Just for anyone who wants to know the strength of the alteration spells, considering the armor rating maximum is ~570 IIRC, which gives you 80% damage resistance.

Ebonyflesh (expert) gives you 100 armor rating, 300 with the perk. For a duration of 60 seconds, 90 seconds with the +50% duration perk and over 3 mins dual casted with the duration perk. You can also add the lord stone to this for a total of 350 armor rating.

Dragonskin (master) gives you 80% damage resistance (the maximum) for 30 seconds, 45 seconds with the duration perk. But if you dual cast it (likely a bug, master spells aren't normally affected by dual casting) then you will get 99+ seconds of 80% damage resistance, which IMO is more than enough to kill the people you need to.

You can get the unique archmage robes which give you 15% spell reduction for all magic schools, +50 magicka and +100% magicka regen rate. If your enchanting is at the max, then you can enchant your own clothes for better enchantments than the archmage robes, can be increased further by exploiting alchemy.

So really you are better of going with armor as the unique enchantments on the unique robes can be beaten by your own enchantments. But I think its more fun going with alteration + clothes for a mage, so thats what I do for my sneak mage ha.

Exept if you are high into Enchantements, Robes have better Boni.
Also the Alteration Shield Spells, if perked, offer almost as much protection as Light Armor.
I think I should have 350 Armor or so now with Ebony Flesh and the Lords sign at level 30, lasting 3 minutes.
Fire Spellsword with Cloth only that is, works fine.

Literally "laughed out loud." Genius.

You don't need to make armor - you can buy or find sets out in stores and dungeons.

Robes serve mages better than Light Armor in the early game, and once you reach the point Armor would be better, it can't catch up with the utility you enjoyed from Robes.

Regeneration Boni also work in combat, just not as much as out of combat.

Edit: Reply to Hagas Hagar

Mage armor perk = Protection spells like Stoneflesh are twice as strong if not wearing armor. So no armor needed. Though it somehow feels wrong to try and stop and orc's swing with a battle axe with cloth...

vD

Thrice actually, can be perked three times, first doubles it, the next two add 50% each.

IS there any reason to wear robes? Of course! You don't have to spend perks on an armor skill tree, and can focus on mastering magic, instead.

Nah, it doesn't compare to regular armor value. This perk tops at 300 with Ebony Armor, while heavy gives 550-600 (w/out sploits). DragonHide compares to this, but does not benefit from mage armor and can run out during battle, on Master this re-cast is suicide.

Unless you use mods or RP, there is no reason to not use armor. The only advantage of robes/cloth is the extra regen, and that barely matters in combat.




Fortunately there are some great mods out there that increase regen rates and/or buff alteration making cloth actually have real benefits like in any other RPG.

Well the best way to not need armor is to not go into melee but shoot and scoot.

vD

Dragonhide is not meant for all the time. It's meant for setting up an attack, cause if you even try to use it during combat all someone has to do is smack you and you won't be able to do the charge up.

Basically for really tough sitauations, sneak, dragonhide and then charge into battle. For everything else, duel-cast Ebonyflesh really fast.

I've always seen the armor perks as useless, even on master difficulty. I wear armor and work with it and rather use my perks for something actually useful like alteration or blocking.

My magicka regeneration bonus is the reason my character stays alive IN battle. What's the point of magicka regenerating outside of battle, you know when you're not using it?? My favorite spell, the dual cast firebolt cost a mere 14 and does about 70 damage AND staggers dragons! Shoot firebolt, wait until stagger recovers, shoot again, and during that waiting time my magic is back. If the thing ain't dead yet, then I drink a couple tasty potions, heal a bit and boom a final firebolt to cast them back into Oblivion. I only wear gauntlets to improve my smithing, so I can make weapons and armour to sell. Then I enchant those weapons and armour to sell for higher prices. And I keep a couple of daggers for when I want to get up close and personal. Three orcish daggers, one for soul trap, another for ice damage, and a last one for paralyzing opponents [This is extra hilarious when fighting bears on mountain slopes, because they roll down it like, well a giant frozen bear lol].

hehe... The first time i tried it was on a snow sabre cat. I had a conjured bound sword in one hand and paralyze spell in the other. I zapped him with paralyze and ran up to start hacking... he started rolling down the hill.. I was laughing and chasing but he picked up speed and disappeared into the distance... I still chuckle about it even now.

It just depends on romeplay value. I go for whatever best suits my character.

For an actual practical reason, to not level up as fast and thus be more powerful compared to the environment.

I only use robes with normal gloves and boots, I dont use any of those armor spells either and I do just fine. I run away from the enemy if they get too close.

I personally always played with cloth characters. I never been the whole armor type of guy.

Cause it is heavy?

As a mage, do you raise stamina much at all? Not wearing armor will allow you to loot a whole heck of a lot more since the armor would be weighing you down (until you get that perk later on which you might not get because I don't like to get hit).

No, just now raised stamina once. Normally tried for about 80% to magicka and 20% to health and 0% to stamina. Still need some enchant increase-magicaka items to be able to dual cast Dragonhide.

edit: I for sure use the mage armor perk raised to x3. It is fun for me, but some people think it is a hassle to have to cast spells like Stoneflesh before battle. I like doing it. Feeling of power