Hey guys! So I bought the game on 11-11 and was playing a pure mage untill now. But now, I am wondering if I'm on the right 'path'. There are some certain pure mage build in which you utilize only 2 perk trees to get the most out of it. I have read about:

-destruction/restoration -->for just easy spell spamming
-conjuration/alteration--> for summons who do the job

Considering I like to let my flame astronach do the job I decided to do the conjuration/alteration path. This means maxing out those trees and the rest of the perks is just extra.

But what I want to ask is: Are these builds viable or what do you suggest?

I think that the most effective build is whatever you have most fun with. However, I'm curious what builds people have had the most success with as well.

can't illusion make you invisible or something?
that with with a dagger back stab if you can tolerate it, or just sneak through the battles and use some fire/frost spells to fight what you have too might be worth looking into.
i would think you would want some destruction with conjuration though

I've been using all four schools, minus illusion. Destruction spells will sap your magicka pretty fast, so I use summons to tank enemies while I regen magicka. Restoration is basically neccessary for healing, the regeneration perk for +50% healing and the 2 rank perk that gives +50% magicka regen is fantastic. Alteration is alright so far, the armor spells help a bit but the best mana regen headgear I've found so far is light armor, so I can't use the mage armor perk(I'll mod it to clothing when the CK comes out though.) I don't use alteration for much else though, someone else might have a different experience.

Although I haven't been touching illusion, people say it's great as having +1 ally and -1 enemy for the duration of the spell is invaluable.

I dont use conjuration at all for RP purposes but use all the other schools. Alteration (shield) and destruction have leveled a bit faster than illusion and restoration is the least used by far, but i enjoy using them all.

I basically keep shield on the whole time (not wearing any armor), and i start most fights with more than one enemy using illusion and then switch to destruction. Healing i havent really used all that much, i find that when i actually need to heal it is typically a pretty critical situation when i am almost dying, and then i prefer the quick fix of a potion rather than hoping to have enough time to heal before i die.

Ye, well the point is: I just don't get why I should take alteration as a main skill..You only get to be more tanky, but isnt destruction far more usable then..? Being stronger instead of some survivability?

Btw, is it good to invest perk points into the first line of perks for mage skills-->the use half of the magicka per spell perks?

I use conjuration and a slight touch in illusion in combination of a bow + poisons. It works out wonderfull. A big group can be challenging, but its fun to watch how they fight each other after a frenzy spell. After that a fire astronach will take his place and i try to reanimate the dead person.

Yes. Without the half of magicka perks it is very easy to run out of magicka when using spells appropriate to your level. I would certainly recommend taking those perks on any magic you plan on using a lot.

Even the novice line of perks..? Because you will reach apprentice pretty fast.

I've been playing something between a spellsword/battlemage, so others might have better info, but my experience has been: destruction is OK, but not great for big/fast damage (on expert/master). You need several perk selections to deal reasonable damage. If you've got conjured atronarchs (or better, daedra), it's a good complement, but most of the damage will come from your summons. It's good for minor to mid-level fights, but you'll need to spend a lot of time running away from bosses or tougher creatures if you don't keep them occupied with summons.

I haven't enchanted anything yet, so it might be possible to buff the damage. There are a lot of enemies that can kill you in 1-3 hits, and you might need 10x that or more to kill them.

Your health pool will be kind of small. Its not really neccessary to go farther than say, 40 points in Restoration.

Illusion and Conjuration is where your survivability come from, and Destruction is a no brainer. Alteration offers a little bit of everything. Some cc in the form of paralyze, some damage mitigation in the form of the skin spells, and utility in the form of stuff like Detect Life and Clairvoyance.

Id say Conjuration and Destruction are pretty much "must-haves" as well as a little bit of Restoration. I recommend Illusion too, but its not entirely neccessary. Anything else is really up to you.

I encountered the same problem.. So here's what I do: I'll max out the perks in the conjuration tree for summoning the astronachs for damage(does the damage/duration buff also work for other summons?), use less magicka per spell. Then I'll go max the WHOLE alteration tree for the survivability. In fights I'll just summon astronach and cast a protection spell like oakflesh, then rip the opponent apart with my summon+some destruction magic from me.

I think this'll be a pretty viable mage path, don't you think?

bump

Can someone help me? I wanna play skyrim :tes:

I think that would work. I might give a build like that a try myself for my next char. People have claimed you can get a 200 armor rating from alteration plus enchantments.

Thanks! At least I now know that the build is thought viable by others too^^