| Skill: Restoration |
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| Specialization: Magic |
Restoration is one of the five schools of magic in Skyrim. Restoration magic focuses on spells that cure physical ailments. Increasing this skill reduces Magicka cost when casting Restoration spells. Historical information about the School of Restoration is provided in the lore article. The Restoration skill tree has a total of 12 perks, requiring a total of 13 perk points to fill.
In-game Description: The School of Restoration involves control over life forces. This skill makes it easier to cast spells like Healing, Turn Undead, and magical Wards.
Summary
Restoration offers a range of healing and protection spells and perks, in particular;
- Healing spells restore Health (and also Stamina if the Respite perk is taken) for yourself and other characters.
- Ward spells provide armor protection and magic resistance. These can be powerful spells, particularly for mage characters who shun armor, and particularly if you choose perks which mean that you absorb Magicka from spells. For instance, the mid-level Steadfast Ward spell will give total protection from low-level dragon breath. Many mages will often adventure with a Ward equipped in one hand and a Destruction spell in the other. However, wards are very magicka-intensive and cannot be sustained for a long combat.
- Turn Undead and Protection from Undead spells cause Undead targets to flee from the caster - however in most circumstances, players will prefer to (re)kill them, rather than Turn them. (One Restoration perk does increase the power of Destruction spells aimed at the Undead)
- Two perks give faster Magicka regeneration, potentially very helpful for mage characters who use a lot of Magicka.
In addition, Restoration also includes the only direct damage spells outside the school of Destruction
- Sun DamageDG spells only deal damage to undead
- Poison RuneDB is the only player-available spell that deals poison damage, but must be triggered and only affects living enemies.
Skill Perks
Novice Restoration
Apprentice Restoration
Adept Restoration
Expert Restoration
Master Restoration
Recovery
Avoid Death
Regeneration
Necromage
Respite
Restoration Dual Casting
Ward Absorb
Restoration Perk Tree
| Perk | Rank | Description | ID | Skill Req. | Perk Req. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Novice Restoration | Cast Novice level Restoration spells for half magicka. | 000f2caa | |||
| Apprentice Restoration | Cast Apprentice level Restoration spells for half magicka. | 000c44c7 | 25 Restoration | Novice Restoration | |
| Adept Restoration | Cast Adept level Restoration spells for half magicka. | 000c44c8 | 50 Restoration | Apprentice Restoration | |
| Expert Restoration | Cast Expert level Restoration spells for half magicka. | 000c44c9 | 75 Restoration | Adept Restoration | |
| Master Restoration | Cast Master level Restoration spells for half magicka. | 000c44ca | 100 Restoration | Expert Restoration | |
| Recovery | 1 | Magicka regenerates 25% faster. | 000581f4 | 30 Restoration | Novice Restoration |
| 2 | Magicka regenerates 50% faster. | 000581f5 | 60 Restoration | ||
| Avoid Death | Once a day, heals 250 points automatically if you fall below 10% health. (Only if the damage does not kill you.) | 000a3f64 | 90 Restoration | Recovery | |
| Regeneration | Healing spells cure 50% more. | 000581f8 | 20 Restoration | Novice Restoration | |
| Necromage | All spells are more effective against undead. (+25% effect and +50% effect duration) | 000581e4 | 70 Restoration | Regeneration | |
| Respite | Healing spells also restore Stamina. (Note: because of errors, healing spells will restore stamina to enemies and automata, Grand Healing will restore it to all creatures including undead and daedra)[verification needed — see talk page] | 000581f9 | 40 Restoration | Novice Restoration | |
| Restoration Dual Casting | Dual casting a Restoration spell overcharges the effects into an even more powerful version. (220% spell effect for 280% magicka cost) | 000153d1 | 20 Restoration | Novice Restoration | |
| Ward Absorb | Wards recharge your magicka when hit with spells. | 00068bcc | 60 Restoration | Novice Restoration | |
Spells
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Spell Name (IDs) |
Skill Level | Tome Value |
Magicka Base Cost | Skill XP | Description and Effect Details | Where to Get | ||||
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Healing
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0 Novice |
50 | 12/s | 12/s | Heals the caster 10 points per second:
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Lesser Ward
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0 Novice |
45 | 34/s | 34/s | Increases armor rating by 40 points and negates up to 40 points of spell damage or effects:
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Fast Healing
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25 Apprentice |
94 | 73 | 73 | Heals the caster 50 points:
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Healing Hands
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25 Apprentice |
89 | 25/s | 25/s | Heals the target 10 points per second, but not undead, atronachs or machines:
