Try using the reanimation line if atronachs aren't working out to well.

Oddly enough casting soul trap on a corpse is enough to gain xp.

Are you using flame atronach, or flame thrall? They have entirely different stats.

Yep, I find flame atronach to be ineffective for now but I do use them occasionally to snipe of enemies I can't get a good sight on.

My flame atronach was used a lot against earlier dragons. It was mostly because they had a better chance at hitting them airborne then I ever could. lol

Oh, Talos forbid that you should actually have the challenge of having to use you brain, or something...

Seriously, stop whining. Even as a warrior you need to plan ahead. Tactics is central to any RPG.

Double charge them and cast another when the first one dies. They are ranged fighters, they don't need as much health.

They are useful the whole game. Fire is the most overall useful elemental damage IMO, and opponents on fire take more damage so having your atronach back you up makes more sense.

tactics are awesome as far as i can see, what i don't like is to search through a huge number of spells to find the one that i need, every, single time

Ishinari, if you get your conjuration to 75, then you can get a really good new summon to help.
You might even find things getting to be too easy after that. lol

You don't have to put EVERY spell in your favourites list. Just plan ahead, and only add the spells you really know your going to use. It really doesn't differ very much from hotkeys, and you spend far less time going back into menus changing your Hotkeys for the 40th time this HOUR than you had to Oblivion...

i am currently at level 40 so i have a lot of spells, and yes, every spell that i have there is useful as far as i can see, and if i did do as you suggested than i would have to be modifying my fav list every time which would be as bad as having a huge fav list.

Really? I just started a Mage on master and I find it easier than my warrior. When at a distance fire bolt does really good damage, ( especially when using Dual Casting to overcharge ) so I can either take enemies out before they get to me or
Dodge if they shoot at me.

If an enemy gets close in the open dodge or run - if you are in a confined space use a spell like calm or fear ( I prefer calm ) and use a
Constant spell like Flames/Sparks.

Use Fast Healing if getting health low ( with Half apprentice Resteration Perk and the Perk that makes healing heal 50% more ) it heals fast and uses low Majika.

I honestly am only a level 8 and have not reached 40 in any skill, and at one stage I though "I might turn the difficulty up ) turns out I was on Master already. I did get annoyed at some parts ( getting owned by a single arrow, or another Mage who has Anotarches in confined areas ) and I had to go back to expert. So I go back and forth from master to expert. I'm seriously finding this easier than my warrior was at lower levels, maybe it is because I am more experienced now on a second character I don't know.

And I am not trying to show off what difficulty I play and act all elite. I am trying to give you honest advice, and couldn't care less what difficulty people can and can't play on.

Lol and I thought any physical base char is easier regardless early or late in game. At least they can just charge in without planning!

Oh look, it's THIS thread again.

oh look, it's this post again, yes people repeat the same threads over and over again, surprised?

Yes, but Flame Atronachs are ranged attackers who generally try to stay away from enemies. Furthermore, they have a fire aura that damages any enemy that attacks them in melee and explode on death for some extra damage.

I have a low level pure mage without follower, and the only difficulty so far was some one-shooting arrows and Morokei, my only problem was the management of my magicka bar. Now I've finished the Mage Guild questline, the equipment given and acquired is enough to totally tame the magicka problem, even as vampire in the sunlight.
I've quickly learned that the best thing you can do isn't necessarily cast the biggest spell you know. With flame astronach + impact, I often prefer to stagger the foe with double ice spikes/firebolts than emptying my magicka with badly targeted fireballs while kiting in the corridors. And speaking of this, I have yet to see a dungeon where you have to fight in corridors, anywhere in Skyrim.

Also use Runes to your advantage. Use a spell like muffle, so if they are facing the other way they won't turn on you ( really effective if only using Robes ) and cast a tube on a narrow path or Stairs. Then cast a firebolt ( or whatever you prefer Ice Spikes etc. I only say Firebolt because I am a Fire Druid type character )

This will cause all melee characters to take damage and get deterred for a while if you placed your ruin in a good place for them to all run into.

After playing a few hundred hours as a thief/archer and then a 2-handed melee warrior, I'm now having a lot of fun with my new Breton pure mage character.

It's like a brand new game. I'm up to level 7 after about 20 hours or so. Getting a lot of mileage out of conjure familiar and flames with the dual wield perk for destruction.

I'm trying to stick to only studying spell tomes that I find. (Not buying any from merchants.)

good luck with finding new spells later in the game, all i'm saying is that i am playing as an explorer mage and after having cleared half the places in skyrim i have not found a spell tome book higher than apprentice.

It's funny, till now in the forums it was usually the high level mage that svcks allegedly, now it's a low level mage. Strange, my mage never svcked. I played a mage on master till level 46 and it was e little bit hard in the early twenties, but easier in the teens than with my pure warrior. Main reason is that the warrior has no chance to damage more than one foe and also cannot cc them.