like title says - i've made a new char based on dual wield - no armor. Alteration spelss that boost armor + perks are fine enough?

Don't mind of the char doesn't become the demigod or the game would be more difficult, just want to know if someone has already played it and if it means to be trmendously underpowered or not (armor perks + smithing are overpowered as hell, abandoned that char at like 35).

I'm playing that build right now, but I have a mod installed called Balanced Magic that makes it a little easier. Thechange it makes is to give you the benefits of all three ranks of the mage armor perk immediately. I have another mod installed though that nerfs smithing and enchanting, so my damage is much lower than it could be. Either way, right now, at level 46, my armor is what it would be without mods (ebony flesh plus all three ranks gives you 300 armor) and its perfectly viable. I do use companions though, and I'm careful not to stand toe to toe with anything powerful, I'll run off or spawn a dremora to take the heat. It's probably my most fun character yet.

I think if you plan to go 1 on 1 with things in terms of dual-wielding you will have problems unless you soften them up first.

Do you plan to use a range attack before closing? If yes, then I see this as a viable build (hit them at range for 1/3-1/2 health then melee) if no, I think you would be better off with armor than alteration.

Can you flesh out your character concept a bit more?

i tried, died a lot, but did not put points in health thinking i could handle damage, huge mistake. If you're going to try this build in master, put a lot of health, maybe it works. Now, an amazing view, a character dual-wielding conjured swords with robes, shining with magic armor... its just like a jedi!

You can make heavy armor weigh nothing while you wear it. Not criticizing... Clothes with dual wield? Could be dangerous, bro.

You will be a lamb. No range attack?

But I want to try something different too. Good luck!

Sounds like you're going to be quite the glass cannon. I hope you've got some sneak and/or archery rolled in there. If people see you coming from a mile away, you're going to have a lot of reloads.

Use a shield. Shields reduce damage too.

No amount of health can make up for missing armor.
900health char in clothes can take 900damage. Make it 1800 with 400 armor..
900health char with max physical protection gear can take 30000 damage.

Plus where is a master alteration spells which grants 80% DR too, but i have no experience with it yet.

My mage wears cloth only because you have to be completely unarmored for the Mage Armor + Stoneflesh/Ironflesh spells to fully protect you. It works just fine. There's also a perk that affects the duration of the "flesh" spells. Alteration magic is one of the best schools and if you also get the Magic Resist set of perks, it really protects you, even against dragon breath. You'll have to decide if it makes you overpowered as that's a personal judgment. I like being protected and wearing cloth.

I'm playing a Conan 2H barbarian class and alteration is definitely the way to go. At mid levels you get a lot of utility out of alteration and at the highest levels you get great CC.


Works fine you just have to cast the spell frequently to make sure it doesn't lapse while you're in combat.

Maybe try getting alteration perks first. Get 30% magic resist perks ASAP. Then go to the standing stone that gives you

I just found that Stone and it's great. My little Khajiit isn't as strong as my Breton magic-wise and I think it helped to fix that. Last night in Labyrinthian, she was able to handle things much, much better. Good advice.

Ok, giving more information on the build....

Love melee, hence dual wiled - i know this means cutting a lot of defense, but it's way more fun imho.

As for the rest - wanted to make a no armor char so i automatically excluded any kind of armor and perks (RP: monk order who forbids any kind of protection apart clothes for decency) so i needed some kind of alternate protection. Alteration looked good due to passive resistances and armor spells boosted by the fact i wear no armor.

More details (RP: monk order skilled in channel arcane energy into items - weapons are tolerated if swords only): going to skill enchanting and smithing for crafting weapons only and enchant gear. Alchemy would have been pretty fun due to poisons but the fact they last for 2 blows at max makes me sad.

Other noticeable things, alteration has paralyze as spell, i planned to start combat with this, then cleave people down. Master spell is 80% phisycal reduction, which works as good as being capped with armor.

Dunmer = 50% fire res + double enchanted boots 50% frost + 50% lighting (or whatever is the max without alchemy/enchanting loopholes) + alteration perks seems fine as magic resistance, lord stone is a nice addition too.

I use only the tSSSS mod, which lets me to enchant gear and make the alteration spells last longer; also a mod which adds dragonbone weapons, they are only 1 or points string than daedrig, but it's much harder to craft them.

a link to a skill builder is here with the basic build skeleton http://uk.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim?d=00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000011100000020010131111135000111001111110000000000000000000000000000005011010321

Tooks a lot of levels to get everything. But giving myself long-term goals makes the game better (at least for me)

Alteration is great, it comes with paralyze

I love your character concept - go for it! It will work. Be hard at mid-levels imho but that is part of the fun when you finally stride the world as a death-dealing demigod.

Depending on magic for both defence and offence seems like it would be hard to do. There doesn't seem to be enough magica for both. Using something passive like light armor where you can use all your magica for offensive uses would seem easier. I run out of magica anyway just on offence and I often need to pull out a weapon to finish things.

Alteration defensive spells are significantly less powerful than actual armor, so if you use them for melee combat, make sure to raise your health to be sure to survive blows. However, investing in Alteration will also give you Paralyze, which could prove very useful.

last char i rolled and still keep is my heavy armor/shield/destruction mage. It's really awesome to find non-standard skill combinations which in the end get powerful as the standard and OP ones

Keep in mind that alteration unless grinded takes a while to level up you won't get paralyze until later on so keep that in mind.

My strategy as for now (only level 7-8): mage stone to raise alteration, get in combat, cast armor (atm a couple of casts makes me gain a level every time) then equip weapon and tear things down.

2hander enemies are though, they can kill me easily (i have only basic armor spells, but going to take the perks in a very short time), while mages seems to be easier than predicted.

As soon as i get 100 alteration, going to switch to lord stone + dragonskin - lasts less but it's a guaranteed 80% physical reduction.

EDIT: while i don't have the stone, one hand levels as fast as alteration due to spamming attacks started from 20 each, now i have 37 alteration and 39 one hand

This is true. The most effective/safest grind is to spam oakflesh in front of kneeling (near death) opponents. Once you have detect life though the grind is much easier as you cna just use it while you visit the town.

I have loved the alteration perk tree. You get access to radar (important on high difficulty) and paralyze is just.. great, but the tree perks really help your character stand up to magic, while expensive- it frees up inventory slots.

I have to agree that passive defense is better than the active defense if you have the choice (obviously the OP is not planning that), I am building a vampire character and I am really eager to find out whether necromage buffs the defense value of the armor-flesh spells, or the duration of the armor-flesh. I have my fingers crossed for duration since that would actually make me consider forgoing extra light armor perks and using the spells already available through the alteration tree.

Anyone know the answer? If not I will find out later today and post it as an edit.

one word


paralysis

btw best way to level up alteration quick is to use teleknesis

its like real mage training so it will not feel cheat-y and cheap

Another thing - the tSSSS mod helps a little. SInce it swaps the poison/enchant effects relative to magic schools, now enchnated robes have +% duration on alteration spells.

A lot less spammy than the vanilla solution - while not being overpowered since armor rating remains the same.

I'm planning on lvling up enough of it for 30% magic resistance on a primarily Two Handed warrior. It's a good thing to have on any character, but I think melee users, especially those without shields like Spellbreaker or Ysgramor's shield (or Enchanting) can really benefit of it. And as for primarily mage characters, they tend to already get a lot of stuff that's already along these lines. Especially if you use the Atronach stone or play a Breton. For a 2hander or duel wielder though, it's pretty huge. Magic is their weakness.

..right, but you can't have access to this spell till you have grinded a flesh spell.