Hey guys, so im putting together a Spell/Shield or Spell/Tank type of character and I was hoping to get some feedback on its practicality for an adept/ possibly expert playthrough.

Mighty thanks!

Race: Breton
Guardian Stone: Lord (for extra armor and magic resist)
Specializations: Destruction, Restoration, Heavy Armor, Block, Smithing and Enchanting (wont be taking them all the way up the perk trees as there are too many to due so, but i'll probably max block, smithing and enchanting for sure.

i'm aiming for a mage first, tank second sort of combination.

Keep in mind, its for a Spell-tank build, so please dont flame me for not using any weapons. Spells are my weapons :flamethrower:
I went into Alteration for the magic resistance, so that I will not only have physical resistance with a shield, but magic resistance from being a breton and perked in it.

http://www.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim?d=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000120002000000111110000002001010000003500011100100000111151111000511110111

Or would a dual-spell/ 2 hander combo be more effective for an adept/expert playhthrough?

I iz confused :/

shields are awesome they protect a great deal and also deal fantastic physical dmg i would go block (shield) heavy armor alteration destruction and to end smith and enchanter

A bit weird to play for my taste but you should be okay, it is close to impossible to make a "gimp" character in this game.
You should be aware though, that this will only work well when you either go high in Enchanting first and get Spellcost reductions and + Magicka Equipment OR use Magicka as your primary attribute, like 2/3 Magicka 1/3 health that would be. Even if you use Magicka as primary Attribute you should still try to get some of said Enchantements.
Otherwise you will have to either use a lot of potions or run away all the time to regenerate Magicka.

That's the first question that I ask any aspiring mage. What's your threshold for exploits? Are you fine with making a mage that can cast spells for free?

Why not go for the Atronach stone instead of the Lord?

In my opinion having ONE school of free spells is not an exploit, using destruction spells for free allows me to focus more on the strategy-which-spell-should-I-use mindset rather than the '...out of mana'. I also found it alot more viable and fun to use alteration when the pool is exclusively available to it, even while in combat.

Two schools is overkill, although with free destr. casting I still get killed on adept even spamming a spell. It's about the strategy for me though.

I did this up until about level 20. I still found it kind of hard to tank, but didn't get caught off guard very often. I now play as a witch hunter-type class, but still bring out the shield when things get too close.
What I found when playing this is that you often have to mix all the combat skills into one. At lower level,s you're going to run out of magicka ALOT. Now, unless you want to just sit there while somebody hacks at you with an axe, you're going to have to bring out a one handed weapon.
So once you throw a melee weapon in there, you've got magicka, stamina and health that you have to worry about. This makes it kind of hard to focus on a handful of skills specifically, and you end up as a sort of jack-of-all trades.
It's fun, but seemed kind of weak in some situations, and takes a long time to kill enemies. Being a good tank is easy enough, but you will dish out less damage than the typical warrior tank. The idea is awesome, and I applaud you for trying, but It may turn out differently than you expect. That said, block is freaking awesome, and even though I don't use it as much, it's saved my ass in quite a few situations.
Ah, and you should probably know that I was using light armour at that point, and like I said, only got to level 20. Good luck

Thanks for all the advice everyone

I may decide to use some spell reduction enchants at some point, seeing as if I do go Spell/Shield then spells will be my only weapon, but i may not go 100% reduction, maybe only 50%.

Also, i may take the atronach stone over the lord at some point, seeing as the magic absorption would be awesome for the build.

Mighty thanks for the input Crabbensmasher, I'm really caught in the middle as to what to do. Ive made perk builds for both a dual spell/ shield combo and a dual spell/2 hander combo and I just dont know which to go with. both seem to have their strengths, while they both have clear weaknesses as well ( which is true of every playstyle i suppose)

But i definitely want a build thats going to be solid throughout the whole game and not just plateau at a certain level. And I'm just not feeling 1 handed sword for some reason :confused: i feel like its generic, and I sorta want my char. to carve his own niche in some way ( which im sure everyone tries to do) Maybe i'll go with maces over a 2 hander but im still unsure.