Conjuration without the summon spam—viable or just gimping myself?

[RiftenWanderer]

I'm on my second playthrough (level 18, playing on Switch) and I want to actually use Conjuration this time instead of just ignoring it. But every guide I find is basically "summon two Dremora Lords and faceroll everything," which sounds boring as hell. Are there builds that use the school without leaning entirely on summoned followers? Like, is the reanimate stuff actually useful, or am I better off just sticking with Destruction?

 

[TamrielTactician]

Conjuration's definitely viable, and honestly the "two Dremora Lords" build gets old fast. You're not gimping yourself at all - it just plays different than Destruction.

The reanimation stuff is actually solid if you build around it. The perks that extend duration and let you reanimate stronger corpses make a real difference. On my Switch playthrough I went heavy into that route and it felt way more engaging than just spamming the same summon. You get this weird tactical thing where you're hunting for good corpses mid-fight instead of just pressing a button. Plus on lower difficulties (which Switch players often run since load times are brutal) you can absolutely carry fights with a leveled-up zombie or two while you hang back.

Binding spells (the ones that trap souls) are underrated too. They're not flashy but they actually feed into the school's identity - you're not just summoning random daedra, you're using magic to bind things. The perk that makes bound weapons scale better is legit, and bound gear costs way less magicka than summoning.

Real talk though: pure Conjuration solo gets grindy because you're limited by casting speed and magicka pool. Pair it with literally anything else (even just a weapon, or some basic Restoration) and it clicks. I'd say Conjuration + Restoration is the move if you want to stay magic-focused but not feel like you're fighting with one hand tied behind your back.

What difficulty are you playing on? That'll change how much you can get away with.