As the title says. One of the cool things about Oblivion is it's spellcrafting system. However, I think we can agree that a fair number of spells are in themselves useless.

What are the most worthless spells, in your opinion?

And, hopefully, if you've found a way to use a useless spell, let us in on it okay?

I'll start with one of the most obvious examples: Absorb Mercantile? What good is a spell that can only be used to get better bartering prices, but is considered hostile so the merchant won't sell to you if you use it on them?

And one I've wondered about: Rally. Seems to be generally regarded as useless. But I've thought about trying to make a custom Rally/Silence spell to use on those cowardly conjurers to see if it would make them come up and engage me face to face. Anyone tried something like that?

It's probably there for variety. Somebody out there wants to RP a merchant / magic-user, and so Bethesda tried to give this roleplayer an option. Perhaps there's some sort of loophole to get this spell to work the way it should without making the merchant hostile? I dunno.

To me, a lot of the absorb spells that boost a skill seem rather arbitrary. Most of my characters would rather do some sort of damage to an enemy, not drain their skills. But again, if somebody wants to use these sort of spells, Beth has given them the option to do so. I don't fully know how the absorb-skill spells actually work, tbh, I've never used them.

Weak chameleon spells seem rather useless. They look cool, but what's the point of being partially invisible? In contrast, a weak healing spell (or destruction spell) or Illusion spell like Light can have some uses here and there.

Well according to the UESPWiki, abosrb skill can be used on things like zombies. Maybe you could summon something, use absorb mercantile on it, and get the bonus that way?

I'd test it, but my character doesn't use conjuration.

And personally, beyond use as a training spell, I've never seen a use for restore fatigue.

Yes, exactly. Then again, during Knights of the Nine there is a part of the quest in which

This condition lasts for a vast period of the questline, meaning that having a spell like Restore Fatigue could indeed come in handy.

Come and think of it, when Dyan phor a'Cauz did KotN, she did indeed have a Fortify Fatigue spell hotkeyed for this very reason.

I've used them in melee combat: Absorb Blade and you'll do more damage with each hit and they'll do less; Absorb Light Armor and you'll get a higher armor benefit while your blows will be more effective. Combine them with Absorb Fatigue, same theory, for a nice little melee boost.