I'm curious because it's already a task to specialize in all of the schools....is it worth adding perks in enchanting? I could only see it helping out with apparel and that's not really something you change more then once (not to mention most of the mage clothing in the game has such enchantments).

What do you think?

I believe that a pure mage has very good reason to go for Enchanting... For example with enchanting you can reduce the cost of certain spell schools (up to 2 separate schools) to 0 for every spell... Works pretty well with Destruction and my second school for it would either be Restoration or Conjuration but I'm leaning more towards Restoration since I don't need to cast my Conjuration spells nearly as often as I might Restoration...

Keep in mind that the only reason that I don't need to cast Conjuration spells as often is because I have the Master level thrall summoning spells you get for the Conjuration Ritual Spell quest... Not like you can't make new gear if you change your mind though...

I would use it to enchant jewelry.
Like OP mentioned, some of the mage robes have good enchantments, especially the Expert and higher robes. But having jewelry to recover health or fortifying certain skills couldn't hurt.

You can reduce it all the way to 0? Whoa...did not know that.

if you out you use enchanting you can save alot of perks and magicka for level up with reduce % of school I made a conjurer/enchanter/one-handed/heavy Armor character and didn't put one perk into reduce magicka cost perks or one level up to magicka

but there is no way to increase duration of summons/damage of destruction ECT other than alchemy

so bottom line if you want to be a Mage on the side enchanting is useful, but if you want to be a pure mage alchemy is probably better

Yes with all the enchanting perks you can put two enchantments on the same item and you can enchant a ring, a necklace, headgear, and chest gear (i.e. robes or armor) with reduces casting cost by 25%... Combine those together and total reduces by 100% but it doesn't stack with the perks in that school as far as I know... I'll have to test that later as my pure mage is still working on enchanting and learning enchantments... Also I recommend the enchantments from robes as they reduce the casting cost and boost magicka regeneration even though you'll never get over 10% magicka regeneration bonus per enchantment for some reason, every bit helps...

No one should go for Enchanting.

Actually there is a perk for each type or common summon that increases the duration, not to mention the master level summoning spells are permanent until they get killed... And with perks you can have two of them at the same time...

Also, resistances are good for a pure mage and you can get much higher resistance with 2 enchantments on one item gives you twice the possible resistances... Due to enchanting I've got a character that is immune to fire and frost and thus stomps dragons like they are nothing...

I'm curious as to why you think this?

Perhaps he thinks it makes things too easy? There is some truth it it. I would go for Enchanting, it makes life a lot easier, but I would stay away from bringing it to 100. Did it one time and it's quite boring after it. Do it if you want to be a true superstar.

That's some understatement. Playing with Enchanting is almost like cheating.

A little bit embroidered imho. At some (middle) levels some enchanted items for some mage configurations (me a Destruction/Ilusion/Alteration) are nearly a must, otherwise you have to run a lot or die too often. I cannot calm undead and I had still no paralyze at lower levels and the magicka for douple Destruction spells was not enough for a multitude of Draugr and I don't like Alchemy (drinking many magicka and health potions would be at least as cheated).

It's easy as hell with high conjuration and two Dremoras, with enchanting on top then it becomes daft.

You could do what I did create a new character who is a god mode character for just stomping around with when I want to smash stuff, he's at the armor cap and has zero cost conjuration and destruction and carries a ridiculously overpowered Warhammer for when he gets sick of using puny magics.

It can be if it's used that way but you could also use it just to boost resistances and make yourself less vulnerable to spells as they tend to hurt alot more than other weapons... You just have to be mindful of how you use it or it will break the game quite easily when you essentially become a god through it...

I think enchanting is a necessary part of any mage skills. You can compliment your spells by adding mana regeneration and increased mana pools, increasing your health, etc.

Just don't powerlevel it, and you'll be fine.

Enchanting is one of the trade skills, that sits well with a Pure Mage.

Enchanting is a mage skill, and it works well together. I'd go for it.

Enchanting, funnily enough, benefits non-mages more than mages. Mages just get the -cost enchant, everyone else gets damage enchants, weapon enhancements, armor enchants, etc.

I find fortify health to be very useful for mages, and magically boosting it makes more sense for a pure mage than taking health instead of magicka at level up.

For mages, -cost enchant = damage enchants (more magicka = more spells = more damage), weapon enhancements (more magicka = higher-cost spells = more damage), armor enchants (more magicka = more healing = better armor). Magicka is everything to a mage.

I agree that bringing spell cost down to 0 takes all the joy out of it. But a 40-50% spell reduction helps considerably as does making different frost/fire/shock resistance gear, making gear that adds to your max carry weight, and that ups the regen rate for magicka. All these are good for mages.

Though non-mages have more equipment to enchant (if your mage forgoes convential weapons completely), mages still benefit greatly from health and magicka(-regeneration), resistances and -magicka spells. Especially since they are mostly going to be a bit more fluffy in comparison to warriors and thieves, increased health and resistances can be a great help.

At higher levels casting expert level destruction spells enough times to kill enemies would be a bit costly without some form of Cost Reduction Enchantments. I suppose you could just buy those pieces from merchants but then you are at the mercy of the randomness.

I would say go for it. I think a mage needs some magic reduction as the higher level spells cost a lot of magic. Remember you do not have to reduce your casting all the way to zero. You can balance out your magic reduction enchantments with magic regeneration and fortify carry weight.

Alchemy is a universal crafting skill that ie great for any play style but supplements the mage very well. It gives you buffs and resistances. It gives you a steady stream of health and magic potions.

When you hit 100 enchanting the game basicly enables godmode. You can make enchantments to break pretty much any system you want. A dragon? Wear 100% resist gear. Enemy moves around to much? Stagger him to death with free destruction spells. It's really quite stupid.