Changing from warrior to mage?

[Chicha]

Hey! I'm a lvl 51 dual-yielding warrior and I have never put any points into magic, but I'd like to try mage now. Do you think this is possible? I don't know exactly how many points I have in health or stamina, but lets say it is 300health,200 stamina, 100 magic.

[Karax]

Anything's possible in Skyrim.

First off, the more magicka you have, the better "mage" you would be, so if you plan on going on mage style, put every points from now on in magicka whenever you level up.

If you are playing vanilla skyrim, with no modifications to perk trees, you would think that, the most damage you'd get is from investing in X magic school..while is around 50% true, as with every class, 50% of your damage output will depend on your equipement.

One of the most important pieces for a mage, is the chest piece, now you will have to ask yourself, what kind of mage will you be?

Whatever magic school you prefer, it is almost a MUST to have your chestpiece have the magicka % decrease of your current style...so ie. if you plan on going destruction school, have a robe tha will give you decrease in the magic cost of destruction spells.

Also note that, the perks in the destruction school, that increases the damage of either fire/frost/lightning spells, will also increase the damage of your fire/frost/lightning enchantments on weapons.

I always found Enchantment one of the best skill trees, for either class, because this way, you can make your own equipment, and have your character be malleable, this way you can make rings, amulets, feet, etc...enchantments match your playstyle..like for ie, if you need magicka regen, or spell cost decrease, you can enchant that.

Also, it is rather helpful to insvest in the Alteration school as well, if you want to be an effective mage, and you want to cast only spells, you will be dependent on your cloth items, and if you need protection, the alteration school gives you what you need, having alteration maxed to 100, will unlock you a spell that will reduce the damage taken by 90%

Also, if you have dragonborn dlc, and have defeated the last boss, you can also "respec" your perk points, this is a useful way to migrate, from let's say, heavy/light armor..to alteration.

[Chicha]

Oh! Thanks so much, I had no idea about that thing of alteration, and I had not thought about focusing a bit on enchantment.

My biggest problem at the moment is how little damage I do. I am focusing on destruction spells, and I really have to struggle to kill werebears (really, a lot! it's worse than any boss I fought while going as dual wielding warrior). I was now thinking about going to some trainers to try and increase my destruction levels.

I just have one more question: imagine I have a staff with some fire spell. By using the staff is my destruction level increasing similarly to when I cast the spells from my hands? I have a couple staffs that are cool, but I dont know if I should use them because then I may not be leveling up my destruction tree.

Thanks for all the tips!

[Karax]

Originally posted by Chicha | Buy cards/gems trade.tf:

Oh! Thanks so much, I had no idea about that thing of alteration, and I had not thought about focusing a bit on enchantment.

My biggest problem at the moment is how little damage I do. I am focusing on destruction spells, and I really have to struggle to kill werebears (really, a lot! it's worse than any boss I fought while going as dual wielding warrior). I was now thinking about going to some trainers to try and increase my destruction levels.

I just have one more question: imagine I have a staff with some fire spell. By using the staff is my destruction level increasing similarly to when I cast the spells from my hands? I have a couple staffs that are cool, but I dont know if I should use them because then I may not be leveling up my destruction tree.

Thanks for all the tips!

As I said, destruction magic is underwhelmed, and if you just started leveling the skill tree, it's really hard.

I'm not sure about the staff though, you should test it out, make a save, spam the staff on npc's see if it rasies your skill in destruction.

Note that, leveling destruction skill is dependent on your base magicka, and the damage it deals to your targets...that means, the xp you get for destruction, depends on the damage dealt as well, meaning that, the higher difficulty setting you have, the slower you will level up, also note that when you bash enemies with your torch, the fire from the torch is registered in the game as magical fire, and it will also net you exp in destruction school, might be the same for the staff as well

[Chicha]

Originally posted by constantinmarius76:

As I said, destruction magic is underwhelmed, and if you just started leveling the skill tree, it's really hard.

I'm not sure about the staff though, you should test it out, make a save, spam the staff on npc's see if it rasies your skill in destruction.

