How to effectively play as a mage

[oldspice2625]

Usually I'm the magic class, and my other thread detailed what I found to be dissapointing about magic in this game. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the changes were for the better, and I appreciate them asthey are more challenging. However, not being able to effectively level your conjuration/alteration/illusion without the pressence of enemies is annoying at the very least. I guess it's kind of cheap to level your skills in town like in oblivion, sure... but why punish those people who want to get all that crap out of the way quickly so they can enjoy questing after they are done with that?

 

that's not the major point here, the point i'm trying to get across, is that, in oblivion, it was far easier to be a mage, now in skyrim, especially with that rediculous drop to 33 pct magicka regen during combat, it's so hard to fight as a mage during battle without carrying in tons of magicka regen potions, magicka restore potions, and magicka fortify potoins, or casting one spell per day...

 

What's the use of dual casting my destruction spells, if I get depleted in three spells, then i'm screwed because i'm too poor to get alchemy up by training, and to get ingredients to make said potions? I thought... why not get a follower? And why not conjure more? Okay, great ideas, the pressure is off of me, and i'm able to not spam as much and be more tactical, I try to use my environment to my advantage, and sneak whenver possible...

 

the follower doesn't do crap for me, conjuring right when battle starts leaves me with next to no magicka available for spells, and i'm whipped out early on by one power attack from a draugr relentless...

 

I have a four to one Magicka:health ration when leveling up, so i'm not dumb in that respect, I get that i'm going to need a ton of magicka... and yes, I do get the mastery reductions for perks whenever possible for every magic aspect, except illusion, since it's pretty much worthless now except for quiet casting.

 

Ih ave apprentice destruction, but I have to use the crappy novice spells, because it's the only way I can hope to have my magicka last a fight, and my alteration level is low, because again, if you aren't being attacked, your shield casting does not raise your alteration skill, or it is VERY minimal... same thing with conjuration, which used to be the two FASTEST skills to level in oblivion.

 

I understand they want us to be tactical, but for god's sake... this is rediculous... so what now? ih ave to cheat and use the "player.additem f 5000" every time I want to make some magicka potions because my lvl 9 character can't make enough money to support himself? I know it gets easier with enchanting to reduce the magicka cost for spells, but AGAIN, enchanting is SO expensive for a new character... I have to scrape together money to ge the next level of robes for my mage, I wear no armor to avoid hindering the ffectiveness of my spells, I use whatever enchanted armor I can for mages to reduce destruction down... what the heck... i'm still getting pounded into the dirt.

 

FOR ALL YOU PRO MAGES OUT THERE..... WHAT DO YOU DO TO SURVIVE? HOW DID YOU GET BY EARLY ON AND WHAT ARE SOME TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SKYRIM MAGE STUDENT?

 

What are the who's where's when's and hows? Where do I go first, what to max out with perks first, what to use early on, when to use what... what spells on what, where to go, where to level up first, what quests to do.... leave no stone unturned, help a brother out, PLEASE!

 

 

 

Thank you in advance, and no, i'm not ranting, AS I SAID BEFORE I LOVE THIS GAME, AND I ALSO LOVE MAGIC, BUT WHAT WORKED ON OBLIVION DOES NOT WORK HERE AND I NEED SOME ASSISSTANCE... so please don't just say 'LOL NOOB STOP RANTING"... because i'm not, I just need some aid to learn how to mage in this game.

[BGatot]

Good question. I had this problem as well when playing my mage character. The character's high-elf special abilities help a lot, but can only be used once per day. Spells are no doubt very powerful, but used up magicka fast, especially when dual-wielded. Edited November 25, 2011 by BGatot

[minngarm]

dual flame pritty much destroys everything. I havent seen any problem with magic casting. pickup some armor for the recharge time

[Eirosin]

I don't seem to have an issue here. I use my companion as a pack mule, so whenever I clear a dungeon I have two bodies worth of goods to sell off. I never use a horse unless I am specifically dragon hunting and I"m always picking herbs on the way. If you use the right spell on the right creatures you won't be blowing all of your magicka either. My mage is pure distruction/enchanting/light armor/smithing. So, as you can see, I have the "upgraded" light armor with the right enchantments. Every time I clear a dungeon I walk away with around 1000g. Also, by the time the dungeon is done I have atleast 10 health potions and 10 magicka potions crafted just from gathering alone so I am good to go for the next run. In order to make it as a mage in this game you have to dedicate yourself to doing extra work besides just being a glass cannon.

[Gaasyendietha]

Actually enchanting is quite fast to get up early, and can be used to get a hell of a lot of money through the whole game. What you do is you find the reduce carry weight enchant, and the absorb magicka enchant. Sure those aren't the easiest to find but you can sell iron daggers made with petty soul gems for over 100 gold each... plenty if you fill your own petty soul gems which are easily filled on wildlife like deer/wolfs. And if you have a greater or grand soul you feel like using to level your enchanting/making some money, enchant boots or gloves with fortify carry weight, get 300-700 gold from iron boots enchanted with it depending on your enchanting level. On lower level soul gems its more profitable to enchant weapons, but enchanting every weapon i came across with absorb magicka and buying then filling every petty/lesser soul gem i could come across I rarely have fallen below 5000 gold unless i had a few 2000 gold spells to buy or the time i bought my expert robes of destruction.

 

Edit: The apprentice stone is also really helpful with a tradeoff, but with impact as long as you get the first hit on a mage you shouldn't have any issues.

