Mages thread only!

I'd like to know which school magic people prefer and why. Give me examples where one shines more than the other and so on. Are you a summoner type of mage? A resto mage with destruction powers? Are you an illusionist? Do you shape the environment as you see fit? Please tell me, based on your experience (not on what you've heard) what you recommend. E.g.: situations where your life was saved because of a certain spell; situations where one spell makes all the difference; situations where you get the advantage, etc.

Thanks!

Now now. I love all my schools the same. Except for alchemy you traitorous bastard! Running away to join the thieves. I never...

conjuration its pretty much the only skill I use I was planning to go As a shock Mage that uses storm atronachs but I found destruction is UP at 20+ and conjuration is OP till 40+ but they need to remove the dead thrall level cap and they need to buff dremora lord maybe a master level spell for instance I went into this dragur crypt and was 40+ usually my master necromancers one hit everything but then they get one hit by dragur deathlords and overlords and there were 10+ high level my 2 master necromancers follower dremora lord and frost attonach killed 7 but most of them also got 1 hit and there were 3 left 2 deathlords 1 scourge I was running around summoning dremora lords for my life you see I had the atronach stone and it absorbs summoning atronachs and dremora lords (ironic eh) it took 4 dremora lords to kill them, they were all dead I saves and the rage quit my Mage if destruction actually scaled then I would actually be able to do damage and not be at the mercy of my followers and thralls

I only fancy resoration magic. The others are ok, I just never got into them.

As it stands currently if you want to be a mage who is in any way effective you have 3 choices.

1. Destruction / Enchantment, grind enchantment up as quickly as possible, enchant your gear to remove the spell cost from destruction. (Breaking the game this way is the only way for Destruction to stay viable)
2. Conjuration / Archery, it still takes freaking forever to kill anything with summons alone, but bound bow gives you a decent attack, and this build doesn't run out of magicka without enchanted gear.
3. Illusion / Something Else, Illusion is very powerful because you can make enemies kill each other, however, until you hit 100 Illusion your spells won't affect many creatures, so you need something else.

Alteration is pretty much a must have if you want to wear robes, so you don't get one shotted by everything past level 30.

Restoration is kind of silly, since the first spell you ever get in it is all you really ever need. Turns regenerating magicka into non-regenerating health. Higher end Alteration spells do it faster, but at a worse conversion rate, so what's the point...

I like alteration mainly for the perks like Magic resistance and magic absorb and i guess turning iron into gold isnt a bad utility spell

I'm quite enjoying my Illusionist. It's my second mage type character. Conjuration was alot of fun too, on my Necromancer. Both characters have used alteration/destruction/restoration, but those feel like more of utility schools to me.

The most entertaining moments with illusion come when casting the calm spell on enemy npcs. Says the group of Thalmor assassins dispatched to kill me, "Stupid spell, it didn't even do anything!" as they resume their patrol through the woods.

it's so sad but true..... whilst most skills in other trees have versatility ie you can make a one haded heavy armor mage. most Mage skills require other skills/requirements to back them up whilst you can use one handed, heavy armor,sneak Ect in pretty much any build

Don't break the game, enchant your items with fortify Destruction 80%, I find that this is the perfect amount for me to use Incinerate effectively and also occasionally use some mana pots.

Dual cast Dremora Lords, Paralyze, and Incinerate are really all you need for endgame, with the occasional ebonyskin or dragonhide (too much magicka and it doesn't even last that long).

the force...that is the best school of magic

The force is strong with this one.

Depends on my concept of the player-character in each game. Though, "Destruction" is probably my least favorite (used to be mysticism). One thing that Skyrim has in common with Oblivion...destruction spells just get you killed. Illusion is my favorite school. On "Master" difficulty.

Non-combat skill Magey types, on master level, you die in one hit, but what ever you blasted DIDN'T die in one hit. On master level if you blast something, it will just come kill you. If there is more than 1 around, I use illusion (rage in Skyrim, command whatever, in Oblivion) to make them all kill each other. Then I sneak past the last one, or pacify it. Usually both.

When something HAS to be killed, I use conjuration and just stay out of the way, invisible, muffled and crouching.

Stealthy types use Illusion mostly also (when using magic). But they don't need Conjuration. Just illusion combined with archery. I never even put perks in 1 or 2 handed, the skills don't get above adept. I shoot them in the back, then go invisible + muffled + sneak (already cast before I shoot), then move away, and shoot the npc in the back again. Rinse, repeat, keeping muffle up and using invisibility after each shot, to move away.