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Necromantic HealingDG
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25 Apprentice |
115 | 37/s | 37/s | Heals the undead target 10 points per second, but not the living, atronachs or machines:
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Steadfast Ward
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25 Apprentice |
92 | 58/s | 58/s | Increases armor rating by 60 points and negates up to 60 points of spell damage or effects:
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Sun FireDG
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25 Apprentice |
80 | 24 | 12 | Ball of sunlight that does 25 points of damage to undead:
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Turn Lesser Undead
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25 Apprentice |
89 | 84 | 84 | Undead up to level 6 flee for 30 seconds:
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Close Wounds
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50 Adept |
360 | 126 | 126 | Heals the caster 100 points:
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Greater Ward
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50 Adept |
341 | 86/s | 86/s | Increases armor rating by 80 points and negates up to 80 points of spell damage or effects:
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Heal Other
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50 Adept |
300 | 80 | 80 | Heals the target 75 points, but not undead, atronachs or machines:
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Heal UndeadDG
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50 Adept |
370 | 115 | 115 | Heals the undead target 75 points, but not the living, atronachs or machines:
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Poison RuneDB
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50 Adept |
290 | 246 | 246 | Targets that fail to resist take 3 points of poison damage per second for 30 seconds:
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Repel Lesser Undead
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50 Adept |
333 | 115 | 115 | All affected undead up to level 8 flee for 30 seconds:
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Stendarr's AuraDG
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50 Adept |
335 | 248 | 0 | For 60 seconds, undead in melee range take 10 points sun damage per second:
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Turn Undead
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50 Adept |
323 | 168 | 168 | Undead up to level 13 flee for 30 seconds:
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Vampire's BaneDG
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50 Adept |
340 | 72 | 36 | Sunlight explosion that does 40 points of damage in a 15 foot radius to undead:
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Circle of Protection
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75 Expert |
650 | 171 | 171 | Undead up to level 20 entering the circle will flee:
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Grand Healing
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75 Expert |
680 | 254 | 382+[2] | Heals everyone close to the caster 200 points:
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Repel Undead
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75 Expert |
655 | 353 | 353 | All affected undead up to level 16 flee for 30 seconds:
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Turn Greater Undead
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75 Expert |
664 | 267 | 266 | Undead up to level 21 flee for 30 seconds:
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Bane of the Undead
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100 Master |
1200 | 988 | 988 | Sets undead up to level 30 on fire and makes them flee for 30 seconds:
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Guardian Circle
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100 Master |
1220 | 716 | 716 | Undead up to level 35 entering the circle will flee. Caster heals 20 health per second inside it:
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- ^ a b c d e f g h i The Respite perk is necessary to gain a Restore Stamina effect with these spells.
- ^ The full formula is 382 for the caster plus 127 for each healable target in the area. As usual, all amounts are proportional to the amount of health actually healed.
- ^ The spell may not be available for sale after the quest. See the spell page for details.
Spell List Notes
- The base cost for spells is the amount of magicka that would be necessary to cast the spell at 0 skill without any perks. The magicka cost at 100 skill is 41% less than the base cost; the cost can also be reduced via enchanted apparel and by unlocking various perks. See Spell Cost for the full magicka cost equation.
- Skill level indicates which skill perk needs to be unlocked to decrease the spell's magicka cost. "N/A" is used for special spells whose cost is not affected by any perks.
- The "Where to Get" column only lists guaranteed locations for obtaining the spell tomes. Most spell tomes are also available in random loot; see Spell Tome Locations for details.
