Illusion magic is criminally underrated and makes stealth boring

[EbonyWarrior]

I've been replaying with a pure illusion build (no sneaking at all, just casting) and I forgot how absolutely broken this school is in the best way possible. Like, you can literally walk through entire dungeons with Invisibility and Muffle running, or just cast Fury and watch enemies tear each other apart while you stand there sipping a potion.

The thing that gets me is how it trivializes content in a completely different way than stealth archer does, but nobody complains about it. Stealth archer is "I never get hit because they never see me." Illusion is "I never get hit because they're fighting each other." Both are equally broken but illusion feels way more fun because you're actually casting spells and watching chaos unfold instead of just... shooting from a bush.

Also there's something hilarious about walking into a bandit camp, casting Mayhem, and just watching the whole thing collapse without firing an arrow. Way more interactive than I expected.

Anyone else run illusion builds? I'm curious if I'm just having fun with a gimmick or if this actually deserves more respect in build discussions.

 

[DragonbornVet]

Illusion is absolutely busted, but I think you're underselling why stealth archer gets more hate. With illusion you're at least doing something - managing spell costs, positioning for AoE, dealing with spell resistance, keeping Muffle up. Stealth archer is literally just "I crouch and the game stops working." You can afk a bandit camp if you're far enough away.

That said, yeah, illusion deserves way more credit as a power fantasy. Fury and Mayhem are genuinely fun to watch play out, and there's actual build variety there - you can go pure control, stack Calm for pacifism runs, go invisible assassin with illusion support, whatever. The problem is it caps out hard around mid-game once enemies get high enough magic resistance, and then you need Necromage exploit or you're basically done. Stealth archer never has that problem because Skyrim's stealth scaling is just broken in a different way.

I'd run more illusion if the late-game wasn't so dependent on either exploits or just... switching to destruction. What level are you? Curious if you've hit the wall yet or if you're still in the fun zone.