Note that, leveling destruction skill is dependent on your base magicka, and the damage it deals to your targets...that means, the xp you get for destruction, depends on the damage dealt as well, meaning that, the higher difficulty setting you have, the slower you will level up, also note that when you bash enemies with your torch, the fire from the torch is registered in the game as magical fire, and it will also net you exp in destruction school, might be the same for the staff as well

Damn, that's why it's so hard. 120 magicka at this moment :\

[Chicha]

I'll try to level up enchantment as much as possible, maybe it will help. Also, using hats with +magicka points are probably better at this stage

[♡]

Who needs magicka anyway?

Level up enchanting to 100 (get double enchantment perk), drink enchanter's elixir so that your enchantments are 25% stronger, then enchant a full set of armor using grand soul gems (fortify destruction + effect of your choice). If you do this correctly, you should be able to cast destruction spells for 0. Enchant ring and necklace in the same manner (fortify destruction).

Also, disenchant junk items every now and then to learn new effects.

[Elazul]

If you really want to get the full mage experience I would highly recommend starting over with a brand new character and going 4:1 Magicka:Health. It will help immensely and won't make you reliant on enchantments so you can do other enchantments that are more helpful to you.

[Karax]

Originally posted by witchney houston:

Who needs magicka anyway?

Level up enchanting to 100 (get double enchantment perk), drink enchanter's elixir so that your enchantments are 25% stronger, then enchant a full set of armor using grand soul gems (fortify destruction + effect of your choice). If you do this correctly, you should be able to cast destruction spells for 0. Enchant ring and necklace in the same manner (fortify destruction).

Also, disenchant junk items every now and then to learn new effects.

This ^ is highly recommended.

Originally posted by Elazul:

If you really want to get the full mage experience I would highly recommend starting over with a brand new character and going 4:1 Magicka:Health. It will help immensely and won't make you reliant on enchantments so you can do other enchantments that are more helpful to you.

While this is true, it's not really the case, you can re-roll anytime mid-game, you don't have to be fully enchanted on a specific school to enjoy playing as a mage.

[LordAziki]

The problem I have with destruction is the damage doesn't scale as your scale increases, it just reduces spell costs. I have been using a mod called "Destruction Spells scale with Magicka" by Peachy to make it more viable. I also suggest avoiding the Intense Flames perk because it can be annoying for an enemy to start running from you when its hp is low. Disintegrate can also be harmful if you use necromancy, but will only really matter when you fight a necromancer otherwise because a pile of ash can't be risen. Deep freeze can actually be pretty good though since the paralysis can effect enemies who are immune to poisons. Also work on enchanting a lot because an enchantment on head, ring, necklace, and robe reducing spell cost by 25% adds up to free spells. I like to use the Extra Effect perk to do both destruction and restoration, so I use magicka solely for mage armor spells at the start of a fight and get free damage, wards, and heals.

[Karax]

Originally posted by LordAziki:

The problem I have with destruction is the damage doesn't scale as your scale increases, it just reduces spell costs. I have been using a mod called "Destruction Spells scale with Magicka" by Peachy to make it more viable. I also suggest avoiding the Intense Flames perk because it can be annoying for an enemy to start running from you when its hp is low. Disintegrate can also be harmful if you use necromancy, but will only really matter when you fight a necromancer otherwise because a pile of ash can't be risen. Deep freeze can actually be pretty good though since the paralysis can effect enemies who are immune to poisons. Also work on enchanting a lot because an enchantment on head, ring, necklace, and robe reducing spell cost by 25% adds up to free spells. I like to use the Extra Effect perk to do both destruction and restoration, so I use magicka solely for mage armor spells at the start of a fight and get free damage, wards, and heals.

Well destruction spells shouldn't increase in damage based on magicka, just as any spell doesn't..as well as any weapon, it doesn't increase it's damage if you increase your stamina or health.

As you achieve higher levels, you will also get more damaging spells, and you can also cast these spells relatively magicka-free, if you level up enchantment, which you should.