Playing a warrior type...Alteration. Increase armor, and paralyze. With Restoration as a strong 2nd.

Restoration.

Damned powerful, and has a lot of uses. It can keep my character alive against the toughest fights, but still takes some timing and thought to use correctly.

Conjuration follows closely behind it. Nothing like walking into a battle unarmed, popping a Frost Atronach, and filling everybody up with Bound Arrows.

I agree with most that's been said i personally think Illusion is a very powerful school combined with Destruction and Restoration/Alteration. I like Conjuration too but i prefer to rely on myself than on my summons. If the summons don't really scale well later in the game then one less reason to invest.

From Restoration i think Recovery, Avoid Death and Necromage are very useful. From Alteration i like Magic Resistance, Mage Armor and Atronach, but the question is, do you guys wear robes and cloth pieces or do you play a mage in full light leather? Wouldn't i get more enchants if i was wearing full light leather? I mean, more pieces to enchant.

Restoration is very viable for people who drain their stamina quickly. Plus I'd rather spend an infinite resource(magicka) then a finite resource(septims)

Won't they go after you even after you cast invisibility? Or do you have to muffle after? I read that the more armor you have on your character the less armor bonus you will get from stoneflesh (and the likes), i think for a warrior it's kind of useless.

My robe-wearing magey types never use Alteration or Restoration. Armor spells are kind of pointless on master level, if you wear robes. I just remain undetected and use conjuration. If you're using Illusion right, you want need to have armor, or use restoration.

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No, no. That just means that stoneflesh isn't the majority of your armor rating, it's mostly armor. When all you are wearing is iron with no perks, stone flesh is a significant part of your armor. And alteration is never more important than light or heavy armor skill. But it is helpful. No matter how large your armor rating is...it's always larger with Oakflesh. Just, not very much larger. Don't put in perks in Alteration. But use it anyway.

Or don't. Not like you actually need it, I just use it.

If you already have muffle up, stay stealthed, and just cast invisibility then. They don't see you. It takes 2 extra skills besides just Illusion, to make invisibility useful in Skyrim, because some players just couldn't feel "leet" enough if they knew there was an "easier" way, even if they didn't use it. But it's still very, very useful.

Well i guess it could help a bit until you reach 567 armor

Restoration is just awesome. Ward spells, survivability and stam regen, and the ability to utterly SMITE the undead into ash piles makes me happy

Mysticism was awesome in Morrowind where it had all the Transfer spells in it, which then became restoration, and now don't exist anymore because Bethesda likes money more than brains.

Alteration.

Armor boosts, Telekenisis, Detect Life, Transmute.
The right side of the perk tree is useful to any character, and using the shield spells has even kept my two-handed tanks alive. My Archmage who is a Master of Alteration actually gets recharged when getting attacked breathed on by dragons.
I will give Illusion a second place, but the Illusion school does not fit my playstyle/roleplay choices.

Mysticism.
Bethesda got rid of it because it was OP. Consisted of teleporting, absorbing stuff (mostly health), detecting stuff, telekinesis, soul-trap... what more do you need (besides the other awesome spells also rap￡d from Alteration)? In the end the absorption spells got sent to Restoration, detection and telekinesis got sent to Alteration, soul-trap got sent to Conjuration, and the teleporting was removed entirely.
Back in Morrowind I didn't even use Destruction because the only spell-schools I needed were Mysticism and Alteration.
These days Mysticism doesn't exist and Alteration has had most of the good stuff removed... and we're left only with the few good things left over from Mysticism (the defensive Alteration spells were always crap). Even the nerfed touch-only version of Absorb Health left in Oblivion has now been removed because it was actually useful for something. ;



I take it you've never tried dual-cast Frenzy then?
... or the master spell Mayhem.

I killed a dragon in Solitude the other day.
Every fetcher in the city came to have a look at my disintegrated pile of dragon-ash.
I was bored.
I cast Mayhem.

I had to get the hell out of there, as there were over 20 people in a free-for-all bloodbath killing the hell out of each other until only the 5 or so quest-essential guys were left.... and they'd have a little rest, then start it up again. Was totally hilarious. I sat on a nearby rooftop and watched it all play out. I even saw a little kid pull out a knife and run in to join the fight! I squee'd when I saw that!

Illusion is for me the most thought out spell school in this game. It allows me to control and remain unseen.

Now we need the old spell types back for more variety and we need spell creation.

Point made, thanks for sharing