- For higher-level spell tomes to become available for purchase, your skill in the school must be high enough. Also, master-level spell tomes can only be acquired once that school's ritual spell quest has been completed.
- All spell tomes have a weight of 1.
- Skill XP can be modified by scripts and by the game engine itself under various circumstances. The exact XP you receive may vary from the numbers listed here.
- Magicka cost and skill XP are rounded down, both in game and on this page. Because of this, you may find that you cannot cast a spell even though it appears you have exactly enough magicka to do so.
Magical Effects
The following individual effects are all considered to be part of the school of Restoration (see the individual effect pages for full details on availability; the Magical Effects article also provides a summary):
Cure Disease- Cure Poison
- Fortify Attributes
- Fortify Health
- Fortify Magicka
- Fortify Skill
- Fortify Spells (unique to Saarthal Amulet)
- Fortify Stamina
Regenerate Health- Regenerate Magicka
- Regenerate Stamina
- Restore Health
- Restore Health to UndeadDG
- Restore Magicka
- Restore Stamina
Turn Undead
Ward
Sun DamageDG
Skill Increases
Character Creation
The following races have an initial skill bonus to Restoration:
Trainers
- Aphia VelothiDB in Raven Rock (Common)
- Keeper Carcette in the Hall of the Vigilant (Expert)
- Colette Marence in the College of Winterhold (Expert)
- Danica Pure-Spring in Whiterun (Master)
- Florentius BaeniusDG in Fort Dawnguard (Master)
Skill Books
Free Skill Boosts
- +1 Restoration reward (+1 every magic skill) from Pantea Ateia (Bards College) for completing the quest Pantea's Flute.
- +5 to Restoration (+5 every magic skill) by selecting "The Path of Magic" when reading the Oghma Infinium after completing the quest Discerning the Transmundane.
Gaining Skill XP
- Casting higher level spells gives generally faster skill increases (Novice<Apprentice<Adept<Expert<Master).
- It is possible to reduce or even completely eliminate the magicka cost of spells by stacking Fortify Restoration enchanting effects. The Secret of ArcanaDB power does the same thing, but only for 30 seconds.
- Restoration leveling by healing requires that you heal actual damage to yourself or another character; unlike previous games you cannot simply cast Healing on yourself and others to gain experience. There are countless ways to harm yourself and then cast a healing spell to gain experience. The key to all of them is to find a way to level the skill by harming and healing yourself.
- Traps that can be activated repeatedly allow you to take controlled damage. Simply move away when you're running low on magicka and wait to regenerate.
- Alternatively, you may instead opt for a follower to be continually harmed by traps while using either Healing Hands or Heal Other to continually heal them. You can also deal some damage to them yourself, allowing you to level offensive skills such as Archery, One-handed, Two-handed or Destruction. Werewolves in dungeon cells, Shadowmere, and the four torture victims in the Dawnstar Sanctuary are examples of available targets.
- Outside High Hrothgar, in the backyard, there is a place where a magical wind blows and deals damage while standing near it.
- Twilight Sepulcher has a section that contains damaging light, which can be used to inflict controlled damage on yourself. Several sections of ApocryphaDB contain damaging darkness that can be used in the same manner.
- Casting a healing spell while in the path of the light beam in Kilkreath Ruins under the Statue to Meridia, while having the Atronach perk or The Atronach Stone effect (30% and 50% absorb spells, respectively) will give you XP in Restoration without using magicka or risking your life, as the light beam does little damage and restores a lot of magicka.
- Forges other than the Skyforge have a "Fire Hazard" effect that triggers whenever you jump into them. This effect can be triggered over and over again by simply jumping up and down in the forge. It does a small amount of damage over time and so can be easily controlled. It also counts as you casting a very weak Destruction spell on yourself, meaning you gain a little Destruction skill XP every time the damage effect is triggered. Although a tad trickier, if one turns on walk mode or sneaking(or both to move even slower) and steps in and out of the fire affect's trigger zone, they can trigger the damage effect much faster than jumping.
- Letting weak enemies strike you while you only heal yourself allows you to take controlled damage while leveling Restoration, and will level defensive skills such as Light Armor, Heavy Armor or Block at the same time.
- A useful trick for harming yourself is to cast Equilibrium, which drains your health and restores your magicka.
- Once you have completed the quest Lost to the Ages, the lava behind the Aetherium Forge inside the Ruins of Bthalft inflicts heavy damage (as much as 165/s with no fire resistance), allowing you to use high level healing spells to gain XP quickly.
- During the quest Chasing Echoes, provided you are not a vampire, the portal to the Soul Cairn will continually leech health away from you before you become partially soul trapped. Standing in the portal and healing yourself can quickly level your Restoration.
- Traps that can be activated repeatedly allow you to take controlled damage. Simply move away when you're running low on magicka and wait to regenerate.
- If you sided with the Stormcloaks, one possibility is to go to the Blue Castle, and while sneaking, cast Fury into the basement. This will start an all out brawl in a tight space with numerous essential NPCs doing damage to each other and opening opportunities to stay neutral as you boost your Restoration Skill with spells Heal Other. Proper equipment, and you can do this cost free as they continuously fight each other.
- Circle of Protection and Guardian Circle can be cast at any time after they are acquired for skill experience, though they only appear at skill level 65 and 90, respectively.
- If you're a vampire, Circle of Protection gives more experience, because there's always an undead creature (you) inside it. This has no ill effects on you, and works even if you're over level 20.
- An alternate method of the Circle of Protection trick for non-vampire players is to acquire an undead thrall (vampire, draugr, etc) and then cast Circle of Protection in range of it.
- Siding with the Volkihar vampires in the Dawnguard questline allows you to repeatedly cast Turn Undead on death hounds without turning them hostile or causing them to run.DG
- With the Silent Casting perk activated, you can remain hidden while repeatedly casting Turn Undead spells on undead opponents.
- Cast Conjure Ash Spawn and repeatedly cast Turn Undead on it.DB
Notes
- Restoration Dual Casting does not boost the level of a Turn Undead spell, unlike the equivalent Illusion spells. Circle of Protection is an exception to this rule, as both its magnitude and duration are increased by Dual-Casting.
- Turn Undead spells will stagger an Undead target, even if the target is too high of level to be affected by the fear effect.
- Necromage boosts the power of Turn Undead spells by about 25%. It also offers increased effects for all spells when cast on Undead, such as increased damage to Destruction Spells and staves when used against Undead (Draugr, Vampire, and Dragon Priest) targets. Notably, it also increases the level cap of all Reanimate spells cast on Undead allowing the player to raise the most powerful minions (like Volkihar Vampire, lvl 48) using the Dead Thrall spell.
- Respite's Stamina restoration is based on the spell being used. The Regeneration perk will improve its effects along with Health restoration.
- A player with Vampirism and Necromage will receive greater benefits from self-targeting spell effects, as the player is flagged as undead.
- PC Only This issue has been addressed by version 1.2.3 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch; Necromage no longer boosts the power of spells and enchantments used on a vampire player.
- Despite it being their namesake, the necromancers known as "Necromages" do not actually possess the Necromage perk.
Bugs
- If you have the Alteration perk Atronach, you can recharge your magicka by casting Circle of Protection and standing within the spell's effect radius. This effect goes away if caught in the explosive effect of your own spells (master level spells). It will start working again when caught in the explosive effect of another's spells (Your storm atronach works well for this).
- Both ranks of the Recovery perk are scaled by any Fortify Restoration alchemy effect on you at the moment you take them. The scaled magnitude lasts until the perk is removed.
Mod Notes: This is caused by magic effect PerkMagickaRecovery having its 'Magic Skill' field set to 'Restoration', which allows perk AlchemySkillBoosts to scale the magnitude by (1 + RestorationPowerMod/100).
- PC Only This bug is fixed by version 2.1.3 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch. (details)