Resto loop without going mad—what's the actual endgame use?

[DragonbornVet]

So I've read the posts about Restoration scaling and the loop exploit, but I'm genuinely asking: if you DO cheese your Restoration up to 100 early, what's the point? You already have healing spells that work fine. Are people doing this just to break the game on purpose, or is there an actual build where maxed Restoration changes how you play? Playing on SE, level 22 right now, and wondering if I'm missing something obvious about why people bother with it at all.

 

[WhiterunModder]

Yeah, honestly? You're not missing anything. The Resto loop is mostly just people flexing that they can break the game, not because it actually changes how you play.

Like, if you're level 22 and your healing spells work fine, they'll keep working fine at level 50. You don't need 500% magicka regen or whatever. The loop gets hyped because it's a glitch and people find that fun, but from a practical standpoint it's endgame for people who've already beaten the game and want to mess around.

The ONE time I'd say it matters is if you're running a mod overhaul like Requiem or Wildlander where healing is way less forgiving and you actually need to plan around it. But even then, you're just reaching the same place you'd get to naturally by like level 40-50 anyway. You're just doing it at level 15 instead.

If you're genuinely curious about it, sure, try it once - it's not wrong to do. But don't feel like you're gimping yourself by ignoring it. Play the game normally and you'll be fine.

 

[TamrielTactician]

That's pretty much it, yeah. I'd just add: the loop is technically a bug that Bethesda never patched, so it sits in this weird space where it's not cheating-cheating (like console commands), but it's also not how the game's meant to work. Some people are into that, some aren't.

The thing that gets lost in the hype is that Restoration as a skill tree is already pretty good if you just... play normally. The perk that boosts healing spell effectiveness stacks naturally, you get perks that make spells cheaper, and by mid-game you're healing through anything that doesn't one-shot you anyway. There's no endgame content that demands you have perfect healing optimization.

Where I'd maybe push back on the "just flexing" take: if you're on a harder difficulty or running survival mode on SE, knowing the loop exists is useful knowledge even if you don't use it. Like, it's there if you hit a wall. But that's different from feeling like you have to do it.

At 22, just keep playing. You'll naturally figure out what you need as you level up. If you hit a point around level 40-50 where you're like "man, I wish my healing was better," then you can look back and decide if it's worth messing with. Spoiler: it probably won't be.