Game Skyrim Forum

How the hell am I even suppose to play a mage when majority of monsters have insane spell reflection? One reflected spell kills me instantly.

How do you mages work around this annoyance? Do I just conjur instead? That wouldent be a problem if every single damn monster did not reflect.

1. have high spell absorb
2. have immunity or negation to damage/effects you are shooting with
3. absorb health is bugged i think and doesnt do anything if reflected.
4. use multiple weaker spells instead of one big one
5. melee, summon etc. only daedras have reflect iirc.

but yeah its a bit annoying that that buff cant be removed.

Minoring in short blade (Or blunt for staves) might help you out.

I am using MonstersX so tons of mobs can reflect. Even these advanced dwemer robots can reflect.

I am high elf so it does not help that I take extra magic damage. I am a minor in shortblade. But I played tons of thiefs and assassins. I wanted to focus on magic this time,

6. Stop using badly balanced mods.

It is one of the best mods out there. Without it there are like only 10 monster types in the whole game.

To those that know me, this will sound like my typical broken record.... but alchemy is your friend. You can buff max health, spell absorption, elemental resistance, restore health, etc, all through the use of alchemy. Alchemy can make you absolutely invincible if you really take advantage of it.

Indeed, but that is kind of cheating. I guess I will just be using short blade a bit more often.

it helps to go out on an artifact hunt and increasing your resistances that way.
altmer is harder in some cases with their weaknesses, so instead of resistances getting reflect or spell absorption way up can solve it,of course it is hard for others than those with the atronach birthsign to get covered with absorption, reflect is not unlikely to get relatively high,some artifacts and imperial legion-rewards and you are almost there.

Not at all. It may not be your style, but it's definitely not cheating.

Morrowind was built with so many ways to do things that some will certainly be exploitable (although some would just consider it a richness that makes Morrowind unusual in the gaming world). Alchemy is just one of several ways to be be powerful; enchanting and spellcasting can do the same if you know how. Even without magic it's possible to make a god-like character with some reasonable attention to skill and sign selection.

Play how you like but being a mage is not impossible, you have to use the tools that are available to you.

I'd like to think ive mastered the 'Necromancer' style of playing a mage character.

This relies on two tactics working in tandem, and rarely means i fall victim to reflect-ish enemies:

1. Disable the enemy.

I achieve this by using a powerful (but relatively easy to acquire/use) Damage Strength spell. My typical arrangement is a 10 points in 10 seconds in 10 feet. This means i'm knocking their strength down to 0 (10x10) which not only means they cant move anymore, but even if they do physically attack me, they cant actually do any damage (excluding magic attacks from the weapons).

If you are a low level character then maybe a damage attribute spell is abit out of your league, thats ok: make use of similar spells such as Burden and even casting 1point of Levitate on an enemy can significantly decrease or even stop their advance.

This obviously works best when you are forewarned of your enemies approach. In all honesty, the first time i got jumped by assassins, waiting for my Damage Strength spell to take affect was the longest 10 seconds of my life ^_^

At this stage i can then simply play with my prey or leave him/her/it while i disable the rest of their buddies if there are any.

2. Play with my Food

With a room full of disabled enemies i can then casually experiment with them and kill them in all sorts of fun and elaborate ways. If you dont yet have a 100% accurate knowledge of enemies in the game (which after all these years i do) then you can cast weak spells at them to see if they reflect things back. If they dont reflect, then great: you can use all sorts of spells to finish them off

If they DO reflect spells, or if they still pose a magic-attack-based threat, you can sit back at a safe distance and SUMMON MINIONS. This is a tactic that i think is greatly underused by many magic users out there. I realise that this can chew thru magicka fast, but you should always have methods to quickly get more (ie: potions). By the time your wandering around at level 60 (especially with a balanced magicka mod running) you should have no problem summoning all the Golden Saints and Dremora Lords required.

Once again, if you are low level, then make use of scrolls and/or lesser minions. Never underestimate the determination of an angry Scamp!

This is how you play as a Necromancer. And i cant imagine using magick any other way

Hope this gives you some help and ideas for roleplaying ingame

Make a CE ring with resistance to your spell damage effect and wear it. Nothing wrong with it since it replaces other useful effects. Depends on what race it is and what other mods are installed. Many balance mods nerf CE. And, say, Nords have frost immunity already. There are also premade items with resistances.

In short - get some gear! Not different from any other game really.

Psycholex is correct. Dont fall into the trap of using only destruction spells. Experiment lots.

Have a look at the http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=6550

It replaces the reflect abilities of creatures with absorb. Makes it a bit easier. It also comes with a plugin for Piratelord's Creatures mod.

Instead of using instant mass-damage spells, use spells that only do less damage (say, 8 or 10) per second that last for several seconds, then have a restore health targeting you as a second affect to the spell. Then, if it does get reflected, you're already healing yourself for the same amount of damage and time, so it will balance out.

I had such a crappy time trying it myself.

Being a mage is the best especially in Morrowind. You have Levitate! All the good advice has already been posted; disable your enemy, know how to use your magic arsenal and so on. The Hunger is probably the most annoying as far as reflection goes but I don't really see any other problems.

Levitate, if magic resistance is high call forth a summon, find out what the enemy's weakness is (i.e. flame atronach weak to frost) it should be a blast to play someone who can fly impervious, while everyone else watches thinking "wtf"

Ah the joys of thinking "Sod this *levitate*" and being safe

Non-spellcaster races shine against reflect. Nord mages can use frost and shock, argonians and redguards can use poison, dunmer can use fire. If your heart is set on destruction school, consider using one of them.

A mod that adds tons of reflect is indeed badly-balanced. There's already tons of reflect. Just one of the reasons the deck is already stacked against offensive spellcasting. It's so much weaker than phys, alchemy, and enchant.

This comment cracks me up. If half of the creatures you face have reflect, it's obviously not 'one of the best mods out there'. This is the reason so few creatures in vanilla have reflect -- it ruins one of the major playing dynamics. If a lot of the creatures had magical defenses I would understand, but straight-up reflect? No, I wouldn't play that mod for ten minutes