GameBanshee Forums

I've played this game a lot with several different kinds of characters. I've played a mage character before and know that this guy (Phinis Gestor - the Conjuration expert at the College of Winterhold) can be somewhat difficult to find, but now I'm playing a new character (I'm going for a mage-assassin) and I can't find him anywhere. He's not in the village, in the arcaneum, the hall of elements, countenance, the apprentices' quarters, the midden, the midden dark, the archmages quartes etc. I've looked for him at all hours of the day (game time) and waited 48 hours (game time) etc. and I simply can't find this guy . I've spent two hours frustratingly looking for this guy. I've played for a some time now with my mage-assassin, so I can't remember if he was always gone and I don't really want to start over from previous saves many lvls before what I've achieved now so this is quite annoying.

Anyone got any idea where he might be or is this some kind of bug?

He should be in the Hall of Countenance. Are you just trying to use him as a trainer? Because he's only the expert trainer; the master trainer Falion is in Morthal.

SWC

I want to locate him for his spells, I'm planning on conjuring two dremora lords to aid me in a thight spot.

Yeah he should be in the Hall of Countenance, but he's not. I've checked every hour of the day (in game) several times and he never shows up. I'm beginning to think that he's just gone forever in this playthrough.

Anyway, thanks for your help

Do you know if Falion will sell conjure dremora lords?

It seems Phinis is gone from the world of Skyrim for this specific playthrough. The weird thing is that I have just gone back and checked previous save fx. 10 lvls before and he's there in the hall of countenance as he's supposed to be. I don't know what's happened and I can't recall that I should have done something to make him dissapear - he's marked as essential so I guess he can't be dead.

I did take a month or so break from the game and then returned a couple of days ago and there was an automatic update - maybe that somehow made him dissapear, but that seems weird since he's present in other saves. This is really annoying and here I've been so happy that I haven't really encountered any such issues in the game before.

I checked around, and apparently Phinis disappears for a lot of people. If you're on a PC, then you can summon him. Otherwise you're probably out of luck.

Falion only sells spells up to adept, so he won't help you.

SWC

Exit out of the midden dark to Skyrim take a right...Phinis should be standing around there...

lots of times he will be in the same spot around a certain time of day.
if you try the same time of day as when you last saw him and he is not there you may have to use ~/` to summon him.
if you do not want to do that go back to when you last saw him and follow him around, if he has a bed you will be able to find him there if not in his regular spot.

I had this same problem with someone and randomly found them in a bed lol he is always sleeping.

TAKR86 wrote:I've played this game a lot with several different kinds of characters. I've played a mage character before and know that this guy (Phinis Gestor - the Conjuration expert at the College of Winterhold) can be somewhat difficult to find, but now I'm playing a new character (I'm going for a mage-assassin) and I can't find him anywhere. He's not in the village, in the arcaneum, the hall of elements, countenance, the apprentices' quarters, the midden, the midden dark, the archmages quartes etc. I've looked for him at all hours of the day (game time) and waited 48 hours (game time) etc. and I simply can't find this guy . I've spent two hours frustratingly looking for this guy. I've played for a some time now with my mage-assassin, so I can't remember if he was always gone and I don't really want to start over from previous saves many lvls before what I've achieved now so this is quite annoying.

Anyone got any idea where he might be or is this some kind of bug?

Exit the Midden Dark (Skyrim exit, not College exit), take a right, he is probably standing around on the edge of a cliff there...
Three separate play throughs the game has glitched him to this spot for me.