Skyrim talk:Conjure Haunting Spirit

Usable for crafting?

This spell potentially has a big impact on the maximum non-glitched effective skill levels for alchemy, enchanting, and smithing. The +10 to all stats includes those if the right enemy kills it (tested against a guard). First question is finding a way to trigger the effect reliably in a controlled setting. Ordering a follower to kill it doesn't seem to trigger the ability, but maybe some other conjuration or pseudo-follower trick would do it. If that can be done, that would facilitate easier testing for it's impact on potions, enchantments, and tempering (with and without the unofficial patch). --Olaus (talk) 07:39, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

The best way I can manage to trigger the Haunting Gift effect is to conjure the Haunting Spirit followed by an uncontrolled Ash Guardian. They will fight and the effect will trigger, lasting one minute. The ash guardian has to remain alive during that time to sustain the effect. You probably don't want to do this in a player home, since the battle will surely scatter all your items. You might do it just outside and then run in to your crafting stations or use a crafting station in a dungeon somewhere. The fight between the guardian and spirit will last a few seconds, so you'll want to summon them a distance away from the crafting stations and then run over there so the ash guardian doesn't attack you once it's finished with the haunting spirit. I don't think the ash guardian is vulnerable to any debuffs that would stop it from attacking you, paralyze and calm don't work. If anyone has ideas how this could be improved upon, please post. --Olaus (talk) 16:44, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

Uh, one more big discovery: this effect stacks. You can conjure multiple haunting spirits and have multiple enemies kill them and confer multiple instances of Haunting Gift. That greatly complicates trying to find a maximum level. Each instance only lasts 60 seconds, so maximizing it would be a challenge of both orchestrating a battle where separate foes all deal the finishing blows to your haunting spirits and getting as many foes affected as possible within one minute. Still need to test the magnitude of this on actual crafting output, but it looks like the theoretical ceiling will be beyond what's practically achievable. --Olaus (talk) 16:58, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

Last update for a while probably: Using the strategy with the Ash Guardian, I did a loop with one instance of Haunting Gift. I did it in Raven Rock Mine which worked pretty well. I remembered that you can't use the crafting stations while in combat, which would be yet another wrinkle in attempting multiple instances of Haunting Gift, but it's not an issue with just one since it's easy enough to sneak away from the Ash Guardian. Baseline before using Haunting Gift (on the unofficial patch) was +61% fortify alchemy gear and +114% fortify enchanting potions. On the first loop, I was able to make +117% enchanting potions and then +65% alchemy gear. Second loop got +123% enchanting potions and +67% alchemy gear. Third loop got +125% enchanting potions and +68% alchemy gear. Fourth loop got +127% enchanting potions, and it turned out +68% alchemy was the ceiling. With this I was able to make +317% fortify smithing potions. Open questions: 1. Where and how to choreograph a battle to get two or more instances of Haunting Gift, and 2. assuming you can do that, would it be better to start with enchanting or alchemy? It's likely to be challenging enough to do that you want to know you're doing it the most efficient way. --Olaus (talk) 01:53, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

permanent bonus glitch

I got a glitch where the Haunting Gift effect ended but all my skills keep being boosted. And for now I didn't find a way to reverse it, so it stacks with new Haunting Gift effects. Most likely it has something to do with entering Apocrypha while the effect was still active or using Moras Grasp on the Ash Guardian or both. But it could also be Barbas, Bend Will Shout, Slow Time, the stacked effect or something else because I tried to find a reliable way of doing a crafting cycle with stacked effects. (well I guess infinite permanent stacking could be considered reliable XD)

I am not really a code digger but from what I observed the Haunting Gift effect is only visual. If you have stacked it, it still shows under active effects as if it where only one instance with the countdown for the last time. So the actual boost seems to be separated from the effect. I would guess it is somehow controlled by the negative effect on the NPC and by messing with it (Moras Grasp) or by leaving it behind (going to Apocrypha)

I also got a bug of not beeing able to change realms wich could be related. In Apocrypha activating the book at the end teleported me to the same spot I was already standing and made a new autosave. while doing further testing I gould the Message "You are unable to concentrate on what you're reading." when trying to go to Apocrypha. This bug isn't fixed by loading an old save (going to the main menu sometimes fixes it). JustAnOptimizer (talk) 16:06, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

After some more testing I think I got two of three parts of this glitch reconstructed: 1. Use Moras Grasp on the NPC to make it somewhat immune to even the game doing stuff with it (Ash Shell despite some similarities doesn't work) 2. Read a Black Book so when the effect runs out the NPC isn't around to remove it. (Normally going through doors and alike instantly removes the bonus but somehow Moras Grasp + Black Book doesnt 3. Find a way to remove the NPC from the world in the meantime. Otherwise it removes your bonuses even if you come back after the timer expires and you still had the bonuses in Apocrypha afterwards. I am not sure about the third step but if I remember correctly, the Ash Guardian vanished when the glitch happened. I can't check this, because I only noticed the glitch after quick- and autosaves were overritten. Maybe he fell through the floor or was killed by my followers or using the Arcane Enchanter was important. More testing is needed JustAnOptimizer (talk) 20:58, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

For easier testing I now use the command "player.cast fe037863 NPCRefID voice". This casts the spell "Haunting Spirit Steal Skill" on the desired NPC and gives the player the bonus and "Haunting Gift" effect. JustAnOptimizer (talk) 22:03, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

Using getAVinfo I found out that the Bonus is given as a Perm Modifier and removed afterwards.JustAnOptimizer (talk) 09:05, 18 October 2022 (UTC)^

Using "modAV <attribute> -10" for every single skill attribute works as a fix. At least for what I know is effected by the glitch. I didn't find a fix without using the console an my interest to break the game beyond reasonable isn't big enough to further try and reproduce this glitch. Maybe I will reproduce it again on accident but for now I will play as if nothing ever happened JustAnOptimizer (talk) 10:02, 18 October 2022 (UTC)