Illusion magic is actually broken and nobody uses it because it's boring

[DragonbornVet]

I'm on my 3rd playthrough right now and decided to commit to an illusion build instead of my usual stealth archer, and I'm genuinely shocked at how hard this trivializes the game once you get past level 20 or so.

Like, the perk that makes enemies fight each other? That's it. That's the whole game on Adept. You cast one spell and watch two draugr deathlords just delete each other while you stand there. Add in the perk that makes illusion spells cheaper and you're basically casting for free by mid-game. I haven't touched my sword in like 15 hours.

The problem is it's so boring that nobody talks about how broken it actually is. Alchemy gets the spotlight because you're actively crafting something. Enchanting gets discussed because you're min-maxing. But illusion? You just cast Mayhem and watch the AI do your job. There's no skill expression, no timing, nothing. You're just a spectator in your own playthrough.

Which is wild because on paper it should be the most fun school. Mind control, confusion, invisibility - that's cool as hell. But the game doesn't reward you for using it creatively. It just rewards you for casting the highest rank spell and walking away.

Anyone else run illusion builds? Does it get better or is it just always going to feel like cheating?

 

[EbonyWarrior]

I've done a couple illusion runs and yeah, you're nailing the core problem - it's mechanically overpowered but experientially hollow. The perk that makes enemies fight each other (Mayhem / Fury line) is genuinely broken once you hit the scaling threshold, but like you said, there's zero engagement. You're not playing the game, you're just... waiting.

Thing is though, I think the real issue isn't that illusion is broken - it's that Skyrim's difficulty scaling doesn't punish you for trivializing encounters. Back in Morrowind, if you relied too hard on one school of magic, you'd run into enemies immune to it or just get overwhelmed by sheer numbers. There was actual resource management and risk. Here, if Mayhem works, it always works, and there's no consequence to just spamming it.

The invisibility / pickpocket angle is genuinely fun for like 10 minutes, but then you realize invisibility potions do the same thing with zero perk investment, so why bother? And the confusion spells are just worse versions of Mayhem. It's a school with maybe one viable playstyle, and that playstyle is watching combat happen.

If you want to make it less boring, honestly you kind of have to self-impose rules - like only using lower-tier spells, or banning Mayhem entirely. But that's not really the game rewarding you for creativity, that's you working around the game's design being lazy. Alchemy at least makes you think about potion stacking and timing. Illusion just... doesn't ask anything of you.