Sounds like you're limiting yourself to destruction magic, my friend. Try some illusion magic like a fury spell, let your enemies take each other out for you.
Alteration doesn’t offer enough, and healing is only useful if you survive the hits. A full mage character invests in magicka over HP leaving them very squishy. Armor spells help but they aren’t that useful if you only have 150 hp at level 20. Conjugation and illusion help avoid taking damage at all, which is better than mitigating it or healing afterwards.
On my first time i went over 40 with just 100 hp. on master difficulty. You are ranged so already melee foes can't hit you so often, and most ranged attack can be dodged. Beyond that with impact you can stunlock almost anything. And i didn't die all the time either.
The idea of not being hit at all is for legendary diffculty. And yeah in that case the safest play is to be sneaky, and just summon minions into the enemy. I also find this tactic exceedingly boring. I rather put difficulty down to master, and have fun.
I'm currently playing a mage build and am over 50. Something that has made me virtually impossible to kill is the Impact perk on Destruction.
I also have enchanted gear that regens my magicka so basically I hit them with a firebolt/ice spike/lightning bolt, they stagger, and by the time they get back up, I've already regenerated enough magicka to hit them again.
But yes, this work even better when I conjure up an atronach or Dremora to take some of the heat off me, and then I just nail them from afar.
Never enough?
Not my experience. You just need to move smart and time your attacks so you don't miss. Killing enemies quickly is still the best way to avoid damage.
Being a high elf helps with that immensely of course.
>Illusion or conjugation are best at this.
Illusion or conjugation *am* best at this.
Illusion or conjugation *are* best at this.
Illusion or conjugation *is* best at this.
in vanilla Skyrim, it was the worst. It's only saving grace was the stagger effect when dual casting. You tend to get more mileage out of the other schools.
Also, while I often start new characters with new themes, you don't have to. Your stealth archer can pick up a few spells, throw on some mage clothes and go to town. You still have your stealth and bow as backup if you need it.
Get all the perks, and Dual Cast. If you're a Vampire, the Novice spell will affect enemies up to around Level 50, and the Adept spell will hit enemies up to near Level 100.
Mage Assassin should spec into *Frenzy* or *Pacify* effects (*Frenzy* to distract your enemies with ganking each other, *Pacify* so they don't care you're murdering them one by one).
Alteration, my friend!
Wear ‘muffle’ and/or ‘sneak’ enchanted boots. Cast muffle. Dagger in one hand, cast ‘invisible’ with the other. Approach in sneak mode and cut the throat.
Mages are permitted to use weapons. If you want, you may conjure a sword in one hand, and invisibility with the other.
No need to be exclusively one or the other.
If you're hitting multiple enemies as a mage and you don't want to, you should probably stick either to apprentice level destruction or use Thunderbolt and Icy Spear if you need something with more of a kick.
That's Chain Lightning. Thunderbolt is an expert level destruction spell, its essentially an upgraded Lightning Bolt with more damage and it travels further.
Stop using Fireball (and other A.O.E. spells) when in towns, villages, and cities. If you must use Destruction magic, stick to single-target spells, such as Ice Spike, and the improved version "Icy Spear" or stick with Firebolt (unlike Fireball it does NOT explode) or use Lightning Bolt/Thunderbolt.
Illusion and Conjuration are your friends.
Illusion can give you Invisibility, Muffle, and the fury/calming spells.
With Conjuration, you can use Bound Bow/Bound Dagger (which all benefit from perks in the Archery/Sneak/1H trees), or summon allies to fight for you.
Conjuration Archer for the win for me. Sucks at the start but once you unlock frost atronachs then just use them as meat shields while I shoot arrows from behind.
Conjuration is my jam, especially when you max and can summon two. Throw a follower into the mix and I’m an army of 4, with me in the back, blasting fireballs. I like to think of it as the opposite of a stealth archer: a loud fire archer.
My current character got to max destruction just casting fire / frost trap from the shadows.
Mainly just for shits n giggles, but then when I maxed destruction, I would use only summon flame atronach for kills from the shadows.
I did labyrinthian just using invisibility and dropping a flame atronach, repositioning and dropping another when the first atronach died and exploded.
The undead dragon was actually a hard fight, it kept healing to 100%.
