Restoration is actually broken and here's why nobody notices

[DragonbornVet]

So I just hit level 40 on my current run and I'm sitting here watching my Restore Health potions do basically nothing while my magicka pool is still huge. And I realized the problem isn't that restoration sucks - it's that the game never actually scales the spell costs down relative to how tanky you get.

Like, at level 15 a Restore Health spell costs 213 magicka and heals like 60 health. Fine. But at level 40 I'm getting hit for 80+ damage per swing and the spell still costs basically the same while only healing like 90 health now. My health pool doubled but my healing barely moved. Meanwhile I'm chugging potions because they scale with alchemy (which actually works) and restoration just becomes this dead weight in my spell list.

The perks don't help either. I've got Physician and Respite and it's still not enough to make casting it in combat worth the magicka. I'm legitimately better off just letting my Mage Armor perk absorb hits and saving magicka for damage spells.

Anyone else run into this or am I just doing restoration wrong? I keep wanting to use it because the fantasy is cool but the math just doesn't work past mid-game.

 

[TamrielTactician]

Yeah, you're hitting on something real here - restoration definitely feels neglected compared to alchemy, but I think the issue is less "broken" and more "designed for a playstyle that doesn't exist in Skyrim's combat."

The spell scaling thing you mentioned is accurate. Restoration spells get better through perks and gear (Fortify Restoration enchants stack stupid high if you're patient), but the base spell itself doesn't scale with your restoration skill the way, say, Flames scales with Destruction. You're stuck watching the magnitude creep up while enemy damage scales way faster. Potions win because alchemy is busted - Fortify Alchemy gear lets you make healing potions that heal like 300+ health, which obviously trivializes everything.

That said - and this might sound weird - restoration works better if you stop thinking of it as your primary defense. Mage Armor + Restoration as a "oh crap" button is kind of the intended loop, I think. The real problem is that loop falls apart once enemies start hitting hard enough that you can't afford to cast it mid-combat without getting smacked. You'd need to pre-cast Healing spells or use them between fights, which feels clunky.

The perks help more than you'd think if you commit to it early (grab Physician and Respite by like level 20), but yeah, by level 40 you're already too far gone if you didn't build around it. Restoration kind of demands you invest in it from the start or just accept it won't carry you. Most people just drink potions instead, which is why nobody really talks about how weak it gets.