I have a question regarding master difficulty. I started a mage got to level 5 and the 1st dragon and realized I didn't like it. I then restarted and switched to a melee 1 hander with a shield With the melee character, I added some mods, (Duel combat- realism, PISE and deadly dragons)

My problem is that even on master difficulty the 1st part of the game seems so much easier compared to my mage that I'm thinking theres a glitch of some sort. I just finished Bleak Falls Barrows and it was a cakewalk. Mobs are not 1-2 shoting me like I was expecting, I can take a few hits without any major problems (compared to 2 hits and my mage was dead) and I can take out a bandit with 7-8 swings of my sword. Just using an Iron sword, no enchantments etc. I realize the mage is going to be squishier than my melee fighter but is it going to be that extreme?

I've never played a melee type of any kind in an RPG but I wasn't expecting it to be this easy going to to toe with enemiies compared to a mage. Do I have a glitch somewhere or is the difference between mage/melee that extreme?

The thing about playing a mage is that you can't afford to get hit, like ever. Use a follower or a summoned creature for a tank and stand back and cast spells from a safe distance. If you can't avoid enemies charging at you then make sure you keep backtracking while casting spells. If you play it right you'll never get hit, you just have to be very aware

mage characters are harder to play.

however, i would warn against over-confidence with the melee character, lol. the initial dragon attack is always easy and the gold claw is the first quest and is also easy.

things get much more difficult after those initial quests/locales.

Thanks, it's not overconfidence, I just keep reading that getting 1-2 shot is the norm on master and it was with my mage character. I literally have never played a pure melee character before, ever. My concern was that I had a glitch with the mods or something.

If it's normal to not get 1-2 shotted in bleak falls barrow on Master with PISE as a melee then that makes me feel better.

Mages NEED to take advantage of alteration and restoration passive perks to survive. Ebonyflesh spells and near death perks go a long way.

another tip for master- always think offense, first.

defensive perks will not stop you from getting killed within a few hits.

you need to kill them fast.

Armor > No Armor = Squishy. Alteration is a life saver.

concentrating on increasing the armor class of one's mage at early levels still = instant death.

they must not get hit.

which, means controlling the battle and letting others do some fighting.

on master and expert, that is.

Pretty much what they all said. Get a good follower to tank early on and good gear to keep your mana up. Stock up on mana potions as well so you never run out and can continue to dps. That's about it.

Oh, and I know it's been said but still, don't get hit. Ever.

Also if you're using mods there are a few good ones out there. Midas Magic is damn awesome one to start with.

The biggest problem with Mage characters at Master is that destruction spell damage doesn't scale. Only way to overcome this is to use conjuration or use alchemy to create fortify destruction potion that boosts damage.

I can't speak for games with PISE active, since I don't use it, but for melee on Master in general it is definitely normal to not get 2-shotted early on. 3-shotted, maybe, but not 2 unless it's a 2H boss encounter (which also have a pretty good chance of 1-shotting you).

It's true that early on armor isn't doing much, but it's still doing more than no armor and is often superior to '-skin' spells due to their short durations and somewhat high costs, so you're inherently less squishy than a mage of the same level. It helps that standard practice for warrior-types on high difficulties is to pump HP above all else, since you're going to get hit, which means you have an additional buffer a mage does not. Granted a mage can use enchanting to zero spell costs, but not across the board nor at low levels, so at least some of the early level-up point have to be spent on magicka in most cases.

All I found I needed was Impact, Augmented flames and good old Frenzy spells (for bandits or necromancer caves). I'm clearing Draugr and Dragon Priests quite quickly with impact, epecially when it's three or less attacking; they never get near me and with a summon it's fun. I think I'll explore the destruction perk-tree further.

Edit: Wanted to add that, at least for me, wards are useless for pure mages in the game. The fact that it cannot be an active effect once you stop casting it (i.e. you need whichever mouse button pressed all the time for it to be active) makes it too costly. I much prefered wards and "resists" in the previous games.

Destruction damage is fine, it does more than enough damage on master. 3 dual cast perked incinerates will usually kill a deathlords, or 7 ish single casted incinerates, consider how fast you can fire those spells.

The problem is magicka cost, adept and expert spells cost to much.