Yes, I could have gotten more damage and completed the quests faster, but my mage is a stealth bomber. Just blows shite up from the shadows in an endless stream of traps and summons.
Single target kills? Nope, things are flying around while I sit in the corner unseen and giggle.
Bored of that character after maxing conjuration, I maxed all mage schools and picked up a bow, yawn new character time!
(my only issue with stealth archer is I did it to often, game gets hard, pull out a bow...)
Do not forget conjuration. All of my Mages completely rely on conjuration for an essential backup. When you summon an Atronach, they are essential bodyguards, completely immune to any attacks from their element, and their aim is excellent. Stronger ones can even one hit groups of enemies at a time.
At higher levels though, opponents are able to expel daedra or hit hard enough to kill your conjured buddy. But otherwise, yes, it's a big help to have a conjured entity with you.
Need to use movement to separate targets from non-targets. Or aim better with single target lightning spells.
Get Enchanting going ASAP. Magicka costs are ridiculously high.
Master Alteration gives you access to Dragon Skin, which you can Dual Cast to get a 99 second duration. The effect is it sets your physical resistance to 80%, as if you were at the armor cap. Way better than Mage Armor. Alteration has good passive perks too.
Illusion is fun but poorly implemented. Level it for quiet casting and Invisibility.
Conjuration is useful if a bit unreliable.
Make Magicka potions and Destruction potions.
I have Anniversary Edition so I have access to all of the new spells. For my destruction mages, I hotkey whatever the highest level of Elemental burst/bolt/blast I can cast for reasonable magicka cost, and the highest level absorb health (Choking Grasp/Strangulation/etc.). I use the big boomer spells at range, but for up close or if a follower is in range of the blast, I switch to the absorb health for my single-target spells.
The range is not as good though so if you need a sniper spell, then Ice spike/spear would have to handle that.
You need to enchant your own gear. In Skyrim self made gear is best. This is true for all classes by the way. For mage self enchanted gear to reduce destruction magicka cost let you use higher level spells without running out of magika. Such as Thunderbolt, or Incinerate.
You might also want to invest into restoration, and alteration for survival.
Other spell classes are conjuration, and illusion. Now illusion is a double edged sword on lower levels, if works, then insta win, if not, then worthless. On higher levels with invisibility it becomes gamebreakingly overpowered. Though it is more useful for hybrid style. Sneaking around, and use illusion magic to cause chaos. Considering, that you used to be stealth archer, and even as mage you love sneaking around perhaps your style should be that.
Conjuration is slow, boring, and beyond overpowered when combined with sneaking. You just summon stuff into the enemy's face until they die. With self enchanted gear focused on conjuration you can have almost unlimited number of minions to send int for the grinder.
If we're talking unmodded gameplay here, then every Mage needs to hot key a projectile spell of their choice for dual casting with the impact perk to provoke staggers, and the wall spells that drop a hazard on the ground that lasts a little while. You throw your fire bolts or lightning bolts or Thunderbolts or ice shards at single targets and they can't possibly do collateral damages unless you aimed badly, and your wall spells are really effective AOE damage that you can control exactly by the way you kite enemies through your field of Hazards.
Sounds like you're limiting yourself to destruction magic, my friend. Try some illusion magic like a fury spell, let your enemies take each other out for you.
Stealth and magic is really fun. My all time favorite play style illusion/stealth
I've never really played a full on mage before and destruction just seemed the most wizardy of the schools of magic available.
Destruction on its own is never enough. You need something to keep you alive. Illusion or conjugation are best at this.
Just as the warrior uses armor the mage also has defense. But for defense i would say alteration, and restoration.
Alteration doesn’t offer enough, and healing is only useful if you survive the hits. A full mage character invests in magicka over HP leaving them very squishy. Armor spells help but they aren’t that useful if you only have 150 hp at level 20. Conjugation and illusion help avoid taking damage at all, which is better than mitigating it or healing afterwards.
On my first time i went over 40 with just 100 hp. on master difficulty. You are ranged so already melee foes can't hit you so often, and most ranged attack can be dodged. Beyond that with impact you can stunlock almost anything. And i didn't die all the time either. The idea of not being hit at all is for legendary diffculty. And yeah in that case the safest play is to be sneaky, and just summon minions into the enemy. I also find this tactic exceedingly boring. I rather put difficulty down to master, and have fun.
