What's up guys, I finally got into Skyrim a few weeks ago and my first character was a khajiit archerer, I've put about thirty hours or so into it and got him up to level twenty but now I'm starting to get a little bored with him so I'm wanting to try some kind of a magic based character. I'm pretty much decided on using a altmer at this point but I can't decide how to spec him and what kind of playstyle to use, so I got a few questions for you guys.

The way I understand it is the main difference between a pure mage and a battlemage is that a BM uses heavy armor and a PM just uses mages robes, now obviously using the mages robes would give me a huge boost to magika but if I did use heavy armor couldn't I just level up enchantment and enchant my heavy armor with the exact same effect as the robe would have? And also couldn't I just level up my alteration (which I plan on doing either way) and get the mage armor perk and basically get just as good protection wearing robes as long as the spell is in effect as I would wearing heavy armor? Plus if I did that I wouldn't have to worry about putting perks into enchantment or heavy armor either one and I could just focus on the different schools of magic.

BUT BUT BUT, I read somewhere that magic, especially destruction, starts to get weaker as you get to higher levels, so that's why I thought about maybe doing a spellsword so I would have one handed weapons to help back up and balance out my magic skills, but the only thing I hate about that is then I'm going to have to focus on only one or two magic skills because I'd have to level up my one handed, plus either light or heavy armor and enchanting or smithing so I could get the most out of using a weapon.

So what would you guys suggest? Go for pure mage or a battle mage? Or go for a hybrid between the two with a spellsword? Sorry if this all seems like me just rambling, I've never played any of TES games before so I have absolutely NO idea what I'm doing.

My favorite is spellsword as a lot of alteration or destruction and healing spells are quite heavy on magicka and therefore are hard to use at the start.plus for enemies who are resistant to magic the sword can help a lot. Also some skills like light or heavy armour dont really need many perks same with one handed all you need are the first few and a weapon type perk. Destruction and illusion are both extremely perk dependant so don't use both.a spellsword build with destruction, restoration, conjuration,light armor,one handed with the atronach stone can be really powerful. Another advantage to a spellsword is that you don't have to buy as many spells or upgrade them as often as a pure mages and you wont be as slow or heavy as a battle mages .nightblade is also another option for when your more experienced with magic

The one thing that kind of ruins pure mage for me, is the fact that finding cool loot isn't any fun. If you are not wearing armor, and not using a weapon, then lots of rewards and treasure just aren't any fun. I always start games as pure mages, and then I remind myself WHY I lose interest, and that is because every cool item I get is useless to me. Just one person's opinion.

That's so true. I usually just give the stuff to my follower

I only done pure mages once though. Ive played a spellsword on every tes game since daggerfall.and they are definetely my favourite playstyle

My main character is necromancer mage vampire hybrid thingy. I use magic, stealth etc. I conjure many times weapons like swords or bows to do sneak attacks, so in terms of combat I do not limit myself. I use only robes because I don't need armor.
As a old vampire I need to be master of all arts.

Battle-Mages are amazingly strong even at extremely low levels; so in my opinion of all the ways to begin the game, conjuration sword/bow wielders are the easiest to enjoy sailing through the game with.

Heres an example:
Bound sword without the conjuration perk "Mystic binding" does damage equivalent of a steel sword. With the perk it does the equivalent of a Daedric sword. It also scales with your one-handed skill in weapons.

Personally Imperial's and Breton's make the best battle mages but go for the race you just genereally feel is cool cos it dont make a massive level of difference in terms of skills.

I love Pure Mages! What they mean by Destruction getting weak is that it is surpassed by the damage that can be done by Melee or Bows. The thing abuot Mages that I love is the sense of progression you get from leveling your skills. Other Archtypes jsut hit harder or get a new finishing move, but Mages get new and more effective spells. It isn't about the damage for me.

Here are some tips for a fun Full Mage. They take a while, but are fun when you get them.

1. Put a powerful weapon on a dead body. Reanimate it and watch it kill it's old brethren. (This is way cooler when you get Dread Thrall, because they last until they die)
2. Use Illusion to have entire Bandit Camps / Forsworn Camps / Towns fight eachother.
3. Summon two Dremora Lords and turn invisible. Watch them tear everything apart in your honor.

The thing about a Pure Mage is that when they become a Master of the Arcane, they are freaking amazing. My Pure Mage hasn't killed anyone in a while because she just watched everyone kill eachother instead.


If you are going to deviate from a Pure Mage, I would go with a stealth mage. Put Perks into Sneak, Illusion, and Destruction. Destruction would be your ranged attack, you could sneak through places and slit throats (I recommend using the Shrouded Hand Wraps and Assassin's Blade Perk for a x30 sneak attack) And use Illusion if you get discovered to either Calm them down or have them fight eachother. Silent Casting would also be important for a Stealth Mage.

All my mages wear armor. So that's why I prefer Battlemages. The idea of an armored mage always seemed cool to me.

Go Battlemage with a sword. Heavy Armor has more pieces that you can enchant and has more options. The only good mage robes are either incredibly rare or you have to finish the College of Winterhold quest line. Not to mention that any hybrid class has no weakness (theoretically) but in my experience, it holds true for battlemage.

The Destruction Magic helps for archers who are heckling you and stronger warriors who are far away from you
Swords help for warriors who are at close range and is impractical to fight with destruction magic.
The Heavy Armor will keep you alive from strong melee fighters who would two-shot you as a pure mage
Destruction Magic can really help out in dragon fights.

But remember not to focus on fire magic. It may seem like a good idea but you're gonna want to sap the magicka out of mages, who might be a big threat in higher levels and frost magic can paralyze stronger enemies that might otherwise prove a challenge. Fire magic does have the damage and magicka reduction but you're gonna want to put a 25% fortify destruction on at least two of your armor pieces anyways.

Oh yeah, enchanting. For Enchanting, put perks all the way up the middle of the tree. When you become a Master, Skill enchantments will be a 25%. This means that you can cast two types of Magic at no cost.

The loot thing is actually a good point, it seems like most of the cool stuff I've run across always seems to fall into the light armor/one handed weapons category, which I wouldn't really be able to use unless I went with a spellsword. Huh I wonder, how would a spellsword that wears light armor be at tanking? Maybe not even really tanking but just not really focusing much on sneaking around, I've already done that with my khajiit and I don't really want to have to rely on it with my next build. Plus I could still use alteration perks like dragon skin or whatever it's called to pump up my armor rating for when I get into a bad situation.

Oh and about destruction, should I try to get the whole tree filled out or just focus on one type of spell, like fire, ice, and shock?

I always kept the stuff though. I'd have thought a Mage would want to own all that enchanted and rare items, in the pursuit of knowledge and whatnot. Or is that just my RP talking? In any case, once you master magic, you're pretty much unstoppable. I often change up the way I tackle dungeons, for example, forgoing destruction magic in favour of a sword and armour. Magic is a back-up in those times.


Pure Mages ftw!

But you do have an excellent point about creating a Nightblade. One of my Dunmer is such a character, and absolutely owns everything. Wearing no armour, and carrying only a bow and daggers, using illusion, alteration and conjuration magic. He also dabbles in alchemy, but hasn't gone far down that road yet, prefering to liberate alchemists of their poisons instead.

Edit - To the OP, I find a Spellsword is one of the easiest characters to play. My second Dunmer is a Spellsword, and I have similarly little trouble playing him as I do my Nightblade. As others have said, magic isn't always about direct damage. Sure, if the enemy get too close you'll want chop them into lots of little chargrilled pieces, but I find Illusion and Conjuration to be far more powerful.