Pure Mage's Guide

[ninjutsukid]

So you decided to play a game of Skyrim with the intention of being a pure Mage...

...

a Mage who wont pull out a sword in the middle of combat or have to retreat and use a bow.

...

In Oblivion this was almost impossible unless you had a staff, in Skyrim- it's possible.

 

However some of you may feel that it's still too hard to be a mage, read this guide, If you feel that you don't need it, skim it real quick, you might find good tips. I'm not trying to show cheat techniques for things like training / leveling up because I feel that just ruins the way the game was intended to be played.(Feel free to add =D )

 

THE MAGES GUIDE TO SKYRIM

 

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Table of Context

I. Picking what type of Mage you will be

II. Upgrading your Mage

III. Where to start!

IV. Combat Tips

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I - Picking what type of Mage you will be

 

Congrats and welcome to Skyrim Mage! :thumbsup:

 

Being a Pure Mage means that you should not have to ever feel like retreating to a sword or bow and that you're confident in any challenge. First, a quick lesson

 

The basic skill sets for any Arcane based Mage are:

 

Destruction

Illusion

Alteration

Restoration

Conjuration

Enchanting

 

These are the only skills that a pure mage will ever need, with the exception of the Sneak skill which can always help.

 

However, as you progress through the world, you may want to focus your perks on specific magics that suit your playing style and become a specialized mage. Here are some examples of subclasses.

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Battlemage -

 

Important Skills :

Destruction

Restoration

 

Lesser important skills:

Alteration

 

This is my preferred class. With this class you will mostly be focusing on using mana as a direct ranged weapon, sort of like a bow. People who pick this subclass focus on building their destruction skills to maximize damage. Restoration has improved dramatically over Oblivion. Now, with good perks, restoration is a must-have for almost every mage class as it is insurance against a Mage's biggest weakness - direct hits. Alteration can be useful for spells like stoneflesh and ironflesh, which raise defense attributes.

 

With this class you will find Conjuration to get annoying and useless after a while. Especially since you wont be focusing perks into it and conjuration spells tend to cost a high amount of mana unless you invest in them. If you summon a weak creature and sacrifice mana then you will be unable to fight back once it dies.

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Conjurers -

 

Important Skills :

Conjuration

Destruction

 

Lesser important skills:

Restoration

 

Conjurers - also known as summoners - focus their mana on summoning creatures from Oblivion to fight on their side. The most important skill to a conjurer is Conjuration, which helps increase the range, duration, and mana cost of their spells. A skilled conjurer uses their powerful familiars to distract and injure the enemy while they are safe from harm. At that point they can use destruction spells and make traps or restore their hp until the summoning time limit is reached.

 

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Priest

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Important Skills :

Restoration

Illusion

 

Lesser important skills:

Alteration

Conjuration

 

Yes! The Priest class can actually be an extremely useful class. The most important thing is that a priest must be accompanied. Once you find / hire a companion, using the healing hands spell can make them invincible while keeping you safe. Raising illusion can be useful for getting out of surprise situations by calming your enemy or making them kill each other, it's the second most useful magic due to the lack of combat magic. Alteration can be useful for defense and protection and conjuration can provide extra companions.

 

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If you don't end up liking any of these you could try to be a hybrid of all of them, balancing out. Whichever way you choose to play is absolutely fine!

 

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II - UPGRADING YOUR MAGE

 

One of the greatest benefits about magic is that you do not need to rely on equipment to fight. However, proper equipment still plays a major role in helping Mages succeed. Unlike Oblivion, in Skyrim it proves to be much more beneficial to wear mage robes rather than armor if you're playing a pure arcane. This is because a lot of the Mage's gear will be enchanted with benefits such as higher mana regeneration, extra mana, or decrease cost for certain magic.

 

It's best that you find out what type of mage you will be playing. A Battle mage might prefer to start out with a "Novice of Destruction Robe" which provides a decrease to mana cost of destruction spells rather than "Novice of Restoration Robes" which does the same for the restoration skill.

 

Another important piece of equipment would be to find a staff. Staffs can be used as primary weapons or secondary weapons. As a primary weapon, you can use your staff to fight and reserve your mana for emergency magic such as traps or restoration. As a secondary, you can use your staff as a backup weapon to fight while your mana recharges.

 

Using a staff that works best for your character set is important too. If you tend to lose mana a lot, use a staff that drains mana.

 

Lastly, REMEMBER TO GET BETTER SPELLS. Sorry to say, but Sparks will only last you so long. Frostbite wont be there forever. After you increase in certain skills, get the spells that accompany your skill rank. If you feel that your attacks are hardly doing damage, this is probably the mistake!

