I'm curios about this. The Alteration spells for mage armor last about 60 seconds which is ridiculously short. Is there a mod or way to make a version of the spell that maybe constantly drains mana but maintains the spell once cast? If not, this would be a great mod. I don't want to just change duration but a constant drain would be good.

Learn dual casting, learn stability. 3 minutes per cast is not shabby.

What he/she said. ^

Ok. I have stability but not dual. Will try. But still doesn't solve problem when you're venturing through the wilderness. 3 minutes isn't that long. Especially when you're suprised attacked by a bear or just about anything for that matter. Re-armoring every three minutes svcks.

The master perk should reduce cost of master spells by 50% AND allow for alteration skin spells of expert and lower to last until recast by the mage.

Is this true?

I don't know about that but don't get dual-casting. Dual-casting is pretty much garbage, not worth the magicka it drains.

I assume your playing on the PC since you mentioned Mods.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4481

There is probably more where that came from.

Yes

Sorry I meant that the way I think it should work. Didn't mean to spread false info. So sorry.

Keep it equipped as you roam and learn as a mage, running away is not a bad thing,

Dont expect these mage armor spells to allow you to stand toe to toe with melee enemies, they will never be strong enough in AR for this.

My advice, Conjure a Atronach and then get some distance between you and the enemy before turning and unleashing some Destruction spells, and repeat

As for having the Magicka constantly drain as a side effect for having the Shields up...so to speak... it would be accomplishing the same thing actually.
Instead of popping the Mage Armor, you would have to stop and pop some Magicka Potions or something, much less have less Magicka to work with IF you are attacked by surprise.
What I do, and have done since the start in lower levels even, is be sure to Favorite your Spells. Then you can more easily cast what you need on the fly (at least a bit better than going through the main process).
Also, if surprise attacks like with a bear or skeleton or sabre cat etc happen, you can then quickly cast things like Fear (or some other similar defense spell) and then at least give you more time to tactfully handle the attack.

The vulnerability of Alteration spells is the most exciting part about them though!

Good advice and good post. An awful lot of people expect spell casters to be walking talking deathbringers, and to be invulnerable...they tend to forget that magic isn't a big thing in Skyrim the place, and that the magic system fits that mould.

As in Fallout 3 and to a lesser extent in FNV, learning to 'leg it' is a survival skill best learnt early.

the dragonhide master spell lets me stand toe to toe but that dumb way you cast master spells makes them useless in battle

The destruction impact perk is your best tool in the mages arsenal as it stuns everything with a dual cast...only problem is dual cast only works right half of the time (i'm playing xbox). If you enchant free destruction casting then you can keep dual casting and they cant recover

I just can't dual cast at all on Xbox, say I have firebolt and I press both triggers at the same time, half the time it will result in one big firebolt but the other half it shoots one from each hand, so now I just dual wield instead of trying to dual cast as its more magicka efficient anyway and it actually works.

When you're surprised is the time to cast the spell. It's not permanent for a reason; as an alternative to armor, Alteration spells and perks have advantages and disadvantages for the sake of balance, and I think it works perfectly. Three minutes of 300 armor (or 350 with the Lord stone, plus its 25% magic resistance) is not too shabby--that's more than half the armor cap, not to mention no encumbrance whatsoever and extra perks for spell resistance and absorption!

To add to that, unlike armor, Alteration has other combat utility. By the time I was able to paralyze foes, it was really a choice between that and Ebonyflesh; I didn't need both. Also, I don't understand how you're playing that makes it necessary for armor spells to last more than sixty seconds. Anyone who invests in magic skills should invest in Magicka growth, and I have had no trouble recasting my armor spells when necessary (especially what with the big visual flair to let you know that the duration is over).


No, it shouldn't. That's ridiculous. Cast a spell once ever and you have a permanent 300 armor rating until you "recast" (and why would you recast)? I have never heard a suggestion more gamebreaking.


You are definitely playing the game wrong, my friend. Consider purchasing a new controller; either that one is in disrepair or you're not too good at using it. There are controllers for sale of different sizes with different button placements and sizes. This is not a problem with Skyrim, it's a problem with you or your controller.