Restoration spell scaling falls off hard after level 40 — worth respeccing?

[DragonbornVet]

I'm running a Restoration / Light Armor cleric build on my second playthrough (level 43, Adept difficulty) and healing spells are starting to feel useless. Cast Heal and it barely tops me off, even with the Restoration perks that boost magnitude. Meanwhile, enemies hit harder every level and my armor isn't keeping pace.

Is this a known scaling problem with the school, or am I just stretched too thin between healing and defense? Thinking about dumping Restoration entirely and going pure Alteration / Conjuration instead, but I'd rather not abandon the whole concept if there's a way to make it work. Anyone else hit this wall, or did I just build it wrong from the start?

 

[TamrielTactician]

The scaling issue is real, but it's not really a Restoration problem — it's that you're spreading your level-ups too thin. Every point you dump into Restoration is a point you're not putting into Health or Heavy Armor or whatever else keeps you alive. Restoration doesn't scale with your character level the way, say, Destruction does with perks.

That said, don't bail on it yet. Few things that actually work: first, grab the perk that boosts healing spell magnitude (the one in the Restoration tree that gives you like +50% or whatever). Second, and this is the big one, stop trying to heal through everything. Restoration is way better as a supplement — cast a heal when you're actually in trouble, but lean on your Light Armor perks and positioning to not take the damage in the first place. The perk that reduces damage taken while wearing full light armor is genuinely broken good.

Third, if you're on PC, Apocalypse adds some restoration spells that actually scale properly and feel useful at higher levels. Not sure what you're playing on though.

You could also just pump Alchemy and make healing potions instead of casting spells — they scale with your Alchemy skill and perks, and honestly they're way more reliable. Costs ingredients but you'd be shocked how many potions you can make from random loot.

The pure Alteration/Conjuration pivot would work fine, but you're not really "abandoning" the cleric concept if you just shift how you heal. Potions + buffs can work just as well as direct healing spells.

 

[WhiterunModder]

Yeah, that's solid advice. I'd just add - if you're actually committed to the spell healing route, the real issue is that Restoration scaling is front-loaded. You get the biggest bang from those early perks, and then it just... stops mattering as much. By level 43 you've probably already grabbed the magnitude boost, so you're hitting a hard ceiling that the game doesn't really address.

The alchemy route is legit though. I usually end up there anyway on higher difficulties because potions don't care about enemy resistances or scaling the way spells do. They just work. Grab the perks that boost potion strength and you're golden - way more reliable than hoping a Heal spell lands for enough.

But honestly? If you actually want to keep the cleric feel without respeccing, look at Alteration instead. Mage Armor perks + protective spells like Stoneskin or whatever the paralysis one is called - that's where the survivability actually is. Restoration becomes your oh-crap button, Alteration keeps you standing. That's closer to actual cleric play than trying to outheal incoming damage.

What difficulty are you on? That matters a lot for whether this is actually a build problem or just Adept being too easy to notice the scaling gap.