Oblivion:Spell Stacking

Spell Stacking is a game mechanic that allows you to use Weakness to Magic to recursively boost the magnitude of spells with negative effects on subsequent spell casts, including Weakness to Magic itself. This allows for casting spells with incredibly large magnitudes relatively easily, enabling the player or a desired target to reach absurdly high stat values. While spell stacking is a game mechanic, the player's ability to apply it to themselves is not. In the latest patch, you can only apply Weakness to Magic to yourself via a spell reflecting glitch.

A High Elf performing a Spell Stacking setup using Reflect Spell on a summoned skeleton.

Instructions

For stacking spells on a target:

1. Cast an On Target or On Touch spell on the target that contains the Weakness to Magic effect. Make sure the duration is long enough that you have time to cast a second spell.
2. Cast a different On Target or On Touch spell on the target that contains another Weakness to Magic effect. The Weakness to Magic of the first spell will increase the magnitude of the second spell.
3. Repeatedly cast these two spells back and forth until you've reached your desired Weakness to Magic magnitude. If one spell wears off before the other is cast, the stack is broken.
4. Now that the target has a high Weakness to Magic, cast a payload spell containing the desired effects you would like to apply in large magnitudes to the target. The spell must have at least one negative effect for this to work.
5. The end result is that the target now has massive spell magnitudes applied to them that extend far beyond what you would normally be able to achieve.

For stacking spells on yourself:

1. Cast an On Target or On Touch spell with a Reflect Spell effect onto another creature, ideally with a magnitude of 100 points (100% chance of reflecting) and a duration long enough to cast another spell before it wears off.
2. Cast an On Target or On Touch spell on the creature that contains a Weakness to Magic effect. Make sure the duration is long enough to cast a second spell. You will notice that this spell is reflected back at you and applied to yourself instead of the creature.
3. Cast a different On Target or On Touch spell on the creature that contains another Weakness to Magic effect. The Weakness to Magic of the first spell will increase the magnitude of the second spell.
4. Repeatedly cast these two spells back and forth, reflecting the effects onto yourself off of the creature until you've reached your desired Weakness to Magic magnitude. If one spell wears off before the other is cast, the stack is broken.
5. Now that you have a high Weakness to Magic, cast a payload spell containing the desired effects you would like to apply to yourself in large magnitudes. The spell must have at least one negative effect for this to work.
6. The end result is that you now have massive spell magnitudes applied to you that extend far beyond what you would normally be able to achieve.

Additional Notes

• A summoned creature or horse is ideal for reflecting spells off of when applying the spell stacks to yourself.
• The Animation Blocking glitch may be useful for casting spells quick enough to stack them.
• Instead of having separate Weakness to Magic stacking spells and a final payload spell, you can alternatively have the Weakness to Magic and payload effects built into a single spell that you have two copies of, allowing for the same stacking effect.
• It is recommended that your payload or stacking spells contain effects that boost your magicka so that you can afford to cast all the required spells in the chain. Spell Chaining mechanics may be necessary to utilize in some cases.
• Your payload spell does not need to have a high magnitude since it will be amplified, but it is recommended that you make the duration as long as possible since this typically cannot be increased.
• Spell effects such as summon spells do not have a magnitude, so their duration is amplified instead, allowing for extremely long spell effect durations.

Mechanics

Basics

Weakness to Magic's magnitude represents the percentage any subsequent spell effects will be multiplied by when applied to the target. For the purposes of all calculations, the Weakness to Magic magnitude is 100% + Weakness to Magic Magnitude %. For example, a target with a Weakness to Magic effect of 0% on it will have a Flare 8pt spell effect applied as 8pts + (0% WeakMag * 8pts) = 8pts, i.e. 100% of its normal magnitude. A target with 50% Weakness to Magic will have a Flare 8pt spell effect applied as 8pts + (50% WeakMag * 8pts) = 12pts, i.e. 150% of its normal magnitude.

