Oblivion:Dispel

	Dispel
School	Mysticism
Type	Defensive
Effect ID	DSPL
Base Cost	3.6
Barter Factor	0
Availability (Click on any item for details)
Spells Custom Potions Built-In Potions Scrolls Sigil Stones Staves Weapons Arrows

Dispel M points

Remove Magicka-based spell effects from the target. Dispel can work to immediately cancel almost any magical effect that has a duration. However, it only works when the source of the effects is a spell. Dispel does not affect abilities, diseases, curses, or enchantment effects (either from weapons or apparel). Dispel also does not appear to remove effects from potions or scrolls, only effects from cast spells.

In combat, it can often be hard to know whether a negative effect came from a spell, or whether the source was actually a poison, scroll, or lesser power. For example, Spriggan's Curse is a Drain Luck effect, but since the curse is a lesser power rather than a spell, Dispel will not work to remove it. Generally, if a creature's spell is listed as "Immune to Silence" it is likely to also be immune to Dispel.

The points are related to the maximum strength spell that can be removed by the Dispel spell. This strength of a spell is the magicka cost (Magic Overview) of casting the spell, taking into account the caster's skill level (i.e., not the base magicka cost that are listed on the Spells page). The strength of a Dispel spell is 5 times its magnitude, meaning that a 50pts Dispel spell will dispel another spell with a strength of 250, but not one with a strength of 251. Legendary Dispel is the strongest Dispel spell available, and it can dispel spells with a strength up to 1250. For multi-effect spells, Dispel acts on all of the effects simultaneously, i.e. either all are removed, or none are removed. Also, Dispel can remove effects from multiple spells at the same time.

In practice, it may be very difficult to predict what strength Dispel effect is necessary to cancel a given spell, because it is necessary to know your opponent's skill level. The skill levels of NPCs are generated semi-randomly. Although you can expect that a Bandit Hedge Wizard you encounter at high levels will have better magical skills than one you encounter at low levels, the method used to determine the actual values is unknown.

Notes

• This effect can be gained for spell making and enchanting via spells or choosing the Serpent birthsign.
• Dispel can be useful both on yourself and on enemies; it has been classified as a defensive spell because it is a non-hostile spell.
  • On yourself, you may wish to use dispel to get rid of effects such Absorb Attribute, Absorb Skill, Burden, Drain (Drain Attribute, Drain Health, Drain Magicka, etc.), Silence, Weakness (Weakness to Fire, Weakness to Magic, etc.). However, Dispel is not "intelligent" and will remove beneficial effects (including Conjured creatures) as well as harmful ones.
  • On enemies, you may wish to use dispel to get rid of effects such as Chameleon, Invisibility, Resist (Resist Fire, Resist Magic, etc.) Shield, Summon, Water Breathing, Bound Armor, and Bound Weapon (although not against Mythic Dawn agents, whose bound armor and weapon effects come from abilities). Combining Dispel with Calm ensures that enemy spellcasters do not re-summon anything, as casting Dispel will not break the calmed state, while unsummoning any creatures that have been summoned so far.
• There are no Dispel poisons that you can use on enemies, only potions for use on yourself.
• From Sigil Stones, Dispel can only be used against enemies.
• Dispel is one of the enchantments available for making a custom mage's staff (it is also found on random generic staves).
• Dispel can be added to custom Touch spells to strongly mitigate most reflected spell effects by making them affect you for only a fraction of a second. Simply include an appropriately high magnitude to dispel the spell as a final on-self effect. This strictly works for Touch spells, not Target.
  • Most Damage and Absorb effects will only deal 1-2 damage to the appropriate resource.
  • 1 second duration Shock spells will deal full damage but this can be avoided by simply using a 2 second or longer duration for Shock.
  • Be especially wary of Absorb Attribute, Paralyze, and Drain effects; If Absorb Endurance or drains such as Drain Health or Drain Endurance reduce your Health to zero you will immediately die. Similarly, if drains or Absorb Attribute reduce Fatigue to zero you will briefly fall down before recovering. Paralyze will cause an identical fall.
  • Distintegrate Armor and Distintegrate Weapon are completely unmitigated by this interaction.
  • Burden and Silence do not appear to interrupt movement or casting at all, even in the event of over-encumbrance being reached with the Burden effect.
  • Weakness effects are seemingly far too brief for enemies to abuse even if deliberately timed to do so.
• Casting any Dispel spell will increase your Mysticism skill, even if there are no active effects for you to dispel.

See also

Sections:

• Options for Healing: Differences between all the various healing effects.

Related effects:

• Restore Attribute, Restore Fatigue, Restore Health, Restore Magicka
• Cure Disease, Cure Paralysis, Cure Poison

Alchemy Ingredients

The following alchemy ingredients can be used to make a potion of Dispel:

Apprentice Aster Bloom CoreSI Bergamot Seeds Ectoplasm Grummite EggsSI

Journeyman Dog FoodSI Grapes Mutton

Expert Beef Purgeblood Salts Sacred Lotus Seeds Shepherd's Pie Tobacco Void Salts