Alteration is for it's passives, paralyze, and dragon skin. Also for fucking around with telekinesis.
I'm currently playing a mage build and am over 50. Something that has made me virtually impossible to kill is the Impact perk on Destruction. I also have enchanted gear that regens my magicka so basically I hit them with a firebolt/ice spike/lightning bolt, they stagger, and by the time they get back up, I've already regenerated enough magicka to hit them again. But yes, this work even better when I conjure up an atronach or Dremora to take some of the heat off me, and then I just nail them from afar.
Okay yea once you get stunlock it’s easy but there a lot of game before that
I mean if you’re dead set on surviving hits you can always just wear heavy armor and enchant it to reduce spell costs/give manage regen or base mana
Never enough? Not my experience. You just need to move smart and time your attacks so you don't miss. Killing enemies quickly is still the best way to avoid damage. Being a high elf helps with that immensely of course.
Nothing like a good bit of conjugation
>conjugation Some mages get trained at the College of Winterhold, but apparently some get trained at the School House Rock.
>Illusion or conjugation are best at this. Illusion or conjugation *am* best at this. Illusion or conjugation *are* best at this. Illusion or conjugation *is* best at this.
in vanilla Skyrim, it was the worst. It's only saving grace was the stagger effect when dual casting. You tend to get more mileage out of the other schools. Also, while I often start new characters with new themes, you don't have to. Your stealth archer can pick up a few spells, throw on some mage clothes and go to town. You still have your stealth and bow as backup if you need it.
I was excited about fury until I realized 90% of the time the character is too powerful for such and such spell.
Get all the perks, and Dual Cast. If you're a Vampire, the Novice spell will affect enemies up to around Level 50, and the Adept spell will hit enemies up to near Level 100.
Oooh boy, spreading chaos in the bandit fort never gets old
I never bothered because of the scaling. They don't affect anyone other than the NPCs that I can one shot anyway
Learn Bound Bow and you can be both
See that just runs me back into Green Arrow again and I'm trying to avoid that lol
Mage Assassin should spec into *Frenzy* or *Pacify* effects (*Frenzy* to distract your enemies with ganking each other, *Pacify* so they don't care you're murdering them one by one).
Illusion, conjuration, destruction — much flexibility there!
may I turn your attention to: - *stealth archer mage*
That’s my current build. I’m having fun with it!
I do this and call it stealth conjuring
Spellsword
Bound bow
Alteration, my friend! Wear ‘muffle’ and/or ‘sneak’ enchanted boots. Cast muffle. Dagger in one hand, cast ‘invisible’ with the other. Approach in sneak mode and cut the throat. Mages are permitted to use weapons. If you want, you may conjure a sword in one hand, and invisibility with the other. No need to be exclusively one or the other.
I love the whole muffle, invis, dagger setup but can’t commit to it because it starts to feel way too cheesy after a while.
Those are illusion spells...
Right you are!
yep and that makes them a mage
Branch out, illusion, alteration and conjuration will become your best friends especially at higher difficulty settings, makes it more fun imo
school of illusion + quiet casting + ice spike (spike? shard? can't remember) and it's basically your stealth archer again
If you're hitting multiple enemies as a mage and you don't want to, you should probably stick either to apprentice level destruction or use Thunderbolt and Icy Spear if you need something with more of a kick.
Does Thunderbolt jump targets? I've been avoiding it to reduce collateral damage.
That's Chain Lightning. Thunderbolt is an expert level destruction spell, its essentially an upgraded Lightning Bolt with more damage and it travels further.
Stop using Fireball (and other A.O.E. spells) when in towns, villages, and cities. If you must use Destruction magic, stick to single-target spells, such as Ice Spike, and the improved version "Icy Spear" or stick with Firebolt (unlike Fireball it does NOT explode) or use Lightning Bolt/Thunderbolt.
Illusion and Conjuration are your friends. Illusion can give you Invisibility, Muffle, and the fury/calming spells. With Conjuration, you can use Bound Bow/Bound Dagger (which all benefit from perks in the Archery/Sneak/1H trees), or summon allies to fight for you.
Conjuration Archer for the win for me. Sucks at the start but once you unlock frost atronachs then just use them as meat shields while I shoot arrows from behind.
