Summary
- Skyrim players should consider using the Healing Hands spell to keep their companions alive during battles, as it restores ten points of health per second.
- The Healing spell is a basic yet effective way to heal the player character and costs 12 magicka per second to cast.
- Fast Healing is an improved version of the Healing spell, instantly giving the player character fifty health, making it useful in intense combat situations.
Skyrim is a wonderful game filled with a huge variety of ways in which players can challenge enemies and perform wondrous feats. There are any number of ways that players can choose to focus their skills in the game, from two-handed weapons and heavy armor all the way to becoming powerful mages and needing no weapons besides their hands.
Whatever way Skyrim players choose to build their character, whether it’s a common-overpowered build or something a little different, they’ll want healing magic on their side. Even non-mages can save a lot of money on healing potions if they simply learn a few tricks in the restoration school of magic, including some of the very best healing spells in the game.
7 Healing Hands
Normally, Skyrim players will be looking for ways to heal only themselves during combat. But once the game gets going, keeping companions along for the ride in a fight for longer is well worth the advantage, and healing hands is one of the best ways that players can achieve this.
Healing Hands restores ten points of health per second. During any lull in a battle, players might want to consider using this spell so that their companions can stay in the fight. When a companion goes down, most of them won’t die, but this still means they won’t be able to assist the Dragonborn should they get into trouble.
6 Healing
The most basic healing spell, and one of the first spells the Dragonborn will likely use in Skyrim, Healing works in a very similar way to Healing Hands. Instead of healing a companion or friendly unit though, Healing is the novice-level spell that will heal the user for a similar ten points per second.
All players start with the Healing spell, so it can be used in almost any situation. It costs 12 magicka per second to continue casting though, which means that, at a base level, players won’t be able to use it for as long as they may need. However, if players focus on gaining more magicka during the early game and using enchantments to make spell costs cheaper, Healing can do everything that players need and plenty more.
5 Fast Healing
Sometimes, players won’t have time to use Healing to regain all of their health. When under siege from a number of enemies simultaneously, Fast Healing is a much better option if players have managed to unlock this apprentice-level spell.
Fast Healing is an improved version of healing. Though it is slightly more expensive than Healing would be, players will usually be glad to pay a little more for the speed it delivers. Fast Healing instantly gives players fifty health, which can be an excellent way to immediately save a player from death if enemies are throwing a lot of attacks at them in a short space of time.
4 Heal Other
Perhaps the best and most cost-effective way to help companions out in battle, Heal Other works similarly to Healing Hands, giving health to a nearby target instead of returning it to the player themselves. This is not to be underestimated in usefulness though, since players can often keep multiple companions around them as the game goes on, though some are better than others.
While Heal Other doesn’t work on undead creatures, most companions that will be fighting alongside the player won’t be undead. Heal Other is a massively useful spell, particularly for some underpowered builds that rely mostly on restoration magic, as players will likely rely on their companions to deal out most of their damage.
3 Close Wounds
Close Wounds is one of the more advanced restoration spells available in Skyrim and one of the best spells in the entire game. An adept-level spell, Close Wounds is similar to Fast Healing, but instead of 50 points coming back immediately, Close Wounds gives players back 100 health points.
Costing 126 magicka for a single cast, Close Wounds is definitely a late-game spell for when players have built up more magicka if they are playing as a mage.
2 Guardian Circle
Guardian Circle is the most advanced restoration spell available in Skyrim. It isn’t entirely focused on healing but is one of the best ways to save a player from death in the game. Guardian Circle is a master spell that can only be unlocked by reaching a high level in restoration magic and completing the ritual spell quest at the College of Winterhold.
If players get into trouble, particularly in caves and tighter spaces against groups of enemies, casting Guardian Circle will cause all undead creatures up to level 35 to flee for the duration of the circle, which is sixty seconds. While the player stands inside the circle, they will automatically heal twenty points per second, making it incredibly difficult for enemies to kill the Dragonborn while they remain inside.
1 Grand Healing
Grand Healing is the single best healing spell available in Skyrim. It is an expert spell that requires a great deal of Magicka to use, but it instantly heals the caster by 200 points, making it a must-have for when the Dragonborn is faced with potentially game-ending combat scenarios.
Grand Healing costs 254 magicka per casting, which is more than double the player’s magicka bar at the start of the game. Fortunately, there are ways to maximize magicka as the game goes on, and players who specialize in restoration magic will soon find Grand Healing to be one of the best spells available to them once they gain access to it.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available for PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.