Skyrim Tips and Tricks » Discussions


Tips & Tricks to make Telekinesis more useful

Tags: #Relycs 
  • Member
    April 30, 2016

    At first I wanted this to be a "Guide" on how to make Telekinesis the center part of your build, but I realized that it's dmg (+augmentations) will always be way too low to beat even the novice destruction spells, so this will rather be a Tipps & Tricks book for said spell.

    • You can use the Marked for Death glitch to achieve some good dmg per throw.
    • This can be further augmented by dual casting the spell, increasing the velocity of the thrown item and makes you able to throw 4 items at once, resulting in quite some times the standard dmg, multiplied by the percentage of armor that Marked for Death takes from the target. May I use Teccam´s voice here:

      The actual damage inflicted by telekinesis is 3. I'm fairly certain this is fixed no matter the item's weight, speed, etc. though it is affected by difficulty. Marked for Death effectively increases damage by +9% per second, and has a 60 second duration. This means after 60 seconds, you have +540% damage. On Adept difficulty, with dual casting for four items, you'll be doing (3 * 4) * (1 +540%) = 76.8 damage per dual-casted telekinesis. Again though, that's after 60 seconds of waiting and avoiding being killed (though of course, pragmatism suggests you should be using telekinesis during the 60 seconds as well).

    • Slow Time makes aiming and picking up items much easier..
    •  Using a spell like Lightning Bolt on the item, right after throwing it, will let it fly at a much higher speed.
    • The spells Sparks and Stormwall will both make the item (works only with items that are not rounded) that you're holding fling around in all directions, if you're aiming at it while casting the spell. Once you release the grip, it will fly away at an ridiculous speed, faster than an arrow.
    • Playing at a lower (novice) difficulty really helps and can make Telekinesis-only-builds (in my eyes) possible, as it adds an 2x multiplier to Telekinesis' damage.
    • Using 4 arrows at once (or arrows in general) is very effective because they are very cheap and do not have to be re-collected from the ground. But be careful though, there are some types of arrows that can not be lifted with Telekinesis (Iron, Daedric and some other arrow types). Steel and Elven works fine.

    • You can actually use Telekinesis as a shield against arrows and magic. To do this, hold a big item with your left or right hand. You can use the other one to cast spells or attack with melee weapons. The Dwarfen Shield is the biggest item I found and blocks about 3-4/5 arrows, if you're holding it in the right angle. It doesn't work as well against magic. Enemys seem to shoot at your legs, so keep that in mind. The Thalmor Robes also work well. To adjust the direction that the items are "facing", hit them with your melee weapon or spell.

    • The range from where you can lift items is increased by the Hawk Eye Perk in the archery tree.
    • It's nice to grab the enemys weapon if you disarm him via shield perk or shout.
    • Roleplaying a magical thief can make this spell useful.
    • Good for collecting the items you used to shoot at the enemy.
    • The Sunhallowed Arrows from the Dawnguard dlc are very bright and yellow, which means that you can see them in the night & dark spots, making them very easy to collect in comparison to other items. Using 4 of them at once also looks cool.
    • You can disenchant Elemental Fury-affected weapons (all you have to do is use the shout on a bow, sheath it, equip another weapon, and disenchant the bow) and put it on the weapons, preferably "throwing daggers", that you want to use with Telekinesis. It is very bright and glows in the dark, making these items easier to collect.
    • You can place almost all items in the air to use them later with Telekinesis (or just for fun) by using all 3 words Slow Time (doesn't work with Necromage/Vampirism), then put the items out of your inventory, preferably while looking above you. They will float in the air until you "touch" them with Telekinesis or until you place another item too close to it. You need only a bit distance, though. This trick can be used to set up the fight, by placing items in the air and then using Telekinesis to grab and throw them, so you dont have to look at the ground or put the items out of the inventory all the times.
    • Alteration cost reduction of 100% or the Unlimited Concentration Casting glitch can both really help Telekinesis-Builds, even early on.
    • Telekinesis doesn't get more dmg through "sneak attacks", but you can use it to throw items at enemys or near them to gain their attention or distract them. If you hit them with an item, regardless of if you have quiet casting or not, they will immediatly charge your position, so be sure to get away or prepare for a fight. If you throw the item near them, they will investigate the spot where it landed, much like it works with arrows. Problem here is that they can hear you casting the spell, so check range first. If you have the quiet casting perk, the items wont make a 'noise', making the throw useless.


