Today, I've begun a proper mage playthrough. I've had http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1341625-help-casting-is-too-difficult-to-level/page__fromsearch__1 before, but this character Is basically clearing various dungeons, moreso than my other characters (Warriors who just level naturally and my rogues who can still level up and earn money in cities).
So, it's been moderately successful thus far. That was just some backstory.

I'm still fairly squishy mind you, but that's par for the course for mages.

I had my eyes on the http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnbreaker as my chosen "mage" weapon (Though I'm not sure recharging adds to enchanting skill?) because an artifact is better than anything I could find or craft, and will probably hold me for a long time.

So I began http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Break_of_Dawn right at the requisite level of 12. Damn first part made me go through hell and back in order to get the beacon (Had to go through a dwarven ruin where it drops you - the falling rocks instakilled me several times, even a mere touch).

But again, that's just some backstory.

Finally doing the quest proper, and I come acrosshttp://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Malkoran. I'm level 12 on novice, mind you.
First go, he one-shots me with a ranged snow spell. I reload the autosave at the door, so I kill a couple of the shades again and save in front of the boss plus his backup.

I die about five more times, each surviving more and more. During though few times I find that I happened to have some resist frost potions, dropped from a few Ice Wraiths I killed in my travels. That helped me survive his usual one-shot spell (though I learned to try to not get hit from it to begin with, as this fight pretty much kills all my health potions).

Anyway. Funny part is, I finally get him after an Impact perk spell staggers him, and I -rush- in and slap him with Flames+Melee, not even bothering with the four shades that support him yet. For some reason he didn't employ his one-shot spell in melee range so I survive, with a lot of healing still.
Thankfully his little popup shade when he dies wasn't as difficult.

Now, that's a lot of text for the point I'm getting at:

THANK YOU, Skyrim. THANK YOU for giving me something that actually felt like a freaking boss.
I admit I sometimes go into autopilot when playing Skyrim (Powerlevel this, do this quest, get that artifact, beat this questline for that piece of armor, etc) but this really forced me to think, and it brought back the feelings of accomplishment. The kind in other games where a boss kills you a few times while you figure out how he works - the perfect amount of challenge. I found myself not even MINDING the deaths because I would just think, "Okay, so let's try this..." rather than "GOD, AGAIN?!"

So, thank you.

To keep this thread alive (hopefully?), you may post your own memorable experiences regarding difficult fights or whatnot.

i agree with you, that is the way the game is suppossed to feel.

that is the reason why i never power level.

I always want to have my character have to sweat and think in a fight.

A fair stance, to be sure. But Smithing is very important to me D:
And Speech is pretty damn easy to powerlevel.
Slam the A button for an hour, grats, you are now a charismatic stallion!

It's a temptation difficult to resist. I've even passed up the Hermaus Mora book glitch just because of the work one has to do to get the damn thing.

You're going to love the level 40-50 range as a mage, then. When every corner of every dungeon has boss-level enemies.

Just kidding. It's kind of annoying, but also nicely challenging, especially because the higher destruction spells cost a ton and don't blow the weaker ones out of the water.

Spell making, get at me.

I've had trouble with in the past, but...

Last time I fought him, on Master (with magic mods), I fired 4 dual-cast Ice Storms and killed everything in that room, including his shade. I don't even think they turned around.

Ah, well. My girl needed an artifact weapon that wasn't a freaking forsworn axe.



I've powerleveled mages before, it'll be fine when I get better spells to work with.

Sorry, didn't mean to sounds like I was bragging. I was expressing surprise at how it went down. IMO Malkoran is one of the 5 toughest enemies (not toughest fights) in the game. I've fought him so many times though that I know how to game the fight now. I kind of miss the surprise of getting my butt whooped because I have no idea what's coming.

I'll still never forget the first time I fought him, or got 1-hit, I should say.

I died many times before finding a solution in many cases like: The Hagraven on top of the rock to get the nettlebane dagger at low level. The tough Gauldur son in the amulet quest. Even a bandit boss in a mine. And I never looked on this Forum or the UESP Wiki. I wanted to do it on my own until level 30, like I did for Morrowind and Oblivion. Of course I made a lot of mistakes but I also learned a lot. I hardly had money so I always travelled with a pickaxe to get some ore to create and improve my gears. I found Winterhold college around 25 which means that I had almost no spells. (One of my mistakes). But it was a real challenge for a warrior. All that, just to admit that, yes, it's a great game.

