Hey it's my turn to give tips: 1) Go Illusion. You can spam muffle anywhere and everywhere (like in town) to get it high pretty fast, and then bam! Invisibility, frenzy, calm, all the good spells along with Silent Casting. Grats you're now a ninja assassin mage that even stealth based thievs should envy. You don't really need Conjuration with this school, anything anyone ever summons can be controlled by you. Any daedra or undead will work for you, and any companion you do have gets a huge boost from spells like rally and courage. 2) Breton is the superior mage race, forget Altmer; their 50 extra magicka is a joke and only covers a fraction of a spells cost later on. A Bretons passive ability to their magic resistance and absorption ability is really underrated and becomes almost overpowering against other mages and casters if you take Alteration. Not to mention it increases your armor spells to a very respectable degree. 3) Alteration is so good if your Breton. (Mass) Paralyze is a great spell and compliments the Illusion school. You can also boost a Bretons innate magic resistance to 55% in this tree. Another school that's easy to raise (can do it in town) thanks to spells like mage/candle light and telekinesis spells. 4) Lightening is the best element, and probably the only one you will need to use as well. It is entirely possible to beat the game without even running into a Storm Antioch, which doesn't even matter because you took Illusion and that school ends up spanking them hard. Beyond that, it the majority of the lightening line are instant; no travel time so if it's in your crosshairs it's staggered until it dies. Just fantastic with the Silent Casting perk from Illusion. 5) Get enchanting and put some magicka reduction costs on your gear. With max enchanting it is entirely possible to have magicka free spells in two schools without investing in perks, further obsoleting the Altmer.
