I have also found Conjuration to be useful. Especially while in sneek. For some reason they never seem to notice me two handing those destruction spells. I have the chain lightening, but have not used it much. Maybe I will start !! But the one thing I have noticed, is that I die real regular as a Mage. This was much easier as a tank.

Wait a min...Fortify Illusion, be that potion or gear only lowers the magicka cost, not the power of the spell.

HG = 8
KM = 10
Harmony = 25
Vamp = +25%

25+25% = 30
30+10+8 = 48

However, The glitch through using Nesromage could boost that further. Still you will not stay at 50 for ever. Dual Casting Expert level spells will get into the 70s.

My character is more of a tanked mage

Potion increases potency also I made a typo, it only has to be 20% to beat 50. Do guards scale past that? I thought they did not. At any rate, the potion can go up to 130% without anything but the Enchanting/Alchemy loop.

Potion [20%]:
(Harmony+HG+KM) * (1+0.2) = (43) * (1.2) = 51.6
@ 130% results in 98.9

Vampire:
(Harmony)*1.5 + (HG+KM) = 55.5

I like Lighting Bolt or Chain Lightning for the instant-hit, but my fave has to Lightning Cloak as it makes me look awesome (<--- See avatar).

I guess it does....Hmmm, I never knew that. I should probably look at the effects of potions a little more. This makes Alchemy just that much more attractive.

Revenant is my favorite and one of my most used. Lightning Bolt is my most used though.

Thunderbolt is surprisingly effective. First because shock is least resisted element by enemies, second because it makes short work of the mana pool from mage enemies and dragons. If you cast enough in an ancient dragon, his magicka pool ends and he can't use his dragon breath (and here I thought that dragons used their breaths like we use our shouts, but without the cooldown). It's quite hilarious to see a dragon hoovering in front of you trying to breath something and coming up mute.

Aside from that, Grand Healing is a godsend and turn undead also makes visits to tombs a lot easier.

What combat? With the right perks, a sturdy aggressive follower, and good mana regen you can keep 2 Dremora Lords active, and thereafter never engage in actual combat, even with mobs and bosses.
That's how my Breton got built anyway.
Just pumped magicka, conjuration and conjure spell-cast reductions, and picked up cast reduction and mana regen gear.

I could survive well enough wearing Archmage robes with a good 2-hander and 2-hander perks, popping the occasional health potion,
and/or retreating.
Just didn't have to once I could keep the 2 Lords active.
Never even used destruction spells unless the game required it.
I did get to see my Erandur and Atronachs use it often before I got to the Lords.
Not recommending that, just how it worked for me.

i guess it could be said that effectiveness can equal more fun sometimes for some people.

well in oblivion it was a custom spell of course.

Incinerate is a good spell when you have followers.


I had a bug where my magicka regenerated insanely fast - like outside combat - in combat. i battled through the final battles with practically infinite magicka, hurling Incinerates at the dragons and draugr.

I like to conjure up some dremora and pepper the bad guys with some slow poison (one of the best things that came back) and watch as they get hacked apart.

If you are dipping into illusion, the Aspect of Terror perk raises fear effectiveness and fire destruction has a fear component. Therefore each fire spell will deal 10 more damage with the perk making it by far the most damaging.

Simple flames work fine for me, though i start liking the ice spike, nasty dragons wont land.

Ive found fire to be the most effective.

Conjure Dremora Lord with the Master Conjuration Dual minion perk.
Followed shortly by conjure bow/sword.

As a vamp, with perks:
-calm master spell works up to level 39, 49 with the perk for humans/animals and 48 for undead with necromage.
-fear master spell works up to level 40, 50 with the perk for humans/animals and 50 for undead with necromage.
-fury master spell works up to level 41, 51 with the perk for animals/humans and 51 for undead with necromage.

Draugr deathlords are level 43, guards scale up to level 50 (like most enemies).