The final Gauldur fight is pretty rough, but only because they just fling me around like a ragdoll for a while. Thankfully, didn't take a lot of damage from their arrows.

^This. Except I was on expert diffculty and no mods. Spam dual-cast Ice Storms WITH IMPACT for the win against nasty bosses. This also was necessary against the dremora in the Star without my companion. Nice that squishy mages are challenged more than melee types, since I like to play them.

I did have Impact at the time, which I opened with but didn't really help as his buddies swarmed around him, so I never got a clear second shot to stunlock him.

It was easier to rush in and make sure his AI didn't register his one-shot ranged spell as useful.

Well it also helped to first cast a Frost Atronach in front of him, whom his buddies attacked. Yeah, it's important.

My best boss fight of sorts would be fighting an Ancient Dragon on the walkways of the College of Winterhold. Dragonrend to bring it down and I hacked away at it, dodging its fire breath. Towards the end of the battle, I unequipped my helmet and shield, crawled on to the beast's back and stabbed it and stabbed it. The main theme playing all the way through.

My most memorably challenging fight was the last confrontation in the Gauldur Amulet quest where you take on all 3 brothers in succession at Reachwater Rock.

I had been cruising through the game at level 81 on Master when this fight just plain slapped me in the face. I loved how frenetic it was with all of the running around. Plus while I was trying to identify the real version of the brother who duplicates himself, I was trying to keep my follower alive at the same time because it is almost impossible to draw the aggro without running up to the 'copies' and hitting them. They seem to each be independent bosses.

Just loved this encounter for a melee character! So many enemies, and so much running around after teleporting bosses and multiple bosses. If you have a follower, there is also the added pressure to keep him/her alive, as it's one of the rare occasions where the follower can die to the enemies. This dungeon really got my adrenalin up and I felt a genuine threat trying to survive it. Overall the entire quest was pretty involving with all 4 of the dungeons and the mysterious back story.

After reading the OP I am now looking forward to my second playthrough of the Meridia quest.

Just remember that I was the minimum required level (12) and mages are more difficult for me as a player, you might be more skilled or prepared than I was.

Aye, I was factoring that in, but still looking forward to seeing his big frost spell. As a mostly melee character I find mages that move around a lot and stay at range a bit of a challenge.

Yea, I actually -fear- caster enemies in this game. No matter what archetype I am playing.

And that, my friends, is the correct response.

I love it when this happens. It actually makes you feel like you have achieved something to finally take that son of a gun down !

Yeah, I like it when a game offers some challenge, especially with the bosses. I've found games that offer zero challenge to be a bit dissapointing over all. I will admit, that Dagoth Ur gave me no trouble, even the first time I fought him. I dont recall what level I was, but as an Atronach birthsign with a good ammount of armor, reflext, resist he just wasnt too tough. There have been plenty of fights in Skyrim where I have gotten a sense of accomplishment after defeating a boss.

Have you ever fought Drelas in Drelas' cottage? Man, that was one tough fight.

I'm happy you had fun. My experience was similar my first attempt. I decided to leave and come back when I was stronger. I came back with my own ice storm and a poisoned arrow of weakness to frost. They all died very suddenly.

At higher levels Sunderstone Gorge has always been very tough for me. There's a pack of Fire and Frost mages in here . The latest time I did it, yesterday, Mjoll was instantly out of the fight, and I went through many, many summons of all types before I finally wore them down. Sword and board character, maxed conjuration skill. Any sword and board tactics were useless, even with upgraded Spellbreaker shield, Lord Stone, and high health. The way the cave is set up makes it hard to get in their face like normal fighter tactics against mages. Dremora Lords went down instantly, but finally alternating between Frost and Storm atronachs did the trick. Another thing that made it difficult was they'd completely heal themselves if the pressure on them let up for a millisecond. Great fun.

For a a mage, spamming fireballs and/or ice storms ends it quickly there too. This tactic helps when mages are all bunched to together like that.

For a 2-handed weapon warrior with just follower suppoert this may be tough though. You got to rush them fast.

Fort Amol was tough for me. I know it's not really a boss fight, but all the mages that were in there were using Lighting Bolt and Ice Spike and I actually had to do a couple quick reloads after they killed me. The third time I went in, I summoned a Flame Atronach (I'm not a mage, I just needed help. 5 on 1 kinda svcked) and was able to squeek by. Toughest fight I've had

Ah, sounds like fun. I can definitely see that, though I hit Sunderstone fairly early because I like my Fire shout.