I have a lvl 25 warrior (two-handed heavy armor) that I am shelving for the moment and have started a mage. I have been focusing on destruction for the time being and really enjoy it, but have read that destruction scales poorly. Is this something that Bethesda is going to fix with a patch soon? Or is it completely broken?

Should I focus on conjuration in addition to destruction, or restoration?

Enchanting or Alchemy?

Any advice would be great, i'm thinking about wearing robes (for the magicka bonus') and going pure mage in destruction (hoping it will be patched soon if it is as broken as people say), but would like some advice if people have something helpful.

Thanks.

Also.... how does conjuration level up? Is it just when you cast a spell, or is it when your summoned critter attacks an enemy? Thanks again.

I'm currenlty working on a spellsword character and it's proving to be tougher than I thought, leveling magic and one-handed weapons is not easy at all.

I would say go with all the different types of magic combined, but you could always try a little bit of each and go with what is most fun for you. As for enchanting and alchemy... do both. enchanting is so much fun for me because I love being able to combo stuff out with my build and you can always make up for your weaknesses in enchanting your armor. As for alchemy, well, It's always good to have instant heal and other things at your disposal in case of emergencys

I was wondering if your creatures had to be engaged in battle too.I know soul trap has been leveling up mine...


I love leveling both, for me its fun. I love hybreed characters.

Get enchanting(and smithing preferably)
Wear armor not robes.
Forget Magicka regen it's bad.
Get 100% cost reduction for destruction via enchanting.

Destruction is broken compared to well everything else you could do(conjuration, weapons, bows or illusion) however it's strong enough that you shouldn't run into problems as long as you follow what I mentioned above.

Having conjuration is nice to be able to summon things to take some damage(or dish out lots). If you get 100 conjuration with twin souls you can summon 2x Dremora Lords and they will literally kill everything you come up against while you just sit back and watch. It's easiest leveled up by spamming soul trap or bound weapons but summons attack enemies levels them as well... just very slowly.

Restoration you can pick up a couple points(mainly just novice + regeneration is what you need) and you'll level it naturally as you use heal.

So wearing robes is a no go? Should I just go with heavy armor instead? I want to go with a pure mage build, wont it be easier to find good mage items with robes rather than armor?

You want max enchanting and max alchemy. You want *at least* expert level Alteration for paralyze, and of course Master level of either Conjuration or Destruction, or both if you want to level up quickly..

If I just keep summoning a bound sword will it up my conjuration level, or do I have to actually use it? I am trying to figure out a way to level up conjuration.

once u get enchanting high enough you can enchant your armor with as much as what u can get with robes

I haven't tried summoning weapons yet, but I do know that summoning creatures or raising dead will not increase your skill level unless the mobs you summon actually do damage to something, so its kind of a pain. Illusion is easy to level, just get courage and cast it on your companion over and over again, its like magic......well it is magic. :biggrin: