Hey teddie one final question do you think I should switch from a dark elf to a Breton even though I'm at level 15 and will lose everything? A lot of my problem could be solved with resisting magic I think. Ala getting less pwned

Any other tips you can give me besides the fireball tip

The race is optional. But all I suggest is to invest some points in Health. A ratio of 2:1 (magicka/health) is just fine. Once you hit 200 HPs, I think you can start investing the rest on Magicka and some stamina for the running away option. Enchanting will become useful later in the game also. So try to make good enchantments that boost your HPs and MPs.

Right now I have my magicka at 300 and health at 100. Great tip dude!! Imma start all over

My head hurts.

There's no real point about restarting all over now. You can always focus on HPs now that your magicka is high. Plus, take in consideration that some perks allow you to cut the spell costs while you cast them. So you have plenty of magicka to cast them for now.

I... what? Is this thread serious?

The starting "stream" spells aren't great, but once you get your first bolt spells and the impact perk, destruction gets pretty amazing. Once it's coupled with enough magicka regen, it basically means you can trivially kill *anything* simply by timing doublecasts to keep your magicka up while keeping the target on its ass.

Ever tried going pure Melee in Oblivion with nearly no magic usage? It never ended well on default difficulty. It's just the rolls have been somewhat reversed in Skyrim with pure unarmored/unarmed magic users being somewhat in the same roll as Melee used to be.

Mage is still perfectly viable in Skyrim. Just don't expect to tactical nuke everything in sight, expect to wave around a single Iron sword that's doing several thousand DPS, or being the invisible man all day every day. Takes more thought, and the courage of a craven coward (running when about to get your ass whooped) this time around.

Awesome. Stick with my dark elf then

I'll second that!


*IMO (a minority I'm sure) Mages, due to the starting age of the PC should be a prestige vocation that's not available at the start ~or the PC starts at a more advanced age and power ~not Gandalf , but moderately higher than base for certain schools of magic.

Are you using magic resistance buffs or potions? Enchant any gear with resistances? Unless you turn the difficulty way down you are not going to be able to handle every encounter by just tossing destruction magic at everything and not thinking about anything else. And I don't get why you're against Conjuration. You should take a page from all the mages you fight in the game. They conjure things to harry you then bomb you from a distance in most cases. Use ALL your magic, gear and enchantments. You have to adapt.

I play a stealth build (archer/dual daggers) which owns one on one but throw in a few tougher enemies and I can get overwhelmed quickly. Last night I was trying to retrieve a Daedric artifact and the fight was clearly over my level. It took me a couple hours to figure out to get through the area using everything at my disposal. I died a lot but finally did it by finding an approach that worked for my build. Do the same.

If you just want to own everything just turn down the difficulty and be done with it.

No way to go wrong? Are you kidding? There was no way to go right. The level-scaling system in Oblivion punished everything and anyone.

a mage must know how to use all the schools to his or her advantage illusion to control the flow of battle or choose the circumstances in which the battle begins restoration to repair any damage you may take be that to your health magicka or stamina or to prevent yourself from taking large amounts of damage from elemental magic or poisons. and destruction's purpose is self explanitory to neutralize individual or groups of enemies or thanks to the addition of the rune spells preventing your opponent from safely crossing areas you dont want them to cross. and conjuration serves as your backup when the other schools fail to adequately protect you. and alteration is essential for a mage and yes even enchanting is essential because what ever will will you do if you are silenced or if you have no magicka and no magicka regeneration potions or if your summoned help insists on not attacking that foe that is charging at you? cry?huddle in a corner? beg for mercy? no my dear sir or madame you pull out an enchanted weapon and make your foe regret there decision dearly. mages arent ment to stand in one place and spam destruction spells without any other school to back them up or even an enchanted weapon a mage is supposed to control any battle. also investing in higher level spells as you get stronger is a must.

So is it possible to resist magic 100%. I haven't touched enchanting maybe I need to.

^ This post is pure genius.

Just because the game doesn't play itself for you, doesn't mean it bad. You just have to think for yourself more, and employ a little creativity.

Personally, I love Skyrim, and I will easily still be playing it a year from now.

Love you Bethesda!!!! Great game!!

Enchanting is a MUST if you want bonus resistance. Also, Stamina can be useful later for extra carry capacity. You will probably need it for gems and extra equipment with enchants, on the fly.

No, it's Bethesda's fault that Destruction svcks, because it does.

I hate when people tell someone to "Learn to play" then wander off and spam their sword at something.

That said, I am now going to tell you to learn to play, but give you some very basic tips, because I actually love the crap out of my mage and have had no real issues kicking ass unless I do something stupid. I don't use companions or summons. I play on Adept.

So here are some basic mage tips. warning: This may require you to think about things for a second before rushing in.

- Use defensive spells when outnumbered. They exist for a reason.
- Use crowd control spells when out numbered. They exist for a reason.
- Get the knockback perk in the destruction tree. Time it well. Pwn any single enemy because they can't move.
- Take out enemy mages first. They will [censored] your [censored] up fast, and the best way to deal with them is to kill them before they see you and get thier defense spells up. (Remember those defensive spells?)
- Use appropriate shouts. Mana tends to deplete quickly, so slow time is less useful. Go for things like Ice Form that will help you get space on your enemies.
- Potions. Because any good mage is an alchemist. Mana potions are very useful, so are resistances and health, obviously. Pick every [censored] flower you see, you pansy flower picking mage.
- Learn your enemies weaknesses. Using lightning on a guy with "storm" in his name is probably not your best move.
- Read what the spells do, dammit. Fire is straight damage, lightning hurts mana as well as health. Why the [censored] are you using lightning on everything?
- Use the five rules of Dodgeball: Dodge, dip, dive, duck and dodge. Don;t stand in the open against an archer or you will look like a very dead porcupine in seconds.

I could go on, but why don't you try a few of these things first and see how that goes. Stop facerolling every fight and spend a few seconds to think about them, pretty soon it will become second nature. A good mage should be able to take out any single normal enemy in seconds, and know how to play for space against the tougher ones.

To ME... You had to think more in oblivion it was more complex to ME.

Thank you teddie I will start enchanting more is just that Game already gives you apparel with magical stuff on them. But most is for extra magicka not to actually to resist magic

Same. I've been avoiding this forum just because its stupid how people complain so much, like its the cool thing to do.

Well, maybe you should become a battle mage.

Or just invest some more points in Health rather than just magicka?

Or maybe you're just visiting some dungeons/areas far too soon

Very much appreciated it. Only one thing: the reason I don't use the defensive spells: ward from toldfir or whatever is because it drains the mana like crazzzyy!

Not sure why, but this comment made my day.

There are spells that add to your armour as well. The ward spells have a use, but it isn't every fight. Use them against mages and archers when there is no cover, and don't just hold the button down, TIME them against the enemies attacks. It takes a bit of getting use to and it wont be something you use all the time, but it can make all the difference when fighting some of the boss-like ranged enemies.

Mages are OP in World of Warcraft.