I have been thinking of doing my first Battlemage build and I would like some advice from experienced Battlemage or Mage Players . I mostly play Stealth builds & Warrior hybrids , but lately I have been getting kinda bored and want to make a Battlemage.

Im thinking Heavy armor " The Falmer Hardened set looks awesome " but would putting points into Smithing be a waste on a Battlemage ? I really know zip about Mages other than what I have been studying on the UESPwiki about spells and such.

I saw a perk , Mage Armor where if you wear no armor you get bonus from spells like Stoneflesh , but on a high difficulty level is this better than just good ole reliable armor? I mean with regular armor tree you get alot of bonus to armor rating from perks...just wondering if Mage Armor would be comparable at rank 3 or if it would be alot less protection than if I went into a Armor tree.

Also Should I put points into the heavy side of the Smithing perk tree and some into the enchanting perks where you gain 25% more on a elemental enchant and smith a cool one hander and cast with my offhand? Or could i survive well enough dual casting with no weapons?

lol I know lots of questions, but Iam interested in learning to build a decent Battlemage. So any info from more seasoned Battlemages would be wonderful. Thankyou for any advice.

Well I kinda posted this in the wrong area ...sorry ! I though I clicked Dawnguard cheats, hints, and spoilers oh well I guess its ok here lol

Unless you are playing on the super hard modes it's totally do able to skip full armor. My battle mage usually rocks Adept robes with steel boots and gauntlets. I usually only cast a skin spell when up against someone with a 2 hander weapon. (Those can take tons of health in a single hit). Or foresworn's with dual wielding. I usually enchant for defense against magic, fire and shock for my nord battle mage but switch fire for frost with my darkelf. Add in enchantments for extra magic and regen.

Now my battle mages are usually spell swords. I will usually go in swinging and using the off hand for healing spells but when possible I will toss a few fireballs or lightning bolts to soften them up from a distance. My highest mage levels are restoration and enchanting. Conjuration is rather high too thanks to soul trapping to work on enchanting. For combat my 1 handed is the highest and I will admit they can tend to be a bit low on the rest though. With only wearing gauntlets and boots I don't think armor is ranking up as fast I might like. I will go out of my way to level up other skills from time to time too just to keep from getting bored with the character. Sometimes toss on different armor and such.