About to make an Altmer pure mage skilled in all magic.


Any tips before I get started? Gear, perks, etc.?

I have an expert Mage, I'd suggest doing the College or Winterhold quests ASAP because the equipment you get at the end easily makes it alot funner as a Spell-Caster. Personally I focused on Destruction the most because, well, Alteration doesn't kill dragons
I'd also suggest getting only magic perks, they soon become very helpful when fighting large groups of badies.

Thanks.

here's a guide for you http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1273561-pure-mage-guide/page__p__19277226#entry19277226

Depends on how 'honorable' you want to play. If you want to be the best possible mage and don't mind kinda cheesy play, then your magicka pool really is pointless and your skills in the schools aren't much more meaningful. Generally, having alchemy and enchant at 100 and all other magic skills at under 30 will make a caster much more powerful than a master in every school but low crafting skills. The perks in Conjuration and Illusion are still handy however.

If you are more into roleplaying a master caster and don't really care that you'll be significantly weaker, then I'd suggest focusing on conjuration and illusion and keep the other schools as 'minor skills' since they tend to pay off less as you level them, especially without the help of crafting. If you want to use aggressive destruction spells for RP purposes, I'd suggest using a staff for this when you are not using your racial regen power, or try using Runes while sneaking with the quiet casting perk so you stay out of combat and keep your mana regen up, it will be the equivalent of having a +200% magicka regen passive.

Alteration is only advisable if you plan to use enchanted weapons on the side. If you do use absorb magicka blades and weakness to magicka poisons, for example, then Alteration is a great choice to focus on, although players who want to use weapons as side arms also tend to be ok with wearing armor, in which case leveling and perking alteration is once again not advisable. Restoration is similar, although it is more useful for an armored player. The more magicka you spend on defense, the less you have to do damage, so if you focus on defensive schools be prepared to use weapons, staves, shouts or companions for the majority of the damage.

Lastly, if you want to feel like a really powerful mage but don't want to feel like you are cheating, I would suggest using Alchemy a lot, but probably avoid stacking lots of magicka cost reduction enchants. Using the enchants beyond 50% reduction will just make you realize that your skills and magicka are not paying off and you might as well have put everything into HP. The alchemy buffs will allow you to do extreme amounts of damage with destruction spells or cast really powerful illusion and restoration spells, but since you still have to use some magicka to pull it off and you can still function without the potions, it will feel natural. Another option would be to instead focus only on the magic schools, but frequently stop by at alchemist shops to buy the most powerful potion buffs. It won't be as effective, but it will at least allow you to use your spells at higher levels/difficulties without feeling like a mediocre caster.

I probably wouldn't bother focusing on all schools. You'll probably get bored/frustrated and stop playing before you've spent all the perks you'd like to on all the schools.

Destruction has its problems. While fun at first, it begins to feel weak and useless by mid- to high levels. A better approach might be a sneaky Illusionist/Summoner Puppet Master type mage who ignores Desctruction entirely. You don't need massive amounts of magicka for that build, and therefore won't need to cheese out with Enchant and Alchemy as much.

I would focus on Destruction at the start and just use one spell (eg fire) and get it to 100. Also buy the destruction robes (eg Novice, then Adept, then Expert, then Master) from Farralda at the COW. Agood ring helps too (eg Regenerate Magicka 60%) as well as an amulet or dragon priest mask.

If you're on the PC, there are some mods that sorta "fix" the destruction school, if you want to go about the game that way. DLing and installing a mod for the magic system will prevent you from being forced to "cheese out" with Enchanting/Alchemy if you want to be a pure destruction-to-cause-damage type.

-Loth

Can you link me to it?

I was wanting to be a Destro-for-Damage with the other schools just as backup/fun.



Side note: I'll be doing the CoW, MQ, Imperials, and Daedric quests before moving on to side stuff.


Edit: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2275

I second this! It's a great guide!! I was kind of afraid to play a mage seeing as how a lot of people were saying that it's hard, but the guide is great. I play on Adept and the only real hard stuff comes only with Deathlords/Overlords, and that is with no summon. I would turn to expert just to see if I cope with it, then I would be "be on the lookout, the deathlord can be around any corner"

LE: I use no mods.

Oh my, yes... and it's been updated since I DLed it last week. Excuse me, I have to visit the Nexus to do some DLing now...
-Loth

Edit: The modder has basically fixed magic now... I have to say that doing so without the CK is quite the nifty trick.

Wow... I made my mage; using this mod and it's awesome!

I highly recommend it to anyone playing a pure mage!