Hello again citizens of Cyrodil. Today I would like to do a mini-guide focusing on things in the game that I feel are missed, under-appreciated, over-looked, or otherwise off the beaten path. This is of course subject to opinion, and I dont have a formula for what qualifies as unorthodox, so take this with a grain of salt. Use whatever you find helpful, and feel free to contribute anything you feel is a little different.

SUBJECTS COVERED:
1) The Atronach
2) The Glass Cannon (Altmer-Apprentice)
3) Luck
4) Melee Stealth
5) A diferent take on the "Mystic Archer Hybrid"
6) Alchemy
7) Bartering
8) Conjuration+Restoration (provided by Salvian)

THE ATRONACH
Yes by now a lot of us have at least tried the Atronach Sign. However I include for the fact that many players never give it a look, because they dont understand how it works.
The Atronach makes it so that your character has a 50-50 chance at absorbing enemy magic attacks into your own magicka bar. The trade off is that your magicka is stunted meaning it does not naturally regenerate. You also receive a 150 bonus to your total magicka bar.
+Excellent for Warrior Types, because you dont rely on magicka. The Stunt weakness doesnt change your play, you can simply enjoy having an extra 150 total and the defensive perks of absorbing half of the enemy magical attacks.
+Excellent for Altmer because the absorption works to negate their elemental weakness. This combo also gives you the highest possible Magicka in the game.
-Early in game it is difficult to find enemies to absorb magicka from.
-Sometimes you will absorb positive effects from wells and chapels.
+/- 100% spell absorption makes you immune to all enemy spells. This is part of creating a "Godlike" character, but some find this to be too unchallenging.

THE GLASS CANNON (Altmer+Apprentice)
A lot people are deterred by a 125% weakness to elemental magic. However I want to point out that the weakness can be negated later in the game, and as few enemies early on attack with magic early. This is a very manageable and fun character to play with. I think more people should give it a try.

LUCK
Just quickly de-mystifying the Luck attribute. What it does is give you a hidden bonus to all 21 skills, that bonus is at 0 when your luck is at 50. As you add to your luck attribute you get a bigger hidden bonus. You also get better chances at winning when you gamble at the arena. Luck works best early on and is negated later in the game as skills near 100.

MELEE STEALTH
Most stealth characters I read about on the boards are Archers. I think its worth pointing out that single handed weapons get a *4 or *6 bonus when archery gets a *2 or *3 bonus. Just pointing that out because I feel it gets lost.

MYSTIC ARCHER, A NEW SPIN
Most mystic archers I read on the boards are Bosmer with Magical attributes. I would suggest an Altmer Apprentice with stealth attributes because they can use Illusion and Conjuration and playing at a distance makes since. Its just a Mystic Archer that emphasis the Mystic element over the Archer element.

ALCHEMY
A lot of people use alchemy just for Restoring health and Magicka, worse yet others totally skip over this awesome skill. Alchemy has a potion or poison for any situation, it can do most of the effects offered by other skills in the game. For example stack Fortify Strength to temporarily turn your mage into a tank. Experiment with all that Alchemy has to offer, and it is the best skill in the game. I once created a gimp character that I leveled up on Alchemy and speech-craft alone. The alchemy kept this character alive even at later levels because the alchemy could be used like steroids to make my character temporary super human.

BARTERING
Another skill and function that I think is under-appreciated and sometimes goes without being used. Bartering is brilliant when used in conjunction with SPeechcraft and Charm spells. You can take some merchants down to 120/80 and better. When your buying spells this can take 100's of dollars off the price of spells early in the game. The Merchantile skill levels slowly which means it wont hurt your leveling, and it remains useful throughout the whole game.

CONJURATION AND RESTORATION (provided by Salvian)
Im paraphrasing Salvian. The idea hear is to make more effective use of the Restoration spells that heal on target as apposed to on self. This way you can summon creatures to figh for you and play healer. A pretty great idea that I completely overlooked.


Just short thoughts I had. Comment as you like.

Nope. Mercantile.

^_^ Sorry, I'm annoying. Anyway, other than that your post has a few good ideas.

Very nice, Zak! :goodjob:

All good points. I heartily agree that Altmer Apprentice makes a great 'glass cannon'.

My mystic archer is indeed one of those 'Bosmer with mage birthsign' glass cannons. She's one of those who - as you say - emphasizes bow over spell. One thing that helps keep her 'glass' is never raising endurance and dressing only for fashion. She also likes being a small wood nymph.

I guess my point is that limiting endurance and how you equip your character can be very helpful in enhancing their fragility/challenge.

As much as I love and respect the Atronach, I find it is all about mental attitude. For characters that wade in and trade blows/spells it is fabulous. For charcters (like mine) who live by 'don't touch me' and go to great lengths to not get hit, it is counterintuitive to wade into a fight to top off your blue. Lol.

I'm using an Altmer mystic archer. Cal know all about conjuration, illusion, and mysticism. And the bow, of course. Also good points there.

I recently made a Dunmer with the Atronach Birthsign. It's definitely a fun Birth Sign and very manageable, especially with Alchemy. However, as stated, it's a very different playstyle than an Apprentice or Mage sign Mage. Especially Apprentice. An Apprentice worries about being hit by Magic while the Atronach Mage actively looks to intercept certain spells while avoiding ones that are too particularly nasty (until they build up more Spell absorption).

Nice guide :tops:





It could be a fun character because of the weakness. Not too easy to negate however.

The actually effect is 100% weakness to magic and 25% elemental weakness. That's a little different. If that character gets hit with a 100 point fire ball there is 250 damage. Vs 225 if it was 125% Elemental weakness.

But the Apprentice affects all magic, so a 10 second silence spell last 20 seconds. Etc.




100% agree. Alchemy is arguably the most powerful skill in the game. I think your character can be severely gimp'ed in so many ways and still be a powerhouse with Alchemy. So many people seem to overlook it. Including multiple effect potions and poisons. An amazing skill.


Another out of the box idea might be a Restoration character. There are lot's of fortification and absorb spells in Restoration that go unused by lots of players. For example, with decent restoration you can never break a hammer or lockpick. And can invest in Shops. Some powerful stuff in combined with Illusion and/or Conjuration for example. IE summon a helper and then buff it with shields and speed fortification, etc.

Dispel potions are an Apprentice's best friend, especially when messing around with wraiths, who love to cast silence.

Very nice guide, Zakarius.

I have always been a proponent of the Altmer/Atronach combination myself. The Altmer/Apprentice just seemed like a needlessly gimped character to me. But maybe that’s the point, as I now find myself intrigued with the idea of giving one a try.

I do wonder though, and I put this question out there to anyone who has tried the combination (or the Apprentice in general). Does the 100% weakness to magic serve to heighten the effect of buffs? For example: Would a 25pt shield become a 50pt shield due to the birthsign’s ‘weakness’? Or does that ‘weakness’ serve to lengthen the duration of an effect (making a 60 sec feather spell into a 120 sec feather spell with the same magnitude)?

The weakness to magic only applies to harmful spells. There was an exploit possible in the earliest version of the game, where you could combine a beneficial spell like shield with a very small damaging effect, like Drain Fatigue on Self 1pt, to make it "harmful" and thus get the multiplier. That was fixed with the official patch.

This is a really great idea and I never thought about it before so I will add it.

The bartering is good advice, considering how much you buy during the game it is not strenuous to increase your mercantile skill; just make sure you find the 'offer refused' line of your merchants and go one percent above. I use a charm spell if I am selling or buying anything over a few hundred Septims as it can make a big difference to your wallet.