Having spell damage increase with magicka pool is just overkill if you ask me, it would've been Ok to have that, if your magicka pool was low, and spells have high cost, but if you already have enchanted gear to reduce cost, makes things even.

As a warrior the main way to boost my weapons damage are with either, blacksmithing, potions, enchanting, and certain shouts, at level 41 im standing around 320 stamina without stamina enchanted gear, besides I'm an orc, the racial greater power combined with elemental weapon and dual weilding, I'm pretty much able to kill a grounded legendary dragon on expert difficulty with deadly dragons, in less than 5 sec (otherwise I'd be dead cause that dragon hits hard), imagine if my damage would get boosted the more stamina I had, I'd be god.

[LordAziki]

Originally posted by constantinmarius76:

Originally posted by LordAziki:

The problem I have with destruction is the damage doesn't scale as your scale increases, it just reduces spell costs. I have been using a mod called "Destruction Spells scale with Magicka" by Peachy to make it more viable. I also suggest avoiding the Intense Flames perk because it can be annoying for an enemy to start running from you when its hp is low. Disintegrate can also be harmful if you use necromancy, but will only really matter when you fight a necromancer otherwise because a pile of ash can't be risen. Deep freeze can actually be pretty good though since the paralysis can effect enemies who are immune to poisons. Also work on enchanting a lot because an enchantment on head, ring, necklace, and robe reducing spell cost by 25% adds up to free spells. I like to use the Extra Effect perk to do both destruction and restoration, so I use magicka solely for mage armor spells at the start of a fight and get free damage, wards, and heals.

Well destruction spells shouldn't increase in damage based on magicka, just as any spell doesn't..as well as any weapon, it doesn't increase it's damage if you increase your stamina or health.

As you achieve higher levels, you will also get more damaging spells, and you can also cast these spells relatively magicka-free, if you level up enchantment, which you should.

Having spell damage increase with magicka pool is just overkill if you ask me, it would've been Ok to have that, if your magicka pool was low, and spells have high cost, but if you already have enchanted gear to reduce cost, makes things even.

As a warrior the main way to boost my weapons damage are with either, blacksmithing, potions, enchanting, and certain shouts, at level 41 im standing around 320 stamina without stamina enchanted gear, besides I'm an orc, the racial greater power combined with elemental weapon and dual weilding, I'm pretty much able to kill a grounded legendary dragon on expert difficulty with deadly dragons, in less than 5 sec (otherwise I'd be dead cause that dragon hits hard), imagine if my damage would get boosted the more stamina I had, I'd be god.

If you get perks to increase fire damage, drink a potion to increase destruction damage, and throw fireballs at a legendary dragon, it will take you a while to kill it. The master spells are a bit underwhelming, too. Fire storm does 100 damage to enemies in melee range and quickly loses damage over distance. Blizzard keeps damaging enemies in an area, but also damages allies and hurts the playing a little. Lightning storm does high damage in a beam and can kill powerful enemies pretty fast, but it isn't worth using if you dont have a lot of mana or spell cost reduction. All of the master spells also force you to stand still 3 seconds while you cast them before they can do anything. If you are staggered while casting, you will need to start over. With that mod, a legendary dragon still takes a few seconds to kill on legendary difficulty after the 3 seconds wait for lightning storm to start shooting a beam, and that is with every point dedicated to magicka. If you don't use any mods to improve destruction, you will find it falls behind every kind of weapon in both damage and convenience.

[Chicha]

Thanks everyone for your input, I'm learning a lot!

I will really focus a bit on enchanting - at this moment I only know about 2 spells.

The reason I asked my question in the first place, instead of restarting altogether, was exactly that I didn't want to do it. I'm at level 54 and I have done the 2 handed warrior > 1 handed + shield > dual wielding warrior up until now. All my points were distributed between magicka and health until now (before deciding on trying mage). I still haven't seen any legendary dragon (I think) but if I did at this point I'd be dead quite easily. Actually, yesterday I had to run away from a dragon (first time ever)...

Sigh....