Edited November 25, 2011 by Gaasyendietha

[oldspice2625]

Eiroson, okay, I get it... you have it made.

 

But what exactly do you look for? Say I clear Silent moons camp, that gives me next to no money with Lydia in tow AND me picking up EVERYTHING that I can that has value. I scrimp and save as much as possible, but gathering reagents from shopkeepers to level up alchemy is really a break even thing, sometimes less depending on what is offered... I know mountain flowers are suposed to be everywhere, but I just don't run into them.

 

"Use the right spells against the right monsters and you'll not run out"... well... I find that to be pretty high and mighty... I know fire does more damage and is more effective vs. Trolls and Undead... and I use fire against them, but against one Restless Draugr and two regular ones WITH a companion, I was still running around frantically because my firebolt with 35 destruction was not powerful enough to kill it, and no, I was not spamming, I had conjured a Flame Atronach beforehand since I knew beforehand mages suck so hard in the beginning.

 

And yes, in oblivion, I picked every flower, every shrub, every little mushroom I could on my journies... so much so that I was over encumbered by the sheer magnitude over ingredients I had from daedra, minotaurs, shrubs, spriggans, etc...

 

I guess i'll look into enchanting some, but until mods address these issues,especially the regen one (which I know had to at least annoy you guys) among others playing as a mage just isn't as easy as the others.

 

I know you need more to play a mage, but in oblivion I never died so much... in skyrim i'm dying all the time, but with my warrior, with minimal restoration training, i'm able to tank a horde of draugr at various lvls... totally obliterating dragons with my dualwielding, and destroying enemy mages with my shield upgrades. My assassin type character is able to roll IN FRONT OF npcs and slit their throats, and the bow is rediculously powerful.

 

i'm really not trying to whine, just compare, because the magic really is tough and powerful, but there are some roadblocks i'm running into that I never had to in oblivion. There were welkynd stones all over the ayleid ruins, there were cheaper potions to buy early on for magicka, alchemical ingredients were more useful, the mages guild had better equipment early on. Yes, could you become "god" eventually... sure, but what i'm saying is, it's so much more difficult in this game to even survive without being a master tactician.

 

Most of the recipes on the UESP's I knew how to make long before they were on that site, i'd spend hours finding new recipes to do this or that, what items and equipment helped me out as this or that character type, believe me, I was able to plan ahead in oblivion.

 

In this game, i'm not able to do that with my mage character. It's almost as if i'm going to have to go hybrid with a two handed weapon or something which I honestly don't want to do, but at this rate, i'm not finding what I need to get the job done.

 

 

I know that Dwarven Oil, Elve's Ear, Briar Hearts, Ectoplasm, Moon sugar, white cap, red mountain flowers, giant lichen and other ingredients are grreat for magicka potions, but at an early lvl, obtaining these through killing enemies, or purchasing in great amounts is quite the challenge.

 

Thanks for all the posters who are trying to help me, I really do appreciate it, I'm still lost, but I guess i'm going to have to wait for mods to change things around for me. Probably go back to my other characters and even oblivion for a while because it seems a bit rough around the edges with mages :(

 

 

I'm glad you guys are able to do it so easily though, Iguess i'm just missing something huge that's so simple...

 

THANK YOU FOR THE ENCHANTMENT ADVICE THOUGH... I WILL TRY THAT!!!

[Gaasyendietha]

k, here is a small tip that works no matter how low your magicka is, use blaze, or whatever the starting fire spell that turns your hands into a flamethrower is, and just tap an enemy with it, watch their health bar, and look at your mana bar. Just blow all your mana in one frontal assault then resort to tapping them with your basic fire spell, I did have to do that often while i was still getting my skills up and searching for better robes.

[Kalkus]

in skyrim it is rather hard to make a blow everyone up type of mage(might be easier to do on a difficultly less than master) if you use some sneak and frenzy it can help save some mana and take pressure off of you... although i cant give all that much advice for destruction since i dont use it(i use 1 hand sword plus alteration/illusion/restoration) being very smart with your mana goes along way to kepping the bar filled till you get up to 250-300 mana where at that point you should be stacking health.....plus your cost reduction items makes spamming magic from a few schools of magic a joke.as far as leveling your magic skills outside of combat you can(tho i dont suggest since without new expensive spells the monsters will maul you to pieces..but anyways alteration can be leveled with transmute telekinesis or water breathing outside of combat. conjuration can be lvled by spam casting soul trap on a corpse. illusion has muffle and a few other non combat spells that lvl it outside of combat ^^ hope that helps

[oldspice2625]

Thanks everyone, really!

 

I know i'm being really needy, and I appreciate all the hard work in your comments... I truly do. I just have this funk I have to get over with this game... IDK why, but something is just about skyrim that i'm not able to crack with my Arcane Scholar in Training yet...

 

I'll try the Flames thing, and i'll level up sneak more and get quiet casting, My illusion is already there for it, so why not? Sigh...

[Handofbane]

Something I used that helped in addition to the advice given - Regenerate Magicka potions. With the right ingredient combo you can actually make a decent Regen Magicka *and* Regen Health potion with a 300 second duration.

 

Salt Pile and Garlic, both very common, give Regen Magicka, just add something like Namira's Rot, Nordic Barnacles, or Juniper Berries to tack Regen Health onto the mix since Garlic has both properties.