Skyrim Master Alteration Spells Guide

Because of the vast amount of skills, classes, professions, and abilities, it can be somewhat easy to overlook just how powerful many magical abilities are in Skyrim. None is potentially more overlooked, however, than that of the Alteration School.

Unlike Destruction, Restoration, or Conjuration Schools, each proving both incredibly useful early on and quite dangerous as a weapon, the Alteration School can be somewhat benign, especially in the earlier stages. That said, if you are willing to devote time and energy to the skill, you’ll see that it offers some of the most rewarding abilities in the game, particularly in its Master-level spells.

This overview will be going over how to gain the Master-level Alteration spells in the game and their overall use.

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Enter the College of Winterhold

Firstly, you’ll need to have at least reached the level of 90 in the Alteration Skill, as anything less will result in the questline being unavailable. If you have not reached the level, one of the easiest methods of achieving this is to invest time in the Transmute spell. This not only will dramatically improve your Alteration level but will also result in you becoming considerably richer as a result.

Once you have reached level 90, go to the College of Winterhold and speak with Tolfdir. Here, you can ask him if there is anything else you can learn in the Alteration School, whereby he will ask you to collect Dragon Heart Scales. He will then direct you to collect a special dagger to perform the task, known as Kahvozein’s Fang. This will start the questline, Alteration Ritual Spell.

Retrieve the Dagger

A unique dragon priest dagger, Kahvozein’s Fang, is not quest-locked and may have already been acquired by the Dragonborn even before getting the quest. If you haven’t gotten the dagger yet, there are several potential locations it may be, any of which being marked on your map upon starting the quest:

Foelhost Refectory
High Gate Ruins
Lost Valkygg
Ragnvald
Skuldafn
Valthume
Volskygge
Castle Volkihar
Labyrinthian

No matter which area it is located in, move through the ruins and defeat the main boss, and collecting it among the other items.

Acquire Dragon Scales

After retrieving the dagger, your next step is to acquire Dragon Scales to carve. You will need to find and slay a dragon, collecting his scales while holding Kahvozein’s Fang in your hand. The scales will automatically be carved and harvested. Now return to Tolfdir and collect your reward.

Return to Tolfdir

After giving him the Dragon Heart Scales, Tolfdir will reward you with the Master-level Alteration spell, Dragonhide. He will also sell to you the other spell, Mass Paralysis.

Now that you’ve gotten the spells let’s take a look at what they can do.

Spell Overview

Dragonhide

The most potent armor-enhancing spell in the game, Dragonhide, directly reduces all damage taken by 80%. While it is mighty, effectively muting any damage taken, it is not without some drawbacks. It costs an incredible 837 Magicka to cast and only lasts for 30 seconds. That said, you can significantly decrease the cost by using items enchanted with the Fortify Alteration enchantment.

Mass Paralysis

The much more powerful version of Paralyze, Mass Paralysis, when cast, has an area of effect of 40 feet that instantly and immediately paralyzes anyone in the area for a full 15 seconds. The downside to this spell is that a strong enough opponent can resist it, so it is best to consider this more for crowd control than facing off against a boss-level opponent.