[MR.Pancake007]

You have to use the command console

[MysticMalevolence]

You may have a problem training illusion, as it generally requires low-leveled enemies at a low level.
Also, it might be somewhat irritating to train conjuration if you are fighting strong enemies...

[Karax]

\

Originally posted by LordAziki:

Originally posted by constantinmarius76:

Well destruction spells shouldn't increase in damage based on magicka, just as any spell doesn't..as well as any weapon, it doesn't increase it's damage if you increase your stamina or health.

As you achieve higher levels, you will also get more damaging spells, and you can also cast these spells relatively magicka-free, if you level up enchantment, which you should.

Having spell damage increase with magicka pool is just overkill if you ask me, it would've been Ok to have that, if your magicka pool was low, and spells have high cost, but if you already have enchanted gear to reduce cost, makes things even.

As a warrior the main way to boost my weapons damage are with either, blacksmithing, potions, enchanting, and certain shouts, at level 41 im standing around 320 stamina without stamina enchanted gear, besides I'm an orc, the racial greater power combined with elemental weapon and dual weilding, I'm pretty much able to kill a grounded legendary dragon on expert difficulty with deadly dragons, in less than 5 sec (otherwise I'd be dead cause that dragon hits hard), imagine if my damage would get boosted the more stamina I had, I'd be god.

If you get perks to increase fire damage, drink a potion to increase destruction damage, and throw fireballs at a legendary dragon, it will take you a while to kill it. The master spells are a bit underwhelming, too. Fire storm does 100 damage to enemies in melee range and quickly loses damage over distance. Blizzard keeps damaging enemies in an area, but also damages allies and hurts the playing a little. Lightning storm does high damage in a beam and can kill powerful enemies pretty fast, but it isn't worth using if you dont have a lot of mana or spell cost reduction. All of the master spells also force you to stand still 3 seconds while you cast them before they can do anything. If you are staggered while casting, you will need to start over. With that mod, a legendary dragon still takes a few seconds to kill on legendary difficulty after the 3 seconds wait for lightning storm to start shooting a beam, and that is with every point dedicated to magicka. If you don't use any mods to improve destruction, you will find it falls behind every kind of weapon in both damage and convenience.

Everything you say is true but you are looking at this matter from a wrong angle.

Don't forget each class has its advantages as well as disadvantages.

Every point you listed up there is valid, but it is completely wrong to say that magic falls behind behind every kind of weapon.

So far I've played skyrim as a warrior a thief, and a mage, I have to admit, I played more of an assassin sort of class, more than 80% of my time playing the game, but I'm acquinted with every class.

As an assassin, I can pretty much insta kill every target, except for dragons, but only 1 at a time, and with good position, more or less, however if I break my stealth, and don't recover it back, I'm ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Warriors do great on one on one, but as enemies bunch up togheter, it'll be tougher, and if there are archers flanking as well, it's even harder, but if the enemy has mages as well, im really screw'd.

Now I'm playing a mix betwen stealth and warrior..having dual-flurry, light armor equip, being a vampire as well, I can do quite well in fights, and also have good maneuverability, I can 1 shot enemies easily, it's in fact way to easy, so if I happen to be discovered, I won't go in the shadows again (although I can go back stealth really easily), I just stand up and kill enemies quickly, but as malleable as my character is to many situations, it still is really tough to play, especially if the enemy has mages which are a pain in the ass, most enemies I can handle well, but there are also, sometimes, some npcs that have an absurd ammount of health..or armor not sure, it's like fighting a boss, even with elemental fury shout, If i'm not completely focused on that enemy, it will kill me.

And with all the other enemies around, arrows flying at me, fireballs blowing up my face, it's really easy to die, no matter the weapon.

In those moments, mages really shine, with their aoe spells at low cost, breaking up enemy lines with fear...all I gotta do is select either fire/frost/lightning cloak, and then either fear enemies(if there too many), or chain lighning/any aoe spell would do, just point and click, I don't have to run left or right, jump up and down.

So what I'm saying, everything is situational, mage-class is really great at clearing large groups of tough enemies.