Hey all. I'm taking a break from my Bosmer Assassin and making a Dunmer Battlemage, so I'm just here to ask some advice:
1. Should I go with light or heavy armor? I keep going back and forth on it. Heavy offers better protection, but light is lighter and fits better aesthetically (imo, of course).
2. Is it even worthwhile using a shield since I'll probably spend most of my time running backwards shooting fire at people and then running in for the kill?
2b. I've never really used Wards much, do they block phys and magic damage or just magic?
3. I plan on my main spell trees being Destruction (I have Balanced Magic), Conjuration (I plan on using bound weapons, and summons are always good), and Alteration, and also using Restoration when necessary. I'm particularly curious about Alteration, is there more to it than just increasing your armor? Is it even worthwhile at all?

Advice is appreciated, thanks.

Geez, this forum moves fast. Bump?

Alteration has paralyzing spells, waterbreathing, etc. It's probably one of the more "handy" schools of magic if you're out exploring, etc. So I'd definitely recommend it, to answer your question. That, plus the magic resists/absorbs tied with whatever bonuses you get otherwise (like the lord stone) pretty much turns you into a sorcerer's nightmare.

I didn't need any armor at all with the mage armor perk, but have tried light armor in conjunction with alteration spells, and it pretty much adds up to slightly more from what I've seen so you could go that route. From my experience though, mage armor is perfectly sufficient even on the higher difficulties. Especially if you're using restoration/summons regularly to soak up whatever damage gets through.

Which is another point. Since you're a battlemage, that respite perk in resto pretty much enables you to not spend a single point in stamina. Probably already know that, though. :V

Edit: To answer your question on shields, I personally just switched between whatever spells I needed in my off-hand. If you're using healing spells and shields/wards and stuff, it's not really necessary at all imo. I think wards just negate magical damage. Never really had to use one with all the magic resist, to be honest.

As per definition (in TES atleast) a battlemage should use heavy armor. But whatever, it's up to you to roleplay whatever you want. Skyrim's light armors are sturdy enough to warrant use by a battlemage anyhow.


When you play a battlemage it's probably much more usefull to ditch the shield and use the free hand to ready spells. That way it's more easy to combine melee and magic during battles, which is off course what a battlemage does.

Though "running backwards shooting fire at people and then running in for the kill" isn't really strictly battlemage behaviour, and it would become very repetitive fast imho. You'll have more fun combating enemies combining magic and melee simultaniously depending on the situation you find yourself in. Casting drains, weaknesses, conjurations, destruction spells, while dealing deathly blows while you're at it. Altenate a bit between ways of battling, experiment and change your combat behaviour depending on your situation. Battlemages are versatile and they can be a lot of fun to play, when played right they can give you pretty immersive alternating gameplay.


Wards are restoration spells. So a battlemage wouldn't necessarily have them in his/her skill set. But again, that's up to you. You may prefer destruction or conjuration spells over wards anyhow, because the added protection of casting a ward is less usefull since you're already protected by (enchanted) armor.

Wards act as magical shields. They give extra magic resistance and they boost armor. So they can decrease physical damage as well as decrease magical damage, but it's dependant on the type of ward you're casting.


Though alteration in Skyrim seems somewhat focussed on increasing protection, it does have some more uses besides that. Just read the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Alteration_%28Skyrim%29 on it.

Waterbreathing, telekinesis, "light" spells, paralysis, "detect" spells, and off course spells and perks to increase protection / absorb, they're all pretty usefull. But yeah, conjuration and destruction are of more use if you wish to deal damage.

Alright, thanks for the advice guys, I think I pretty much know where I'm going to go with my battlemage now. Unless I feel significantly under protected, I think I'm going to go with light armor, because I generally prefer it aesthetically. And it's good to know Alteration has more to it, although I'm somewhat embarrassed that I didn't think to look at the wiki. DX

Hey again, folks. Been having a lot of fun playing my Battlemage, currently lv. 12 and I did end up going for Heavy Armor. Between summons and bound swords my Conjuration has been leveling really fast and my other spells are doing well as well. My (probably) last question is this: So far I've pretty much only been perking magic, should I put perks into One-handed and Heavy Armor? Are there any recommended perks from the two trees?

One-handed, yes. Put points into Armsman, and maybe fighting stance. Heavy armor - not really, since you're augmenting with alteration.