    Yet another dumb discussion that none will ever really put to use.


    Thanks to Albino for mentioning the cost reduction. I stole his explanation of the unenchant-the-elemental-fury-enchantment-trick because I've been too lazy to write it myself.

    Thanks to Teccam for the dmg numbers and his constructive feedback.

  • April 30, 2016
    I don't know about anyone else but I love these discussions. Also I had no idea that dual-cast made it so you could pull/push 4 things.
  • Member
    April 30, 2016
    Thank you, means a lot to me :).
    It works well with arrows, as they are cheap and almost always available. Note that it doesn't work with all arrow types, i.e. iron and daedric arrows (and some more) cant be lifted.
  • Member
    April 30, 2016
    Updated.
  • Member
    May 1, 2016

    Yet another dumb discussion that none will ever really put to use.

    Ahem 

    I'm quite impressed at all the tips you managed to gather; I didn't think there was even this much to be said about Telekinesis! This may be a bit obvious, but it's worth noting that the Infinite Concentration Casting glitch complements Telekinesis well, or even simply stacking Fortify Alteration enchantments if you prefer to go old-school. Speaking of Fortify Alteration, do you happen to know if Fortify Alteration potions have any effect on Telekinesis?

    Also, regarding getting Elemental Fury as an enchantment (well, just the visual effect, anyway), all you have to do is use the shout on a bow, sheath it, equip another weapon, and disenchant the bow, right? How would explaining that take too long? 

  • Member
    May 1, 2016
    So, you wanna tell me there is a possibility that Shin ever catches up and reads this? xD And even then, he might not like it :P.
    You know, I worked on a build using Telekinesis (only), but dropped it because it was too hard to get the words for Marked for Death. Btw, it looks like you can enhance MfD's effect through weakness to magic poisons.

    Dunno why I didn't include UCC and enchantments... Will do, thanks.

    It's an entire line, let's just say I've been too lazy and now I'm gonna steel your explanation :P.
  • Member
    May 1, 2016
    As far as I know, the only things affecting Telekinesis in any way are MfD, magicka cost reduction stuff and the Hawk Eye Perk, nothing else.
  • Member
    May 1, 2016
    Update: How quiet casting and sneak-cast affect the thrown items.
    Minor improvements.
  • Member
    May 1, 2016

    Nice work here, Relycs. I love the idea of using telekinesis to hold large objects in front of you as a makeshift shield. Does that actually block 100% of damage? If so, it could make for a seriously interesting build -- I don't recall any telekinetics on the site doing something like that yet.

    For the record, the actual damage inflicted by telekinesis is 3. I'm fairly certain this is fixed no matter the item's weight, speed, etc. though as you say it is affected by difficulty. Marked for Death effectively increases damage by +9% per second, and has a 60 second duration. This means after 60 seconds, you have +540% damage. On Adept difficulty, with dual casting for four items, you'll be doing (3 * 4) * (1 +540%) = 76.8 damage per dual-casted telekinesis. Again though, that's after 60 seconds of waiting and avoiding being killed (though of course, pragmatism suggests you should be using telekinesis during the 60 seconds as well).

    Basically, even with all these tips, I'm not sure it's ever going to be a truly effective tactic, but at the very least, this info can make it worth tinkering around with. So good stuff, again, Relycs. Keep at it!

    One thing I would recommend is to take a couple minutes and pretty up the presentation a bit. Make the headers centered, larger, and bold. Maybe throw in an image or two, and consider using the built-in bulleted lists rather than just manually inserting the bullet character.

  • Member
    May 1, 2016
    Thanks for the feedback, Teccam.
    It does block 100% of the dmg because the enemys arrow/spell is hitting the hitbox of the item, not yours, making the arrows stuck in it.
    Thanks for the numbers, I will include them + credit (if you're ok with it).
    I think it could work at novice difficulty. Problem here is the magical dmg of MfD, which will possibly outmatch Telekinesis' dmg anyway.

    The reason all my recent posts look like this is because I'm posting/writing them with my ipad (because I havn't been at home till this evening). I'm gonna improve it once I'm near my pc.