Oblivion:Willpower

Willpower is the governing attribute for Alteration, Destruction, and Restoration. It affects:

• Regeneration rate of Magicka (see below).
• Fatigue = Willpower + Agility + Endurance + Strength

In-game Description: Affects how quickly you regenerate Magicka, and how much Fatigue you have. Governs the skills of Destruction, Alteration, and Restoration.

Character Creation

• The Races page provides a table summarizing the initial Willpower for each race and gender.
• An initial +10 Willpower bonus is possible by selecting The Lady as your birthsign.
• The following standard classes have Willpower as a class attribute (initial +5 bonus):
  • Crusader, Healer, Mage, Monk, Nightblade, Spellsword
• Any custom class can select Willpower as one of its two attributes.

Magicka Regeneration

The Magicka regeneration rate appears to be linear in Willpower and unaffected by Luck. The formula is:

MagickaRegenRate = 0.01 * (fMagickaReturnBase + fMagickaReturnMult * Willpower) * TotalMagicka.

Where the Construction Set specifies that fMagickaReturnBase=0.75 and fMagickaReturnMult=0.02.

For example, with 100 base Magicka and 100 Willpower, your Magicka regeneration rate will be 0.01 * ((.02 * 100 Will) + .75) * 100 Magicka = 2.75 Magicka points per second. The regeneration rate continues to increase if your Willpower exceeds 100.

Therefore, your regeneration rate is affected by two factors: the size of your Magicka pool and your Willpower.

Willpower determines the seconds spent to regenerate 100% of your Magicka. The formula is:

Seconds = 100 / (fMagickaReturnBase + fMagickaReturnMult * Willpower).

For example, with 100 Willpower your Magicka will completely replenish in 36 seconds, regardless of whether the pool is 100 or 1000.
With 50 Willpower, the time is 57 seconds.
With 0 Willpower, the time is 133 seconds, so 0 Willpower won't stunt your Magicka.

The regeneration rate can also be expressed as a percentage of the total Magicka pool.

Regen % = fMagickaReturnBase + (fMagickaReturnMult * Willpower)

Using the values specified by the Construction Set, this results in a 0.75% total Magicka regeneration per second, increased by 0.02% per point of Willpower. Therefore, 100 Willpower results in a 2.75% total Magicka regeneration per second.

A character with a weak Magicka pool and high Willpower may not regenerate raw Magicka as quickly as a character with a strong Magicka pool and a moderate Willpower. This highlights the power of racial and birthsign Magicka bonuses.

The Stunted Magicka effect from both the Atronach birthsign and certain diseases (such as Astral Vapors) will prevent Magicka from regenerating through Willpower.

Intelligence vs Willpower

Improvements to either Intelligence and Willpower will increase your character's Magicka regeneration rate. When deciding between an increase to Intelligence or Willpower during leveling, consider which will have a greater effect on your Magicka regeneration rate:

• At low levels, boosts to Intelligence will be more effective than equivalent boosts to Willpower.
• At high levels, boosts to Willpower become more effective. The crossover point occurs when your total Magicka (including both Intelligence and racial/birthsign bonuses) becomes 75 points larger than twice your Willpower.
  • For example, if your maximum Magicka is currently 150 and your Willpower is 50, you should increase Intelligence another 13 points until your maximum Magicka exceeds 175.
• This comparison focuses solely on the regeneration rate. However, increasing Intelligence also increases your total available Magicka, which some players may prefer even at high levels.
• If comparing the effects of different magnitude increases (e.g., +2 Willpower vs +3 Intelligence), you may need to use the formulas to calculate the exact effects.
• Increasing both Willpower and Intelligence simultaneously will yield the greatest overall effect.

To maximize your character's Magicka regeneration rate, it is best to use enchantments that increase your total Magicka rather than Willpower. For example, a character with 100 Intelligence and 100 Willpower (and no racial or birthsign bonuses) will have 200 Magicka and a regeneration rate of about 5.5 points/second. If you use the best possible enchantments to raise Willpower (9 pieces of equipment enchanted with a +12 Willpower Sigil Stone), you will have 208 Willpower and regenerate 9.8 points/second. If instead, you use 9 pieces of equipment enchanted with a +50 Magicka Sigil Stone, you will have 650 Magicka and regenerate it at 17.9 points/second. A High Elf character with The Apprentice sign would yield regeneration rates of 23.4 points/second if maximizing Magicka and 19.6 points/second if maximizing Willpower.

Notes

• Although there is a loading screen hint that claims, "A high Willpower allows you to defend against magical attacks", no evidence has been found from gameplay to support this claim. It may be a residual message from earlier Elder Scrolls games, in which Willpower provided resistance to effects such as paralyze and silence (see Morrowind for example).
• Players who take the Atronach birthsign have no need to increase Willpower other than for the purpose of increasing their Fatigue score.
• If you have a total Magicka pool of 275 or greater and have to choose between putting points into Intelligence or Willpower you will gain a faster Magicka Regen Rate by putting them into Willpower until it is maxed.

See Also

• Increasing Attributes: Tips on how to increase Willpower