I only added health occasionally, and just kept stacking magicka until I felt like I had enough for the spells I use most often.

Also, don't listen to people when they tell you to stay away from something because it's too powerful. Try it for yourself. I personally find a high Illusion (and sometimes alteration) skill to be the only thing that consistently gets me out of trouble as a mage with no armor and little health.

If we were to follow the opinions of most people on these forums, we would all be playing self-gimped warriors "on master difficulty" .

OP's build is virtually identical to my current mage build, right down to the Altmer. I didn't plan on Atronach summoning, but I picked it up out of necessity because magicka was bleeding out too fast and I had nothing to fall back on. Absolutely saving Necromancy for my Dunmer though. Also mixing in a little healing and lesser ward so I can pick up the Recovery perks.

Illusion does not break the game. It can minimize the challenge in certain fights. But a number of things need to be kept in mind. One, it's useless against anything that isn't a living mortal. Illusion is stripped away completely in any Draugr tomb. In addition to forcing you to ignore the skill in those situations, this makes it more difficult to level Illusion (unless you use cheese training strategies, like constantly recasting muffle or alternating Calm and Fear enchantments on animals). Two, if enemies are aware of you, you've got to hit them with a slow moving projectile before they reach you. Illusion spells don't work like Soul Trap where it's point and click. Hitting moving enemies with those little motes of energy can be tough. Three, if enemies are not aware of you, casting the Illusion spell makes them aware of you (you're pure mage, so no stealth). And sadly, Frenzy effects take a few seconds to kick in. I'm not sure if this is a bug with the engine's clock or an intended feature. But the first thing a frenzied enemy is going to do is not to attack his buddies, it's to come racing toward you. If you're the closest target by the time Frenzy finally takes effect, you may find the Frenzy proving worthless anyway (staggering him with a shout then running can help, but his buddies aren't going to fight him until he attacks them). On top of all that you're talking about effects with high magicka costs (especially if dual cast to raise the target level max) that may not be affect powerful targets. In those cases, though, it serves as a useful alarm -- run away and come back another day rather than trying to fight those foes with the rather weak Destruction spells.

I'm leveling up potions, so I definitely am not 100% anti-potion use. I guess I just started to get the feeling that they were a get out of jail free card because my level 43 redguard warrior had an inventory of over 30 ultimate healing potions that I hardly ever used and when I got into a pickle, I just reflexively used it. Started leaving the stuff at home, and realized I could get out of quite a few precarious situations at low health without them. My dodging/strafing skills improved tremendously! Haha. Used that honed skill to dodge a few saber cat attacks early on with my mage build too. if you time it just right, they'll never hit you!

Anyway, don't want to turn this thread into an argument about using or not using potions. You definitely have a good point, just didn't want to turn my mage into a potion-addict from a role-play perspective.

Ahh! I was wondering why my frenzy spells didn't always seemed to work and I felt I had to cast it a second time. Thanks! That helps.

I do about three to one magic and health ratio. Also its worth investing in the reduction enchantments as the higher level spell are very very high. Alchemy is also good replenish your magicka. Another thing the OP should consider is Restoration tor the magicka regeneration perks, that is useful for any mage character.

I had a level 37 Altmer mage, his heath was 160 and magicka around 500 (somewhat due to fortification). I never had any problem with the low heath pool, I would cast stonflesh and summon my daedra. I would stay away from the enemy and cast destruction and use illusion to take out the others, worked every time. Now I am going to create a new Altmer who will have a higher heath pool.

Illusion can work on undead and automations, it's a perk. So it quite casting, a stealthy mage is possible.

I'm taking a different approach and it's working out well so far. The idea is to keep the mage at a low level for the whole game. I have done this by needing only 16 perks for the build: 2 in Conjuration for a flame atronach, 4 in Destruction for the 3 boosts and 10 in enchanting. The Atronach sign with Breton gives an average of 63% magic resistance plus magicka refills and, with the Breton power, total immunity to magic for 60sec a day. At level 17 you'll have maxed magic resistance, free Destruction casting plus free staff casting. I think this build can go as far as I want, maybe 60 hours or so without getting past level 20 which is what I consider the best balanced part of the game.

I'm 31, have full time job, and I'm married. I've played video games since I was around 5, and I play them a ton now. I'll probably play them until my hands give out from arthritis. Hopefully, they'll have new interfaces by that time. Gamer 4 life!

But the second you start sneaking, you're using a skill that isn't a mage skill. Even without selecting perks, crouching will build up the sneak skill enough that it becomes a part of your repertoire. The idea here is to make a pure mage, no use of weapons or armor or even stealth.

The other perk requires an Illusion skill of 90. Once you get it, Illusion works on anything. But that's a long road, and by the time you pick it up, your other skills & equipment will be good enough to make you a virtual god anyway. You still need to consider earlier challenges.

Wow! You plan in keeping a level of 20 for 60 hours? I don't even think that would even be possible! It seems doing almost anything in Skyrim levels you up... even just talking to NPC's. Sixty hours of talking might lead to a high level in speech due to persuasion. LOL

How do you handle melee? Didn't mention Alteration. Are you wearing armor?

This is true so you have to be very careful to avoid sneaking, blocking, even skill books. It does detract a bit from playing normally but I think it's worth it. I plan to wear armor (but no perks) eventually but so far I haven't needed to since I've only been hit a couple of times in about 15 hours...I let Lydia and my Flamer take the bandits and mages are easy since I'm immune to magic and with Atronach sign I can endlessly cast as long as they're fighting back (even before I get free destruction).

I agree, after looking ahead to powering up illusion, there comes a certain point where you're just screwing around with the NPC's. Nothing wrong with that IMO though, haha. That's why I want to stick with frenzy later on... at least they'll fight.

Using calm and watching a fort full of bandits walk around like a bunch of Woodstock hippies after a long drag isn't really my idea of a good time.