Weakness to Magic stacking has several mechanics that are not intuitive:

• Weakness to Magic On Self was patched in v1.2. On Self spell effects are no longer influenced by the amount of Weakness to Magic on the player, regardless of its source.
• Casting the same spell will replace the previous instance.
• Weakness to Magic does not affect the other spell effects within its own spell, only on subsequent casts.
• Weakness to Magic spells scale linearly off of the previous instance of themselves before replacing the original instance.
• Any spell effects that appear AFTER Weakness to Magic in a spell will not be modified by the previous instances of itself.
• A spell must have at least one negative effect in order to be affected by existing Weakness to Magic conditions prior to the cast. This can be Weakness to Magic itself.
• Spell effects will be boosted by Weakness to Magic effects from other spells/sources regardless of the Weakness to Magic effect order in the spell being cast.
• When reflecting a spell off of multiple creatures/NPCs (such as an AOE On Target spell), all instances of reflected spells count as separate spells.

Weakness to Magic itself is a negative effect, meaning that it can affect another instance of itself. For example, a target with a Weakness to Magic effect of 200% on it will have a Weakness to Magic 50pts applied as 50pts + (200% WeakMag + 50pts) = 150pts. This then stacks on top of the 200% that was already present on the target, resulting in 350% Weakness to Magic until one of the effects wears off.

Stacking Conditions

There are several subtle mechanics that affect when/how a spell effect will stack (the ones listed above). This system of spell stacking is very complicated, so this section is designed to teach someone from the ground up how each mechanic can be observed. For the following examples, we will use Shadowmere. We will be using the sdt and tdt 8 console commands while selecting Shadowmere to see the results of each test.

First, let's examine the following basic spell, representing a desired effect we want to stack:

Fortify Strength, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

If we apply this spell to Shadowmere, who has a base Strength of 50, we can see that the Strength increases by 3 pts as expected. However, all subsequent casts of this spell keep Shadowmere's Strength at 53 pts, rather than stacking 3 more points each time. This illustrates an important mechanic that casting the same spell will replace the previous instance.

Now, let's examine a standalone Weakness to Magic spell:

Weakness to Magic, 75%, for 4 seconds, On Touch

When spell is cast repeatedly on Shadowmere, the Weakness to Magic effect stacks each time, first adding the intended 75pts. of Weakness to Magic, then adding 131pts. on the second cast. Using the formula from earlier: 75pts + (75% WeakMag * 75pts) = 131pts. from this we can see that each subsequent cast is actually being modified by the Weakness to Magic of the previous instance of the spell, and is replacing the previous instance of the spell (otherwise the total Weakness to Magic would be original 75% + new 131% = 206% after the first two casts. When we examine this in the console debug text we can verify that the spell is not actually stacking multiple instances of the effect, rather it is replacing the previous one each time after being boosted by it. This allows for linearly stacking Weakness to Magic and shows that Weakness to Magic spells scale linearly off of the previous instance of themselves before replacing the original instance.

Now, let's try using both of these spells together. If we cast the Weakness to Magic spell on Shadowmere, then cast the Fortify Strength spell, we can observe that the Fortify Strength is not influenced by the Weakness to Magic effect, adding only 3 pts instead of the desired 6 pts.

Now let's add an arbitrary negative effect to the original spell, keeping in mind that the order of effects for this situation will not matter:

Fortify Strength, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

Drain Armorer, for 3 points, for 1 second, On Touch

If we first cast the Weakness to Magic spell on Shadowmere, then cast this new spell with a negative effect, we see the Fortify Strength is now properly boosted by Weakness to Magic. From this we can conclude that a spell must have at least one negative effect in order to be affected by Weakness to Magic. Keep in mind that Weakness to Magic itself can be the negative effect needed. See the section below for a list of all spells the game considers negative.

Now we need to look at some spells to illustrate spell effect order:

Weakness to Magic, 75%, for 4 seconds, On Touch

Fortify Strength, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

Fortify Armorer, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

Fortify Strength, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

Weakness to Magic, 75%, for 4 seconds, On Touch

Fortify Armorer, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

Fortify Strength, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

Fortify Armorer, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

Weakness to Magic, 75%, for 4 seconds, On Touch

In these spells, we have Weakness to Magic placed at the beginning, middle, and end of each one to test effect order. When the spell with Weakness to Magic as the first effect is cast on Shadowmere, only the Weakness to Magic effect scales up (going from 75 pts to 131 pts as before). Neither of the other two effects scale up. If we cast the spell where Weakness to Magic is in the middle of the effect order, the Strength and Weakness to Magic effects both scale up correctly, but the Armorer effect does not. Finally, if we cast the spell where Weakness to Magic is at the end of the effect order, all three effects scale up linearly. From this we can conclude that any spell effects that appear AFTER Weakness to Magic in a spell will not be modified by the previous instances of that spell.