 

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III - WHERE TO START

 

 

Races: Races don't play as big of a role as they did in Oblivion, but there are certain advantages / weaknesses for each race that can really turn a fight in magic.

 

The best races I believe for mages are

 

High Elf- They are supplied with high mana but are also vulnerable to attack.

Dark Elf - I've used this race in building destructive and conjuration based mages

Breton - Personally my favorite because of their big magical resistance and balance.

 

There are certain things that you can do to help boost your chances. The first and most important thing to do is to look for the birthstones.

 

 

 

The Mage Stone

 

Learn magic skills 20% faster.

Found near Anise’s Cabin, southwest of Riverwood.

 

The Apprentice Stone

 

Regenerate Magicka twice as fast, but twice as vulnerable to magic attacks.

Found south of Solitude, on an island in the marsh.

 

The Atronach Stone

 

Adds 50 points to magicka, absorbs 50% of enemy spells, and a 50% reduction to magicka regeneration.

Found between Windhelm and Riften, east of Darkwater Crossing and Eldergleam Sanctuary.

 

 

 

 

The next most important thing you should do is visit the College of Winterhold. It's the most resourceful source for Magic training and spells in Skyrim. Here you can pay to practice, earn rewards that are very useful and meet several companions.

 

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IV - Combat Tips

 

Probably the most useful part of this guide..hopefully. This section teaches you how to properly use magic to win a fight.

 

 

Don't Waste Mana

 

The ultimate problem people have with building a pure mage is that they run out of mana too soon and have to use backup weapons. This is because you are not suppose to spray your magic attacks and instead use them in short burst.

 

Example : You are being approached by an enemy, you have sparks in both hands. If you have a magic attack like Sparks you may feel tempted to hold down the button till you see your enemy die. You are wasting mana.

 

Think of it like a gun. If you keep shooting without stopping you're going to spray and miss. If you take time and shoot in burst you will do more damage. The same applies for magic. This is because the health bar of your enemies will take time to lower.

 

Now redo the example, except this time with short 2 second burst. This time you only hold the attacks for two seconds and stop and redo. You will see that the enemy will die faster and you will have saved a ton of mana.

 

On the other hand, when you have an attack that already fires in one shot (like lightning bolt), you will still find it useful to follow this trick. Spamming magic attacks even with these spells still waste mana, and if you have the destruction spell which staggers an enemy whenever you attack them with a dual wielded spell, you can take advantage of it by waiting for them to recover then shooting it again. If you shoot while they're recovering they will simply ignore the stagger.'

 

How to use Equilibrium

 

Equilibrium is a complicated spell that you receive

when roaming one of the final dungeon missions of the College of Winterhold

through a tome. It trades your life for mana. IT CAN KILL YOU.

 

To use this properly you need to be skilled in restoration. Have the perk 50% more health regeneration and 50% mana cost decrease for restoration . Now on your right hand you can have equilibrium equipped and on your left have a quicker healing spell equipped. Switch back and forth, trying to keep the health at balance, you will see that your mana will be raising while keeping your health steady. You may still lose health but you will regenerate enough mana to heal it back in less than a second.

 

Hot keys are your best friend

A Mage needs to know how to use hot keys otherwise he/she is screwed. No, I do not mean favoring a magic and then pressing Q to switch to it. You need to have magic spells that have quick slots that activate when you press a number. To do this, first look for a magic spell you want to quick slot.

 

Take Healing for example. You would go to the Healing spell and Favorite it so that it appears in your Favorites when you press Q, then highlight it or move your cursor over the spell and press whichever number you desire to be the quick slot. A number should appear near it.

 

Now when you press that number the spell will active on your left hand. Pressing it again will equip it to your right hand only if it's already equipped on the left. With practice you will be able to easily switch spells and dual wield spells.

 

Obviously you can also quick-slot potions and staffs for emergencies too =D

Be Smart! Prepare for battle

 

Mages are suppose to be considered the most intelligent of all classes. They have the advantage of being able to manipulate so many things and should seize those advantages. Before fighting, there are several things you can do to prepare for a big battle

 

Summon something - Even if you are not skilled in conjuration, it still helps to have something blocking your enemy from melee contact to you. Just be careful if you're sneaking, they might give away your spot.

 

Place a trap - Destruction spells have a category called Runes. Runes are traps that look like symbols on the ground that explode when stepped upon and deal huge amounts of damage. If you feel that the enemy will most likely survive and come after you, make him/her/it suffer with a powerful blast.

 

Buffs - Using buffs like Ironskin can be life saving if you know you're going into a crowd of enemies or a close combat situation.

