At the end of the College of Winterhold storyline, Skyrim fans will meet one of the strongest bosses in the game, Ancano. Ancano wants to use the ancient artifact Eye of Magnus to take control of the college, so Dragonborn will have to stop him.
However, it won’t be as straightforward as with other bosses, as players will need a special Staff connected with the Eye of Magnus to defeat him. This guide provides all the necessary information to defeat Ancano in Skyrim.
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How to Defeat Ancano in Skyrim
To defeat Ancano, the Dragonborn will need to use the Staff of Magnus. This magical item is obtained by following the story after completing these steps:
- Starting their journey from Morthal, players should take the road that leads to the south side, then turn east and reach the turn to the south. This way, they will get to the Labyrinthian, and their location should be as shown in the screenshot below.
- Next, players need to reach the Labyrinthian Tribune, the third level of Labyrinthian. In this location, they will meet Morokei, whom they have to kill to get the Staff of Magnus. When fighting this priest, fans should use ranged weapons as well as spells. Of course, melee weapons will also harm Morokei but won’t be as effective.
When players receive the Staff of Magnus, they will be ready to take on Ancano. To do so, they’ll need to head to Winterhold, where their first obstacle will be the wind in the courtyard, which will make it difficult to move. To proceed, Dragonborn must take the Staff and attack to clear the way and get inside the college.
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Once inside, gamers need to find Ancano, who will be casting spells over the Eye of Magnus in The Hall of Elements, located in the largest tower. When they find the magician, Tolfdir will also enter the room and speak with Ancano, after which the NPC will be paralyzed, and the enemy will be ready to attack. It’s important to remember that Ancano will be invulnerable to all kinds of attacks, and to be able to kill him, players will first have to stop the Eye by pointing their Staff of Magnus at it and holding it until the sphere closes completely.
Now that Ancano is vulnerable, he can be killed quite easily with almost any weapon, but fire spells will be particularly effective. In addition, the mage will try to open the Eye of Magnus again to become invulnerable once more, and to stop him, players have to repeat the use of the Staff of Magnus. After Ancano is dead, players will be able to talk to Tolfdir and continue with further quests.
Skyrim
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, PS4, PS5, Switch
- Released
- November 11, 2011
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Action, Adventure
