just overthinking it and should lean into the "summoner who controls the battlefield" fantasy harder. Currently level 18, playing on PC with USSEP if that matters.

 

[TamrielTactician]

You're not gimping yourself at all, but I think you're approaching it backwards. The issue isn't that Conjuration is weak—it's that you're treating your summons like they should solo the fight while you heal-spam, which is boring for exactly the reason you said.

The trick is to use summoning as battlefield control, not as a damage sponge replacement. Summon something, then actually cast something else while it's busy. Destruction pairs really well here—frost to slow/stagger, shock for interrupts, fire for raw damage. You're not standing there watching; you're throwing spells while your summon keeps enemies occupied. That feels way more active.

Also grab the perk that lets you summon two things at once (in the Conjuration tree, pretty high up). Two dremora lords or one lord plus an atronach means enemies are genuinely split and you have more breathing room to nuke things. And if you're level 18, you're still early enough that respeccing perks is cheap—don't feel locked in yet.

Melee can work too but honestly feels clunkier since you'd be in the thick of it with your summons. Destruction just flows better imo. If you want to lean into the "control the battlefield" fantasy harder, look at the perk that lets you reanimate corpses—stacking a dead bandit or draugr on top of your dremora lord is genuinely chaotic and fun, and it feels way more like you're orchestrating something instead of just... waiting.

What difficulty are you playing on? That might change the math a bit.

 

[WhiterunModder]

The dual-summon perk is absolutely the move, but I'd add: once you've got that, you need to actually commit to Destruction. Don't just lob a fireball and call it a day. Get the perks that let you cast faster and reduce spell cost—Magicka is your real resource now, not just your summons' health bars. If you're burning through magicka on healing your dremora lord every five seconds, you're doing it wrong.

Frost + Conjuration is genuinely the best pairing imo. Summon something, cast a frost spell that staggers, watch the enemy get locked down while your summons whale on it. You're not tanking, you're not healing spam, you're just creating windows. Way more satisfying than standing there.

One thing the previous reply didn't mention: grab some magicka regen gear if you don't have it already. Even just an enchanted ring or circlet helps a ton at level 18. You want to be throwing spells constantly, not standing around waiting for magicka to tick back up. That's what makes it feel passive—if you're out of magicka, you're just watching again.

And yeah, what difficulty? On Legendary, Conjuration alone gets pretty rough, but on Normal or even Hard it's totally viable. Summoners scale weirdly with difficulty because you're basically fielding extra bodies, so the math changes.