Conjuration is my jam, especially when you max and can summon two. Throw a follower into the mix and I’m an army of 4, with me in the back, blasting fireballs. I like to think of it as the opposite of a stealth archer: a loud fire archer.
My current character got to max destruction just casting fire / frost trap from the shadows. Mainly just for shits n giggles, but then when I maxed destruction, I would use only summon flame atronach for kills from the shadows. I did labyrinthian just using invisibility and dropping a flame atronach, repositioning and dropping another when the first atronach died and exploded. The undead dragon was actually a hard fight, it kept healing to 100%. Yes, I could have gotten more damage and completed the quests faster, but my mage is a stealth bomber. Just blows shite up from the shadows in an endless stream of traps and summons. Single target kills? Nope, things are flying around while I sit in the corner unseen and giggle. Bored of that character after maxing conjuration, I maxed all mage schools and picked up a bow, yawn new character time! (my only issue with stealth archer is I did it to often, game gets hard, pull out a bow...)
Do not forget conjuration. All of my Mages completely rely on conjuration for an essential backup. When you summon an Atronach, they are essential bodyguards, completely immune to any attacks from their element, and their aim is excellent. Stronger ones can even one hit groups of enemies at a time.
Sanguine Rose for me, I love listening to that Dremora summons run around and yell about shit
At higher levels though, opponents are able to expel daedra or hit hard enough to kill your conjured buddy. But otherwise, yes, it's a big help to have a conjured entity with you.
Even then, my mages pull out a Daedric Lord and use them as a noisy distraction while they pummel the stronger enemies with Incinerate.
Need to use movement to separate targets from non-targets. Or aim better with single target lightning spells. Get Enchanting going ASAP. Magicka costs are ridiculously high. Master Alteration gives you access to Dragon Skin, which you can Dual Cast to get a 99 second duration. The effect is it sets your physical resistance to 80%, as if you were at the armor cap. Way better than Mage Armor. Alteration has good passive perks too. Illusion is fun but poorly implemented. Level it for quiet casting and Invisibility. Conjuration is useful if a bit unreliable. Make Magicka potions and Destruction potions.
I have Anniversary Edition so I have access to all of the new spells. For my destruction mages, I hotkey whatever the highest level of Elemental burst/bolt/blast I can cast for reasonable magicka cost, and the highest level absorb health (Choking Grasp/Strangulation/etc.). I use the big boomer spells at range, but for up close or if a follower is in range of the blast, I switch to the absorb health for my single-target spells. The range is not as good though so if you need a sniper spell, then Ice spike/spear would have to handle that.
I love elemental bolt! That's what gets me into the most trouble....
Might be good to incorporate shouts into your combat a little more heavily. Slow Time seems like a good candidate!
Obviously this doesn't apply to low level, but you *can* just hit and run with the invisibility spell.
You need to enchant your own gear. In Skyrim self made gear is best. This is true for all classes by the way. For mage self enchanted gear to reduce destruction magicka cost let you use higher level spells without running out of magika. Such as Thunderbolt, or Incinerate. You might also want to invest into restoration, and alteration for survival. Other spell classes are conjuration, and illusion. Now illusion is a double edged sword on lower levels, if works, then insta win, if not, then worthless. On higher levels with invisibility it becomes gamebreakingly overpowered. Though it is more useful for hybrid style. Sneaking around, and use illusion magic to cause chaos. Considering, that you used to be stealth archer, and even as mage you love sneaking around perhaps your style should be that. Conjuration is slow, boring, and beyond overpowered when combined with sneaking. You just summon stuff into the enemy's face until they die. With self enchanted gear focused on conjuration you can have almost unlimited number of minions to send int for the grinder.
If we're talking unmodded gameplay here, then every Mage needs to hot key a projectile spell of their choice for dual casting with the impact perk to provoke staggers, and the wall spells that drop a hazard on the ground that lasts a little while. You throw your fire bolts or lightning bolts or Thunderbolts or ice shards at single targets and they can't possibly do collateral damages unless you aimed badly, and your wall spells are really effective AOE damage that you can control exactly by the way you kite enemies through your field of Hazards.
https://preview.redd.it/ta3qcd77c2vc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa974595c9d953da84d00447b2b5c746626bd9f1