Currently building my assassin archer and my stat's so far are
Health 140 stamina 170 Magika 100

I'm around level 12 and just need a little help on which to focus on? I want to use illusion spells eventually but don't know how much i should put into magika. Currently my main weapon is my bow with duel wield swords for close range. Little help?

IMO, anything into Magicka is a waste for an Assassin Archer. My Khajiit is an assassin archer, and magic is entirely unecessary - especially Illusion. Sneak, Marksman, Pickpocket, One Handed and Light Armor are your friends. If you want to go into magic, Enchanting is your best bet by far - no need to upgrade Magicka for that.

Witch! Archers do not delve into the black arts.

To answer your question I think you might be spreading a little too thin - bows, daggers and illusion. It can work as long as you don't go for many non-combat abilities.

I built mine with health until I hit 250hp. You wont really be using magic or stamina til you have enough skill points to use speciaal abilities (Like slow zoom). And you'll need the hp for boss fights. Gives you enough time to use potions... Just my opinion tho.

You want to blow yourself up? That's what magic does to you, right?

Depends how much on the illusion tree you are gonna be dependent on.
I'd suggest to go 2:1:1 if you arent gonna use illusion spells that much. HP: STAM: Mag

Thanks a lot guys, think i'll bump up my Health for now. So I won't really need any more magika for illusion spells?

well you need 150 magicka to get to winterhold thats why i "wasted" two levels on magicka (((

magic can also do your assassin some good depending on how you play - alteration enables you to increase your armor, detect enemies and paralyze spell....

but then again you can fully focus on sneak, one hand and alchemy...that brings you a long way thats what i do right now (with some slight exploring into alteration, enchanting and smithing...but hey, nobodies perfect

one thing i would think about is if you want to play an archer - then focus on shooting or an assassin...i play the later and never used the bow...my archery gained i think 2 or 3 points, im now lvl 13 and my sneak gained nearly 50 points, my onehanded about 15-20 points - the problem is one handed and archery gain very slowly points as an assassin (cause you strike less often but cause more damage) - so i guess the focus on just one damage skill is the more important...

but then again - the game is supposed to be fun and can be played in any way so do what makes you squicky happy

only illusion spell interesting is muffle and the only time when you can take SOME use from it is with sneak below 30...above that its not really worht it if youre patient...if you want to use magic i'd rather go into alteration for the metioned reasons (+armor is really helpful for times where you can not sneak attack)

What Illusion spells were you planning on using?

You know I don't really know, i just heard it's good for an assassin type character

Helping yourself with invisibilty makes the game trivial you can sneak in the middle of the day infront of someone, and you can restealth just by casting it again.

I think the same! I never used any magic. Not because I don't like it, but because I killed everyone from long distance - just natural - you see it and you kill it. Also, I can't equip both bow and a spell, and I find bow more important for me.

haven't you got to go deep in the illusion tree for this though as isn't invisibility an expert spell?

You could use the 100% cast cost reduction through enchanting if you're only going to be using Illusion (4 wearable items with 25% illusion reduction). That way you can cast as much as you like and never have to upgrade your magicka...

That said, I use an Illusionist Archer myself, and if you want to use illusion effectively from the start rather than waiting, you will probably need to increase magicka (but about enough to cast two spells in a row). Here's how my build works:

Main Skills - Sneak, Archery, Illusion
Secondary - Alchemy, Alteration
Stat Distribution: 20% Magicka, 50% Health, 30% Stamina

I use illusion purely for the fun of the rage spells, but due to the way Skyrim enemies level I have to prioritise it if I want to use it - have to be able to get the perks/spells to affect higher level creatures so have to start levelling it early on. Main tactics are to disrupt groups by getting them to fight each other, and then take out the survivors after/during their battle with arrows from stealth. I don't use blades at all, so I use stealth and invisibility spells to avoid close combat, so no need for armour skills either. Stamina is higher than magicka purely because I use it more for zooming and sprinting out of trouble - only cast a couple of spells at a time so no need for a last pool, plus alchemy means I'm stocked up on loads of potions.

Also, if you're worried about levelling archery slowly, don't forget the Faendal exploit - if he's your companion you can use him to train archery and then just take your money back. :laugh:

Then don't bother. An assassin does not want, nor needs, magic. The only vaguely sensible one IMO would be Restoration, for recovering in between sections of dungeon or giving you extra armor if detection is unavoidable. You are an assassin - you have to stay hidden to achieve your goal. Magic provides no stealth bonus's that you do not receive otherwise (Muffle, the most useful spell for a thief, is enchanted onto armor in both Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood sets), and you get no stealth multiplier for using it when undetected.

Sneak should be your priority. After that, look into your weapon of choice - Marksman (like myself), or One-Handed. Pickpocket, Lockpicking, Light Armor, Alchemy, Enchantment, and Smithing are other areas that character will want to delve into, but Sneak/Method of Combat should be your absolute priority.

Invisibility is your friend as a stealthy character. There are times when you won't be able to sneak past enemies (wel lit rooms) and invisibility allows you to get past. If you are caught off guard, use invisibility to get back to stealth. If I didn't have an invisibility potion I wouldn't have been able to finish the Azura quest chain for instance.
Muffle also has it uses until you get a certain perk in the Sneak tree.

The rest of the Illusion spells are mostly for crowd control, which you won't need if you play your stealth character properly.

As for stat distribution, I'm mainly dumping into Magicka at the moment as Stamina is just pointless (never use power attacks) and more health is mostly wasted as well.

Why perk Illusion at all? An archer doesn't need magic to excel in Skyrim since every enemy should be dead before they even know you're there. I perked Archery, sneak, light armor, Alchemy, and plan to dabble in smithing, enchanting, and one-hand.

Boosting your magicka so you can utilize just one magic school is inefficient. I wouldn't level all 3 stats since you'd be spreading yourself thin. Focus on Stamina, with some health.

Illusion for an assassin? Lame... thats what SNEAK is for