I was playing as a thief and was struggling to kill strong enemies with arrows and daggers, so I gave up on that. I am now starting a new file. I wanted to do a warrior build, but I recently did one and my latest save of that playthrough disappeared. I don't want to go through the Companions quest again and getting the Mace of Molag Bal and Spellbreaker again, so I just started a mage build as a High Elf. I have only played as a mage once but only put about an hour into it. I was told that being a mage is awful and that they are weak and only have one good destruction spell but it uses too much magic. After hearing that I quit the playthrough because I didn't want to have a weak character like my thief. However, I have also heard that mages are overpowered? I don't know which one is true. Should I try it? Or is warrior the only powerful build? One handed + block (mace and shield) has been my favorite build so far, and I really want to do it but I don't want to start all over

You're tormenting yourself too much. First things first; you said quit being a warrior because of a mere technical problem (not related to the game) so I suggest you give it a try although you'll eventually turn into Conan the Barbarian pretty quickly. In the contrary of warriors, mages need a brain or two in order to become OP. You'll need to focus on min one school of magic or max two. Destruction can be dreadful for your enemies if you want it, you just need to choose the right perks within the right tree. I suggest enchanting your weapons for either build you choose because it levels your magic skills iirc.

i think you could start off as a mixed mage/fighter type. slowly improving magic skills over fighting skills. you can conjour weapons so you would improve both type of skills. i often cast http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Summon. magic can be used for both offense and defense.

i have problems with pure types. that is why i play with spell swords in OB and nightblades in morrowind.

Haha, you're right. I am tormenting myself. I'm taking these builds a bit too seriously. That sounds like a good idea. I'll just get through those quests and enjoy the warrior build

Any advice on leveling up smithing quickly? Didn't want to start a new thread just for that question. I had a tough time leveling it up last playthrough.

Being a mage is fun, but I advise against being a pure Destruction user. It gets fruistrating real fast.

Illusion, on the other hand, will make you a frickin' beast if you do it right. Especially if you combine it with Sneak and One-hand.

Try enchant four item you wear with destro reduction (or buy if you will) and get stagger perk. This is legit way, not using resto loop crap.

Even legendary dragon on legendary difficulty won't give you a bruise.

To level Smithing quickly but effectively I suggest starting doing the little tutorial given as a tiny quest by any first blacksmith you meet at any settlement that has one. The trick consists in focusing on the weapons and armours of your choice and make them better. Caves and dungeons in general (especially bandit caves) always have lots of either ingots or ore. If you find the latter you'll have to turn them into ingots and then use them to refine your paraphernalia. U already know this do u?

Bandit caves generally have mines inside so you'll have a respawning source of your favourite type of metal. If you really want to get better at Smithing I suggest to always go around with a pickaxe just in case.

Destruction is fine if you're not using it on Master or Legendary at high levels.

Just add Conjuration and Alteration and you'll be fine.