Edited November 16, 2011 by ninjutsukid

[vertex23]

Good read. I think a lot of people will benefit from reading this! Especially those who keep saying they're constantly OOM (I think they were spamming combo spells together >.>)

[dikr]

Great post! :thumbsup:

 

Makes me wanna try a mage. Playing an archer at the moment but it's kind of boring except for sneaky one-shots.

[PsYchotic666Joker]

Great post! :thumbsup:

 

Makes me wanna try a mage. Playing an archer at the moment but it's kind of boring except for sneaky one-shots.

[BrknSoul]

Great post! :thumbsup:

 

Makes me wanna try a mage. Playing an archer at the moment but it's kind of boring except for sneaky one-shots.

 

Makes me feel like a boss when I down 3-4 guys with single shots, all while hidden.

[dikr]

Great post! :thumbsup:

 

Makes me wanna try a mage. Playing an archer at the moment but it's kind of boring except for sneaky one-shots.

 

Makes me feel like a boss when I down 3-4 guys with single shots, all while hidden.

 

Yeah that certainly is fun and I always preferred sneaky ranged characters before, but gameplay wise it's pretty one-sided; pretty much the same as in Oblivion and MW. The whole managing mana routine as described above by using equilibrium + resto skills and having a wide range of different spells available is more complex; also the new dual wielding + double spell power attack system make it a more interesting route to me compared to the nukage it was in Oblivion and MW.

[zoleman]

Sounds all neat m8, and to be honest, this is just the playstyle I have been following since lvl1. At the moment Lvl40 breton mage, heavy destruction augmented by heavy alteration, minor conjuration, some restoration (dont get hit much usually, aside from those i will write about a few lines below), also cranked up illusion to 80+ but seeing no use yet (not much perks in it though).

 

BUT... the biggest problem I encountered so far are:

 

- Archers... Ironskin active (augmented by alteration tree, so it doubles in effectiveness) and 100 hit points (yea, 40 levels and all went to magicka :P ) I keep getting 1shotted by quite a lot archers. I have to find cover and duel with them since my lightnings have limited range and they just sidestep from fire and frost spells :( Irritating... Oh and i pop muffle and invisibility and an archer sitting atop a 100 feet tall tower will still snipe me in the middle of the night :(

If anyone can tip me about them, be my guest, I'm out of options on how to combat those damned archers.

 

- Packs of stronger (higher hit point) enemies. Single arent a prob, impact perk does wonders. But when I have even 2 bears on my tail..... Jesus... They only get staggered for about 1sec, barely enought to charge another spell, plus they can 2shot me with ironskin active. This is mostly a prob in closed space, since i have nowhere to run, I cant keep more than 1 away from me and I got no defensive spells ( invisibility duh!!!! I crafted muffled boots just to counter the sounds i make... but still fail miserably when trying to use it) to put myself out of harms way for even a second.

 

Tips welcome on both topics, since I also die blazing fast versus 2-4 bears or similar hit point level bandits even.

 

 

 

 

 

PS: Breton mages eat spellcasters for breakfast. 91% magic resistance (with only 2 crafted items) and enchanting is only at 89. I actually use hostile casters as target practice for bows, swords and axes :)

[cube359]

Great Guide - Thanks!

 

I try to use the hot keys as I tend not to like entering the Inventory while in an encounter (immersion!?)

I thought I would share my usual set up if it helps anyone?

 

1. Flame / Fire Bolt

2. Fire Rune

3. A N Other of the Destruction variety

4. Ward (Lesser/steadfast) whatever level/stage I am at.

5. Oak/Stone Flesh et al.

6. Conjure Fam / Raise Dead

7. Conjure Atronach

8. Healing / Fast Heal

 

I don't alter much from this unless I am playing a different focus mage, in which case I would swap out the Destruction in slots 1,2,3 and replace them with the main source or damage creating spell or summoning if conjuring! Any comments gratefully received.

 

cube359

[Hidole555]

Very helpful. Thank you so much!

[Cookicut]

I think I might have a pointer for Destruction mages- Impact + Ice storm.

 

Impact + Ice storm is an effective combination against groups of enemies. Other Adept level spells like fireball and Chain lightning only staggers the first target. Ice storm penetrates and staggers everyone it hits then slows them down. Very effective against Melee enemies, specially in cramped dungeons, even on high levels of 60s. Also because it's only Adept, mana cost gets rather low very early. It's slowing effect makes swapping back and forth with different spells easier too.

 

I haven't gotten far with my mage yet, so I can't say if improved perks and higher leveled spells are better. But I've used it with my other characters to level destruction, and so far find it the best spell in dungeons. I think it'll be best if others can verify if it really is a good point. :tongue: