So like the title says, I am doing my first mage playthrough. Now I have done BattleMages in the past but I have never done a full on dedicated mage. Any tips for a noob? (i have put in hundereds of hours into Skyrim so using specific named items will be understood and there are no spoilers at this point) Just looking for some advice and feedback on strats

Lets see. Advice for a newbie mage....

Never cast lightning spells while swimming.

Keep flame spells away from draqes and rugs.

Using frost spells to chill your drink results in frozen drinks.

Using Invisibility to sneak into the female dorm is not a good idea. Especially if any of them are well versed in detection magic.

Make sure you have plenty of magicka before using Telekinesis to pass the salt.

Restoration spells won't fix male pattern baldness.

Conjuring food directly into your stomach only works for the duration of the spell. It also causes gas.

Putting a mild shock enchantment on a doorknob is not very nice.

I believe that about covers it. Although you may also want to keep in mind that Necromage is an incredibly handy thing to have. You can also use Circle of Protection to train restoration, either on yourself or on a certain someone in Solitude.

I play as a mage and this is what I do.

I get the double cast perk in destruction.

If a monster is using fire spells I use ice spells or if ice spells I use fire spells to attack. I use flames when they're using shock spells or summon a weapon before they empty my mana.

I put points in conjuration for when the monster casts silence I can cast a weapon spell. Plus I can fill soul gems with my casted weapon.

I always use ice spells on giants because I don't want them to run.

I only use electric spells as a last resort because I don't pick the perks to increase it's damage until I've filled other perks that I want. I get both levels of increase damage perks for fire and ice.

I use flames and frost spells a lot and only get 1 ranged fire spell for the soul caruin in dawnguard. If I want to use ranged spells I'll summon a ranged creature (they never miss their target). On conjuration I ignore the perks for summoned creatures and undead. I'll go up to adapt to cast summon bow and fill soul gems on the weapon.

I run backwards a lot but stay in battle mode until my spell points regen. I use anything in the area to duck behind and stay out of reach when ever possible. The best way to use the flames spell is with quick bursts. You want to catch them on fire.

I always carry a pickaxe for mining and when my mana runs out I have a weapon. I was able to get the mask that gives you 100% resistance to disease and poison at level 9 by using every trap in the dungeon against the creatures and closing gates behind me as I ran away waiting for my mana to regen. Got 2 nice ebony weapons too and I haven't started up dragons in my game yet.

For your race on the first playthrough, I would go with an Altmer because of the early bonus to magicka. I recommend picking 2 of the 3 offensive schools- destruction, conjuration and illusion- to start with, and 1 of the 2 defensive schools- alteration and restoration- to focus on early, and increase enchanting and the other schools later. Join the College of Winterhold early, and keep checking the instructors inventories to buy better robes and hoods as you level up. For stats, you can just push magicka, magicka, magicka, or you can throw in a little health alongside.

For perks, first get your three novice perks. Illusion absolutely requires dual-casting before long, so get that next (if you picked Illusion, of course). As you level up, it will be pretty obvious which additional perks you need most urgently.

The mind control spells of illusion can be real battle changers - but they require some significant attention and effort to become and remain effective. This means fully perking that portion of the illusion tree and routinely dual casting - both these things will allow the spells to effect higher level foes.

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