I completed the game on adept by never resorting to magic if only in a couple of instances, not even the final battle. it's a more challenging playthrough, but luckily on the pc there are mods for that.

Combine other things, use magic resistance potions, don't just rely on Destruction to keep you safe.
And there are perks in Alteration that do some magick resistance.
All that without enchanting.

I've done very well with a robe-wearing mage who uses Destruction, no weapons besides bound ones, and doesn't abuse enchanting.

What kind of schools do you combine?
I'm playing an Illusion Mage right now that is working with Destruction as well, so I'm bit curious if at level 10 I should just focus on both schools with fears, destructions while I have my companion with me. Or if I should perhaps invest in a third school already, not sure..

I do sometimes use the Bound Bow with poison but that is only for special assassinations.

Destruction is gimped? This is news to me...

You just need to take advantage of the crafting skills just like Archers and Warriors do, and no, I do not mean 100% spell cost reduction. I am of course, referring to alchemy. You can create Fortify Destruction potions which will increase the damage of your Destruction spells. The best potion you can create without exploits is +162%.

With the proper perks a dualcast Thunderbolt does 235 damage, with the potion it increases to 615. If you want you can create Weakness to Poison/Element ad Weakness to Magic potions and use them to have your dualcast Thunderbolt/Icy Spear/Incinerate 2.5k damage, but you really don't need it. This is why wasting enchanment slots for Destruction spell reduction is pointless, save those slots for Magic Resistance/Fortify Magicka etc.

If your playing on Adept you don't need those potions, you will decimate everything. On Master though, where your damage is halfed, you will need the potion for bosses. If your too lazy then good luck.

I use a little bit of everything, but my main standbys are Destruction, Alteration and Conjuration. In the Illusion school, I mostly use the stealth-type spells (Muffle and Invisibility) as well as a fair amount of the Calm and Pacify spells - those last two are mostly used on beasties in the wild when I just don't feel like battling the 50th Cave Bear or Sabrecat of the day.

But that's for my combat style, which usually involves stealthy approach, use of whatever cover is available, lots of moving around to avoid being hit, and using mage armor and relying on summons for defense/support. My mage is a Breton, so the magic resistance gives her an advantage against other mages - her nightmare in battle is a high level Draugr or Forsworn or Bandit armed with an ebony bow. Those hurt.

For me, the Bound Bow is my primary soul trapping weapon.

It's not the easiest play style at low levels - a sword-and-board warrior or a two-hander will have an easier time when your character is around Level 10, especially if that character softens up tougher targets with a bow before moving in for the kill. But that's mainly because you haven't had the chance to build a decent base magicka pool yet, so you'll keep running out. So you'll want to grab/make whatever potions and gear you can to fortify magicka. Elsewyr Fondues are also great to give your magicka a nice bump for a big battle. And if you're going to play a pure robe-wearing mage, you'll want to max out the Mage Armor perks in Alteration as quickly as you can.

But if you stick with it, your mage can and will be obscenely powerful once you've reached higher levels.

I would advise creating hybrid characters such as a Battlemage and Nightblade who use magic and weapons before creating a full blown robe wearing mage. This will allow you to learn the fundementals of the magic system whilst having something else to fall back on if you mess up. It's easier this way because just starting out as a mage without knowing what your doing is suicide.

Edit:But yeah, if you build your mage right by end game you will be a God, without the need of that damned 100% spell cost reduction.

Crossbows suffer from insane recoil. You really are pro if you use this exclusively on Master.

Use a mod to make destruction more lethal (works both ways) and ROLE PLAY.

I just re-downloaded a mod that makes destruction magic scale so I think I'll stick with that.

Bethesda hates mages.Yeah,we all got it long time ago.
Magic is pretty [censored] in Skyrim.

...but I still playing as mage on master.Without destruction.
Conjuration saves.©

you can't possibly think magic in skyrim is worse than Oblivion. that was a disaster.

At least invisibility actually made you invisible.... Destruction magic on the other hand was done a lot better in Skyrim.

I feel like they nerfed regular bow damage just to justify the existance of crossbows.

Number of spells in Oblivion.
Number of spells in Skyrim.
Nuff said


PS chameleon,better invisiblity,life drain,skill drain,etc

"I'm on fire!" "Ah! It burns!" Never gets old.

more spells=\=better system

They focus way to much on evocation spells nothing works as good as making an enemy go beserk on his own allies and slaughter them, personally I don't think it's weakened people are just use to using "infinite magick regen builds" how they set this version up is to force people not to go "that" path as magick regen is based on out of combat status I've tested this out myself with 175% Magick regen, out of combat if I use a 100 Grandmaster Destruct spell my magick bar slightly flickers for a microsecond while in combat it doesn't regen as fast, would love if their was a perk like "Combat Casting: Magick Regen applied in combat when this perk is taken" but wouldn't expect it early on in the magick school trees that be something you'd except a Adept - Hedge Wizard to know as they've trained their bodies to be in constant non exerted state where they arn't tense in battle which would give proper mana flow throughout their bodies.

Like to burn people much? haha

More effects=better gameplay

That was fast! I've had Dawnguard installed for a few months and haven't found any crossbows yet.

But more variety, more utility, and spellmaking do make a better system.

Skyrim's system favors conjurers and illusionists, not former mages like me who used to blast everything with fireballs back in Oblivion.

oh no I hate spellmaking.
At least on pc it can be "fixed" with mods. No evoker support.

Except it does make you invisible in skyrim. At least now it isnt completely a free pass, you need to worry about sound as well.

And bows were not changed, and are still completely viable.

Wait til you try vampire lord form, now THAT'S overpowered.