Additionally, if we cast the spell where Weakness to Magic is last in the effect order, we can observe after the first cast that Strength and Armorer do not scale, showing that Weakness to Magic does not affect the other spell effects within its own spell, only on subsequent casts.

Finally, by casting a separate Weakness to Magic spell before casting the example spell where Weakness to Magic is the first effect, we can see that all three effects are scaled up by the other Weakness to Magic effect the first cast, but only Weakness to Magic continues to scale as it stacks off of itself. This shows that Spell effects will be boosted by Weakness to Magic effects from other spells/sources regardless of the Weakness to Magic effect order in the spell being cast.

Exponential Scaling

Previous examples have all shown how to linearly stack Weakness to Magic on itself. To truly take advantage of this mechanic and push it to its extreme limits, you must incorporate multiple spells to exponentially scale the stacking effect. As previously stated, if you have a Weakness to Magic 100% spell that you want to apply to a target twice, the second cast will overwrite the effect of the first cast after being boosted by it, resulting in a 200% increase. However, if you have two of this spell, which can be identical in every way aside from their name so that the game counts them as separate effects, casting each of them back and forth causes them to replacing versions of themselves with progressively more amplified ones based on the Weakness to Magic of the other spell.

To observe this, create the following spell twice, each with a different name:

Fortify Speed, for 3 points, for 120 seconds, On Touch

Weakness to Magic, 100%, for 4 seconds, On Touch

Hotkey both copies of this spell and cast them back and forth on Shadowmere. You will observe the following scaling:

CYCLE 1
  (Cast spell 1)
    Fortify Speed: 3 pts.
      [3 pts + (0% WeakMag * 3 pts) = 3 pts]
    Weakness to Magic: 100 pts.
      [100 pts + (0% WeakMag * 100 pts) = 100 pts]
  CURRENT TOTAL: 3 pts (from spell 1) = 3 pts Speed
                 100 pts (from spell 1) = 100 pts Weakness to Magic.
  (Cast spell 2)
    Fortify Speed: 6 pts.
      [3 pts + (100% WeakMag * 3 pts) = 6 pts]
    Weakness to Magic: 200 pts.
      [100 pts + (100% WeakMag * 100 pts) = 200 pts]
  CURRENT TOTAL: 3 pts (from spell 1) + 6 pts (from spell 2) = 9 pts Speed
                 100 pts (from spell 1) + 200 pts (from spell 2) = 300 pts Weakness to Magic.
CYCLE 2
  (Cast spell 1 again)
    Fortify Speed: 12 pts.
      [3 pts + (300% WeakMag * 3 pts) = 12 pts]
    Weakness to Magic: 400 pts.
      [100 pts + (300% WeakMag * 100 pts) = 400 pts]
  CURRENT TOTAL: 12 pts (from spell 1) + 6 pts (from spell 2) = 18 pts Speed
                 400 pts (from spell 1) + 200 pts (from spell 2) = 600 pts Weakness to Magic.
  (Cast spell 2 again)
    Fortify Speed: 21 pts.
      [3 pts + (600% WeakMag * 3 pts) = 21 pts]
    Weakness to Magic: 700 pts.
      [100 pts + (600% WeakMag * 100 pts) = 700 pts]
   CURRENT TOTAL: 12 pts (from spell 1) + 21 pts (from spell 2) = 33 pts Speed 
                  400 pts (from spell 1) + 700 pts (from spell 2) = 1100 pts Weakness to Magic.

From this, it becomes clear how massively overpowered the potential of these types of stacks can be. To try it for yourself, cast this spell cycle on Shadowmere 6-8 times and then ride her around. Keep in mind that if they both wear off before you can successfully cast the next one, the chain is broken and your Weakness to Magic goes back to zero, requiring the whole stack to be built up again. Due to the magicka cost associated with longer durations and starting magnitudes, spell stacks often require implementing magicka boosts on the player to enable them to cast enough instances of the spells in a row. You may also need a high enough level of certain magic skills to create and cast more powerful stacking spells.

