Invisibility is a valuable spell effect in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. No NPC or monster can see an invisible player, making it easy to sneak around guarded areas or rush through dungeons without engaging enemies along the way. Invisibility breaks easily, but clever players can still use it to sneak attack entire rooms of enemies without being spotted.
However, players can only carry so many invisibility potions at once, and the alchemy ingredients needed are fairly rare. That's why it helps to get the invisibility spell, but Skyrim doesn't make it easy to find. That's why this guide will explain exactly where to get the spell and what players must do to get access to it.
Spell Tomes and Winterhold
The first thing to understand is that Invisibility is an Expert-level spell, which means players must have 75 skill points in the associated magic school to learn the spell. The magic school for Invisibility is Illusion.
Next, magic sellers are very restrictive in what spell tomes they offer. Court mages will sell any spell tome from the Novice or Apprentice list, but each one only sells Adept-level tomes from one school. To get a tome for an Expert spell like Invisibility, players must go to the College of Winterhold and find the mage who specializes in the right magic school.
For Illusion, the expert to find is Drevis Neloren. Drevis has a room in the Hall of Countenance, and he's also the game's Master trainer for the Illusion skill. Drevis wanders through the college through midday, but he spends most of his time in his room.
The other requirement to getting the Invisibility spell tome is enough skill points in Illusion. Unless players have at least 40 points in a magic skill, Adept tomes won't even appear in magic merchants' inventories. For Expert spells, players must have at least 65 skill points. Players won't even see the Invisibility spell tome in Drevis' inventory before then.
Of course, like any merchant, Drevis' items are somewhat randomized. If Invisibility doesn't show up and players have 65 Illusion, try waiting a day or two for his inventory to reset.
The other way to find an Invisibility spell tome is from random loot. Expert-level spells start appearing in loot once players reach level 35, but the odds are stacked against players who want to find a specific spell tome.
Other Ways to Turn Invisible
The best way to turn invisible in Skyrim without the spell is with potions. Players can happen across potions that provide invisibility for 20 to 50 seconds, or they can craft their own using ingredients and an alchemy table. Ingredients that provide invisibility include:
- Nirnroot
- Crimson Nirnroot
- Vampire Dust
- Luna Moth Wing
- Chaurus Eggs
- Ice Wraith Teeth
There are also ingredients from DLCs that provide invisibility. Creation Club ingredients alone can double the size of this list.
Other powers can also provide invisibility:
- The Shadow Stone's once-per-day power provides 60 seconds of invisibility.
- One of the Nightingale blessings from "Darkness Returns" in the Thieves Guild quest line is Shadowcloak of Nocturnal, which lets players turn invisible while sneaking for 120 seconds.
- The Embrace of Shadows vampire ability provides invisibility for up to 180 seconds.
Notably, there are no items that provide invisibility. No armor or jewelry will make the wearer invisible, and there isn't even a Staff of Invisibility in the game. Since other methods are hard to come by, it's no wonder why so many players prefer to use the spell.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.