Skyrim Perks Ancillary: Restoration Tree

Novice/Apprentice/Adept/Expert/Master Restoration-

Why wouldn’t you take these?  Well, pretty much anyone can use Restoration spells, but not everyone has the spare perks to put into it with all the other goodies they want.  While the effects of the spells are a bit blunted by a higher Magicka cost without the perks, it’s not going to kill you if you’re only using these spells to accelerate your recovery between battles, as most melee artists and archers will do.  Still, if you use healing spells at all and can spare even one perk, put it here and rest easy (and more quickly).

Regeneration-

This would be the second perk you take in this tree, and should always be so.  Period.  Since every healing spell in the entire category benefits from this spell, even lacking the Apprentice/Adept/Expert/Master perks just won’t be too much of a drawback- you’re healing double strength either way, and thsi perk affects all your healing spells period.  That said, this perk gets even more powerful when compounded with the basic perks of the Restoration tree, effectively quadrupling the effectiveness of every healing spell that benefits from both perks.

Restoration Dual Casting-

Something was said about doubling your healing spells.  Well, Restoration Dual Casting doubles them a third time, making for some staggeringly fast and efficient recovery with basically eight times the power per Magicka spent.  That said, this perk is much more useful to those who are intent on the protective and necromantic effects of this skill’s spells- it doubles the effectiveness of the Wards you use and the duration of the undead-related spells in the skill, on top of its effect on healing.  As with the other Dual Casting perks, this only works if you have the same spell in both hands.  That said, two-handing Restoration spells is rarely worth it in combat- if you’re intent on running around with minions and cowering in the background while occasionally patching them up it’s fine, but there are better uses of your capabilities.  If you’re intent on using your Restoration spells to recover between fights or swapping into ‘heal mode’ and then back out once you’re patched up, then you want this- the rest of the time it’s probably not worth the perk point.

Recovery-

If you cast spells for any reason, you want this perk.  This is a very good reason for any caster to invest in the Restoration tree, and even those non-casters who have a few perk points to spare may well want it to speed their recovery between battle.  Fortunately, this effect compounds with Magicka-restoring enchantments on your gear, which means it’s still worth taking alongside those enchantments.  This pairs with Regeneration to make a nice four-perk package for any combat expert looking to either take mid-fight breaks to patch themselves up or just get on from one fight to the next more quickly.