Skyrim: What type of mage should i build?

[Osama Bin Lovin']

Hey. I want to build a mage but i dont know what i should build. I know there are plenty of different mages like warlocks, necromancers, spellswords, battlemages, archmages etc. I want to know what you guys think would be a fun build to play. I have never played a mage before but it sounded fun. The only thing i dont want is just a flat out destro mage with robes. i want something maybe out of the ordinary... anyways! Please tell me your builds and which mage build was your favorite. If there is any lore involved i would be glad to read that too.
Thanks :)

[di eshor ribly]

Illusionist is a popular off-brand mage these days, but the most off the wall, unusual, crazy mage I ever played used nothing but Wabbajack, Fear/Courage/Calm, and a wooden sword (replace with combat option of your choice.)

[Gralzeim]

If you're not opposed to mods, I'd highly recommend the Apocalypse spell mod. It adds over a hundred spells, including many non-Destruction spells, adding damaging spells to every school, as well as utility spells (teleport, teleswap, other spells suited for melee or assassin types, etc). Does not require SKSE. They're also nicely balanced, nothing that I've found that feels overpowered (the really powerful stuff is balanced by mana cost, or cooldown, or scroll-only, or some other side effect).

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16225/?

It can greatly expand your options for what type of spellcaster you wish to play.

[Shelt]

I have a lvl 71 generalist mage with expert to master perks for all schools, plus enchanting and some alchemy. I did Destruction and Alteration first, however. They reached 100 in no time.

Regardless of what you do, you'll want to read the perks closely and take full advantage of the defensive perk slots in alteration, restoration, and the silent casting perk in illusion.

[Shelt]

All of the destruction types are very useful by the way. Different enemies have different counters. Humanoid enemies, even nord bandits, which rush at you for melee fighting, are helpless against strong frost magic. Casting ice storm in one hand and icy spear at the same time for example is a devestating combo against melee fighters. The spear travels faster, stuns and slows them while the storm lumbers over them for massive slow and damage. Casted repeatedly at the same time, a head on rush at your mage is pretty impossible.

Fire is of course good for enemies specifically designed to take little or no damage against cold. Vampires in particular are especially fun to incinerate.

Shock is your sniper ability to pick off ranged aggressors, and is much better than a bow since it travels instantly to its target. It's also the best for knocking dragons out of the sky.

Once you get paralyze, it becomes a trivial matter to clear most dungeons as draugr can't defend against it, even deathlords have zero resistance to it. Make them fall over with it, then use something like wall of flames to have a wiener roast on top of them.

[Skyrimnut]

I've played a bunch of mages but my favorite is the good ol' bash 'n fry. Shield mage. Bash with shield, then melt their faces off, or conversely, freeze or shock their faces off. It's not a subtle mage, and it just consists of 4 basic skills; block, destruction, alteration, and restoration. I usually grab the atronach stone or that plus the lord stone with the Aetherial crown and you become a magic tank. Weapons are optional. You can still mess with Conjuration and Illusion if you want as the basic skillset is extremely low. No enchanting, smithing, or alchemy are necessary as there is plenty of equipment that fits the build well. Shield charge never gets old, and with Spellbreaker with Restoration's ward absorb, you're nearly invinsible.

[BelphegorATS]

One of my favorite mage builds has always been the battlemage since it combines magic and combat together to create a class that overcomes several shortcomings that would normally hinder a mage's development regarding how to function in battle. Pure mages are also good as they use all five of the magic schools for variety and maybe Enchanting as well if they want to put enchantments on their robes to increase the amount of magicka they have or how fast it can regenerate in addition to other magic related enchantments that can be applied on jewelry too.

You could also create a class that's unique since the ideas behind it haven't been fully explored in other RPGs or not explored just yet, plus you can look to other RPGs. I'll give two examples by going over a couple of my own mage-styled characters briefly.

One of them is an interesting build I like to call the Necro-Knight; what makes this build unique is that the class isn't just a heavily armored necromancer, but is a knight and ranger/assassin as well. In other words, this build blends skills from each of the main specializations (combat, magic, and stealth) into a class that's unique because it feels like a new concept that hasn't been present in other RPGs since the main focus in those games involved common classes.

Another mage build I made is based on a class from the Fire Emblem series. It's known as the Mage Knight, a class similar to the battlemage. Mage Knights in Fire Emblem rode horses and wielded Anima tomes with swords or staves depending on the installment. The build in Skyrim relies on supportive magic such as Alteration and Restoration and mainly swords for offense.

It doesn't really matter too much what kind of mage build you want since Skyrim doesn't place restrictions on how you want to play. You could play as one of the common builds, or create a unique build that's either based on something else or completely original.