A calculator for Weakness to Magic stacking has been provided here.

Methods of Applying Weakness to Magic

Applying Stacks to the Player

On Self Weakness to Magic spells were originally able to be stacked on the player in v1.0, but were patched in v1.2. However, by making an On Touch/On Target spell with the desired effects and reflecting it off of another NPC or creature first, the game now considers it a spell that was cast at the player, not by the player. This results in the Weakness to Magic effect stacking correctly, making Weakness to Magic stacks on the player still possible in v1.2.

A main difference between an On Self spell and a reflected spell is how they stack. On Self spells normally replace the previous instance of themselves, while reflected spells each count as a separate effect. For example, examine this spell:

Weakness to Magic 100%, for 10 seconds, On Self

In this case, casting the spell the first time will apply the 100% Weakness to Magic effect as expected, but all subsequent casts will replace the previous version before applying the new instance of the effects. This means that the second cast would not scale up to equal 300%, nor would it linearly add on to the previous total to equal 200% since the previous effect gets removed. It would simply be 100% again. Note that this spell stacking behavior On Self is applicable to all spell effects, not just Weakness to Magic.

AOE Spells

On Touch/On Target spells that have an area of effect will reflect multiple instances of that spell back at the player. Each individual instance of a reflected spell counts as a separate stack of Weakness to Magic, meaning that the exponential scaling of the effect will be much faster when done in this way. Start by casting a Reflect 100% spell in an area around several creatures or NPCs (for example, the Scamps from the Staff of the Everscamp) and then cast a Weakness to Magic AOE spell repeatedly on those creatures to scale up extremely quickly. Finally, deliver a reflected payload spell to apply a massively boosted spell to the player.

Enchanted Weapons

The spell effects on enchanted weapons work the same way as spells. There is currently no known difference between the two mechanics.

Using an enchanted dagger is the fastest way known to stack the same effects on each other in order to perform the spell stacking mechanic. Combining an enchanted dagger and different spells stacks high values of effects since different spell/enchantment effects stack on each other exponentially, while a same effect stacks on itself linearly. This method consists in attacking an entity with an enchanted dagger and casting different spells between each attack. It works for spell stacking on other entities as well as on the player's character using a Reflect Spell effect first.

Poisons

Although potions are completely unaffected by Weakness to Magic, poisons are affected. This is not a useful effect for the player as any potion with at least one positive effect is not considered a poison, although it could be useful in stacking negative effects on others by using poisoned weapons or reverse pickpocketing poisons onto NPCs.

Example Spell Stacks

Here is a relatively simple example of a useful spell stack. Two copies of the following spell are made, and are designed to be used on a horse to increase its speed:

• Fortify Magicka 100 pts, 4 secs on self
• Fortify Speed 3 pts for 120 secs on touch
• Fortify Restoration 50 pts for 4 seconds on self
• Weakness to Magic 100% for 4 secs on touch

In this example, the spell is both the amplification stage and payload. When casting two copies of this back and forth, the Fortify Magicka and Fortify Restoration effects keep the player's magicka and Restoration high enough to keep the spell cheap and able to be chained together infinitely. The Weakness to Magic is the amplification effect and makes the spell contain the one required negative effect to amplify all the effects. The Fortify Speed is the payload effect, which has a maximum duration but a low magnitude that will be increased significantly each repetition of the cast.

Each cast of this spell amplifies the Weakness to Magic by another 100%, and fortifies the horse's speed by 3 pts + (x% WeakMag * 3 pts). Within less than 10 total casts, the horse can be buffed to have over 1,000 speed.

Because each copy of the spell is overwriting itself each time, the end of the spell stack results in the horse only have two active spells on it, one for each copy of the spell, both with a two minute duration. This allows the player a long time to use the payload Speed effect to travel around the map.

For more examples of spell stacks, see our progress in implementing them into map exploration and other tasks here: Useful Spell Stacks.

Negative Spell Effects

Here is a list of all the spell effects in the game that are considered negative. Having at least one of these effects in your payload spell will trigger the Weakness to Magic magnitude to be applied to every effect in the spell, even positive ones.

List pending.