How to make Pure Mage viable?

[Saphayla]

Playing as a Mage is one of the most interesting things you can do in Skyrim, simply because of the amount of variety and flexibility there is when it comes to spells you can use and how to combine them. However, one problem I've encountered is that Destruction magic; the main way of dealing damage as a Mage, is incredibly weak above level 20. Despite having the best spells available and having all the necessary perks, there's very little I can do outside of power-leveling Enchanting and creating an overpowered set of apparel, that would make Destruction magic as viable as swinging a sword. As such, even though my character was meant to be as close to a pure mage as possible, over time, she turned more into a spellsword.

So my question is, what would you suggest that'd make a pure mage playstyle viable (and fun; turning my spell cost to 0 and then spamming 50 Fireballs at an enemy is broken and hardly fun), aside from modding?

[Lothic]

i'm not sure if it was in vanilla skyrim, but alchemy can give a potion to strengthen destruction magic
so maybe take a look into it

[Saphayla]

Originally posted by Lothic:

i'm not sure if it was in vanilla skyrim, but alchemy can give a potion to strengthen destruction magic
so maybe take a look into it

Yeah, there's a potion to strenghten every skill except for Alchemy itself.

[Justice]

Reduce your spell cost somewhere at 60-80% instead of 100%. Also you can increase destruction spells damage in the skill tree perks. And finally Solsteim dragon priests have masks that can increase fire,frost or shock destruction spells damage by 25%. Dukan dragon priest mask for example:
50% frost resistance, +25% more damage for frost spells

[JCD]

First time playing skyrim, playing a mage using only spells (except the staff of magus) with destruction as my highest skill followed by restoration.

I use healing on the right hand and various destruction spells on the left.

As Justice said get your adept and expet skills to decrease magika costs and get all the magika regen items/skills you can.

Heal while blasting, use running and evade tactics while your flame atronach(s) whittle the opponents down if they are too tough or too many to take head on.

[Pak0tac]

I dont like mages but here are some tips that will make your life easier:
1. Install spells mods (just google for it), there are some mods that will add many spells to the game in a lore friendly way and it will make your game much more intersting.
2. dont focus on a single element, fire is good for damage, frost is good against melee enemies and electricity is perfect against enemy mages.
3. use armor
4. use a shield + spell
its nice when you can run away and dodge enemies but there are some places where there is no place to run and no way to avoid incoming damage... so you will need armor and a shield
5. as soon as you have the coin, spend it all on learning skills, including all the spell schools and armor and shield and everything ales you may need
6. join the companions and become a warewolf, it will help you a lot in many difficult situations

[Iranian Voodoo Doctor]

Hear-hear, there’s a video that has the best build for mages, and I can say it’s fairly consistent. Look up ‘MrRhexx Skyrim Best Mage Build’ and you’ll be set for equipment. As for your play style, it depends on your difficulty.

On Novice & Adept, you don’t need to worry about much at all, but remember to always stack up on potions and not get too cocky, you’ll never know what’s gonna happen.

On Master & Legendary, it’s more precise. You have to quickly advance your skill trees in (what I believe to be best) Restoration and Destruction. I reccomend bringing a companion who’s more tanky than you so the focus can be fairly diverted. Remember to stand far back from your foes as even the strongest mage gear is unable to take a heavy hit of a warhammer.


I hope this helps!

[Lifeisagame]

Well i know a way outside mods, the Console..
"modav destructionpowermod x" Modifies damage done by destruction spells. Base is 0, 100 doubles spell damage (if applicable), etc.
"modav desturctionmod x" Modifies magicka cost of a selected school. Base is 0, 100 reduces the cost of all spells within the selected school to 0.
Works well and needs Zero Mods, indeed you have to "cheat" on the Console ;-)
for the Other schools just change the name of it "modav illusionpowermod 100" as example Modifies the level ranges affected by illusion spells.

[stcaFylnO]

Vanilla-ish mages are probably the weakest class. I tend to become a spell-sword also, just to kill quicker. It works well though, since dual casting Destruction seems like poor magicka:damage. As you indicate, variety is the spice of life, so I'll try circumventing obstacles with Illusion or something, instead of killing.