[the green bastard]

with the apocalypse spell mod i am working on a few new mage nbuilds. one is the shadow priest, it focuses on restoration and illusion, it holds a heal in one hand and the necroplague spell in the other, and i fear and fury mobs and packs, and im sure i can think up a single target damage idea to fit the theme for this class.

also, the death knight, frost destruction tree, one handed, heavy armor, and undead conjuration. keep the most powerful frost spell in your off hand and slay ♥♥♥♥ with the other. raise draugrs like a typical death knight would.

shaman build, use the 4 spirit wolves summon from the apoclaypse mod, use a lightning offhand, light armor, and a hamer main hand, you can use a storm atronach later on, alteration doesnt hurt for this tree either, especially lorewise, and with the apocalypse mod you can specialize on your element of choice, using nature inspired destruction spells, like volcano.

[Eat Mor Sandvich]

Whatever mage you decide to go with check out a mod on nexus called Black Mage Armor. Lots of cool mage gear you can craft and it's all black. You also get an additional Black Archmage set once you become Archmage.

[Lapis]

Night blade - use a dager and stealth with the free hand any illusion spell of your choosing make them fight each other as you watch in the shadows and since your stealthy you can pick them off one by one as you watch your enemies tear ech other apart its loads of fun

[kdodds]

Resto, mace, like a DnD cleric. Heavy into Dawnguard play to get the best resto spells. No cutting or stabbing weapons. Only helpful spells/buffs, or anti-undead. Sort of a Paladin, heavy or light armor, your choice, but no deadric anything.

[Belanos]

I've always enjoyed playing as a Spellsword type in these games, I like that combination of melee and magic. And starting as a Breton, I get a particular advantage with Conjuration. It's very helpful being able to summon in an Atronach to help me and my companion out in battles. Sometimes I don't have to do much myself, my Atronach takes care of most the enemies for me.

[Carl!!!!]

I myself love being a necromancer, or a druid with a couple mods, or a mage archer (using bound bow). All of my characters, no matter what class type they are, nowadays all end up using muffle and the armor spells in alteration. Muffle to help with stealth, alteration for extra defenses, and to level it for the perks.

Paladins are fun as well. I tried it out once, using the paladin spell pack. The smite spells from it do decent damage to undead (half to everything else) and travel kinda slowly, so paired with heavy armor and a mace, it feels nice and brutish, and still kinda holy. XD

[Brandybuck]

"Pure" mages specialize in just one school of magic. Other schools are permissable, but the main school should always be at least 25 points higher if possible, and the pure mage never uses weapons or armor. (An exception is bound weapons for certain variants).

Pure Alteration Mage: A tough one, as you get plenty of defense but no offense or control until you get to lvl 75 Paralyze. Would probably have to combine this with staves make do until this.

Conjuration: A popular pure mage. Atronach and Necromancer specialties. Your summons fight for you, and you may use bound weapons if you're into the whole hack-n-slash thing.

Destruction: Also popular, but beware of being El Blasto the Stereotype. There are a of different spell types you can use to your advantage. Don't forget area spells, runes, walls, and cloaks. Don't forget to mix up elements depending on who you are fighting.

Illusion: Can be the most powerful build in the game. You're level 100 perk lets you affect everything in the game except dragons and some named foes. it's possible to play a pure pacifist, and use only fear and calm. Or with just a dagger, because the world's more feared assassin.

Restoration: You'll probably need a mace to back you up, but pure Restoration mages make great priests and clerics. Undead will flee your presence.

[MadCrusader]

I recommend a priest build. Little if any need for Conjuration and even less for Illusion. You’ll still want Alchemy and Enchanting, but you’ll mostly use Destruction, Restoration and Alteration.

[RequiemsRose]

Mages aren't my favorite builds, so I normally either do something ridiculous for the laughs or a hybrid build if im actually roleplaying with that character. If i am going for a "pure" mage, one that specializes in a specific school, i normally lean towards conjuration. Summons, bound weapons, and the delightful income boost of the banish enchantment are wonderfully appealing. Plus conjuration mages with bound weapon focuses are still pretty martial instead of the stereotypical squishy robed fireball chucker.

My most interesting build that technically speaking still counted as a mage might be my cannibal chef build. They were technically an alteration mage, since they wore the chef's outfit instead of armor the various alteration bonuses like mage armor, atronach, and magic resist proved to be very useful. At later levels, paralyze was an absolutely brutal staple of my arsenal...which was wonderful since this chef build was also running around with the weapon versions of the dinner knife and fork (enchanted at least) so im not exactly dealing massive amounts of damage but that matters less when they just have to sit there and wait for me to chip away their health.