I was thinking about creating a battle mage

[Dubnoman]

My first character that I'm playing as currently is a Nord woman who is somewhere in between a thief and a scout/ranger (I dunno if scouts and rangers are all that different). I'm really enjoying this type of character. I was thinking for a second character of choosing between an Illusion thief or a battle mage, but in this thread I'll seek advice on making a good battle mage character.

 

I wanted to make a battle mage using a female character, so I was thinking that having her use Elven and Glass armor would be more fitting than the use of heavy armor. I prefer light armor, and I think a female battle mage in Elven and Glass armor would possess more finesse. Would it be a good idea to make a battle mage with proficiency in light armor? Should I use heavy armor early in the game and switch to Elven and Glass armor when I can upgrade them via smithing?

 

I was thinking of choosing a Breton or an Altmer. Is Altmer the better choice due to the extra 50 points in magicka? Can you still make a really good battle mage with a Breton? What other races are good for battle mages? If I choose light armor, should I go with a shield and then one-handed weapons or destruction spells in the other hand, as opposed to dual wielding? I think dual wielding could be fun, but so could going around with a shield and casting spells or a shield and a mace, so I might put perk points into block, the mace perks, and dual wielding perks. Another question, for destruction magic, I was thinking of going with a proficiency in shock magic. Is that my best bet? In order to heal myself, I was thinking of putting perks into alchemy, but really for just healing potions and a few other potions; not really poisons (which I use with my Nord character).

 

Thank you to anyone who can help me with some of these questions. Do you think I could make a pretty good battle mage with those types of proficiencies? What could I change to make a better battle mage? I'd like to avoid using enchanting, as that can easily make the game very easy.

[modder3434]

don't specialize in armor, go with block, although the shields are light and heavy, and if you do want an armor go with light, since a mage even a battle mage has to be light on their feet.

 

pick which one you want, improve it if possible by smiting or enchanting and let that be the core of your defense.

 

Then focus on Destruction, Restoration, Conjuration, and if you have time alteration. As a back up also put just one or two perks in one-handed so when that one guy gets through your spells and creatures and companions you don't get owned.

 

Altmer is the best for an offense/aggressive mage if you plan on always hitting first and mainly by yourself or if you simply like to be in the middle of the action even as a magic user.

 

Breton is the best for a more defensive mage with the resist magic and higher summoning skill for using minions to do your will.

 

Dunmer can be a good choice for a battle mage if you want to use armor and regular weapons, since they get a bouns to destruction and light armor and they start with Sparks and have a resit fire 50%.

 

ultimately you can suit any race to be any style of class.

 

Smithing could help, but if you want a challenge don't use it too much or it will make the game easier like the enchanting skill does.

Edited February 13, 2012 by modder3434

[Jerry60k]

Also use your first perks to bolster your Magic abilities and worry about smithing and enchanting later. I have a pure mage I am playing now with only robes and hoods I can deal serious damage this time around at only lvl 20. I put my points into Destruction and Conjuration.

[justwannaddl]

It really depends on how much crafting you are willing to engage in and if you want to incorporate stealth in your build.

 

If you are into enchanting and unafraid of using exploits, then destruction and restoration combined with magicka cost reduction enchants are good skills. Shock is a good school to be proficient in since travel times for the spells are much faster than most, making it easier to nail long distance and moving opponents.

 

If not, Conjuration is a must as it is the most efficient in terms of costs.

 

If you want to be stealthy, light armor is preferable. If you plan on smithing and using melee weapons, you may want to do heavy armor instead since the best weapons in game generally use the heavy armor materials.

[chanchan05]

Sorcerers by definition in TES universe if I recall correctly are heavy armored mages. But what's good in Skyrim is we can do whatever we like, almost. :)

[Dubnoman]

Actually, I'm not into conjuration magic. I think I will go for light armor even though there are good weapons from ebony and daedric smithing. I just downloaded a crafting mod, and it just so happens to have dragon bone weapon crafting, which I'm guessing is better than glass weapons. I'm still not sure if I want to pursue dual wielding. It only costs two perk points for the two perks, so I might as well go for it. I'm not sure which magic skills I'll invest heavily in. It might just be destruction. To use less magicka, I was planning on using healing potions to heal myself.

 

How should I level up magicka, health, and stamina? Let's say that I will only use destruction spells for most spells, and rely mostly on potions for healing, then how should I upgrade magicka, health, and stamina? Should I try to keep all three about even?

 

I am giving it some thought to make this type of character excel in restoration and destruction magic. Potions come in handy, but it might be nice to change things up even more with this type of character (since I use a lot of alchemy with my stealthy scout character).

Edited February 13, 2012 by Dubnoman

[justwannaddl]

Unless you are planning to use 100% magic cost reduction, I recommend a more or less even split between magic and health.

 

If you are going for 100%, then you can opt to focus on health and maybe some stamina if you plan on doing a lot of melee. Unless you devote a fair amount into stamina, you'll probably want to take advantage of the steed stone to lighten your loads from the armor and lack of carrying capacity.

 

If you go for destruction, you'll either need to get the impact perk or invest heavily in mana potions/cost reduction. I built a pure mage with all upgrades going into magicka and destruction perks but I still often found myself empty before killing one monster on master mode.

[squareone]

One of my more enjoyable toons is a sort of battlemage, but perhaps closer to a "spellsword". Playing left hand magic and right hand sword is a ton of fun and if you aren't for sure on how you will balance magic and non-magic damage, I would recommend that. I went heavy armor to be more on the "battlemage" end of the spectrum. While the light armor perks are much better, I'm not trying to sneak and stamina regen isn't too much of a concern. Late game, both types will be fine, but early game is a bit easier with heavy armor, I think. Oh, and I've heard that if you choose an armor, then forego alteration (or at least the alteration shield stuff).

 

Hope you have fun with whatever you choose!

[Dubnoman]

Thanks for all the advice, guys.

 

I do have a character in mind that is like a cross between battle mage and spellsword, although I'd like to use maces. I could put perk points into another one handed weapon type, maybe axes or maybe swords. As fun as dual wielding could be, maybe it isn't needed. The possibilities I was thinking of is going around with a shield and a one-handed weapon, a shield and spells in the other hand, and weapon in one hand and spell in the other. I would only really end up going with two out of three of those often, I would assume.

 

I get excited thinking of the different types of characters I can create using perks. I'd like to get into dual wielding with a character, I was thinking of creating a character that dual wields daggers, and then I could wear some gauntlets that fortify one-handed (ones I buy as oppose to putting perks into enchanting), and then I could get the alchemy perk for concentrated poisions (poisons last for two hits instead of one), so when I want to do some serious damage, I coat both daggers with poison, and with four hits, I do four times the damgae of the dagger, plus four times the damage of a poison (and some poisons are really powerful, too). That is one type of character I could make, along with the battle mage/spellsword type, and Illusion Thief.

[Faitmaker]

My battle mage used heavy armor and conjured her sword. She would summon lords, switch to shield and summon her sword. I used a mod to up the damage on summon weapons so it was in line with normal weapons at higher levels. Had a blast.. even summoned the bow! I used very little magic other than utility (healing, magelight, candlelight, etc).