I heard that even with the Necromage perk it becomes useless at higher levels, is this true?

Not true.

Well, sort of.

The base "Turn Undead" spell is bugged where it doesn't have the same stagger effect that the other turn undead spells have. Otherwise, it's a great mechanism to route lesser undead from heavy battles. Dual cast, Circle of Protection will turn essentially ANY undead in the game.

My Paladin/Undead Hunter doesn't leave home without his most powerful turn undead spell.

Ehh, it's alright, but it suffers the same problem as illusion with the whole level cap thing.

I've never felt the need to make the the undead flee personally, I just turn into a badass undead dude myself and fight fire with...drain life.

It's as useless as the Fear spell. The only thing I can see it used for is to give a little room to heal. But since you can just freeze time when you enter the menu, potions, food, or a level up will do just as good. Besides, it's annoying trying to hit them while they're running away unless you use a ranged attack.

Subjective I suppose, I use the base lowest form of Turn Undead for a lot of the game, not so much to make them flee but to stagger them from a distance giving me the chance to close the distance. Higher ones are still useful for making them scatter a bit if they come at you in a large group. Value is more directed towards what you are trying to accomplish with it.

My war priest got alot of use out of it, even at higher levels. His only means of attack were with his mace and every restoration spell in his left hand, so naturally he's going to use it. It's very effective.

Amazing for Paladins, pointless for everything else.

It's always much easier to just have a healing spell in your left hand.

it's one of the most underappreciated organic roleplaying options available.

I would argue that such customization is sorely lacking.

It's a Restoration spell right? It is quite useless when you could just kill it heal yourself with other Restoration spells when taking damage.

you just proved your un role playing ness. care to elaborate?

Unroleplayingness? I don't see the relation to such, when I am simply talking about the usefulness of a spell. All it does is give you some room for whatever reason, be it to heal or whatever else. But as said already, going into the inventory menu can do just that or when you're selecting something from the hotkey. Not to mention the plenty of shouts that could easily get you out of a situation where you need space. I suppose if you ARE role playing (by which refusing to use the better alternatives stated above) then I suppose there is a use for it when settling for less.

the "useful" ness of a spell is the point. this isn't about hotkeys or shots or space. yes, i am roleplaying and, therefore, to play any other way would be laughably dumb.

not, dumbdumbe, but, skillfully dumb.

go idiot gameplay.

Sadly not everybody gets what roleplaying is. For example, there are so many armors better than Bonemold. But Im redoran. I will not use any other armor, even if they are far better. I dont play the game tio be the uber god of the universe.

By role playing I mean when one were to pretend they aren't Dragonborn thus the excuse to not use shouts and go for a different alternative because of what they're role playing as. Or when one refuses the ability to go into the inventory menu to heal with potions and instead goes with an alternative by using something such as turn undead for whatever reason. That is probably the only reason to use it.

Like I said, turn undead is rather useless when there are much better alternatives to handle a situation, like with the examples I spoke of in my previous post and similar to what others have stated already. Like this entire time am I talking about its actual usefulness itself, with role playing being irrelevant. You role play as a paladin who isn't Dragonborn, with his main skill being Restoration, then there is your use.

Technically speaking, it's still settling for less.

I have to disagree, if I need to stagger a draugr who jumps up and my Unrelenting force shout is still recharging or something, then Turn Undead is very useful. If I want to keep a Deathlord Archer stun locked as I close the distance again I can do that and use the ice form shout to freeze other anyways that might not be bunched together. Usefulness of it is ultimately subjective to your play style.

at least you are original:i use gameplay and my intelligence to create the best gameplay experience for any particular character at any time.

like i said, turn undead is one of the most usefull rping devices available.

roleplaying irrelevancy comes from the idiots who don't know how to do it.

One of my characters uses the Turn spells to thin out groups and to keep undead archers busy while he deals with the close-up enemies. I dig it for certain characters.

This right here. I agree that there are other ways to dispose of enemies but when you have a crowd in front of you, a weapon in one hand and spell in the other, what better way to clear out some undead.

Single-target Turn Undead? Not useful at all. However, the Repel line combined with the stagger effect that comes with it is a great alternative for handling crowds of Undead.

the adherence to your rp is one.

I remember doing that on my vampire hunter now come to think of it. It's an excellent strategy if you're fighting a boss amongst other Draugr's.

Role playing was probably the reason I played this game longer than expected. I only say role playing was irrelevant because I wasn't discussing turn undead in terms of using it while role playing a specific character. Only technically speaking, there are better alternatives. Like using Steel Plate armor instead of Daedric armor for the sake of role playing a Nord warrior who despises all things Daedra, but in all reality is Daedric still better statistically (and without the exploitable improvement system). An example of what I mean when I am speaking technically of better alternatives.

Whether role playing (or technically speaking, pretending, such as pretending you aren't Dragonborn and aren't available to using better alternatives) is a must in this game, is another topic and is overall subjective as to which the player can do such or not. I myself, have done it plenty. Just so happens I haven't role played a Paladin that uses turn undead exclusively.

i'm sitting here watching and listening to bad religion get jacked by a crowd ...that i'd love to confront.

i'd pay top cash to prove you have know idea what it is to pay top cash for a fool's yap and a dikes punk.

Still have to disagree. I mean when ultimately through using smithing I can still get Steel Armor to the max armor rating and thus is just as effective as Daedric, and I play on Xbox360 with no mods and no like exploiting cheats just a smithing at max. The alternatives you mention are not more or less effective just different, Turn Undead is very effective as a tactical options for certain play styles and not for others.

I have no idea what any of what you just said means but you might want to dial back the unnecessary commentary.

Whenever my Paladin is in nordic ruins:
Right hand: Dawnbreaker (Legendary)
Left hand: Grand Healing, Guardian Circle, Bane of the Undead, Detect Dead, Dragon Hide

It makes Legendary difficulty easy. Very OP build.