Hello everybody!

I'm a newbie at The Elder Scrolls and Skyrim is my first TES game ever. The game seems fun so far but also very complex so I'll ask questions here if I get stuck or simply need help, if that's alright.

First of all, is a lightning focused pure mage without any melee weapons viable?

Second, is there something in specific that I should NOT do? (kill an important character, do some mission too soon etc.)

Is doing alchemy/blacksmithing/enchanting and such too strong to be overlooked? Or can I pass the game normally by just focusing on destruction/illusion and other magic skill trees?

Any advice would be helpful because I'm kind of lost as to how to go about the game and afraid I'll screw up early.

A lightning mage is quite powerful but Destruction alone is bad without the impact perk. As a mage it is best to use different schools of magic.

The game is easy and it is almost impossible to fail anything. Most NPCs involved in quests are essential (can't die).

Lightning is very viable, since more creatures are resistant to either fire or cold than lightning(such as dragons), + the attacks are also more accurate.

But the other elements have their uses too, frost slows people down, the more you hit them, the slower they get, and that's a huge tactical advantage. However, if there is one thing skyrim has plenty of, is things with frost resistance. And there are plenty of creatures that are particulary weak to fire damage, trolls, spriggans, and most kinds of undead. So fire shines through in the killing department.

What you sould not do is rush too soon through the main quest, you might want to develop your character a bit first. And while you shouldn't go around killing useful npcs, such as merchants, most of the important ones are unkillable, so don't worry too much.

Alchemy/blacksmithing/enchanting are not strictly needed, but as you say, they'll make your character much stronger than they'd otherwise be(practically unbeatable). Especially enchanting, so you should develop that one. For example, there are enchantments that reduce the cost of your spells, and you can reduce it to 0.

Personal advice depends on what kind of player you are, explorer or roleplayer. If you're the latter, you'll want to take your playthrough easy, don't overcharge yourself with quests, Do one thing after another and explore the map while doing so. Also talk to people, you'll get interesting stuff.

If you don't mind travelling, you might want to not use fast travelling at all, since you find plenty of cool stuff in the map, especially with all the things that are trying to kill you.

BTW you might want to build up some kind of magic resistance.

To make your game easier you could use a follower and wear light or heavy armor, there are no penalties for wearing armor and casting spells (this was different in previous games)

First there are only four perks to augment flame and ice spells too so if you are going to be a Mage just do all three so you can switch a variety of weapons. Ice is weaker no doubt but slows your enemies down. Fire does the most damage and has strengths against the undead but has weaknesses. Shock hits instantly for better accuracy and there are no NPCs resistant to it.

Second if you're goal is to make a powerful character than no enchanting and smithing cannot be overlooked. Alchemy for you I would not waste time in simply because it's main strength is to further the damage output of weapons and enchantments. But you won't be using physical weapons much it sounds and a Mage doesn't need as strong as emchanments when you can make one or two schools of magic cost nothing at all without exploiting alchemy to help enchanting.

But that's the third thing: when you get to a high level in enchanting you can literally make one or two schools of magic cost no magic at all. So I would not put so many points in your magic. If you plan to use other schools like conjuration or restoration and since you won't get this ability until a high level you should still make sure you put plenty of points in magic yes but make sure you put plenty in health too. It's pointless having all that magic to heal yourself infinitely if you don't have time to heal yourself because you die from two hits.

This is one of my Mage characters for instance: lvl81 with (high elf no enchantments): 550 magic, 450 health, 150 stamina. With one enchantment my magic is over 600. However destruction and conjuration (my two most used schools of magic) cost nothing for me. So my magic with my 200% magic regeneration buffs is used only to keep my alive indefinitely like a tank with restoration (you won't need restoration as much as you get stronger but it is vital for being a tank against the very hard opponents at any level) and cast immensely powerful illusion spells.

So you should not only ensure you have decent health still but use armor too. Alteration is all but useless in the high levels besides maybe paralyze hut even that can be compensated with frost breath (if you have the DLC add on) or the fact your destruction spells will be able to permanently stun lock enemies in place if you want it. The only perks you should put in alteration is too get the extra magic resistance perks.

And since your destruction will cost nothing this also applies to weapons with emchanments. That's why my Mage still uses a wicked dagger without any perks or in one handed or using any enchantments helping weapons: 100 damage but with an Absord 37 health and 60pts of fire damage enchantment. So I can easily still pwn using my measily dagger that does decent damage and keeps me alive from absorbing health with an infinite charge.

But the main thing I use it for is when I want to be an assassin. So you should be able to also put perks in sneaking and illusion. Any pure Mage should also be stealthy.

In short these are the areas I put perks in as my Mage, destruction, conjuration, restoration, illusion, alteration (but only 5 to get the magic resist buffs in it), enchanting, smithing, light armor, and sneak.

And if you have the Dawnguard add on there's no question you'll want to join the vampire faction and get the necromage perk in restoration. Necromage perked vampires get stronger enchantments, better spells in all schools (all cost slightly less magic and your conjurations for example last 50% longer and even restoration spells heal 25% more). And then the vampire lord ability is king for mages though also the perfect example of why you should ensure you have adequate health since you have no armor bonuses in the vampire lord form.

Lightning is great, especially when you are fighting other mages since it drains magika.

I always like to use alchemy with destruction characters. One awesome thing it does is it increases the area of cloak spells. Pretty weird.