Spell Abosorption entertains me as a way to manage magicka (Atronach stone &/or perk, Spellbreaker, Ward Absorb, Breton's Dragonskin). Supplementing with leeching items, like Staff of Magnus, Keening, etc., can be helpful. If conjuring allies is desirable, Breton and Aetherial Crown are handy to ping-pong Spell Absorption chance. All this with reduced, but not zero cost spells, is more fun.


Stray thoughts:

People tend to forget or ignore food, but Elsweyr Fondue is very handy. Heck, I love a half dozen of the food recipies and carry them regularly.

Shalidor's Insights are handy scrolls to use, in additon to potions.

[Mr. Monday]

Knock out Arniel's quest as soon as possible. You'll be able to summon his shade after the end of it. IMO, it's one of if not the best summoning in the game. Without mods he's stuck at using sparks as his attack, however he's indestructible and costs only 1 point of magicka, so he can pretty much be cast at any time.

[Aryel_Emrys]

Pure mage build
Race: Altmer. You start off with +50 magicka; +10 skill points to Illusion and the Illusion spell Fury plus +5 skill points to every single other school of magic. Highborn racial power, which allows you to regenerate magicka 25x faster for 60 seconds.

Skills:
Specialize in Destruction [en.uesp.net]. This will be your main form of combat, so level it up as quickly as possible, buy the best spells. Finish the College of Winterhold quest line - they sell all the best spells, staffs, and apparel, you'll get some really good mage robes and boots (Arch-Mages Robes, and Boots, which give 40% shock resistance) pretty early in the game.

Perks, in order pick: Adept Destruction, Augmented Flames/Frost/Shock, Dual Casting, Impact, then Expert Destruction. You can always just buy a good destruction staff from Faralda.

Restoration[en.uesp.net] is a great complimentary school of magic. Level up it quickly to allow yourself to take a little bit of damage (eg. jumping off a medium height or attacking your atronach so it attacks back) then healing yourself. Adept Restoration is really only what you need, you can buy most of these instant healing spell at the College. Specialize in Regeneration (healing cures 50% more), Recovery (Magicka regenerates 50% faster), then Avoid Death (once a day, auto-heals 250 points when you fall below 10% health).

Chose a good warrior tank companion, Lydia is good because you get her very early on in the game. Put your follower in heavy armour, give him a nice heavy battle-axe.

Alteration[en.uesp.net]. Specialize in armour spells. Since you're not going to wear armour, these spells will saveyou in any combat situation. Level up your Alteration by casting something like Oakflesh or Ironflesh, until you can cast the Expert or Master level spells. Perks: Mage Armour (gives double armour rating when not using actual armour), Magical Resistance (50% magic resistance), and maybe Stability (armour spells last longer).

Sneak/Illusion. Stay out of direct combat if you can help it. Sneak is pretty simple; level it up like you normally would for an assassin or thief character (perks are optional). For Illusion (and this is when High Elves come in handy) level up by casting something like Calm (for god's sake, don't use Fury) so you can get the Quiet Casting all spells are silent to others. Llevel up to Expert so you can cast Invisibility and Muffle. These two spells will help you slip around unnoticed by the enemy until it's too late, and combined with Quiet Casting. Add a Fury spells and make bandit chiefs fight your enemies.

Learn how to use your menu to switch magic to make the best use of all your spells.

Follow Skyrim Ultimate Modding Guide - Mage by Sinitar Gaming[www.nexusmods.com]

[Tex ArCana]

I would point anyone who wants to make any playthrough more interesting (Including Mages) toward Ordinator Perk Tree Mod.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68425/?
And if one wants to get more out a Mage build, I would point them toward Apocalypse-Magic of Skyrim Mod.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16225/?
Both of these (and especially combined) make ANY playthrough more interesting. And add depth to the game.

[liosalpha]

^ if you ad wintermyst too for more unique enchanting that list would be complete.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58635/?

Also with thunderchilds epic shouts you get a complete new school of magic. somplete with xp from shouting.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41376/?

[Playerjjjj]

Get the impact perk and stunlock everything. It worked for me.

[red255]

When leveling destruction I used the firewall perk.

it killed things pretty quickly. not as fast as 'stealth archery' but it got the job done.

there are some potions and poisons.

potions of fortify destruction and poisons of lower resistance to fire would probably be great for this, though not sure how you'd apply the poison, probably OK to use an iron dagger for it.

[Mr. Monday]

Originally posted by red255:

When leveling destruction I used the firewall perk.

The what perk?