» Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:55 am
I dont quite understand the issues people have with magic, I played nothing but a pure mage all the way up through level 77. Not gone the last few levels because I find leveling pickpocket and speech a tedious event and horde everything anyway so I sell nothing.
I have not run into any aspect of the game that I could not beat with just magic, and in most instances beat with great ease to the point I started leveling up swords and bows just to make it more exciting becaue deathlords, dragons, overlords where far to easy with magic.
I will even share some of my tricks here so people can see if they are doing it the same way or like my way or maybe even found a better way, or they can see how they are doing it compared to mine.
Destruction. using just destruction I found the best method is to put 2 points into both fire and ice to increase damage, but no point in taking the last death effect points. They are a waste, if they increased overall damage I would totally take them. take the perks to lower the cost of spells for novice, apprentice and journeyman. You can go higher if you want but its not really needed if you are going to be a pure mage, and take double impact.
Firebolt is the golden boy of destruction. its cheap its fast, you can dual shot it or single shot it, it has a damage over time effect on the end of it so it always does more then ice and costs way less then lightning. Double casting this with the proper perks is always a knockbock. Smack a dragon in the face right before hes gonna shout something and it will shut him up and knock his head around, repeat untill its dead. If you only charge the spells right before you cast them you will continue to regen magicka, so don't sit there with them charged all the time, ie Cast duel firebolt. then charge another one and hold it for 3 minutes while the dragon flies around, you are shooting yourself in the foot. This tactic also works with the first level ice spike spell but has no DOT effect.
Wall of Flames is a great spell for damage over time, throw it down a hallway and use the knockback effects from firebolt to keep them in the fire and they burn down really quickly. You can even make a circle of it while running backwards and then make the npcs chase you around all the while running through the flames and taking constant damage.
One of my favorite things to do is combine Paralyze and Wall of Flames. one handed paralyze them with the extended perk and cast a tiny double handed spot of wall of flames on their head and walk away. a minute later you will here the horrific gurgling sound of them dying in what I imagine is one of the most horrible in inhumane ways to kill someone in this game.
Paralyze and Invisibility are immensively powerful and worth training up just to get. You can run away from trolls and cast invisibility on yourself, run up some stairs, jump on a piller and watch the try to figure out what the heck just happened. They will start looking around all confused, wander over near you trying to smell you. Just sit tight and regen some magicka and then come out blasting.
Restoration speaks for itself, use the appropiate healing spell dependant on how much health you got, you dont need to full heal everytime, half your health in one heal is usually good enough to keep you alive if you combine it with dirty underhanded magician tactics like invis, paralyze, staggering bolts of fire and ice.
I have not found much use for the Ward spells honestly and I dont see myself getting much magicka back with the ward absorption so I pass on it and instead use the stagger you or paralyze you before you can cast at me because two wizards fighting is not much different then two gunslingers in the wild west, The faster wizard usully wins, and if you are fast enough you probably won't need to even put points into most of the restoration tree because you will not be healing very often.
I did not find Alteration all that usefull. armor spells are okay but if you are fast and smart, almost nothing is going to get the chance to hit you anyway, but it is still nice to have in the old book. A few alteration spells are good for a laugh, making people kill their friends which is cost effective in the long run if you want to slowly take out a small army with as minimal amount of magicka as possible.
Conjuration.. This school is just so much fun when you hit max and do the quest. 2 permenant dremora warriors will go toe to toe with almost anything, except the bigger dragons who will promptly eat your buddies. I use permenant zombies as decoys and destractions, in case I get jumped by those damned tigers who think I am a yummy snack, or the occasional bandit who is bow happy and starts shooting at you from a mile away, that zombie or summons will just take off after them and as soon as they find them and hit them they are no longer concerned about you and you are free to move in to make a kill,unless your dremora pyschopaths haven't already impaled the guy on swords, chopped his head off and are talking smack about the lack of a threat he possed by the time you get there... which happens varily often.
My only suggestion to add to Magic in general would be to tweak AI a bit in how they respond to certain spells such as Wall of Flames. Most npcs should TRY to find an alternative route around the fire first rather then just ignoring it and running through it. Running through it should be a last resort so they should atleast stop and do a quick check for any way around it before they go crazy run through fire mode and charge into it.
Remember to wear magicka regen robes, they really really do help, get your enchanting up and enchant stuff with +magicka, almost every slot can have + magicka on it. I personally wear Master Illusion robes for the regen and the cost reduction to paralyze and invis which I use in conjuction with destruction and conjuration.
Paralyzing a deathlord and watching your two dremora just stand around and curb stomp him like a couple of thugs with baesball bats I find quick amusing,especially if the deathlords little minion helper is paralyzed a few feet away, slowly burning to death with his face stuck in a spot of magical napalm.
Its good to be a wizard, if you are quick and smart enough to get the jump on all your enemies first.
But keep it coming, you beautiful people! I'm loving the suggestions.
